The Bet

“The Bet—Part Two—And They’re Off!”

A fanfiction by: Kaci JaBeth

The sun rose to a bright and shiny Saturday morning, and five boys in the Gryffindor dorm room woke sleepily and sighed. Today their bet was to begin. But who would take the lead?

“So,” Dean said, pulling on a t-shirt, “you guys ready? The bet starts as soon as we leave this room.”

“I’m ready,” Ron grinned, pulling on a pair of jeans that were about two sizes too small for him.

The five boys threw on the rest of their clothes and rushed down to the common room. Ron ran straight to Lavender while Dean sat down by Parvati. Neville sat alone in a corner, reading a book on how to make better potions, while Seamus chatted up a guy named Andrew. Harry surveyed the scene and left to go find Cho.

At breakfast, Ron sat next to Katie, still trying to flirt, while Seamus already had his arm around Andrew’s shoulders. Dean was no where to be found, and Harry was sending flirtatious looks to Cho. Neville sighed and sat down next to Hermione.

“Hi, ‘Mione. Mind if I sit here?”

“No,” the bushy haired girl said, “but why aren’t you sitting with Dean and Seamus like you usually do?”

“Well, they…they’re busy,” he said, motioning to the two hormonally driven boys.

“Yeah, it does seem awful strange that suddenly everyone’s trying to get together,” she shrugged. “Must be for the Easter holidays coming up.”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

The two ate together in relative silence. After they both had finished, Neville turned to Hermione.

“Can you help me on my potions homework? I hate to bother you, but I just don’t understand it.”

“Sure, no problem. Let’s go back to the common room.”

The two prudes walked off to the Gryffindor common room. Ron, Harry, and Seamus never noticed.

-New Scene-

Up in the common room, Hermione was showing Neville how to write a good essay. Usually Neville was a quick learner. But when it came to potions, he was not quite up to par. He chalked it up to Snape’s intimidation techniques. Everyone else chalked it up to Neville being…Neville. Whatever the cause, Hermione was getting frustrated.

“No, Neville. Your prose is completely off! And look, it should be “they’re”, not “their”! Neville! Have you been paying attention at all?”

“No.” Neville confessed.

Hermione was slightly taken aback by this. She’d never asked that question before and gotten an honest answer.

“Look, Hermione, thanks for the help, but there’s kinda something else on my mind.”

“What?”

“Um…I can’t tell you.”

“Okay,” she sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Hermione, would you like to go on a date with me next weekend when we go to Hogsmeade?”

Hermione stared at Neville, completely shocked. “Um…okay,” she heard herself say before her brain had a chance to register what had just happened.

“Really? Thanks!” Neville squealed. He kissed her on the cheek and ran upstairs to his dorm room.

-New Scene-

Neville opened the door without bothering to knock. Why should he have to, after all? It was his room, too. But apparently, this is one of the few times he should’ve knocked. Upon opening the door, he saw Dean completely naked having sex with Parvati.

Neville slammed the door shut and ran back down to the common room. A few minutes later, Parvati came downstairs and blushed like mad when she saw Neville. She grabbed Hermione’s hand and dragged her up to their dorm room. Dean entered soon after with an angry expression on his face and crooked his finger at Neville. Neville followed him up to their dorm room and they each sat down on their own bed.

“Neville, what the hell were you doing?” Dean shouted.

“Sorry, I was just coming to work on my essay. Besides, you should’ve put a locking charm on the door if you wanted some privacy.”

“I did!” Dean insisted.

“Well, then I’d hate to see your grade in Charms!” Neville laughed.

“It isn’t funny. And besides, I get good grades in Charms. Plus, I must be able to do some charms properly, because you couldn’t hear us, now could you?” Dean said, rage still in his eyes.

“No, I couldn’t,” Neville admitted.

“Whatever,” Dean mumbled. “It doesn’t matter. Still counts. One for me!” Dean said as a smile spread across his face.

“Wait, how are we gonna know if we’re all telling the truth with this?” Neville wondered.

“Well, you saw me. How much more proof do you want?” Dean snapped.

“Not on that one, but…I mean, I’m not planning on walking in on anyone else while they’re doing that, are you?”

“No!”

“Then we need a way to make sure we’re all telling the truth.”

“Fine. Whenever it comes time to reveal the totals, we’ll all drink truth potion.”

“Sounds good to me.” Neville said, lying back on his bed.

“Hey Nev?”

“Yeah?”

“Um, could you not tell anyone you walked in?”

“Sure.”

-Scene Change-

That night, five boys lie awake in the Gryffindor common room, sharing stories of the days’ exploits.

“Well, I nailed Parvati,” Dean said.

“Okay, Dean: one,” Ron said.

“Four!” Seamus said cheerily.

Everyone stopped their chattering and turned to stare at Seamus blankly.

“FOUR?” Harry finally exclaimed, breaking the stunned silence.

“Yeah. Andrew had a couple of friends, and we all went to the astronomy tower, and…”

“Stop right there!” Dean said holding up a hand. “New rule: we don’t share the details.”

“Fine.” Seamus grumbled. “How many you get, Ron?”

“Two. Lavender this morning after breakfast and Katie an hour ago.”

“Good. Harry?”

“None.”

“Harry?” Dean said cocking an eyebrow.

“Okay, okay. She wouldn’t let me. I did get some good snog action, though,” Harry said wistfully.

“Snogging doesn’t count,” Dean pointed out.

“I know.”

“Okay, that just leaves…Neville,” Seamus said with a snort.

“None…”

“Figures,” Ron said.

“Well, I did get a date,” Neville said.

“With who?” Dean said skeptically.

“Hermione.”

Ron jumped up and yelled, “WHO?”

“Hermione. I asked her to go with me to Hogsmeade next weekend for a date and she said yes.”

“She’s mine, Neville, back off,” Ron said, his voice dripping with anger.

“YOURS? You were off shagging Parvati and Katie!” Neville yelled back.

“Well, still…everyone knows I like her.”

“Well, I do too, and I asked her out. And she said yes.”

“Neville, if you…”

At this point, Harry who, along with Dean and Seamus had been watching this scene spoke up. “Ron, calm down. When we started this bet, we all knew that all the girls were up for grabs. That includes Hermione. Hell, it includes Cho if you guys want her that bad. Not that any of you could get her. She’s the biggest prude I’ve ever met.”

Ron sighed. “Fine.”

Ron sat back down and the other three boys let out a chuckle as Neville lay back on his bed with his hands behind his head. “Good night you guys,” he smiled. With that he grabbed his wand, said a spell, and the curtains around his bed closed.