Can’t Take My Eyes off Of You

Draco had no idea where the hell he was. He assumed he was dreaming, but this didn’t feel like a slayer dream. Was he lucid dreaming? He had no idea.

The room was cheerful enough, the coffee table in front of him had a large box of sugar quills sitting atop it.

Someone cleared their throat, and he shot up off the couch he was sitting on, ready for a battle.

"Oh, sit down. I’m not going to pick a fight with you."

He narrowed his eyes.

She was fairly tall, with brown hair and big, blue eyes. Her arms were cross impatiently and she had an eyebrow raised. She circled him. "Hm… well, Evelyn’s got good taste in the looks department, I’ll give her that… attitudes a bit sour, though."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Oh!" she cried, surprised. "Sorry." She smirked and held a hand out to him. "I’m Emily Black."

His silvery eyes widened. "Y-you… Y-you’re…"

She nodded. "That’s right. I think you and I need to have a chat."

"We do?"

She nodded again. "Sit," she ordered.

He obeyed and she sat next to him.

"You hurt my daughter," Emily said matter-of-factly. "What you said wasn’t very nice."

"I’m not very nice," he admitted. "Never have been."

She sighed. "That’s not the point."

"Listen," Draco told her. "I’m what’s commonly known as an emotional basket case. I’ve never been in a healthy relationship before. I didn’t even know they existed before I got into one with Evelyn."

"So why muck it up?"

"Can’t help it."

"Bollocks," she replied. "That’s a load of bollocks and you know it. Did you mean what you said to her last night?"

"Well… no…"

"Then apologize."

He blinked. "That’s it?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Merlin, you boys make things harder than they have to be, of course that’s it. Maybe throw some chocolate frogs in just for good measure."

"She doesn’t like them," Draco informed the older woman. "She says they creep her out."

"Oh," Emily said softly.

There was a pause.

"Well, Draco, it was nice to finally meet you."

He nodded, and things began to fade.

"Oh, and Draco?"

He glanced at her.

"If you ever hurt my daughter again, you’ll be very, very sorry."

He shot up, and looked around his dim dorm room.

What. The. Hell.

He sighed and reached underneath his mattress and pulled out a over-sized pack of sugar quills, got up and walked out the door.

"So… this new magic thing…"

She looked up from her book to see Ron and Harry standing over her.

"What about it?" she asked casually.

"Why didn’t you tell us?" Harry asked.

She sighed and set her book aside. "I didn’t want to worry you."

Ron rolled his eyes.

"What?" Hermione asked. "Why the eye roll?"

"I just feel kind of lied to," he muttered.

"I didn’t lie!" she cried. "When I told you I was going to the library to study, that’s what I was doing!"

Harry sighed and sat down next to her. "It’s just… we’re your best friends, Hermione. I mean, we would have appreciated being told about this."

"Why?" she snapped. "Why is it so important?"

"This stuff is dangerous!" Ron cried. "You could get really hurt!"

She leaned back on the couch and glared up at him. "Oh, how the tables have turned."

"Hey!" the red-head snapped back. "I can’t help the visions! You dove into this!"

"To help you!" she yelled, getting to her feet. "To help you fight what’s coming! What, Ron?! You thought I was just going to sit around while you and Harry and Malfoy went out and got killed by Voldemort?! I don’t think so!!"

Ron flinched slightly at the name she spat. "Don’t start that!"

Harry blinked. "Who said anything about getting killed?" he asked calmly.

"You stay out of this!" Both Ron and Hermione cried in unison. They glared at each other. "Don’t copy me! Stop that!"

"SHUT UP!" Harry roared. "Bloody hell! When did you two start this again?! Ron, Hermione’s right. We shouldn’t expect her to just sit around while we play super-heroes! Hermione, it really hurts both of us that you chose not to tell us about what you were doing! It’s ten times worse than not telling us about the Time Turner or Krum, because we’ve heard what happened to Willow!"

There was a deadly silence between them.

Ron gave her a hurt look. "The thought of that happening to you is- it’s-"

"Scary," Harry finished. "Really, bloody scary."

"I’ve got it under control," She told them softly. "Nothing’s going to happen to me. I can control it. I’ve been doing really well."

The two boys stared at her worriedly.

"Stop staring at me like that!" she cried. "Nothing’s wrong! I can do this! Stop treating me like a child!"

