FicWad

Chapter 82 - Practical Jokes and Ominous Meetings

Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 24th September 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Scotland
Location: Hogsmeade -The Three Broomsticks
Time: Morning

The next weekend the casual observers in The Three Broomsticks watched as Harry Potter nervously sat at a table waiting for Ginny Weasley to arrive.

No one had quite figured out how Ron had managed to get Ginny to agree to go to Hogsmeade with Harry, especially as she had agreed immediately without a single raised word, but the pub was full of students wanting to find out what was going to happen.

Ron, Neville, Luna, Buffy, Adam, Draco (under an invisibility cloak) and a curious Hermione were all sitting at nearby tables observing the scene as were at least another dozen students from all the houses. Ron, a reluctant Hermione and Neville were there supporting Harry while Draco and Luna (for some reason none of them were quiet sure of) were there supporting Ginny.

"This is wrong Ronald." said Hermione shaking her head "Lets just forget about it and go to Honeydukes or Zonko's, don't put Harry through this."

"It's not as if he said no."

"He DID," she replied annoyed "Multiple times, you practically press ganged him."

"It's only until Ginny sees sense."

"It's her life."

"And she can do almost anything she wants with it except go out with a Slytherin."

Hermione sighed in defeat and went back to looking at the door.

Several minutes later it opened to reveal Ginny Weasley.

But she did not look like the Ginny Weasley they had all known for the past five years.

"Holly shit." Ron exclaimed at the same time as several other patrons, most saying things a lot more extreme at the sight of the girl, a lot could not even vocalise their shock, some whispered things like "Is that legal?" and "You should need a licence to dress like that."

The cause of said remarks were due to several factors:

Her hair had been done and hung around her face like a mane of fire and looked a lot more wild than it usually did, she had make up on that included red lipstick and eye shadow which together with the hair made for a very seductive look. She was dressed in a school shirt (probably last year's judging on how tight it was) that was tied up under her chest exposing her flat stomach, a school skirt (also probably last years as it was only just decent), a pair of black stockings, the top of which could just be seen when she moved and a pair of high heeled shoes. On top of all that the smile she was wearing would have made men get down on their knees and beg and several of them (ranging from third years up to some of the significantly older adult patrons) were starting to have serious blood flow problems because of it.

The stunned on lookers watched as Ginny scanned the pub before catching sight of Harry. Smiling she began slinking her way towards him.

"She's either doing one of two things," said Padma from the next table "Either she really REALLY wants Harry, or she is getting back on you and Harry for trying to control her."

"No matter what she is doing I don't think Harry is going to survive." Added Adam from a nearby table, unusually though he was smiling widely as he spoke.

The group watched as on the other side of the pub, Harry nervously greeted Ginny and directed her towards the corner table on which sat two butterbeers. There table was one of those where the seats are like a settee bending around the table with a couple of normal chairs filling the sides of the tables facing out into the room.

As they moved into it, no one missed just how close Ginny moved to Harry.
________________________________________________________________________

Fred Weasley had a feeling that he had just made a big mistake.

He liked a prank for sure, but this was pushing the boundary even for him.

How had that Professor managed to talk him into taking Harry's place?

He had expected a bit of cuddling, maybe a chased kiss, but whoever was disguised as his sister who was also in on the prank (though he had no clue who it was as Adam had not told him) was obviously planning more and he was honestly not sure how far he was willing to go with ANYONE wearing his sisters body.

Whoever was playing Ginny was doing everything they could to unsettle him, right at that moment she licked her lips in a very seductive manner while looking at him from under her highlighted lashes.

When a stocking wrapped foot started to run up his leg he almost unsettled the table.

"I...." he tried desperately "I need to visit the gents."

He didn't wait for her reply before dashing from the chair and heading for the room in question.

Closing the door behind him, Fred leaned heavily against the row of sinks.

A few seconds later Ron and Neville followed him in.

"What are you doing in here Harry," demanded Ron "You've only just started."

"And I'm finishing it now." Fred replied back, trying to sound as much like Harry as possible, he might not like the direction the prank was heading in, but he wasn't going to let Ron know who he really was yet.

"Harry...."

"NO Ron." He called back just as Hermione slipped in the door.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Hermione," whispered Neville "This is the men's room."

"No one saw me enter," she sighed "The boys were too busy ogling Ginny and the girls are all trying to listen to what Luna is talking to Ginny about. So what did I miss?"

"Harry's chickening out." Ron huffed.

