"Oh shit, oh shit," Harry muttered to himself. He heard Pansy still retching in the bathroom and was just on the edge of needing to go join her. He kicked off his shoe and a wave of nausea hit him. He started to take a deep breath to try to calm his nerves only for the atrocious smell to remind him that that was a terrible idea. "What the fuck do I do now?"
"Master Harry sir!" Dobby was standing to his left, tugging on his sleeve. "Dobby knows what to do!"
"Alright, what?"
"Master should use a spell to make the bad bug lady's body smaller."
"Smaller? You mean a shrinking charm? Will that work?"
"Magic will be much easier to use now on her. Bug lady isn't a witch, just a dead body."
"Okay, I'll give it a shot. Reducio!"
Sure enough, the squashed corpse of Rita Skeeter shrunk down to the size of an action figure. Or at least, an action figure that had been flattened. Dobby then popped in with a metal bucket, and a thick rag that he scooped up the body with, setting it in the bucket. Dobby used his elf-magic to start cleaning the floor and Harry ran for the bathroom.
Thankfully, Pansy had finished vomiting and flushed. She was now rinsing her mouth out repeatedly over the sink. Harry's stomach had enough by then and he began throwing up as soon as he reached his target.
"Oh fucking hell Harry. What are we going to do now?" She asked once Harry's heaving was under control. As soon as he could, Harry stood up and went for the sink to rinse his mouth out and splash some water on his face.
"Dobby said he knew what to do."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, he had a good idea too."
"Do I want to know?"
"Maybe not. Why don't you wait in the bedroom while I go check and see what he's done?"
"Alright. I'm going to look for spells to help with that awful fucking smell."
"Good idea."
Pansy started to look through their books of spells while Harry ventured back out into the living room. The smell was still pretty bad, but Dobby had almost finished cleaning up the mess.
"Holy shit. Great work, Dobby."
"Thank you, master Harry!"
"What do we do about her dead body though?"
"Dobby will take care of it, master. Don't worry."
The elf put the finishing touches on cleaning the floor and then stepped over to clean the bottom of Harry's shoe. The murder weapon, Harry thought rather morbidly. He shook that strange thought off as a snort of manic laughter tried to escape. He looked back over at Dobby and realized once again just how much he relied on the little guy.
"Are you sure?"
"Dobby has had to get rid of dead bodies before," the elf replied with a downcast look.
"Oh. Fuck. You mean the Malfoys?"
"The bad old master made Dobby get rid of three different bodies. The first time, the old master went with Dobby to make sure it was done right. The other two times, Dobby was ordered to do it right or face horrible punishments."
"Oh crap, I'm so sorry, Dobby." Harry kneeled down and hugged his friend. "What can I do to help?"
"It will be alright, master Harry. Let Dobby take care of this. Trust Dobby."
"You know I do, Dobby." Harry stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "Just be careful, okay?"
"Of course!" Dobby shouted gleefully as he disappeared with a pop, the metal bucket in his hand.
Harry walked across the room to the far wall and opened up the door that led to a small balcony. It was cold as hell outside even with the sun still up for another hour or so, but the winter wind was something he would just have to put up with to try to air out the main room of their quarters.
He shivered briefly and walked back inside, heading for the bedroom.
Pansy was sitting on the bed with four books spread out beside her and a fifth in her hand.
"Find anything?"
"It's a good thing you decided to just buy Goshawk's entire set."
"Well, we're going to get to them all eventually, and it was a better deal. I take it you found something in one of the later years?"
"The Bubble-Head Charm should be what we need. We wouldn't have learned it till next year normally."
"Alright, let's figure it out."
"Is everything okay with Dobby?"
"Yeah, umm..."
"What?"
"The thing is, he has apparently had to do this before. Lucius Malfoy made him get rid of bodies on three occasions."
"Bloody fucking hell. Why am I not surprised? Poor Dobby."
"Yeah. I am definitely going to do something nice for him after this. Assuming I can get him to tell me what I can do for him, that is."
Half an hour later, Harry and Pansy had both just about gotten the Bubble-Head Charm down. Necessity made them work hard at perfecting it as quickly as they could. The shape itself wasn't too hard, but making it last very long took a while longer to master.
They eventually went out to the balcony to get some fresh air and each cast the charm one more time. When they stepped back inside, neither of them could smell anything foul through the fish bowl like magic surrounding their heads.
Dobby popped back in and began laughing immediately. They looked at each other and could only shrug. It was rather goofy looking.
"Is everything taken care of Dobby?"
"Oh yes," the elf replied as he failed to fight off the giggles. "Dobby can take care of the bad smell too."
"Of course you can," Harry sighed. "What would we do without you, Dobby?"
"Look like silly fish-people, master Harry!"
"I guess we would." He turned to Pansy who just walked over to the couch and sat down.
"This has been one really fucking crazy day," she said, shakily. "I can't believe just right over there-"
"I know. I don't think I'm going to get that image out of my head any time soon."
"I almost wish we could obliviate each other."
"Well, I could obliviate you," Harry suggested.
"But then you would still remember it. We really need to keep this secret though. If either of us has to remember, it should be me since I'm better at Occlumency than you."
"I don't want to make you remember seeing that."
"Secret magic," Dobby suggested.
"Secret magic?"
"Like master Harry's parents used. Keep a secret hidden."
"The Fidelius Charm? We could try that I guess, but I know it isn't in any of the normal school books," Harry said.
"I guess we might need to make another late night trip to the Restricted section."
They went to the library that afternoon and sat with Luna for awhile as she finished a Potions essay for professor Slughorn. Harry was looking through every advanced book of Charms he could find, just in case he didn't need to sneak into the Restricted section.
Down an aisle, a pair of dark brown eyes watched the trio interacting as an idea began to form.
Pansy had decided to split their research time by searching for books that might be of some help while Harry skimmed through them. Neither of them could really speed read, but Harry was a bit quicker than her. It was too bad that Granger wasn't there, as she would have been a big help. Of course, that's assuming that Pansy would trust her with something like this- which she wouldn't.
Luna's stomach rumbling caught Harry's attention.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"Just after seven."
"Dinner time then. I'll have to finish this later." Luna began packing her things. "Are you coming Harry?"
"I'm not really hungry right now. Pansy and I will get something later. Would you tell Hermione not to wait for us?"
"Sure."
The blonde Ravenclaw left the table and waved goodbye to Pansy who was down a nearby aisle putting a book away and searching for another that might be promising.
"Padma, will you do me a favor?"
"Of course."
Pansy peeked through a crack to the next aisle where the Patil twins were quietly talking.
"Do you know Luna Lovegood?" Parvati asked.
"Not really. I know who she is- it's kind of hard to miss with how often she's right next to the dreamboat. She's got some pretty out there ideas about magical creatures. Other than that, I just know the other girls in her year are now terrified of her for some reason."
"Oh, I can explain that," Parvati answered. "It's actually Harry they're terrified of. They were bullying Luna. Harry found out about it and threatened them. He really hates bullies. After all the crap he dealt with from Snape and Malfoy, you can't blame him."
"I still can't believe what Snape did. Bad enough to betray a life debt like that, but then to constantly attack Harry too? I was horrified to see what happened to Snape, but I understand why Harry called for his judgment. Plus, Slughorn is such a great teacher. The difference is like night and day."
"Tell me about it. Between the Slytherins sabotaging his work and Snape constantly harassing him, Neville used to have a cauldron melt down at least once a month. It hasn't happened at all this year."
"Oh, is there anything else you should tell me about Mr. Longbottom, sister of mine?" Padma asked with a small laugh.
"Hardly," Parvati huffed. "He was pleasant enough at the Yule Ball, but you know who I wanted to go with."
