Black Blood

Chapter 8
Once Upon A Time, There Was A Thing Called Love

"Oh my God," Hermione wheezed as she and Ron came walking into the compartment all out of breath. Harry and Ginny looked up at them. Both their chests were rising up and down as they took heavy breaths. Sweat ran down Ron's chin. "That...had to be...one of...the worst...prefects'...meeting...EVER!" Hermione walked over and sat down next to Ginny, closing her eyes, and letting out a breath from her mouth. Ron sat next to Harry.
"Why?" Ginny asked turning to look at Hermione. Then looking over to her brother, she asked , "What happened?"
"Well..." Ron started, but Hermione's rage suddenly came out and he decided to let her tell them. After all, it had happened to her.
"MALFOY WOULDN'T SHUT HIS BLOODY MOUTH AND KEPT ARGUING OVER EVERY FRICKEN' WORD I SAID! AND THEN THE NEW PREFECTS WERE AN ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE! THE SLYTHERIN'S AND RAVENCLAW'S THE MOST! THE SLYTHERIN'S KEPT TRYING TO CURSE FIRST YEARS WHO GOT IN THEIR WAY BECAUSE THEY WERE PREFECTS! AND THE RAVENCLAW'S, OH MY GOD, KEPT THINKING THEY WERE RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING! AND MALFOY KEPT THROWING INSULTS AT RON, CAUSING A FIGHT, WHICH NOBODY WOULD BREAK UP BUT ME! AND NOW, I'VE GOT A SPLITTING HEADACHE, AND MY FOOT HURTS 'CAUSE MALFOY STEPPED ON IT WITH HIS HUGE FOOT!" She stopped talking and stood up. "I'll be right back. I'm just gonna go wash off my face." After she said this, she walked out of the compartment.
"Well," Harry said looking at Ron who had the same look on his face as he and Ginny, shocked. He snapped out of it and looked over at Harry who said, "Your side of the story?"
"Well," Ron said, "you know. The usual crap from Malfoy. Snide remarks about how in the hell I got to be Prefect. About how there should be a fee to be a Prefect. And you know how much he wanted it to be? One-hundred galleons. Of course Dumbledore wouldn't allow a fee, but it still made me mad, nonetheless. Then the next thing I now, I attacked Malfoy, and Hermione had to put a spell on us to stay still so she could stop it. And then the meeting was over. I guess you had to be there to see the fight. It really was fun. In all my years here, I've always wanted to do that."
"Damn," Harry said. "Wish I could've been there to see you attack Malfoy. But...I'm also glad I wasn't there." This sly little smile played across Harry's lips as he thought of Paris again.
"Uh, Ginny," Ron said looking over at his little sister. "I think it's time for -."
"I'm outta here," Ginny said standing up and quickly walking out of the compartment.
As soon as Ron was sure she was out of earshot, he asked, "Who is she? I mean, it must be a girl your smiling over. I haven't seen you look like that since that Chang girl. Oh God, please don't tell me it's Ginny." He looked at Harry pleadingly.
"No," Harry said quickly. "Not Ginny."
"Good," Ron said with a sigh following. "'Cause if it was, I'd have to hurt you. And that could put a damper on our friendship. So who is she? Have I met her? Hold on, let me guess. Parvati?"
"No," Harry said dreamily staring off into space.
"Lavender?"
"No."
"Padma?"
"No."
"Hannah Abbot?"
"No."
"God, please don't say Pansy Parkinson?!"
"Hell no!"
"Hermione?"
"No. She's more of a sister than a girlfriend to me."
"Is it a...uh...guy?"
"HELL NO! ARE YOU INSANE!?"
"Sorry, mate, but I don't know anybody else who you might like. Who is she? Please tell me before I start thinking it's Malfoy."
"Gross," Harry said shuddering. "You don't know her. I just met her today. Her name is Paris. God, you should see her. She's gorgeous."
"Man, less than a day, and your already swooning over a girl." Ron slyly smiled. "Sorry mate, but if I get her-."
"Wait," Harry interrupted. "I thought you liked Hermione? Now your going after a girl you haven't even seen?"
"Well...uh..." Ron suddenly went nervous, his face turning many shades of red. "It's complicated. Sometimes she can make me so mad, but then at other times I can't help but feel-."
"Back," Hermione said, opening the door to the compartment making Ron stop talking. "Sorry it took so long. A first year girl was getting chased by a first year boy. And Malfoy was just laughing and he wouldn't help me so, as usual, it's up to me 'cause people think I've got nothing better to do then help first years and actually take my job seriously. Unlike Malfoy who just uses his authority to boss people around." She sat down next to Ron and leaned her head back against the seat, closing her eyes.
"You were saying, Ron," Harry asked, giving Ron an I-dare-you-to-say-it look. Hermione looked over at Ron who was just blushing.
"Uh...nothing. It's not important." He said looking down at his lap. Even though his hair had grown a bit over the summer, you could still see the tips of his ears turning red.
"Oh. Did I interrupt something?" Hermione asked. When no one said anything, she said, "If you guys...um...you know...wanna talk alone or something, just say the word and I'll leave..."
"No!" Ron said quickly, looking at Hermione. She looked back at him, her face expressionless except for the slight twitch in her lips. "I mean," he said looking over at Harry who was trying to hide his laughter by putting the tips of his fingernails in his mouth oh so casually. "You can go if you want to but you weren't interrupting anything."
"OK," Hermione said kind of weirded out. "Anyhoo...I saw you talking to a girl outside the Prefects door, Harry. So tell me, who is she?"
"Oh..." Harry said, his mind going once again back to Paris Jameson. "You don't know her. Her name's Paris. I think she's a transfer cause I know I haven't seen her at Hogwarts."
"So is she nice?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah. She's really nice. Her cousin is here with her too..."
"Ooh. What's he like?" Hermione asked, energy suddenly surging through her. Her eyes lit up. Ron, suddenly angry, stood and walked out of the compartment, not wanting to see any more of this.
"Well...uh...he's kinda...uh...protective of Paris...and he has the same color hair but spiked..." Harry got kind of weird talking to Hermione about another guy.
"Can you rate him on a scale from one to ten? Please? I won't judge you by judging another guy! Plea-."
"Oh my God," Ginny breathed walking back into the compartment. She walked over to Hermione and sat down next to her. "You will not believe the hottie I just saw, Hermione! He was so fricken hot. You should..."
After too much of this, Harry stood and walked out of the compartment. The girls didn't even notice. They just kept going on and on and on and on about Nick.

