A Different Beginning

Chapter LXXII - Some Problems and a Prank

Three days after Seamus had beaten the crap out of Carmichael, he was ready to take the next step and to do what Harry had suggested. He was nervous about it and he didn't know if he was going to have the guts to do it and most of all he was nervous about how Lavender was going to react to it. He was the last one to crawl out of bed that Saturday morning and he stretched lazily before standing up. He yanked on a nearby pair of jeans over his boxers before he went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He knew what he was going to do first, but he was so nervous about it. He wasn't even sure if he could go through with it. But the only thing that he knew was that he had to take the first step today or he knew that he would never do it and that he would be miserable for the rest of his life wondering what if.

He grinned at the thought and headed back into the dormitory. His grin widened when he saw the very person that he was thinking about sitting on his bed.

"Hey Beautiful!"

Lavender looked up at him as he walked into the room and her breath caught in her throat. She had never seen him without a shirt on before, and blimey was he built. She swallowed and pushed the thoughts aside, they were inappropriate for her to be feeling about such a good friend of hers. But how could she not admire the smooth skin and the broad shoulders. She gulped and looked up at him. "I need to talk to you."

Seamus nodded and grabbed a green shirt from the dresser. He pulled it over his head before he turned to her. "Alright, what's up?"

She took a deep breath and then she stood up and punched him in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She demanded. "What on earth gave you the right to go after Eddie and beat the crap out of him like that?"

Seamus shrugged. "He deserved it."

"Why?"

"Because he hurt you, Lave! Damn it and it pissed me off! He had no bloody right to touch you!"

Lavender's mouth dropped open. "What gives you the right to decide his punishment? Who made you the one that's supposed to fight my battles? I can fight my own damn battles, Seamus! Did I not hex him? I'm sorry I cried on your shoulder but I was pissed off! And if I tell you things in confidence like that I don't expect you to go after the people who hurt me!"

"I know that! But I wanted to. As far as I know he doesn't even know why I punched him." He sighed and reached over to take her hand, sitting down next to her on the bed. "I care about you and I don't want to see you get hurt. I know that you can take care of yourself but ... I just, I wanted to do something to hurt him back for ... for what he did to you."

Lavender's eyes fell down to his hands. His knuckles were scraped a bit and she knew that out of pride Seamus wouldn't have allowed Madam Pomfrey to heal them. She lifted their joined hands and kissed his knuckles. "Thank you then. But I still think that you were a prat!"

He sighed and tried to ignore the way that her lips had felt against his skin. "The only important thing is that you're not with that prat anymore!"

She grinned. "I guess yeah. I do understand why you went after him, what he did was ... well, more then inappropriate but it wasn't your concern alright? You can't always be around to protect me. I'm used to protecting myself." When he nodded she smiled. "Alright, onto other news, Justin asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him on Valentine's Day. I was so surprised. He's so shy."

Seamus gulped and tried to ignore the image that had suddenly appeared in his brain of him beating Finch-Fletchley into a bloody pulp. "Oh yeah?"

She smiled. "We should double date so that I can kick you under the table when you get out of line."

He managed a small smile. "Yeah maybe."

Lavender stood up and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for defending my honour. I'll see you later."

He watched her go and rubbed the ache over his heart. This was his only chance left. He grabbed a piece of parchment from his book bag and began to compose a letter. He just hoped that what he had planned worked.

************

Draco was getting back into the swing of things at school as well, but his mind was elsewhere a great deal of the time. He felt so much better now that he had opened up to Harry and he liked knowing that he was there when he needed a friend to talk to. He was also very pleased with the idea of him no longer having to marry Pansy, of course he did have to find someone else in a little over a year, but that wasn't the point. He knew who he wanted but he knew that his chance there wasn't going to happen. How could she ever learn to love him knowing that his father had done what he had to her own mother?

As if on cue, Delilah made her way down the hall with her friend Mandy. He tried not to stare but it was hard when she was so beautiful. Neither one of them even noticed him lurking in the doorway of an empty classroom.

"I don't know, Mandy; it's not really my kind of thing. Besides, I'm so not interested in Vince in any way. He's a bully." Delilah insisted as she fixed the bag on her shoulder.

Mandy pouted. "But Greg has this whole game thing and we really need you. I like Greg, so what if he's a stupid baboon, he's pretty hot naked."

Delilah made gagging noises that caused Draco to grin. "Ew! Too much information! And no! I'm not double-dating! I'm not interested in Crabbe I'm sorry."

Mandy sighed. "Fine! What if I can convince Greg to bring someone else along?"

