Disclaimer: Nothing fancy this time…the spotlight is saved for the chapter.
Parenting Class
Tea Party!
Sunshine filtered in through the dark emerald curtains, hitting the Slytherin directly in the face. Groaning, he turned onto his side to escape and buried his head into a pillow.
Heaving a gentle sigh, he was almost back asleep, when several annoying birds began to have a party outside his window. Wincing, Draco covered his ears and tried to drown out the high-pitched singing.
Tweet! Tweet Tweet! Tweet Tweeeeet!
Chirp! Chirppy! Chirpchirp!
Peeeeeep! Peep! Peep, peep, peep! Peep, peep, peep!
"THAT'S IT!" Draco snarled, stumbling out of his bed and marching over to the window. Throwing it open, he watched in satisfaction as the birds took immediate flight and disappeared to go bug someone else.
Normally, Draco wouldn't be in such a foul mood if he was awoken by a couple of bloody birds. But...it was a Wednesday! And that meant that he didn't have his first class until ten! And he could sleep in and relax. In other words... it was his first break since Hermione had turned into a monster.
But some stupid birds had just forced him to actually get up and therefore made his morning off to a rather grouchy start. Clambering back into bed, Draco pulled the covers up over his head, snuggling once more down into the soft folds of his blanket.
"Hi, Draco!" Hermione chirped, her head on the pillow next to him.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Harry came running into the room a second later, wand out and ready to strike down whatever the threat was. Seeing only Hermione and Draco, the latter of who was still screaming, he lowered it.
"DON'T DO THAT!" Draco thundered after he stopped screaming.
"I only said good morning," Hermione pouted.
"So she woke you up too?" Harry grinned. "Why don't you seem very happy?"
"It's Wednesday," Draco pointed out.
"And…that's so important, why?"
"We don't have class until ten! And I, for one, was planning on sleeping till then and now I can't!"
"Why not?" Hermione asked. "It's only seven thirty...you still have two and a half hours."
"Because," Draco growled, "I'm not tired anymore. You, the sun and the damn birds woke me up."
"Language," Harry reprimanded. Draco only glared.
"Look on the bright side," Hermione grinned. "Now you can play with me!"
"In that case, I'll try and go back to bed."
"Actually, I have news for you," Harry smiled mischievously. "You have the entire day off."
"That's nice," Draco mumbled, already pulling the blanket up over his head. "Wake me up at nine so I can still..." He broke off suddenly, the impact of Harry's words just hitting him. "You mean we have the whole day off?"
"Why would I lie? That's for Slytherins."
"But why?"
"Something about teacher institute day. They're all getting together to have a meeting about the classes and school, so we get the day off.”
Before Draco could say anything, Leviculus's voice sounded through the room. "There are several visitors here...would you like me to let them in?"
"Who are they?" Harry asked warily.
“Several friends of yours.”
“All right. Tell them to stay in the common room though.”
A few seconds later, Draco and Harry both winced as high pitched screaming reached their ears and much deeper yelling answered back.
“It’s Lavender!” Hermione squealed. “She came over to play!” With a huge smile, Hermione ran from the room to go greet her playmate.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Draco muttered, rubbing his ears and thanking Merlin silently that the yelling had stopped at Hermione’s appearance.
“Me too. Although, what are we afraid of?”
“Nothing,” Draco said firmly. “We’re the ones in charge here, right?”
“Right.”
“…”
“So why are we feeling unsafe again?”
“We’re not…are we?”
“I’m not sure.”
“This is getting us nowhere. Let’s head out.”
“You’re right. You can go first.”
“Oh no, I insist, you go first. I’ll watch your back.”
“It’s not my back I need watched…it’s my front.”
“You’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Draco assured.
“I’d much rather you go first.”
“But I insist that you go.”
“You go,” Harry growled.
“No, you!” Draco snapped, trying to push Harry out of the room.