~*~

Harry sat with Ron for a little of the trip to Hogwarts. He ignored Ron's angry attitude for the most part. Ron kept muttering curses at Nick. Things like, "who does he think he is?" and "why does Hermione go after blondes and brunets and not red heads?" and "what does Nick have that I don't?" and "when I meet him, I'll kill him!"
When Harry finally got him to calm down, he finally agreed to go back to the compartment where Hermione and Ginny were. They had finally stopped talking about Nick and Hermione was asleep, her head resting against the window. Ginny was reading a muggle book called 'Old Magic.' When Harry opened the sliding glass door, Ginny looked up from her book and smiled at them.
"She fell asleep about fifteen minutes ago," Ginny whispered, then looked back at he book, the words entrancing her once again.
Harry sat down on the red leather seat across from Ginny. Ron sat next to the window and stared out at the purple, pink, blue, and red sky. Pretty soon, they would be arriving at Hogwarts. Harry reached over to his trunk which had been forgotten throughout the whole journey to Hogwarts. He reached in and took out one of his black Hogwarts robe.
Making Ginny look up, Harry took off the sweater Mrs. Weasley had made him two years ago, and he pulled on his robe.

~*~

Ginny stared at Harry, her mouth open a little bit. Hermione had told her that Harry had worked out a lot over his stay at her house. And it definitely showed, when he had lifted his arms to take off the sweater, his shirt underneath had lifted a bit and you could see part of his six pack. She had to control her giggles by looking back at the suddenly blurry words in her book.

