Summary: After Harry defeated the Dark Lord in their last year of Hogwarts; the trio went their separate ways leading Hermione to a Muggle University. Yet after dark activity is spotted at her school, Harry and Ron come down to join her once again to solve the case. Unfortunately after Harry finally realizes his feeling for Hermione, he finds himself not only fighting for the wizarding world, but also fighting for the woman he loves.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to J K Rowling and Warner brothers.
Beta Reader: Kathryn Mason-Sykes
College Life
Chapter 7: Gay
Since neither of the guys knew where David lived, Harry and Ron had no choice but to search him out at his office in Pettigrew. As they knew he was out with Hermione right now, they knew they had no hope in finding and confronting him there, but they did hope to find evidence of his Dark activity and where he could be found.
As the elevator door of Pettigrew crept open with a loud "DING", Harry and Ron glanced out of their cramped little area to see what they would be up against. Yet what they saw was nothing like they were expecting. It was the picture perfect office. People were hustling here and there, and some were even chatting at the water cooler.
As Harry looked around he could not help but think, 'This sure doesn't look like the headquarters of a secret Dark Arts ring'.
To their right was a line of desks, each separated by a thin wall. In front of the desks was a ragged rope that weaved backward and forwards to direct any student that may come in to form a line.
Ron looked to Harry with a grin, "Well, everything appears to be normal."
Harry, with a look of concentration on his face, commented back, "Yeah, a little too normal." Harry paused to look around then asked Ron, "Don't you get the feeling that something is just not right? Like we were expected to come or something?"
Ron just shook his head. "Stop worrying so much. Nothing is wrong." While slapping his hands together, Ron looked around ready to get to business. He didn't have to look to far because almost right in front of them was a sign stating, "Student Affairs" with an arrow point them to the desks in front of them. Ron's eyes light up as he say a girl was at the first desk, and with a cocky smile stated, "Now watch as I work my magic to get David's numbers." With Harry looking on skeptically, Ron strolled away in an almost pimpish walk. He weaved himself in and out of the ropes to the head of the first desk. At that desk, a nice looking girl was sitting concentrating on the papers in front of her. The girl had to be in her early 20's with her dirty blonde hair cascading down her back.
Ron stepped up to her desk and gave a quick cough that he had perfected after many years of making fun of dear Professor Umbridge. The girl finally looked up from her work, but appeared to be a little agitated at being interrupted in the middle of what ever she was doing. Almost as if she was bored, she asked, "Can I help you?" without even giving the courtesy of a glance.
Ron smiled down on her trying to put on his charm as thick as possible. "Yes beautiful, I know you can help me."
She finally let her eyes rise from the paper in front of her after this comment giving her a good long look at the man ahead of her. Her crisp nature melted away at his sweet comment and nice looks, but she tried not to let it show. Yet without even noticing, she just flirted right back, "Well, tell me what I can do for you, and let me decided if I can help you are not."
Ron, clearly pleased that his sweet talk was working, casually leaned against the protrusion on the right side of her desk. "Well, you see I need to get a gift over to David Mitchell's dorm, and I don't know his dorm number. Since he works here, I thought you could get if for me."
The girl's smile switched off likes a light bulb popping in it socket. "Oooh, so you are looking for David. I see…"
Ron caught the hint of what the girl was implying, and quickly straighten up trying to make up something quick. "Wait, no… I don't mean it like that. You see I need it for a friend of mine… She is a girl. She wants his address not me. Why would I want a GUY'S address anyways." Ron tried to recover his dignity, but appeared to be losing it all the more quickly.
The girl started looking through her files, but would not look him in the eye again. "What you do is your business, not mine."
Ron flung his arms out in frustration. "No… No…I am not gay. I like girls…not guys."
The girl finally found what she was looking for, and jotted something down on a piece of paper. She quickly handed it to Ron, and said, "Here is his dorm name and address. Next time you need an address of this nature, please look it up in the school's directory before asking me. Have a nice day."
Ron grabbed the piece of paper from her hand, and just before he left, he called back over his shoulder, "I am not gay," causing the people around him to stop and stare.
Harry, who had watched it from afar, was trying his hardest not to bust out laughing at the sight of Ron. His normally pale face was now as red as his hair.
"Very…Smooth, Ron," Harry called out as he followed Ron, trying not to laugh.
Ron, still fuming, stated threateningly, "Not another word…not another word."
Harry with a smile on his face that almost hurt, stated back, "What every you say…Honey" before busting out laughing as the elevator doors closed.
*
After recovering from his uncontrollable laughter, Harry straightened himself up and continued on his mission. Harry was feeling a lot better now that he had a good laugh, and he could not help but think that he need that. If he was going to save Hermione tonight, he needed to loosen up a little before he hurt himself and everyone around them in the process.
Ron who was still sulking gave Harry an evil glare, "Why didn't you tell me that there was a directory that we could find his name in."
