Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Blood Quill Consequences	By : EarthandWater Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Snape Views: 31160 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: We have no claim on Harry Potter nor any characters or locations thereof. We make no money from the writing of this.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
WARNING: Draco fighting with a VCR, budding friendship *cough*_{maybesomethingmore}*cough* between Draco and Mione, telling of an incident of domestic abuse, a small argument between the Golden Trio, More Neville/Luna fluff, dealing with reporters...that’s about it
Disclaimer: We have no claim on Harry Potter nor any characters or locations thereof. We gain only amusement from writing this.

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Hermione's lips twitched in amusement at Draco trying to cage his temper so as not to make the VCR explode again. She wondered what it was about VCRs that made them so difficult to deal with. They were older technology and normally that meant less complicated but compared to a DVD player, a VCR was horrendously difficult to set and it seemed the males of the species had the most trouble. Malfoy had managed to get the time and date of the device set and now was attempting to set a recording time and date. That was also usually when Hermione's father lost his temper with a VCR coincidentally. "Almost done, just adjust the minutes by five and we can move on to a less...complicated device."
Draco sent her a seething glare out of mercury eyes and gingerly pressed the buttons on the remote that would adjust the the minutes to when the VCR should start recording. "Bloody warts on a witch's hairy arse...This is torture, plain and simple. Why would anyone willingly put themselves through this just to record an image of some sort? What could be that important to see?" Draco blew his hair out of his eyes and right now he kind of wished it was back in its gelled back do. An explosive sigh left him when he finally pressed the button to indicate he was done and that the recording time was set. "There...Please tell me I did this right this time."
She leaned down over his shoulder and peered at the display for a few moments before nodded. "Yes, it's set correctly and truthfully I've never much seen the point of it either. I much prefer books to television shows and all a good book requires is someone who can read and turn the pages really."
She was too close, Draco had to resist turning his head and bury his nose in the crook of her neck, she smelt both spicy and sweet and it made his head spin. Draco pulled away, just enough so that he could think again. "I do love a good book, something that allows you to escape into it and that lets you paint your own images of what's happening." He pulled on his bangs a little embarrassed. "But we can move away from this devil machine now right, I think it's out to get me."
She beamed at him, both because he'd spoken precisely why she loved books and because his comment had echoed what her father said so often about gadgets. "Of course. Next is just a simple portable stereo." She led him towards a long box shaped contraption with just as many buttons on it as the VCR. "It's a lot simpler since you don't have to program anything in for recording purposes. If you want to record a song you wait until it comes on the radio and hit record. This one plays CDs as well," she held up a disc that had a brown side with scrolling words 'Johann Sebastian Bach' and the opposite side was shiny and reflective, "All you need to do is-" she broke off as an owl came flying into the room and headed for Draco, a small package in it's talons.
Draco's stomach flipped, he had a very good idea about what was in the package. He thanked the owl and summoned a handful of owl treats from the drawer in his dresser and handed them to the bird. He opened the parcel and a small oval emerald pendant slid out into his palm. "So small...It's weird that something so small will have such a huge impact on what will happen next isn't it?" He looked up at Hermione. "Do you mind if we continue this later? I should...I should probably get this to mother." For a moment he looked very lost.
She tucked the CD away and put her hand on his shoulder. "of course I don't mind Draco. Your mother's safety comes first, which is exactly how is should be."
"Thank you." The gray of his eyes melted into silver. "Would you come with me as I send it, to make sure I won't chicken out?" Draco's hand clenches around the pendant.
A kind smile curved her lips. "I doubt you'd chicken out, your mother's freedom is too important to you for that, but I'll be happy to come keep you company. Did Snuffles include the activation word?" She looked down at the wrapping and poked aside a flap that hid the word 'clematis'. "That's a flower isn't it?"
Draco nodded, a tiny smile playing over his lips. "It stands for safety...Kind of fitting don't you think?" They walked slowly towards the owlry. "I hope she's ready, that everything will be alright."
