The Longest Day

The Longest Day: Chapter 2- Getting It Started

As Harry entered the class, with Ginny slowly dragging behind, he laid his bag on the ground, his head pounding.

A day with Malfoy, Zabini, Goldstein, Bulstrode, and Macnair? He groaned quietly, wishing he hadn't mouthed off. At least with Luna and Ginny, he would have people to talk to...

"There will be no talking. Ahhh, Mr. Potter, I'm thrilled you could make it. Now sit down, or I will make sure you spend every Saturday here," Snape snarled. " You too, Weasley. Don't think you can always count on celebrities to lead you the right direction. As I was saying, there will be no talking, no whispering, no magic parchment." He said this last part with an indulgent smile in Aluthera and Millicent's direction. "Also no magic of any kind. I expect a full parchment of your excuses for being here, and no, Mr. Malfoy, you cannot get out of it." He said this last with a smirk, as he noticed Draco's hand waving wildly in the air. "Yesss, Mr. Malfoy?" he asked finally, with a touch of impatience a few seconds later, when noticing Draco still flailing his hand wildly.

"Well Sir," Draco said with a smirk, "I was wondering where you'd be? And if you need a person to watch the students, I'll gladly offer my services."

"Well, I do need to work on that potion... Very well Mr. Malfoy, I trust you shall keep them in line? Oh, and Draco, I expect the same behavior from you. I will be in my office. The door will be closed, but I can still hear the very echo of the mice, so I suggest you're not talking, or disobeying in any fashion." With that, he turned, robes swirling, and slammed the door on his way out.

"And on that note," Draco said, "Quietemperus!" He turned to the others. "I just cast a very advanced charm, and no one outside this room can hear us for the next ten hours. Now, to get down to business, Blaise, would you kindly do the door charm?"

"Of course, Draco. Shadus!" Blaise waved his wand gracefully. Then he turned with a lazy grin to Aluthera, and explained, "I just cast a charm so that if any one walks in, we all will hear a little tinkling sound, and for thirty seconds all the person will see is us sitting with quills to parchment. We can use that time to actually get to our seats, and put quills to parchment."

"Clever!" exclaimed Anthony. "That's a highly advanced charm! I couldn't do that-"

"Shut it Goldstein! We don't need a charm history." Draco interrupted without his usual vehemence. "What we need are some Butterbeers. Oh, we also need some music." Draco and Blaise had decided to put the detention to their advantage, and with it being so close to their dorms, had begun plotting into the long hours of the night. They had found the charms, bribed a few house-elves, and smuggled in a radio ahead of time. With the Butterbeers magically in hand and the radio found and turned to a Muggle station, Blaise grabbed Aluthera by the hand and began twirling her around the room. Millicent watched for about thirty seconds, then grabbed Draco's hand and brought him to dance too. Harry stood by his seat, mouth gaping wide. He had never figured to see Slytherins listening to Muggle music and dancing around the Potions classroom. He shook his head and turned to see what the rest of the 'prisoners' were up to. Ginny and Luna were giggling in a guilty kind of way in the corner, casting frequent glances in Harry's direction. As for poor Anthony, well, after Draco had mocked him, he had sat down, and began to work on his parchment. Harry headed over and sat with him.

"Hey Anthony. How's your report coming?" Harry leaned over and began to read what was on the paper.

I, Anthony Goldstein, am in a Saturday detention because I-

That was all Anthony had managed. He turned to Harry with a guilty expression.

" I can't write about why I'm here! It's so embarrassing! I mean, you know what I did, don't you Harry?" He looked at Harry with an oddly flushed face.

"Actually, I don't. What did you do?"

"Well, I-I mean I-I wrote a ...a dirty note to Padma and Hermione found out from Parvati. She confiscated the note and gave it to Dumbledore... and, dammit Harry; I have never seen an old man whose eyes twinkle more than his! I mean he just sat there quietly the whole time Granger talked, not so much as a twitch at the corners of his mouth, but his eyes twinkled the whole time! It was humiliating. And, I honestly think I'm the first Ravenclaw to receive one of these detentions!"

"Well, I mean Anthony..." Harry was flustered, and he had no idea what to say. Then something struck him. "But Anthony, what about Luna? I mean she's a Ravenclaw too."

"Yeah, well, she's here in detention every week, nobody knows why. She just doesn't count as a Ravenclaw, Harry. She's different, and so strange... I mean, her latest story is that in America, the Aurors don't wear robes in the Muggle Enforcement Agency, they wear black suits and the put metal on their wands and obliviate Muggles with stories of Aliens to cover their tracks!"

"Well, that does sound pretty farfetched," Harry said with a grin, knowing Luna's penchant for all things weird and bogus.

"Harry, I just don't know what to write, I-I mean Flitwick and McGonagall and Snape will all be reading this. I don't know what to do!" He said this last in almost a shout. Everyone in the room turned to look at him, and Draco burst out laughing.

"Oh... does poor ickle 'Tony regret writing dirty notes to Patil? I mean, I can't blame you mate, I would have done it too. Those Patil twins..." Draco licked his lips seductively, all the while checking Ginny's expression from the corner of his eye. Ginny just rolled her eyes, and went back to her conversation with Luna, until...

Aluthera's loud and slightly squeaky laugh interrupted the quiet and caused heads to turn her way.

"Draco, everyone knows you don't like dark haired girls! You like blondes and red-heads!" Aluthera burst into another peal of laughter, while Draco fumed and Blaise snickered into his hand. Aluthera knew very well that Draco was trying to get under Ginny's skin, and while she didn't know why he was doing it, she decided to foil the plot. She loved seeing Draco's pale pointed face flush and his usually blank eyes get shifty; it was her favourite source of amusement. Blaise never got in the middle of their fights, but when all was said and done, he shared Aluthera's amusement at Draco getting flustered. Blaise ran his hand through Aluthera's red hair, and grinned at Draco.

"Isn't she just cute?"