Double Dare

Celeste and I modified our pirate outfits for today’s trip to Hogsmeade. The twins had fashioned their own from scratch. Finally we were ready and went to go meet Draco and Blaise.

“Blaise! You make a pretty snazzy pirate!” Celeste said laughing. Blaise grinned and pulled his sword out.

“Come on now! To Hogsmeade!”

We all raised our swords in the air and ran towards the exit. On the way we ran into McGonagall and Snape.

“What on Earth are you lot doing?” McGonagall asked. We all laughed.

“Uh...We’re going to Hogsmeade” Celeste replied.

“Dressed like that?”

“Uh...Yeah”

“Why?”

We all shrugged.

“Because...It seemed like a good idea” Jade said. I looked at Snape; he was smirking at us all. McGonagall sighed.

“If I find out you lot have been causing trouble in Hogsmeade you will be banned from going for the rest of the year!”

“Yes Professor”

She sighed and let us run past. We all burst out laughing when we got to the road that went to Hogsmeade.

“McGonagall was NOT impressed!” Draco said. I nodded.

“Snape found it rather amusing though”

“They ran into a gang of pirates! What’s not funny about that?”

“Yeah, but surely McGonagall’s the one with the sense of humour!”

I shrugged; “apparently not”

We messed about all the way to Hogsmeade.

“So...Where to first?” Blaise asked.

“Pirate voice Blaise!” I scolded. He sighed.

“Yargh-where to first?”

We laughed.

“To the Three Broomsticks! Yargh, we need us some rum!” Jade and Ruby shouted. We laughed and went into the pub. Everyone who was in there laughed when we went in.

“Get lost did ya?”

We laughed.

“Nay, we stopped to make port. Now we need our rum!” Celeste said. They laughed. We went to the bar. The bartender laughed.

“How can I help ye scurvy pirates?”

Draco laughed and ordered us drinks in the poshest voice he could muster. We got our drinks and pulled two tables to together. They all began chatting amongst themselves.

“Hey Draco...Where’s Tempest?”

He shrugged; “didn’t want to come”

“...Did you ask her?”

“Sure”

“Draco! You said you’d ask her!”

“I don’t want her to come! I just want to have fun!”

I sighed; “fine”

We drank up before going round Hogsmeade. Everyone we saw seemed entertained by our outfits. We even got some free things from some shops we went into.

We finally went back to Hogwarts in time for dinner. We decided to have dinner in our outfits. Almost the entire school burst out laughing when they saw us. We grinned and sat on our own at the bottom of the Ravenclaw table.

“We’re better than Santa; we bring joy to all that see us, just by dressing like pirates!” Blaise said laughing. We all laughed too. After dinner we hung around school until curfew. I collapsed down on my bed and sighed. Celeste laughed.

“Today was excellent! Nice plan Lenore”

I grinned; “thanks”

“We should do it again sometime” Jade said taking her hat off.

“Yeah...Not too soon though or it’ll ruin the effect”

“Yeah...”

They all collapsed on their beds, tired out from the day’s events. I sighed and grabbed my pillow. Underneath was a letter. It was off Snape. I wondered how the hell it got under my pillow. I opened it and read what was written;

“Lenore; I thoroughly enjoyed seeing you dressed as a pirate again today. It bought back memories. I wish to see you tomorrow in my office after lunch. Yours, Severus”

I smirked to myself and lay staring at the ceiling.

“Someone’s happy...What’s put you in a good mood?” Celeste asked. I grinned more.

“Nothing”

“Nothing huh? And nothing has you grinning like the Cheshire cat does it?”

“...Yes”

“Liar! Why are you so happy?”

I looked at the twins and sighed. They were gossiping about Fred and George. I looked back Celeste.

“Fine, I guess I could let you in on it too” I said, going under my bed to get the pile of letters.

“What do you mean you guess you could let me in on it?! Let me in on what?! What are you keeping from me?”

“Shush!”

I grabbed the letter from under my pillow and dragged her to the bathroom. I shoved the pile of letters into her chest.

“Here. These are all from Snape. We’ve been communicating this way about how we feel about each other since Halloween. Then a few minutes ago, I found this one under my pillow saying he wanted to see me tomorrow”

She sat down, quite amazed at what had been going on unbeknownst to her. She began reading several of the letters; “aww”ing where Draco had previously gagged. I smirked and watched her read.

“...This is so sweet! But, why didn’t you tell me before?”

I shrugged; “I didn’t really see a reason to tell anyone...”

“So who else knows? Draco?”

