Two Arguments In One Night
(Author’s Note: Here’s a long one. This chapter was originally two separate ones. I felt that the first of the chapters ended too abruptly and was too short. So I combined it with the following chapter. Hence, the length. I also changed the chapter title. The first of the two chapters originally ended with Hermione exiting the Founders’ Room. It was titled Gryffindor-Slytherin Argument. The second chapter was originally titled Another Weasley Row.)
“Thanks for telling me the password Harry, but I was actually heading to the library first. I still have an essay to finish, and I was going to fetch a book that would help me with it.” Ginny was surprised at how well her lie had sounded.
“Oh… Well, I guess I’ll see you up later then,” Harry said, failing to hide the disappointment in his voice.
“Yeah.” Ginny turned and was half way down the hall before she stopped and shouted over her shoulder, “Thanks again Harry.” She continued her way to wherever she was going.
*****
As soon as Harry had reached the common room after the episode in the hall, he plopped down onto the most comfortable couch and awaited either Ron and Hermione, or Ginny to arrive. Ron and Hermione arrived first.
“Where’s Ginny?” Ron asked, completely forgetting to say hello.
“Hello to you too, Ron. She said she had to get a book in the library to finish an essay,” Harry replied.
“Did you just get back?” Hermione questioned.
“Yeah.”
They decided that they would wait for Ginny to arrive. And there they were, still sitting in the common room at close to midnight.
Hermione stood up and the boys’ heads snapped up. “I have to start my rounds. I’ll keep an eye out for her.” With that she walked out the portrait hole.
*****
Hermione made her rounds, all the while thinking about Ginny. She walked for half an hour through empty halls. She decided that she should take a break from thinking about what Ginny’s secret was. So, she headed toward the Astronomy tower, where she was sure she would find plenty of couples releasing their bottled-over-the-summer-emotions.
Sure enough, Hermione found herself shooing couple after couple out of the tower. Although she was annoyed at the students’ blatant disregard of the rules, she was also amused to see who was now seeing or no longer seeing whom. She had already stopped more than a several dozen snogging sessions, when she came across a door that she had never seen before. She hesitated for a second before marching up to the door, knocking, and yelling for whoever was in there to get back to their dormitories.
Nothing happened, so she repeated her actions once more.
Again, nothing.
Losing her patience, she drew her wand while yelling a warning and entered the room.
She was surprised to see that no one was in there.
The room wasn’t small, but it wasn’t big either. It was a square room with four couches, a couch lining each wall. The couch on the south wall was green, the couch on the north wall was burgundy, the east couch was yellow, and the west was blue. Hermione was pretty sure that they represented each house. On each wall was a painting of one of the school founders. Each painting corresponded with the appropriate couch. The ladies were asleep, but the men were wide-awake. They looked absolutely disgusted and bewildered. Hermione was under the impression that their expressions were directed toward her.
She jumped when Godric Gryffindor addressed her. “Head girl, are you not?”
“Y-yes, I am, sir,” Hermione stuttered.
“Well you’re certainly late,” Gryffindor had all but snapped.
“P-pardon?”
“You just missed them.” Missed whom? Hermione found herself completely lost. “It was a terrible sight, really. And you, the Head Girl and a Gryffindor, didn’t even try to prevent it.”
“E-excuse me? I really don’t understand what your saying, sir.”
“She brainwashed him,” came the gruff yet elegant voice of Salazar Slytherin. “I absolutely refuse to believe that a boy from such a pure and well-bred family would stoop so low as to consort with one of yours.” Hermione couldn’t believe her luck. She found herself caught in the crossfire of a Gryffindor-Slytherin argument.
“And what makes you think it wasn’t the other way around? Maybe the boy was using a spell. You can’t deny that the girl was absolutely lovely, and your boy must have been at least sixteen. You remember what it was like to be sixteen, do you not? They have needs.”
The two men seemed to be quite caught up in their argument. Seeing this, Hermione decided to make her escape. She quickly and quietly slipped out of the room undetected.
*****
Ron and Harry turned to the sound of the opening portrait hole. It was well past midnight and Ginny had finally decided to grace Gryffindor Tower with her presence.
