Hogsmeade Battle Royale

"Harry, wake up. You know how ‘Moine gets when we’re late for ‘one of the most important meals of the day’."

"Mmm...Go away."

"Okay. You asked for it."

For some blissful minutes, Harry was left in peace. He yelped as cold water was dumped on his head. His eyes blinked open and he glared at the grinning figure of his best friend who held an empty glass in his right hand.

"I can’t believe that worked," Ron commented, "I’ll have to tell Fred and George." He turned to put the glass down and missed Harry’s smirk. In a blink of an eye Ron Weasley was on his stomach and facing the red and gold-carpeted floor with a heavy weight on his back. He felt Harry flatten himself and shivered as Harry’s hot breath tickled his ears,

"If you ever do that again, see what happens to your Chudley Cannon’s poster."

"You wouldn’t!" he gasped.

All he got in response was a chuckle and a slap on the butt and a kiss on the side of his neck. He turned his head slightly in the direction of Harry’s face and sighed when his lips connected with the soft, smooth surface of Harry’s. He made a small sound of distress when those lips pulled away. He turned to see Harry going towards the showers and Neville blushing. His ears reddened and he stood up brushing imaginary wrinkles away as he walked towards the Gryffindor common room.

The two boys walked into Hogwarts’ Great Hall with their other fellow Gryffindor seventh years, Seamus Finnegan, Neville Longbottom, and Dean Thomas. Laughing, the five sat down preparing themselves for the morning feast. Ron looked at their friend, Hermione Granger, aghast.

"What are you doing?!" he asked, horrified. Not looking up and turning the page to a book nearly her size, she muttered,

"I’m preparing for exams! The N.E.W.T.s are only a month away! You two should start studying as well."

Ron’s eyes widened in pure horror and he shook his head violently at her. Harry laughed softly under his breath and looked around the Great Hall. Looking past the professors’ table, where Professor McGonagall was in a heated discussion with Hagrid while her student teacher, Fleur Delacour, tried to stifle a yawn and where Professor Snape was glaring at his plate while his own student teacher, Viktor Krum, alternated from glancing at Hermione and listening to the school’s Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. Harry’s gaze fell on the other houses’ tables. At the Ravenclaw table he saw Lisa Turpin, another seventh year, stop talking and blush as she caught his gaze as it traveled. He raised a brow then shrugged as his gaze went past the Hufflepuff table and then stopped at the last house table.

He rolled his eyes then as he watched Draco Malfoy, another seventh year who also happened to be his rival in all things, hold court over the rest of the Slytherins. He smirked as Pansy Parkinson brushed up against Malfoy and the sneer it produced on the blonde’s beautiful features. Malfoy’s trademark cold grey eyes caught Harry’s smirk and giving him a superior look flipped Harry the bird. Scowling, Harry turned back to the conversations at his own table.

"Surely you won’t be studying during the Hogsmeade trip?" Ron was asking Hermione.

"Actually, I think I might pass on this trip." She said, taking a bite out of her toast without pausing in her reading. Her brows furrowed and she highlighted a phrase.

"What?!" Ron shouted. Harry blinked but wasn’t at all surprised. Hermione was always thinking about her grades and with their final exams at Hogwarts coming up, she was on the brink of severe obsession. Ron turned to him.

"Tell her how important this trip is! How much it’s needed!" Ron implored.

"You two should think of staying as well. It’ll do you some good and we could study together." Hermione continued, turning another page. Ron backed his chair away from her as Harry shuddered and quickly said,

"Ron’s right, ‘Mione. Not only is this our last Hogsmeade trip as Hogwarts students, we also need to release tension. Besides...Viktor is coming."

Hermione looked up and gave him a skeptical glance while failing to cover up her blush.

"Seriously. We’ve all been stressed out. What would happen if during our last exam we all collapsed from exhaustion? We would all do so poorly, we’d have to redo our last year." Harry pointed out. Upon hearing this, Hermione froze. The prospect of doing poorly and redoing a year raced through her head and she paled. Closing her book, she nodded gravely.

"Okay. I’ll go. Just don’t ever say that again," she nearly whispered, shivering.