"I didn't ‘chicken in' in the first place."

"Harry you have to."

"Ron, she ran her foot up my leg."

"It doesn't matter, she....She what!!"

"She ran her foot up my leg."

"She's trying to rattle you." Explained Hermione.

"She is rattling me."

"Then rattle her back." Ordered Ron.

Several seconds of silence followed while everyone turned to look at the Weasley.

"Ron....Are you actually telling me to feel up your sister?"

"You only have to do it a little bit." He added

"I cannot honestly believe I am hearing this."

"Ron, Ginny is like a sister to Harry." Reminded Hermione "Kissing, hugging and a few looks are one thing, they are still wrong, but you are practically telling Harry to molest your sister."

"You only need to do it for a bit, I know you of all people won't do anything inappropriate."

"The whole thing is inappropriate Ron!!"

"She's still Ginny, she's not Colette or Tonks, she will lose her nerve as soon as she realises that you are doing the same things back to her."

"I wouldn't bet on it." Commented Neville, who the others had mostly forgotten was there, him having said so little "If she wants to get her own back she will."
________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, back at the table, Luna was sitting beside Ginny.

"Hermione will have figured it out by now." Explained Luna "So Harry is either going to come back and try to pretend nothing happened or he is going to run for it, probably the former then the latter."

"Ginny, I can't do this much longer, these shoes are killing me and I feel so exposed wearing these clothes."

"You only have to pretend to be me for a little longer."

"And I cannot believe you are actually allowing this much of your body to be displayed."

"It makes me feel powerful," she grinned "When I was walking down the corridor away from Dumbledore's Office and Draco was watching my skirt flick up, I felt...."

"STOP....Please stop. I may not try to stop you going out with Malfoy, but I do not want to hear about him looking at you, about him kissing you and especially not when I am wearing your body and a lot less than you were at the time."

Luna laughed.

"Why are you letting me look like you wearing this anyway?"

"Because Ron needs to understand that I am not a little girl anymore and that I control my own life. If I am making a mistake with Draco, he needs to understand that it is my mistake to make."

Ginny looked at Luna for a moment before saying.

"You really have grown up haven't you?"

"It's about time somebody other than Draco noticed it."

"I think after that entrance everyone will have noticed it."

"Harry's coming back." Hissed Draco from under the cloak.

Luna stood and dreamily walked back to the chair she and Neville had been occupying.

As Harry resumed his seat next to Ginny, the entire room was surprised when he pulled himself right up against her and casually wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
________________________________________________________________________

"Told you," grinned Ron "Did you see the look of shock on her face when Harry moved so close to.... to....Mione, what are you doing."

"Getting closer to you Ron." She replied as she snuggled up against him "Since you are putting Harry and Ginny through this, I think it's only fair that you do too."

"But I....I...." Ron tried, only to lose his voice half way when Hermione straddled him and her lips started to kiss, nip and suck at his neck.

Thusly he found it very hard to concentrate as the Ginny and Harry duplicates each tried to outdo one another.
________________________________________________________________________

Fred was getting increasingly uncomfortable, Ginny had one of her hands in his and was running her fingers in circles over the back of it while her other hand was playing with the ends of his scruffy hair, at the same time as his other hand was massaging small circles just before the hem of Ginny's skirt.

He could not keep this up, if either of them went much further it would be considered incest.

Ginny made the next move, moving her head to suckle on his neck, he was vaguely aware of giggling and wolf whistles in the background from the assembled crowd.

He very reluctantly bent his own head down to tease her neck.

She visibly jumped when he did this, but quickly recovered when she straddled him and started moving her kisses up his neck.

He followed suit, he was going to break any second and he prayed so would she.

They kissed up their necks, onto their cheeks, over their noses and then both pulled back briefly, knowing what was coming next.

Almost the entire pub watched transfixed as both slowly moved their lips towards each other and then with only a centimetre to spare, both broke.

At exactly the same moment, both pushed away from each other, Fred getting pushed off the seat and Ginny's double landing on the table, knocking over their drinks and upturning the table as she too fell to the floor.

The whole room exploded with laughter as the two scrambled to get to their feet, all the while Ron was struggling to try to see around Hermione who was currently nibbling on his ear in a most un-Hermione like way.

"No more." Breathed Fred "Just....No more."

"I cannot do that anymore." Agreed the Ginny double "A joke can only go so far."

"I think," gasped Adam in hysterics "That the joke is on you."