Snarling, Harry locked arms with Draco and attempted to shove him out first, both circling around the room with their teeth bared at one another. “Okay,” Draco panted after several seconds of useless grappling. “We’ll go out at the same time.”
“Fine.” Both lined up at the door, about two feet from it. “On my count, okay?”
“Whatever.”
“Three.”
“Two,” chimed in Draco.
“I said my count, meaning my,” Harry grumbled. “One…and go!”
Both started forward, but at last second Draco pushed Harry out in front and the Gryffindor tumbled into the common room. “Don’t move,” Hermione cautioned, a wand pointed and aimed at Harry’s head as he lie on the floor.
Behind the child, Harry could see Ron being pinned down by Lavender, a large trunk on top of his legs effectively preventing him from kicking and duct tape over his mouth. Reaching forward, Hermione pulled Harry’s wand out of his pocket and threw it to Lavender.
“Why are you on the floor?” Draco asked, walking out of the room and not noticing Ron tied up in the corner.
“If you take one more step, I’ll hurt him,” Hermione warned, wand trained steadily on Harry. “Now, hand me your wand, Draco.”
“No.”
Hermione pressed Ron’s stolen wand against Harry’s forehead. “Want to repeat that? I do know some spells.”
“How would you know anything?” he scoffed.
“I read the entire book of The Standard Book of Spells by Miranda Goshawk.”
“And where’d you find that book?”
“I found it in Harry’s room,” Hermione clarified. “So, do yourself a favor and surrender your wand to me.”
“Do you mean do Harry a favor? I don’t think so…”
“We wouldn’t be in this situation if you’d just walked out with me,” Harry sneered.
“I told you to go first.”
“But we agreed that we’d walk out at the same time. And you pushed me!”
“Slytherin,” Draco smirked, that one word all the explanation in the world.
“Bastard is more like it.”
Draco’s mouth dropped in mock horror and even Hermione looked startled. “In front on the children, shame on you,” Draco scolded.
Realizing his error, Harry turned a deep red hue of embarrassment. “I meant something else…honest!”
“And you think I’m bad for using ‘damn’. Maybe you should get some soap in your mouth.”
“But that’s mean!”
“So? I had it done to me earlier.”
“You did? When?”
“When you were sleeping. A certain someone thought I needed punished for calling Pomfrey a bird.”
“A bird?”
“Well, I used a different word but I’m not going to say it in front of children.”
By now, Hermione was beginning to lose her patience. “Both of you be quiet and let me finish threatening you.”
“Sorry for interrupting,” Draco said cheekily. “Do continue.”
The girl stamped her foot and Harry was certain that if she’d been a cartoon character smoke would be pouring out of her ears. “Give me your wand or Harry will pay,” she threatened.
“Prove you can actually perform magic,” Draco insisted.
“Fine.” Pointing the wand, Hermione said quite calmly, “Adustum.” At once, flames shot up around Harry and he yelped, sliding himself away from the fire before it could catch to his clothes.
“Okay, fine,” Draco said, throwing his wand to the ground. “Now put the fire out.” With another wave of the wand, the flames disappeared, leaving only a large scorch mark on the carpeting.
“You made the right choice…welcome to the dark side,” Hermione grinned evilly.
“I’m not on the dark side or your side,” Draco countered. “I’m only saving Harry’s life…although I don’t really know why. He did call me such a nasty word. I think I’ll go get soap.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Hermione said. “Go sit down by Ron or face the consequences.”
“Ron’s here?” Draco repeated, looking around and spotting the subdued Gryffindor.
“How’d you let two girls get the better of you?” Harry asked, being walked over to his friend at wand point. Ron mumbled a reply through the gag. “I can’t understand you.”
Lavender peeled the tape off Ron’s mouth and went over to Hermione, both girls conversing quietly but still keeping the wands trained on the boys. “I walked into a trap,” he growled. “Lavender said she wanted to come down and play…that’s no problem. Terry asked if he could go hang out with some of his Ravenclaw friends. I said fine.”