"You did get a turn on the dance floor in his arms, didn't you? That still makes you luckier than almost everyone in the school."
"Just not lucky enough. But Harry's such a sweet guy that maybe I'll win him over."
"Pansy won't like that. I've seen some of the looks she gives other girls who are clearly interested in Harry. She's pretty scary- like she would gladly disembowel anyone who tried to get close to her man."
"If you think that's bad, you should have seen the way Harry was glaring at Nott earlier. I wouldn't be surprised if Harry challenged him to a duel. Or maybe arranged some sort of fatal accident."
"You think Harry would be that sneaky?"
"I think Pansy would, and Harry listens to her advice," Parvati replied. "But we've gotten off topic. I was going to ask you to help keep an eye on Luna since you're in Ravenclaw with her."
"Why?"
"Just to make sure that no one else gives her any problems. Harry is very protective of her. I know a big part of why he fell out with Ron was that he was so rude to Luna."
"You're hoping that helping his friends will get Harry's attention," Padma suggested. "I don't think it will work, sis."
"Well you didn't want to seduce him with me when I suggested that last year. As if any guy could have resisted twins. Although, Pansy might have already had her hooks in him even then."
Parvati sighed while Padma shook her head at her twin's persistence.
"I will try to make sure no one's bothering Luna."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it. I'm a bit worried about you though. I think you're getting too fixated on Harry. I mean, I get it. Really, I do. But he's taken, and I just don't want to see you get your hopes crushed."
"Don't worry about me, sis. Sit with me for breakfast tomorrow?"
"Sure. I've got to grab a couple more books tonight though. See you later."
"Bye."
Pansy slowly walked around to the other side, giving Padma time to get far enough away so that she could have some privacy with Parvati.
"Thank you for having her look out for Luna," Pansy said, making Parvati spin around in surprise.
"Oh crap. I guess you heard all that?"
Pansy nodded with a devious little grin.
"Let's go for a walk."
Parvati gulped but held her head up high as Pansy led her out of the library and into a nearby empty classroom.
"Look, I know Harry's with you, but-"
"Don't worry about it. I understand. If I were in your place, I would want him too."
"Really? You're not going to attack me?"
"Not right now," Pansy said with a smirk. "I've had enough crap to deal with today. And I really do appreciate you wanting to make sure that Luna is alright. She's my best friend, as strange as that may seem."
"You two are a pretty big... uh, contrast?"
"Yes, contrast," Pansy acknowledged with a wicked little grin. "You apparently didn't hear the whole story though, about Harry and Luna. Those fucking cunts in her year are awful. When Harry found Luna, they had stunned her and left her in an empty room while also stealing her wand, her shoes, and an earring. Just because she's kind of strange- she didn't deserve that. But then we get to the best part."
"Do I want to know?"
"You remember what happened to Lucius Malfoy?"
"I don't think I could forget. My heart stopped when he fired the killing curse at Harry," Parvati replied.
"Mine did too," Pansy agreed. "Anyway, Harry told those girls that the next time one of them decided to pick on Luna that they would be answering to him and that the last person who crossed him bled to death in the Great Hall. One of the girls pissed themselves."
"Oh shit," Parvati snickered. "Harry can be pretty scary when he wants to."
"Damn right. And within a week of that warning, they found out that they all owed him life debts because of what happened with the dementors. Every single one of them looked like they were going to faint that night."
"I guess I didn't really need to ask my sister to help then," Parvati groaned. "It seemed like such a good idea."
"It is," Pansy contended. "There could always be other people foolish enough to go after one of Harry's friends. So, thank you."
"You're not mad? I mean, I didn't just do it to be nice."
"I'm not stupid enough to believe in something like pure altruism," Pansy shrugged. "I like you, Parvati. You're more interesting than a lot of people, and you're smarter than you seem on the surface. As long as you can realize that the role of Harry's leading lady isn't up for grabs, we won't have any problems. And Harry, noble fool that he is, will help to protect you from an arranged marriage."
"How? I mean, if the betrothal isn't an option because... because you-"
"Because he's already taken?" Pansy suggested. "There are other ways. Harry could always claim you via life debt, the same way he did me. There are problems with that though, as he would become fully responsible for you and that would get all kinds of complicated. He could also offer you a sort of patronage."
"Like with Hermione?" Parvati looked thoughtful. "I didn't think you could do that with other purebloods."
"It wouldn't be exactly the same. Assuming your parents do hold off on setting anything up while you're still at school, Harry could offer to help you get started with whatever you might want to do with your life. You'd be missing their support, so he could lend you money and the power of his good name. The legal protections would be more problematic-"
"Especially with my family being foreign. Padma and I do have dual citizenship, but I know that some people look down on us."
Pansy snorted.
"The idiots in this country like to look down on everyone for one reason or another. You could always move to another country though. Harry and I think of doing that sometimes."
"Seriously?"
"He really doesn't like all the expectations people seem to have of him. And with all the danger and crap that keeps popping up here at Hogwarts, sometimes he talks about just getting away. Maybe moving to America. Or France."
"France?"
"We went there last summer."
"Lucky you," Parvati complained.
"You have no idea," Pansy sighed. She found a chair to sit down in. Parvati giggled as she sat nearby.
"You just had a smile like Luna gets."
"Maybe we aren't as different as it seems. Although, I know Luna would not have the same reason."
"Will you tell me about your reason?" Parvati teased. "Living vicariously through you might help me keep from throwing myself at him."
"He hasn't worn his contacts since the ball, so you have no excuse for losing control, Patil."
"Seeing everything he's done today was enough to make a girl get all hot and bothered. What exactly happened between Hermione and Viktor Krum, anyway?"
"I'll tell you later, if you're good."
"It's a shame that I can't warn you two to keep an eye out for love potions. I assume that you'll be careful of that after today, and people would have to be pretty dumb to try the same trick any time soon."
"That would have been a good idea too. I really should have thought of it by now. Of course, I would have expected some girl to target Harry instead of me."
"Well, you did look pretty damn hot at the ball. I'm not surprised other guys would be interested after that. I can hardly believe Harry kept his hands to himself."
"Who says he did?" Pansy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, you're awful," Parvati moaned theatrically. "I meant at the dance. If it had been someone like Seamus, you would have had a hand or two up your dress. And with that slit up the leg, ooh..."
Parvati fanned herself and Pansy laughed.
"If I admit something, will you promise not to kill me?" Parvati joked.
"As long as you don't have a love potion with Harry's name on it."
"No, but I did, just for a moment, think of trying to give you one."
"Why?" Pansy asked harshly.
"So that I could have talked you into a threesome. I figured that Harry wouldn't fall for something like that after we talked last month before the ball, but if you suggested it, he just might go for it. I realized it was a dumb idea because afterwards you probably would have killed me in my sleep."
"I probably would," Pansy agreed with a laugh. "But that was a more devious plan than a lot of people would have come up with. This is why you're more interesting than those people. It also makes me curious how well love potions would work on someone of the wrong gender."
"You've never thought of having a threesome then?"
"No, not really. I mean sort of, in a hypothetical way, but..."
"Well, hypothetically speaking, would I be on your list?" Parvati asked, with a hopeful grin.
"I haven't made a list of potential girls," Pansy said, rolling her eyes. "It wasn't really even something I thought much of, but when I did it was your fault."
"Mine? How so?"
"Yours and Lavender's really. Last year, when Harry was teaching Granger the Patronus charm, you two first approached me about this 'Harry's harem' theory, and one of you mentioned that he and I might have had a threesome with her. As if I would have such terrible taste in other girls. Yuck."
Parvati chuckled at that. "You really don't like her, do you? How does that work with her being Harry's best friend?"