Ron and Harry grinned at each other. As all the students prepared to leave the hall for their first classes, Ron leaned closer to Harry and whispered,

"You always know what to say," and gave him a soft gentle kiss on the lips. Breaking away, they looked at each other then with identical grins, and ran to catch up to Hermione’s hurried steps.

Harry felt his eyelids flutter and he quickly blinked them open. Stifling a yawn, he looked around the room. The majority of the Hufflepuffs were dozing. Beside him, Ron’s head was bobbing up and down, and he could see Seamus and Dean giggling quietly over a piece of paper while they looked around the classroom. They caught Harry’s eyes and they gave him a salute and went back to their piece of paper. Harry shrugged. He could distantly hear Professor Binns’ droning voice,

"What were the Phooka and what were they known for?"

Harry felt more than saw Hermione’s hand shoot up.

"Ms. Granger?"

"The Phooka were Irish goblins. They were famous for being seemingly friendly and in pony form they would give Muggle men rides; however, then the men would be taken out on wild rides that would usually end with the rider in a ditch."

"Correct, Ms. Granger."

Harry’s lids finally lost their will and dropped. Still distantly tuned into the lesson, he started to slip into the realm of dreams.

"Harry Potter..."

He turned at the voice that held a strange mixture of smoothness with a hint of a hiss beneath. All he could see around him though were thick trees and he felt a despair never felt before and then extreme pain all around.

"Potter."

He was frozen in place by terror when he felt a cold hand brush his cheek, then travel down his throat. There it lingered and a long bony finger caressed his Adam’s apple. The voice spoke again,

"My Potter..."

His eyes shot open and for a while he felt disorientated. Blinking, he looked at a frowning Hermione and an amused Ron. Ron grinned down at him.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. We still have a full day of classes to go to." Ron said, extending a hand to help Harry up. Harry smiled as he looked up at his best friend’s grinning face. Taking the offered hand, he lifted himself up and brought Ron and himself nose to nose. Giving him a small kiss on the lips in gratitude, Harry then turned and gathered his books.

"We will be continuing the lesson on temporarily transfiguring humans into objects. As no one in this class was successful in completing the exercise last class, we will be reviewing the basics. Turn to page 834 in your text. Read through to page 1052 and then try exercise number 2086 with your partner."

The class groaned but quickly paired up and opened their texts. Ron snuck a glance, and upon seeing that Professor McGonagall was busy turned to Harry, who sat next to him.

"Did you read it the first time?" he asked in a whisper.

“Er…sorta…I got through the first hundred pages and I think I drifted off afterwards.” Harry replied.

“Hmmm…that should be good enough, right?”

“You two will do no such thing. What if you try the exercise and something goes wrong? More likely something will go wrong!” Hermione whispered at them, frowning.

Groaning, Ron turned to her. “Shh. Do you want McGonagall to hear? Just because you weren’t able to do this last time is no reason to take your frustration out on us.”

“Watch it, Weasley,” she said glaring. “And if I couldn’t do it after reading the assigned pages six times, then how will you be able to by not reading at all?”

“By winging it?” he mocked with a smile. Hermione opened her mouth to respond.

“Ahem. I think I caught up. Ron, you be the test ‘dummie,’ as it were. Is there a particular object you would like your arm to be?” Harry asked. Hermione and Ron stared at him.

“What?” Ron asked. Harry gave a long-suffering sigh.

“The exercise? We’re supposed to practice turning an arm into an object.”

“Oh yeah. Well, turn my arm into something cool and useful.” Ron exclaimed with a smile. Hermione rolled her eyes turning away. Facing Neville, she muttered under her breath,

“If only common sense was an object. Would insert it in his head.”

Harry chuckled, then coughed, when Ron glared at him.

“Er…something cool and useful…I can do that. Let’s see…how does this go again? Okay. Ron, stick out your arm and stand really still.” Harry said, worrying his bottom lip. Ron gave him a nervous smile.

“You sure you know what you’re doing, Harry?” he asked warily. Harry waved his left hand.

“Yeah. Pretty sure. Ready?”

“Yeah…”

Pointing his wand at Ron’s left arm, Harry recited clearly:

“It’s ok. W-“

Ron was interrupted as his left arm began to glow bright red. His face took on a pained expression and he clutched his arm. The class turned to them as Harry cried out,

“Ron! Are you okay?”