Delilah rolled her eyes. "No."

"It was worth a shot, you know."

"I'm not saying that it wasn't. Look, I'm not interested in guys at the moment, you know that!"

Mandy sighed. "You've got to get over him! Del, he wasn't worthy of you in the least! Look how he treated you! He was a complete arse!"

"I know ... but ... I thought I loved him."

"Jason was a jerk, Del! You knew that you didn't love him and when he slapped you around like that well ... I'm surprised that you didn't peel the skin from his bones!"

Delilah laughed. "I was too shocked I think. No one had ever hit me in my entire life. An argument is one thing, but ... I never knew that he had such violence in him."

"Psh! Summer romances ... he was a jerk! Just be thankful that he doesn't go here! He's the last thing that you need."

Delilah nodded. "Guys are the last thing that I need at the moment. Why add more fuel to the fire?"

"Fire?" Mandy asked, a bewildered look on her face and then she nodded. "Oh right! Pansy's a bitch so why bother getting bent out of shape about her!"

"Well, I'm going to get bent out of shape about it! I'm tired of her spreading vicious lies about me all over the school!" She exclaimed.

Mandy shrugged. "But most people know that they're lies, Del! I mean, you're obviously not a lesbian and you're not pregnant! And if she would just get it through her head that you're not trying to steal her fiancé I think it would all be much better!"

Delilah nodded. "You can say that again! It's not my fault if Malfoy fancies me is it?"

"Well, you are beautiful, Del; give the bloke a break there."

She blushed. "I guess. I mean, don't get me wrong, Draco's very handsome. I'm just not interested."

"Uh-huh," Mandy replied, a knowing look in her eyes. "Why aren't you interested again?"

Delilah rolled her eyes. "Come on, Mandy! He's like the golden prince. All that gorgeous hair and the beautiful blue eyes and the long-fingered hands that damn it, yes, I've imagined those hands on my skin but ... his family is horrible! How does one know that he's not the same? He came from the same mold?"

Mandy shrugged. "You can't know. He thinks you're gorgeous, why don't you give him a chance?"

"I just can't."

Mandy sighed. "Whatever, and you're too modest - you are beautiful and obviously Malfoy's noticed. Well, listen, if you refuse to double date with me, looks like you'll be alone in Hogsmeade."

Delilah shrugged. "I probably won't even go. The last thing I need is for Pansy to see me in Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day without a date."

Mandy grinned. "And you think that she's going to have a date? Honestly Del, have you seen the way that Draco treats her? He hates her just as much as we do! Poor bloke is betrothed to her and not by choice!"

She smiled. "True." She grinned broadly. "Oh, I hope she's miserable!"

Mandy laughed. "That's my girl! Come on, we're going to be late for Transfiguration if we don't hurry!"

Delilah nodded. "Alright I'm coming."

Draco watched them hurry off and sighed. Well, at least she found him handsome right? He sighed; it wasn't nearly enough. They were right about one thing; Pansy was going to start pestering him soon. He hated Valentine's Day.

************

As the weeks passed by, Ginny's tutoring classes had pretty much ended. She had completely wowed all of the professors, including Snape, though he would never admit it. She had only taken two weeks to catch up with everything as she and Emma had covered a large portion of it when going over her studies. She was now fully caught up and back in the normal rush of everyday homework.

McGonagall had been very impressed when Ginny had showed her the animagus forms. They had agreed to register the fox and leave the eagle as her own. McGonagall had definitely given quite a bit of praise, causing Ginny to blush as she knew that McGonagall was the kind to give it only if she was truly impressed. Ginny felt like the compliments had meant more to her knowing that.

But the thing that Ginny had been the most anxious to work on was the prank. Harry hadn't been lying when he had told her that the girls were going crazy, they were out of control. They bad mouthed Ginny; they grabbed Harry when he was walking through the halls, sometimes even pinched his bum. But Romilda Vane was definitely still the worst. Every where she turned, Romilda was there, flirting with Harry, touching his arm, smiling at him. Ginny trusted Harry with her life but she didn't trust Romilda as far as she could throw her. Harry was simply too nice to tell her off so between Ginny and Sirius and with a bit of help from Fred and George and surprisingly, Hermione, she had a good plan. Or, what she hoped turned out to be a good plan.

