Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

...

Susan Bones sat amongst her peers of the Potter Fan Club, may of the the young women opting to discuss what they planned to do over the coming break. It was only a month away and of course that made it the hottest topic of conversation. The fact that it was so close to the end of term meant that a number of their members had opted to spend this time studying for their upcoming exams.

Susan herself felt that she was relatively confident with how she would go in the upcoming tests so she wasn't overly worried for most of her subjects. The only one she was a little cautious of was Potions but she knew no matter how much she studied for that exam it wouldn't help her get over her nerves.

Professor Snape just creeped her out. Thankfully she knew that what she had learnt studying Potions over at Beauxbatons would be more than enough to help her through.

"So Susan," said Isabelle Lionheat, the third year student as she came over and took a seat next to the second year Hufflepuff. "Have you given much thoughts to what electives you're going to pick up next school year?"

"Well," started Susan with a sole finger coming up and scratching at her cheek. "I'm kind of interested in Muggle Studies. I know it's not what my aunt will expect me to do but she took me to see a moo vee. Instead of having actual people in it though it was all done with anima chion."

"Animation," corrected Isabelle with a kind smile. "I can't say that Professor Burbage will teach that specifically but there'd be no harm in asking. It's kind of amazing what muggles have managed to accomplish without magic so there's no harm in taking that as one of your topics. How about Divination as your second pick?"

"I don't know, I'm not really one for wanting to know what the future will hold for me," admitted Susan.

"You said it girl," Ruth Luddle, one of the fifth years who had organized the fashion show months prior. "My friends convinced me to take Divination and I never wanted to quit a class so badly. I mean it's easy grades but the fortunes that you read are either really poor or you end up spending hours trying to figure out just what the tea leaves in your cup mean. Most of the time it's something regarding a mild annoyance and nothing worth foreshadowing in the first place. I much rather have picked up Arithmancy or Ancient Runes."

"There's no need to rush into a decision though," assured Isabelle. "Take all the time you need, ask your friends what they're doing."

"Though don't let them pressure you into something you don't want to do," said Ruth.

"Thanks," said Susan, offering her two seniors a small smile.

"So what movie did you go and see?" asked Isabelle.

Susan paused before she answered, knowing full well that if she was to say that she had gone to the movies with Harry it would be seen as an act of war in the eyes of some of those around her. Even though it wasn't seen as such by her at the time, many of those in the area would have called the act of the two of them being together a date. Even though it wasn't that in any form. It was just the two of them hanging out as friends, while her aunt supervised.

"We went and watched Beauty and the Beast," she said after her momentary pause.

"Ooohh, what was it about?" asked Ruth, intrigued by the title alone.

It didn't take long before the entirety of the room was gathered around as Susan did her best to recall the twists and turns of the movie to the best she could. Her audience was captivated throughout and did not make a sound until the end. At least with this much attention being put towards her story they weren't enquiring about her progress with Harry was going.

Or, as many of her peers had begun to notice, the lack of progress.

It hadn't gone unnoticed that the time she spent with Harry in any sort of situation had dwindled down to basically nothing. While nothing had been outwardly spoken, the general belief was that Harry and Susan had broken up at some stage. The fact that Susan hadn't even mentioned Harry's nam in recent meetings further proved this theory.

Consequently, a few of the more upfront members of their group had resumed their attempts to kidnap Harry for their own purposes. When knowledge of this had become public to the rest of the group, Susan, again, had remained silent on the matter, furthering the belief that they were no longer a couple.

No matter how much she wished for it to be so. If only she could summon some of that Gryffindor courage and ask Harry out! But how? How!

...

Ever since that day she had been brought in front of the teachers, Penelope Clearwater had been dreading this day. It seemed as if Potter Club's next event was nearing it's date and she would be required to be the centerpiece.

Part of her simply wished to walk away from it all but she didn't dare paint a larger target on her back. Potter Club had deemed this to be her punishment and if she chose to run from it then there was no telling what they or the Hogwarts staff would do instead.

All because of how petty she had been.

Penelope had been spending countless nights thinking about both her actions and the thought process which had pushed her into those actions in the first place. As loathe as she was to admit it, acting out as she had over something so juvenile had jeopardized her future in such a way that she truly hoped the truth never came out. All because her time as an exchange student hadn't gone as she had wished.

Was she truly so shallow? That question had plagued her mind for countless sleepless nights. Did she truly not have any room in her school life to enjoy the lighter side of magic?

...

"I am so not ready for these tests," complained Ron as he sat in the library, having been dragged off with Dean and Neville in an attempt to get some extra study done.

"Maybe if you had spent some of that time you had with Lavender studying instead of gossiping then you may not find yourself in such a predicament," said Dean, not looking up from the book he was reading.