As Professor McGonagall raced toward them, Ron cried out. The class watched in awe as his left arm slowly changed from flesh to blade. The sword fell with a heavy thud and the rest of Ron’s body went with it.

“Wicked.” Seamus whispered.

Professor McGonagall examined the sword-arm as she helped Ron and Harry place it on a desk.

“Quite good for a first try. But next time, Harry, try something lighter.” Harry blushed and thought he saw a ghost of a smile on the Professor’s thin lips.

There was one slice of pumpkin cake left at the Gryffindor lunch table, and Harry, Hermione, Dean and their fellow Gryffindors covered their smiles as Seamus and Ron stared each other down. Two forks set out towards the piece and the two stared unblinkingly into each other’s eyes. With lightning fast movements they reached for the slice…then blinked in surprise and horror when they noticed that the slice was gone. Seamus’ eyes widened dramatically, while Ron groaned in sorrow.

“Wh…what...who…my slice! Who took my slice?!” Seamus sputtered in outrage. Ron’s head shot up.

“Your slice?! That was my slice! Someone took my slice of pumpkin cake!” he cried out. They glared at each other and then surveyed the table. Both sets of eyes widened in horror and disbelief as they settled on the culprit.

“GINNY?!”

Ginny looked up and blinked as she swallowed the last bite.

“Um…yes?”

The entire table was silent, and then all eyes were on the Gryffindor table as all but three started laughing. Ginny continued to blink in confusion while Seamus and Ron bent their heads in defeat.

Ron glared into the cauldron that he and Harry were sharing.

“Is it supposed to be orange?” he whispered to Harry.

“Eh…I don’t think so…” Harry said worrying his bottom lip. He tried to peek into Hermione and Neville’s cauldron, but gave up with a sigh.

“We could always ask Viktor, or…” he shudder, “Snape…”

“Are you mad? He’d take points from us for just calling him over. Look in the book. It must say something.” Ron cried out softly.

“Well, well, well. Interesting potion you have there, Weasel. Trying to make it match your hair?”

Ron growled and glared up as Draco walked past, smirking. Harry put a hand on his shoulder.

“Let it go, Ron. He’s not worth it. And anyway, I think I know what we did wrong and how to fix it.”

In the end, it was a very disappointed Snape who left their station. The two boys sighed in relief and winked at Hermione, who shook her head but grinned back.

“As your final exam for Advanced Defense Against Dark Arts is fast approaching, starting next week we will be doing extensive review.”

The class groaned and Hermione nodded in approval. Professor Sanglant smiled and shook his head at the reaction from his students. He cleared his throat and said,

“Today, I will ask you to form small groups and come up with questions that you feel would aid you for the review and final. I also expect you to form these groups every night until the final, so choose your group carefully, for these groups will be your source of study.”

The class groaned once more, and heads darted out seeking. Harry, Hermione, and Ron smiled at each other and nodded. Professor Sanglant brought his right hand up to cover a grin.

“You may group together now. If you have any questions for me, feel free to come up and ask.”

The groups were formed and soon the classroom was filled with laughter and quiet conversations. Professor Sanglant sat down at his desk to read. He was about to turn a page when he heard a rustling sound and a deep groan. He raised a brow and leaned his head towards the door to the classroom when he heard another groan. He glanced around the room to make sure that all was in order inside then he advanced towards the entrance. He paused briefly then slowly turned the knob. There was a loud crash as the door opened wide and several books and papers scattered on the classroom floor.

The class turned to look at what had caused the commotion, and Ron groaned and covered his face with his hands. On the floor, his younger sister, Ginny and a Gryffindor fourth year, Natalie MacDonald, were sprawled around the various books and scrolls that had fallen with them. Professor Sanglant gave them a gentle smile, then extended one hand to each. They blushed deeply as he helped them rise to their feet.

"Sorry, Professor." they said in usion.

"It's all right, girls. Are these for me?" he asked them gesturing down to where the books and scrolls still lay. Their blushes deepened, and they bent down to pick them up.

"Yes, Professor. Professor Snape sent us to deliver them. He said that he no longer felt the need to have them in his possession." Ginny answered, coming up with half of the material in her arms. Professor Sanglant's brow furrowed, and then he gave a quiet sigh and said,

"Thank you, girls. You may place them on my desk and please, thank Professor Snape for me. That was very kind of him."