It was then that they noticed that he was not laughing, but giggling....in a rather effeminate way.

"Are you feeling alright Professor?" asked Padma.

"I'm fine," he said in between more spurts of giggles "But....I am not Adam."

The half of the room that had not already been looking at Adam now swivelled to look in his direction.

"It's been a double prank, boys." He grinned "And you will see one bit in a matter of seconds when your Polyjuice Potion starts to wear off."

On queue the duplicates of Harry and Ginny began to fluctuate as they both began to grow, Ginny grabbing and put on a cloak lying nearby as ripping sounds originated from her attire as she got significantly taller, Harry also started casting spells on his clothes to incorporate the extra height.

Both grew in size, they're hair got shorter, Harry's went the same shade as Ginny's as they both reverted to the forms of Fred and George Weasley who stared at each other in horror as they realised what they had been doing to each other.

"We've played a prank on the pranksters." Adam said, continuing to giggle though a lot less than before, though the next run of events did nothing to stop the laughter of Adam or any other members of the room.
________________________________________________________________________

Ron was still struggling underneath Hermione who was flicking her tongue over his ear lobe, while she covered his eyes with her hand.

"Hermione please," he gasped, his breathing very laboured "I need to see what's happening."

He felt her remove her lips from his ear and shift slightly.

Then, in a distinctly male voice ask?

"Was that good for you too?"

Even Fred and George's jumps looked small compared to Ron's

As the hand covering his eyes was removed he saw Hermione morphing back into the shape of Adam.

Ron literally screamed and threw him/her off of his lap with such force that he/she went completely over the table in front of them to land gracefully in the chair opposite, the force of him doing so resulted in Ron's chair being knocked over so that Ron was lying on his back, the action of doing so knocked into the giggling Adam's chair knocking him out of the seat to land on the floor again in hysterics beside Ron.

"Hopefully that will teach you Ron," said the Adam that had been Hermione as he got to his feet (his clothes had reverted back to what they usually were as he transformed back) "Never try to interfere with anyone else's choice of partner."

With that he walked around the table, helped his giggling counterpart who was reverting to the form of Hermione, to her feet before turning back to Ron and finished with the line:

"And never say that my sense of humour is bad, as I think everyone else here would disagree."

With that he bowed, turned and walked out of the pub, followed shortly by a very annoyed and embarrassed Ron as the rest of the pub laughed at him.

"So where are the real Malfoy and Ginny?" asked Lavender from amongst the laughing crowd.

"Over there." pointed Hermione, as everyone eyes swivelled to look at where Neville and Luna had been sitting, in their place were Draco and Ginny, snuggling up against each other "The real Harry and Fleur are at Madam Puddifoot's enjoying themselves."
________________________________________________________________________

"I have to give it you your brothers." Smiled Draco "That was quiet the show."

"Yes, the looks on their faces was priceless." Returned Ginny from his lap, their conversation was quiet enough so that only they knew what was being said "It's not often that someone can actually prank them."

"I must admit that I dislike Professor Berio a bit less after tha...."

He was cut off by a raven diving in through the door, startling the poor student who had the misfortune to be the one opening the door at the time, before coming to rest upon the table in front of the pair.

"Oh no." Draco sighed slowly, retrieving the letter around its leg.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"It's from my mother."
________________________________________________________________________

Draco was in trouble, he just knew it.

His mother's message told him to meet her at a small, fairly quiet restaurant in the town immediately and from the tone of the letter he could tell that she meant business.

The restaurant seemed fairly smart, the sort you would go to if you wanted to have a formal meal while discussing important topics.

He opened the door to the restaurant and a waitress approached, she was in her mid thirties, blond and dressed as waitresses are in the Wizarding world, which he has been told is exactly the same as in the Muggle world, but being a Pureblood he would always claim that the Muggles got it from them.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy is a waiting your arrival in the Private Dining Room, please follow me." she lead the way to the back of the restaurant and opened a door.

The waitress entered and bowed, the room seemed more upper class than the main room, obviously for the privileged few and sitting in the middle of the otherwise empty room was his mother at a small table with a tea set in front of her.

"Mr. Malfoy." she announced "Is there anything else I can get you my Lady?"

You fool of a waitress. Thought Draco, She's not a Lady, she hasn't got a title.

"No thank you, you may go." His mother said in her usual regal tone. She was dressed as she usually was, in long elegant black robes with silver trim; it was all Malfoy ever wore.

The waitress backed out of the room and closed the door behind her.

