Miss Hogwarts

Jenna's Notes: Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for putting up with me these past few weeks. They were busy weeks in school (that's my excuse!). Big thanks to Laurel Grey for the beta, and to all my reviewers who keep me going.
This is a humongous H/G chapter. I promise, the next chapters won't take as long as it took me to churn this out.

Miss Hogwarts

Chapter Seven
The First Rehearsal

"I think; therefore I am." -Rene Descartes

"Stop that," Ginny chided Harry as she folded her arms across her chest impatiently. "You´re making me dizzy."

Harry didn´t stop pacing the stone floor in front of Ginny. They were standing right outside the Great Hall, waiting for the other contestants to arrive for the first rehearsal of Miss Hogwarts.

He glanced at his wristwatch. It was five minutes before seven. Ginny knew they were too early--and seemingly too excited, Harry had pointed out, but she had wanted to arrive before the others did.

"What are you so nervous about?" asked Ginny presently.

Harry stopped briefly to throw his hands in front of him. "This is the rehearsal, Ginny, and I´m not even ready how to walk, to pose, to--"

"That´s why it´s called a rehearsal, isn´t it?" Ginny interrupted. "So that you can practice. Besides, you´ve almost perfected the dance, you answer questions really well--and let´s not forget your really sexy voice."

Harry raised his eyebrows at her.

"I mean," Ginny added, suddenly realizing what she had just said, "your girl voice." Real witty comment, Ginny Weasley, she scolded herself mentally as she fought to keep the blood that threatened to rise on her cheeks at bay.

Harry didn´t seem to dwell on the comment though, thankfully. He started pacing again. Ginny decided not to stop him anymore, lest her mouth let out more tactless words. She leaned her back on the wall and put her hands in her pockets.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two figures coming towards them. She instantly recognized one of them as Roger Davies. His companion was petite and had long, dark hair...

"Oh, crap," Harry muttered. He quickly took the place beside Ginny and sank his hands deep into his pockets, too. And he had a good reason for hiding beside her, Ginny thought. She felt herself chewing the insides of her cheeks as the two Ravenclaws approached.

Roger Davies´s assistant was none other than Cho Chang.

"Hey, Potter," Roger said cheerfully. "Bit early, aren´t we? Excited?"

"Not really," Harry said, squirming and looking down on his feet.

"I just sort of dragged him here early," Ginny finished for Harry to spare him the embarrassment.

"You´d be one of the Weasleys, right?" Roger asked her.

"Uh-huh."

"No one can miss the red hair," Roger confirmed.

Ginny rolled her eyes inwardly. No one had a more original observation. "I´m Ginny," she said.

"Roger Davies, of course," Roger said. Ginny wanted to roll her eyes badly this time. "And you know Cho Chang, don´t you?"

"Sure," Ginny said, struggling to give Cho a warm grin. "Hi."

"Hi, Ginny," Cho said, giving her a small smile. "Hi, Harry."

"Hi," Harry said. Ginny noticed that his voice sounded like Trevor the Toad´s croak.

Ginny caught Harry´s eye and gave him a half-smile. Harry looked pitiable at that moment, indeed--he was practically red down to the neck. He reminded her of how it had been like when she was a little girl and her pathetic crush on him had made her put her elbow in the butterdish.

It suddenly struck Ginny that she didn´t know--or rather, didn´t want to know--whether Harry still had a crush on the sixth-year Ravenclaw or not. It didn´t matter much to her, really, that Harry was acting like a lovestruck little boy right there. What mattered to Ginny was that Harry had chosen to stand beside her, and considered her as an ally at that moment.

Ginny leaned close to him and nudged him discreetly on the elbow. Harry let out a low growl.

Ginny then saw a couple of other people approaching. It was Hannah Abbott, with Justin Finch-Fletchey behind her. Justin looked as nervous as Harry. The two boys exchanged quick smiles.

Roger grinned at him. "Hey, Flushey--"

"Finch-Fletchey," Justin mumbled irritably.

"Oh, sorry," Roger said.