Basically, it was a mix of many things. Some of it affected Harry; some of it affected the girls who followed him; and a good chunk of it affected Romilda Vane. Sirius had helped her to prefect the last few plans and get the last few ends in order the night before. Fred and George's role had been particularly fun. They had this new invention - well, it was a potion actually, something that was not yet available to the public - but what it did was all you had to do was say the names of the people who you wanted the potion to affect and red smoke would rise up from the cauldron. The smoke would then sail out of the room and find the people whose names had been mentioned. The good part was that the smoke was invisible to everyone but the person or persons who made the potion.

Ginny just hoped that the potion did what the twins said it did; force the person to tell exactly what they thought and were feeling about the person they were talking to. But considering that she had threatened to send certain pictures to Business Wizard, they had cooperated fully and naturally the twins were more then happy to help out in any type of prank. Sirius had helped with the second part that had affected Harry and Ginny had the feeling that he enjoyed it entirely too much and she was pretty sure that he had something else up his sleeve that he wasn't telling her. Surprisingly, it was Hermione who helped her out with the final parts of getting Romilda back. Ginny was just anxious for the games to begin.

She was rewarded fairly soon as she and Harry were walking through the halls that Saturday afternoon hand in hand when a crowd of girls headed towards them. They were giggling and whispering to each other as they shot flirtatious looks in Harry's direction. Ginny rolled her eyes and stopped Harry to kiss him softly.

He grinned at her. "I think that you enjoy doing that in front of those girls entirely too much."

Ginny pouted. "Alright, if you want me to stop then ..." She made a move to pull back and Harry yanked her back up against him.

"Oh no, I never said stop." He brought his lips back down to hers and she sighed in happiness. When he pulled back, her eyes were blurred in pleasure.

"Hmm, yum."

He grinned. "Yum indeed."

"Oh stop snogging already!" Ron exclaimed. "I don't want to hear yummy noises while thinking about you kissing my sister!"

Harry grinned broadly. "What, you want me to lie?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and took Ron's hand in hers. "Ron, leave them alone." Her eyes traveled over the crowd of girls and she grinned in amusement. "Hmm, interesting this crowd, eh, Ginny?"

Ginny grinned wickedly. "Thanks Hermione, I just hope it works."

"Hope what works?" Harry asked as he squeezed her hand gently in his.

But he didn't get to hear an answer because all four of them jolted when a yell broke out from the crowd.

"I WANT YOUR BODY, HARRY!"

Harry turned scarlet and Ginny tried to suppress a giggle. Ron's mouth dropped open in shock, though his eyebrow had risen in amusement and Hermione giggled. The games had begun. The girls who followed Harry around like lost puppies would be screaming out what they really thought or felt all day. Fred and George really were brilliant. As if one cue, a blonde girl made the next declaration.

"HARRY, I ONLY WANT YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE THE BOY WHO LIVED!"

A brunette nodded fiercely next to her. "I WANT YOUR MONEY!"

"NO, I WANT HIS MONEY!"

"I WANT MY HANDS ON HIS BODY! HE DOESN'T DESERVE THAT TRAMP!"

The yells were pretty much all the same and then Ginny could only grin when Romilda Vane made her way to the forefront. She stared boldly ahead, her dark eyes glistening as she swung her long black hair over her shoulder. She stepped directly in front of Harry and ran her finger down his chest in a provocative way that made Ginny want to hex her.

"I want you, Harry. I want you so bad that I can taste it."

Harry gulped and his face turned red. "But I ... I want Ginny's body not yours." He blushed when he realized what had come out of his mouth.

Ginny's hand flew over her mouth to stifle a giggle. She had never imagined Harry would say anything like that. Then she gasped, no ... Sirius wouldn't have, would he?

Ron's mouth simply dropped open. "Harry! I don't want to hear that about my sister!"

Another girl approached Harry and ran her hands along his arm. "I want you too; I'll even share you if I have too."

Harry's face turned a darker shade of red. "Ginny ... I want Ginny, I don't like you." He seemed to realize that he couldn't control what was coming out of his mouth and he glared at Ginny. But instead of asking her what she had done he instead came out with. "Ginny, I want to kiss you and I want to see what's on your thigh."

"Potter! Do you want to die?" Ron demanded, ignoring Hermione who was keeping a strong hold on him with her arms wrapped comfortably around his waist and her head resting on his shoulder.

"It's a prank, Ron, now shush."

"Shush? Do you hear what he's saying?" Ron demanded.

Hermione shrugged. "And you never think of doing anything like that to me?"

Ron's mouth opened and then closed again. "Well, I ... that's beside the point."

She grinned. "Uh-huh, just watch."

Ron turned his attention back to Ginny who was giggling again as Romilda pushed her way through again. Sirius had obviously used the same potion on Harry; she was going to have a word with him.