“And you got into this mess…how?” Draco asked, examining his robes for any damage from the fire.
“Lavender asked me to carry this huge trunk,” he said, nodding at the one he’d pulled off his legs and was now sitting innocently next to him. “It’s from Pansy, to there’s nothing dangerous in it…at least, I hope not. Anyway, just as we were entering the room, the little brat stole my wand and cast a tripping jinx.”
“Where’d she learn that from?” Harry asked, quite puzzled.
“Probably from Hermione. Who else would teach it to her? So, I started screaming when she jumped on top of me and tried to get that weird sticky stuff over my mouth…what is that stuff?”
“Duct tape,” Harry said. “A muggle object.”
“Oh. And well, you know the rest…she finally managed to get me quiet when Hermione came out…and you two bloody idiots were nowhere to be seen and then you have some stupid argument about coming out a door.”
“Well, at least now we know why something didn’t feel right,” Draco smiled.
“May we have your attention, please?” Hermione asked, standing in front of the three. “We’d like to play a little game with you.”
“Game?” Draco asked. “What kind of game?”
“One you’re all going to love,” Lavender inputted. “But, to be on the safe side, we’ll hold onto your wands so you have to do what we say.”
“You’ve tainted her,” Ron cried, pointing at Lavender in horror. “Why Hermione, why? Lavender was so innocent…and you’ve ruined her.”
“Oh no. I’ve seen the error of being good and have switched to the evil side. Besides, they have moofins.” Lavender grinned.
“Moofins?” the trio chorused.
“Moofins, muffins, same thing,” Hermione said, waving the whole matter away. “But as it stands, Lavender has joined me and nothing you do will bring her back. I am her father.”
“…”
“What did she mean by that?”
“It’s from a movie,” Harry explained. “Although it’s a little different.”
“What movie?” Ron asked.
“Star Wars,” Harry said. “It’s one of Dudley’s favorites.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about that! Dad is obsessed with the skyplanes they have.”
“Do you mean spaceships?”
“Possibly.”
“Can we get back to what the game is?” Draco queried.
“Sure,” Hermione agreed. “Everyone, stop talking and let me finish…now that I have your attention, I’m pleased to announce we will be playing…any guesses?”
“I hate guessing games,” Draco stated.
“Me too,” Ron concurred.
“Harry?”
“I don’t like them either. Can’t you just tell us?”
“You ruin all the fun,” Hermione complained. “Oh well. The game is…tea party!”
“No way,” Draco protested, crossing his arms defensively across his chest. “You are not going to get me to play that.”
“It isn’t so bad,” Ron said. Harry and Draco looked at him wide-eyed.
“And how would you know?” Harry asked.
“When Ginny was little she loved to set her dolls up and serve them tea and little cookies. Mum made me play with her half the time, but it really wasn’t so bad. I even got to eat the cookies. Haven’t either of you played before?”
“No,” Harry said grumpily. “I really can’t see Dudley playing that and therefore, I never had too.”
“I played once and I’m never doing it again.”
“Did you play with the house elves?” Harry asked. “I thought you didn’t have any sisters.”
“No, although I wish. And you’re right, I don’t have any siblings.”
“Then who did you play it with?” Ron asked, the three once more ignoring Hermione.
“Pansy,” he said with a shudder. “Father and I went over to her house, this was when I was about six, and Pansy invited me to play tea party with me. And…I’m not saying the rest. It’s too embarrassing.”
“So, what do you say?” Hermione asked. “Tea party or torture?”
“How bad can it be?” Ron asked. “What do you guys say?”
“Since Pansy isn’t here…fine.”
“I’ll do it,” Harry sighed miserably.
“You just made a fatal mistake,” Lavender giggled, the seriousness of her remark lost by her laughter.
“Oh no, they’re all in for a rather enjoyable afternoon. And I’ve got a camera!” Hermione cheered, holding up Harry’s.
“That’s mine!”
