As promised, here comes the turn in the story!
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Chapter 10: Late Night Endeavors
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"Ron!" hissed Harry. He was standing atop his bed so he could see up to where Ron lay on the bunk above him.
Ron rolled in his sleep a bit and made a sort of snorting noise.
"Ron, wake up," Harry whispered again.
Tomorrow would be the first day of July. It had been two weeks since Harry had nearly kissed Hermione. Since then, he'd still yet to act on his resolution. Not that they didn't spend time together, though. Since Ron and Meegan had become fairly inclusive in their new relationship, Harry and Hermione were left to spend a lot of time together. Easily, they had shifted back into their pattern of being best friends; both still trying their best to deny what they felt for each other.
"Get up you git!" hissed Harry again, this time poking Ron while trying not to fall on his perch on the bed.
"It's summer, I don't like french toast in the evening, Mum," Ron mumbled in his sleep.
Harry stifled a laugh, then jabbed his friend again, "Get up!"
"Wha...what?" Ron sat up startled.
"Finally," sighed Harry, taking a step down off his bed to the floor.
"Harry? What time is it?" asked Ron in a sleepy tone. He stretched and rubs his eyes a bit.
"Two o'clock in the morning," said Harry, getting down on his knees and pulling out his luggage bag from under his bed.
"Well why in bloody hell did you wake me then?" hissed Ron, starting to become a bit more coherent.
"Shhhh...Lower your voice and get down here," said Harry, fishing around in his bag.
"What for?" Ron climbed out of the covers and lazily slid over the edge, hitting the floor with a dull thud.
"We're going out," grinned Harry wickedly.
"To do what?" Ron gave him an interested look.
"We're going to pull pranks!" said Harry excitedly.
"Brilliant!" smiled Ron. His smile slowly faded a bit as Harry still dug in his bag. "How are we going to do this, and not be seen?"
"We're going to use this!" Harry whipped something silky and shiny out from between folded sweaters in his bag.
"But that's your invisibility cloak!" Ron whispered excitedly. "How'd you manage to sneak it in here?!"
"I tucked it between some clothes and hoped Hermione wouldn't catch sight of it while she searched our things for enchanted items," he looked rather pleased with himself for sneaking the cloak in successfully.
"I have loads of great pranks I learned from Fred and George!" said Ron and he slid on a pair of shoes and a sweater.
"Excellent," smiled Harry, sliding on his shoes as well.
When they were both ready, they nodded and left the cabin, creaking the door closed as silently as they could as not to wake anyone else in the cabin.
They exited and snuck around the corner all while looking to make sure no one was around. As soon as they were certain they wouldn't be seen, Harry threw the invisibility cloak over them and they vanished into the night.
"So what's the plan?" whispered Ron at a nearly inaudible level as they snuck toward the girls' side of camp.
"I have a few things in my pockets," whispered Harry back. "I think we should maybe borrow some toilet paper from bathrooms too."
"Definitely!"
After sneaking into the bathroom and stealing a few rolls of toilet paper, the pair made their way over to Hermione and Meegan's cabin.
"Here," Harry handed Ron a roll of toilet paper. They both grinned evilly and then began throwing the rolls back and forth over the roof of the cabin until they ran out of paper. When they were done, the roof was a fluttering white mass.
"What's next?" asked Ron while Harry dug around in his pockets.
Harry produced a roll of duct tape, "We're taping them in!"
Ron grinned as they crept over to the door and began taping it shut. Next, they moved on to all of the windows. Eventually, every possible exit was taped up tight.
"Here," Harry handed Ron a tube of shaving cream.
"What shall we write?" smirked Ron. He loved being the one actually pulling pranks rather than getting them pulled on him, as it was usually the case.
"I hadn't thought that far ahead," blushed Harry into the night.
"What?" said Ron; his hand perched in midair on the trigger, waiting to spray the thick, foamy substance all over the outside of the cabin.
"I..."
Harry was interrupted by a loud rattling at the door. Harry and Ron froze; they were three feet on the other side of it.
"HEY!" they heard a yell emerge from inside.
"Shit," mumbled Ron. He fumbled around in his pocket to find the cap to the shaving cream to cap it before they ran off. However in doing so, he dropped the shaving cream. It rolled until it hit the door.
Two female voice came from inside as the pounding on the door continued. They were now presumably ramming their shoulders into the door to un-jar it as the sounds from inside indicated.
"Grab it!" Harry's eyes widened as he watched the can roll away from Ron's grasp.
"I didn't mean to drop..." Ron's words were cut off as the door burst open with a bang. It hit Ron and Harry and knocked them flat on their backs.
Suddenly two screams echoed as the girls in the doorway saw two pairs of feet emerge out of thin air and appear in the darkness.