"I want your body because let's face it you're gorgeous, and because hey you're famous! I want you because being with you would make all of the girls jealous because I finally landed the Boy Who Lived. Do you have any idea how popular I'll be if I'm shagging the boy wonder?" She asked as she grinned at him flirtatiously.

"But I don't like you. You're rude and ignorant and you're ... I don't want to bloody shag you! I want to shag Ginny!" He covered his hand with his mouth in shock and Ginny laughed.

Ron's grip tightened on Hermione's hand. "I don't want to hear that he wants to shag my sister!"

Hermione laughed. "Shh love."

Romilda shrugged. "I want you. I want to be, Mrs. Harry Potter, I want to be the Duchess. I want to be famous!"

As she spoke, her black hair began to turn lighter and lighter until it was almost white and so thin that her scalp could be seen. Her nose grew so large that it dominated her face and warts grew out of the nostrils. Across her chest in big bold letters and in shining flashing lights it said: Hogwarts' Biggest Tramp and on her back in the same fashion it read: I'd Do Anything and Date Anyone for Money and Popularity. Her teeth grew so large that they hung down over her chin and she shrieked loudly when she realized what was happening. She threw her hands over her face and ran out of the hallway in horrified tears.

The other girls continued to yell out about how much they only wanted Harry because of his fame, body, and money. Hermione grinned in amusement to Ginny and mouthed out that it had worked as she dragged Ron away. Ginny pulled Harry away and into a nearby classroom and when he turned around to try to overcome the sudden speaking problem he had Ginny burst into hysterical laughter.

"What is so funny?" Harry demanded. "You did this! I know you did, you little ... Merlin, I want to kiss you!"

She laughed harder. "Oh, Sirius is brilliant! Have I ever mentioned how much I love him?"

"He did this? Why I ought to ... cover your entire body with my lips." Harry demanded, obviously trying to overcome the potion that was making him speak what he wanted to do above everything.

Ginny continued to laugh even though her body was painfully aroused through the things that he was saying. But every time he turned around, she laughed harder. Sirius had used what he had mentioned to her in a half-hearted joke. On Harry's bum, written in bold white letters it read: Property of G.W. - Hands Off! "Harry, Merlin Harry, you're bum!"

"My what?" He asked, turning to try to see it. "What does it say?"

Ginny caught her breath and walked over to him, slipping her arms around his waist. She leaned over to kiss his ear gently. "It says on your bum, 'Property of G.W. hands off."

Harry grinned broadly. "Oh yeah? Well, at least it tells the truth. I don't want anyone's hands on me but yours."

She grinned. "Sirius did it, I know he did. I wonder how he did it though."

"I want to make love to you."

Ginny's eyes widened as they met his and she knew the potion was still making him say things but she hadn't expected those words. She placed her hand on his cheek. "I'm not quite ready for that yet."

He nodded. "I know you're not. I didn't mean to say that, I meant to, Ginny I want, put your mouth on me again. Damn it! How do you turn this thing off?"

She grinned and brought her lips to his throat. "You can't. It just sort of has to die off."

"How long?" He asked, his hands sliding up her back and into her hair.

She shrugged. "Could be hours yet."

"Well, that's the last thing we need! I need you to try to find a way for this to stop before I go and rip off your clothes!" He blushed. "I didn't mean to say that."

Ginny laughed. "Come on; let's go find somewhere quiet to be for a while."

He nodded and let her lead him out of the classroom. "Where are we going to go?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. But there's probably somewhere quiet in the castle."

He pulled her close to him and kissed her softly. "I know the perfect place. Come on. I'm going to ravish you." He winced and she giggled.

"Don't worry about what's coming out of your mouth, Harry. It's only whatever you feel like doing above anything else."

"Oh, that's reassuring! So you know my darkest desires! Like that I want to see you naked. Damn it! Honestly, Gin, how do you turn this off?"

She smiled. "You can't. It's nice to know though that I'm the thing that you think about the most."

She followed him into the Gryffindor common room, surprised to find the common room empty except for a few people. They went up to his dormitory and Harry opened his trunk. "In here."

She watched in amazement as he turned the key and a staircase appeared when he opened the trunk. She stepped inside first and he followed, pulling the lid closed behind them and locking it.

"Harry, this is amazing!" Ginny exclaimed as she looked around the small kitchen.

He nodded. "I know. I've been meaning to take you down here but I never really found the right moment, you know? It's good for snogging you senseless."

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "It most certainly is. Harry, what do you want right now?"