“Finders keepers,” Hermione taunted, sticking her tongue out. “Now, go sit down at the table while Lavender and I get the tea party ready.”
“I don’t see what’s so bad about this,” Ron said, sinking into the couch cushions, Harry next to him and Draco in the armchair.
“Here’s cups!” Lavender bubbled, placing a set of blue and purple porcelain teacups on the table.
“And I have the teapot and cookies! And orange juice!” Hermione exclaimed. In a matter of minutes, the food had been laid out, tea made, and napkins placed.
“We still have to get dressed,” Lavender squealed. “Let’s go find some dresses!” Both raced over to the trunk, spent several minutes going through it and then ran into Hermione’s room.
“The cookies aren’t bad,” Harry announced, licking his fingers. “Very sweet.”
“And the tea is all right,” Ron declared. “Although a little sugar cream would be nice…”
“I don’t like this…” Draco muttered, staring at his tea. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“Ta da!” All three boys looked up to see Lavender and Hermione standing in front of them. Hermione was wearing a green and white plaid summer dress with large yellow sunflowers. Lavender had on a satiny dark purple dress with a large black boa wrapped around her neck.
“You both look very nice,” Harry complimented, knowing praise always worked well.
“Thank you,” Lavender laughed. “But first I want to ask you something. Do any of you recognize this? It fell out of the trunk…”
The nicer of the two evil girls handed a small photograph to Harry. In it, a little girl was wearing a bright pink frilly dress and chasing a small blond boy around the room, trying to zip up the back of the dress Lavender was currently wearing.
“Is that you?” Ron asked, mouth dropping.
“I can see why it was embarrassing,” Harry chuckled. “Did Pansy make you get all dressed up?”
“It isn’t funny,” Draco protested, a light pink color forming on both cheeks.
“I think we embarrassed him,” Hermione giggled, snapping a picture of the blushing Draco. “Now, time for you to get ready for the tea party too!”
“We are ready,” Ron said.
“You’re not dressed yet,” Lavender explained. “We picked out clothes for you. Now, I’ll bring you back and make sure you get dressed and Hermione will keep an eye on you other two. Ron, come with me.”
“What kind of clothes are we talking about?” Ron asked, as Hermione pushed him off the couch and walked him over to Lavender at wand point.
“Pretty ones,” the girls said in unison. And with that, Ron was led out of the room and into Hermione’s the door thudding closed behind him. Seconds later, screaming, which Harry and Draco identified as Ron’s, sounded as well as several curses that won’t be appearing for the rating would have to go up.
“I’m scared,” Harry whimpered.
Draco only nodded his head, too afraid to open his mouth. Several impatient minutes later, Lavender exited the room, Ron walking in front of her and staring at the floor. Harry, who’d been taking a sip of tea, spat it out in horror.
“Smile for the camera!” Hermione ordered. Ron didn’t. Sighing, the girl snapped the picture as Ron was and sent him in the direction of the couch. “What have they done to you?” Harry whispered, voice on the edge of hysteria.
Ron had been forced into a wedding gown, complete with veil and train. It was a rather low cut one with a sharp v-neck that went down to about four inches past his collarbone. Jeweled sequins were sewed into the cloth, little white bows on the puffy sleeves. Light purple flowers were intertwined with the veil and flowed all the way down the train.
“Someone kill me,” Ron moaned, putting his face in his hands.
“Your turn, Harry!” Lavender sang. “Come on, we haven’t got all day.”
“Try and console him,” Harry whispered to Draco as he was marched across the room by Hermione.
Draco looked at Ron. Ron looked up at Draco tearfully. “Run while you still can,” he said softly.
“I’m supposed to console you, not run…”
“Yes, but you can get help. Get Terry or Ginny…they have wands and will help us.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Now go!”
Draco judged the distance between himself and the portrait. About thirty feet. Hermione was in the middle, at about fifteen. If he could sprint like he’d never done before, somehow manage to get around her, and then he’d be free.