"I think the sheer fact that you've managed to keep Lavender as your girlfriend all this time is a testament to the belief that if Ron is able to put his mind to something, he can achieve it. As such, if you put your mind to passing the exams, then you'll do it. Preferably without looking over at someone else's answers," dissed Neville.

"Shut up," said Ron weakly, turning the page over.

"Hey, does anyone else hear that mumbling?" asked Dean, moving his head slightly as if to try and increase his sense of hearing.

"A bit, yeah," said Neville, turning his attention in the direction he thought it was coming from.

The three boys found themselves leaning severely to the side to be able to look down the nearby aisle to see their peer in Susan Bones. The young woman looked in an upright state of confusion, muttering incoherently as she marched about in a small circle as if trying her best to figure out the most difficult conundrum ever produced.

"Do you think she needs...help?" asked Neville.

"I don't think anything we say could help her," said Dean, opting not to find himself in whatever that was. Smartly, the other two boys chose the path of study as that was a far simpler task.

...

"Hello Harry."

Harry couldn't help but smile the instant he heard the incredibly recognisable voice. "Greetings Luna," he said as he turned to face the blonde haired girl. "To what do I owe the pleasure."

"I have an invitation for you," said Luna, holding out her hand which contained a folded up piece of parchment.

"An invitation?" asked Harry as he raised a singular eyebrow in intrigue. "To what am I being invited to?"

"Dinner with my family during the holidays," said Luna. "On that parchment is our address so that you can floo there when we decide on a date. You're fine with communicating by owl yes?"

"Of course."

"That's good, leprechauns aren't the best at passing notes on."

Harry simply let that comment slide without trying to ponder on it anymore than necessary. "So are you inviting me or..."

"My mother is, she wishes to speak to you in person."

"That's nice to hear and I assure you that I will make my way to your home sometime during the break. Be sure to let your parents know."

"Will do. Shall I inform my mother that fate is, as you put it so long ago, still your bitch?"

Harry silently hoped he wasn't in trouble with Luna's parents for teaching her that word in the first place. "Very much so," he answered.

"Good to know. Take care Harry," said Luna before she skipped away, humming a merry tune. Harry meanwhile remained in place, his forefinger and thumb playing with the small piece of parchment in his grasp. He would very much be visiting the Lovegood resilience over the break. Pandora, Luna's mother, was definitely somebody that he wished to have a nice chat with.

"Potter, there you are," came forth another all too familiar voice.

"Why does it seem that everybody is currently looking for me?" muttered Harry to nobody in particular. "How can I help Malfoy?"

"I'm not here in need of your services," stated Draco, stopping himself a handful of feet away from where Harry was standing. "However I deemed it necessary to inform you that my father has made contact with me and will be returning to the country within the coming days."

"Did he provide news into the health of his relative?" asked Harry, being courteous.

"He did not say in his letter whether he left his relative in good health or not."

"For the moment, let us assume that no news is good news," said Harry. Before Draco could say anything else, Harry whipped out his wand, spinning on the spot as he did so and formed a large shield spell just in time for a beam of red light to collide against it harmlessly.

"Damn it, run, run," shouted a couple of girls from the opposite end of the corridor as they made their escape before they could be identified.

"Umm, do I want to know what just happened?" asked Draco.

"The short version is, there's a handful of teenage girls in this school who have taken an almost fanatical liking to me and are regularly trying to blindside me in an effort to drag me off to a classroom somewhere. When taken there, their actions can, and have, ranged from trying to get me to kiss them, trying to get me out of my clothes and in a few random instances, just want to have a seat and chat with them privately," answered Harry.

"That's the short version?" Draco inquired. "And you make it sound as if these things have occurred to you on more than one occasion."

"I've gotten pretty good at sensing some of their incoming magic, it's just whether or not I'm fast enough to react," said Harry with a shrug. "I'm attacked twice, sometimes three times a week."

"And you haven't thought to bring this up with a teacher?" asked Draco as the two of them started walking down the halls.

"And rid myself of this entertainment? It's not like they're trying to curse me or anything and if they manage to whisk me away I manage to sneak away without too much trouble."

"You're a weird one Potter."

"It did stop for a while when the rumors that Susan and I were dating began. But since they've noticed that the two of us don't actually spend any time together since the first week back from the Christmas break, their attacks have started again. It's a bit annoying but it is what it is."

"You know, most people who get attacked twice a week wouldn't call such instances annoying."

"Yeah, but those kinds of people are awfully dull most of the time. Who doesn't want a bit of chaos in their lives?"

"People who actually enjoy their position in social gatherings."

"Five points to Slytherin."