"We tolerate each other mostly. I can be polite, when it suits me."
"I'm sure Harry appreciates your efforts," Parvati giggled. "So, you've never fantasized about another girl joining you and Harry? Not even Fleur Delacour? Veela are said to be incredible in bed, and she is so yummy that I've even caught myself staring at her a couple of times. Can you imagine having boobs that perfect? I'm not sure if I hate her or I want to try snogging a girl."
"She is rather annoyingly gorgeous," Pansy snorted. "But even if I wanted to do that with her, I don't think it would work. Harry can't stand her for one thing, but I would also be concerned about her allure making things really complicated. You know, even more so than just having an extra person in our bed would."
"Our bed? Oh, you bitch, you are sleeping with him! Is it as amazing as I like to imagine it is?"
"Even better," Pansy sighed with a dreamy little smile on her face.
"I can hardly believe I'm talking to you of all people when you smile like that."
"Exactly. You've known me for years, Parvati. Can you imagine anything making the old me this happy? Harry saved me from every bad thing in my life, and then he just keeps constantly going out of his way to make it even better. I didn't know it was possible to love someone like this. He is everything to me."
"You're so much more open now too."
"Hiding our relationship seemed necessary at first. We had so many enemies, and the rumors started almost immediately about how Harry might have been making use of me and all sorts of other salacious things. But now that everyone knows, I do feel a lot better."
"Plus, you know that a ton of girls wish they were in your place," Parvati said wistfully.
"Yes, that too," Pansy giggled. "Especially Bones, the fucking cow. And Daphne too- I really cherished the icy glare she sent me when I walked in on Harry's arm at the Yule Ball."
"It was obvious to me how much Harry adored you that night. I asked him how he got so confident and he said that he didn't have anything to worry about since he knew he would be leaving the ball with the most gorgeous girl there. He never even glanced at Fleur the entire night, and she was the only girl at the ball whose dress was even close to on par with yours. Of course, not to mention her unnaturally amazing curves."
"I know," Pansy drawled out in an annoyed tone. "It would be interesting to look like her, just for a day. To be that tall and voluptuous."
"Tell me about it. Sometimes, I hate Lavender just a little bit when she's showing off her cleavage."
"Lavender has never bothered me, actually," Pansy admitted. "I think it's because Harry has always found her to be a bit too much. It was clear almost immediately that she never interested him.
"I used to evaluate every girl he interacted with, seeing if any of them caught his eye even just a bit. Harry never said or did anything really to make me too jealous, but I noticed how he looked at other girls. At first, I thought I would have to be worried about Granger, but I could tell that he didn't find her particularly attractive, and I noticed that she seemed to have a crush on Weasley for some ridiculous reason."
"I know," Parvati laughed. "That has never made any sense. Even when they were friends, Ron constantly called her mental and argued with her. He made her cry on a number of occasions. Who would be interested in a guy that treated you so horribly? I'd almost guess that she has serious issues with her father."
"No, I've met her father," Pansy interjected. "She has a healthy, supportive family. I'm not sure why her taste in guys is so awful. I asked her once why she wasn't interested in Harry."
"Really? What did she say?"
"She didn't give me an answer. It was odd to me, because there were so many girls with obvious crushes on him. Like Ginny Weasley. Or you," Pansy smirked. "I used to be a lot more jealous, but lately I've felt just so much more secure with Harry. His behavior at the ball is probably part of that, but I think just revealing our relationship did something too. Like, now I can feel how obviously content Harry is to have me as his girlfriend. I wonder..."
"What?"
"I just had a thought. You know that Harry used a life debt to claim me from my father, right? Well, it seems like that bond between us has occasionally had some odd interactions with our magic and things like that. I'm just wondering if it has also affected us on other levels. Because I do feel like something big has changed recently. A year ago, I would have hated you for being so blatantly interested in Harry, but now I can sit here and talk to you about it without freaking out or wanting to hex your tits off."
"Thanks for that," Parvati replied with a chuckle. "So, if you won't freak out about it, who would be more likely to end up in a threesome with you and Harry? I want to know how high I am on the list and what I can do to get to the top."
Pansy shook her head with a smile.
"I don't think you could get to the top."
"Why not?" Parvati moaned.
"Because if I did have to pick a girl for that, it would be Luna. I really love that girl."
"And Harry does too. Dammit! I knew she was cutting in ahead of me." Parvati swore in Hindi. "I guess I can understand that. So, how close would I be to second place then?"
"I'm not sure. See, the problem is a question of how I would pick. Do I choose someone that Harry particularly finds attractive? I might still be too jealous to do that. Do I choose someone that we both like, that we could get along with well? Because that's why I would pick Luna. I know Harry tries not to think of her like that though."
"Really? Luna's rather pretty, if a bit odd."
"Yeah, but Harry's fixated on filling a protective older brother role with her. There are other girls he finds more attractive also."
"Like who? Please say me, please say me," Parvati repeated in a sing-song chant.
"Fine," Pansy rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "Yes, he does find you very attractive."
"Yes!"
"He's never actually told me that, by the way, but I can just tell."
"Oh, thank you," Parvati squealed as she got up and threw her arms around Pansy in a hug.
"It makes sense in a way too," Pansy added while Parvati sat back down with a triumphant little smile on her face. "I mean, we do have a couple of obvious differences, but we share similar builds, we both have dark hair and neither of us is very tall.
"However, that doesn't mean I'm ready to share or have a threesome."
"Just think of me if you ever change your mind," Parvati beamed.
"That's one thing you have in common with Harry."
"What?"
"You're both incorrigible."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"You would," Pansy muttered, but with a grin nonetheless as she got up and headed for the door. "Anyway, you're probably getting hungry, and I need to get back to Harry."
"I could always join you," Parvati teased as they stepped out into the hallway.
"Maybe some other time, you wench."
"I'll keep my fingers crossed."
Pansy just couldn't help but chuckle as Parvati walked off in the other direction.
Harry still hadn't found anything when Pansy made her way back to the library, and even an hour later they'd had no luck. They took a break to head down to the kitchens for a quick bite to eat. Neither of them wanted to go back to their quarters just yet.
Finally, they decided to sneak into the restricted section late that night. Harry's invisibility cloak was very useful, but Pansy noted that they should probably learn the Disillusionment charm just in case they did not have it handy. It wasn't normally taught until fifth year, but that had never stopped Harry before, so she was sure that they would learn it soon enough. Moody could probably be counted on to help them if they needed it.
It took them until well after midnight, but Pansy did eventually find a book that described how to cast it as well as its uses and limitations. Considering there was over a hundred and fifty pages devoted to that single spell, they knew that it would not be something they could figure out over a single night. They grabbed the book and managed to make it back to their quarters where they headed straight to bed. Neither one of them wanted to spend one second more than necessary in their living room.
They were both still disturbed by what happened the next day, so Harry put into play an idea he had been meaning to get around to for a long time. While Pansy grabbed the book about the Fidelius charm, he got a small bag out of the bottom of his trunk, as well as grabbing the Marauder's Map, and they headed down to the kitchens the next day after lunch.
Dobby met them there and had everything ready for Harry to make some special brownies. He probably could have managed it from scratch, but brownie mix existed, so Harry figured he might as well go with the easy way. As stressful as their last week had been- especially that hellacious Saturday- faffing about testing his baking skills was just not on the day's agenda.