"I'm sure she's already got one or two plans and everything squared away. She is your mother and though you can be...less than charming at times, no one would ever make the mistake of considering you anything but clever. I would imagine you get that from your mother as your sire has made a bad habit of making very bad decisions." Hermione flicked her wand and summoned a single clematis flower, handing it to Draco. "So you can make even the activation word seem a gift."
"Oh I don't know, I've made some questionable decisions myself...and will likely make many more." He smirked and placed both the pendant and the flower, trapped with in a stasis charm to keep it from wilting into a package and called on his own eagle owl. "This is it, from this moment on I will no longer be the Malfoy heir, I don't really know what I will be."
"You'll be Draco. A snarky, clever, devious, and, occasionally, insufferable little git but that's alright. I'm an insufferable know-it-all and Harry and Ron haven't pushed me off a tower yet. Your true friends will stand beside you and the false ones...well I'm just as handy with a hex as you or any Slytherin."
"You really are an insufferable know-it-all and we are up in a tower...Good thing I'm rescinding my murderous ways." Draco tried to sound haughty but it came out more of a chuckle. He finished tying the package to his owl and sent him on his way, his breath almost leaving him as the owl took flight. "Well...I guess you're stuck with me now."
She lifted a brow and drawled teasingly. "Oh the horror. I can't say it's completely unwelcome you know. It will be nice to be around someone who offsets Ron's wild assumptions and Harry's latent noble to the point of stupidity streak more often."
"Oh Gods, you mean I actually have to socialize with you?" Draco gave a mock shiver but bumped her side with his elbow. "Will you protect me from the Wease...Err Weasley?"
"Well we won't let him attack you if that's what you mean. He'll explode a bit though, no avoiding that, redheaded temper and all but mostly it'll be ranting, some sulking, and the occasional insult if a good one occurs to him. Considering the insults you've laid on him and his family over the years that's understandable." She paused to look at him. "Which will stop and I do mean that. No more jabs at the Weasley's financial circumstances, if you must pick at Ron there is plenty of material there without bringing his family into it."
"Considering my family's situation from now on I won't have any urges to tread down that path. Besides he's so easy to make fun of just by himself...I will have fodder to last me until we graduate...At the very least." Draco flashed her a grin. "Should we go back to the devil devices? All we can do now is wait and I do not handle waiting all that well."
She shook her head with an amused smile. "By all means lets. I believe your next test in Muggle Studies is in two days and I mean for you to pass it with flying colors." They headed back down to the Room of Requirements to continue the lesson.
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Sirius sat in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place waiting for Narcissa to appear. He tapped his finger on the table and turned everything that could go wrong over in his head. He'd never been particularly close to his cousin but she was still his cousin and of the 'recognized' Black sisters she was certainly the most tolerable. Andromeda didn't consider herself a Black any longer though so it was easy for Narcissa to be more tolerable than Bellatrix.
A soft pop echoed in the room and he was looking at his cousin, holding her head high, a tiny trunk clutched in one hand, the portkey pendant around her neck, and a vivid bruise blooming high on her cheek. She blinked in shock at seeing him. "Sirius?"
He got to his feet. "Narcissa, what happened?" He swept his fingers over his own cheek to indicate the bruise.
Narcissa could hardly believe that it was her cousin, who she had rather publicly denounced, offering her sanctuary and mercy he looked awful. His question brought her out of her surprise and she lifted a casual shoulder. "Lucius was in a foul mood as he can not complete a task the Dark Lord has set for him. I was in the way as he was exiting the manor."
The animagus growled and surged towards the door as if he intended to go teach Malfoy a lesson. "That foul git."
"Sirius!" His cousin caught his arm strongly, belying her delicate appearance. "I am out of the manor and away from Lucius. There is no need to go after him and put yourself in danger. He will get his in due time."
The half-wild man looked down at the steel-spined woman and nodded. "Alright Cissy. Come on, I'll show you to your room and perhaps you can do something about my mother's constant shrieking and that blasted Kreacher."
Narcissa shook her head. Sirius it seemed, would never change. "Very well. Would you mind sending a message to my son arranging a floo conversation for the next Hogsmeade weekend? I know he'll be worried until he can talk to me."
