Ch. 21: Band of Baboons

     Blake and I had finally reached the Gryffindor Common Room after everyone else had cleared the arena and I had pulled Blake's money out of my bra. But, I kept the rest of the cash. The boys said they didn't need it anyway.

    Once Blake and I crawled through the portrait's opening we were greeted with a loud roar of a party celebrating Harry's victory against the dragon. "Cheers!" Fred stood up on one of the oak tables that was not filled with food, unlike all of the others. "Cheers to Harry Potter! Tri-wizard Champion!" He roared and everyone lifted a glass of what appeared to be butter beer.

     Grinning, I shoved my way through the crowds of Gryffindors of all ages and finally reached Harry. Quickly, I wrapped him in a tight hug. "Congrats Harry! I knew you could do it!" Harry grinned happily, making the cuts on his face stretch out a little, but he didn't seem to care. "Thanks, Elle."

     Standing on my tiptoes, I peered over all the towering bodies, searching for my group of weirdos. I spotted the flaming redhead and her accomplices by the dessert table. I squeezed my way over to them with a smirk and immediately popped into their conversation.

     "So, where did all this food come from?" I peered down at the pastries and cakes, but a bright yellow pasty caught my eye and I quickly zeroed in on it. "How did this get down here?" I chuckled mischievously and looked around to see if anyone had taken one yet, but all twenty were there.

     Lana peered over her shoulder and shrugged. "I brought it down while searching for food. Fred told me that it would be in your trunk, so I grabbed them and set them out. Do you care?"

     Shrugging, I shook my head. "No, I guess not. But, they haven't been properly tested yet. I mean,... I don't know if they will even work."

    "Huh?" Jenna rose a brow and looked at the bright yellow pasties curiously. "What are they?"

     I shushed them as Neville walked past, looking at what was on the table and then eagerly picking up one of the yellow pasties, taking a big bite out of one. In my head, I counted to three and watched in amazement as Neville suddenly began shaking and coughing uncontrollably. His knees buckled from under him and he fell to the floor, his body quivering and rocking back and forth causing people around us to stop dancing and talking and stare at him, scared.

     "Someone call the Nurse!" Patty screamed and fell to her knees beside Neville's seizing body. She was freaking out, not knowing how to fix him. I bit my lip and started giggling uncontrollably, knowing people around me were going to think I was psycho.

     After a few seconds of Neville seizing, even though it felt like minutes to people who were witnessing him and didn't know what the hell was happening, Neville was suddenly back to his normal self, and just lying quietly on the floor. Patty stared, dumbfounded, at Neville's sudden change and looked up at me, shocked. "What'd you do to him? Are you okay, Neville? Do you need to see the nurse?"

    Neville sat up and looked around, a stunned smile playing at his mouth. "Woah, I feel fine. That was weird." He looked behind me and asked: "What did I eat?"

     "That's what I like to call a Seizure Pasty." Fred's voice called; he was the person Neville was addressing.

     Frowning, I crossed my arms over my chest and corrected them both. "Uhh, no. I made those and they are called 'Sunglow Seizure Sweets'."

      Fred came up from behind me and threw an arm around my shoulder and talked into my ear, making my insides turn and twist. "Why? That is so long and complicated."

     "It'll sell more than your boring name." I pushed him away from me with a smile and turned to him, face to face. "It's called marketing." Everyone had pretty much forgotten about Neville's seizure by now and had begun partying once more. 

     "So, where'd you steal all this food?"

     Fred picked up a tray that was empty, except for one lemon cupcake. "If you want to know, you can come with me right now. I'm going to restock." Shrugging, I decided 'what the hell', and followed him out of the Common Room, also grabbing a few more empty trays that could stand to be restocked.

     As we walked downstairs, I slowly began a conversation. "So, how did you guys get the party set up so fast? I mean, Blake and I were only gone for ten minutes, max."

     Fred sent me a wink and took a sharp left, guiding me down a dimly lit corridor that I had never gone into before. "Well, we had Lee set everything up beforehand actually. Since there are no classes today, Lee said he could get all the drinks and food and we would just have to get the people. Which George and I did."

     "Oh..well that's convenient." I scoffed and ran my hand against the smooth stone of the walls while we continued to walk a little farther, until reaching a very large portrait of fruit. "And, how did you know that there'd be a reason to celebrate?"

     "You kinda expect it, when you've been around Harry Potter for as long as we have," Fred merely quipped in reply.

      We were stopped in front of the large portrait of fruit, and I looked at it, wondering if there was anything special about it. I mean, there had to be. But, I wasn't getting it. I glanced at Fred, knowing he was looking at me in anticipation. "I don't get it."

