A/N: Hey all, yes I am still alive. I've been writing a lot lately and just needed a short breather, but I assure you I am back to full strength and will be updating every three or four days like usual!
Please Enjoy!
Chapter 3 - He'll Never Learn...
As Harry woke up on the first day of classes, a big grin grew on his face. He loved his Head Boy's room. It was nicely decorated, right next to the kitchens, and close to Hermione's room. So close to Hermione's room, in fact, that all that separated them was a spacious shared common room, almost equal in size to the Gryffindor common room.
After getting dressed he magically cleaned his teeth and put on some deodorant before exiting into said common room just as Hermione was exiting her room.
Hermione stopped for a second, obviously wanting to go back into her room, but seemed to decide to show Harry that his hazing tactics weren't going to work by acting normally. She tucked her books closer to her chest in a defensive gesture, squared her shoulders, and set off for the exit, but not before Harry could get there, holding the portrait open for her to go through.
Hermione, though she really detested Harry, couldn't help but grumble, "Thanks," for her parents had taught her to always be polite and not sink to the level of mean people.
"You're quite welcome," responded Harry with a grin.
Hermione rolled her eyes and picked up her pace a little, which Harry had no problem keeping up with considering the fact that he was taller than her. "So..." said Harry. "Patrolling tonight. Just the two of us, in the castle, alone, at night...should be romantic."
"It will be in no way romantic," Hermione responded briskly and with a hint of annoyance. "Especially due to the fact that I asked Professor Dumbledore if we could patrol separately. He said yes, of course, so you'll be taking the northern half of the castle and I'll be taking the southern."
"Oh, Granger," said Harry dramatically, putting his hands over his chest in mock pain. "You're so cold. That hurts."
"Won't hurt as much when I hit you with a hex for bugging me," Hermione grumbled before entering the Great Hall and sitting at the end of Gryffindor Table.
Harry smirked and went to sit right next to her, but before he could get there Aurora rushed past him, bumping him on her way to sit next to Hermione. As he silently fumed at her and stomped toward Ron, he swore his sister flashed a smirk at him over her shoulder. Oh, she'll get her comeuppance, thought Harry, I'll make sure of that.
He couldn't believe that Aurora, sweet, withdrawn, innocent Aurora, could be so mean to him. Not that he didn't deserve it, but really! It was crossing a line when she interfered with him getting together with his true love.
"Give it up," said a boy's voice from his right.
"What do you know about any of this, Daniel?" snapped Harry, taking out a bit of his anger unfairly on his brother.
"I know that you have a crush on Granger, and I know Aurora told me that she would do everything in her power to stop you bugging her," said Daniel, raising an eyebrow at his older brother.
"She said that?" Harry practically shrieked, pulling at his hair in frustration. "I can't believe her!"
Daniel snorted. "I can," he said bluntly. "That's why it pays to be nice to everybody, you don't know when it'll work in your favor. Good luck with Granger. Aurora is much smarter than you. I have no doubt in my mind she'll win."
"Come on, Daniel!" cried Harry. "I'm your brother!"
"So?" asked Daniel, not looking particularly interested in the conversation.
"You're supposed to side with me," explained Harry. "Not our sister!"
"I'm just telling you what I think are the facts," said Daniel, shrugging. "You may be much cooler than she is, but I think by the time Aurora's in sixth year she'll be smarter than mum. I'm not saying you're dumb, I'm just saying you're not as smart as Aurora."
Harry's eye twitched involuntarily and he said, "It's great knowing I have your vote of confidence," before turning around and plopping onto the seat next to Ron.
"Can you believe him?" asked Harry of Ron as Daniel made his way down the table toward his friends. "He thinks Aurora's smarter than I am!"
"Of course Aurora's smarter than you," said a condescending voice from behind him. The voice Harry would recognize anywhere. "My four-year-old cousin is smarter than you."
"Bugger off, Granger," said Ron, his eyes flashing and a sneer forming on his face. "I don't remember Harry asking you to voice your opinion."
Harry leaped up and grabbed Ron's collar, pulling his best mate's face close to his and growling, "Don't you dare talk to Granger like that. Her opinion always matters to me."
Ron's backed his face away from Harry's as much as possible, disbelief shining in his wide eyes. Harry sat back in his seat and looked over his shoulder at Hermione, who seemed taken off guard. "Don't listen to my friend here, he's a bit slow."
Hermione blinked, her eyebrows furrowed as she seemed to scrutinize Harry. She finally, slowly shook her head and walked off toward the entrance hall, her head still cocked to one side at the exact angle she held it whenever she was thinking really hard.
Harry, craning his neck to watch her as long as he could, was caught off guard when a pair of hands pushed his shoulders, causing him to fall off the bench.
"What the bloody hell was that for?" demanded Harry as he sat back up in his seat.
Ron looked furious. "What do you mean?" he asked. "You threatened me and called me an idiot!"