Harry's face fell as his thoughts came out. "Well, how should I know? Hermione's the one that thinks of the simple ways of getting out of things…"
Ron who had also allowed the thought of his lost friend to escape him for the moment gave a quick "Right" before allowing them to head to David's room in silence.
The piece of paper the girl had given Ron at Pettigrew had stated that David's dorm was located in Bates House. This building was located over four blocks away, and was a long walk down hill. The guys kept to their own thoughts as they walked along.
This house, like so many other dorms, did not allow students without keys to go up the elevators without being accompanied by a member of the dorm. Since they were not allowed to go in the normal way, Ron and Harry used an unlocking spell to open up the stairwell so they could walk up to his room unnoticed.
On the paper, it stated that his room would be found on the fifth floor, room 512; and after their long walk down there, the five-floor climb was not so pleasant. As they rounded the stairs trying to reach the fifth floor, they noticed a door in front of them opening. Ron and Harry quickly put away their wands so that no one would notice the long pieces of wood in their hands, but when they spotted the person rushing towards them, they noticed that they had no need too. The man was muttering to himself as he came down the stairs. He was wearing a long black jacket that almost appeared to be a black cloak.
Ron and Harry exchanged a look of confusion as they watched the one person they were looking for heading towards them. As he went to pass between the two men, the two guys grabbed David and pushed him back through the door, slamming him into the hall wall behind him. Ron let David go to let him catch his breath, but Harry was not going to give him that courtesy. He grabbed David's shirt with one hand while he choked him with the other. Harry had been without his girl for so long he was starting to get out of control, and David was the lucky guy he was going to take it out on.
"What have you done with Hermione? Where is she? You better tell me now or you will see how it feels to be a flobberworm, and don't pretend that you don't know what that is," Harry's eyes were burning into David's with such hatred that Ron could have sworn he saw them glowing green.
"I…I…can't," David stated as he tried to release the pressure on his trachea by grabbing Harry's hand, which was still securely fastened to his neck.
Ron looked at David sideways, and then taped Harry on the shoulder., "Hey, Harry, I don't think he can answer you while he can't breath."
Harry gave a 'tut' as if it were a big deal to let the man breath, but he did take Ron's advise. Harry released his grip on David's neck only to let him fall on the floor with a thud.
Harry pulled out his wand as David lay gasping on the floor and pointed it straight at his heart. "Now, TELL ME. Where. Is. She."
David rubbed the area around his throat, trying to ease his pain. "You can't save her now…She's gone."
Ron looked to Harry confused, but Harry was not going to let this man get out of his site. "What do you mean gone? I just saw her this morning. What have you done to her?"
David looked up at Harry with his all-knowing eyes, and spoke to Harry as if he were a two-year old. "You think it's all so clear, don't you. You think everything is either black or white, but your problem is you can even see what's right in front of you. You are so naïve, Potter."
Harry started shaking with furry, but he kept his wand as still as a statue. "You will tell me where Hermione is or else I will curse you back to wherever you came from."
David kept his cold eyes on Harry as he sat there calmly. "You had a chance to save her. Oh yes, you had many chances, but you were just too cowardly to take them. Open your eyes Potter, can't you see you've lost? We've lost."
"David, where is she. If you just tell me where she is, then maybe I can help."
David looked at him surprised, "Help, it's probably already done." He stared at his feet with a glazed expression babbling. "I had everything for a while. I had a great girl. I had a great position. I had a great plan, and no one was going to stop me. But noo. It wasn't good enough. I had to work faster. If my father had not interfered, this would not be happening. We would all be happy…"
Harry looked down on the poor depressed man in front of him, and was flabbergasted. He didn't know what to say.
David continued. "It only started after you two showed up. You messed up everything. You always had everything given to you on a silver platter, and the one time in my life where everything was going great, you had to come and screw it up."
Harry still with his wand out stated, "My life has been less then perfect."
David looked up to him like he was stupid, "Oh yeah, well I fail to agree. I was the one that had to hear all the teachers praise you for your accomplishments. I watched as all the teachers looked away from your mistakes. You were the one everyone always talked about. You were the one that was admired; yet if I did any of the things you did, I would not even be noticed. I am just like you, yet you get all the praise. You get all the glory. You got everything."
Harry looked to him confused, "I never asked for this life. It was just the one I was given. Plus if you knew anything, not all the teacher liked me."
"Yes, but Snape did watch out for you. He did stand up for you when it counted. He always liked you better. I was just praised because of my father, and now, when I have the one thing you don't have, it's taken from me. The one girl that I have ever truly cared for, gone because of my father's discrimination."
Harry looked down on him in awe and disgust. "Malfoy."
David finally stood up. "Hermione could do so much better then you. We were happy before you came. You ruined everything."
Harry stood their fuming with anger at his revelation. "If you dare touch a hair on her head, I swear I will rip you apart with my bare hands."
Malfoy pulled out his wand and stated calmly, "If I did, she liked it."