"Morning Draco." his mother greeted gesturing to the chair opposite her.

"Morning mother." he greeted back, bowing as he did, all those years of training were a hard thing to shake off.

"Draco, we have discussed this before, you only need to show that level of respect in public."

"Sorry mother, force of habit." he apologised moving to the chair.

"How have you been Draco?"

Draco was nervous, that was an unusual question for her to ask.

"Well mother."

"Are you sure?" she asked waving her hand over the tea set, another cup appearing and the tea beginning to pour itself "I have heard from Mrs. Parkinson...."

Oh balls.

"That her daughter is very concerned about you. According to her you have been spending a lot of time with Mr. Potter and his friends."

That's not true; it's just Ginny outside of the MD lessons.

"And you barely spend any time with herself, Vincent, Gregory and Millicent."

/How in Merlin's name am I going to get out of this? Shit, shit SHIT/.

"Would you care to explain?" She finished sitting back, sipping her tea.

"Well mother it's just that lately I....well....you see, three sugars and cream," he attempted, interspacing his stuttering with his drink order to the milk, cream and sugar that had been hovering, waiting to be told what to do, also providing him with a bit longer to think about a reply "It's just...."

"Two sugars," his mother corrected "It's not good to have too much sugar Draco and don't stutter it doesn't suit you."

She seemed remarkably calm and casual considering what they were discussing.

"Sorry mother....well you see it's like this...."

"It's the Weasley girl isn't it?" she interrupted, looking at him over the rim of her tea cup.

He just starred at her in surprise, luckily he wasn't gaping, and years of training had taught him not to.

"How did you...."

"Miss Parkinson also told her mother about your....closeness to her."

"Oh."

"Indeed." his mother nodded "What is the situation between the two of you Draco?"

She still seemed far to calm to be having this conversation.

"I have asked her to Hogsmeade today."

"And....Did she accept?" his mother asked taking another drink.

"Yes I....I think I....I may....love her, mother."

For a second he thought he saw a twinkle of triumph in his mother's eyes.

"You....love her?" his mother asked, she was STILL very calm, he was sure she should have shouted or at least tried to talk him out of the match by now.

"....Yes." he said after a moment's thought.

"Well then...." she sighed "I guess that's that then."

Here it comes, she's about to explode.

"I had better start preparing to be a mother in law."

Draco couldn't help it this time; his chin did hit the floor, not just at the calm reaction but at the huge leap from one date to the thought of marriage in one move.

"Don't gape Draco, it looks like you are trying to catch Pixies."

"Aren't…" he tried "Aren't you mad?"

She smiled.

SHE SMILED.

Narcissa Black Malfoy did not smile, not real smiles.

"Far from it," she replied "I was dreading the day when you were going to tell me you were marrying Miss Parkinson."

"I....I thought you would want me to....Pureblood and all that."

His mother sighed

"Miss Weasley is a Pureblood, though you are right....your father will and about twenty years ago I may have disapproved of the match, but not now. Sometimes I wish I had never married your father."

Draco gasped.

"I sometimes wonder why I didn't just follow my sister's example and marry some nice dull Muggle-Born."

"Aunt Andromeda you mean."

"Yes," she nodded "She and cousin Sirius got it right, they had their way out and took it, even cousin Regulus tried, but he was already in too deep. I should have done the same....I was always the youngest child. Bella, my oldest sister, was always the favourite because she agreed most with our parent's view of the world and she went on to marry Lestrange. Andy, the middle sister, disowned the family as soon as she could, but still ended up somewhat respectable, although not in our parent's eyes, by marrying Tonks; even though he was Muggle-Born he was very rich as well as being powerful in the Muggle Ministry."

She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts.

"I could have gone either way, but one thing I hated was coming second to Bella, I didn't mind losing to Andy, but not to Bella, so I had to beat her and the only way was to marry someone even more powerful....like Lucius."

She paused again before continuing the explanation.

"Thanks to that I am now one of the most powerful and influential women in the country, but what pleased me more was the fact that I had beaten Bella and that Mother and Father respected me again....but as I got older I realised the mistake I made marrying Lucius."

She sighed.

"Now I just want to see you grow up....I don't want to see you make the same mistakes I made."

Draco was stunned, his mother had hidden this very well, he never would have guessed.

"Mother....there is something else."

She looked up.

"I don't want to...." he paused, thinking about his next words carefully "To follow in father's footsteps." he finished tapping his arm where his mark was.

His mother understood and seemed to visibly relax as he finished.

