Romance Americana

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"Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, would you care to explain your tardiness?"

Harry was tempted to find out how far he could push McGonagall... but thankfully, Hermione jumped in.

"We were speaking to Kate Morgan... she and I haven't been getting along, but we're working out our... differences."

Harry snorted and muttered, "You can say that again."

"What was that, Mr. Potter?"

"Nothing, nothing at all, Professor."

"Very well. How are the Americana students getting along? It's been a few months, and there don't seem to be any complaints, but I was wondering if you'd heard anything."

Hermione looked at Harry. To tell or not to tell, that is the question. "No, we haven't heard anything, Professor, why do you ask?"

"Well, most of the Slytherins seem to have a problem with the Americans, even the ones in that were sorted into the same house..." McGonagall flipped through a file folder. "And Ginny Weasley filed a complaint about Ms. Morgan... I thought those two got along?"

Shit. Harry's eyes flashed at hearing about Ginny's complaint. But what the hell was he supposed to do. He couldn't just say, "Well, you see Professor, Kate and the rest of the Americana students belong to a secret society, and Ron, Hermione and I have been invited into it. They're here to screw over Voldemort and the Death Eaters, and since Ginny's dating the one guy who takes over if it all goes to hell, problems are bound to crop up..."

Hermione must have seen the look in his eyes. "Ginny was upset when Kate and Ron broke up... but she okay with her now."

McGonagall nodded. "Thank you, Harry, Hermione. That's all I needed to know. You're dismissed."

She watched as the newest Head Boy and Girl left her office. She sighed, and turned as Dumbledore came out of hiding. The ever present glitter in his eyes made her want to slap the look off his face.

"Do you think they're lying?"

"My dear Professor McGonagall, you know as well as I do that they were lying through their teeth. The Americans are up to something, along with Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger, and Mr. Weasley too, if everything is normal. And all we can do is to wait for it to happen."

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Shannon sat in the common room with Ron.

"So Kate finally told you?"

"Yeah, she did."

"Do you have a ring too?"

Shannon almost laughed. "Is that all you can come up with? No other questions?"

Ron went red. Shannon stopped laughing, and then showed him her right ring finger. "Yes, I do. There it is."

And there it was, the same as Kate's, "Defensores de la Paz" inscribed around a ruby, with the hawk and sword and olive leaves. Ron gulped.

"Shannon, why didn't you tell me before?"

"Ron, what did you want me to do? Just come out and say, 'Ron, sweetie, me, my brother, your ex-girlfriend, and the rest of us are here on a mission to kick an evil organization's ass?' We Americans may have a reputation for being crass, but we do know how to keep secrets. And we value our lives."

"What? Is you're being here really that dangerous?"

"No, but a pissed off Kate is. And she would have been pissed if anyone told you guys before her; she's the unofficial leader, even though she relies on all of us. She knows her strengths and weaknesses, and how far she can push it before any of us snap. Yea, Voldemort's a minimal thing if you've ever been in the same room with a pissed off Kate."

Shannon was smiling into the fire when she was done. Ron looked down at her, admiring the way the fire flashed across her face. He leaned closer and brushed a strand of wavy hair out of her eyes. It was only then that he saw the sad look in them.

"Love, what's wrong?" He gave her a small peck on the cheek for reassurance. He didn't want to see her sad; he didn't like to see her sad.

"We grew up too fast... too damn fast. Ron, do you know what Kate, Dani, Nikola, Lauren and I talked about before we went to bed when we first started at Americana?" Ron shook his head. "We would talk about normal teenage girl stuff. We would talk about who was dating who, makeup, that girl in our lunch period that we hated, our teachers, who we would marry." She looked him in the eyes to get the next point across. "Now, now we give hugs and kisses before we go to bed each night, and we say we're sorry for any wrongs we've caused. We tell each other that we love each other and the boys each and every night, and that we'll love each other no matter what we say or what happens." Tear were streaming steadily down her face at this point. "We have to... in case anything happens and we have to run off in the middle of the night, and it all goes to hell. We don't sleep in on the weekends; we go out together instead. God, Ron, this life is so precious. And we have to protect it. We can't worry about what we'll wear to the party, or petty things. We have to worry about the rest of the fucking world!"

