Unofficial Portkey Archive

Off-Limits by Blue Lady

Ah...I have finally figured out approximately the direction this story is heading. Yay me! *grins* Also, Natalie's going to play a more vital role as the story progresses....whether or not she ends up with Ron remains to be seen though. As usual, I do not own Harry Potter...okay...if someone is dumb enough to sue me, then chances are they're not going to be smart enough to win. Enough said. I am aware that it has been an awful long time since I've last updated. Sorry for the long wait!!

Thanks to all the people that reviewed Chapter 6! =)

Chapter 7: Dreams, Potions and Evil Plans

Harry was tired. After an exhausting Quidditch practice to prepare for the upcoming Gryffindor-Ravenclaw match, he was really looking forward to a shower and after, collapsing onto his nice warm comfortable bed. Anyone who tried to wake him before his alarm rang tomorrow would be cursed with the most horrible hex he knew.

As he wearily entered his room and pushed the door shut behind him, his exhaustion was quickly replaced by surprise as he noticed the figure sitting at the end of his bed.

It took a few seconds before he finally managed to speak. "Hermione?" he croaked, "What are you doing here?"

His best friend simply gave him a mischievous smile as she walked up to him.

"I was waiting for you," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Harry felt his breath catch in his throat. "Oh."

However, he couldn't deny the fact that this wasn't typical Hermione behavior. Someone must have added something to her dinner. Now...the only question was - what was he suppose to do now?

All thought immediately fled as he felt her lips brushing against his. With a groan, he crushed her against his body, hungrily devouring her lips with a passion he didn't know he possessed. Seconds later, he was pulling her down with him onto his bed, one of his hands tangled up in her hair while the other one held her tightly against him. Finally separating for air, Harry raised his head and her passion-filled eyes met his before she pulled his head down to hers again.

At that moment, his alarm clock chose to go off. Trying to ignore the annoying shrill, he broke their kiss regretfully as he reached over - and fell right out of bed.

"Ow! Damnit..." Harry shook his head as he pulled himself up against the bed. That was when he noticed the faint ray of light beginning to seep through the curtains into the dark room.

"Hermione?" But as he looked around, the room was empty. That's strange. He could have sworn he had just been kissing Hermione...

Running his hands through his hair, he looked around the room. "Did I just dream all that?" he asked himself in disbelief. Glancing over to see that Zach's curtains were still shut, he sighed in relief. At least his little dream hadn't awoken his new roommate.

Yet, it had seemed so real though....but when did Harry Potter start dreaming about making out with his gorgeous, brainy best friend?

Harry's eyes widened before he gave himself a firm shake. "Now I know I'm going crazy." he muttered as he climbed back into bed.

Behind the curtains in the other bed, Ben smiled as he leaned back, idly twirling his wand around his fingers. "Part 1 of Operation Matchmaker successfully carried out."

***********************************

Ginny was walking down the hallway when she realized that she had forgotten her Transfiguration textbook in the Common Room. Heading for Gryffindor tower, she was startled when a hand suddenly covered her mouth and she found herself being dragged into a dark broom closet.

"What the-" Ginny struggled against her abductor, but then she heard a familiar voice in her ear.

"Calm down, Virigina." said Draco softly, his warm breath caressing her cheek. He had been looking for an opportunity to kiss the redhead again. Somehow that kiss the other day had left him yearning for more and when he saw her coming down the almost empty hallway, this gave him the perfect opportunity to get in some more snogging.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ginny hissed, yanking his hand away from her mouth.

"I think we have some unfinished business to take care of," he replied coolly.

"And what gives you the right to kiss me senseless whenever you feel like it?" she asked crossly. It wasn't that Ginny minded being kissed senseless by the handsome Slytherin, she just didn't like being cornered every single time Draco felt the urge to kiss her.

"You didn't seem to mind the last time, Weasley." drawled Draco.

"So we're back to last names now, aren't we?" Ginny was furious, partly at him for putting her in this situation and partly at herself knowing he was right, "And quit smirking at me." Draco chuckled, but didn't say anything.