They all heard a flurry of voices coming. Hermione, Paul Arden, Betty Sparks and Eric Slevin were talking all at once.

"We´re predicting two to three hundred Galleons of ticket sales--how could you say it isn´t enough?" Hermione was asking Slevin heatedly.

"You didn´t even consult us!" Betty said, her face red.

"The point is--"

Hermione cut Slevin off mid-sentence with a raise of her hand. She grinned at the six of them who were waiting outside the Great Hall, her expression suddenly changing. "Sorry about that," she said. "We just got the key from Mr. Filch."

"Where´s Draco?" asked Slevin.

"He´s not here yet," Hannah said.

"And don´t expect him to arrive," Harry muttered.

Ginny nudged him again. Harry scowled.

Paul and Betty were opening the double doors of the Great Hall when Malfoy arrived with Pansy Parkinson. Tonight, Malfoy did not have the mellow expression he had in their Potions classes. In fact, he was looking like the old Draco Malfoy--like the proud, sneering, pointed-face git he always was.

As expected, Malfoy walked towards Harry and looked at him up and down. "Potter," he said, leering.

"You´re a little late," Harry said coolly. "Can´t face the fact that you´re going drag?"

Malfoy´s smirk widened. "That´s what you think."

Ginny cocked an eyebrow. Malfoy must have noticed; he shot her a look, then sneered in the manner only reserved for the Weasleys. He didn´t say anything, though. When Pansy, wearing an arrogant, annoying scowl, tugged at Malfoy´s robes, he threw them a last smirk and followed her into the Great Hall.

"By the looks of it, he´s serious about the contest," Ginny muttered.

Harry looked at her. "Aren´t we all?"

"Well, well." Ginny grinned. "Thank goodness. But what´s wrong with him? You told me he was quiet in your classes. Now he seems to be back."

"You know," Harry replied, "I hate to wonder why."

Before Ginny could discern what Harry had said, they saw Roger and Cho follow the others.

"We´d better go," Ginny said. But after taking a few steps, Harry stopped her.

"Wait," Harry said, his hands closing on her wrist. One of his fingers rubbed on a sensitive spot on her skin.

Instantly, Ginny felt warm tingles creep across her arm. His touch always had that effect on her. Wasn´t she the one who had let her own fingers slide on Harry´s bare shoulders and back just a few days ago? She had loved the feeling; she had done it again and again, discreetly. It was a disconcerting thought, really, to realize that she had been savoring the smooth skin, the strong muscles beneath, and his soft breathing...

"What?" she finally asked weakly.

Harry was looking at the others, waiting for them to enter the Great Hall. "Something bothers me."

"What?" she asked again.

When Hermione and Betty got in, Harry released her wrist and put a hand on her back, urging her to follow. He leaned his face close to her ear. "It´s Davies."

"Uh-huh." All the while she was aware of, and concentrating on, Harry´s breath on the side of her neck and the pressure of his hand on her lower back. It felt...good.

"He told me and Justin that the Ravenclaw girls were considering of transfiguring his...his b-things into him."

Ginny suddenly forgot about Harry´s closeness to her as her jaw dropped open. "No!"

"Yeah, he told us just that. And it got me wondering whether it was Cho´s idea or not."

Ginny pressed her hands over her mouth. Harry had the barest hint of an amused smile on his lips. Cho Chang? "You´ve got to be kidding," Ginny muttered to him. Hermione had actually considered it, though, she almost added, but decided against it.

"Weird things, what you girls come up with," Harry said.

"If there´s something you men will never understand, it´s the way women´s minds work," Ginny said in a slightly derisive note.

Harry looked at her face, searching it, as though considering her statement. "We´ll see about that," he said after a while.

Ginny wondered what he meant by that for a few seconds. But mainly to keep her posture, she just shrugged as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Fine."

Harry stared at her for a while. She raised her eyebrows, and he looked away, looking flustered at himself.

Ginny let her eyes stray towards the others. The prefects, she saw, were again arguing heatedly. After a while, Hermione threw her hands up. "All right, fine," Ginny heard her snap at Slevin. "You´d better do a good job of convincing the others that what you did was the right thing."