Fred smirked and turned to me. "Tickle the pear."

     "Is that some kind of sexual innuendo?" I chuckled and rose a brow, only partly kidding.

Rolling his eyes, Fred threw his head back with a real laugh, one that reached his eyes, making them crinkle around the edges, it had to be one of the best smiles I'd ever seen. I shook my head snapping myself out of it and cautiously reached out a finger, tickling the pear.

     The pear quivered and let out a high-pitched giggle, then the portrait opened to reveal what looked like a kitchen full of house elves.

"Ah! Master Weasley!" A small and scraggly house-elf with huge tennis ball green eyes waddled over to us, wearing a pillow case and a black sock of his right foot. "Mistress Granger! What a pleasure to see you." He grinned and wiped his pointed nose. "How may Dobby serve you?"

      Fred greeted the little creature with familiarity and handed the empty plates to the house-elf. "Can you have your friends fill these trays up with sweets?" The house-elf nodded and three others came and took the plates away from him. "Thanks, Dobby."

     Dobby smiled and hopped up on an oak table, sitting down. "Dobby is a house-elf, sir. We are made to serve. Dobby just gets paid for it now."

     "I'm sorry, but I don't think we have actually met before." I smiled and held my hand out, which Dobby shook eagerly. "You must have met my sister Hermione Granger. I'm Elizabeth Granger, but you can call me Elle."

     Dobby teared up a little. "Ah, you must be friends with Master Potter, you too are as kind as he." He looked around, seeing that our trays were almost done being filled. "But, Dobby is a good house-elf, so Dobby will call you Mistress Granger."

      I shrugged, knowing that he probably wouldn't change his mind on the matter and helped collect the trays from the house elves. They were quick on their feet and were already finished.

      "Thank you, very much," I told them. Fred thanked them as well as they ushered us out, but not before asking us at least five times if we needed anything else at all, and if we were sure that we didn't.

Once we were back in the corridor, I smiled happily at Fred. "Very helpful little things, aren't they?"

     "Yeah, they're pretty awesome. They don't even care when we come in for food, even though it's technically against school rules," Fred admitted with a mischievous glint in his eyes. We walked back up to the Gryffindor Common Room once more, just walking in comfortable silence.

✧

     When we got back to the room, everyone began to cheer Harry's name. Fred clapped Harry into a weird high five/hand shake, then hoisted Harry on top of his shoulder's so Harry was almost crowd surfing.

"Open the Egg!" I heard Blake call from across the Common Room next to George. Then George yelled at Harry to open the egg, getting everyone in the room to start chanting: Open it! Open it!

"You want me to open it?" Harry held up the golden egg with a grin and everyone cheered loudly. "Okay! I'll open it!" He grinned and twisted the top of the egg while everyone cheered; however, everyone was silenced by a piercing scream that erupted from the egg.

Hissing, I clamped my hands over my ears, it sounded close to nails on a chalk board, or that sensation that you get when you accidentally scratch your nail on your car door. Quickly, Harry clamped the egg shut once more, much to everyone's appreciation.

    "What the bloody hell was that?!" Ron's hoarse voice sounded from the back of the room. I looked over to see him with a pale expression and a small gift in his hand for Harry. Ron looked around at everyone's surprised faces and he answered the question that was going through everyone's mind: What are you doing here? 

     Harry looked at Ron in surprise and Fred dropped him to the floor in the commotion. Ron inched closer, sheepishly, and bowed his head. "I reckon that you would've been pretty stupid to put your name in on purpose. I'm sorry for not believing you in the first place. I have a gift?" He lifted the crappily wrapped gift and blushed with everyone's silence. Harry's confusion washed away as he approached his best friend.

"Thanks, mate." He chuckled and clapped Ron on the shoulder then took the gift. "You didn't have to get me any thing though." Ron just shrugged and then the party took off once more.

    Jenna and Lana jumped me. "We have to ask you a very, very important question."

     Sighing, I set a few trays of food down, so I could put my hands on my hips, and glared at them, only jokingly of course. "What is it?"

     "Is now later?" Jenna chortled and wiggled her brow at me, suggestively. "Because you said later you would tell us whatever we want to know, and we," Jenna gestured to Lana and herself eagerly, "think that now is that time."

      Lana nodded in agreement and crossed her arms over her chest. "I say we should talk upstairs, there will be fewer witnesses."

     "Fine!" I hissed, grabbing both of their arms and dragging them up the stairs, quickly. Lana and Jenna followed me ecstatically.