They averted their eyes, but said nothing.

She scowled, and stormed out of the portrait hole, running right into Draco Malfoy.

"Watch where you going!" she spat.

"Me?!" Draco cried. "You’re the one what came barreling into me."

She scowled again, but he stopped her from storming off.

"Let me in, will you?" he asked.

She shook her head, put her hands over his ears, and said the password. She shoved him through the portal.

Ron and Harry jumped to their feet.

"Mione, we’re really-" Ron stopped. "Oh, it’s you."

Draco rolled his eyes. "What’d you do this time, Ron?"

He sighed. "It’s nothing. I‘m going to bed." He sighed and walked up to the boys‘ dorm.

Draco glanced at Harry who was glaring at him harshly.

"What are you looking at?" Draco snapped.

"A right bastard," Harry replied.

Draco rolled his eyes. "When did you figure that out?"

"When you hurt Evelyn."

Draco groaned. "I’m not having this chat with you, Potter. Forget it. Leave me the hell alone."

Harry blocked his path. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"None of your bloody business, Potter," Draco snapped. "Now sod off."

"If you ever hurt Evelyn again-"

"I’ll be very, very sorry," Draco finished. "Right, then. Sod off." He shoved Harry out of the way and stalked up to the girls’ dorm.

Harry shook his head and slumped back down on the couch.

He knocked on the door for the fifth time, but no answer came. Again. He sighed.

"Evelyn, open the bloody door!"

The door swung open, and a fist swung out at him, making a loud crack against his jaw. Draco whirled around, holding his face in one hand. He looked back to see Torianna standing there, cracking her knuckles and glaring.

"What the fuck, Lupin?!"

"Could ask you the same thing, Malfoy," she snapped. "What’s the big idea, sayin’ crap about Evelyn’s mother?"

Draco groaned. "I was pissed, and I was confused, and I said something stupid."

"Well your something stupid sent her back into her whole Queen of the Damned mode."

"What?!"

"She charmed her bed curtains from red to black fishnet, she’s reading Dickinson and she blocked up the windows," Torianna explained. "I think Hermione’s gonna wind up camping out in the common room just from the lack of light to read by, because every time I do a lumos she gives me her ‘I’m a sad, sad girl’ glare."

"Lemme talk to her," Draco said. "I wanna apologize. I shouldn’t have said that about her mum, I know."

Torianna sighed. "Fine. See if you can talk her outta this. She’s only been semi-gothy since she got here, now she’s back to uber-Goth." She stepped aside to let him in.

"And so, we give you… The Mistle-Bow!"

Harry blinked at the twins the next morning. They were holding a green and red colored crossbow, but instead of being loaded with actual arrows, it was loaded up with mistletoe.

"I don’t follow," Harry admitted.

"Observe," George ordered. He pointed the bow at Ron and Hermione who were walking into the common room from breakfast. Harry grimaced. They still weren’t speaking to each other after arguing the night before.

Fred lifted the Mistle-Bow and shot a piece of Mistletoe. It flew and levitated above them.

Ron looked up, and rolled his eyes. He began to try and walk away, but was blocked by an invisible force.

Hermione tried to move as well, but it was no use.

"What did you two rotters do?!" Ron cried.

"That’s the beauty of the Mistle-Bow Mistletoe," Fred explained. "It creates a magical barrier around the two people underneath it."

"Well, how do we get out?" Hermione asked.

"It’s Mistletoe!" George cried. "Figure it out! Cleverest witch in fifth year, my arse."

"Well, get it over with, you two," Harry encouraged.

Hermione glanced at Ron and shook her head. "I don’t care if I stay here all day. I’m not kissing him until he apologizes."

Ron sputtered. "For what?! Worrying about you?! It isn’t as if I broke up with you like you did to me!"

She swung up and smacked him in the face.

His glaring eyes glowed white for only a moment, and he grabbed her by the arms, pulling her into a rough kiss.

The mistletoe above them flashed for a moment and then fell to the ground.

Neither Ron nor Hermione showed any signs of letting each other go. Her arms wrapped around his neck.

Dean walked down the stairs to the sight of this and blinked. "Now that’s animal magnetism."

Harry groaned and hit his head on the back of the couch. "Ugh… nothing worse than seeing your best friends snogging."