Harry sighed, running a hand through his messy hair and throwing a quick glance at the closed doors leading to the entrance hall. "Forgive me, Ron. My brain just gets all muddled when Granger's around. And you were mean to her."
Ron pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled loudly through it. "I guess it is my fault a bit," he finally admitted, calming down. "I'm sorry for being rude to Granger."
"No problem, mate," said Harry, grinning and taking a bite of his bagel, cheese, bacon, and egg breakfast sandwich.
"For the record, though," said Ron, talking with his mouth full and gesturing with his fork. "I think little Dan has a point." He grinned at Harry. "There's no way you're outsmarting Aurora." He laughed as his friend's face twisted into a look of anger.
"Haha, very funny, Ron," said Harry, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "But you're not as smart as your younger sister either, are you?"
"Ginny?" asked Ron incredulously. "Of course I'm smarter than that runt!"
Harry snorted. "Then who got more OWLs?"
"She did," Ron grudgingly admitted. "But this isn't really a fair comparison, is it?" asked Ron with a smirk on his face, knowing he was about to win this battle. "My sister may be smarter than me, but she's a sixth year. Your sister is smarter than you and she's a fourth year!" he said as he started laughing.
Harry scoffed. "Fine, if you really want to believe she's smarter than me, go ahead. But we'll see who's more clever in the end," he said.
Harry swung both legs over the bench and stood up, planning on heading to class early so he could get a seat next to Granger. As he went to take a step, he started falling. Just before falling face-first on the ground, he looked down and saw his shoelaces tied together.
The impact hurt like hell, his left cheek taking the brunt of it, and raucous laughter met his ears as he managed to stand up and magically untie his shoelaces. His eyes first went to his sister, who allowed herself to smirk at him for a second longer before turning back to her cereal. Harry had to admit that the prank was pretty good and well pulled off. Too bad for her, he had a reputation to keep up.
After glancing up at the staff table to make sure there were no professors present, he pointed his wand at the table centimeters in front of Aurora's cereal bowl and sent out a ricocheting hex, which always rebounded at odd angles. Harry got lucky and it shot straight up, blasting her bowl into the air. The milk splashed all over her face, hair, and clothes, and the bowl landed right on top of her hand.
There was laughter and applause for Harry as he gave the students a few bows. His sister magicked herself dry and sent a glare at Harry, who returned her earlier smirk.
The hint of a grin lifted one corner of Aurora's lips, and for some reason Harry felt a small tingle of fear in the pit of his stomach. Having Aurora mad at you was like having Hermione mad at you...it never ended well for the person the anger was directed at.
Harry knew he would have to keep an eye out for Aurora. There was no doubt in Harry's mind that retaliation was on its way.
He quickly left the Great Hall into the near-silent entrance hall, the cheers of his peers still echoing in his ears. Nothing felt better than winning a battle of humiliation with somebody in front of their classmates.
Focusing on the task at hand, Harry glanced at the schedule he had been given by Professor Dumbledore the previous night, relief warming his chest as he saw that Defense Against the Dark Arts was his first class. It was also the only class that he was actually better than Hermione. Actually, he was number one out of all the seventh years. It seemed that waking up on Monday wouldn't be as bad as it usually was.
Harry grinned as he entered Professor Lupin's classroom; Hermione was reading a book at a desk at the front. Harry sat right next to Hermione and she looked up at him, weariness in her eyes. "I take it if I tried to move you'd just follow me?" she asked tiredly, already knowing the answer.
"Of course," said Harry grinning. "I'll never let you leave my side."
Hermione snorted. "Did you swallow the cheesy romance lines book or something? That was absolutely horrible," she said before turning back to her book, leaving Harry to ponder her words.
Note to self, Harry told himself, think about the cheesiness level of a line before using it on Granger.
Harry was about to respond with something less cheesy when Professor Lupin suddenly materialized behind his desk, a smile on his face. "Hello, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger."
"Professor Lupin," said Harry with a smile on his face, greeting his favorite professor and one of his father's best friends.
Harry's smile slowly disappeared from his face as he realized his professor's smile was the one that said, 'I have a funny secret concerning you I'm about to tell you.' "I have detention after school, don't I," said Harry, not making it a question.
"Correct you are, Mr. Potter," said Professor Lupin happily, knowing he had gotten Harry good. "And so does your sister. You really think we would leave the Great Hall unattended during breakfast?" he asked.
"Disillusionment?" Harry asked interestedly.
"Two for two," Lupin responded.
"You better watch your back," said Harry, grinning. It was a tradition between the two to prank each other as much as possible throughout the school year. It wasn't very professional on Professor Lupin's part, but he was a marauder, it was his nature. "I'm going to get you good."
"I'm looking forward to it," responded Lupin.
Harry saw one of Hermione's eyebrows rise as she continued to stare down at her book. He swore he heard her voice quietly say something that sounded strangely like, "Boys."
A/N: Wow, I wrote this chap surprisingly quickly, only took me an hour and a half! I hope you enjoyed it and please review!