Ron and Harry both yelled in shock back at the girls. They flew to their feet and scrambled to get the cloak back over themselves. In doing so, Ron stepped on the corner of the cloak; his foot becoming tangled in it. With another yell, he fell over sideways into Harry. The pair landed in a mass, the cloak only covering their middles.
The yells from the girls subsided and instead, the extremely angry voice of Hermione filled the air.
"HARRY! RON!" she growled, pulling the younger girl out of the cabin with her and shutting the door behind her, hoping no one else had woken up.
They looked up at her. While falling, Harry had accidentally pushed the trigger on the can of shaving cream he'd been holding. The cans contents were now splayed all over Harry and Ron. Besides the shaving cream, there was dirt and pine needles sticking everywhere. To make matters worse, Hermione was giving them one of the nastiest death glares they'd ever received from her before.
"I cannot believe you two," hissed Hermione as she hovered over them. "You promised you wouldn't sneak anything magical into camp! And here you are with you invisibility cloak! UGH!" She threw her hands up in aggravation, stomping around them.
Ron and Harry took the opportunity to stand up and attempt to brush some of the junk off of them.
"I just can't believe you two! And look at our cabin!" she fumed. Behind Hermione, a young brunette followed her every move while gazing at Harry with interest. "First I catch you in...in that cloak!! And to top it off you're pulling pranks!!"
"Um…Hermione," said Harry, watching the young girl.
"WHAT?!" she snapped. She was still thinking of some way to punish the two of them.
"Maybe you should mention you-know-what with a camper around," Harry's eyes were widened in fear.
Ron too had caught on and watched the girl with apprehension.
"Oh, that's just Juliet," said Hermione, waving it off, "Now as for you two!" She glared at them.
"Juliet?" interrupted Ron. Neither he nor Harry still understood why Hermione didn't care.
"Didn't I ever tell you two? This is Juliet Brown. She's Lavender's younger sister. She'll be going to school with us next year," said Hermione casually before letting her cross look come back. They knew she was planning something dreadful to do to them.
"Hi," Juliet mumbled shyly.
Ron and Harry just stared at her, trying to comprehend all that Hermione had told them. They were still watching her out of the corner of their eyes as well. She looked terribly upset and they wanted to escape her wrath as soon as they possibly could.
"You're Harry Potter," Juliet grinned.
"Yes."
"Wow..." she mumbled, gazing at him, still in awe.
"Another member of you fan club," Ron whispered into Harry's ear. Harry threw an elbow into Ron's gut and he replied with an 'Umph!' while grabbing his stomach.
"We need to...leave...now," said Harry as he and Ron began taking sideways steps toward their cabin.
"Oh no you don't! Not until I'm through with you Harry Potter!" steamed Hermione. With a frown, she stomped over to him. "You're coming with me!" She grabbed him by the shirt sleeve and began dragging him away.
Ron and Juliet watched as they disappeared down the trail toward the Recreation & Sports shed down the path.
Ron looked at Juliet uncomfortably as Harry and Hermione vanished behind the side of the shed; leaving him and Juliet alone in the night.
"So, Ronniekins," she began with a sly look.
Ron's eyes widened in fright as his fingers tightened on the invisibility cloak in his fingers that Harry'd left with him.
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"You promised me!" she glared at him as she pushed his shoulder while releasing her grasp on him. She'd led them safely behind the storage shed and out of view from the rest of the camp.
Harry watched her with fear. His heart was pounding. He could feel the blood thumping in his ears as it did so. He took in a deep breath as he watched the moonlight reflect off her livid eyes. She began berating him, but he wasn't listening; the pounding in his ears was all he could hear.
"Of all the stupid things to do; risking magic in a place like this?! And using your cloak outside of school!"
He didn't realize it, but as she went on, he'd begun to stare at her. He could see her lips moving as she spoke. They were so beautiful. He noticed the moonlight reflecting off her hair and in her eyes, giving her a soft, angelic glow. As she chastised him, his eyes moved down her body and noted she was donning blue flannel pajama bottoms and a lavender v-neck tank top. Even in her simple sleepwear she looked beautiful.
Suddenly her lips stopped moving and Harry shook his head a bit. He let the sounds of the night fill his ears as he realized she was now staring back at him.
"Harry," she pouted out her bottom lip a bit in frustration, "are you listening to a word I'm saying!?!"
He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. A fuzzy feeling was starting at his feet, and was now traveling up his body.
"Harry?" she took a step closer, softening her tone.
His mind was racing. He wanted to tell her everything he was thinking about her at that very moment, but the words just wouldn't come out of his mouth, no matter how hard he tried.
"Are you all right?" she closed the gap between them, reaching up and putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.
~*~
"So that's an invisibility cloak?" Juliet took a step closer, fingering the fine material with interest.