"I'll send it to Harry, it'll be safer to floo-call in the Gryffindor common room, no sneaky dark lord lackeys to eavesdrop."
She bit back a reminder that Pettigrew had been a Gryffindor and simply nodded. She was rather tired. "Thank you."
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Hermione held the portrait hole open for Harry and Draco. The younger years were all down eating lunch and the higher years were in Hogsmeade, giving them a narrow window to use the fire for a floo-call to Grimmauld Place. "Hurry up! Ron stayed behind as well and I don't know how long his attention will be held by lunch."
Harry nodded and dragged Draco further into the common room, ignoring Draco's complaints that it was all so red. Both boys sunk down on their knees in front of the massive fire place and Harry tossed some floo powder into the fire, calling for Grimmauld place.
Ron was making his way up to the tower lazily, he'd had a nice lunch and a not so nice snog with Padma Patil and he was eager to get back to the common room, maybe he could entice Harry to a game of chess. It felt as if he was drifting away a bit from his mates. They were always whispering about something these days and Ron didn't like it. He thought it was the three of them, it always had been and Ron didn't understand what had changed. He missed them, both Hermione and Harry.
He called out the password, Marzipan pig to the fat lady and ducked inside through the portrait hole. Ron came to a screeching halt when he saw the blond head next to his mates by the fire. "Bloody hell, what's going on? What's the git doing here?"
Quick as a whip Hermione was next to Ron, her hand over his mouth and hissing at him. "Keep it down Ron. We'll explain in a bit." She turned her attention back to the fireplace where Narcissa Malfoy's face, and the bruise on it, could now be seen.
The woman spoke quietly to her son. "Really my little Dragon I am fine. It's only a bruise and the last one at that."
"But you shouldn't be bruised at all Mother, that bastard should not get away with hitting you." Draco hissed out between clenched teeth, looking as he wanted to put his hand in the fire and cup his mother's cheek. "I will find a way to get him back."
Ron's blue eyes widened and he pushed away Hermione's hand from his mouth but he stayed quiet. He had never heard Malfoy sound like that before, he sounded almost human. What had Harry and Hermione been up to and why had they done it without him? Didn't they trust him?
Harry looked from the fire to Ron and back again, he could see the hurt in his best friend's eyes and he hated that he was a part of what had put it there.
Narcissa shook her head firmly. "No. Lucius will get his in due time. I want you to concentrate on your studies, help Pansy, and keep as safe as you can. Besides," a decidedly Slytherin gleam entered her eyes, "your father is now missing many of his most valuable tomes and artifacts, many of which he had been planning on presenting to the Dark Lord. Can you imagine how...displeased You-Know-Who will be to learn he won't be getting Abraxas' spellbook?"
A silver blond brow rose sardonically. "Oh I imagine he will be very displeased indeed, you are one of a kind Mother...One of a kind." Draco smiled at his mother's image. "But you're okay otherwise? Have you settled in okay? Are you being taken care of?"
"Yes my baby, I'm perfectly well. The old house-elf Kreacher is taking wonderful care of me and my cousin is being solicitous as well. The house needs a little work however," she wrinkled her nose, "poor Kreacher was unable to keep up with everything after Aunt Walburga passed away but I'll enlist Sirius and get it set to rights soon enough."
Hermione blinked at the kind tone in Lady Malfoy's voice when she spoke of the, rather cracked, elf Kreacher. Perhaps there were more wizards than she thought who didn't treat house-elves as slave objects if Narcissa was concerned for Kreacher.
"I'm sure you will Mother, take care and be sure to let me know if you need anything at all." Draco continued to smile, feeling happy that his mother was safe.
Harry was grinning too, wondering how Sirius would like being forced to help clean the house up. He was relieved that his godfather would have some company though, someone to get him out of brooding and force him to interact some.
"Well isn't this all sweet and cozy? Could someone just please let me in on what's going on?" Ron's tone was hard and he stood rigid with his arms across his chest.