At that comment, Harry let the curses fly. "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"
Draco moved from the place he was standing to doge the curse, and went straight into a fighting stance. With a swish and flick, Draco screamed, "IMPEDIMENTA!"
Through all the chaos, Ron just looked on almost amazed at what came about so soon. Harry dodged the spell, but unfortunately, Ron was standing right behind him, causing him to get the full blast. Harry looked back at his slow moving friend and turned quickly to get his revenge. His eyes flashed dangerously as he called out "STUPEFY!"
Instead of moving to the side to dodge this curse, Draco went straight for Harry forgetting about his wand. Luckily for Draco, the spell went right over his shoulder, hitting the wall behind him with a crash. With a lunge, Draco wrapped his hands around Harry's neck, but Harry was not about to let Draco get the upper hand.
While Harry pushed down on Draco's left arm, Harry kept hold of Draco's right hand and elbowed him in the noise.
As blood started pouring from his broken noise, Draco didn't let Harry have a chance to rest before he charged. He hit Harry right in the stomach, knocking him straight into the wall behind him.
This large noise announced this fight to the rest of the hall. This caused the students to start coming out of their rooms to see what was going on, and their expectations did not go unmet. The two boys were rolling around on the floor trying to hit the other in as many places as they could while dodging the others blow.
The curse that was placed on Ron finally broke after a long five minutes of watching in slow motion. He quickly took Harry's and Draco's wands, hiding them from the Muggles prying eyes, and storing them in his pocket before sorting with the other two. Instead of helping Harry by holding Draco back, Ron did the first thing he could think of, which happened to be pulling Harry off of Draco. This was not the smartest move because just as he was pulling Harry away from Draco, Harry pulled back his fist to punch whoever was getting in his way, who at the moment, unfortunately wasn't the enemy.
Harry turned to his attacker and released his already drawn fist. Smack… And directly hit Ron in the nose. "Ahh… Harry what did you do that for?" Ron screamed as he let Harry go to hold his now bleeding nose. This scream effectively brought Harry back to reality. Harry's eyes finally focused on his hurt friend allowing him finally to realize what he had just done.
"Oh Ron… Are you ok? If I had known that it was you, I would not have hit so hard…"
Draco, who was still sitting on the floor, tested his legs and stood up. "Yeah, well I see you had no qualms in hurting other for your own pleasure. Why would your friends be any different?"
This comment sufficiently brought Harry's attention back to the matter at hand. His anger was building again, and he was ready for another round. "Well, if you had stayed in your own damn world, I wouldn't have had to beat you up so badly."
Draco started walking closer to Harry saying, "I'm not the one that got beat up here…"
Harry and Draco started pulling up their sleeves again, ready for other fight, but Ron with his head tilted back, one hand squeezing his nose, ran into the middle of the two. "Wait… Wait…Wait… I need a tissue…" One of the random people that were watching the fight came up beside him and handed him a tissue. Ron took the tissue graciously and stuffed it in his nose. This started to bother both guys causing Ron to be in serious danger being positioned in the middle. "Now I'm back…Ok Harry, This is not what we came here for. We wanted to find out where Hermione is, and if I didn't know any better, then I'd say that Draco here knows…"
Draco crossed his arms defensively and stated, "What makes you think that I would ever tell the likes of you…"
Ron turned to Draco with his tissue still in his nose. "Well Draco, I think that if you ever want Hermione back, you will need help. Also, if you really like her, like you say you did, you would not just leave her to your father."
Draco started to soften a bit, yet he would still not let his guard down. "Why would you ever think she would want me back?"
Harry who was still on the verge of shoving Ron away to attack Draco stated, "Who would want you anyway…"
Ron looked from Harry to Draco with an angry glint in his eye. "Let us allow Hermione to choose who she likes, shall we? It's only right for her to make her own decision, but she won't have a decision to make if we don't get going. So Draco, are you willing to help us save her?"
Everyone in the hallway looked from Ron to Draco in anticipation of his answer. Draco pondered Ron's words while the tension mounted. In silent contemplation, Draco went over all the possibilities in his head. After he made his finally decision, Draco stated, "I will help you…but don't think this makes us friends."
The people in the hallway cheered at Draco's agreement.
Harry smiled at Draco, and the prospects of seeing Hermione again. "I would never be your friend even if my life depends on it… But for Hermione's sake, I hope you are good to your word." Harry brought out his hand to sack Draco's to seal the agreement.
As Draco took his hand reluctantly, he stated, "For Hermione". As they shook hands, Draco thought, 'I can't live my life in my father's shadow forever, and if I don't do something soon, more people will have to deal with it. I won't let anyone else have to live through that… I won't let you down, Hermione. I won't let you down.'
*
Now Bates is another dorm on campus. I like keeping the location as real as possible, but the next chapter that will be a little harder. I hope you liked it and more will come some time soon. R/R
Monday