"Um, yes," Ron mumbled. He was a bit uncomfortable being out in the dark, and still feeling nervous about what Hermione would do to him when she was through with Harry.
"Magnificent," she mumbled.
"So, I've heard a lot about you," she continued after releasing the silky fabric of the cloak.
"From Hermione?" he raised an eyebrow of interest.
"No from my sister. She fancies you," said Juliet blatantly. Ron could almost see her smirking in the dull moonlight. He was a younger sibling himself; he understood the satisfaction she got from ratting out her older sister.
"R..really now?" Ron muttered uncomfortably. "That's nice," he didn't want to say anything more as thoughts of Meegan and their budding relationship suddenly filled his head. "I better be heading back to my cabin," he took a step away from her.
"Wait..."
Suddenly the door of Juliet's cabin opened, producing a perturbed looking Meegan. "Juliet you get back in this cabin," She stepped outside wearing a long white bathrobe over her boy's boxers and ribbed scoop-neck tank top, her hair piled up in a high, messy bun.
Ron's eyes filled with shock as he dropped the invisibility cloak to the ground and kicked some leaves over it.
Meegan heard the rustling and looked over at him. "Ron? What are you doing here?"
"I was with..."
"And where did Hermione go?" interrupted Meegan and she moved aside to let Juliet back into the cabin.
"Good night, Ron," she called as she went inside.
"She's with Harry," managed Ron, quickly walking away from the invisibility and toward Meegan to draw her attention away from where it lay.
"That's wonderful!" smiled Meegan, "What are they up to?"
"Hermione's angry for what we did to your cabin," muttered Ron, looking out the ground, "Sorry 'bout that," he added.
Meegan turned around and looked at her cabin with shocked eyes. The toilet paper was fluttering in the wind. The tape on the door had peeled off from when Hermione and Juliet had barged open the door. Their cabin was a mess.
"Ronald Weasley!" she stomped toward him, "You are in such deep trouble!"
"I...I'm sorry," muttered Ron, taking a nervous step back. He really didn't want to face the wrath of two girls that night. One was too many for him.
"I can't believe you'd...AHHHHHH!" she took a step forward and tripped on a root, flying into Ron. She hit in with an 'Umph' and they both went falling to the ground.
Ron let out a grunt and she landed square atop him with a thud.
"Owwww," said Ron, rubbing a sore elbow that had nailed the ground rather harshly.
Meegan began laughing.
"What's so funny?" he demanded.
"I don't know," laughed Meegan. "I'm sorry for getting upset. It really was a good prank. Bad luck you got caught," her eyes were gleaming in the moonlight. Her laughter was gone, replaced with a glowing smile.
Ron gave her a dorky smile, a blush creeping up his face, making his ears hot as she leaned closer, still on top of him.
"Do you think Harry and Hermione will be returning soon?" a wicked look crossed her face as she leaned closer.
"I don't think so," said Ron, closing his eyes and leaning in. Their lips connected. Ron let a gentle hand slide up her side, drawing small circles on her back with his fingertips.
He quickly became lost in the moment, forgetting about the lecture he assumed Harry was receiving.
~*~
Hermione took a step closer, putting her hand softly on Harry's shoulder in a tentative matter.
"Are you all right?" she asked. He hadn't responded to her since she'd brought him down behind the shed. She didn't know if she'd frightened him into silence, or if it was something different. She had yelled at him quite harshly.
He cocked his head slightly to the side. His eyes were looking directly into hers. Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat. She'd been so angry at the moment, she'd forgotten how much he effected her while she was in his presence.
Suddenly, she realized how close she was to him. Even in the cool, crisp night, she could feel his body heat radiating against the exposed flesh of her sleeveless arm.
"Harry?" she gulped. Her stomach was beginning to flutter. It had been three weeks since she'd been this close to him. She'd forgotten how captivating he could be.
"Harry?!" she asked again, a bit more timidly, yet with an urgency for him to respond. She was studying his eyes. The way he was looking at her, it was like he was contemplating something.
Suddenly, without warning, his hands slid up her sides, up her back, and settled on her shoulders. With a swift pull, he crushed her body into his.
Hermione's breath caught in her throat again. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, her lips quivered soundlessly instead. Her mind began racing wildly, wondering what he could be thinking.
Her eyes were still locked with his, but he was giving her a look she'd never seen before. She didn't know if it was because she was so tired (it was nearly three o'clock in the morning after all) or if it was something else, but she still couldn't pull her eyes from his gaze.
Though it seemed longer, she'd only been in his arms for a few mere seconds. Finding her voice, Hermione began to inquiry him, "Har..."
She didn't get any further than that as his head suddenly bent down and his lips melded onto hers.
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