Harry Potter and the Crazy Trashcans

Chapter 4:

Love is in the Air

Harry and Ron were discussing techniques for their upcoming Quidditch match against Ravenclaw when Hermione rushed up to them followed by a pretty girl with blonde hair.

"Harry! Ron!" Hermione called approaching the two boys. "This is Stefania Ruginski. She transferred from Durmstrang because of her circumstances."

"Hi," Stefania said shyly, "you can call me Stef."

"Hey Stef," Harry said.

"Hey, how'd you met Hermoine?" Ron asked.

"Well, you know that I went to see Viktor over the summer and Stef was staying there too because she's Viktor's cousin and she had nowhere else to go. And it turns out that she is taking the same classes as I am so I can show her around," Hermione babbled.

" Oh," Harry said, uninterestedly, " well if we don't hurry up we'll be late for D.A.D.A."

*********************

"Good afternoon, class. Today we shall begin learning how to stunt the enemy's power for a short amount of time, the desired effect being 24 hours," Professor Selven explained. "This will require practice and concentration as beside the Unforgivable Curses it is one of the most difficult spells to perform. You will be working on this spell for the next two years and by the end of the I should hope you could each stunt someone's power for at least 12 hours," Seeing Stef's hand she stopped. "And you are?"

"Stefania Ruginski," Stef answered. "Pleased to meet you."

"What school did you transfer from?" the Professor asked.

"Durmstrang," The girl replied.

"Oh! Then you must already know this incantation am I right?" Stef nodded. "Would you care to demonstrate?" The teacher asked. Stef rose from her seat and went to the front of the room.

"Should I do it on you?" Stef asked the teacher.

"Yes, please. Go ahead."

"Attonitus veneficus vox!" Stef dictated with an elaborate wand motion. A jet of orange light erupted out of her wand attacking the Professor.

"Marvelous!" Selven said brightly. "I should be powerless for at least 10 minutes! You are a very powerful witch. 50 points for Gryffindor!" The Gryffindors in the classroom cheered as Stefania happily went back to her seat.

The rest of the class was spent learning the incantation and wand movement involved with the spell. Harry, unsurprisingly, was the best one besides Stef. He could make Ron powerless for four and a half minutes. Hermione spell lasted for one minute and Ron's for thirty seconds. Neville managed to send Seamus to the hospital wing with his arm at an awkward angle.

*****************

"Are you sure he's asleep?" Hermione asked anxiously. "If he wakes up and finds us I don't know what I will do."

"Of course he's asleep. I checked. I even poked him and called out his name quietly," Ron reassured her.

"Are you sure?" Ron nodded. "Good. I just feel so guilty, sneaking around behind his back. We really should tell him soon."

"We will soon. After we find him a girlfriend," Ron said.

"But no one is good enough... Wait a second, what about Stef!?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Stef?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, she's smart and fun and she is good at D.A.D.A. just like Harry."

"Well I guess so." Ron stopped at the sound of Harry entering the room.

"Harry! How much did you hear?" Hermione asked.

"All of it," Harry said coldly, " I can't believe it. Why didn't you tell me before instead of talking behind my back."

"Harry, we were going to-" Ron started.

"No, I don't want to hear it anymore!" Harry shouted and stormed out of the room. He ran aimlessly until he decided on a location. The Room of Requirement. When he got there he was surprise to see Stef standing at the door and came to an illogical conclusion.

"Did Hermione send you to make me feel better?" he said with a sneer going into the room.

"No," Stef said calmly sitting down in front of him. "I saw you coming so I followed you." Harry sniffed.

"Yeah right. You're just a jerk like the others," he said stubbornly. An awkward silence followed his statement.

"You can't say that when you've only known me for a day," Stef told him calmly. "What you're friends did was not totally immoral; you probably would have done the same thing." Harry looked surprised and angry.

"They told you!" he yelled as Stef winced. "And they didn't tell me! What kind of friends do I have?"

"No, they didn't tell me." Stefania explained. "I Saw." Harry looked confused.

"But nobody else was there-" Stef cut him off.

"I Saw," she explained getting annoyed with this stubborn teen depressee. "I am a Seer." Harry looked startled.

"Wow."

"So tell me what's really wrong," Stef asked gently.

"Err... okay, fine," Harry gave in. "Well I'm starting to feel like I'm alone. My godfather died last year and my parents, well I didn't spent any time with them at all. I miss them so much its like half of me is missing. And now Hermione and Ron are together. Where does that leave me?"

"Well, Harry, I understand how you feel," Stefania said with a grimace.

"No. You don't! Everyone thinks they do but they never could and never will!" Harry yelled.

After a long silence, Stefania spoke.

"Do you know why I am here?" she asked quietly.

Harry shook his head in confusion.