Narcissa cast a glance in the direction of the irritated voice but when her son didn't change expression beyond exasperation she said nothing about Ron's rudeness and replied to her son. "I will. You take care of yourself Draco. Je t'aime mon fils. Au revoir." With that she disappeared from the fire, leaving the Golden Trio and Draco to talk.
Hermione gave Ron a brief smack to the back of the head. "Patience is a virtue, acquire it."
"Easy for you to say...I don't see you left out of the loop." Ron grumbled and rubbed his head where Hermione had hit him. He really didn't mind seeing Malfoy there...Well not too much anyway. What pissed him off was that neither Harry or Hermione had even breathed a word about it to him, they had just left him in the dark.
The girl sighed and dragged him over to one of the plush sitting areas. "We wanted to wait until Lady Malfoy was safe before we told you. Everything was up in the air and you blowing up wouldn't have helped and don't you dare say you wouldn't have blown a fuse," she pointed at him, "you blew up about the VCR, you'd have gone nuclear with suspicion over this."
"Yeah so because I dare to worry about you I don't deserve to be told?" Ron's eyes narrowed and he felt anger boiling under the surface.
"Ron come off it, it's not like that mate. We were planning to tell you." Harry got up from his knees and walked over to where Ron was standing.
"Don't...Just don't. Don't call me mate when you stand there keeping secrets from me." Ron moved away from them both. "Look it will be alright, I'll calm down but I can't do this right now...I need to go." Ron turned on on his heel and climbed back out of the portrait hole.
Hermione grimaced and looked over at Harry. "Have you noticed that I have an absolute talent for saying the perfectly wrong thing to him?"
"Oh yeah, because I did so much better." Harry sighed and took off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. "We handled this wrong, we should have told him right away. Now will wait until he cools of and apologize. It's Ron, you know he will cool off."
"Um, I think I should go. Thank you for letting me speak to Mother." Draco looked a bit uncomfortable, being stuck in a row between the golden trio, he'd always thought they were practically joined at the hip, never fighting. "See you later."
Hermione smiled at him. "Alright. You'd best decimate your classmates on Muggle Studies test day after tomorrow Malfoy."
"I will blow them out of the water Granger." Draco grinned back at her before leaving the common room, hurrying back to familiar Slytherin territory.
"You seem to be getting along well." Harry's tone was teasing as he watched how Hermione looked at the spot where Draco had left.
She looked over at him curiously. "Hm? Well he's not the total git we used to think is he? When not trying to uphold his father's ideals he's rather pleasant to be around you know."
"Hmm, I think I'll take your word on the pleasant part but you're right, he's not totally insufferable" Harry gave her another smile.
She smiled back before bringing her knees up and resting her chin on them. "I think, once he's not so angry anymore, that we need to spend a day with Ron. We've both been so busy with everything that we've been letting him slip through the cracks and that's wrong. We shouldn't have kept him out of the loop, even if he'd have blown up."
Harry sat down and wrapped an arm around her shoulder and rested his chin on the top of her head. "You're right, he may be short tempered but he didn't deserve to be left out. Oh lord...We need to tell him about the interviews too, before he reads about it. I can only imagine how well that would go over." Harry shuddered and remembered last year when Ron thought he had placed his own name in the Goblet of Fire.
She grimaced. "Ugh, he'd go into a sulk for weeks instead of days. Last time you nearly got fried by a dragon before he'd listen to sense." She shook her head. "Well I guess we're setting up a Ron ambush tonight then? And going to Hogsmeade tomorrow for the second day of the weekend?"
"Yes on both accounts." Harry nodded. "I will make a visit to the kitchens later, the way to Ron's heart and forgiveness definitely goes through his stomach...bottomless pit that it is. We'll make him listen and hopefully he will go with us tomorrow." He stretched his legs and placed his feet up on the low table in front of them. "When was it I had the interview with them? I do not look forward to it but at least I get to tell my side of the story. Thank you for helping me by the way, you know I couldn't do it without you."