At that moment, Evelyn and Draco came through the portrait hole.

"Oh, god!" Evelyn cried. "Not in front of the door!"

Draco blinked. "Ew. Weasley, stop trying to eat Granger, it’s really gross."

Fred stuck out his hand to his twin, who took it, and shook it vigorously.

"Smashing, brother mine," George said.

"Absolutely," Fred nodded.

Harry blinked up at Evelyn and Draco. "Stopped fighting have you?"

Evelyn shrugged, swinging her hand in Draco‘s. "He gave me sugar. He’s off of my hit-list."

Faith walked through the portrait hole, and sighed at the sight of the couple. She took hold of their shoulders and pulled them apart.

Hermione glanced at Faith, her arms still around Ron. "Good morning, Professor Morgan." They both turned a deep shade of red.

She shook her head. "You’re lucky I wasn’t Professor MacGonagal."

"You don’t look a thing like her!" Fred cried. "You‘ve got bigger boobs!"

"Oh, we are not talking about that," Evelyn said. "Not now, not ever."

Charlie was not expecting to get any owls at lunch that day, but lo and behold, Errol crash-landed in his food. He sighed. "Bloody hell, Errol. Do you have to do this every time?"

Faith poked at the bird with her fork.

Charlie gave his girlfriend a disturbed look. "What are you doing?"

"Figure if it’s dead, we could roast it," she joked. "Never had owl before."

Snape snorted out something much akin to a laugh from the other side of her, but Charlie just seemed horrified.

"Aw, come on, baby, take a joke," Faith nudged him. "You know I was only kidding."

Charlie shook his head and unburdened Errol of his letter. He sighed, opened it and read it. "Oh, Merlin help the lot of us."

"What?" Tara asked him from his other side.

"My parents, Percy and Bill are coming here for Christmas. They only just left!"

Snape groaned. "That’s all this place needs. More Weasleys. Like we don’t have enough trouble trying to keep track of your siblings."

"They’re not that bad," Charlie replied.

Snape glared.

"Right, then. Maybe they are, but it’s not as if they’ve caused any real damage."

Snape glared harder.

Charlie cringed. "Faith, make him stop."

"Not going."

Wesley sighed and walked briskly after his niece on the way to the library. "It’ll only be for two days, Hermione. You can stick out a family get-together for two days, can’t you?"

She sighed, but kept walking. "I’m not going. The last time I went, Mum and Grandad got into a screaming row that lasted nearly four whole hours! It may have been the worst Christmas I’ve ever had in my entire life! Add you into the mix, and you can double that four-hour scream-fest to an eight. Logic dictates, if something isn’t good for you , stay away from it. I’m following logic, claiming I have far too much work to leave Hogwarts for Christmas, and am staying here."

Wesley stopped walking. "If I’m going, you’re going."

"Absolutely not!" she cried, stopping to face him. "I’m no masochist!"

"We’re your family!" Wesley exclaimed. "You have to put up with it."

"I most certainly do not," Hermione argued. "And I refuse to. You can go and have a miserable time with a woman who ignores every little thing that’s wrong with her family, and a man who ignores every little thing that’s right with his family, and my parents, who smile through

it all, but I won’t. And you can tell Mum I have work to do. Besides, I want to see Ron‘s face on Christmas morning when he opens my present."

"What did you get him?" Wesley asked.

She smirked. "I’m not telling you. You’re horrible at keeping secrets."

Wesley looked taken aback. "Am not!"

Hermione snickered and began her walk to the library again.

Wesley wasn’t giving up. "I can keep secrets!"

When Harry walked back into the common room after lunch, Ginny, who was sitting on the couch, immediately got to her feet and began to walk out.

"Oh, for- Ginny, wait."

She stopped, and slowly turned to Harry, face red. "Hello."

"Hi," he replied. "You’ve… you’ve been avoiding me a lot."

"Have I? I hadn’t noticed."

Harry sighed. "Oh, come on, Ginny. Ever since you kissed me you’ve been avoiding me…"

She obviously wasn’t listening anymore. She’d turned from him and was walking briskly up the stairs to her dorm.

"Bugger," Harry muttered.

Torianna blinked from her spot on the couch. "Girl trouble?"

Harry sighed and sat next to her. "Yeah."

"The kiss?"

Harry sighed again. "Yeah."