“Where the hell have you been?” Ron was absolutely seething. .
Ron failed to notice that Ginny looked a little winded. Harry, however, did notice.
“I’m fine, Ron. That’s all that matters.”
Harry noticed that she didn’t have a book, either.
“What do you mean that’s all that matters! We’ve been waiting for you to come back from your so-called “trip to the library” for nearly five hours!”
Harry saw flames rise behind Ginny’s eyes. He really wasn’t in the mood for waking the entire tower up. “Ron, I don’t think—” He was cut off.
“If you’ve failed to notice, dear brother, I am now sixteen. I am no longer the naïve eleven year old that needs to be watched over. Don’t think that I don’t know about those speeches you and the others have almost every year about making sure that the “Baby” is properly watched over. I don’t need to be watched over! So you can just take that speech and shove it up your arses!” Ginny’s voice rose from deadly quiet to screaming.
Ron flinched.
Though Harry felt sympathy for his friend, he was also glad as hell that it wasn’t him who was being yelled at. He only hoped that Ginny hadn’t awakened the rest of the tower. His hope was quickly diminished, however, when he found that the majority of the Gryffindors were watching the spectacle from the bottom of the stairs.
*****
Hermione rushed out of the Astronomy tower, all the while thinking about what was said between the two male founders. She had slowed to a walk when she had fully exited the tower. Who could they have possibly been talking about? She had gathered that a Gryffindor female and a Slytherin male had met in the room. Met to do what, she had no clue. But from the disgust in Gryffindor and Slytherin’s voices, she guessed that they must have been doing something along the lines of snogging.
Hermione shook her head. With being Head Girl, preparing for N.E.W.T.’s, and this whole Ginny thing, she was really starting to get stressed out. She decided to head up to bed and to hold off thinking about anything until tomorrow.
Once Hermione stepped into the portrait hole, she immediately wanted to step right back out. The last thing she needed was to hear yet another row between the youngest Weasleys. She looked toward the stairs and saw that the entire tower was quietly watching the spectacle. When she noticed Harry, she quickly walked to his side.
“So, what’s it about this time?” Hermione whispered out of the side of her mouth.
“Ginny came in late, really late. Again.”
“Oh.”
Just then the portrait hole burst open, and Professor McGonagall stalked in. “What in the name of Merlin is going on here?” she exclaimed to no one in particular, and then she noticed that Ron and Ginny were standing in the middle of the common room, glaring daggers at one another. “It is almost two o’clock in the morning, and I was in the middle of a rather nice dream. So will either of you please explain why I was awoken from that dream. And by this no less!” She gestured toward the siblings. Everyone at the bottom of the staircase quickly ran back up to their dormitories. Hermione and Harry saw their chance to escape, and took it.
*****
“Well? Mr. Weasley? Ms. Weasley?” The two red heads were still glaring at each other, and McGonagall was impatiently tapping her foot.
Ginny took a deep breath, and turned to McGonagall. As she did, she put on a polite and a sincere mask. “Nothing is wrong professor. I just forgot an essay at home, and Ron was kind enough to give me a good scolding about it.”
McGonagall didn’t buy that, and both Ron and Ginny knew it. However, these Weasley rows took place so often that she really didn’t care for getting the real reason out of them. “Well then, it’s nice to know that you, Mr. Weasley, care about at least one person’s education.” Ron flinched for the second time that night, or was it early morning? “As for you, Ms. Weasley, I expect a lot more from you. You are one of the top candidates for Head Girl next year, and being irresponsible will not benefit your chances.” With a curt nod, McGonagall walked out of the portrait hole.
Ginny glared at Ron once more before stalking up the stairs.
Elsewhere in the castle, the Headmaster was smiling at the person that had just walked into his office. “It’s nice to see you, again.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Headmaster,” was the reply, followed by a respectful bow.
“Please, I am no longer your headmaster. How many times have I asked you to call me Albus.”
“Yet, again, Headmaster.”
They both shared a laugh.
(A/N: Reviews are greatly appretiated...)