"It's no trouble. Luna Lovegood will be there by the way, along with Skeeter, because of her father's publication, noon tomorrow at the Three Broomsticks. I know you hate publicity but Snape was right, you have to put yourself out there so that you can get people to fight." She shook her head. "I still can't believe I'm agreeing with something not Potions that Snape said."
Harry grinned. "I know, pleasant Malfoy's and agreeing with Snape...The world is turning upside down."
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Pulling on his robes Harry walked down the street of Hogsmeade feeling a nervous lump in his stomach. He only hoped he wouldn't be sick on the reporters, he didn't think that would make such a great impression. Hermione was walking next to him, calming him down and giving him last minute tips. Ron was walking a few steps behind them, still sulking but at least he was there and that meant the world to Harry.
"What if I faint? What if I can't get any words out?" Harry was freaking out.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Harry if Neville can survive a class with Snape, and you know how terrified he is of Snape, and crank out a good potion, which he has done before, then you can handle telling your story to a few reporters. Just remember you're The-Boy-Who-Lived, the hero of the wizarding world who's being wrongfully maligned by the Ministry because the fools there are playing politics rather than protecting the people." Her voice was sarcastic, revealing her opinion of the idiots who saw Harry as all that when he was just...Harry. "Put on your big boy boxers, pull the act out of the hat, be your modest, and slightly pissed off when it comes to Fudge or Umbridge, self and let's get this over with so we can try to squeeze a little fun into the day."
"Right...Big boy boxers, I can do that." Harry still looked rather pale as they continued walking towards the Three Broomsticks. He had been over this with Hermione a dozen times, he knew what to do but when it came to reporters his insides just froze up.
Ron rolled his eyes, as amusing as it was watching Harry sound and act like him it was even more pathetic. "Oh suck it up you wanker, go in there bat your eyelashes at them and you'll have them in the palm of your hand." He turned to them, I'll go to Honeydukes, see you later."
Hermione turned and frowned just a bit at Ron's retreating back. "It is far too odd to have him this put out with both of us, usually it's just one or the other."
"It's...Unsettling." Harry agreed. "Hopefully when this hellish task is done we'll have some time to really talk to him." They stopped in front of Three Broomsticks and Harry tried to flatten his hair which only made it stand on end more. "Okay Mione, wish me luck."
She reached up and scrunched her hands through his hair, making it behave in a somewhat less wild manner. "Just keep your head about you and you won't need luck and besides, I'll be right there with you in case they start getting unbearable." She gave him a brief hug. "Now let's beard the vultures shall we?"
Harry swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah, let's." Harry held open the door for Hermione and followed her into the building, walking over to the sets of tables that had been reserved for the day's interview. He caught sight of Luna and pressed out a smile at her and a stiffer grin in Rita Skeeter's direction. "Welcome and thank you for coming, I'm sorry if I'm late." He slid in to a chair facing the reporters.
Rita shook her head, looking quite a bit more strained than she had at the Tri-Wizard tournament though her eyes gleamed with the anticipation of a good story. "You're not late at all. So, what has The-Boy-Who-Lived calling us all here?"
"There have been plenty of rumors going around about me the last few months, I thought maybe you'd like to hear the truth." He pinned Skeeter with emerald green eyes. "The true story, straight from me...Exclusive."
The reporters just about had a mass orgasm at the idea and took out their dicta-quills. A young man came from the direction of the bar and sat in the seat next to Luna, much to Hermione's surprise, and handed her, Luna, and Harry mugs of butterbeer. Neville gave Harry an encouraging smile then pointed at a dicta-quill and parchment beside the Ravenclaw. "Just so you all know, that dicta-quill is enchanted to record only what is said and done and not some sensationalized version of the truth so if so much as one lie makes it into your copies we'll know and we won't be pleased. As my Grandmother is rather fond of Harry and holds the Longbottom Lordship in trust for me until I reach my majority, she'll be more than willing to take up his cause against such lies and boycott those who spin them."
Since he'd been spending time with Luna, Neville's confidence had grown, though he was still plenty shy, and he'd slowly been coming into his Gryffindor protectiveness towards his friends. When Luna had told him about the interviews he'd decided to come along in case a reminder of integrity was needed for the reporters.
