The Truth (or Dare) Hurts

Harry sat on his scarlet bedspread, a slight smirk on his face. A sort of Draco Malfoy kind of smirk. Ron sat slightly apprehensively, fearing that his turn would be next.

It would be only fair, of course, if his turn were next. The rest of the boys in his dormitory had to go through the embarrassment, too. This was a "Truth or Dare Night", which only happened every once in a while, but only when they were absolutely sure that the prefects would not check their dormitory, or else they would play once their egos had sufficiently mended. Usually it was the latter that they cared about.

Ron's freckles were slightly white as he studied Harry's face. Ron tried boring into Harry's mind, with telekinetic powers that he did not own, Harry, we're friends. Harry, mate, don't do anything too harsh. Dammit, Harry, I know that you're doing this on purpose! Out with it!

Finally Harry opened his mouth, "Now, Ron, you knew this was coming, truth or dare? You know I've got good stuff on you for either."

"What happened to the sweet little 'Boy who lived'?" asked Seamus with a teasing grin.

"He died," Harry chuckled, "or else he became the 'Boy who was sixteen'. So Ronniekens, what would you like?" Harry asked as he turned towards Ron.

"Um," Ron sighed and went on, "truth, I guess."

"Oh I've been waiting for the day that I could make you finally admit this to everyone: Ron do you fancy Hermione? And tell the truth, because we put a truth charm on the room," Harry said, although he was slightly sorry now that he asked it, as he looked at Ron's face.

Ron sighed again, and in the smallest voice that he could muster, he murmured, "Yes I do."

"For how long?" Dean asked.

"That's not fair," Ron pointed out. "That's more than one question."

"You let him off easy! You all made me admit that I wear my Gran's clothes at home," Neville said unhappily. The boys all laughed at the reminder. "Don't laugh! If only you knew how comfortable dresses are..." The boys laughed even harder at this announcement, which Neville hadn't even really meant to add, and the only thing that kept anyone outside of their dorm from hearing was the silencing charm. Ron however did not agree with Neville's announcement (about the being let off easy, not the dress!), no one knew how hard it had been to make.

"Anyways, it's my turn to ask. Truth or dare, Harry." Ron asked.

"Truth, I've got nothing to hide," Harry said, although he looked slightly afraid.

"Good, I've been meaning to ask this one for a while, since you never told me. You know when Pansy asked to talk to you after Potions, yesterday, what did she want?" Ron asked sincerely curious.

"She-she, um, well... first she asked me about... the lesson," Harry began, and it was obviously the truth, although his face was contortioned with inner-conflict. "And she asked me how I was. And I said I was fine. And that was all-," but the truth charm made him finish, "- all, except for when she, she... Oh drat it, Ron, now I have to hate you! She asked me out."

"A Slytherin?" Neville asked aghast.

"Well, she is pretty hot now, Neville. Although the choice of house is disgusting," Dean said. "Well Harry, we're all friends here, come on, tell us what you said, we won't make you go the next round."

Harry chose not to answer Dean, but rather rounded on him and asked, "What will it be Dean, truth or dare?"

"Dare, because you lot are so boring, and never think of proper dares anyways," Dean said from the decorative lion rug that was on the floor. He loosened his tie, but he had a calm look on his face, and he didn't look the least bit apprehensive.

Harry sat, not waiting for a dare, and thought. Nothing was coming to him, but thankfully Seamus whispered in his ear and they chuckled at the suggestion. "This is actually a good one," Harry said. "Here's your dare, you have to go down to the teacher's lounge, ask for Snape, and when he comes out, ask if he dropped a book."

"What's so bad about that?" Dean asked, slightly perplexed at the lack of originality.

"We never mentioned what book did we?" Seamus asked. "Oy, Harry, get it out."

Harry reached down from under his bed, fumbled for a moment, and then came out with a glossy magazine. He handed it over to Dean with a grin.

"No way, I am so not giving Snape a Playwizard magazine," Dean said, staring at the magazine horror-struck.

"You asked for a challenge, didn't you?" Neville piped up.

"Isn't it too late to be going out?" Dean said trying to get out of it.

"It's a Saturday afternoon, Dean," Ron said with a grin. They always chose the day to play the games for two reasons. One, there were a lot more dares you could do with more people actually around and awake. Two, less people suspected that anything could possible be going on during the light of day, and in turn, they had more freedom.

"How are you going to know that I actually did the dare? I doubt any of you really want to be found with me," Dean said practically.

"Seamus and I will go in my invisibility cloak, and then from behind that knight, Neville and Ron can hide, and they can listen with the extendible ears. Are there any more objections?" Harry asked.

Dean shook his head, realizing defeat. The boys laughed appreciatively, and each boy, respectively, either got the invisibility cloak, the magazine, or extendible ears. This was going to be fun.