With a jump, Draco tore from the couch, feet pounding against the carpeting. Time slowed down as he ran, arms pumping furiously at his sides and legs flying through the air. And then, not even a foot before the portrait, the sensation of freedom stopped as he was tackled by Hermione, a wand thrust into his face.
“You,” she said dangerously, “have just gone against orders. And now you will have to pay.”
“I saved your life. You owe me,” Draco pointed out.
“You are in no position to attempt to bargain. As soon as Harry comes out, you will get to see the object of your demise.”
“Harry’s done!” Lavender said cheerfully, pushing Harry out of the room. Harry wasn’t as fancy as Ron. He had on a simple orange sundress with bright pink polka dots. And underneath, you could see a pair of red and gold boxers poking out. “Those were too long,” Lavender said, pointing at the boxers. “But he refused to take them off.”
“For good reasons,” Harry growled, itching his back where some frilly lace was irritating him.
“Smile for the camera!” Hermione bubbled. Harry scowled. “Why don’t any of you smile?” Hermione asked, after taking a picture of the frowning Harry. “It would look much better.”
“We don’t really feel like smiling,” Harry snarled.
“That’s too bad,” Hermione sniffled. “Well, come along, Draco. You can’t keep Lavender waiting.”
“Yes I can.”
But just as Harry and Ron had been carted off, Draco was too. The two Gryffindors bowed their heads as they heard screaming behind the closed door, and then utter silence. “What do you think happened to him?” Ron asked, pushing the veil farther up his head.
“No idea…I hope he’s all right.”
At that moment, the door opened and Lavender stepped out. “He fainted and I can’t get him out; he’s too heavy!”
“Fainted?” Harry and Ron repeated. Neither could imagine Draco doing so in any circumstance.
“Yup, I think I made the corset too tight.”
“You did what?” Ron screeched.
“Made the corset too tight,” Lavender repeated. “Harry, can you go get him? He has to join us for tea.”
The boy-who-lived obliged, and went into Hermione’s room. Lying on the floor, in a blood red ball gown was Draco, face a light shade of purple. “Hey, you okay?” Harry asked, kneeling down next to him, having to move several layers of petticoats and dress skirts out of the way.
“I…can’t…breathe…”
“I’m going to help you stand up, all right? Then I’ll loosen that thing.”
“Oh no you won’t,” Lavender hissed, appearing at Harry’s side. “Draco is being punished for trying to run away. You will leave the corset exactly as it is.”
“You’re killing him!”
“Nah, he’s all right. He just has to learn to take shallow breaths…those deep ones won’t work. Now come on, the tea is getting cold!”
“Okay, Draco. Take nice, little breaths. I’ll help you out to the couch.”
“It’d…be better…if…you just…killed…me…”
“You don’t mean that,” Harry consoled, draping one of Draco’s arms around his shoulder and slowly making his way out to the couch. “You can rest as soon as we reach the couch. Besides, women in previous eras wore corsets all the time…can’t you?”
“Problem is…I’m…not a…girl…”
“I know you aren’t. Look, we’re at the couch.” Gently, Harry helped Draco to collapse next to Ron and then seated himself on the other side of the red head.
“Draco isn’t any fun when he’s like this,” Hermione complained. “I’ll loosen them…just a bit so we can actually have a party.”
The Slytherin gave a happy sigh of relief as Hermione untied the cords and then put them in a loose bow, allowing him to draw in a solid lungful of air.
“Is everyone comfortable?” Lavender asked, sitting herself primly on the edge on an armchair.
“Can I take the veil off? I think I’m allergic to the flowers on it.”
“What do you think, Lavender?”
“It does look rather nice…although I don’t really want him to get sick…then he won’t be able to play with us as much.”
“Good point. Okay, you can take it off.” Happily, Ron did so. “Now that that’s settled, we all have to decide on names. Lavender and I made up names for you three.”
“Why do we need names?” Draco asked, attempting to roll up the sleeves but giving up when the material refused to bend to his will.
