I Think You Mean It Like That

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters herein.  All the characters in the Harry Potter universe belong exclusively to J.K. Rowling. I am publishing this only for my own selfish desire to be a part of their world.

The song “Drift Away” isn’t mine, obviously!  As far as I know it was first sung by Dobie Gray, and then reprised by Uncle Kracker.  It belongs to them, and their record labels, etc, etc.

The song “You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This” isn’t mine either.  The version I’m referring to was sung by Toby Keith.  I would guess as he writes most of his songs, he owns it, or co-owns it with the other guy who he writes with.  There may be others who own it more than he does, aka his record label.  Lyrics quoted are borrowed from listening to my very own purchased CD.  So please, Mr. Covel, don’t get mad!  (Psst, do any of you know who Mr. Covel is?  Enough reviews and I’ll post my answer for you with the next chapter!)

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Chapter One – I’ve Got a Funny Feeling

Ron Weasley was quickly becoming frustrated with his two best friends.  It was beginning to look like, despite his best efforts, his two best friends would not be attending the Graduation Ball.  For the past two weeks he and Draco Malfoy had been trying to set Harry up with Lavender Brown, while Ron’s sister, Ginny, and Ron’s girlfriend, Luna Lovegood, had been trying to get Hermione to accept a date from Justin Finch-Fletchley.  Both had been adamantly refusing their friends’ attempts at matchmaking.

Finally, in utter frustration, Ron had been sitting with Harry and Hermione in the Common Room of Gryffindor Tower, for the past hour, offering names of possible dates that the two could take to the Graduation Ball.  Both of them had at first tried to be pleasant in their refusals of his meddling, then their attitudes had quickly changed to being annoyed, and then had morphed into ignoring him in favor returning to their studying for NEWT’s. 

Now Ron was getting angry, and quite honestly, an angry Ron is a frightful sight…red hair, mottled skin…you get the picture.  Honestly, he thought, if anyone needed to be studying for NEWT’s it was himself, not Harry and Hermione.  Those two had been revising constantly since the beginning of seventh year.  So if Ron wanted to take time from his studying to make suggestions for their pathetic social lives, he thought they at least owed it to him to listen.  After all, Ron had been used to being ignored by Hermione Granger when she was in deep study mode, which given the brilliant witch’s penchant for studying happened frequently.  He was not, however, used to being ignored by Harry Potter.  Since the defeat of He-Who-Now-Rots-Beneath-The-Earth, Harry had become almost worse than Hermione. 

Speaking of which, I suppose you’d be interested to know how the darkest wizard of the century met his demise.  Not that it’s at all pertinent to the story, but if you insist.  Anyway, Lord Voldemort had been defeated under the most unlikely of circumstances.  He had been bested by a Muggle kitchen utensil.  Voldemort and his Death Eaters had broken the wards on the summer before the trio’s seventh year.  They had apparated into the residence, startling Harry and the Dursleys who had been preparing their morning meal at the time.  Acting purely out of reflex, Harry had taken the frying pan of sizzling bacon and had smacked it against the back of Lord Voldemort’s head.  Voldemort had been knocked dead by the blow, and so was unable to take any soul-saving precautions prior to his death.  In truth, he hadn’t even had the time to raise his wand.

Apparently Harry’s Muggle cooking skills had been the “power the Dark Lord knows not” which had been foretold by the Prophecy.  Who would have thought?  Well, anyway, the Death Eaters present, shocked by what had occurred, had been quickly stunned and bound by two of their ranks, Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy.

Severus and Harry had come to a truce after the disastrous events of Harry’s fifth year.  Both had admitted their faults and the Professor had been training Harry ever since for his next battle with the Dark Lord.  In retrospect, perhaps he should have been training Harry in wielding kitchen utensils instead of katana blades, swords, and hand-to-hand combat, but I digress. 

Draco Malfoy had pledged his allegiance to the Order in their sixth year after thanking Harry privately for putting his father in Azkaban and giving Draco the first curse-free summer of his life.  Draco took on the role as a spy to assist Professor Snape, and soon after had fallen desperately in love with Virginia Weasley.

So Harry headed back to his seventh year as a free man.  He had been able to stay with Hermione and the Weasleys the remainder of the summer, as he no longer needed the protection that his Aunt’s home had afforded him.  For all intents and purposes, Harry should have been a happy young man.  But he was far from it.  Harry felt as if he had no direction.  Even though it had been forced upon him, he had had a purpose in life while Voldemort was alive.  Now, he had no idea what to do with his life. 