      Once we reached the fourth-year girls' room, they bombarded me with questions like: Do you like him? Does he like you? What does he smell like? Does he wear boxers or briefs? I tried to answer them as best as I could. "M-maybe? I don't know? Why are you asking? Why the hell would I know that one, Jenna?!"

      Jenna snickered, but then let out a huff and thrust her hands on her hips. "Look, all of your answers suck! I was expecting some kind of scandalous love story." She pouted and I rolled my eyes, throwing myself onto my cushy bed.

     "What do you expect, you guys?" I chuckled and ran a hand throw my hair, a small blush creeping over my cheeks. "I've never actually been involved with a guy before, and neither have I ever really wanted to be." Lana rose one of her perfectly arched brows and leaned close to me with a devilish grin.

     "Ohh? So you want one now?" She tapped a deep red nail to her chin and jumped onto my mattress with a calculating expression. "Well, why did you not say something sooner? I can definitely make it happen." Her face is what killed me. It wasn't the joking, playful and fun-loving face you would expect a girl to have when she talks about relationships or boys, no. 

     Her face was what I would imagine a mad scientist's face would look like while he is trying to disprove Einstein on something. She was calculative and serious, her eyes flickering with determination.

Cautiously, I sat up and backed away. "What ever you are brooding over-no. If I want a relationship, I will go out and do it myself. I am a big girl now." I pointed my nose in the air and crossed my arms over my chest, stubbornly.

      Jenna giggled at my words and cannon-balled onto my bed, causing it to creak threateningly. "So it's settled? You're gonna ask him out?"

     "Nope." 

     Before she could respond, I pinched her lips closed and rolled my eyes. "Look, kid! I said if I want a relationship. And I don't right now. Well..." I thought that over again, because honestly, if Fred asked I would probably say yes, but only after thinking for a little while. "I do, but not enough to pursue it, you got me?"

Lana rolled over onto her stomach and looked up towards me with a somber smile and chuckled. "You are too mature for your age."

✧

"Gather round, Gryffindors!" Professor McGonagall waved everyone inside a cleared classroom with benches on each side of the room. "Boys sit to the left! Girls, go to the right." I cast a confused glance to Lana and Jenna, not understanding why all the fourth years through seventh years were called out of class to come to this abandoned classroom with the Head of our house.

     Lana shrugged at me and claimed a seat on the very back bench along with Jenna and me. I motioned Hermione over, but she was busy talking with some other Gryffindors and just sat in the front with them. Yawning, I slouched against the wall and tried to catch a few more minutes of sleep.

     "For those of you who are not already aware. The Tri-Wizard tournament is not only about --Elizabeth Granger! Are you sleeping back there?!" Professor McGonagall's hawk eyes found me out of the sea of Gryffindors and she began to scold me.

     Sighing, I yawned and I stretched out my arms. "No, Professor, I was just resting my eyes. I swear!" I pouted, but it was too late.

     Angrily, McGonagall pointed at me while a few people in the room giggled under their breaths. "Well, I guess we will just have to fix that. Come down here and stand next to me, obviously sitting will just cause you to be even more tired."

Lana chuckled and clapped me on the back while whispering: Great work, Elle. I hissed at her angrily, and shuffled my way down to the floor, manuvering throw the rows of girls to stand by McGonagall. "Sorry, m'ame." I sighed, politely and folded my hands behind my back.

She didn't reply, but just cleared her throat and began where she left off. "Like I was saying, the Tri-Wizard Tournament is not only an event for sports and dangerous tasks. There is also an annual event that takes place during December between the first and second tasks. It is called the Yule Ball."

A few of the girls squealed excitedly, but I just rolled my eyes, like I have said before. Dances and me...we don't do well together. McGonagall gave everyone in the room a firm glance, making sure they knew that what she was about to say was serious and we all needed to pay attention. "Hogwarts will be presented by all of you through your conduct and attitude during this event. We do not want to present ourselves as a babbling, bumbling, band of baboons!" I looked over to see Fred whisper something George and they began chanting that phrase quickly under their breaths, like a tongue twister.

     I mumbled it to myself with an upturned smirk. "Babbling, bumbling, band of baboons, babbling bumbling band of baboons." It really was kind of hard to say quickly.

     "So you had better put your best foot forward," she instructed with a stern look cast across the room, still deadly serious. "And I mean this in a literal sense. Because the Yule Ball is first and foremost... a dance."

     Cue all of the ecstatic giggles from the right side of the room. I threw my head back and let out a low groan. "Noooo." Before, I realized that I was still standing next to McGonagall.