Pansy read out loud from the book as she believed that Harry would be more likely to manage the Fidelius eventually, and they got through roughly a third of it while Harry made the brownies. The actual casting of the spell seemed simple enough, but it was the will and focus that would be tricky. Plus, it seemed like the nature of the secret itself could cause all sorts of problems. The fact that they wanted to conceal a fact that only three people knew would be on their side; it would certainly be a lot simpler compared to making a house seem to disappear. However, it was not something Harry was going to try without knowing more, so he suggested that after they finish reading and figuring out everything they could about it by themselves that they then approach professor Flitwick. The Charms Master should be able to help them, and with Harry being able to use the background of his parents' betrayal as motivation for learning about the spell, there shouldn't be too much suspicion about why he wanted to learn everything he could.
Once the brownies were finished, Harry used the map to find Hermione and Luna, who were thankfully both in the library. Pansy decided to wait, staying with Dobby who was watching over the brownies as they cooled, and she skimmed a bit more about the Fidelius charm.
"I don't understand how you can be so narrow-minded, Hermione." Luna's voice caught Pansy's attention as the two girls entered the kitchens just ahead of Harry. "You grew up in a world where magic is only a fairy tale. Wouldn't that open your eyes to more possibilities being out there?"
"Just because magic is real doesn't mean that everything is. There is no evidence that Atlantis ever existed. Back me up on this, Harry."
"Sorry, Hermione. Just because I haven't seen any evidence of Atlantis doesn't mean that I am sure that it is just a fantasy. Personally, I hope it did exist because I think it's a really cool story. Plus, it would make Luna and her dad happy if they found it. That's enough for me not to just dismiss it out of hand."
"Fine, but just because you two dreamers want it to be real, you can't expect everyone else to believe in that crackpot idea."
"Alright," Harry interjected, glad to finally be able to put the argument to rest. "However, I brought you two down here for a reason other than just discussing things like this."
He saw Dobby take Pansy's book with a pop as he checked his watch.
"Only a couple more minutes till they've cooled enough." Harry smiled as the Hogwarts house-elves had cleared a table for he and his friends to sit at and set out plates and silverware. The little creatures were still semi-awestruck by Harry, and now that he was the school's champion for the tournament, they were cheering him on in amusing little ways. He had noticed that his favorite foods were always close by at meal times no matter where he sat, and there had been a plate of bacon every morning for breakfast already laid out for Hedwig. One of them had even set out several chilled bottles of butterbeer to go with his baked goods this afternoon.
"Ladies, this week has largely sucked. Between Rita's gossip, Hagrid getting bent out of shape and hiding in his cottage, Krum being a coward, Nott being a disgusting scumbag, and the idiots of this country deciding to send you all a bunch of hate mail, I think we could use a break. An afternoon to just relax and enjoy some chocolate. Just for my favorite girls."
Harry took a knife from the table and began to cut the brownies into substantial serving sizes. He wasn't sure how strong these would be, but he needed to relax and take his mind off things, so he figured the more the merrier. Or better sorry than safe, maybe?
Regardless, he put slices onto plates and passed them out.
"Did you really make these yourself, Harry?" Luna asked as she took a plate from him. She leaned down and took a sniff. "Oh my goodness, that smells delicious. Pansy, if I ever do something to upset Harry, remind me that he can apparently make chocolate heaven."
She took a small bite, then stood up and came around the table to wrap Harry in a hug and kissed his cheek.
"I love you, by the way."
"Thanks, Luna."
"I've never had brownies before," Hermione admitted as she looked down at the confection."My parents wouldn't approve of something so..."
She had taken her first bite and a glazed look came over her face before she could continue with a near-orgasmic exhale.
"So decadent."
Hermione took a second bite and Harry turned to Pansy who was smirking but had begun eating as well. He joined them and was pleased with how well they had turned out. He hadn't really done any cooking in a long time now. It was delicious and he soon realized he had eaten half his serving.
"Damn you, Harry," Pansy giggled. "You made them better than I did. Next time we go see Vanessa, you're going to make some more of these and I'm going to take all the credit."
"Fine with me," he chuckled. "It's not really a fair comparison though. I don't think you had ever cooked anything before, right?"
"Yes," she admitted.
"Plus, you didn't have the wonderful house-elves of Hogwarts standing by to hand you extra chocolate to make them even sweeter. Thank you all for that, by the way."
"Master Harry Potter sir is most welcome!" came several squeaky voices in response.
"House-elf chorus," Luna giggled. "Imagine them as a barbershop quartet."'
"There's too many for a quartet though, Luna." Harry frowned for a moment. "The highest I can remember is a septet. What comes after that?"
"Octet, then nonet," Hermione answered with a sticky voice, her mouth still half full of brownie. Harry grinned at his friend's for once less than impeccable manners. Looked like things were progressing nicely. What was she talking about again?
"The highest I can remember is a duodecet, which is a musical group of twelve. But when Luna said chorus, I thought of a Greek chorus, which could have a whole lot of voices all in unison." At the looks of confusion, Hermione explained further. "In classical Greek plays, the chorus was a group of people who would help tell the stories, narrating and explaining things to the audience."
"So, like a whole bunch of Hermiones?" Harry asked with a chuckle. He looked over at some of the working house-elves. "We would need to get them little curly-haired wigs."
"That would be so cute," Luna added. "If my family ever had a house-elf, I would like to give her a long, blonde wig. Then, she could be like my little sister! I've always wanted a sister."
"Who is Vanessa?" Hermione asked. Pansy had to shake off the the picture in her head of Luna and a little house-elf look-alike so she could respond.
"A muggle friend of ours we met last summer."
"I'm still somewhat amazed at you making friends with muggles and settling into the non-magical world so easily. No offense, but from what I saw of you the first couple of years, I just wouldn't have imagined it."
"Luna didn't have too much trouble fitting in either when we took her out last summer," Pansy pointed out.
"I think we're all still young enough to adapt pretty quick," Harry suggested. "I mean, Luna had only been really practicing magic for a couple of years, so she wasn't too set in her ways, you know?"
"That makes sense," Luna agreed. "The more one becomes used to something, the more they take it for granted. For example, I can tell that Harry and Pansy's auras are almost in perfect synch."
"You can't see auras, Luna," Hermione insisted.
"Well, I can't see them right now, but I know I'm right. That's one of the ways I could tell they were together last year before I even met them."
"There's no such thing as auras," Hermione argued. "That's pseudoscience nonsense."
"The muggle world considers ghosts to be pseudoscience nonsense too," Luna countered. "Perhaps you would like to explain that's all he is to the Bloody Baron? Or to professor Binns?"
"That could make for the first interesting history of magic class ever," Harry giggled. "Please do that, Hermione. If you will try to convince Binns that he isn't real, I promise I will stay awake all through the class for a whole week."
"Just a week?" Pansy teased with a chuckle.
"If she can actually succeed, I'll stay awake for the rest of the term."
"Promise?" Hermione giggled.
"Promise," Harry insisted with a fervent nod. "Why are we talking about ghosts anyway?"
"Because Hermione won't let me pry open her third eye," Luna answered. "I would probably need a very heavy crowbar."
"Don't take a crowbar to Hermione's head." Harry started having those strange visions of Luna the pirate again, only wielding a crowbar instead of a cutlass. "Her head is where she keeps her brain, and that's really useful for things."
"Alright, but it's her loss," Luna shrugged. She had finished her brownie, so she poked in the side Harry while holding her plate out with her other hand. "Gimme!"
"Right away, miss!" Harry cut several more pieces and soon all of their plates were once again full.
"God, these are so good," Hermione gushed. "I wish my parents weren't such sticks in the mud about sweets."
"But then my baking skills wouldn't have been so impressive," Harry laughed.
"You've impressed me in plenty of other ways already, Harry."
"She did get to see you naked," Pansy teased.
"That's not what I meant!" Hermione blushed even as a giggle slipped out and Harry chuckled at her. "Even if his bum was rather nice."
