Harry ducked behind the corner just before the mob caught up with him. He buried himself in the shadows and prayed that no one would find him. He heard several voices shouting at each other then they slowly tapered off down the hallway. He blew out a long breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was getting ridiculous!
'Don't those girls have lives?'
Since the announcement of his and Hermione's engagement had been verified in the Daily Prophet, he'd had every girl he'd ever smiled at hounding him. They begged him to say it wasn't true and why they were so much better for him than Hermione. He'd done his best to be polite and explained that he was taken, but they would not listen to him. He now had a group of at least twenty girls following him around Hogwarts wherever he went. It took him nearly twenty minutes to get to each of his classes because he had to loose his entourage.
Harry poked his head out into the hallway and saw that the coast was clear. He bolted down the corridor heading straight for his next class.
By lunchtime that day, he was exhausted. Strolling into the Great Hall, he made his way towards the Gryffindor table. His customary seat next to Hermione was waiting for him, and he gratefully sank down next to her. Ron chuckled from across the table.
"What's wrong, Harry, you look a little beat?"
"Put a sock in it!" he growled.
"Oh my poor baby," Hermione giggled and patted his head.
"Are those girls still torturing you?"
"I've heard of 'groupies', but this is insane!" Harry groaned and dropped his head onto the table.
Hermione slid closer to him and stroked his hair.
"Don't worry, love, I'll take care of you." His head immediately popped up.
"Herm, if you can give me one day of peace, I swear, I'll buy you an entire library!"
"That's a tempting offer, but this one's on me," she replied and caressed his cheek.
Harry clasped her hand and kissed her fingers.
"Sweetheart, you're the best!"
Later that day, Hermione called together the school prefects but only invited the female one. She planned to put the word that Harry Potter wasn't available - period!
"Thank you all for coming on such short notice, but I have a most urgent matter on which to speak."
The girls looked at her expectantly, and Hermione glared back at them slightly.
"First off, I would like to say that I'm not hear tonight as the Head Girl so nothing you say will cost you any points; I'm here as Harry Potter's fiancé!"
You could several of the girls groan at her last two words.
"What? Are you here to gloat?" one of the Slytherins snickered.
"No, I'm here to ask you all to tell your fellow housemates to stop following Harry wherever he goes. He's had enough trouble over the last several years, and he just wants some peace and quiet. I'm sure by now you've all read the article in the Daily Prophet so I'm not going to repeat what I said. Just know that Harry Potter is 'off limits'."
"We can't control what other people do," one of the Ravenclaw's stated.
"I'm not asking you to; I'm merely stating that there is no way Harry will say 'yes' to them so they should just let him go. He's put up with his 'groupies' for the last seven years, and it's going to stop. Harry's too much of a gentleman to speak harshly to the girls following him, but I'm under no such obligation."
Hermione's smile turned into a confident smirk.
"I will not allow anyone to make Harry unhappy. If someone has a problem with me being his fiancé, they can take it up with me! But, as of now, I want the stalking routine to end!"
"We understand what you're asking of us, Hermione, but we can only ask…we can't demand!" one of the Hufflepuffs explained.
"I merely want you to inform your fellow classmates - that's all. After that, if they don't stop, they're gonna have to deal with me. And trust me…I will make their lives a living hell!" she growled, and her eyes narrowed dangerously.
You could hear all the prefects gulp at the fiery gaze she shot across the room. Lavender was leaning against the wall and trying not to laugh as Hermione's deadly gaze burned each of the girls' heads. Oh yeah, she was claiming her man all right and pissing off a lot of girls in the process.
"Thank you all for coming, that's all I had to say."
The prefects mumbled amongst themselves but exited the room without any commotion.
"Bloody hell, you looked ready to beat their heads open, girl," Lavender snickered as she and Hermione headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room.
"She's right, you looked readily pissed," Ginny added with a wide grin.
"Hey, I'm not about to let Harry be stalked everyday by a bunch of girls who can't take 'no' for an answer. He's mine, and I'll be damned before I let some hussy treat him like a prized trophy," the brunette said firmly.
"Bravo!" her two friends chimed together. The three of them started laughing and didn't stop until they were back in their common room.
The word of Hermione's statement flew around the school, and Harry was never followed again - at least, none that he mentioned.
Halloween arrived, and the entire school was littered with festive trinkets. Pumpkins hung the Great Hall, and the house ghosts were busy decorated the hallways with cobwebs.
The Gryffindors and Slytherins were in their last class for the week - Defense Against the Dark Arts. Today, Sirius and Lupin were teaching together and decided to test their students. They were outside in the courtyard and had a very interesting idea.
"All right, class, it's time to see if any of you have been paying attention this term. I would like a pair from each house to come up here; we are going to have a little duel," Sirius stated.
Ron immediately nudged Harry, and Lavender nudged Hermione. They took looked at one another and rolled their eyes. They raised their hands and were called forward.
"Very well, we have our Gryffindor team…now…our Slytherin Team…"
"I'm in," Malfoy sneered and walked up in front of his classmates. However, none of the female Slytherins wanted to volunteer.
"Come now, we need a girl for Draco's partner," Lupin stated.
"I'll do it."
All eyes turned on the speaker of those words - none other than Cassandra Cross.
"Cassandra, you can't be serious," Ron groaned.
"Why would you want to be his partner?"
"I'm merely participating in a class activity. It doesn't matter who the other person is."
'Traitor' several of the Gryffindors mumbled as Cassandra stepped forward.
"If Mr. Malfoy does not object, then I will allow it," Lupin said firmly.
"Yeah…whatever," the blonde groaned, and he stared blankly at Cassandra. She just smiled sweetly at him.
"Now, listen closely, each pair may use whatever magic they choose, however, I must insist that you disarm your opponents only. We don't want any serious injuries. Also, I must ask that Harry not disapparate during this duel; that would be an unfair advantage."
"I understand, that's fine," the young wizard answered.
"Good, I will leave it up to you who you choose as your opponent, but remember, disarm them only!" Sirius ordered.
"So Potter, it looks like you and me," Malfoy snickered. Harry cracked a half-grin.
"Herm, how about it?"
"Sounds to me - just don't hurt him too much," she laughed.
The quartet faced off with one another. Harry and Malfoy at one end, and Hermione and Cassandra at the other.
"Good luck to you, Hermione," Cassandra stated.
"And to you as well," she replied.
"All right, begin!" the two instructors shouted.
Malfoy immediately cast an exploding spell on Harry's position, but he merely rolled out of the way. Next, he came after Harry with intermittent fireballs every few seconds. He floated up into the air to avoid the attack and readied his wand. Returning to the ground, he took aim.
"Rignus Sempra!"
Malfoy was thrown head over heels and landed hard on his back. He quickly recovered and made a grab for his wand.
"Expelliarmus!"
A stinging pain shot through his hand, and he groaned in pain. Harry went for the finish.
"Immobulus!"
Malfoy was frozen in place. He was half sitting half making a grab for his wand again. That ended his duel with Harry.
The girls' duel started a bit slower. The two faced off and stared at each other calmly. Cassandra broke the silence.
"Terranos!"
It looked like a wave of solid earth was rolling directly towards Hermione. She braced herself and readied her wand.
"Tornados!"
She blasted a hurling tunnel of wind straight at the wave of earth. The two elements met head on an exploded into pieces. Cassandra wasted no time in following up her first attack.
Hermione barely had time to levitate before the ground beneath her exploded. Floating up out of the smoke, she looked around for her opponent.
"Over here!" a voice called behind her.
As Hermione turned her head, she was slammed in the back with a fierce wind spell. She was thrown down onto the ground and barely managed to soften her fall. She was going to have to do much better if she wanted to beat Cassandra, however, the blonde didn't give her the chance.
"Expelliarmus!"
Hermione gasped and dropped her wand as pain seared her hand. Cassandra smiled in triumph.
"Concede Hermione, you can't defend yourself anymore."
"I will not!"
Harry came running up and stopped as he saw that Hermione's wand had been forced out of her hand.
"Perhaps you'd like your boyfriend to help," Cassandra laughed almost sadistically.
Hermione gritted her teeth; she wasn't finished yet.
"This is my fight!"
"Very well, but I will not enjoy this."
"Hermione, be careful!" Harry called, but he knew that she wanted to do this by herself.
"Incendio!"
A fireball launched directly towards Hermione, and she concentrated. Harry had trained her for an instant like this. She extended her left hand in front of her.
"Barias Erecte!"
When the fireball reached her, it stopped in midair as Hermione created a barrier with her hands. Now, on to the next part of her plan.
"Accio Wand!"
Her wand came at her summons, and she grasped it with her right hand. She dove off to the right and avoided the incoming fireball. Her tactics caught Cassandra off guard.
"Petrificas Totales!" Hermione cast.
Her opponent was frozen and hit the ground with a thud; she'd won.
Hermione brushed her hair back across her shoulders and sighed happily. She'd actually won a duel. Harry ran to her side and helped her to her feet; he'd never had bigger smile on her face.
"You did great!" he said softly.
"Thanks to you," she replied and squeezed his hand.
"Nicely done you two," Sirius stated.
"Indeed, it's not easy to cast magic without a wand; well done, Miss Granger," Lupin added.
"Thank you, professor, I've been practicing that lately."
Her fellow Gryffindors raced over to congratulate her on a job well done. Malfoy was released from Harry's spell, and he growled angrily. Cassandra sat up after Hermione's spell had worn off, and she chewed her lip.
'Hmm, I underestimated her abilities; I will not make the same mistake again.' Her blue eyes took in the happy couple celebrating with their friends.
'Soon, I will have Harry as my own, and I will put that pathetic girl out of her misery!'
Author's Notes: All right, finally got a new chapter up. I'm gonna warn everybody; I'm going back to work full-time so it may be quite a while between updates, but I promise to go as fast as possible. And just so you know, the action is coming, and I promise you won't be disappointed.