Betty Sparks sighed and turned to her fellow Hufflepuffs. "Can you come over?"

Hermione nodded at Ginny and Harry. Glancing at each other questioningly, the two of them joined the prefects.

"Now that we´re all here," Paul Arden began, glancing at Malfoy and Pansy pointedly, "we´re just going to give out a couple of announcements, then we can start with the rehearsals.

"We´ll meet here, same time, every night until Sunday. We´ll have the dress rehearsals on Sunday night. If you want, you can just wear any dress--you know, so that what you´d be wearing on the contest itself would be a surprise to everyone.

"Next." Paul sighed heavily. "I´m not sure how you´d take this--it´s really...well, the rest of us didn´t expect this either."

Ginny saw Paul, Betty and Hermione roll their eyes towards Slevin.

"You see...er, the Daily Prophet somehow got wind of the contest, and--"

Ginny´s jaw dropped open. "WHAT?" she exclaimed. Then she realized that she wasn´t the only one who reacted in the same way.

"--Well, it´s not entirely unexpected, since it´s for the Hogsmeade Orphanage, and Gladrags is already a sponsor, but the Prophet chose it to be worthy of the front page and gloss over the...er, details--"

"Who gave the information out?" Harry asked guardedly.

"Well." Paul looked at Slevin, who was silent throughout. "Eric will answer that for you."

They all turned to Slevin. "You?" Cho asked in surprise.

"Not entirely," Slevin answered smoothly. "But yes."

"Well, why?" Cho asked.

"Because," Slevin said, eyeing Cho from head to foot, "the one who actually sold the story to the Prophet felt that what the school would be giving the orphanage isn´t enough. Now if we publish the story in the Prophet, we can get last-minute sponsors and even ticket sales--"

"That´s the daftest thing I´ve ever heard, Slevin," Ginny told him angrily. "From the very beginning, we made it clear that Miss Hogwarts is a school activity. And we in Hogwarts are doing all that we can without much outside help."

"And besides," Cho added, nodding at Ginny, "didn´t you even think of what people would say when they learn about this? I mean--not all witches and wizards are...are enlightened!"

Ginny had a mental image of her mother falling off her chair when she sees Harry on the front page of the Prophet, wearing a blonde wig and a blue dress, and doing That Wave. She could hear the Howler in her head, shrieking--"Virginia Weasley, you have half the mind to put that dress on Harry--what were you thinking, ruining his dignity--!"

As though thinking of the same thing, Harry began massaging his temples grimly. Ginny could hear him mutter something very, very rude that went along with the line "bloody cunning Slytherin."

The poor guy. Harry Potter, Seeker extraordinaire, Lord Voldemort´s bane, certified Parseltongue, The Boy Who Lived to be Hounded by the Press.

"So you mean you didn´t know about this?" Hannah Abbott asked the other three prefects.

"No," Betty replied. "Until tonight."

Ginny turned to Slevin. "Who exactly sold the news to the Prophet?"

"That," Slevin said, "is a secret."

Hermione rolled her eyes in frustration. "Look here," she told them all, "this won´t stop us from doing what we want to do for Miss Hogwarts. Even if we get complaints from outside, the thing is that we´re doing this for the sake of the orphanage, and that Dumbledore has approved of this project. All right?"

Go girl, Ginny thought. She and Harry nodded their assent.

"Very well," Paul sighed. "I think we´d better get started. Up there, please." He motioned to the platform where the professors´ table was--or rather, had been. It was gone now.

A grinning Roger Davies led the way. Which made Harry wince.

"If Ron and I hadn´t seen him and Fleur Delacour in the bushes last Yule Ball, I´d say he´s swinging both ways," Harry muttered.

Ginny gave him a disgusted look. "You and Ron..."

"Were not doing anything," Harry finished.

"Of course you weren´t!" Ginny exclaimed. "Urgh, Harry, I was going to say that you and Ron were...well, really disgusting for sneaking up on them."

"We didn´t mean to!" Harry protested. "We were just at the wrong place at the wrong time!"

"Potter," Paul called.