“You’re all girls, silly. So you have to have girl names.”
“GIRLS!” all three shouted at once.
“That’s right,” Lavender smiled, clapping her hands. “I’m Latifah!”
“And I’m Hazelle!”
“Draco, your new name is Darlita!”
“Darlita?” Draco echoed. “That’s awful! Why can’t I just stay Draco?”
“Because Draco is a boy’s name, that’s why,” Hermione growled. “Now, Ron, your new name is Rachelle! Isn’t it lovely?”
“I feel so lucky.”
“And Harry? Yours is Halima! Lavender thought it suited you.”
“It’s a pleasure to be having tea with all of you,” Lavender said. “Rachelle, would you be so kind as to pour us all tea?”
Deciding to humor the girls, Ron picked up the teapot and poured some into each cup. “There you are, Latifah and Hazelle.”
“Why, thank you Rachelle,” Hermione smiled, taking a dainty sip. “Darlita, could you cut us all a piece of cake?”
“No.”
Hermione and Lavender’s eyes flashed, and wands were suddenly aimed at Draco.
“Just humor them,” Ron whispered. “It’ll prevent any further injury.”
“Fine,” Draco grumbled, picking up the knife and cutting the small chocolate frosted cake into five equal pieces and placed one on each plate.
Little did any of the boys know that Hermione and Lavender were taking pictures at a rapid pace, the flash turned off so no one would be alerted of the constant clicking.
“Thanks Darlita!” Lavender chirped. “Mmmm, this cake is so yummy! What do you think, Halima?”
“Delicious,” Harry agreed, taking another bite. “Who made it?”
“Pansy did. When I told her Hermione and I were planning on hosting a tea party, she gave us all of this stuff. The dresses we’re wearing she used to dress up in and the ones you’re all wearing had an enlargement charm cast on them so they’d fit.”
“I am going to kill Pansy once I get my hands on her,” Draco snarled, hands clenching into fists at his sides. “That…that…bird!”
“Is bird a bad word?” Lavender questioned.
“No, Draco’s just using it in place of some other word,” Harry smiled nervously.
At that moment, Leviculus spoke. “There are several others outside wanting to come in. Shall I?”
“No!” Harry cried. “Don’t open that portrait!”
“Too bad I have the password,” Ginny sang as the portrait swung open and she stepped in, followed by Pansy and Blaise. “What are you all doing over…here?”
Her eyes had lighted on the boys, and a smile began to tug on her lips. “This isn’t funny,” Ron said crossly. “Make them give us back our wands!”
“Please, Rachelle. Don’t raise your voice at the table,” Hermione reprimanded.
“Would you like to join us?” Lavender asked. “There are more then enough cookies to go around.”
“I’d love to,” Ginny grinned, sitting down on the floor in front of Harry’s feet. “Beautiful dress you have there, Draco,” she smirked. “And Ron, the wedding gown is lovely.”
“Would you like a cookie, Blaise?” Hermione asked eagerly, holding out a plate to the shy, black haired boy. The boy shook his head. “Just one? They’re really good!”
Slowly, Blaise took a singe cookie, the smallest one, out of the tin. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Hermione asked. “Come sit down with us…don’t worry, you don’t have to get dressed up.”
Looking at Pansy, who gave a go ahead nod, Blaise sat down a few paces from Ginny and simply ate his cookie.
“This is blackmail for life,” Pansy crowed, taking out her own camera and snapping several pictures. “Oh, maybe I should post them around school!”
“If you do that, I’ll do everything in my power to make your life a living hell,” Draco threatened.
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Just watch me.”
“Okay. I’ll do that.” Both Slytherins glared at each other, before Pansy finally looked away and Draco smirked in satisfaction.
“Can we get out of these dresses now?” Harry asked, as politely as he could.
“What do you think? Should we let them?”
“I don’t know,” Hermione mused. “How about, I’ll ask all of you a different question about something out of the book I read. If you get it right, then you’re free to take them off. Who wants to go first?”