Harry sent Neville a surprised and impressed glance, he was really grateful to have friends like him. "Right then, should we get started?" Harry took a breath and started to tell them about everything, the Triwizard tournament, Cedric's death and Voldemort's rebirth. He talked about Fudge and Umbridge too, not hiding anything about what had happened.
Neville was chewing the inside of his cheek by the time Harry had finished, his eyes concerned for his friend. He'd always known that Harry was under pressure and that he was always in danger but hearing about how bad it had been, and hearing about him being persecuted for telling the truth, it was a miracle his friend was still sane.
Hermione's eyes were shining. It hurt to hear in more detail how her friend had suffered through last year and most especially these first months of the school year and to know that she'd done nothing to help. She reached over and laid a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder when he came to a stop, looking down at the table.
"So yeah...That's about it." Harry felt worn out, worn and a bit sick. These were not pleasant memories to think about or relive and rehash them like this in front of reporters was even worse. He could still see Cedric's unseeing eyes staring up at him and his spirit begging Harry to take his body home. The weight of Hermione's hand on his shoulder was welcome and familiar, it grounded him and kept him from getting lost in the tale he had just told. "Thank you for listening."
The reporters, even Rita, were all looking at him in an odd mixture of sympathy and curiosity. Rita pursed her lips and asked. "Why tell us now? Why not when the rumors first started?"
"Because...I guess back then I still had faith. Faith that the Ministry would do the right thing, tell the truth and protect the people they claim to care about by letting them know what was going on and let them prepare themselves." Harry caught her gaze. "I finally realized that they wouldn't, that if something would be done I'd have to do it on my own. I had to get the truth out there."
The other reporters nearly went into spasms of joy even as Skeeter nodded. If there was anything the public loved more than a scandal it was a wrongfully maligned hero who remained the people's champion. This story would have the presses spinning non-stop to keep up with demand for it.
Hermione glanced at the pub clock and then back to the reporters. "If no one has any other questions," she paused, her gaze almost daring someone to ask for more and get a hex for their trouble, "we all need to get going. We students need to pick up some school supplies."
Though they appeared reluctant, the reporters packed up and left at the clear dismissal knowing that if they didn't the Three Broomsticks' owner would throw them out and ban them and no one wanted that as no one made better butterbeer.
Hermione sat back and sighed. "Well that's done then isn't it. Only thing to do now is wait and hope it does some good."
"By Merlin yes, I would hate to have done this for nothing." Harry ran his hand through his hair, feeling nothing but thankful that it was finally over.
"It will do some good." Luna nodded. "It will make people open their eyes and question things. Even those who won't believe you will still read it and ask themselves what's right. It will force the Ministry's hand to do something." She smiled at them and leaned against Neville for a second. "I need to get going to, Papa would hate being out scooped."
Neville smiled, reached into his robe and pulled out a Blue Bell Tunicate Flower, handing it to her. "Be safe then."
Luna smiled back, her smile turning tender as she watched the dark haired Gryffindor. "Thank you, you stay safe too." She took the flower and placed it in her hair, where it rested against her lady bug hair pins. She gathered her things and got up from the table. "I'll see you back at school."
Harry waved at the pale girl as she left and took another sip of his butterbeer. "So Neville, you and Luna?"
The other boy blushed a bit but nodded. "She's great isn't she?"
Hermione was gawking a bit. "But...you...you're so grounded and she...she's so....Luna!"
Neville tilted his head. "And I like Luna. I'm too 'grounded', I fade into the dirt. Luna, she shines, just like her name and makes me feel like it's okay to sprout up and show my own colors."
"I think it's fantastic." Harry said smiling. "She lifts you up and you keep her from floating right out into space, a perfect match. I'm really happy for you." He was happy and just a little bit envious. Harry longed to find someone like that too, someone that made him feel like Neville felt.
Hermione was still somewhat confused but she muttered something about Newtonian physics and shrugged. "Well so long as you're happy that's all that matters I suppose." Her logic circuits still a little fuzzy, she stood up. "Well let's go to Honeydukes before Ron spends his life savings?"