"Right." He gave Ginny a slight nudge. "Later."

Ginny watched Harry walk towards the stage, slumped-shouldered and all. "Break a leg, Harriet," she called.

"Harriet," Harry, whirling around, repeated in revulsion.

"Up, Potter, if you please..."

* * *

For the rest of the night, the four contestants rehearsed the blocking for the different segments of Miss Hogwarts--the entrance, the talent portion, the question-and-answer, the final walk, and the intermissions between.

It would have been really entertaining, Ginny mused, if Harry hadn´t been too halfhearted in strutting onstage. If Justin was trying really hard, and Roger was practically at his paramount genius, and Malfoy--oh, God help us all, Malfoy was actually swaying his hips--Harry was watching them apprehensively, moving as though his joints were not oiled for a long, long time.

They were now starting to practice the opening, in which they had to dance for a short while. Ginny had thought Harry was all right with dancing after all his practices with Ron, but watching him now, it was as though they were back at square one.

Maybe it was all because of Ron.

"I know what you´re thinking," Hermione said, scooting over. "He´s...bad, isn´t he?"

"Try harder."

"Ginny." Hermione gave her a shove. "Where´s your unwavering optimism?"

"I was kidding," Ginny told her. "We can work on this." She paused. "I hope."

Ginny and Hermione watched Harry attempt an arm movement while he was turning around to the music. Ginny sighed. Yes, they could work on this--within thirty-five years.

"I think he just needs a bit more pushing. You know, to really work on winning."

"He knows he should win," Ginny told Hermione. "Maybe he just feels a bit awkward around them. Especially since Malfoy...well."

Malfoy, on Betty´s cue, pranced towards the front of the stage and put his hands on his hips in one graceful, girlish sweep.

Ginny felt the hair on her arms stand on end. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah," Hermione said, squinting at Malfoy.

More dancing. Then Justin moved to the front and did basically what Malfoy did, although a bit gawkily.

"Malfoy might well be Harry´s worst rival...again," Hermione said.

"I´m not surprised."

After another few seconds of dancing, Harry went up front, shaking slightly at his attempt to be graceful. He gave a grin towards Ginny and Hermione´s direction.

The two girls grinned back in what they thought was an encouraging manner.

When Harry went back to his place, Malfoy smirked at him, obviously elated at Harry´s show of talent--and the lack of it.

Finally, Roger´s burly figure strutted at front and gave them all a full wave, moving his wrists ever so elegantly that he seemed not to have one.

Swinging both ways? "What is wrong with him?" Ginny asked aloud.

Hermione shrugged. "Well, obviously he´s the only one among the four of them who thinks dressing in drag is the coolest thing in the world. Something to do with age, I don´t know."

Cho, who was watching from a few feet beside Ginny, positively grinned at Roger and gave him a thumbs-up.

Clearly, apart from being excited about Miss Hogwarts, Roger Davies had a good coach. Where did you go wrong? Ginny asked herself.

"Okay, that will be all for now," Paul suddenly announced, snapping Ginny out of her thoughts. "Tomorrow, same time, all right?"

Hermione touched Ginny´s arm briefly and joined the other prefects. Harry, meanwhile, lamely hopped from the stage and joined Ginny, muttering. "Crap, crap, utter bloody crap."

"Don´t take tonight so seriously, Harry," Ginny tried to say, with great effort. "You´ll be great on the contest itself--just...be into it, remember that."

"Great. I could have used that advice a while ago."

"You sure could have, Potter," said a voice behind them.

Ginny and Harry rolled their eyes and turned around together to face Malfoy. Apart from being a good cross-dresser (Ginny had assumed that when she saw him strutting onstage), Malfoy also had a talent of sneaking up behind people to annoy them. Particularly if the target was Harry.

"If you want advice," Malfoy went on, snickering sardonically, "I suggest you warm yourself up a bit to stop your teeth from chattering onstage."

Hermione, apparently seeing another battle of wits ensuing, joined them. "And I suggest you stop looking so big-headed after showing off," she told Malfoy. "You haven´t seen the best of Harry yet."