Ron's eyes snapped to her's; Shannon almost NEVER swore, and when she did, 'fuck' simply wasn't part of her vocabulary. He kissed her again.

"Let's go to bed. Say your I love yous, and then let's go to sleep. You'll feel better in the morning."

Shannon nodded her consent.

The clock struck midnight as the headed up the staircase.

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Ginny ran after Draco, through the dungeons, the Slytherin common room, and finally, into his bedroom. They lay on his bed, trading kisses, until it got too aggravating for both, and they slid under the covers. A soft touch here, a shift of position that way... it was all so very family to both, yet oh so new every single time.

She heard the school clock strike twelve.

Another late night in Draco's dorm... Good Lord, she felt ill. She leaned over her beau and gave him a soft shove in the side.

"What?"

"I need to get to the bathroom."

"Can't you just ignore it and go to sleep, Ginny?"

"Not unless you want vomit in your bed."

Both of Draco's eyes snapped open and set their sites on Ginny's. "What did you say?"

"I feel sick. Now move your lazy ass before I throw up on you."

He got out of her way and watched her make her way across his dorm. He sat on the edge of the bed, staring at his boxers, and waited for her to come out. When she made her appearance, she sat down on his lap and leaned against him.

"How long have you been feeling sick?"

"A little over a month."

"Oh. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to worry. Let's just sleep. I'm too tired to talk."

"Okay. Lie down and close your eyes; I need to use the little boy's room before I come back to bed."

Ginny nodded, lay down on the bed, and closed her eyes. She looked so peaceful, she almost made Draco smile.

He wandered into the bathroom, and looked in the mirror. He filled the sink up with cold water, put the stopper in place, and searched under the bathroom cabinet for what looked like sparkly baby powder. His father had given it to him, as a means of communicating with home that would be less obvious than his eagle owl. He dropped a pinch into the water and waited for the picture to develop.

His father looked pissed and half asleep when he first appeared.

"Draco, this had better be damn good, or I'll cut you off, I swear to God."

"Ginny's feeling ill."

"And the point is?"

"She hasn't been feeling well for over a month, and no epidemic is going around. It's time."

"Fine. Have her go to the Hospital Wing; I don't care how you do it, just get her there. If she's pregnant, then we'll act. I'll inform the Dark Lord of this. Good night, Draco."

"Good night, Father."

Draco looked at his watch as he laid down to sleep; it was 12:24.

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16 eyes opened wide only to be greeted by darkness; all 16 looked to their bedside tables and saw that the time was 12:24. In the Ravenclaw tower, two of them sat in the same bed, looking very, very nervous.

"Matt, it's happened."

"I know."

"Oh, Lord, it's happened."

"That's been established."

"Shit, Matt, we're fucked!" Kate jumped out of bed and started to pull on her jeans and a sweater.

"Well, I would have thought we were fu..."

"Matthew Quinnlin, if you value your life and your balls, you'll get out of bed, get dressed, and help me round up the others.

"Yes ma'am. Isn't that MY sweater?" He eyed the sweater Kate had thrown on.

"It's the first thing I found to put on; unless you'd rather have me walk topless in the hallowed halls of Hogwarts." She went to the mirror and put her up. Matt came up behind her, and put his hands on her shoulders.

"You're lucky I like you, you know that Morgan?"

Kate's eyes met his in the mirror, and she smiled. This was normal; this is what she wanted all along. And as nice as this was, it had no place in the life of an actress/ student/ short term secret agent with the H.C.

"I know; I'm very, very lucky that you like me." She leaned back and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Let's get going. I'll go get them out of Gryffindor, you head over to Slytherin, and we'll meet you at Hufflepuff. 'Kay?"

"Uh huh."

They stood there for a few more moments.

"The point of me giving directions was for us to follow them, Matt."

"I know."

"Then why aren't we moving?"

"Because this is nice."

"Okay, but we need to go."

Matt sighed. "When are we not on the go?"

Kate only shrugged. "Love you. I'll see you at the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room, okay?"

"Okay. Love you too."

With that, they left the room to go find the others. Their work was just beginning.

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