The Bet

"The Bet--Part One--The Terms"

A fanfiction by: Kaci JaBeth

It was after midnight on a Friday night and five boys sat awake in the Gryffindor dorms talking.

"So, Harry, you haven't shared your war stories yet, Dean said, grinning wickedly.

"And I don't intend to, thank you very much. If you three," he said as he motioned to Ron, Dean, and Seamus, "want to spend the entire night talking about who you've snogged, then be my guest, but I'm not sharing."

"Yeah, what Harry said," Neville piped up.

"Oh, Neville, you're just mad cuz you don't have any stories to share," Seamus said.

"What makes you so sure that I don't have any stories?" Neville said raising a brow.

Ron burst out laughing. "Please! Neville, I'll get Hermione in the sack before you get so much as a decent snog."

Neville blushed profusely.

"Come on, lay off Nevy," Dean said teasingly.

"I could too get a girl," Neville insisted.

Dean, Seamus, and Ron started laughing hysterically. Even Harry had to let out a small chuckle.

"What? I could!" Neville insisted.

"Yeah, and I'll get to sleep with the entire house," Seamus snorted.

"How about we make this interesting, guys?" Dean suggested.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"Simple. We go until graduation. Whoever sleeps with the most girls wins," Dean said.

"Hey! That's not fair. It rules me out!" Seamus protested.

"Fine, whoever sleeps with the most people wins. Better?" Dean sighed.

"Yes," Seamus smiled.

"Good. Now, who's in?" Dean said.

"Count me in!" Seamus giggled.

"Me too," Ron smiled.

Harry and Neville sat silent.

"You two in?" Seamus said.

"I don't know...what if..." Harry started.

"Come on, Har. Just do it. 'Sides, everyone knows you've been trying to boff Cho since...well, forever," Ron pointed out.

"Fine. I'm in," Harry sighed.

"Good. Neville? Come on, you know you want to..." Seamus teased.

"I just...I'm not sure..." Neville stuttered.

"Come on, Nevy. You're the one who started this whole thing by insisting you could get a girl...so prove it," Dean said.

Neville sighed. "Okay, okay. I'm in."

"Good. Now, this is an absolute secret, you guys got it?" Ron said.

"Yes," the other four said.

"Hey, what does the winner get?" Harry asked.

"Well, aside from having sex with all those girls..." Dean started. Seamus shot him a look. "Sorry, aside from having sex with all those people, what more could the winner want?"

"Well, we're going to graduation, right?" Ron said, having just come up with an idea.

"Yeah," Dean said.

"Then, how about the losers have to wear a sign on their back that says something mean?" Ron suggested.

"That's quite possibly the lamest idea I've ever heard," Seamus said blankly. "But you're right. It should be something to do with graduation."

"How about the losers have to dye their hair pink, wear make-up, and have a tattoo on their forehead that says 'I'm Snape's Bitch'?" Dean said.

The four other boys looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"That would be so funny!" Ron said, still laughing.

"Yeah. I'm in!" Harry said.

"Good. So, losers have to do all that stuff at graduation, winner doesn't, and the winner is the guy who beds the most...people before graduation, right?" Dean said.

"Right," Ron smiled.

"Everyone agree?"

"AGREED!" the other four said.

And so the bet began...