Harry shot Hermione a slightly embarrassed look, which he immediately changed to one of loathing when he looked back at Malfoy.

"After what he did today?" Malfoy smirked. "I don´t think so."

Hermione let out an irritated huff. "Don´t you ever stop smirking?"

"I smirk; therefore I am," Malfoy replied, smirking.

"Oh, ha ha, very witty," Hermione told him witheringly. "I didn´t know you read Muggle literature."

Malfoy wasn´t easily beaten. "Granger, I´m only trying to be on the level of a Mudblood."

Harry and Hermione looked ready to pounce on him when Ginny said lazily, "The rehearsal´s over, Malfoy. You can stop being a bitch."

Harry and Hermione gawked at Ginny--but they didn´t linger for too long, for all the blood had rushed to Malfoy´s face as he glowered at Ginny and began walking towards her menacingly. He wasn´t angry; he was irate. "You stupid little brat--"

"Hey, hey!" Harry roared--and, to Ginny´s surprise, stepped in front of her to block her from Malfoy´s view. Harry then grabbed her arms from behind...protectively, Ginny realized. "What d´you think you´re trying to do?"

"Get out of my sight, Potter," Malfoy spat, still keeping a fuming eye on Ginny. Ginny glared back at him, but she was fully conscious of Harry´s proximity.

"Move," Harry spat back at Malfoy.

The two boys glared at each other, as they always had in their five years of stay in Hogwarts. Harry didn´t budge. Since Ginny was so close to him, she could actually feel him trembling with anger. The feeling of fear began to diminish. She began to feel...flattered...at Harry´s concern.

Malfoy turned his glare to Ginny. "You´ll have a time with me, Weasley," he told her, his voice filled with disgust at her last name. "Remember that."

"Great." Ginny returned his earlier smirk and shrugged. "I´ll be waiting."

Malfoy narrowed his eyes at her. Then he stomped away, still red-faced.

Pansy, who had been watching behind Malfoy, scowled at Ginny. "I´d be really scared if I were you," Pansy told her menacingly.

As Pansy followed Malfoy out of the Great Hall, Ginny wondered if she had used the word "bitch" on the wrong person.

Ginny heard Harry let out a sigh. Whirling around, he faced her and looked at her pointedly. "You shouldn´t have said that."

"He´s a prat," Ginny stated simply.

"He could have hurt you, you know."

Ginny couldn´t stop herself from blushing. "Why, thank you," she tried to say lightly, keeping her voice level.

You´re overreacting, a voice in her head told her. He´s just concerned because...

Because... what? Ginny shot back. Because I´m his friend? Isn´t that what you want?

What YOU want? The voice let out a grim chuckle. You don´t want to be his friend only, Ginny Weasley.

You... of course I do! I´m happy we´re close, and--

Sure you are, the voice interrupted. But thanks to this contest, which unwittingly threw you on each other´s laps, you´re starting to wait for something more! And because of that, you´re interpreting all of Harry´s actions towards you as though they mean a lot more than they seem--

Look, shut up, whatever you are. God, what am I doing? I´m talking to myself!

The voice didn´t answer.

All of this happened in a second. When Ginny snapped out of it, she saw Harry giving her a strange look. Ginny felt herself blush harder--the way he looked at her gave her the impression that Harry could hear the exchange inside her head.

"I think we´d better go," Hermione said quietly.

Harry jumped slightly. "Oh...right." He cocked his head slightly at Ginny. "Come on."

As the three of them headed out of the Great Hall, Hermione gave them both curious glances. She looked at Ginny and raised her eyebrows, half-questioningly, half-cheerfully. Ginny knew exactly what she was getting at. Wasn´t Hermione the one who had jumped in on the opportunity for Ginny to be with Harry in the first place?

And yet, the voice in her head made sense all of a sudden. All of this--the whole Miss Hogwarts contest, the Gryffindors choosing Harry to be the contestant, Ginny persuading him to join and then becoming his assistant--seemed to happen... just for her. Or at least it seemed to, if she chose to look at it that way. If it weren´t for Miss Hogwarts, she and Harry wouldn´t become friends, would they? Harry wouldn´t even start to see her, would he?