"Shut up Potter."

...

Penelope looked around at the sheer number of students that had gathered, students from different grades and houses mingling together without any sort of animosity. Unlike herself however, from what she could hear from the conversations they were sharing, the students in attendance were because they had been singled out and invited and hence chose to come of their own accord.

Were they aware of just what they were about to be put through? Or did they simply revel at the opportunity to be a part of Potter Club's next presentation?

Regardless of their reasoning as to why they were there, when the door opened up to grant them access to the room they had gathered by it truly didn't matter. Penelope knew that if they were here for their own entertainment there was nothing she could say or do to dissuade them. However, if these students were here to have fun, perhaps she could try enjoying herself a little bit as well.

...

"Well, I wasn't sure what Potter Club had meant when he had stated he wished to put on an Art Exhibit but there you go," admired Dumbledore as he walked through the designated hallway with Minerva and Filius by his side.

"Is this...Muggle art?" asked Minerva in curiosity as she looked at one of the students who had taken part in the event.

Or at least she assumed it was a student.

The person on display was unidentifiable by all counts, their entire body being covered with an odd material which prevented her from telling the student's age, let alone anything that would have given her a clue as to who they were. If she were to compare it to anything in particular she would have to say that the person in front of her best resembled a mannequin that would be used in a shop window.

"Remarkable," said Flitwick, analyzing the charm work at play. "The students seem to be in a state of stasis, frozen in position but very much aware of what's happening around them. They are very much conscious at this moment in time and undoubtedly can hear everything that is being said."

"So do you believe this student chose this position or had it chosen for them?" questioned Dumbledore. The position he was indicating was the fact that the student appeared to have a history of dance lessons to their background, ballet if he wasn't mistaken. The student had been balancing on the point of a single foot while their outstretched arms looked as if they were reaching for something they knew was out of reach.

"I believe the Muggle saying is that a picture says a thousand words but a living statue can grant us our imagination as to the story at hand," beamed Flitwick. "Do you believe that they are grasping at the back of someone whom refused their love?"

"If we were to try and break down the symbolism of each and every student we would be here for quite some time," said McGonagall as she looked down the corridor. On each side of the hallway stood the better part of a dozen students, each one frozen in a position different from the rest. A number of them as well had splashes of paint strewn across them in inconceivable patterns which only added to the story they were telling.

"Speaking of time, I can only imagine it took quite some time to set all of this up," said Albus. "Quite some time in which the members of Potter Club worked without being noticed or spied upon by other students or members of the faculty."

"Are you saying that they had help?" asked Filius as the three members of staff moved to the next student frozen in place.

"Not necessarily," said Dumbledore. "I believe that a flier in each of the common rooms announcing that this exhibit would be open from a certain time would prevent a majority of students from arriving before the allotted time. Other members of the club could have distracted anybody beforehand into going a different direction as to ensure that the reveal wasn't spoiled. For while we have met the ringleader of Potter Club, we do not have the slightest clue as to how many members there truly are. And I for one, have no intention of finding out."

The twinkle in Albus' eye was almost radiant as he looked at the sheer number of students gathered in attendance. If a couple dozen students were on display, the number of children here browsing Potter Club's latest offering numbered close to triple digits, if not more. As the leader had put it so long ago, if their goal was to make magic magical then they were doing a splendid job of it.

...

The closing feast had come to an end with the Hogwarts students well aware of the fact that they would be returning home the following morning. Traditionally this meant that the evening would be spent with a great deal time spent to making plans to try and catch up with one another over the brief period before the following school year would begin.

Susan Bones however still had one final test she needed to complete. A test of courage.

She was more than aware that Harry would be spending the Summer with her in her aunt's house but if she was to ask him this question in such a setting she doubted that she herself would find joy in it. The objective could very well be accomplished but her own level of strength wouldn't grow.

It had to be now.

"Harry," she called out to her friend as he was about to leave the Great Hall.

"Hey Susan, what's up?" he asked as he turned to face her.

Susan took a deep breath as she looked at Harry, the question she wished to ask on the tip of her tongue. She feared that as soon as she tried to utter those words something chaotic would happen and it would ruin her chance. Having paused for that extra moment, she found herself somewhat surprised that nothing had happened. Even with a majority of the students still sitting in the Great Hall, nothing had happened that would prevent her from asking the question she so desperately wished to ask.

"Are you oka..."

"Harry Potter, will you go out with me?"

Susan's words echoed throughout the hall and numerous students and staff alike went silent, their attention drawn to the spectacle that was going on in front of them. They needed to know what Harry's response would be.

Harry looked Susan in the eyes with a soft gaze as a gentle smile spread across his lips.

He gave his answer.

...

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