Ginny shot him a dirty look, but she knew that he wouldn't see it in the darkness of the closet. His arm was draped lazily around her waist and one of his hands had traveled under her shirt, stroking the smooth skin of her back.

"Grr..You are infuriating!" she finally grounded out after a moment of silence, yanking on his robes.

Unfortunately, she had pulled harder than expected because Ginny soon found herself flattened against the wall with Draco pressed tightly against her.

"Smooth move, Virginia." Ginny swore she could see the smirk on his face in the darkness.

"Just shut up and kiss me already." she grumbled and then her eyes widened. "Wait! That wasn't what I-"

"Too late." Draco's lips descended upon hers before she got the chance to finish her sentence.

**************************************

About ten minutes later, Ginny rushed to the Gryffindor table and took her seat between Nina and Natalie.

"You do realize that you look you've just been making out with someone?" Natalie commented nonchalantly.

"I really didn't notice." came the sarcastic reply, "And it's all you-know-who's fault!" she shot a dirty look over at the Slytherin table.

"Frolicking with the Dark Lord now, aren't we? My, what Draco must be thinking..."

"Yes, yes." said Ginny briskly, digging into her lunch.

Natalie rolled her eyes, "Ginny, did I mention that I'm running away with Seamus to Australia and that Harry just proclaimed his undying love for Crabbe?"

"Whatever you say." replied Ginny absentmindedly.

Natalie gave Hermione an exasperated look across the table and tried again. "Ginny, Draco's kissing Blaise at the Slytherin table."

"What?! She can't do that! That jerk is MINE!" Ginny was furious as she quickly scanned the Great Hall for the said couple.

Seconds later, she flushed scarlet as she noticed Natalie trying hard not to snicker.

"Get a life." the redhead growled, trying to hid her burning face beneath her long hair as Natalie finally burst out laughing.

**********************************

As Hermione waited for the others to finish, she thought back to their conversation yesterday...

The five of them, Hermione, Ginny, Natalie, Ben and Nina had gathered in Ginny's room to discuss their plans.

"We need a plan of some kind." Ben began.

"Okay, but first, let's start with what we know." Natalie interrupted. "We don't know who this bad guy is in the present or if he's even here. We think that there's something in the Chamber of Secrets that can stop him, but we don't know what this is either. However, we do know that it's the only thing that can stop him."

Ginny nodded. "That's about it."

"So most of it is guessing," said Hermione, scribbling into her notebook, "But we'll have to make do."

"Okay then," said Ginny briskly, "First things first. We need find a day to sneak down into the Chamber. It's almost Winter Break and since most of the students are going home, there won't be much people hanging around."

"And that's about all we can do right now, since there's nothing I can research at this point in time."

"Meanwhile, one of us has to keep an eye on people so they don't catch onto our activities - as well as any potential Elddir candidates." finished Natalie.

"That sums it up nicely." remarked Nina quietly. Little did the other three know that the kids also had an agenda of their own - something they had dubbed "Operation Matchmaker".

*****************************

"Palmer. You're partners with Anderson." called Severus as he proceeded to pair off the rest of his Fifth Year Potions class.

"Weasley. Lewis."

"Hi, Natalie." said her partner as he sat down beside her. Natalie gave him a bright smile. Even though Ricky Anderson was in Slytherin, she still found him to be pleasant company. Sometimes, she wondered why he was in Slytherin in the first place - he was to darn nice to be in that house!

"Class. You have half an hour. You may begin now."

"So, did you finish your Transfiguration homework yet?" asked Natalie as she carefully chopped up their ingredients.

"Yeah, but I had a hard time finding a good hiding place for it." said Ricky, making a face as he read through the instructions.

"Well...I guess it's not your fault that all Slytherins are lazy." teased Natalie.

"Thanks a lot." he replied wryly.

"Hey, freak." sneered a voice in front of them suddenly.

