all the wrong choices // drarry

whispers

Harry and Ron returned to the common room after lunch, as they both had a free while Hermione was in Ancient Runes. They settled into their favourite armchairs by the fire and took out their incomplete Transfiguration essays that were due next lesson. Harry had just begun to add to his when someone came into the common room, whooping loudly. He looked round and saw Malfoy's friends climbing through the hole behind the tapestry that concealed the eighth-year common room and dormitories.

"Oi!" Ron yelled over to them. "Shut it!"

Pansy Parkinson turned and grinned at them maliciously. "What's wrong, Weasley? Are we interrupting you from your homework? Aw, look at that, he wants to finish his homework! Since when did you get so bothered about homework, Weasley? Is it because you're going out with Granger? Has she rubbed off on you - well, it's not like she's going to in any other sense-"

"Shut up!" Ron shouted, getting to his feet. Harry got up too, ready to hold Ron back if something happened. Pansy turned to him and gave him an even more concentrated look of disgust. It seemed as though it had been reserved special, just for him. Harry and Ron watched her as she turned on her heel and stalked off across the room.

"What's she playing at?" Ron muttered as they sank back into their seats. Harry wasn't sure if he expected a reply or not. He looked up as Pansy and the other Slytherins sat down on the other side of the room. Harry noticed that Malfoy wasn't with them, and then remembered that Pansy was upset with him about something.

"Hey, Parkinson!" he shouted to her. She turned and scowled at him.

"What do you want, Potter?"

"Where's your boyfriend?"

Pansy let out a shrill laugh. "Who? Draco? Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Harry frowned at her. "What?" His voice was not the only one that called it. He looked round and saw that Ron was gaping at Pansy, clearly dumbfounded. She laughed again and turned away from them. Harry looked at Ron and exchanged flabbergasted looks with him. "What's she on about?"

Harry shrugged. He had no idea what Pansy had meant by her comment. It was probably just something she had said to rile him up, but it was unable to vacate Harry's mind. He thought about lunchtime, when Malfoy had winked at him. Had he winked? Harry couldn't possibly know for sure; it could have just been something in Malfoy's eye that had made it look like he was winking.

He tried to focus on his essay, but a weird sort of caricature of Malfoy overtly winking at him from across the Great Hall kept slipping into Harry's mind. He slammed the book he was referencing shut, and Ron looked up.

"Are you done?" he asked incredulously. Harry shook his head.

"Reckon I could skive off Transfiguration?"

Ron shrugged. "Dunno... I would say that McGonagall would probably have you hanged, but you did defeat Voldemort... again . For good this time."

Harry rolled his eyes as Ron grinned at him. "I don't want special treatment because I killed Voldemort. I just want to get on with school..."

"If you want to get on with it, why are you trying to skive?"

"I - That's part of school."

"What, skiving off lessons? Try telling Hermione that." Ron widened his eyes and dipped his quill into his ink. "I've got about half a foot to go, and then I'm done. How long do we have until the lesson starts?"

Harry checked his watch. "About forty minutes. Should I write mine, come up with an excuse for why I didn't finish it, or skive off?"

Ron sat back in his chair. "Hmm. A great selection of options. If it were me, I think I'd go for skiving. You could go and see Hagrid!"