The Bet

"The Bet--Part Thirteen--The Girls Get Their Revenge on Harry"

Neville and Ron entered the Great Hall to the sound of the entire room laughing at Dean. But when they got sight of Neville, Dean was off the hook. After all, it wasn't often that a student walked in with the words "Property of Severus Snape" across their face. Ron tried to whisper for Neville not to pay attention to the stares, but Neville's face still was turning redder by the second.

Upon reaching the Gryffindor table, Ron and Neville took a seat next to Dean, who was still slumped in his seat.

"What happened to you?"

"Those two girls I slept with the other day thought it'd be funny to play a little uh, joke on me."

"One of them sent him a howler because he gave her crabs," Harry snickered.

"I DID NOT!"

"Whatever," Harry said, rolling his eyes.

And so three very embarrassed Gryffindor boys ate breakfast quietly.

-Scene Change-

Neville, Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Harry entered their first class of the day--double potions with Slytherins. Neville had his face down looking at the ground as he entered.

When Snape saw that Neville had actually shown up (he'd expected never to see the boy again--the silver lining in that embarrassing cloud, if you asked him), his face turned into an evil scowl that he usually reserved for Harry. Neville sat down with his face still towards the floor, but was forced to look up when it came time to start brewing his potion. When he did, Malfoy, who hadn't been in the Great Hall that morning, noticed the writing for the first time. For a split second, he was torn between laughing to humiliate Neville and ignoring it so as not to embarrass his favorite teacher. Unfortunately for poor Neville, the laugh won out, and Malfoy proceeded to fall out of his chair and laugh his arse off.

"What the...Draco are you okay?" his partner, Pansy asked.

In response, he pointed to Neville's face. All the Slytherins laughed, even those who'd seen it earlier. Neville's face blushed a yet-uninvented shade of magenta while the slightest flush of color could be detected on Snape's cheeks. Snape cleared his throat and everyone quickly got back to work. Even so, from time to time, the occasional snicker could be heard from the Slytherin side of the room.

-Scene Change-

Neville exited the potions room first, and Malfoy approached him. Harry, Ron, Dean, and Seamus stepped between Neville and Draco, but Neville motioned them on.

"I'll meet you in the common room later. Just go."

The other four looked worriedly at each other, but didn't want to further embarrass Neville by acting like he couldn't take care of himself, so they left.

"What do you want, Malfoy?"

"Just to ask how you got that so I at least have the appropriate story when I go making up lies and rumors about it tonight in my common room," Draco said cooly.

"Oh, really? You gonna go tell everyone that something's going on between me and Snape? Well, for your info, that's not what happened. And if you so much as laugh at me again, then I'll have to start some rumors about you. Except what I have to say is the truth."

"What you talkin' about, Longbottom?"

"Oh, I dunno, Malfoy. I know that you're fucking Pansy."

"So? Everyone knows that."

"I also know that you two were getting bored in the sack."

"SO? What's your point, Longbottom?"

"My point is, I know that you tried to bring in...um...'reinforcements', and I know precisely who that was. More importantly, I know what gender that person was."

"What? I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Really? Well, then I'll go get Seamus to tell me the full story of the threesome he had with you and Pansy."

Draco's eyes widened. "What do you want, Longbottom?"

"I want you to leave me and my friends alone. FOR GOOD this time."

-Scene Change-

That night, in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione and Lavender sat plotting.

"Well, all that's left is Harry," Lavender said.

Hermione looked uneasy. "Listen, um, about him..."

"What? He should get punished same as the other three."

"It's just...Harry's...delicate. I mean, he's only slept with four girls. He doesn't deserve too much, does he?"

"No, you're right. Harry's a special case. This must be handled delicately."

-Scene Change-

The next morning, five Gryffindor boys awoke to a bright sunshiny day. Neville was relieved to find that the markings on his face had started to fade. Ron was relieved to find that most people had forgotten about his "over exposure" in the wake of Neville's face and Dean's...diseases. Dean was just happy that once everyone realized that the girl had been in class that day, they'd realized it was a lie. She couldn't have been in the hospital wing. Harry was relieved that so far he hadn't been punished...it never occurred to him that he was next. Seamus had a troubled look on his face and left quietly without bothering to wait for the others.

As they were about to enter the Great Hall, Neville noticed that Malfoy was talking to Seamus in a dark corner. He hung back in the corridor and waited until Seamus passed him, looking sad. He rushed over before Malfoy could come out of the corner and pushed him hard.

"I thought I told you to stay away from me and my friends. What were you saying to him?"

"It's none of your business, Longbottom. And besides, I didn't say anything mean to him."

"Then why does he look so sad?"

"I...look, it's nothing that I said, okay? Just leave it at that."

Draco stormed off into the Hall and Neville followed angrily.

-Scene Change-

When Neville entered, he was delighted to see that the post had already arrived, and that a package from his Gran was at his seat. He also noticed that Harry looked positively horrified.

"What's wrong, Harry?"

Wordlessly, Harry handed Neville the copy of the Daily Prophet he was holding. Neville had only to look at the headline to know what was wrong.

"Boy-Who-Lived Deflowered! (Sorry ladies!)

A very reliable source from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had informed us that Harry Potter has indeed, lost his virginity. The lucky girl, Cho Chang, was unavailable for comment."

Neville burst out laughing as Harry shot him a glare. All over the room, students were reading the headline of the post and pointing at both Harry and Cho. Harry slumped down in his seat and proceeded to let fly a string of curse words.

"Who do you think the source is?" Neville asked.

"I dunno. But when I find out who, I'll Avada Kedavra them," Harry growled.

And so four Gryffindor boys tried desperately to recover from extremely embarrassing moments. They never noticed the wink that Lavender shot Hermione, or the fact that Hermione whispered, "I knew Rita Skeeter would come in handy once in a while."