The Professor sharply turned to me and cocked her brow. "You have something to add to the subject, Miss Granger?"

     I coughed, and scratched the back of my neck, feeling a stupid rosy blush creep onto my cheeks slowly. "Uhm, no, Professor McGonagall."

"Good." She took her piercing eyes off of me and looked around the room. "The Ball has been passed down from generation through generation. And I have been instructed to teach you all the Yule dance that is to be performed at the opening of the dance." Her eyes scanned the boy's side of the room calculatingly, searching for a victim. "Ah! Mr. Weasley. How about you, come here."

     "Me?" Ron's voice squeaked a little, causing me to let out a low laugh, but I quickly clamped my lips shut so McGonagall wouldn't have another reason to scold me.

McGonagall had Ron stand up in front of everyone and walk towards her. "Now, Mr. Weasley put your right hand on my waist." I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from barking out a horrendous laugh at McGonagall's bluntness, and Ron's reaction was priceless.

"What?!" His voice squeaked even higher this time, almost as if Professor McGonagall had called Ron a bad word, or told him to strip down to his underwear in front of the school.

     "My waist, Mr. Weasley." She smiled, patiently. She knew that she was embarrassing Ron. It was on purpose, the clever wench! I wanted to high-five her, but I had this feeling that she wouldn't slap my hand back. Ron paled a little but slowly put his hand on her waist, almost afraid to touch her.

     "Very good, now I will lead you around the room like so..." She put her hand on his shoulder and led him around the room, doing a simple three-step dance. "One to three. And one, two, three. Very good, one and two and three, very good Mr. Weasley, you have it!" 

     She smiled and broke away from Ron. Ron's face had changed from as white as snow to as red as a beet by the time McGonagall was done with him.

     McGonagall looked around and then her eyes landed on mine, causing my stomach to sink like the Titanic and her gaze was an iceberg. "How about a volunteer pair? Miss. Granger, would you be so kind? I'm sure you will find this a lot more interesting than dreams." She put a fake smile on, but as my eyes searched hers I realized that it was a real, genuine smile. She was purposefully torturing me! I would actually have been impressed with McGonagall and probably called her one of the coolest teachers I had ever met, but no she had to single me out.

     Sighing, I nodded and walked over to her because she waved me over in front of the guys. "Alright! And do we have a volunteer boy?" She looked around, but all the guys were avoiding her piercing gaze, nervously.

     Annoyed I sent a look at Harry, but he quickly shook his head and mouthed: 'Sorry, you're on your own'. Rolling my eyes I looked up at George, but he was avoiding my gaze, not wanting to get involved. My eyes looked next to George to glare at Fred. Unlike his brother, Fred was staring at me with an amused smile playing on his lips, but he was not going to volunteer. He just wanted to watch me suffer. 

     I was all alone in this. None of my guy friends would help me out! 'What assholes!' I thought to myself with a hint of disdain, 'Well, look who isn't going to help you losers get dates! This guy! I mean...girl.'

      It was starting to get kinda sad after a minute of no one standing up to dance with me. But then my knight in shining armour appeared, with a nervous smile and a greenish tint to his face. Slowly, he raised a shaky hand and called out. "I-I will dance with you."

     I beamed at him and McGonagall smiled tightly as well. "Thank you, Neville. Please come to the centre of the room, and the two of you will be our volunteer pair." McGonagall turned around and as soon as her ever-watchful eyes were off me, I sent an angry glare toward the four guys who I thought were my friends and flipped them off. 

     'Fuck you guys! ' I mouthed and tossed my hair over my shoulder, marching after Neville and ignoring their amused chuckles.

      Neville was staring nervously at his feet and fumbled around with his hands, waiting for Professor McGonagall to instruct us. I smiled at him and put his right hand on my waist, trying to make the best out of an embarrassing situation. I remembered the steps fairly well, so it was not hard to go through them. 

     "Thank you, Neville, it was nice of you to volunteer," I told him, lowly.

Neville's face trembled for a second, but he smiled as well, looked up at me with his baby face. Neville was actually not that bad of a dancer, and it surprised me since he was not too coordinated on normal occasions. "No problem." He mumbled. A few guys let out some whistles as we danced across the floors for a few minutes.

     When McGonagall was satisfied, she clapped her hands and smiled. "Very nice, Mr. Longbottom, Miss Granger. You two may stop." We stopped and broke apart, and then McGonagall spread her arms wide. "Alright, I think you all have been watching enough! Time to partner up!"