"Thank Merlin, I knew if you did I would have lost everything." she leaned over the table and engulfed her son in her arms.

Draco was shocked; he had never seen his mother act like this before, the most anyone had ever seen her do was to bow to someone, a hug was unheard of, practically a taboo.

After about a minute she withdrew.

"So," she began regaining her composure "When do I get to meet the future mother of my grandchildren."

Draco was even more shocked.

"Well....I....I think she will probably be in the Three Broomsticks, we along with the new Muggle Defence Professor, her twin brothers and a couple of the others from the DOM last year played a prank on her youngest brother, Potter's friend."

"You joined with infamous Weasley Wizard Wheezes twins to play a prank on one of their own brothers."

"And them," he added with an evil smile "They were playing a prank while being pranked."

"How did you manage that?"

"The youngest male Weasley tried to ruin our day by forcing Potter to go to Hogsmeade with Ginny despite the fact that he was dead against it and is with the Veela Delacour. The male MD Professor, he didn't like the idea of him interfering so he contacted the twins and got them to take Polyjuice Potion so that they looked like Potter and Ginny, but without them knowing who each other was disguised as, at the same time the MD Professor swapped forms with Weasley's girlfriend Granger. The twins each tried to startle the other one into breaking by getting increasingly more inappropriate while at the same time the professor did the same to Weasley. When the disguises were revealed the twins and their brother jumped so hard they fell out of their seats.

"What is the world coming to?" She smiled, almost laughing, before changing the subject "I have heard of these new Professors, Lucius is fairly aggravated about it." she added with a slight smile "Tell me, what are they like?"

"Well Professor Summers who prefers to be called Buffy, she was a Muggle but can now use magic and is exceptionally fast."

"Indeed, she's the Vampire Slayer from another dimension?" she commented.

Draco was yet again shocked.

"You know about that?" Draco asked, he had been told at the meeting after the incident in the MD room.

"Yes, I consulted with a particularly powerful Wiccan coven in Devon to find out more after I overheard Lucius talking about it; they explained the rest to me."

"Oh." Draco responded, he should never doubt his mother's resourcefulness "Well, yes it was her....and the other, Professor Berio-Megiltura, but he prefers just Adam. He wears the sort of clothes father would be proud of. I originally thought he must be from one of the rich wizard families, until I discovered that he was The Guardian...."

"Of Light." she finished "I know, I overhead that too, what's he like?"

"He uses a staff."

"Really." his mother said with a certain amount of surprise "Not many people have those."

She replaced her cup and stood.

"Well come on then."

"Pardon?" Draco responded.

"Let's go and meet this girl of yours."
________________________________________________________________________

Ron had been around Hogsmeade three times and he was still furious at those who pranked him, he finally settled on a destination and turned into the Hogs Head.

He ordered a butterbeer and seated himself at a quiet table and was currently the only person in the pub.

Or at least he was until Remus walked in.

"Morning Ron, mind if I join you?"

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but never got the chance as the Werewolf immediately seated himself.

They sat in silence for a while until Ron mumbled.

"Aren't you going to get yourself a drink Professor?"

"Being a teacher I've got to set an example." To which Ron snorted at the thought of a marauder setting an example for anyone....other than the twins.

"I heard what happened." He continued "I know you are angry at them."

"Damn right." Ron muttered, temporarily forgetting that he was talking to a Professor.

"But they were right none the less. It is Ginny's life and she has the right to live it the way and with whomever she chooses."

"But Malfoy...."

"Malfoy will be watched Ron. Do you really think Harry, Hermione, your brothers or any of us who know what Draco's father is like are going to not watch his every move. You were not present at the meeting where we needed to talk to Draco about his father's choice of master so you did not hear what he said. Harry was at that meeting and he is not interfering with Ginny's relationship with him. You trust Harry so trust his judgement in this."

Remus said nothing for another minute or so, letting his words sink in.

He knew Ron was trying to be less aggressive but the prank had obviously been a bit too much for him this soon.

There were several more minutes of silence until Ron finally spoke.

"I reserve the right to cut his balls off if he hurts her."

"I think a lot of people are planning on doing that if he tries anything."

"And I still don't like it." Ron said firmly.

"You don't have to, just let her lead her life the way she wants and watch out for her."

Another minute of silence.

"I think I'm going to head back to the Three Broomsticks?" said Ron.

Remus smiled.

"I think that's a....."

He never got the chance to finish as the front wall exploded inward.