"Well, she made the first move, and you made the wrong one," Torianna told him.

"What?!"

Torianna rolled her eyes and turned to him. "She kissed you, and you stared at her like she had six heads and two assholes."

"I was taken aback!" Harry yelled. "I was not staring oddly!"

"Yeah, ya were!" Torianna yelled back.

Harry groaned. "Okay. Maybe I did give her a funny look. What do I do about it?"

Torianna thought for a moment, but a light bulb seemed to come on.

"So here’s the plan," Torianna said after getting the group assembled. "Hermione, Draco and Evelyn, buy us time with the teachers. Don’t let them into the great hall right away. Ron, you know the horns charm that Flitwick uses, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good. You know what to do. Seamus and Dean, you make sure the spotlight goes on Ginny. Fred, George, make sure she gets to the great hall early."

They both saluted her at the same time.

"What about you?" Seamus asked, nudging her.

"Somebody’s gotta make sure Harry actually gets on the table. Right, Harry?"

The Boy Who Lived blinked. He looked very pale.

"We’re going to get into trouble," Hermione commented.

Ron nodded. "Again."

Draco blinked at Snape. "Do you… have any hobbies?"

Snape glared.

Ginny looked from one twin to another as she poked at her food. "What’s going on?"

"Nothing," they replied in unison.

"There’s something going on, isn’t there?" Ginny asked with a smile. "What is it."

"Ginny, would we lie to you?" Fred asked.

There was a slight pause before George added a "Don’t answer that."

Harry spotted Ginny in the great hall, beginning to eat with Fred and George on either side of her. He turned to Torianna. "I can’t do this."

"Yeah you can," she replied. "You know the song. I know you can move at least a little, you’ll be fine."

"I’m making an arse out of myself."

"Don’t think of it as making an ass out of yourself," Torianna said. "Think of it as… sacrificing yourself on the alter of dignity."

All of the sudden the lights in the great hall dimmed, and a spotlight shined itself onto Ginny, and then another figure standing on the teacher’s table.

Ginny squinted, and realized it was Harry. "What-?"

He put his wand up to his throat, and a muttered a "Sonarus."

"What is he doing?" Ginny asked nervously.

And then the music started. Unseen horns blasted from no where, and Harry started singing.

"You’re just too good to be true. Can’t take my eyes off of you. You’d be like heaven to touch, I wanna hold you so much. At long last love has arrived. And I thank god I’m alive. You’re just too good to be true. Can’t take my eyes off of you."

The teachers walked in the doorway, and stared open-mouthed at the scene. Hermione and Evelyn slapped hands, and Draco began laughing uncontrollably.

Harry pointed to Ginny, and couldn’t help but smile. "I love you, Baby and if it’s quite alright I need you baby, to warm the lonely night, I love you, Baby, trust in me when I say…"

"Is that Harry?" Angel asked Buffy.

Buffy smiled brilliantly. "Yep. And he’s exhibiting the cuteness. Go Harry."

"Whoa, pretty baby, don’t bring down I pray, oh pretty baby, now that I’ve found you stay, and let me love you, baby, let me love-."

The lights came on in a snap, the horns died down, and the spotlights went off. Snape glared at the culprits. "Potter, Black, Granger, Malfoy, Weasleys, Finnighan, Thomas and Lupin! Detention!"

Detention had been painful. They'd all had to clean out the cauldrons in the Potions Dungeon. Not a happy time.

Ginny smiled at Harry from her cauldron. "That was really sweet, Harry... did you mean it?"

He glanced at her, a little nervous. "Y-yeah."

She smiled and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"Shit, cauldron gunk sucks," Evelyn snarled.

"Don't curse," Hermione snapped.

"Oh, shove it," Evelyn replied, pegging the brunette with some of the cauldron muck.

Hermione growled, and threw some back. Evelyn ducked, and the disgusting muck hit Draco instead.

Draco glared. "That's it. This means war."

Fairly soon, the entire room had busted out into a cauldron muck fight.

"What is going on, here?!" Snape cried, rushing.

He was subsequently hit with a ton of cauldron gunk. He glared at the group of students.

Torianna snickered horribly. "Happy Christmas, Teach."

:: On To Chapter Twenty-seven ::

:: Back to Lipton Lee's Page ::
:: Back to Author's Page ::
:: Slightly Over The Edge ::