Oh, I had the most fun writing this chapter. Dictator!Draco provided so much entertainment. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! I'm also getting close to running out of chapters, so updates will not be as regular as they have been. Most likely on Monday or Wednesday, and at the weekend. Reviews would be much appreciated! (the Blaise/Ginny relationship also reaches its most exciting part in this chapter, but it's not going to be too heavily featured, so don't worry if you don't like the pairing. If you do like it, you'll like this chapter!)
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ron thought it was a good job he loved Hermione. Not only was he forced to be around Draco for extended periods of time, but he had to act chummy with him and convince everyone that they were best friends to keep up the illusion. And now, he was tasked with making sure he behaved for Quidditch practice since Hermione was not going to be there. Hermione had pointed out that Ginny was also there, but she'd probably laugh instead of help. Ron was dreading it. Why did Harry have to be Quidditch Captain? He despaired, there was no telling what Draco would do with this newfound power, he'd probably make them lose on purpose. If Hermione was in Ron's place, he'd be perfectly well behaved, but since Ron was now in charge in her stead, he wasn't so sure.
Hermione had scampered off to the library, "I really must do my Ancient Runes homework, I just know that I'll need all the time I can get to translate them all, they're really very tricky-"
Ron had just zoned out and was thinking of the chocolate that his now babbling girlfriend had promised to give him when he got back from practice. When Hermione had left, Draco had turned around and was grinning evilly at him.
"Well, Weasley. Shall we make our way to the pitch?" he asked, his eyes glinting maliciously.
Ron nodded glumly and they starting walking. Ron felt like he was on his way to the gallows.
"So, seeing as I am Quidditch Captain, I would like you to address me as such," Draco said, that grin still present.
"Ok, Such," Ron had quipped, pleased with himself.
"I suppose you think you're clever, eh Weasley? That's not what I meant and you know it. I would like to take the opportunity to relish my captaincy. Surely you'd help your best friend to do so, eh? Especially since said best friend has the power to kick you out of the team. I suggest you'd go along with it. Captain has a nice ring to it after all," Draco was fully smirking now, which irritated Ron to no end.
"Let me get this straight, you want me to call you Captain?"
"Yes, or you're off the team."
"Captain? You actually want me to call you Captain?"
"How do I put this?" Draco pondered, still smirking, "No shit."
"But don't you think that sounds, I don't know..." Ron was turning bright red now. He did not feel comfortable with the topic of conversation they were nearing.
"Spit it out."
"Kinky?" Ron managed to say. Well, shout more like, which caused a gaggle of girls nearby to giggle.
"Not at all, at least not to me. Let's hope that none of our team-mates think it as such, either, eh?"
Draco shot him a self-satisfied smirk before strutting ahead of him and turning the corner. Was that just Ron's imagination or was that evil laughter he heard?
...
Hermione was in the library, as she had said. But she was not alone. Harry, Blaise and Ginny were in a corner all lounging on cushy beanbags that Hermione had conjured. She was in the middle of describing of Ron's reaction the fact that he was now in charge of Draco to Harry and Blaise. All four of them were in fits of laughter, even Ginny who had been present at the time.
"You're so evil, Hermione," Harry choked out.
"Not as evil as Ginny!" she protested, "she's going to turn up to practice late intentionally to provoke Draco and make Ron deal with it."
Ginny grinned mischievously and Blaise clapped her on the back approvingly.
"Nice one, that is evil. I'd pay money to watch that!"
"Oh yeah? You can come and sit in the stands. Watching me will cost you. Five Galleons, please. Cough up."
She held out her hand as though expecting Blaise to put the money there, and met his gaze challengingly. Harry and Hermione exchanged knowing glances.
Blaise aimed his disarmingly charming smile at Ginny. "Not today, Weasley. But I'll make sure I come to a match sometime to watch you play. I'll even give you the Five Galleons."
Ginny put on her most alluring air. "I'd better go and practice then, Zabini. I'd want to make sure you saw me at my best."
"I'll look forward to it."
"So will I."
"See you around, Ginny."
"Blaise."
Ginny got up gracefully from the beanbag, smiled at Harry and Hermione before walking away, making sure to sway her hips and determined not to fall over.
When she had gone, Blaise let out an audible sigh.
"Could you want her more?" Harry laughed.
"Sod off, Harry. You're one to talk with your panting after Draco."
"Oi!"
"You're idiots, the both of you," Hermione said, exasperated.
"You have no need to complain!" Harry moaned, "You're already in a committed, loving relationship."
"Not to mention with someone in the same house as you, and everyone found completely understandable!" Blaise added.
"Yeah," said Harry.
"Everyone was fine with you and Weasley finally announcing you were a couple. I bet no-one came up to you and asked you if you were mad, or had been hexed. Right? Right. This is what me and Potter would have to deal with!" Blaise was ranting now.
"Yeah," said Harry.
"So don't call us idiots, when you know that your relationship is far easier than ours, and by that I mean our respective and separate relationships, will ever be."