“Me!” Harry said quickly.
“Okay…what’s the incantation to unlock something?”
“Alohamora.”
“You’re free to go. Now who?”
“I’ll go,” said Ron.
“Okay…what’s the incantation for setting things on fire?”
“Let me think…you used it today…Audio? Add? Adustum?”
“Final answer?”
“Adustum, final answer.”
Hermione pouted. “Go change. Draco, your question is…who’s the book by?”
“That’s not a fair question!”
“No, it is. The name of the author is in the book. Right Ginny, Pansy?”
“It’s a fair question, sorry Draco,” Pansy snickered. “Go ahead and answer it.”
“But I don’t know it!”
“Then you have to stay in your dress until bedtime!”
“No! You can’t make me!”
“I have your wand.”
“And I don’t care! I’m getting out of this stupid dress!”
And so, several minutes later all three boys were once more back in their normal clothes, wands safely back in hand. (Draco did have to wrestle it away from Hermione though and his hair had been turned bright orange in the process from a spell shooting off the tip of the wand.)
Currently, Harry was sitting comfortably on the couch next to Ginny, enjoying some ‘quiet time’. “Can you two please get a room?” Ron asked, shielding his eyes from the make out session. “This is just really awkward.”
Smiling, Harry and Ginny disappeared into Harry’s bedroom, the door closing behind them with a snap. Next to Ron, Draco was muttering furiously to himself and casting different charms on his head. “I can’t go out like this!” he cried, pointing to the pumpkin hair. “Someone fix this!”
Lavender and Hermione were packing up Pansy’s trunk, Blaise watching them silently and nibbling on his cookie that he still hadn’t finished. Pansy was across the room looking at the assortment of books on the shelves.
“Okay, that wasn’t the charm I wanted,” Draco muttered, his hair now frozen to his head. “I supposed I’d better melt it.”
“That looks like it hurts,” Hermione commented as Draco’s head lit on fire and the Slytherin ran screaming for the bathroom. Butterscotch, now free from the bathroom, raced out and jumped up on the table, happily devouring the remaining cookies.
“Okay…that’s it!” Draco shouted from the bathroom door, hair dripping wet with a blackened look to it, although it was back to blond. “Everyone, it’s time for you to go.”
“Aww,” Lavender sulked. “But I don’t wanna go yet.”
“You’re coming,” Ron stated, hopping off the couch and scooping the child into his arms. “Terry is going to hear about this.”
“Time for us to go, Blaise,” Pansy announced, levitating her trunk. “Say good bye to everyone.” The child gave a tiny wave and then fell into step beside Pansy, both leaving a second later.
Draco knocked once on Harry’s door and threw it open. “I hate to interrupt this kissing session, but it’s time for Ginny to go. We have a lot of homework to…”
The Slytherin paused as he noticed both had vanished, the sound of the portrait closing seconds later. “Ditching, huh?” he muttered. “Fine then…I’ll watch her.”
And surprisingly, watching Hermione the rest of the afternoon wasn’t hard. She was perfectly content to curl up on the couch next to Draco, sometimes using him as a pillow, and read some of the books for beginning spells while Draco did his homework.
“Draco?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m…I’m sorry about earlier.”
“About what?”
“I’ve been trying really hard not to hurt you or Harry…and I did hurt you today. I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted,” Draco grinned, ruffling her hair.
“Hey! You messed it up!”
“Go get your brush…I’ll fix it.” Happily, Hermione obliged.
“Can you put it in a braid? Oooh, a French braid would be nice!”
“I’ll try,” Draco chuckled. “Now sit still, okay?”
And so, when Harry came back after the entire afternoon out with Ginny, he found Hermione sound asleep, one hand fisted in Draco’s shirt and the other loosely holding her book, a long braid hanging off the side of the couch.
“You have some explaining to do,” Draco stated. “You know you’re not supposed to leave like that!”
“Sorry, but Ginny and I wanted to head out for a while…”
“Next time, just tell me, got it?”