From their seats, Harry, Hermione and Ron raised a brow and looked at each other. "Kind?" Ron mouthed, smirking. The other two chuckled silently. The class went back to talking amongst the groups as Professor Sanglant went through the scrolls.

"Ron, they're looking at us again, aren't they?"

Turning his head slightly, Ron looked behind the station that he was sharing with Harry. He hurriedly turned back with a look of exasperation and nodded.

Harry groaned and stared hard at the sticks of incense that stood in front of him. With a wicked grin, Ron moved close and whispered,

"Well, we could give them something to really look at, if you want. Lavender and Parvati wouldn't know what hit them, and it would be oh so much fun."

Shivering when he felt Ron's warm breath tickling the tips of his ears, Harry flushed slightly and out of the corner of his eyes shot the two girls a quick glance. With a deep sigh of regret he took a step away and shook his head. "And give Trewlaney and the rest of the class something to look at as well?"

"But what a sight it would be..." Ron said, completely unrepentant. Harry chuckled and started to light the incense sticks. Ron pouted at him, then reluctantly turned to their Advanced Divination text. He waited until Harry had every incense lit and then flipped the page he was on. Harry looked at him expectantly.

"What next?" he asked.

"Um...we watch the smoke. We're supposed to concentrate where the smoke from the incenses meet, and write down what we see." Harry gave him a skeptic look and Ron shrugged. "It was either this or do what Lavender and Parvati are doing, Lithomancy. And I don't know about you but looking into gemstones doesn't sound fun and exicting."

"And this does?"

"Seamus and Dean took the best one, Geloscopy. That sounded cool. I could have tickle you and from your laughter given you your divine message...and it would have be a perfect excuse to explore a little more of your divine person." His hands brushed against Harry's left thigh and Ron wiggled his eyebrows. Harry laughed and batted the hand away.

"Since it seems that we're stuck with this one...what's it called? We should at least look, no matter how silly it feels."

"It's called Libranomancy, and when doesn't anything in this class feel silly?"

"Heh. True. You go first."

"ME? Why? Why don't you go first?"

"Becasue you were the one who chose it, so you get to be the one to go first."

"You know what, Harry? You have one twisted sense of logic."

"I know. Now start gazing."

Grumbling, Ron settled down on the stool that they had placed in from the incense sticks. Relaxing his body he gazed at a point near the ceiling where he could see the smoke from the incense meeting. Harry gave a soft smile as he watched Ron. His green gaze traveled to the collar length red hair down to the strong jaw to the where perhaps an inch of skin could be seen from the wizard robes that they wore. His eyes then traveled down the length of Ron's seated body, taking in the familiar muscular build even through the many layers that covered it. His smile softened even more as his eyes once more rested on the freckled face before him. He was startled to meet smiling rich brown eyes and he blushed at Ron's knowing smirk. Hopping off the stool, Ron gave Harry a suggestive smile. Harry coughed and smiled in return. While seating himself on the now empty stool, he asked,

"So what did you see?"

"It was an odd shape. Looked more like a dark paw than anything else. While you gaze, I'll look for what the book says about paws, if anything." Ron answered, rolling his eyes.

Harry gave a little laugh, then settled himself looking at the same point that Ron had. For a long while, all Harry saw was the swirling of the smoke. This is so stupid, he thought, sighing inwardly. He continued to stare at the fixed point, trying to make a shape out of the smoke.

He blinked rapidly. For a moment there, he had thought that he had seen something. He forced himself to concetrate.

In a blink of an eye, he was no longer in the tower room of Hogwarts. He looked around. Instead, it looked as if he was in a small house. He heard a noise to his right, and without hesistation ran towards the sound. The closer he came to the other room, the more he heard.

"Run! Get Harry and yourself out of here and to safety!"

"Harry? Ron? What's going on? What happened?"

When neither of them answered, Hermione turned questioning eyes on Seamus, Dean, Lavender and Parvati who shrugged, looking at the two young men with concern.

"They've been like this since the end of the Advanced Divination. We don't know what is wrong and they won't tell us." Dean answered. Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Did Professor Trewlaney say something to them?"