"It is, isn't it?"
"You've seen it too, Luna?"
"That's not all I've seen," the blonde giggled.
"You two really are corrupting Luna, aren't you? What have you perverts done to this poor girl?" Hermione was indignant.
"I still haven't gotten a chance to tell you what got Granger's knickers in a twist on Boxing Day yet," Pansy said.
"You haven't let me see the scandalous dress yet either," Luna replied.
"Oh, please, please put that dress on again," Harry begged. "So fucking hot!"
"Now I really want to see it," Luna purred.
"The more I try to fight it, the more you're all just going to keep taking the mickey out of me," Hermione sighed.
"Probably," Harry answered with a smile. "You're too serious, Hermione. Relax. Come be silly with the rest of us. You're only young once, you know?"
"Unless you invent a spell to reverse aging," Luna suggested.
"Don't give her any excuses, Luna. Hermione, I challenge you to do or say something as goofy as you can before we leave here today."
"Ooh, I know!" Luna was bouncing with glee. "We could play truth or dare."
"You know truth or dare?"
"Everybody knows truth or dare."
"I don't think I want to play that with these two," Hermione said, pointing to Harry and Pansy. "They'll probably end up with their clothes off and I am not a voyeur."
"Why not?" Luna asked sadly. "I want to see them with their clothes off."
"No."
"Fine, but you have to answer one question of mine first," Luna insisted.
"Alright, but only one."
"Okay, let me make it a good one." The Ravenclaw looked at her best friends- Harry smiling lazily as he took another sip of butterbeer between bites, Pansy with a wicked grin on her face, obviously hoping for something that would make Hermione uncomfortable. She made up her mind and turned back to Hermione.
"I've got it. In order, from most to least, which of the three of us would you prefer to snog?"
"I don't want to snog any of you," Hermione groaned.
"Nope, that's not the rule, Granger," Pansy demanded. "You agreed to answer to avoid the chaos of playing truth or dare with us. And you know that one of us was bound to get to sexual dares pretty damn quick."
"The only question is which of us would have done it first," Harry teased.
"I would," Luna answered with a smile. "I like getting corrupted by you two."
"Alright, fine!" Hermione threw her hands up in defeat. "I guess Harry the most."
"Really?" Pansy asked. "I thought you were one of the few girls in the school that didn't have a crush on him. Is there something you're not telling us, Granger?"
"I don't like Harry like that. But he is the only boy and I am not attracted to girls."
"Okay, but you still have to decide if you would rather snog Pansy or myself. Remember, I am not talking about just a little peck- a full on snog."
Hermione looked warily at the other two girls while Harry just giggled away.
"I couldn't have asked this question to Harry or Pansy, as they obviously would have wanted to snog each other, so it would have been perfect to ask you if we did play truth or dare."
Hermione just groaned and hid her hands in her face. She sat back up after a moment and looked over the two faces staring her down. Luna was wide-eyed and dreamy, Pansy was full of mocking disdain.
"Pansy," Hermione quietly answered.
"No way," Pansy said, flustered. "You and I barely get along, even with Harry's interference."
"You don't drive me crazy the way Luna does. Plus, I think she would be more likely to try to push things further in an effort to make me even more uncomfortable."
"I would," Luna agreed with a smile.
"On the other hand, I don't think you would enjoy it at all, so it would be over quicker."
"That's true."
"Pansy's lips are for snogging me," Harry said as he pulled her onto his lap and proceeded to demonstrate. Luna cheered them on while Hermione only sighed.
"Look what you've done now, Luna."
"It's very nice, I know."
While the two lovers were engaged, and becoming even more heated, Hermione heard the sound of hiccupping.
"Did you hear that Luna?"
"Hmm? I am a bit distracted by the show. Did I hear what?"
There was another hiccup followed by a squeaky belch.
"Oh, that. Yes, very odd."
"Huh?" Harry disengaged from kissing Pansy when Luna poked him in the side again.
Damn, he was just about ready to christen the Hogwarts' kitchens too.
There was a soft sound of someone crying in between hiccups.
"What is that?" he asked and Dobby faded into sight next to him.
"That is Winky, master Harry." Dobby was clearly sad, so Harry helped Pansy to her feet and then followed the sounds over to a stool by a fireplace where an obviously drunk house-elf was sitting with several empty bottles of butterbeer scattered around her on the floor.
"Winky? Crouch's elf? What happened to her?" Pansy asked once she saw the disheveled little creature.
"Winky is not happy being freed, miss Pansy. Winky misses her family."
"I'm sorry, Winky," Luna said as she kneeled down. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Miss wants to help Winky? But Winky is a bad elf!" She let out a sob and looked away.
"You're not bad Winky," Hermione argued. "You didn't do anything wrong. Mr. Crouch was cruel to free you like that."
"Miss is naughty for saying bad things about Winky's good master Crouch! Winky failed because Winky is a bad elf! Winky has left her family all alone!"
"Not helping Hermione," Harry said as he reached over to stop her from trying to argue with the pitiful little house-elf.
"I just-"
"Let Luna try."
"Miss Winky, my name is Luna. Do you not like working at Hogwarts?"
"Winky misses her family," she croaked in response before giving way to more sniffles.
"I can't do anything about that, Winky. But maybe I could offer you a new family."
"Miss would want a bad elf like Winky?"
"I think Winky could be a good elf again. If you feel up to trying again."
"Winky would..." she struggled to keep herself from bursting into tears again and sat up much straighter. "Winky would like to try to be a good house-elf again."
"Wonderful!" Luna cried out happily. "Then I would like to welcome you to the Lovegood family."
"Thank you miss Luna." Winky leapt up and threw her arms around Luna, still crying but at least now they were hopefully happy tears. "Winky will do a good job!"
"I'm sure you will. Now, if you will give me a moment, let me write out a note for you to take to my father."
"Winky will get supplies for miss Luna!" She disappeared with a pop, then brought back a piece of parchment with quill and ink. Luna began writing and Harry pulled the other two girls away for a moment.
"Now I know what to get Luna for her birthday," he whispered to them.
"What?"
"A blonde wig for her new little sister."
Hermione only groaned while Pansy let out a cackle and Harry joined her, laughing at his own joke.
"That's terrible, Harry."
"Well, it won't be the only thing I'll get her."
"I already know what we'll be getting her," Pansy informed him. "Just leave it to me, at least until it's time for the shopping trip."
"Okay."
"That's taken care of," Luna said as she walked over to them after handing her things to Winky who had disappeared again. "This is actually a big relief. I sometimes worry about how well my father looks after himself. He tends to get caught up in his work and forget the little things."
"I probably shouldn't ask," Hermione began. "What sorts of little things?"
"Oh you know: eating, bathing, making sure the snugglepuss gets plenty of regular exercise."
"Snug- you know what, never mind,' Hermione said, having to stop herself from her usual curiosity. It didn't work very well when Luna was around. She had some idea that no matter what explanation she got for a snugglepuss, it would be frustratingly Luna-ish.
Harry and Pansy were no help either, as they were giggling their heads off.
"So, what were we doing before?" Harry asked. "I seem to recall snogging getting cut off before I could get to the fun part."
"The fun part is when he takes my clothes off," Pansy added, all too helpfully.
"I'm sure," Hermione said with a blush. "Could we talk about something other than sex?"
"Do we have to?" Luna complained.
"You and I can talk about sex more later," Pansy said to console her.
"Yay!"
"Anyway, did you hear that professor Slughorn was going to have another get together next week?" Hermione asked, desperately trying to change the subject. "He's a really good teacher, even if he does have a mustache that makes him look like a walrus."
Harry burst out laughing again.
"I think how round he is also helps," Pansy snickered.