Natalie's eyes narrowed as she glared at Karl. He was the unofficial leader of the Slytherin Fifth Years and his favorite hobby was insulting her whenever it seemed that Professor Snape or any other teacher was out of hearing.

"Hey, Anderson, I wouldn't be so chummy with the Mudblood-loving Gryff if I were you. It might rub off on you."

"Get lost." said Natalie coldly.

"It's a free country - and what are you going to do? In case you haven't noticed, Weasel seems to prefer Loony Lovegood over you."

Karl smirked as her slowly reddening face. Ricky faced a hand on Natalie's shoulder, "Ignore him, Nat."

However, Natalie had other ideas. Grabbing a wormroot from the pile, she chucked it straight at the back of Karl's head. Unfortunately, Karl saw it coming and ducked quickly. Giving Natalie a superior smirk, he turned and...

BOOM!

Apparently, the wormroot had landed in his potion instead. Natalie and Ricky both jerked backwards as the liquid in cauldron exploded, splattering Karl, his partner and the few Slytherins around them in bright neon pink.

She gave Ricky an innocent look, "Oh, did I do that?"

"Natalie..." groaned her partner.

"Nice." Ginny said appreciatively from beside Natalie, "Couldn't have done a better job myself."

"WHAT just happened here?!" Severus was back - and he was certainly not pleased to see a quarter of his room spattered in bright neon pink.

Karl pointed an accusatory finger at Natalie, "She threw something into my potion!"

"Prove it." said Natalie smugly.

"Why you little-"

"Oh yeah, you started it, you creep-"

Severus knew he was going to get a headache if they continued. "That's it!" he roared. "Palmer! Destraine! BOTH of you have detention!"

There was an abrupt silence before Natalie jumped up.

"Yahoo!!" she cheered, pumping her fist into the air.

Only Ginny and Ricky understood the reason behind their friend's joyfulness. The rest of the class just looked at her as though she had grown another head.

"And you - wipe that smile off your face." Severus growled at Natalie.

***********************************

"Figures that you would be the one jumping for joy after the Professor gives you a detention." remarked Ricky as they headed to the library to work on their report.

"Well, it's Potions...." said Natalie and then she grinned evilly, "Maybe I can convince Dad to have him scrub the cauldrons without magic!"

"What about you?"

"He'll probably just get me to mark some essays for him or something like that....Destraine looks real nice in neon pink, doesn't he?"

"Better than usual." replied Rick good naturely, "But then he's bound to be in a foul mood for the rest of the week. You better watch out for him." he warned.

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself fine." she said reassuringly.

Her partner didn't look convinced.

****************************************

Meanwhile, in the Slytherin common rooms, a dark-haired girl stared moodily into the fire. Blaise Zambini was having a horrible day indeed.

When she was getting ready that morning, she discovered to her dismay that one of the other girls had used up all of her eyeshadow! As if that wasn't enough, she spotted Draco, her Draco disappearing with the Weaselette just before lunch time!

Blaise was deep in thought when another blond made his way into the common room. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye without much interest. This must be the new student - so she had been told - and Draco's new roommate. He was only a third year, Blaise mused, but he was kind of cute.

Suddenly, an idea struck her. Nobody (except a certain Malfoy) could resist her charms afterall...and it was winter break. Most people were leaving anyways, so why not have some fun? It would be amusing to have him trailing after her like some kind of lovesick puppy - and then she could just brush him off at the right intervals... Maybe Draco would even get jealous and ask her out again!

A satisfied smile slowly appeared on Blaise's face as she followed the blond's movements. Yes, this was perfect.

However, as Shawn gathered his books and made his way out to meet Ben and Nina, he failed to notice the dark-haired girl who was steadily watching his every move.

*************************************

The plot thickens (kind of). ^.~

Coming up in later chapters: Blaise is going to try and seduce Shawn, Draco finds out something about his new roommate and Ben finds himself the victim of an overzealous crush. Also, Elddir finally makes his first move!