The four shook their heads. "Not really. She predicted Harry's death again, but he's long since brushed that off." Seamus said, biting his bottom lip. Hermione frowned and sat across from her silent friends. Her expression softened, and in a gentle voice she asked,

"Harry? Ron? What's wrong?"

They looked up at her startled. "'Mione! Hi." Ron said with a slightly strained smile. Harry gave her a small smile, then went back to looking at the empty plate in front of him. Hermione opened her mouth to ask once more when Professor Dumbledore stood up and call for attention. When he was sure that all eyes were on him, he cleared his throat and gave a wide smile.

"Another year nearly completed!" he said cheerfully. "And before we all settle into our delicious feast, I would like to say a few words. As final exams are fast approaching, this final trip tomorrow to Hogsmeade is much needed. I hope all those who are going enjoy themselves as well as visit Honeydukes. Just for a reminder, all but seventh years will return with their appointed Professors by eight P.M. tomorrow night. Those seventh years who chose to stay on the overnight trip will be returning three days later. Your house prefects will be hand out the bus lists. Once again, enjoy yourselves!"

The hall erupted in talk as Dumbledore sat back down. Hermione turned back to Ron and Harry, who both had big grins on their faces. She gave them suspicious looks.

"What?" she asked not trusting those grins at all. The grins widened and Harry and Ron shared a suggestive glance. Hermione rolled her eyes and started piling food on her plate. "I don't know why I put up with you two."

"It's 'cause you love us and you know it."

"Hn." She looked out of the corner of her eyes and saw Ron whisper something in Harry's ear that made the poor boy blush. She smiled and took a sip of her pumpkin juice. She'll find out what had happened later.

After eating their fill, all the students left the Great Hall towards their house rooms. Ron held Harry back while the others made their way up the stairs leading to the Griffyndor tower. Hermione turned back, raising an eyebrow questioningly. Ron shook his head lightly and smiled. She shook her head and smiled back. Giving him a thumbs up, she continued on her way up. Taking Harry's right hand in his, Ron pulled Harry closer and gave him a loving kiss. Returning the kiss, Harry wrapped his arms around Ron's waist.

"How touching. Gryffindors at play, should we call it?"

They jumped apart and turned towards the sneering voice. Ron's hands fisted and he glared at Draco Malfoy. "What do you want, Malfoy? Lost without your lackeys following you?"

The blonde's pale face reddened in anger, but he casually walked past Ron. He ignored the red head and stopped only when he was mere inches away from Harry's face. "Next time you and your boyfriend feel like groping each other, do it somewhere else." He looked Harry up and down and smirked. "Or else someone might get ideas." He moved closer until their noses touched. Harry quickly stepped back while Ron made an outrage sound. Sneering at Ron, Malfoy started up the stairs.

"Better watch out, Weasel. You're not the only one with eyes on Potter." Winking mockingly at Harry, he continued the rest of the way laughing.

"The nerve of the guy! Who does Malfoy think he is?!"

"Ron, stopped pacing, and for goodness sake, stop thinking about Malfoy. You're only giving him the satisfaction of riling you up. You're doing exactly what he wants you to do."

Ron paused mid pace and turned to look at Harry. "You think so?"

"YES!"

Harry stifled a grin as Ron's ears turned bright red. Dean, Seamus, and Neville were all glaring at the blushing boy.

"We're trying to sleep, Ron! We'll get Malfoy back during the trip. Now go to bed!"

"Sorry." Ron mumbled under his breath. Harry coughed to cover a laugh as Ron slipped into his bed. He scooted over to make room.

"Goodnight, Ron."

"Goodnight, Harry."

Harry turned and gave Ron a small kiss on the lips and turned around again to settle down to sleep. Silence filled the room with the occasional snore from Neville now and then. Harry was on the brink of sleep when he felt a hand close around his hip. He shivered as the hand traveled down to his thigh. He leaned back against Ron and gave a small gasp as Ron slipped an arm around his waist and brought their hips closer. Eyes squeezed shut and mouth slightly parted, Harry gave a quiet moan as his erection was grabbed and playfully squeezed. He grabbed for his wand, and through only practiced use was he able to mutter the silencing spell around his bed.