"Good job, Hermione. I will accept that for being goofy today with the rest of us."
"We do have more brownies to finish," Luna suggested.
"I would say that you'll spoil your appetite for dinner," Hermione replied. "But then, I've seen how you usually eat, so I guess that wouldn't be true."
"I think Hermione still isn't being goofy enough, Harry." Luna turned to him with an unusually serious look on her face. "And you know what that means?"
"What?"
"Tickle fight!"
Hermione let out a shriek as Luna's fingers went to work on both of her sides and she began to laugh.
"Help me you two!"
"If you insist," Pansy replied while Harry just pulled both of the other girls down to the ground before they hurt each other with the thrashing. "Where are you most ticklish, Granger?"
"No!" She laughed more, unable to escape the combination of Harry and Luna. "Not- haha- telling!"
"Get her shoes off," Harry suggested. "Feet are usually ticklish."
"Don't you- hahaha- dare," Hermione cried out, but Pansy had Dobby use his magic to instantaneously leave her barefoot. Luna then reached down and ran her fingers along the bottom of one of her feet. Hermione was laughing uncontrollably and soon gasping for breath before Luna stopped.
"That looked fun," the blonde said as she kicked off her own shoes and socks. "Someone do me!"
Harry grabbed one of her feet and began tickling her sole. Luna immediately roared with laughter. Hermione took advantage and goosed her sides. Luna was flailing so hard that Harry let go of her foot and rolled over towards Pansy.
"Your turn," he said, but she cut him off by sitting down, straddling him and grabbing the back of his neck.
"Can't you think of something better to do while the others are busy?" She leaned in to whisper into his ear while one hand slid down between them. "Because I can."
She gave him a squeeze and Harry grinned, his mouth finding hers while giggling continued in the background.
Almost an hour later, the four shambled out of the kitchens all looking sweaty and tousled. Their appearance would almost make one think that the rumors of Harry's harem were true.
"We need a Hufflepuff," Luna said out of the blue.
"Why?"
"We don't have a Hufflepuff, and we're right by their common room."
"Should we kidnap one?" Harry asked with a giggle.
"That's how rumors get started," Hermione teased with a giggle of her own. Between the tickle fight and the last brownie, she was a lot more relaxed.
"One of you two will have to be the Hufflepuff," Pansy stated. "We don't need two Gryffindors."
"Not it!" Harry shouted.
"That's not fair," Hermione moaned. "You could be a good Hufflepuff."
"State your cases," Luna suggested. "Pansy and I will judge."
"What if you can't agree?" Harry asked.
"Another tickle fight!"
"That's not fair, Harry is bigger than me so he'll be able to hold me down."
"Then you had better come up with a good argument," Pansy replied.
"Fine. Harry's done a lot more to fight for justice than I have."
"How so?" he asked.
"I haven't brought any Death Eaters to justice."
"Okay, that was mostly just to keep myself alive," Harry argued. "Besides, think back to Pettigrew."
"What about him?"
"I was going to let Sirius just kill him. You, and Pansy, wanted Pettigrew to be tried so Sirius could be ex.. exhumed? No, that's not the right word. Excommuned... Excommunicated? Exorcised? What is the word I'm trying to think of?"
"Exonerated," Luna replied.
"Thanks. That. So, that's justice for Hermione."
"Well, you've worked hard to become the top of our year at both Defense and Runes."
"Yeah, but I'm also really lazy in several of the classes that I just don't care about. You're easily more hardworking than I am."
"Part of that is just my nature as a bookworm. You've really pushed yourself, Harry, and I'm proud of you." Hermione punctuated her statement by wrapping Harry in a hug.
"Thanks, but you're not hugging your way out of this, Hermione. You spend way more time working on pretty much everything else. That's justice and hard work for Hermione. Do we even need to argue over loyalty?"
"I think you're both pretty loyal," Luna said. "But I think we should finish just to see if Hermione gets the sweep."
"Fine. Harry is incredibly loyal to the people he cares about. Even after we got in a couple of arguments last year, he always tried to look out for me. Cheering me up when Ron was being a jerk, and getting me to not spend every waking hour on schoolwork."
"Yeah, but you kept trying to give Ron the benefit of the doubt much longer than me. Even after he attacked you about that fucking rat."
"Hmm, I'd say that's inconclusive," Luna chuckled. "Pansy?"
"I know Harry really well, and I'm going to have to say he wins on loyalty."
"But I was going for the sweep," he protested. He tried and failed to scowl at his girlfriend. "Traitor."
"Sorry, Harry. I just know too many things about you to argue that you aren't incredibly loyal."
"Well, Hermione's still the bigger Hufflepuff."
"I think we should ask a more unbiased judge," Hermione argued as they came around a corner. "There are some actual Hufflepuffs. Hey, Hannah!"
"Hi, Hermione. What are you all doing down here?"
"A lot of things. This has been a pretty busy afternoon," Hermione answered, almost getting off track as she thought of the last couple of hours. "Anyway, we need your opinion about something. Which of us is more of a Hufflepuff?"
"Um, I don't really know Pansy very well," Hannah equivocated. "And, I've never really met Luna before, although I know who she is. Hi, by the way."
"A pleasure to meet you."
"Not them," Hermione said. She grabbed Harry and pulled him to the front. "Just Harry and me."
"Okay, um, well I always thought you should be in Ravenclaw."
"This is just a question of Hufflepuff qualities," Harry insisted. "Hermione is way more hardworking than me, so I think she should win just based on that."
"Oh, yes that makes sense."
"See, Hermione. Three out of three judges agree. You're the Hufflepuff. Thanks, Hannah!"
Harry smiled and walked off with an arm around Pansy while Hermione frowned.
"Come on, my protege," he called back over his shoulder.
"Stop calling me that!"
"Then stop being so fun to tease."
Moody summoned Harry and Pansy to his office on Monday after the last classes of the day.
"Have either of you ever seen one of these?" the professor asked as he pointed to a stone basin with runic carvings all over it.
"No. What is it?" Harry looked closer, inspecting the Runes to try to figure out what this obviously magical item was.
"It's called a pensieve. You can use it to examine memories in closer detail."
"That's awesome."
"Heh, yes it is pretty 'awesome' Potter. I finally talked Albus into letting me borrow it from him. Today though, it's going to be useful. First things first, we're going to take a look at how the little miss did in her duel against Skeeter. Then, we're going to review when Malfoy challenged you last year. Lastly, I'm going to make sure that those are the worst performances in duels either of you ever puts up, got it?"
"Yes sir," they both answered.
"Good. Ladies first, as they say." Moody explained the process for extracting a memory and they were soon all standing in the middle of Hogsmeade as professor Flitwick set up the makeshift dueling area. Harry was shocked at how detailed it was and even more so that the memory did not take place specifically from Pansy's point of view, which would have been a lot more limited. The duel played out as he remembered it.
Moody was not particularly impressed and he largely blamed Harry for ordering Pansy to humiliate Skeeter instead of just blasting her with everything she had. The paranoid old auror didn't believe in giving any enemy even the slightest advantage.
Harry tried to argue that the entire point of the duel was to publicly humiliate Rita, to damage her reputation just as she had tried to do to Pansy and the other girls.
Moody didn't care too much about that. A fight was a fight. You either fought to win or you were wasting his time. Harry understood what he was trying to get across, so he bowed to Moody's wisdom and promised not to take any Death Eaters lightly if he got in a fight with any of them.
He had a feeling that he was going to be yelled at quite a bit once they got to the duel with Malfoy.
The professor did compliment Pansy on her speed and accuracy though. Using multiple spells to keep her opponent disabled was also praised, although he suggested that she should have summoned Skeeter's wand over to keep her from regaining it.