She didn´t know what to make of it. She knew she was waiting for something like this to happen from the night she had agreed to be his assistant... and knowing that she was so close to getting that something scared her--because of its suddenness, of its surreal quality.

But it all brought her back to the original question. Was there, really, something that she should be waiting for? Did Harry somehow--in the course of preparing for Miss Hogwarts--learned to--

"Hermione," Harry started to say. They were already ascending the steps towards Gryffindor Tower.

"Hmm?"

"You--you go ahead. I need to talk to Ginny."

Ginny´s heart took a sudden leap. It was a while before it returned to its usual place.

"Oh...all right." Hermione flashed Ginny the subtlest of knowing smiles. "Good night, then."

"Good night," Ginny and Harry both said.

Hermione continued to climb the stairs, leaving Ginny and Harry behind. Ginny felt her hands sweat--she quickly hid them in her pockets, for she was quite sure they were shaking too. She couldn´t look up at Harry. What was happening? Was he going to...?

Harry was looking at her face. "Sorry for holding you up."

Ginny discreetly took a deep breath. "It´s okay," she said. Her voice was even. Her acting skills amazed her.

"Well..." Harry looked a little embarrassed. "About a while ago."

The world, Ginny was quite sure, had stopped spinning on its axis. She didn´t say anything.

"Don´t you--don´t you think--I was the...the worst among the four of us?"

Oh.

The voice in Ginny´s head began to laugh maniacally. It seemed as though she was in a bad comedy show she often heard in WWN, and a worse sound effect taunted her for expecting too much. She suddenly felt like a world-class idiot. So much for her fantasies of Harry kissing her on the stairs, against the wall.

Idiot, idiot, idiot.

"You were good," Ginny said. This time, her voice was flat, disappointed. She started to sprint up the stairs. "Don´t worry too much."

"No, wait," Harry insisted, keeping up with her. "They´re really good, you know."

"I know." Ginny pretended to stifle a yawn. "We´ll continue practicing, okay? We have a whole weekend. Don´t worry."

Ginny had reached the top of the stairs when Harry stepped in front of her and took hold of her arms. He leaned down so that his eyes were level with hers. Ginny stared back at him, her heart suddenly beating madly against her chest, seeing her shocked face reflected on the lenses of his glasses.

"Listen," Harry whispered. All the nerve endings on Ginny´s face were well aware of how excruciatingly wonderful his warm breath fanning her cheeks and lips felt.

Maybe this wasn´t so bad...

Harry went on. "I know I´m already doing my part for the orphanage, but we still have to win that two hundred House points. The others are really good. I´m nothing even if I´ve perfected the dance and the question-and-answer--and for all we know, they´re already doing better than me in those things."

Ginny didn´t trust herself to speak. She knew that if she did, she would only let out stutters.

"Please," Harry said forcefully. "Let´s do this really well. If--if I have the time between classes, and you do too, and right after rehearsals--let´s meet anywhere to practice. I really have to do this."

The implication of what Harry had said--especially since his face was only inches from hers--made Ginny smile. "You know what?" she whispered.

"What?"

"I never dreamed of the day you´d be extremely serious about this business."

Harry stared at her. Then he began to smile as well. "Actually...me neither."

As he spoke, Ginny´s eyes started to fall on his lips. They were really...soft-looking, and thin...she suddenly wanted to feel what they were like...and almost unconsciously, her lips began swimming towards them....

However, a sane part of her mind took over, and pulled her away from him. "I´m really sleepy," she said, but the words weren´t hers. "Maybe tomorrow?"

Harry´s eyes were unreadable behind his glasses as he gazed at her for what seemed like ages. Was he reading her mind? Was he thinking the same?

"Okay," he whispered finally.

Ginny nodded. She needed to get away from Harry, to think. Just think. And make sense of it all.

"Okay," she said. Then she tore her eyes off Harry´s, gave the password to the Fat Lady, and promptly knocked her forehead on the wall as she climbed into the portrait hole.