Summer Writing Series Challenge (July 9)
Challenge: Random Quote Challenge [Sequel Week]
Title: A Seeker's Tale
Word Count: 2,000
The following weeks passed by in a blissful haze. After Harry and Hermione finally, in the eyes of many of the students in the school, actually in the eyes of everyone that knew them, got together, the news erupted like a wildfire in dry grasslands. Bets were called in, galleons in the thousands were exchanged from losing parties to winning parties and in the case of the Slytherins, back into the hands of the losing parties who became the winning parties after a well placed stunning spell.
The head boy and girl of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were excited and nervous with their newfound leap forward in their relationship. Little things they did for one another had suddenly held so much meaning in their simplicity that both were flabbergasted when they realized they did them. Harry caught Hermione straightening his tie without asking, he'd found himself tucking loose strands of hair behind her ears and it still made her blush. As the weeks wore on, their love for one another deepened farther than they, or anyone else, realized was possible.
"Look at Saint Potter and his mudblood basking in their post-war glory!" Draco spat angrily from the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. He'd been watching the two love birds fill each other's plates and laugh all morning. "You know what I think of his precious, little, mudblood, Goyle?" He asked contemptuously.
Goyle grunted in thought and it looked like he was truly having a hard time with the concept of thought when his other dim-witted companion opened his mouth.
"Uh... Because you can't polish a turd?" Crabbe blurted out with a bewildered look on his face, apparently trying to understand what he'd just said himself.
"You're in rare form today, Crabbe," Draco said with a snort. "You're right, though, Granger is a turd that just can't be prettied up, no matter what dress you put on her, she'll always be a mudblood!"
He didn't know what was happening, but as his disdainful tirade about Hermione went on, his voice kept getting higher and higher until it came out in a squeak reminiscent of a chipmunk on helium.
"What in the bloody hell?!" He squeaked furiously, standing bold upright and knocking his stool to the ground. He turned in fury at the hand on his shoulder only to grow even angrier at the smirk on the redhead in front of him.
"Ah, I see your voice has finally caught up with your animagus form, Malfoy..." Ron said with a wide smile. "You see, that spell that did nothing to that Death Eater I hexed? Well, it affects them after they've insulted my friends or family..."
The color drained from Draco Malfoy's face, seemingly reverting him to normal coloration but then his face became a sickly shade of green. Crabbe and Goyle, though they hadn't said anything directly against Harry, Hermione or the Weasleys took on the same pea-green color as their leader and all three bolted from the Great Hall.
With a bout of laughter from three of the houses, a round of clapping and congratulations for the prank that Ron just pulled on the three Slytherins, Ronald Weasley made his way to his customary seat next to his two best friends.
"That's what that spell did?" Hermione asked in confusion. "But you only cast stunners and the furnunculus a few times..."
"They didn't know that," Ron said with a guffaw as he began filling a cloth with mounds of food.
"Are you feeding an army?" Ginny asked with a sneer of disgust. "I hope that isn't all for you!"
"My sweet, sweet, sister," Ron said with a royal air to his tone of voice, "this is indeed all for me, you know my credo: Never eat more than you can lift." He smiled when she rolled her eyes. "And I, for one, can lift quite a bit, thank-you-very-much!"
Harry stifled a laugh at his friend's comment and happened to look at his new watch. "Oy, Ron! We're going to be late for Divination!" With a mad dash to gather their books, Harry kissed Hermione on the cheek then he and Ron bustled out of the Great Hall for the North Tower.
The class started in it's usual fashion with Professor Trelawney predicting Harry's death at the hands of an unknown foe. She went into great detail with this prediction, considering they were working with advanced Tarot mixed with Palmistry, and before Harry knew what was happening, Ron was shaking him.
"Harry, wake up!" He hissed in his ear.
"What?" Harry asked from his overly warm chair. He'd forgotten to open the window next to him and did so immediately.
"You were sleeping so soundly you started to snore, mate!" Ron hissed again as Professor Trelawney made her rounds about the classroom.
"Well, I didn't know I was asleep," Harry whispered back as he looked up Ron's cards in his advanced copy of Tarot: The Future or Solitaire? "I was dreaming I was awake then I woke up and found myself asleep!"
"What?" Ron asked confusedly, staring at Harry with wide, goggling eyes.
"I was asleep, Ron," Harry said with a shake of his head then began to read Ron's prediction. "It looks like a beast will dress like a fool and trample on your parade..." Harry read from the book. "And it seems that the moon will beat you about the head and shoulders with... it seems a trout or some type of fish..."
"Ohh, your inner-eye is quite clear today, Mr. Potter!" Professor Trelawney said with an excited glee about her. "But I'd be careful of that trick step with the furry slippers... It could mean your doom..." She said mysteriously as she looked over his cards and stepped back dramatically causing Harry and Ron to roll their eyes.
Class ended semi-abruptly for Harry who had slept through half of the class, it seemed that Professor Trelawney thought he was in a trance for forty-five minutes before Ron shook him awake.