"When I was eleven and I was accepted into Durmstrang, we first learned of my powers as a Seer. From then on my parents and I were in grave danger. Three months ago two Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange and another man, attacked my home in the hopes of capturing me and using me to their advantage. They killed my parents and their unborn child. My older brother sacrificed his life for mine. I would have stayed with Viktor but that city held too many tragic memories. Then I met Hermione. She told me all about Hogwarts and it sounded great so I wrote a letter to Dumbledore asking him if he would let me transfer. He agreed and now I'm here."

Harry felt enormous pity for the girl sitting in front of him. He looked at her with sad eyes noticing how even though she was beautiful, she was so thin and pale and looked liked she hadn't slept for a week.

"I'm getting tired," Harry said after a while.

"We should go back then," Stef said getting up. Harry pulled her back down.

"No I don't want to go back," Harry said looking into her eyes. "Will you stay with me?"

"Alright," she said sitting next to him and resting her head on his shoulder. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

*****************

Harry woke up and looked at Stef who was sleeping peacefully with her head on his shoulder. This would be insanely awkward normally but somehow it was not. He did not want to wake her up but they would be late for breakfast so he did.

"Good morning," Harry whispered in Stef's ear. She unwillingly brought her head up.

"Hey."

They walked to the Great Hall in a comfortable silence and went to sit down in front of Ron and Hermione.

"Hey Ron, hey Hermione," Harry said reaching for his goblet of pumpkin juice, "What's up?" They stared at Harry with shock and disbelief.

"Um, nothing..." Ron answered cautiously. "Where were you last night?" He said with a change of voice.

"Yeah, Stef? Where were you?" Hermione asked curiously.

"We were talking-,"

"Harry felt sick."

"So Stef took me to the hospital wing-"

"And Madame Pomfrey let me stay overnight."

"Because she had - um..." Harry thought for a second. "Cramps..." There was a moment of silence. And the Hermione and Ron burst into hysterical laughter.

"I had to see what you would say," Ron said in between laughs. "I saw you two on the map." He winked at Harry. Stefania turned red.

"We didn't do anything!" She exclaimed.

"Well the dots seemed awfully close..." Hermione stated.

"Okay! Okay!" Harry said. "Can we just forget about this?" Neville ran over to them and sat down next to Ron.

"There's a Hogsmeade trip this weekend!" Neville said happily. "And I'm going on a date with Luna." Ron choked on his juice.

"I thought Luna was going out with Malfoy!" Ron said surprised.

"Nope she said that they had their differences," Neville explained. "I heard that he's going out with Ginny....Oops." Ron turned crimson. And Hermione tried to calm him own. Harry looked over Ron's shoulder and saw Ginny walk over to Draco Malfoy and sit with him at the Slytherin table. Everyone went silent and turned to stare.

"What are you all looking at?!" Draco said menacingly. Everyone resumed talking. Ginny whispered something in Draco's ear and they got up and went to the Gryffindor table. More silence.

"GINNY!" Ron yelled at his sister. "You are not allowed to date this thing!"

"Shut up, Ron!"

"I apologize for being such a jerk for the past six years of my life and I know what I did was wrong, and what my father did was wrong. I know you don't trust my intentions and me but I could never hurt your sister. At least believe me on that. Anyways, you need me on your side. I have many powers that Voldemort wants that could be helpful to your fight against him. And I know you could use more recruits and it so happens that the whole Slytherin house idolizes me and will join your side if I tell them to."

"Why should we trust you?!" Ron asked getting madder and madder. Hermione grabbed his hand and he relaxed.

"He's telling the truth," said Hermione even she didn't want to believe it.

"What?!" exclaimed Ron, "You're my girlfriend, you are supposed to agree with me!"

"Well, I won't agree if you are wrong!" Hermione said. "Have you ever heard of an Empath?" Everyone around the table shook their heads. "Well, I am one. That means I can tell if someone is lying and I can feel other peoples anger and frustration and take it away for them."

They stared at Hermione in awe.

"Well, I still don't like him," Ron said, annoyed.

"It'll take time for me to like him too. I mean, he's Draco Malfoy. I've never known him to be nice, or even tolerable. But I guess I can try." Harry sighed.

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Breakfast was over and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Stef were on their way to Charms.

"So, are you all excited for the Hogsmeade weekend coming up?" Hermione asked.

"What's Hogsmeade?" Stefania asked, puzzled.

"Only the best town ever! There's Honeydukes, that's a candy store, and my twin brothers just opened a shop called Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. It's a kind of joke shop. And there's the Three Broomsticks, that's a pub..." Ron said.

"Oh, now you've got him started!" Hermione moaned.

Stef giggled and Harry chuckled.

"Anyways, do you guys want to go on a double date? To Hogsmeade, I mean," Hermione asked slyly.

Harry looked at Stef and asked, "Do you?"

Stef looked at him for a moment and shrugged.

"Sure."

"Yes! We can go shopping and walk around and maybe we can go on a picnic! Oh, I am so excited," Hermione, squealed.