(Author’s Note: Here’s a long one. This chapter was originally two separate ones. I felt that the first of the chapters ended too abruptly and was too short. So I combined it with the following chapter. Hence, the length. I also changed the chapter title. The first of the two chapters originally ended with Hermione exiting the Founders’ Room. It was titled Gryffindor-Slytherin Argument. The second chapter was originally titled Another Weasley Row.)
“Thanks for telling me the password Harry, but I was actually heading to the library first. I still have an essay to finish, and I was going to fetch a book that would help me with it.” Ginny was surprised at how well her lie had sounded.
“Oh… Well, I guess I’ll see you up later then,” Harry said, failing to hide the disappointment in his voice.
“Yeah.” Ginny turned and was half way down the hall before she stopped and shouted over her shoulder, “Thanks again Harry.” She continued her way to wherever she was going.
*****
As soon as Harry had reached the common room after the episode in the hall, he plopped down onto the most comfortable couch and awaited either Ron and Hermione, or Ginny to arrive. Ron and Hermione arrived first.
“Where’s Ginny?” Ron asked, completely forgetting to say hello.
“Hello to you too, Ron. She said she had to get a book in the library to finish an essay,” Harry replied.
“Did you just get back?” Hermione questioned.
“Yeah.”
They decided that they would wait for Ginny to arrive. And there they were, still sitting in the common room at close to midnight.
Hermione stood up and the boys’ heads snapped up. “I have to start my rounds. I’ll keep an eye out for her.” With that she walked out the portrait hole.
*****
Hermione made her rounds, all the while thinking about Ginny. She walked for half an hour through empty halls. She decided that she should take a break from thinking about what Ginny’s secret was. So, she headed toward the Astronomy tower, where she was sure she would find plenty of couples releasing their bottled-over-the-summer-emotions.
Sure enough, Hermione found herself shooing couple after couple out of the tower. Although she was annoyed at the students’ blatant disregard of the rules, she was also amused to see who was now seeing or no longer seeing whom. She had already stopped more than a several dozen snogging sessions, when she came across a door that she had never seen before. She hesitated for a second before marching up to the door, knocking, and yelling for whoever was in there to get back to their dormitories.
Nothing happened, so she repeated her actions once more.
Again, nothing.
Losing her patience, she drew her wand while yelling a warning and entered the room.
She was surprised to see that no one was in there.
The room wasn’t small, but it wasn’t big either. It was a square room with four couches, a couch lining each wall. The couch on the south wall was green, the couch on the north wall was burgundy, the east couch was yellow, and the west was blue. Hermione was pretty sure that they represented each house. On each wall was a painting of one of the school founders. Each painting corresponded with the appropriate couch. The ladies were asleep, but the men were wide-awake. They looked absolutely disgusted and bewildered. Hermione was under the impression that their expressions were directed toward her.
She jumped when Godric Gryffindor addressed her. “Head girl, are you not?”
“Y-yes, I am, sir,” Hermione stuttered.
“Well you’re certainly late,” Gryffindor had all but snapped.
“P-pardon?”
“You just missed them.” Missed whom? Hermione found herself completely lost. “It was a terrible sight, really. And you, the Head Girl and a Gryffindor, didn’t even try to prevent it.”
“E-excuse me? I really don’t understand what your saying, sir.”
“She brainwashed him,” came the gruff yet elegant voice of Salazar Slytherin. “I absolutely refuse to believe that a boy from such a pure and well-bred family would stoop so low as to consort with one of yours.” Hermione couldn’t believe her luck. She found herself caught in the crossfire of a Gryffindor-Slytherin argument.
“And what makes you think it wasn’t the other way around? Maybe the boy was using a spell. You can’t deny that the girl was absolutely lovely, and your boy must have been at least sixteen. You remember what it was like to be sixteen, do you not? They have needs.”
The two men seemed to be quite caught up in their argument. Seeing this, Hermione decided to make her escape. She quickly and quietly slipped out of the room undetected.
*****
Ron and Harry turned to the sound of the opening portrait hole. It was well past midnight and Ginny had finally decided to grace Gryffindor Tower with her presence.