"You've got all the bloody luck in the world, Harry!" Ron huffed as they made their way to Transfiguration. "You're still on the Quidditch team, and captain to boot! You made head boy without being a prefect first and now this!"
"Oh, and don't forget Hermione," Harry said as they met her at the foot of the stairs.
"What about me?" She asked skeptically as Harry wrapped an arm around her.
"I was just telling Harry how lucky he was..." Ron said with the shake of his head. "The git fell asleep in Divination and Trelawney thought he was in a trance... For three-quarters of the class!"
"But to answer your question," Harry said with a laugh, "I was just telling Ron how lucky I am to have you."
"Don't start with that mush stuff around me," Ron said warningly as he covered his eyes. "I'm just getting used to the two of you being together and the three of us going back to being friends again... I don't need pictures burned into my skull."
Hermione snorted then kissed Harry full on the lips, much for her boyfriends benefit as for Ron's and the couple laughed as they all took their seats in McGonagall's class.
The class seemed to zip by at a pace usually unheard of during one of the Headmistress' sessions and Ron was still fighting with his assignment.
"Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall huffed as she stepped up to his desk and looked down her long, hooked nose at him. "This is a review session for your N.E.W.T.s and you can't transfigure a simple pile of rocks, glue, and your spool into its final form?!"
"Well," Ron said sheepishly with a shrug, "this is HALF of a light blue tool box."
"Half will not do! Ten points from Gryffindor!" She said with a sneer. "Now I expect you to do better on your N.E.W.T.s!"
The rest of the day flew by in a flurry of charmed feathers, owl post, and Neville Longbottom's timely rescue from the roped off swamp that had been left as a memorial to Fred and George Weasley.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the Gryffindor common room working feverishly on a report that was due in their advanced potions class the next day. Actually, Ron was the only one who was working feverishly since Harry and Hermione were snogging happily on the sofa having finished their homework a week in advance.
"You two irritate the bloody hell out of me!" Ron barked from the table. "How did you each write a fifty foot essay for tomorrow? I can barely find any answers!"
"Ron, the best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it," Hermione said with a dismissive wave. "If you did your research, you'd know what I'm talking about and no, you can't copy my essay."
Ron growled in frustration when Harry and Hermione left for their personal suite, the young couple interested in spending some alone time together and not listening to their aggravated friend. "Night, Ron," Harry called from the portrait hole. "I'll see you in class tomorrow, match against Slytherin in the afternoon and all..."
"Night!" Ron snapped back, running his fingers through his hair maddeningly.
The night went by far too quickly for the likes of Harry and the next day, they turned in their assignments.
"Why do you insist on handing in such over-done work?" Snape asked with a sneer as Hermione handed in her essay.
"I just researched it thoroughly," she said with a straight face and ignored the look on his face.
"No one likes a show-off, Miss Granger," Snape drawled. "That will be ten points from Gryffindor."
Potions went by just as it always did, only with tougher assignments in the practical session than in previous years. They had to brew a hybrid potion from any two years above fourth for this class and it was with a collective sigh of relief when Neville Longbottom finally turned in his potion without damaging a thing. The rest of the students finished quickly, anticipating the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin that would be happening in a few short minutes. The bell rang and with classes cancelled for the rest of the day for the final match of the year, all the students and faculty made their way excitedly to the pitch.
The game kicked off frightfully full of explosive energy. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be working in perfect harmony for once, shattering the broom of one of the Gryffindor chasers early in the match. Harry spotted the snitch on several occasions, but he was cut off by a bludger from one of the Slytherin gorillas on every attempt.
"Have enough, Potter?!" Draco spat from behind him. "Ready to lose the house cup your last year?!"
"I think it's the other way around, Ferret-boy!" Ron yelled as he overheard the taunts. "Oy, Harry! Ever have that feeling something bad's going to happen?" Ron shouted as he spotted Crabbe and Goyle below his friend. When Harry turned to look at him, Ron smiled at the angle the motion brought Draco. "Well, you better DUCK..."
Harry did as he was told immediately and felt a bludger whiz by him. He heard a cry of alarm and watched as Draco Malfoy fell to the ground below, landing firmly on his back. The snitch was hovering just a few meters above the fallen player and with one of his famous dives; Harry caught the golden ball, landing right beside his arch-nemesis. The rest of Gryffindor landed in a circle around the now-conscious Slytherin and bent over into his field of view.
"Look at it this way, Malfoy..." Ron said with a spot on imitation of the blonde.
"Pain is weakness leaving the body," Ginny finished with a grin.
"I hate losing, more than I like winning," Draco growled, unable to move from the spot he was in.
"Welcome to the real world," Harry said with a smirk as the bleachers emptied onto the pitch. Harry lifted the Quidditch cup high in the air with one hand, and his free arm wrapped around the waist of his cheering girlfriend.
A/N: There you have it! The sequel to Romance Found, Friendship Lost 1-3! There's quite a lot packed in there and I don't really care about the 39 or so extra words that I went over. I've been good with the word count previously! :) I sort of got the idea for the last scene from "A Knight's Tale!" Hope you liked it! :) The quotes I used are as follows: