Chapter 25
Hermione walked into the game room a good ten minutes early to find Harry behind the built in bar on the left side of the room. "Hey."
Harry looked up, smiled. "Hey, there. Want a drink before the madness begins?"
"Sure." She walked and weaved around the game tables, gave one of the handles on Foosball table a little spin, before stepping up to the bar. "Are those your margaritas?" she asked, pointing to the three pitchers perched on the bar.
"You bet."
"I'll take a glass of that."
Harry picked up a Styrofoam cups from the tall stack, filled it with ice and generously poured her some margarita all the way up to the rim. "I propose a toast," he said as he handed it to her before picking up his already open bottle of beer.
"All right. What are we toasting to?"
"To us," he said as he leaned on the bar closer to her. "And our completely unplanned, yet wonderful change in our relationship."
She smiled as she nudged her cup to his bottle. "I can toast to that."
He grinned before lifting his beer for a sip and then hooked two of his fingers in the V of her blouse. "C'mere," he said and gave her a tug.
She happily followed as she leaned forward and up on her toes until their lips met in a short, yet endearing kiss. She smiled up at him as she lifted her glass once more. "And here's to us girls kicking your ass today."
His eyes narrowed as he lifted his beer. "Here's hoping I get to see you naked."
"Harry," she said as she tilted her head closer until their lips were inches apart. "Win or lose? You're going to eventually see me naked."
"Well, I did get I nice preview last night, but…" He touched his lips to hers, groaning softly. "Define, `eventually'."
She smiled against his lips. "Eventually, means…" Their lips brushed, lingered, and then deepened. "Eventually."
He sighed as their foreheads touched. "Well…let me just say I'm definitely looking forward to eventually."
She smiled, he smiled, and then their lips met again as they kissed each other over the bar. He murmured her name before deepening the kiss, his tongue gliding against hers again and again, until the taste of her consumed him. He was this close to practically dragging her across the bar and over to him, but before he could even resist the idea, the sound of thundering feet, pulled them a part.
"To be continued," he murmured seconds before the door flew open.
"Let's do this thing!" Ron exclaimed as he imploded through the doorway. "I'm ready to kick some girl ass!"
Ginny punched him on the arm as he walked by.
Ron winced as he clutched his arm. "Damn it, sis-why do you have to hit so freakishly hard?"
"Because it's fun," she stated as she strolled to the bar.
Draco just snickered as he walked past Ron and followed Ginny to the bar, while Luna slid up beside him. "Poor baby-does it hurt?"
He poked out a lip. "Yes."
"Good," she said and then slapped her hand on the back of his head. "You're going down, Freckles."
Ron flinched at the contact and then stared dumbly at her as she walked away. "Oh, you are asking for it, Blondie." Luna just laughed when he caught up to her and pulled her into a headlock. "I'll take a beer, Harry."
"Sure. Luna?"
She looked up at Harry from Ron's headlock. "Margarita please." She slapped him on his stomach-his very hard stomach. "Let me go, you big bully."
He just laughed, but did as she asked and then took the bottle of beer Harry had set out for him. "So, how exactly are we doing this?"
"Pretty straightforward." Harry walked out of the bar then gestured over to the Playstation area. "Who was the best at the race car game on the Playstation?" he asked the girls.
Luna darted her arm in the sky. "Me!"
Harry smiled as he pointed at Draco. "You'll go head to head with Luna since you were the best between us."
"I was second best," Hermione said as she took a sip of her drink. "Does that mean I'm going against the second best from the guys?"
"Exactly…which is Ron, which pleasantly surprised me."
"Hey."
He shrugged. "Well, it did. And if it comes to a tie, then Ginny and I will go at it."
"I hope it doesn't," Ginny said as she scowled at the Playstation. "I suck at it."
"Enough talking, let's do it," Draco said as he took a seat on the couch that faced the entertainment system. "Prepare to get your butt kicked, Loony."
Luna sat down next to him and picked up the controller. "We'll see whose butt kicks whose Monkey Breath."
Draco lifted a brow. "Monkey Breath?"
She shrugged as she picked out the racecar she wanted. "First thing that came to my mind. I'm not very good at the smack talk."
"She's too sweet natured," Ron said with a smile.
"Maybe," Luna said while keeping her eyes focused on the screen. "Doesn't mean I'm not going to kick some ass, though."
"That's my girl," Ginny said with a nod of approval. "You're a lot better in smack talk than you think."
It didn't take long into the race for Draco to be annoyingly surprised at how good Luna was at the game. She definitely made him work for it. Just as he thought he had a leg up on her, she would take him out with a missile and fly by him. On the final stretch of the game, it was neck and neck-the guys were giving vocal encouragement, while the girls were practically screaming and jumping like lunatics.
It was a photo finish and definitely close, but Draco was able to cross the finish line seconds before Luna. Draco dropped the controllers to hold up his arms in triumph while Ron and Harry cheered, while the girls let out a defeating groan at how close they were to winning.
"Its okay, Luna," Hermione said as she gave her shoulder a rub. "You kicked ass."
She sighed. "Not enough, I'm afraid."
"Hey, you were awesome, Loony," Draco said as he patted her leg. "A lot better than I thought you'd be."
She gave a wobbly smile. "I did put up a challenge, didn't I?"
He laughed. "Definitely. I'm still sweating from nerves."
"Well…that's something I guess."
On the next round, Hermione and Ron went at it, and this time it was no contest. Ron was on his game and beat Hermione by a good ten seconds, causing Hermione to let out a frustrating huff as she slammed down the controller. "That sucked!"
Ron chuckled as he reached over and patted her head. "Don't be all mad because the guys whooped your butts in the first round."
She knocked his hand away. "There's a long way to go, Weasley-don't get too cocky."
"Yeah," Ginny boasted. "Pinball is next-and I am awesome."
"We'll see about that," Harry said as they walked over to the two pinball machines. "I'm not too shabby myself."
At least that's what he always thought-until he played Ginny Weasley. She was a freaking monster at Pinball and annihilated him by almost 10,000 points. "Well, shit," Harry said after the embarrassment. "Are you sure you've never played before?"
"Last I checked? We never had any Pinball machines growing up." Ginny just shrugged. "Beginners luck."
"I'll say. Okay, Draco-it's on you to make this go to third round."
He rolled his shoulders, cocked his head back and forth and walked up to the machine. "I got this."
"Come on, Hermione," Ginny encouraged as she slid up beside her. "You were just as good as I was…I only had you by a few thousand points. Kick his ass."
Hermione narrowed her eyes as she cracked her knuckles. "Oh I will-his ass will be kicked like no ass has ever been kicked before."
Harry chuckled into his beer bottle. "That was pretty awesome."
Hermione was true to her word and kicked Draco's ass by a good 7,000 points. The girls whooped and cheered as they did a group bootie shaking dance, while the guys looked on with a mixture of amusement and annoyance.
"I do believe we are all tied up, gentlemen," Hermione said with a smirk.
"Not for long," Harry said with a grin. "Ping-Pong is next."
"Aww, man," Luna pouted. "I hate that I got stuck with Ping-Pong."
Hermione sighed. "At least let me get a refill before we get creamed."
"Thank Merlin I'm not in this one," Ginny said as she plopped down in one of the nearby chairs. Since all three girls were so insanely bad at Ping-Pong, they decided to play, Rock Paper Scissors to see who got to sit out. Ginny had triumphed and now got to relax on the chair while she watched her girls get trounced-sympathetically of course.
Draco was out as well and so he walked up to Ginny and handed her a fresh glass of Margarita, before sitting on the floor by her legs, resting his back against the chair. "This is going to be fun to witness."
Ginny hooked a lock of his hair around her finger and tugged. "We'll get you back at Foosball."
"We'll see about that, Red," he teased back and then stiffened when she started to playfully run her fingers through his hair.
She felt him jerk at his touch and almost drew her hand away, but then he relaxed so she kept on strumming. Why did he flinch? She wondered as she studied him from the corner of her eye. Was the gesture too personal? Or was he just nervous because Ron was around? Don't think about it, she told herself and then turned her attention towards the game.
The guys played dirty, mocking them almost, as they would slowly hit the ball back and forth with them, before one of them hit the ball with their paddle with all their might. Every time the girls would shriek and flare out their paddles, hoping to connect-but always failed.
Hermione jolted as the ball whizzed by her once again. "Okay. That's it. I'm done."
"Me too," Luna said as she set-more like slammed-the paddle down. "You guys play too rough."
Harry and Ron just laughed. "Aww, come on-we'll go easy on you."
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "That's just insulting. I'd rather forfeit this one and come back at Foosball."
"Oh, yeah!" Ginny exclaimed as she used Draco's head to push herself up. "I rock at Foosball."
Draco got up as well and just for the hell of it, pushed Ginny's head as he walked past her towards the Foosball table. "Let's go for the kill, boys, and take them out."
Harry rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "If I knew how to do a proper evil laugh-I would."
"If we win, I'll teach you how," Draco promised as he took his position.
"Sweet," Harry said as he patted him on the back. "Thanks, man."
"What are friends for?"
"Can we please get started?" Hermione asked with exasperation. "Or do you girls want more time to finish this sweet, touching moment?"
Ginny and Luna-and even Ron, snickered, while Harry narrowed his eyes and pointed at her. "You're going down, Granger."
"Not without a fight, Potter," she said as she held up the ball, before slipping it through the hole and into play.
Hermione and Ginny, Draco and Harry immediately started jiggling and spinning the knobs, hoping to connect with the ball. The rules were that when someone scored, they would rotate, so everyone had a chance to play. The first goal went to the girls, when Hermione intercepted the ball right in front of the goalie and knocked it right in.
The girls cheered and exchanged high-fives, while the guys rolled their eyes. "Just one goal, still a long way to go," Ron reminded them as he took Draco's spot.
Ginny simply leaned over and moved their blue slider to the left. "One down, nine to go."
Luna took her Hermione's spot and the second round began. It lasted a bit longer, but the girls were able to score again. "Two to nothing, baby!" Ginny exclaimed as she did a little dance then gave Hermione a high-five before taking her spot.
The guys finally scored in the third round, but the girls kept coming back. Just when the girls thought they were pulling ahead, the guys scored three in a row and pulled ahead by one goal, making the score eight to seven. "Just two more and then victory," Harry said as he took Ron's spot.
Luna slid the ball into the hole and Draco immediately spun his handle and both Hermione and Luna jumped as the ball smacked into the back of the goal. "One more," Draco corrected, before slapping his hand down on Harry's.
"Ugh, come on, girls!" Hermione exclaimed. "We've got to score here, or this game is over."
Ginny slid into Luna's spot and rolled her shoulders. "Okay. We got this."
Harry put the ball in play and after three, long, dragging minutes, Ginny managed to slam one right past the goalie. "Woo-hoo!" Ginny cheered. "Thank Merlin!"
"Come on, we can't choke," Harry said as Ron took his spot. "Ron-don't let anything past you."
He focused on his goalie and two defenders while Luna put the ball in play. "I got this. I got-fuck!" he cursed when the white blur of the ball went right past him.
"That's goal baby!" Luna exclaimed as she did a little dance. "My first goal!"
"Lucky shot," Ron grumbled.
"All tied up," Hermione said and let out a nervous sigh. "Next score wins it. Merlin, I'm shaking."
"It's okay, we got this," Luna assured her, but was just as nervous.
The last goal was Harry and Ron against Hermione and Luna, while Ginny and Draco nervously watched from the sidelines. "I can't look," Ginny said as she slapped her hands over her eyes.
Draco just chuckled as he calmly rested an elbow on her shoulder. Although he never would show it, he was completely freaking out. If the girls won, they'd be tied up and then it was Air Hockey. He saw them playing earlier and had been more than impressed. He'd be a whole lot more at ease, if the guys were able to pull this win out.
Harry held up the ball. "Ready?"
The girls nodded anxiously as they kept their eyes on the playing field. The ball was set free and the last and final round began. It lasted longer than any round they had played, each side would come close to scoring, but they would miss it by a hairsbreadth. Draco and Ginny moved closer to the table, yelling out shouts of encouragement. Draco groaned when Harry made an impressive shot, only to be blocked by the goalie.
"Nice save, Luna!" Ginny exclaimed as she was practically jumping out of her skin. "Come on, girls…you can do it!"
Ron blocked another shot and after a sigh of relief kicked it out, but Hermione quickly intercepted the pass and took a shot. The wonderful echoing sound of the ball hitting the back of the goalie rang out and the girls screamed and hollered as they jumped up in down in a group hug, while the guys hung their head in defeat.
"Damn, damn, double damn," Ron cursed as he shook the handles aggressively. "I hate this stupid game!"
"Calm down, Weaslebee," Draco said as he slapped his back. "Can't lose focus now-Air Hockey is next and, unfortunately, they don't suck at it."
"Yeah, they're pretty good," Harry said to his team while the girls were in their own huddle-plotting. "We're stronger in pool, but if we can sneak a win here, there's a chance we'll have a one point advantage going into bowling."
"Okay, team," Ginny whispered as she leaned into the huddle with her arms around her girls. "Air Hockey is next and we've got to win this-I don't want to be one point down going into pool."
"Definitely," Hermione said with a nod. "Harry is really good in pool. I'm decent, but I don't think I can beat him, so Air Hockey is a must win."
"We're going to kick them were the sun don't shine!" Luna whispered harshly.
"Getting better at that smack talk, girl," Ginny said with a chuckle. "Okay-let's kick some tail."
The girls turned to the boys who were lined up shoulder to shoulder with their arms across their chests. "Ready for some Air Hockey, boys?" Hermione asked with her hands on her hips.
"We were born ready, Granger," Draco sneered.
"You guys are going down," Ginny said as she hit her fist in her palm.
"No one is going down until you eat." Claudia breezed in between them with a tray full of sandwiches.
Ron zeroed in on the tray. "Fooood."
"You people are drinking too much and not eating enough-sit and eat, then you play."
"Yes, mam," they all mumbled, while Harry smiled and took the tray from her. "Thanks, Claudia."
"Enjoy," she said as she walked off. "Oh, and go Senoritas!"
The girls laughed and cheered for her as she walked out of the room. "I love that woman," Hermione said with a smile. "I'm going to miss her."
"She'll be here when we come back," Harry assured her as he carried the tray over to the couch area and set it on the table. Everyone crowded around, grabbing a sandwich before plopping down on a couch or taking a spot on the floor. For now, the game was on pause and for the moment-it wasn't boys versus girls. "She's practically family now-she'll tend to the house when we're away."
Ron took a healthy bite of his sandwich and groaned. "She makes the best chicken salad-EVER. Don't tell mum I said that," he added to Ginny.
"Lips. Sealed."
Since everyone was a bit anxious to get back to the game, they all devoured their sandwiches with little conversation in between. The sandwich tray was practically demolished, only leaving two roast beef's and a half of ham and cheese behind.
Harry polished off his turkey and swiss and brushed the crumbs away with his hands as he stood up. "Okay-back to the tournament."
"I need a refill before we start," Luna said as she got up.
"No, don't!" Ginny said pointing at her. "We need a clear head here-no more alcohol until the tournament is over."
Luna let out a small, whinny groan, but then nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. I'm tipsy enough as it is, I don't need to get any worse."
"Commander Weasley has a point," Draco said to the guys. "Maybe we should lay off the beer until later."
Harry nodded. "Good call-we'll have a celebration round when this is over."
"Keep dreaming, Potter," Hermione said as she elbowed him in the side.
"Ooo, feisty," he teased as he threw an arm around her neck and yanked her closer. "I like it."
She just giggled as she nudged him away. "Just wait." She then sauntered up to her teammates and rubbed her
hands in anticipation. "Okay, girls. Game back on."
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