"That makes me wonder about something, professor Moody," Harry interrupted. "If you were in a fight with someone as dangerous as a Death Eater and you managed to get their wand away from them, wouldn't it be smart to snap their wand just to make sure they don't get it back? From what I've read, most adult wizards and witches can't do much, if anything, without a wand."
"That's true, Potter, but it's also really frowned upon."
"Frowned upon?"
"Snapping another person's wand is basically the ultimate insult. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it- if you're ever in a fight with a Death Eater, it's going to be a fight to the death, so you do everything you can to stay alive. But pretty much everyone raised in the magical world would be appalled if you did something like that under any other circumstances. If Pansy had done so in the middle of an honor duel, she could have possibly been arrested for it."
"Really?"
"It is considered dishonorable too," Pansy added. "Which makes it a definite no-no in an honor duel."
"Okay. I guess I can understand that."
"Good. Now, it's your turn. Focus on your duel with that scumbag Malfoy. I need to see how you did so I can offer some pointers."
Harry nodded but knew that he was about to get roasted.
Fifteen minutes later, Mad-Eye was almost done swearing at him. Or at least, Harry hoped he was.
The good news was that he had learned some new curse words. The bad news was that Harry was a 'motherfucking, window licking, cretin' for starters and Moody proceeded to tear strips out of his hide for being such an overconfident idiot.
He had even threatened to take his false leg off and beat Harry with it if he ever did something as retarded as taunting an opponent in a fight to the death again.
Harry almost thought Moody would change his mind about casting the Cruciatus on him now, as angry as he was.
The bellow of 'Get out!' was the end of the meeting.
Thursday afternoon, Moody put the class through a grueling lesson on hex deflection and no one could miss how much he focused on blasting Harry more often than anyone else.
"Potter!" the professor roared out as the class came to an end. "Stay behind for a moment."
Harry and Pansy both gathered their things but waited as the other students left.
"Pansy, I'd like a moment in private with the boy." When she looked concerned, he continued. "Don't worry, he'll still be in one piece when I'm done with him."
"Yes, professor," she replied and stepped out into the hall.
Harry wondered just how badly bruised he might end up while still remaining in that one piece. He supposed that this was still a form of training for any potential danger ahead. Might be even better in a way, since Moody held back less after getting so furious with him the other day. However, he definitely didn't appreciate the stinging hex aimed at his bollocks.
"Alright Potter. First things first. Judging by how you and the girl were acting at the Yule Ball, I take it you aren't a nancy boy, right?"
"No sir."
"Then if you don't want to get buggered to death, you will take all of your enemies much more seriously than what I saw when Malfoy challenged you. Am I clear?"
"Yes sir."
"Good. Second, riling up an opponent to throw them off can be a viable strategy, but the Death Eaters are a bunch of psychopaths and murderers. Getting someone upset so they blow a duel is one thing. Making one of those psychos more incensed is far too dangerous to be a good idea in most cases. If they're already out to kill you, you don't want to give them an edge that can help power dark spells that feed off of anger. I've seen what Bellatrix Lestrange could do with the Cruciatus curse; you wouldn't want to make that worse by calling her a cunt.
"Lucius was a soft, rich ponce who had been recently freed from Azkaban, so he was in bad shape. But counting on circumstances being that much in your favor in the future would be the height of stupidity. Just because it worked once, doesn't mean it will work again. Got it?"
"Yes sir."
"That wasn't the first time you had killed someone."
Harry didn't reply since Moody wasn't asking.
"It can be a hard thing to not let that change you. Be careful, Potter. Killing an enemy in a battle is one thing. Don't let it lead you down a dark path. I'd hate to have to get called out of retirement to chase you down."
"I wouldn't like that either, professor," Harry answered, which brought a grim chuckle from Moody.
"Good job in class today, lad. Go on, before your girl starts to worry about what I might be doing to you."
"Thank you sir."
"You're welcome." Harry headed for the door, but Moody called out just before he left.
"One more thing, Potter. We'll have another private lesson a week from Saturday."
The reason it wouldn't be that Saturday was because another Slug Club meeting had been scheduled, and Moody knew that Harry was expected to attend. Plus, the Defense professor had seen that he didn't enjoy that type of hobnobbing, so it would be another little punishment to not give Harry an excuse to skip it.
Moody wasn't going to let up any time soon it seemed.
"Ah, Harry! I'm so glad you could make it," Slughorn said as soon as he saw them enter. "Pansy, miss Granger, you both look lovely tonight."
"Thank you professor."
Harry had walked in with both girls. Pansy was wearing a little black dress that was not nearly as shocking as the one she had worn to the Yule Ball but Harry still enjoyed the way she looked in it.
"We have a few special guests tonight," the gregarious professor added with a smile. Harry noticed Karkaroff and Maxime watching over their students. Fleur was looking radiant as usual and speaking animated French with a couple of other witches, one of them being Daphne Greengrass. Krum was huddled with two other Durmstrang boys, all of them obviously checking out the various girls there.
"Now, miss Granger, I believe you'll be particularly interested to meet-"
"Miranda Goshawk!" Hermione nearly squealed in delight at meeting the famous author of the Standard Book of Spells series.
"I see your reputation precedes you, Miranda my dear," Slughorn chuckled.
"Horace tells me you're one of the school's top students," Hermione blushed in response," and Mr. Potter, that makes you rather prescient to sponsor her. I know the practice isn't as common these days, but I went to school with your great uncle Charlus Potter and he similarly took a young muggle born named Joseph Armstrong under his wing."
"Of course you would remember young Joe," Slughorn interjected with a laugh. "The boy had an enormous crush on you! I haven't heard from him in years. How is he doing these days?"
"Still working in America last I heard," she answered. "His wife keeps trying to get him to retire, but he always joked that he would go batty sitting around the house all day."
"Well, I'm sure miss Granger would love to pick your brain, so I'll leave you to it."
Professor Slughorn guided Harry and Pansy across the room to a couple of other famous friends of his that just had to meet the boy who lived. Harry contained his grimace; at least Hermione looked happy as she pelted the author with questions.
Within an hour, the obsequious greetings were over and Harry was trying to find something to make the evening bearable. Pansy had left him to gossip with some of the other girls, and he noticed just how imbalanced this newest installment of the Slug Club was. There were only three other guys in the group now, and with those being a popular pretty boy like Diggory, an obnoxious boor like McLaggen, and a disdainful snob like Zabini, Harry felt rather alone.
He gravitated towards Hermione, in large part just to make sure Krum was keeping his distance. The Bulgarian had eyed her a bit but not tried to approach. One of his friends had tried to chat up one of the French witches, and Harry was pleased to get to watch him crash and burn. It looked like all of the girls from Hogwarts were giving Krum's gang a wide berth, and he knew that most of them regarded him very negatively. Harry was still considering what to do about him once the tournament was over and he could take the gloves off. He was half a mind to challenge him to a duel, but at the same time, Harry wasn't sure if he would be able to hold back if the sleazy bastard did anything else to piss him off.
Pansy gave him a brief wink from across the room while she was entangled in girl talk with the Carrow sisters.
Harry had kept himself from laughing earlier when Susan Bones had glared at both of them as they came in. The redheaded Hufflepuff was still apparently sore over his lack of interest in her and his choice of a girlfriend. It reminded him a little of Ginny Weasley, who he had also seen giving them dirty looks ever since the truth had come out. Coupled with the ending of his friendship with Ron, it was a bad year for Harry and gingers.