"Yeah," said Harry.
There was an awkward silence. Hermione broke it by snickering.
"Blaise, I called you an idiot because Ginny quite clearly likes you back, so if you stop mucking around and not making the first move, you could be in a relationship. Harry, I called you an idiot because even though you quite clearly, as Blaise put it, pant after Draco, to his face you still act as though you hate him. With that attitude, you don't have a chance in hell of a relationship with him."
The two boys looked stunned. Clearly they thought that their reasoning would outdo that of Hermione. They should have known better.
"Ginny likes me back?" Blaise whispered. "Did she tell you that?"
"She didn't deny it when we spoke about it. Anyone could have told you that though, she's pretty obvious about it."
Blaise was speechless, for once.
"I need to talk to her," he murmured, before quickly springing to his feet and running out of the library. "Ginny!" he shouted, catching up with her quickly.
"Blaise?" she turned around.
Needless to say, Ginny was a lot later to Quidditch practice then she had originally intended.
...
"Where have you been?" Draco's voice thundered from his perch in mid air halfway across the stadium, after spotting a head of brightly coloured Quidditch robes and even brighter hair walking onto the pitch. Draco immediately flew his broom to the ground and jumped off, before striding over to Ginny, clearly furious. Ron hastily followed suit, ready to pull him away.
"I was otherwise occupied," Ginny said. Ron looked suspiciously at her. Her face was flushed, her hair was mussed and she was looking deliriously happy. He didn't even want to know what she had been doing.
"That's a load of shit, Weasley. You don't respect my authority, do you? One more chance, or you're off the team!"
Draco turned around in a flourish and took off into the air again, leaving Ginny gaping.
"What the hell?"
"I think he likes being Quidditch Captain a bit too much," Ron said, " he's gone a bit mad with power. I thought he'd try to sabotage the team, but it's quite the opposite actually, he's hell-bent of winning the Cup and he's working us harder than a World Cup team, I'd wager."
"I think he's a complete, dictatorial power-crazed loon. That's just after a few minutes."
"OI! GINGERS!" came a shout from above. "Talking is not going to help us win the Cup! Get your arses on your brooms and flying now."
Ginny rolled her eyes along with Ron and the two of them mounted their brooms and kicked off into the air. One of the other Chasers flew her broom to be alongside Ginny.
"What's wrong with Harry? Is he stressed out or something today?"
"Don't worry about it, he hasn't been himself lately," Ginny replied, watching Draco scream at one of the Beaters for hitting a Bludger when he hadn't given him permission.
...
"It was horrible, Hermione," Ron moaned, from where he lay on the sofa, his head resting on Hermione's lap while she fed him chocolate. Draco was in the dormitories, having been reunited with his skin care products, courtesy of Blaise. "He's bloody mental. He made me call him Captain, he made us all run around the pitch, even though we don't have to run in Quidditch. I couldn't make him stop! How do you do it Hermione?"
Hermione put some more chocolate in his mouth to keep him quiet. "Punch him in third year."
"It's too late for that!" Ron wailed, "I just want Harry to come back so I don't have to deal with the Ferret anymore. Plus, Harry's my best mate and all that."
"You'll have to cope for two months, Ron, so I'd get used to it if I were you."
"Ron!" came a familiar shout. Ron cowered further into the sofa.
Draco walked further into the common room and stood directly in front of the sofa where Ron was.
"I just thought I should tell you that no-one is permitted to use any of my toiletries. They're expensive, and I've charmed them to do things to people who use them, who aren't me."
"What kind of things?"
Draco smiled. "You don't want to know. So keep your filthy hands off of my things, and no-one gets hurt," he looked up and saw Hermione sitting there, glaring at him. His cheek instantly throbbed in memory of that glare. "Goodnight, Granger," he said hurriedly before departing back to the dormitories.
"I thought that glare would work," Hermione said, patting her boyfriend's head consolingly.
"I told you Hermione! He's a raving psychopath! God help the poor bugger who ends up with him. They'll need the patience of a saint!"
Hermione stroked Ron's hair until he calmed down, and absently wondered to herself when the best time to give Harry Patience Lessons would be.
OK, I love loads of the characters, but I would say that my favourite would have to be Harry. He's gone through so much in his life, lost so many people and yet still stayed strong and functional through it. He's impossibly brave and noble, ready to do anything to save those who he's close to, including sacrificing himself. Not to mention, he's rather funny. The 'there's no need to call me sir, Professor' line KILLED me.
Other favourites include: Hermione, Ron, Luna, Draco, Snape, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Fred, George...I LOVE THEM ALL. Even Voldemort in a way. I mean, he always waited until the end of the school year to try to kill Harry. Despite his flaws, he cared about Harry's education. (I can't take credit for that. I saw it in a photo, but it made me laugh.)
This chapter's question...
Remus/Tonks or Remus/Sirius? Draco/Hermione or Ron/Hermione?
Review, please!