"My Christmas present again." He replied before he groaned and buried his face in her neck. "No, I didn't mean ... damn it, why did you do this?"

Ginny giggled and kissed his lips softly. "I wanted you to say what you really felt to those girls. I didn't think about how it would affect you otherwise. I'm sorry, but I must say, it's very intriguing. I didn't quite understand what it would do when Sirius mentioned it." She kissed him again and then she slipped her hands under his shirt. "Harry?"

"Yeah?" He asked, his breath ragged as he gasped under her touch.

"I'm okay with giving you you're present again."

His eyes darkened when he looked at her. "Gin?"

She smiled and followed him into the bedroom. She pushed him down onto the bed and crawled over him, unsnapping his jeans in the process. "Harry?"

"Yeah?" He asked, his breath ragged as he reached up for her.

She placed a kiss on the skin just below his bellybutton. "I love you."

He grinned and then he gasped at her touch, fisting his hands in her hair as she began to plant small kisses along his bare skin. "Love you too."

*************

Monday morning, the girls who normally followed Harry around kept a much safer distance and especially made a point of almost leaving him alone. He could only grin as he remembered the prank. Romilda Vane had been particularly angry. Especially since the prank had lasted the entire weekend. Madam Pomfrey hadn't been able to get rid of the warts or the aging and she had been horrified over her appearance. She also remembered everything that she had said to Harry and was so embarrassed that she stayed as far away as possible. Harry didn't mind in the least, especially since the prank had ended with him enjoying a good afternoon with Ginny.

The first place he had gone on Sunday was to Sirius' and Lexy's suite to thank Sirius for the prank. Sirius had only grinned and said it wasn't the only prank he had done. He had then become strangely closemouthed however, as Lexy wanted to know what he had done. The answer had come Monday morning when Snape had walked into the Great Hall dressed in a prom dress of hot pink and black lace bra overtop the dress. His high heeled shoes had lit up when he walked and his long hooked nose had been pierced with a huge glowing ring.

He had hardly been pleased.

Harry could only grin broadly as he had wondered why it had taken so long for Sirius to play a good prank on Snape. It looked like he had finally managed to find a way of tricking him. Lexy was trying not to laugh but Harry had seen the way she had hit Sirius in the arm and given him a small lecture as she laughed at the look Snape had managed.

In other good news, Seamus had finally started the plan that Harry had suggested. Monday morning, an owl flew into the Great Hall and landed in front of Lavender with a single red rose. She had gasped in surprise and when she read the note; her eyes had darted around questionably. Ginny had gotten up to find out what had happened. She sat back down next to Harry and grinned.

"Lavender has a secret admirer."

"Oh yeah? What did the card say?" Harry asked, hoping that he sounded innocent.

Ginny sighed. "It was so sweet. It said: I have never seen such beauty until I looked into your eyes. Love always, your Secret Admirer. How sweet is that?"

Harry grinned. "Very sweet." He had to give Seamus credit; he had never expected him to have any romance in him. He looked at Ginny when he realized she was looking at him quizzically. "What?"

"You know who the rose is from, don't you?"

Harry's mouth dropped open. How did she do this? "What are you talking about? I don't know anything."

Ginny grinned. "Harry, don't lie to me."

He sighed and pulled her close to kiss her softly, moving his lips to her ear. "Fine, it's from Seamus. But don't you dare tell her."

"Really?" She exclaimed. "He likes her?"

Harry nodded. "Shh, and yeah, he's liked her for like three years. I told him he had to tell her."

Ginny nodded. "You're right he does have to tell her. That's so sweet though."

Harry grinned. "I can be sweet too." He held out his hand and a red lily appeared seemingly out of thin air. He handed it to her. "See?"

She grinned and kissed him. "Oh!" She kissed him again. "Thank your elementals for me."

He sighed. "Nothing gets past you."

She laughed. "Nope not a thing. Oh look, the paper's here, do you think they wrote any more lies about us?"

He shrugged. "Who knows?"

He accepted the Daily Prophet and paid the owl who delivered it. He opened up the newspaper and swore.

"What is it?" Ginny asked, reaching out to grab his hand. "Are you alright?" As soon as she touched him she felt guilt clawing through his system. "Harry! Whatever is in there is not your fault!"

He glared at her. "I wish you didn't know everything."

"It's not your fault! Now what does it say?"

Harry tossed the paper at her and she opened it up and gasped when she read the article:

MURDER OF DAILY PROPHET REPORTERS!
Written by: Thomas Sealtest