He sought counsel from the people he trusted the most:  Ron, Hermione, Albus Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, and surprisingly, Severus Snape.  The end result was what had Ron Weasley so frustrated today.  Harry had committed himself to being the best wizard he could.  He studied long hours, sought extra lessons when possible from his Professors, and planned to apprentice Remus Lupin, who had returned as DADA Professor, after graduation.  Ron was thrilled for his friend.  Harry seemed happy, but there was still something missing from Harry’s life in Ron’s estimation.  In short, Harry had no one to share his life with.

Ron was worried what would happen to his friend after they graduated.  Ron had signed on with the Chudley Cannons as their reserve Keeper for next year.  He would leave for training the day after their graduation from Hogwarts.  Ron, however, would not be alone.  His fiancée, Luna Lovegood, would be accompanying him.  Of course, by then, she would be his wife.  Luna had advanced her studies and would be graduating a year early, as would his sister Ginny.  Ginny’s wedding to Draco Malfoy was set for the day after his wedding to Luna. 

Harry hadn’t dated at all since his disastrous date with Cho in fifth year.  Whenever Ron questioned Harry about it, Harry had claimed that he didn’t want to subject someone to the threat of Voldemort.  Once Voldemort had been killed, Ron tried again.  Now Harry’s excuse was that he was too focused on making up for his lack of attention to his schoolwork.  Harry seemed quite content with spending all of his time with Hermione in the library. 

Of course, Hermione was even worse.  Hermione hadn’t dated anyone since she had attended the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum in fourth year.  Besides her schoolwork, her only focus had been Harry.  When Harry had been taking extra defensive lessons in sixth year, Hermione had helped him train.  Now that Harry had become committed to school, Hermione had been helping him prepare for NEWT’s.  She had also been planning her own future.  She had been studying to be an animagus and had agreed to apprentice Professor McGonagall after she graduated.

Ron was extremely proud of his two very mature friends.  However, he was worried that if they didn’t at least enjoy doing one truly fun, teenage thing before they graduated, that they would live to regret it.  This is why at this moment he found himself so angry and frustrated with the two of them as they sat with their noses buried in their books in front of him.  Ron pounded his fist on the table.  “Honestly, you two are ridiculous.  Harry, mate, you’ve got to attend the Graduation Ball.  And Hermione, you’re Head Girl, what would it look like if…”

“FINE!”  Harry hissed out through gritted teeth.  “I’ll go to the damned ball.  But I’m not going with any of those simpering girls you suggested.  The last thing I need is someone fawning over me all night.  They only want to go with me because I’m the bloody hero of the Wizarding world.  I’ll get my own date.”  Harry turned towards Hermione.  “Go with me?  Please?  If we agree, he’ll leave us alone, and we can probably get in a couple more hours of studying before the Charms NEWT.”

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed.  “If I must, but I truly think this is a ridiculous waste of time.”  Hermione suddenly groaned and squeezed her eyes shut.  “You realize of course that the reporters will have a field day with the fact that you and I will attend together.”

Harry ran a hand through his hair nervously.  “Everyone already thinks we’re a couple.  It’s not like we’re creating any new rumors.  Besides if I go with anyone else they’ll be writing about how I’m cheating on you.  But if it bothers you…”

Hermione let out a snort of laughter.  “Of course it doesn’t bother me, I was just thinking of how all that press affects you.”  Hermione paused and nodded her head once.  “Fine, we’ll go together.  I suppose as Head Girl I’d be forced to put in an appearance anyway.  But let’s not talk about it again until after NEWT’s are over, okay.”

“Fine by me, tell the red-haired menace we call a friend.  He’s the one who’s been annoying us about going.”  Harry nodded his head in Ron’s direction and smirked.

Ron held up both hands in a gesture of defeat and laughed.  “I give up.  If you two want to spend yet another night in each other’s company, who am I to argue.  I’m just glad that my two best friends will be there.”  Ron raised an eyebrow and shook a finger at both of them playfully.  “Just don’t blame me if you two end up old and alone because you’ve wasted your youth on platonic dates with each other instead of taking up with someone who you could have a proper snog with.”

TBC