~*~

Harry felt embarrassed by the way Ginny was looking at him. Trying his best to keep his face calm, he reached back into his trunk and pulled out his Gryffindor badge and clipped it onto the robe on the left side. He was thankful when Ginny finally looked back down at her book. But he could tell she wasn't really reading, since he caught the occasional glance from the side of her eyes.
About a half hour later, the train came to a stop. As soon as the train was still, Ron shook Hermione's shoulder, making her eyelashes flutter open like a butterfly. She looked up at Ron, closed her eyes again and put her head up against the window again.
"Are we there yet?" she asked in a groggy voice. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and looked out at the Hogwarts Castle almost invisible by the black night sky surrounding them. The only light was from some of the windows of Hogwarts and the stars filling the sky.
"Yeah," Ron said. He looked down at his lap. "We're here. Ginny?"
Ginny didn't respond, she was still reading her book, she had finished about half of it by the time they got to Hogwarts.
"Ginny?"
Still no response.
"Huh," Harry asked in a groggy voice after waking from his dreamless sleep. He put his glasses, which had been held in his hand, back on and looked around. "Here yet?"
"Yeah, we're here," Ron said, still trying to get his sister to look at him. The door to the compartment opened and who shall be there? None other then the sneering Draco Malfoy.
"They sent me to find anybody who was doing anything unnecessary," he sneered, a sly smile forming on his thin lips. Surprising Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Ginny looked up at the first word Malfoy said. "So, it's not like I want to be here."
"She won't respond to me," Ron whispered to Harry low enough so nobody but he and Harry could hear, "but she'll respond to Malfoy."
"It's probably nothing," Harry whispered. "She must've thought it would just be Justin."
Ron made a face, but kept quiet.
"Surprised I didn't see you on a stretcher Potter," Malfoy said looking over at Harry. Luckily he didn't see Ginny staring at him, or else all chaos would've erupted. Only Hermione saw her staring, she lightly elbowed her in he side, making Ginny look away and look at Hermione.
"What?" she mouthed to Hermione, her face screwed up in a glare.
"You're staring at him," she mouthed back. "Look at Ron."
Ginny did just that and saw him giving her a questinable look. Before he could say anything, she quickly closed her book after putting the book mark in, put it in the pocket of her robe, grabbing the handle of her trunk, and walked out. Malfoy moved so she could get through without bumping him.
"That's my sister's bum your looking at, Malfoy," Ron growled standing up. Malfoy broke his stare which had, as a matter of fact, been planted on Ginny Weasley's bum.
What are you thinking, Draco, Malfoy thought. She's a Weasley! Weasle's kid sister! What the bloody hell are you thinking staring at a WEASLEY's arse?
"What the bloody hell are you talking about," he asked Ron, quickly. Too quickly. When he looked up at Ron, he saw the smae grin that he usuaully wore when he wanted to torment them.
"You like my sister don't you," Ron asked in the same sneer Malfoy spoke in, although he made it more of a statement then a question. Let's get one thing straight, stay away from my sister. Come near her and I'll feed you to the Giant Squid. Piece by piece. Limb by limb. Got it?"
"Good Lord, Weasel," Malfoy said shuddering just a little. "Graphic aren't you? And I was certainly not looking at your sisters arse!"
"Then what were you looking at, Malfoy," Ron asked, his voice sly, like he knew he had finally caught Malfoy. "After all, she is my only little sister. I have every right to torment you for staring at my sister in such a way."
"I was not looking at your sister, Weasel," Malfoy said, his temper raising. Also his nervousness. "Now, I'm already late as it is for the sort-."
"RON!" came the voice Draco Malfoy loved hearing. No, Malfoy thought, STOP THINKING SUCH THINGS AS GINNY WEASLEY! SHE'S WEASLE'S LITTLE SISTER, YOU IGNORAMUS! Harry, Malfoy, and Ron looked over as Ginny walked over to them. "Come on already! McGonagall needs to see you and Hermione right now, and she's starting to lose her temper!"
"Oh," Ron said, his voice sly once again. "Hello, Ginny. Guess what I just learned? It seems that Malfoy has a lit-."
"-tle thought to try to leave if you would shut your bloody mouth," Malfoy quickly said in a loud voice, loud enough to cover Ron's '-tle thing for you.' "Now, if you three ignoramuses would leave me the hell alone, I would like to leave. You heard Gin-Weasley. McGonagall's looking for you."
"Yeah," Hermione said in a tired voice, her eyes still tired. She usually stood straight, but now she was kind of slouched. "C'mon, Ron. Don't you think you've tormented him enough?"
"Whatever," Ron said, giving up. After all, how could he argue against the love of his life? "Let's go."
He and Hermione left the compartment. "Awe, come on, Hermione," Ron whined in a whisper. "Can't I just say something to Ginny? Like tell her to saty away from Malfoy?
"No, Ron," Hermione whispered. "Ginny's oldwnough to make her own desicions. You need to let her grow up."
"Ugh," Ron moaned. "But what if they like...you know? Am i supposed to just let that go?"
Hermione didn't answer.
"Paris!" Harry yelled. Malfoy, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron all froze, wanting to know who this mysterious 'Paris' was.
Paris turned around, saw Harry, and smiled. Then Nick came out, and Harry frowned. Damn him. Right as Nick had come out, Hermione and Ginny's jaw had dropped, and they started whispering.
Paris saw Nick glare at Harry, and she pulled on his arm.

~*~

"Nick," Paris whispered, just incase Harry or somebody came walking by. "What did you say to Harry?"
"Nothing," Nick said quickly, hoping that it would go by Paris just fine. Unfortuanate for him, it was not what he got.
"You're lying," she hissed, and stepped back, folding her arms across her chest.
"Please, Nick. Please say you didn't say anything to Harry."
"Uh..." Nick looked down at his feet. "Well..uh...um..."
"I knew it," Paris said, anger written all over her face. She could feel tears forming, but she wouldn't let them fall. "God, Nick. You do this to every fricken' guy I like. I'm sixteen, for God's sake. You're only a year older than me! I'm old enough to have a boyfriend and date! So leave Harry alone."
Nick looked at Paris, flabbergasted. Had he really been that hard on her? He hd always been worried about her, being absoulutly gorgeous, and being in darger of getting raped. That was the main reason he didn't like guys being around her, or her having a boyfriend. But, she was sixteen. She could look over herself.
"Paris," came Harry's voice a few feet away. "Are you all right?" Paris opened the glass compartment door and stuck her face out.
"I'm all right," she said. "I'll be right out."
"Okay," he smiled and turned back around. Malfoy had left, and so had Hermione and Ron.
Paris turned back to look at Nick.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"It's okay. But next time, try not to act so much like my mother." She smiled. Nick smiled back. It was impossible. Anytime Pars Jameson smiled, anyone in the room smiled.