Harry got up too. "Yeah, I hope he's still there." He wasn't sure Ron had actually waited for them, not now when he wasn't very happy with them. "Do you want to join us Neville? Some Honeydukes and Zonko's before we return to Hogwarts."
The quiet boy nodded and went to follow them. "Sure. I've been wanting to pick up some sugar quills and Every Flavor Beans."
Smiling Harry lead the way out of Three Broomsticks.
Ron was still at Honeydukes, he had gone through their shelves three times over and carried a not so small bag of goodies. How long could the interview take? Ron was getting bored and thought about going to find his brothers, most likely they would be in Zonko's, peddling their stuff.
"Oh good, you're still here." Hermione came over and poked at his bag. "How much of your savings did you kill?"
"Knuts well spent." Ron replied clutching his bag, this would feed his sugar addiction for quite some time. "So finally done yeah?" He folded his lanky body away from the wall he'd been leaning against. "Hi Nev, how's it going?"
Harry stifled a sigh. Ron was still pouting then.
Neville blinked, noticing the undercurrents between the three friends, but didn't comment on it. "Good. How about you Ron?"
"Just dandy." Ron said with a glance over at his two best friends. "So what have you been up to lately, haven't seen you around the common room...You still owe me that chess game you know." He wrapped a long arm around Neville's shoulder.
"Okay, any ideas on how to deal with tall, red and pissed?" Harry leaned in close and whispered to Hermione.
She lifted a shoulder. "Just time really and...well Neville is actually rather good at soothing wild tempers."
Neville gave Ron a small smile. "I've been spending a lot of time in the courtyard and greenhouses with Luna so I haven't been round as much as usual but name the time and place for the game and I'll show up."
"Luna eh? Then I understand about not having time." Ron chuckled. "Birds triumph Chess any day mate...Any day."
Hermione groaned in disgust. "He's such a dog."
"That he is." Harry agreed with a fond grin on his face. "He's never pretended otherwise, and at least he's smiling." Harry grabbed some sugar quills, and chocolate frogs, he needed to replenish his sugar stash too since he never could manage to keep it hidden from Ron.
"True. Still the girl who finally gets him leashed will have my undying gratitude." Hermione pondered the shelves, picked up a few bars of regular chocolate, a bag of Bertie Botts, and then put a full two dozen chocolate frogs in her basket before heading to the counter. She had them put the frogs in a separate bag from the other treats then called out to the redhead. "Ron catch!" She tossed the bag of chocolate frogs to him, an unspoken peace offering and apology.
A freckled, long fingered hand came up and snatched the bag in the air and Ron peered into it curiously. He couldn't help the small smile that spread over his features at the sight of his favorite treat. "Cheers." He said simply but his eyes weren't hard and hurt when he looked at Hermione. "So then Nev, how far have you gotten with Luna then?"
"We'll be alright...If Neville doesn't clock him." Harry paid for his sweets and joined Hermione.
The girl tilted her head at the narrow-eyed look on Neville's face and pursed her lips. "You know I'd bet more on Neville giving Ron a plant that numbs his tastebuds for a while instead of outright punching him."
The quiet Gryffindor continued to give Ron a glare, that coming from sweet, shy, gentle Neville had the redhead shrinking a bit. "I like Luna, a lot Ron."
Ron backed off. "Sorry mate, I didn't mean any disrespect. Good for you." He held his hands up in the universal sign for surrender. Ron didn't fancy getting on Neville's wrong side.
Neville's dark expression dropped and he smiled again. "Apology accepted."
Hermione's lips twitched in amusement at Neville's quick change and she nodded, her mind finally wrapping around him being with Luna. Yes, if that was what brought about the change in the quiet boy then they were good together, no matter their differences. She sighed and looked to the school. Tomorrow was bound to be hectic once the papers were delivered and she knew Harry wasn't looking forward to it. With luck though people wouldn't be too unbearable and maybe Dean and Seamus would yank their heads out of their asses.
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Blood Quill Consequences