“Yes, Sir,” Harry saluted. “How’s she been?”
“Quiet as a mouse almost. It looks like her tea party tired her out.”
“Well, we have dinner in a little bit…we all kind of skipped lunch.”
At the mention of food, Hermione shifted in sleep and then cracked open an eye. “It’s dinner time?”
“That’s right,” Harry said cheerfully. “Let’s go get you something to eat.”
The three made their way towards the Great Hall, Draco staring at several students strangely as they pointed and laughed. “What’s so funny?” he asked, after glaring silent a fourth year Ravenclaw.
“I think that,” Harry said, pointing at a picture on the wall, another one several feet down. In it, Draco, Harry and Ron were all in their dresses and drinking tea. “Pansy,” Draco hissed, eyes narrowing down to slits.
“Let’s not get to hasty,” Harry said quickly.
But Pansy chose that second to appear from a lower hallway. As if she could feel Draco, she turned…and screamed as Draco charged.
“I’ve taught him so much,” Hermione sighed, a dreamy expression on her face. “Look at him go…perfect stance, great leg work…”
“HELP ME!” Pansy screeched, racing down the hall with Draco hot on her heels.
“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”
Pansy, noticing Snape coming down the corridor, ran and hid behind him. “Uncle Sev, you have to help me!”
“He’s my uncle, not yours!” Draco snapped. “Get away from him!”
“No, he’s mine!”
“Mine!”
“Mine!”
Both had now grabbed onto one of Snape’s arms and were tugging him each time they yelled ‘mine’, to emphasize their point. “ENOUGH!” Snape bellowed, yanking his arms out of the duo’s reach. “Twenty points from Slytherin and both of you have detention tonight. See Mr. Filch after dinner for your assignment.”
“You can’t give me detention,” Draco wailed. “I’m your godson!”
“I’m sorry, Draco. But I cannot let you simply walk away. Have a nice evening.”
“This is all your fault,” Draco snapped at Pansy as soon as Snape was out of earshot. “You got me in detention!”
“Me? You’re the one who tried to kill me!”
“Because you posted those pictures!”
Pansy smirked. “Don’t you like them? You look so good in a dress.”
With a growl, Draco tackled his fellow Slytherin and they went tumbling down a staircase, both trying to strangle the other to no avail. “Draco sure is making a scene,” Hermione commented. “He’s doing very nicely.”
“Making a scene is not good,” Harry corrected. “It’ll only make it more embarrassing in the end. How about, while they’re fighting, we go take down all the pictures?”
“Okay!”
After about a good half hour of scouring the castle, Harry and Hermione had found every single picture and torn it down, all then being burned. “Ready to go get dinner now?” Harry asked.
Hermione’s stomach rumbled an answer. “I think that’s a yes.”
When the two arrived at the Great Hall, neither Pansy nor Draco were anywhere to be seen. “Have you seen Draco?” Harry asked, sliding onto the bench next to Ginny.
“Did I ever,” she laughed. “They’re both in the Hospital Wing right now. Draco broke Pansy’s arm by the sounds of things…and she broke his ankle.”
“Are they out of detention then?”
“Nope! Pomfrey told them that they could serve detention under her guide…so they’re doing something in the Hospital Wing. Although I don’t know what…that’s all I heard the teachers talking about.”
“Can we go up and see them?” Harry asked.
“We’re not supposed to. They’re being punished for fighting like that…but I think they’ll both be staying the night.”
“Well, Hermione’s pretty tired. She shouldn’t be a problem.”
“You might want to rethink that,” Ginny said softly, pointing at the child.
Hermione was stuffing her mouth full of cookies from a platter by her right elbow, paying no mind at all to the salads or pastas set out down the middle of the table. “Thesecookiesareawesome!Youshouldtrysome,Harry!” Hermione bubbled, bouncing up and down in her seat. “Ilovethesecookies!”
Harry moaned. He was going to be in for a long night.
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