Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
...
Once the students returned from their time with their family, there was something that many of them noticed when they returned. It was practically impossible for all of them to not hear the gossip that had spread through Hogwarts like wildfire. It also didn't take long for students to ascertain that the whispers and rumours that they had heard just so happened to be truth.
For, if word was to be believed, Susan Bones and Harry Potter were a couple.
They denied it over and over again, repeatedly and in very different terms. Harry stated that he and Susan were no more than good friends and that the rumours were not true in the slightest. Susan meanwhile blushed up fiercely whenever anybody made mention that the two of them were dating. This was often followed up by some unhuman noise escaping her lips while she buried her face in her hands.
The evidence as to why the two of them had created a relationship between them was because Susan, all throughout the rest of the holidays, had practically refused to leave Harry's side. While Susan refused to speak of the matter at all, in Harry's words she had done so 'in order to prevent him from doing something even stupider.'
From these words it was clear to see that during the break, Harry had done something foolish and admitted as such. Susan had clearly also bore witness to whatever said event was but was keeping incredibly quiet on the details.
Of course, the mere fact that she didn't spill on any of the details mildly irritated a number of the members of the Potter Fan Club resulted in some drastic measures the first day after classes. Were the following event to take place in a muggle setting, it may have been appropriate to say that Susan had been dragged to the impromptu event kicking and screaming. Considering this was Hogwarts however, it was more appropriate to say that she had been silenced and struck with a number of mild stinging hexes until she complied with the instructions.
During the meeting, no more spells were cast. That was despite the fact that Susan refused to give out any 'juicy' information. The only thing she actually admitted to was the fact that she and Harry had spent a good deal of time together throughout the rest of the winter break. That was enough for the rumour mill to keep on spinning.
Harry wasn't phased by the numerous glances sent his way accompanied by hushed whispers behind cupped hands. Ever since the day he had stepped foot in Hogwarts that had been a common occurrence. Susan, however, was not dealing well with the sudden amount of attention being thrust her way.
"Can they just leave me alone?" she asked of nobody in particular as she buried her head into the pillow.
"You're the talk of the school," said Hannah, doing her best to comfort her friend. Whilst doing so she did her best to ignore the growling of her stomach, informing her that it was indeed time for dinner. Susan however would not go at this time due to the stares she had been receiving.
"Just go eat," groaned Susan.
"And leave my bestie to wallow by her lonesome, some friend that would make me."
"Then go be friends with Megan," declared Susan, referring to the other Hufflepuff girl in their year.
"And miss out on all of this entertainment, no way. Plus you know Megan Jones, she rather hang with the boys then with us."
Susan mumbled something incomprehensive into her pillow before turning her head to look at her close friend. "What happened at the last meeting?"
"You mean the meeting of the group of girls that I've never gone to but you made me go in your place?" asked Hannah with a cheeky smile on her face. Susan merely buried her head in her pillow once again. "Well, from what was said it seems that a lot of the girls are fuming because you got the jump on them while they were out of the castle. That being said, there were a fair few who were on your side and saying that you just used the situation to your advantage. At the end an agreement was made that there would be no attempts to sabotage your relationship."
The noise that Susan made sounded something reminiscent of a positive whine.
"You know, I don't really see what your issue is Susan."
"My issue is that Harry and I aren't dating," said Susan, turning once more to see her friend. This only resulted in Hannah giving her a scrutinizing look. "Fine then, don't believe me."
"Susan Bones, I'm hurt that you would think that way," chided Hannah.
"You...believe that..." stated Susan slowly.
"Susan, you and I have been friends for ages and I'd like to believe that I'd know how you would be acting if you were dating Hogwarts most eligible bachelor," said Hannah with a smile. "Even with all of the attention there would be no way that you'd be behaving like a massive sook."
"I'm not being a sook."
"Hush now, I'm talking," scolded Hannah before continuing. "If you and Harry were a couple there would be no force on Earth that would be preventing you from sitting at his side during dinner right now. The two of you would be sharing study notes in the library and people would see the two of you walking hand and hand down to the lake for a picnic. The fact that you are doing none of that tells me that the two of you, as much as the rest of Hogwarts would disagree, are not in a relationship."
Susan couldn't find any words to say before giving Hannah a light smile.
"Now, eventually everybody else is going to figure that out but that might not be for a while. I'm sure once they do they'll apologize and say they're sorry but like I said, that's probably a while away. So, in my opinion you have two options til then. Firstly is that you sit in this room until the rumours have changed to that you've become such a recluse that there is no way that Harry would want to date you. Or, secondly, you go out there and actually ask Harry to be your boyfriend."
Susan found herself at a loss for words once more, but this time for far different reasons. A number of seconds ticked by before she finally responded. "What!"
"Susan," said Hannah, gripping on to Susan's hands before she had a chance to pull away. "Look me in the eyes right now and tell me that you don't want to do all of those things I just said. Tell me right now that you wouldn't want to go on a quiet and romantic picnic with Harry."
Susan's mouth opened and closed several times before she turned her head away, unable to say the words that she was asked. "In which case, why don't you go and make the rumours a reality?" asked Hannah.
"But, what if he says no..." said Susan softly.
"Then the rumours end and you can actually go eat dinner with the rest of the students like a normal person," declared Hannah. "Speaking of which, I am famished and will be heading out to go get some dinner before it's all gone. Are you coming with me or not?"
"Just, could you give me a minute?" requested Susan.
"Are we talking about a normal minute or a minute which turns into an hour?"
"It won't be that bad, I promise," said Susan.