Even Fred and George had been more distant this year, without the quidditch team to bring them together. He had wondered what they been so busy with this past term, as they were both less jovial and boisterous than usual. It was possible that they were trying to do better in school since their disastrous OWL results, but that really didn't seem likely to him. He briefly thought that he should probably tell them who had made the Marauder's Map at some point, but it just never came up the couple of times he had been around them lately.
Before long, Pansy had motioned him over and he joined her, Flora and Hestia.
"The girls have some news," she whispered in his ear. He noticed that they were off in a corner, far enough away from others to keep from easily being overheard, and they were keeping their voices low as well.
"Our parents were acting rather strange over the holidays," Flora began. "They didn't say anything explicit to us about what was going on, but it was clear that something had them excited. You wouldn't want to guess at the amount of times one of them spoke of 'putting the mudbloods back in their place' or some of the other crap we heard."
Hestia's face showed even more distaste than Flora's did, but then she did often seem to be the more expressive of the twins.
"We were told to keep an eye on you," she said quietly. "In case you were getting up to any more attacks on Death Eaters like Malfoy and Snape last year."
"Malfoy challenged me."
"I know, but they don't really care. You're their enemy, Harry, as crazy as that is for a couple of adults to want to... well, to-"
"To kill me?" he suggested.
"Yes," Hestia answered with a shudder. "I hate them so much sometimes."
"Were the two of you alright?"
"They didn't do anything to us, if that's what you're asking," Hestia responded.
"Not that I would put it past them," Flora added. "But it was creepy how they talked about you. They're convinced their precious Dark Lord is coming back soon and that the 'good old days' will be in full swing again."
"It scared me," Hestia admitted. "Be careful, Harry. You have more enemies out there than you probably realize."
"Thanks," he smiled. "But at least I've also got some friends who will warn me and help watch my back too."
"It's good that we've got these Slug Club meetings," Hestia said, grinning slightly at Harry. "Otherwise, it would be very hard to be around you without drawing a lot of attention."
"That's true."
"We'll try to let you know if we hear anything else."
"Thanks, but be careful."
"We will," Flora replied. "But you aren't the only one who doesn't want to see people like them taking over again. Our parents would treat us like bargaining chips, at best. If the Dark Lord comes back, we would likely be expected to follow in their footsteps, and I have no plans on getting a tattoo- ever. I'd rather die than be like them."
"Me too," Hestia said quietly, looking even more upset.
"If I can do anything to help, let me know."
"We will, Harry, but for now, we can at least try to keep warning you of anything big they might let slip."
"I appreciate it."
"Slughorn's coming over," Flora warned.
"Till next time, ladies," Harry replied with a wink as he turned to their host, who was looking quite jolly. He supposed the third or fourth glass of wine was probably helping that along nicely.
"Harry, my boy, there you are! Have I introduced you to Roxanne MacCready yet? She covers the quidditch league for the Daily Prophet, you know."
Harry grabbed Pansy's arm before he could be dragged away.
Not too long after that, Pansy had mostly faded into the background as 'Sluggy' and Madame Maxime were telling Harry all about a magical settlement in France where the old Potions Master had vacationed years ago and the French headmistress had family. Delacour was nearby, so Pansy decided to eavesdrop.
{"The boy who lived did much better than we would have thought."} One of Fleur's friends was speaking, and they were clearly unaware that she spoke French too as Pansy listened in. {"He and his girl even pushed you out of the spotlight for once at the Yule Ball. What are you going to do about that, Fleur?"}
The French champion merely rolled her eyes at the teasing.
{"Nothing. I feel I owe a small debt to them, actually."}
{"Whatever for?"}
{"Challenging that vile woman Skeeter to an honor duel,"} Fleur replied with a smirk as the other two giggled. {"I was afraid of what my father might have done the next time she wrote something about me. We don't need an international incident like that hanging over things, and I'm sure the filthy British press would have just piled on behind her lies."}
{"How small of a debt?"}
{"And just what are you going to do to repay them?"} The giggles were louder now as Fleur frowned at her friends.
{"You two are horrible."}
{"Just be glad your cousin isn't here,"} one of them teased in response. {"I'm sure there's something a Veela could do to repay them. Something they would both enjoy."}
{"If the rumors are true, you might even enjoy yourself at the same time. They do say Potter has a sort of little harem, so he must have some idea of what to do with a girl."}
{"I will not be thanking them like that,"} Fleur insisted with an angry frown. {"What did I ever do to make you so sure I was some sort of easy trollop?"}
{"Well, there was what Jean-Claude said happened in the broom closet."}
{"What Jean-Claude said and what actually happened are two very, very different things, Marie. I would think the beating I gave him would have disabused people of those notions."}
{"Poor boy didn't walk right for the rest of the term."}
{"He deserved all that and more,"} Fleur replied. {"But I do have an idea of something I could do to help. Not just Harry, but Pansy as well."}
{"Do tell,"} Marie prodded with a grin.
"I would rather not deal with any more of your sarcasm," Fleur answered, switching to English as she turned towards Pansy who was looking at Harry to hide her interest. "Pansy, may I speak to you please? In private?"
"Of course."
They stepped over to a quiet corner of the room before Fleur spoke again.
"I saw your duel against ze so called reporter, and I wanted to zank you for 'umiliating zat awful woman. She wrote some most awful things about my family."
"You're very welcome. She wrote horrible things about me too."
"Yes, I know. I wanted to give you and 'arry something as a reward."
"Oh?"
"You know ze eggs we got from ze dragons? Place it underwater to understand."
"Thank you. I'm sure Harry will greatly appreciate that."
"So 'arry 'ad not figured it out yet?" Fleur had a small grin. "At least I beat 'im to solving zat puzzle even if 'e is in the lead so far."
"Merci beaucoup."
"Je vous en prie."
They had finally made it back to their quarters and Harry wasn't sure what he wanted to do more- get out of his own somewhat formal outfit or slowly peel Pansy out of her dress. She distracted him from those thoughts when the door closed behind them.
"I have good news, from Fleur Delacour of all people," she said.
"Really? What type of good news?"
"She told me that we need to place the egg underwater so we can understand the clue."
"Oh. Wow. Why would she just tell you that?"
"Apparently, I did her a favor by publicly humiliating Skeeter." At Harry's confused look, she explained further. "You don't think that we were the only ones that bitch was slandering do you? You remember how Fleur revealed her Veela heritage at the wand weighing? After what she wrote about Hagrid as some sort of monstrous half-breed, you have to realize that she wrote a similar hit piece on Fleur."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Harry shrugged. "I don't usually read much of the Daily Prophet, honestly. And I certainly never read any of Skeeter's garbage except when it pertained to us."
"Well, Fleur's father was just about ready to create an international incident if the bitch had written anything else about his daughter. So, she felt like she owed us."
"Huh. I guess I should try being nicer to her then."
"It wouldn't kill you," Pansy snorted. "It is pretty damn funny to me that almost every other guy in the school can't stop drooling over her while you've just written her off as some snobby French bitch."
"We both heard her constantly complaining at the Yule Ball about how Hogwarts was so completely awful compared to her precious Beauxbatons. She is a snobby French bitch. But you seem to almost like her."
"I think I do," Pansy admitted. "I can be a huge bitch too, Harry, so I can sort of respect her for that. And I am part French, you know."
"Fine, I'll try to give her a second chance. I really should if this thing with the egg pays off." Harry grinned as he pulled Pansy towards their bedroom. "I think we have something else to do tonight though."
"Tired of talking already?" she teased.
"I can think of better things to do with my mouth."
"I'm sure you can."
As Harry opened the door, there was a loud pop behind them. They turned to see a panicked Dobby clutching onto the hand of Sirius Black who was collapsed on the floor.
That would have been bad enough, especially as a mood killer, but the pool of blood quickly forming under him made it much, much worse.