      The girls immediately hopped up from the benches, excited to dance with the guys; however, the boys crossed their arms over their chests and slouched, refusing to participate. "Boys! On your feet!"

Neville looked at the nervous girls meekly and I nudged him with a smile. "Go ahead, ask one of them. I'll get the boys to start dancing." Neville smiled and walked over to a girl I didn't know and offered her his hand, politely. Awe, if only some boys I know were like him. I walked over to the Gryffindor boys, since the girls were just standing around aimlessly and asked a seventh year I didn't know if he wanted to dance.

     "You know what?" He grinned, a Scottish accent seeping from his voice. "Why not?" He gripped his hand with mine and got off the bench. I took his right hand and placed it on my hip with a smile and he grinned. "Just so you know ahead of time, I've been know to crush a few toes. So sorry, in advance."

     Chuckling, I lead him slowly around the floor. "It's okay, I can take it. My name is Elizabeth by the the way, but you can call me Elle. What's your name?" I smiled and spun into the tall guy's arms laughing a little. Dancing itself was not a problem for me, actually, I enjoyed it. It's the drama that comes with dances that I loath.

"Oh sorry." He chuckled. "The name's Wood, Oliver Wood. I'm the Captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team." We talked a little bit, then after a minute or two, I told him to ask someone else and made my way back over to the guys who still refused to dance, asking one of them by hand.

     It went on like this for twenty minutes, I met eighteen different guys and we would talk and get to know each other a little more. Then, I would move on to someone else. Kinda like I imagined speed dating would be.

      However; I made it a sworn duty to completely ignore Harry, Fred, George and Ron. If I saw one of them approaching me when I didn't have a partner, I would quickly find someone who was free, just to spite them. 

      Hey, they were the ones who didn't want to dance with me in the first place.

     McGonagall was happy with us all, I could tell. She smiled and looked down at her pocket watch. "Alright, Gryffindors! We have time for one last dance then it is time for lunch and the rest of your classes."

     Lee Jordan asked for my hand and I chuckled, giving it to him. "Sure, let's have a go." We had only just begun the second repetition when someone tapped on my shoulder.

"Excuse me, Miss?" The voice faked eloquence. I looked up to see George smiling at me, trying to act snobbish. "May I cut in?"

     "Oh?" I put my hands on my hips and pointed my nose in the air. "I thought you didn't want to dance with me?"

     George feigned an appalled look. "What, dance with you?" He chuckled. "No, no, no my dear, I will be taking your partner." He pushed past me and danced with Lee, a huge grin on both of their faces and they playfully waltzed around the room, much to McGonagall's distaste.

      I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my smile and rolled my eyes. "Great, guess I'll just sit out then." Someone else tapped on my shoulder and I turned to see Fred giving me a funny face. "What do you want?"

    Fred laughed then attempted to cover it with a fake cough, trying to act all serious. He bowed and put out his hand. "May I have this dance?"

     A little surprised, I looked down at his open hand, and bent back. "Hmm. Nope!" I crossed my arms over my chest playfully and turned away from him, much to Fred's surprise.

     I felt the warmth of two arms wrapping around mine in a strong embrace, pulling my arms out wide. "Oh, well then I guess I will just have to make you dance, like Pinocchio," he joked and spun me around, causing me to be a little dizzy.

Before I could protest, he put his hand on my hip and one on my shoulder while I did the same with an amused smile. We danced a few reps quietly and I caught myself staring at my feet the whole time. Slowly, I lifted my head to see Fred gazing at an area right below my eyes. Subconsciously, I lifted my hand off of his shoulder and wiped across my cheeks, but nothing was there.

     "What? Do I have ink on my face or something?" I laughed, nervously.

      Fred looked into my eyes and shook his head. "No, it's just I didn't know you had freckles until now, just there." He reached out a finger and brushed it across my left cheek, then over the bridge of my nose, then across my right cheek. I immediately felt my face burst into a rosy glow. "I guess it's because I haven't been this close to you before." He corrected himself. "Well... while I am awake anyway."

     I chuckled nervously again and stepped away from him, trying to put some space in between us, when Professor McGonagall called out: "Class dismissed!"

Fred dropped his arms and sent me a wink. "We should do that again sometime, huh, Letter?" And with one last chuckle he walked out.

What the hell just happened...

IMPORTANT: I REALIZE OLIVER WOOD IS TECHNICALLY ALREADY GRADUATED, but I wanted him in here anyway - so... yeah! I know - stop reminding me! Ahaha xxjess

[ reading these oliver x elle comments, i see that everyone still has great taste ]