“Where the hell have you been?” Ron was absolutely seething. .
Ron failed to notice that Ginny looked a little winded. Harry, however, did notice.
“I’m fine, Ron. That’s all that matters.”
Harry noticed that she didn’t have a book, either.
“What do you mean that’s all that matters! We’ve been waiting for you to come back from your so-called “trip to the library” for nearly five hours!”
Harry saw flames rise behind Ginny’s eyes. He really wasn’t in the mood for waking the entire tower up. “Ron, I don’t think—” He was cut off.
“If you’ve failed to notice, dear brother, I am now sixteen. I am no longer the naïve eleven year old that needs to be watched over. Don’t think that I don’t know about those speeches you and the others have almost every year about making sure that the “Baby” is properly watched over. I don’t need to be watched over! So you can just take that speech and shove it up your arses!” Ginny’s voice rose from deadly quiet to screaming.
Ron flinched.
Though Harry felt sympathy for his friend, he was also glad as hell that it wasn’t him who was being yelled at. He only hoped that Ginny hadn’t awakened the rest of the tower. His hope was quickly diminished, however, when he found that the majority of the Gryffindors were watching the spectacle from the bottom of the stairs.
*****
Hermione rushed out of the Astronomy tower, all the while thinking about what was said between the two male founders. She had slowed to a walk when she had fully exited the tower. Who could they have possibly been talking about? She had gathered that a Gryffindor female and a Slytherin male had met in the room. Met to do what, she had no clue. But from the disgust in Gryffindor and Slytherin’s voices, she guessed that they must have been doing something along the lines of snogging.
Hermione shook her head. With being Head Girl, preparing for N.E.W.T.’s, and this whole Ginny thing, she was really starting to get stressed out. She decided to head up to bed and to hold off thinking about anything until tomorrow.
Once Hermione stepped into the portrait hole, she immediately wanted to step right back out. The last thing she needed was to hear yet another row between the youngest Weasleys. She looked toward the stairs and saw that the entire tower was quietly watching the spectacle. When she noticed Harry, she quickly walked to his side.
“So, what’s it about this time?” Hermione whispered out of the side of her mouth.
“Ginny came in late, really late. Again.”
“Oh.”
Just then the portrait hole burst open, and Professor McGonagall stalked in. “What in the name of Merlin is going on here?” she exclaimed to no one in particular, and then she noticed that Ron and Ginny were standing in the middle of the common room, glaring daggers at one another. “It is almost two o’clock in the morning, and I was in the middle of a rather nice dream. So will either of you please explain why I was awoken from that dream. And by this no less!” She gestured toward the siblings. Everyone at the bottom of the staircase quickly ran back up to their dormitories. Hermione and Harry saw their chance to escape, and took it.
*****
“Well? Mr. Weasley? Ms. Weasley?” The two red heads were still glaring at each other, and McGonagall was impatiently tapping her foot.
Ginny took a deep breath, and turned to McGonagall. As she did, she put on a polite and a sincere mask. “Nothing is wrong professor. I just forgot an essay at home, and Ron was kind enough to give me a good scolding about it.”
McGonagall didn’t buy that, and both Ron and Ginny knew it. However, these Weasley rows took place so often that she really didn’t care for getting the real reason out of them. “Well then, it’s nice to know that you, Mr. Weasley, care about at least one person’s education.” Ron flinched for the second time that night, or was it early morning? “As for you, Ms. Weasley, I expect a lot more from you. You are one of the top candidates for Head Girl next year, and being irresponsible will not benefit your chances.” With a curt nod, McGonagall walked out of the portrait hole.
Ginny glared at Ron once more before stalking up the stairs.
Elsewhere in the castle, the Headmaster was smiling at the person that had just walked into his office. “It’s nice to see you, again.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Headmaster,” was the reply, followed by a respectful bow.
“Please, I am no longer your headmaster. How many times have I asked you to call me Albus.”
“Yet, again, Headmaster.”
They both shared a laugh.
(A/N: Reviews are greatly appretiated...)
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