"Good, because I am not bringing you a plate of leftovers," declared Hannah before making her exit. Susan meanwhile remained on her bed, sitting upright and bringing her knees into her chest. She enjoyed having spend so much time with Harry over the break, much like she had the previous but did she want to push for a different kind of relationship with him?
Or more importantly, if it didn't go the way she hoped, would their relationship remain the same?
...
Harry sat within the confines of the Gryffindor common room, the tome in his hands having been borrowed from Fred. While he was relatively sure that he could recollect the entire third year syllabus for Charms, there was a possibility that he could have forgotten a spell here or there. If he wanted all of this extra time to himself next year, then he had to make sure that he could ace Flitwick's assessment.
He would still wait a couple of months before taking the test. It would be unrealistic for him to learn an entire year's work within a handful of weeks. Had to keep up appearances and all that.
Regarding appearances, him reading the upper years textbook had managed to light a fire in Hermione's eyes. When she had returned from the winter break to discover that he was working his way through the lessons that were a year in front of where she was, she had doubled down on her own personal study.
She, unfortunately, had believed that Harry was looking through said book in order to figure out what next to perform with Potter Club. Frankly however he was yet to figure out whether or not anything within the book was capable of creating something purely magical.
Ever since the start of term, he had been unable to work on anything regarding what was next for Potter Club. This was solely due to the fact that wherever he went, someone was bound to follow him. A vast number of these people were members of the female gender and seemed to be watching him to see whether or not he was going off somewhere to rendezvous with Susan.
This seemed odd considering that while the two of them had spent a great deal of time together when there were fewer people in the halls, now the only real time they saw one another was in class. They hadn't even managed to share more than a simple 'hello' without all eyes landing on them. It was unnerving at times and infuriating at others.
That wasn't even including all of the other distractions.
"Hey Harry, can we have a word?" asked Ron, taking a seat next to Harry.
"Sure, what's up?" responded Harry as he closed the book he had been skim reading.
"So, you've only just gotten into this relationship with Susan, haven't you," proclaimed Ron.
Harry's eyes sharpened ever so slightly. "So people are saying."
"Well, I want you to know that I'm here for you and I'd like to give you some advice regarding my time with Lavender."
Harry had to resist the urge to rub at his eyes. The last thing he thought he would receive today was relationship advice from Ron.
...
"Thank you all for coming."
"All? This hardly feels like all of us. Unless you expect me to believe that more than half our members quit over the holidays."
"I actually only invited the female members of Potter Club to join us this evening. I believe that some girl time between us was more than overdue."
"Ooh, ooh, what are we gonna gossip about."
"Calm yourself girl."
"Nuh uh, we worked our butts off to get here and if this is our chance to mingle amongst our peers without the boys booing us then I'm going to take it."
"I must say that your friend is...mildly intimidating."
"Calling her my friend is a stretch at times."
"You know you love me."
"Shall we leave you two alone?"
"Please don't."
"Ladies, if you don't mind, I have a suggestion to put down on the table for you all."
"What do you have in mind?"
"Do you all recall the prank last year which resulted in the first year females having pink hair?"
"I never heard how that came about."
"Oh, me and the rest of the girls got tricked into going into the Prefect bathrooms and I just realised that I screwed up."
"So you're a second year student then. Does that mean you are as well?"
"I will neither confirm nor deny that fact."
"Disregarding the age of some of our members, we need to consider getting an age group of the boys and doing something to them."
"Well I believe that second years would be far too expected and limit the range that Potter Club is going for. If anything we need to aim at an older year level that would be unlikely to expect anything to happen."
"If we were to aim fifth years we'd have to consider the timing. If we can pull something off in the next week or two then we wouldn't be interfering with OWLs."
"Might not be good to deal with any classes that are leading into lessons that may shape their future."
"Well Fourth year might be good."
"I can see that working well."
"If we go down that path there is something else we have to consider. The hard part will be, how do we get a group of male teenagers to all group together without realizing that they're being led on."
"Alright ladies, let's brainstorm."
"No need, I think I've already figured it out."
"Wait, what? How?"
"Cause from watching our older housemates, I know exactly what will cause them to try and outdo one another. All we need is a location."
"That, I believe I can help with."
...
Cedric Diggory wasn't particularly sure what to expect when he found himself with an odd invite, one that his fellow fourth year Hufflepuff students received. Arriving at the destination at the time that was stated however, showed that it wasn't just the students from his house who had been invited to this event.
"Isn't this just a party," he could hear somebody say from behind him. They weren't wrong, it seemed as if the other three houses had managed to get there before they had. It also seemed as if the Gryffindor and Slytherin students were mere seconds away from starting to hex one another, likely over something petty.
"Anyone keen to play peacemaker?" joked Cedric, to which none of the boys around him seemed keen to participate.
Thankfully though, with their arrival it seemed as if whatever had been planned was set into motion with the nearby door swinging open of its own fruition. Silence reigned as the students peered inside to see dark red letters painted on the furthest most wall.
"Only the bravest of souls dare step foot inside. All who flee will forever be branded as cowards," read one of the Ravenclaw students. The sign was accompanied by a giant arrow pointing towards what looked like a trap door.
It took some time and jovial banter between the students before Cedric stepped forth, boldly proclaiming that he would be braver than the lions and take whatever challenge lie ahead. Even so, he couldn't help but feel the slightest touch of fear. After all, last year this corridor was strictly forbidden under fear of a most painful death. While the same warning hadn't been given at the start of this year, that didn't mean that the dangers beneath were still terrifying.
Little did any of the men realise that everything down there resembled nothing like it had the previous year. Every room had been altered and given the special Potter Club treatment after all.
...
Hope you enjoyed.