“Yeah...He felt left out”

“Well I feel bloody left out!”

I laughed; “I’m sorry, but, I don’t ask for all the details on your and Neville’s soppy moments”

She shrugged; “fair enough”

She carried on reading.

“So what do you think he’s planning?”

I shrugged; “I have no idea...Some public declaration of his love for me?”

She laughed; “like what? A marriage proposal?”

I laughed too; “I highly highly doubt it”

“Aww! It’d be so sweet! You have to promise me that when you do marry him, I’m head bridesmaid!”

“Yeah, sure, IF we get married”

“Oh you totally will”

I laughed; “well...You can still be head bridesmaid in my dreams”

She laughed too; “aww, you’ve got it bad!”

“I do! Jeez!”

She passed me back the letters; “this is superly adorable!”

“Tell me about it!”

We grinned and went back into the dorm. I flopped down onto my bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

The next day after dinner I skipped down to Snapes office. The door was already open. He was sat at his desk. He looked up and smiled when he saw me.

“Get my note then?”

“I did...”

The door closed behind me.

“I’ll just be a minute”

I nodded and took a seat whilst he finished marking some papers. He looked up and smirked at me.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

“...Is it pirate related?”

He smirked; “no”

“Well then I’m totally clueless”

“Well, it’s actually quite serious I’m afraid...This Christmas Party at the Malfoys, do you know who’s going to be there?”

I shrugged; “a few friends?”

“How about...All the Death Eaters?”

“...What?!”

“You know the Malfoys are notorious follows of Voldermort...As are your parents”

“Yeah...I hate it...But, why are you going to be there?”

He sighed and took my hands; “I was once one. And now a spy for Dumbledore’s order, so, I need to pretend to be a member again”

“So...You’re not actually a Death Eater?”

He shook his head; “no”

“Okay...Why did you need to tell me this?”

“I don’t want you hearing it from the wrong person and taking it the wrong way”

I nodded; “but also, why now?”

He shrugged; “I thought it was the right time, and it’ll give you more time to, take it in. If you found out when we got there, I was afraid you wouldn’t understand”

I nodded; “well, thank you for telling me”

He smiled meekly and stroked my hands with his thumbs. I leant closer and kissed his cheek. He pulled me into a warm hug. I smiled and held onto him. We pulled away a while later.

“So...Onto a happier subject?” I asked. He smiled.

“May I presume it was your idea to dress up yesterday?”

I nodded; “yeah...We needed something to do...I liked dressing up as a pirate”

“You look good as a pirate! ...Have you read the paper?”

“Nahh, I hate the tabloid journalism”

“Yes, it ruins the newspaper, but sometimes, things turn up”

“...Like?”

“Like, an article on page fifteen about a certain group of teenagers rampaging through a nearby town”

I saw the paper on his desk. I picked it up and turned to page fifteen. There was a small article about me and the guys. There was also a picture of us stood being piratey. I laughed and read it.

“Wow...We cheered everyone in Hogsmeade up?”

He nodded and put an arm round my shoulders.

“You do...You cheered me up for sure”

“Good”

I snuggled up to him. He kissed my temple and held me tighter. We sat in silence for a while until he pulled away and sat behind his desk.

“...What?”

He sighed and hid his face in his hands. I went over and put my arms round him.

“Seriously...What?”

He shook his head and looked up.

“You should go?”

“...Why?”

“You just need to...Go”

I sighed and looked at him worriedly before leaving. I went to go find Draco. He was sat his friends from Slytherin in the courtyard. I sighed and sat on his knee. He looked at me sceptically.

“...Why are you sat on my knee?”

I shrugged and sighed.

“...What’s wrong?”

“Nothing your friends need to know”

He rolled his eyes and pushed me off his knee. He dragged me over to a corner out of earshot.

“What’s wrong?”

“Snape’s being funny”

“How?”

“He asked me to see him, so I went and we talked about things that needed to be talked about...Then we were just sat in each other’s arms in silence...Then he suddenly got all jittery...I’m worried”

Draco shrugged and clasped his hand on my shoulder.

“He’ll be fine...He’s just got a lot to worry about...What were you talking about anyway?”

“Him being a Death Eater”

He nodded; “yeah...Are you okay with it?”

“Yeah...How long have you known?”

He shrugged; “since forever? My dad kinda hates him because Voldermort likes him more”

“Your dad hates him?”

“Not in the way he hates Dumbledore...Just in the way it’s like...Rivalry...Y’know?”

I nodded and thought about all the things I’d heard, trying to make sense of it all.