Like A Phoenix From The Ashes
Chapter 6
By Kinsfire
At dinner, the five sat enjoying themselves while they talked. Susan was glowing, and Luna also seemed quite happy. "Congrats, you two," Harry said honestly, a bit quietly.
"Thank you Harry," Luna said. "As Susan said, if you decide someday that you wish to be friends with benefits with Susan, I wouldn't complain if you considered me that way."
He cast a quick Silencing spell around their table. "We need to talk when we get back to the suite, about a number of things. The … ahem … 'mission' we have, as well as a couple other things. I'd talk about them here, but there are those who can read lips. In answer to your comment, Luna - if I were to do that, then I would be considering it with all four of you. You are truly my dearest friends, and I don't want to lose that. If one becomes friends with benefits, you all do."
He laughed softly. "That sounds so business-like. While it might embarrass the hell out of me to say it, I think you all need to hear it. The four of you are going to be fuelling my fantasies for a while," he said with a blush. "I opened that door to see every guy's dream - four beautiful women wearing almost nothing. I will be dreaming about all four of you in the future, I guarantee. That is going to be one of my more cherished memories, I think." He finished with a smile. "Anyone who tells you that you aren't beautiful, Luna, is lying to you."
"Are you calling us wank material?" Pansy teased.
"Well … um … yeah," he replied, the blush becoming more pronounced. "With that peignoir you were wearing? And Susan's … uh …"
"Arse?" Susan finished with a laugh.
"Best one in the school," Pansy said sincerely, a slight twinkle in her eyes.
"I'm just digging myself deeper, aren't I?" he asked. He was answered by four amused nods.
"We love you anyway, Harry," Hermione giggled. He blinked at her. Giggling? From Hermione?
He dropped the silencing spell when they had finished their meal, and the five left the Great Hall to general silence, save the Hufflepuff tables friendly comments. "Told you they'd trust me," Susan said.
"I appreciate it more than I can say," Harry said sincerely. "Nice to know who'll speak in my honour when this is all finished."
"I'm sorry that I'm even a member of Gryffndor," Hermione said, making no effort to lower her voice. "They go off on honour and the like, and then dishonour one of their own based on mere rumours."
"What would you know about honour, Granger?" Seamus Finnegan asked.
She smiled, a particularly nasty one at that. "A great deal more than you, Finnegan. Someday the truth will come out, and you'll be one of the ones claiming that you believed him all along. Before this year is out, the rest of you … things … will be begging for his forgiveness. I, for one, am going to suggest to him that you earn it before he gives it. After all, look how the more feminine Weasley treated him after betraying him in fourth year."
"I did no such thing!" Ginny bellowed as she came up from behind to join the growing crowd.
"Did I use your name, Ginevra?" Hermione asked coldly. "I was referring to the one I made the mistake of dating. You certainly have bigger balls than he does. You waited until this year to betray him."
"Oh, telling him to get lost after he fucked the cow behind you is betraying him?" Ginny snarled.
"No, believing that he did what you just said was betraying him. I am so waiting for Bill and Charlie to look in those ledgers that they use in place of their consciences, because when they finally admit what they did, you'll realise what you threw away, and that you'll never have again. And they'll claim that they did it because they thought that they were protecting you." She leaned in and snarled at Ginny, "You're definitely a child of your worthless family, Weasley, and I hope you die alone, childless, and friendless at the age of three hundred, you valueless little bint." With that, she looked to the others, and in unison, the five stepped away from the crowd, which stared in surprise at the vehemence and language she had displayed. There was a roar from down the hallway, and a spell came flying toward them. Harry threw up a reflecting shield and was rewarded with Ginny's scream as the spell struck her. He spared a look back and saw her fighting off her own Bat Bogey Hex.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor for you fighting in the hallways, Miss Weasley," Harry called in a sprightly voice.
They made it back to the shared suite without incident, and sat down before they all burst into laughter at the blush Hermione had suddenly sprouted. "She may have deserved it, but I don't believe I said that in public," she winced. "What will they think of me? I'm the Head Girl!"
Susan caught her breath enough to say, "Hufflepuff will probably drop to their knees and worship you!" she gasped out before falling into peals of laughter again.
Finally, the laughter subsided, and Harry began to blush. "We need to talk about something, ladies, before we get to planning the prank. Now that I can see again without giving myself a headache, you need to get used to being clothed again."
Luna spoke before anyone else could. "Is this for your comfort or ours?"
"A little of both, to be honest. I'm a teenaged boy. How do you think I'm going to react to four beautiful women in my presence wearing little to nothing? I should not be treating the four of you like slabs of meat. I think it would be best if you wore a bit more."
"What if we're more comfortable that way?" Pansy asked him.
"Then I guess … damn, I just don't know. I want you to be comfortable in here, and I'm not sure that you can be with me walking out here and leering at you all the time. Besides, what about the talk around the school?"
"They can go fuck themselves," Susan said vehemently.
"I think that's physically impossible," Luna said dreamily.
Susan smiled. "You now what I mean, Luna. The ones who mean anything will trust the truth, and those who don't? Who cares?"
"Your aunt and her reputation, for one," Harry replied. "Would you put it past some of these people to go to the Daily Prophet?"
"I'll write her and explain. She'll likely show up to see for herself, mind you. I'm not ashamed, though. And with her on our side, which I'm sure we can manage, when the Prophet starts its stories, she can help out both us and Headmaster Dumbledore by making a statement in the paper."
"I'm still wary," he said, "but the decision is up to you four. I won't push."
The four looked at each other for a moment before Hermione said, "Get used to nudity, then. I'm comfortable when it's just the five of us, so I see no reason to change now that you can actually see the effect you have on the four of us."
He blinked for a moment. "Your funerals." He clapped his hands suddenly. "Okay, on to the prank. I've got a good idea - tell me what you think."
"I thought we had one already."
"We did," he responded, "but there was too much to go wrong with it. Try this one on for size -"
A few minutes later, the five of them were roaring with laughter.
#####
They waited another week. Revenge, in this case, was a dish best served luke-warm - cold enough that brains would need to be wracked to remember why it would be done, but not so cold as to make people think that they were holding a grudge. They were, but that was no reason to actually be obvious about it.
The Wednesday of the prank arrived, and the quintet sat quietly at their table, eating. The Gryffindors began to come into the Hall by ones and twos. It took a while for anyone to notice this early in the morning, but finally the air was split by gasps and titters. The five looked up to see what might be causing the disturbance, and burst out laughing. The entire Gryffindor contingent from fourth to seventh year, which was continually growing as they came into the room, was completely naked. The Gryffindors looked up and scowled at the five and then returned to their breakfasts.
It was when Lavender and Parvati made it into the Great Hall following Ron and Ginny that all hell broke loose, as well as a few people not from Godric's namesake house showing that they had learned some lessons from Colin Creevey. Flashes from wizarding cameras went off like mad, and the girls jumped in surprise. "What are you all on about?" Parvati yelled.
"It's so sweet," Harry said. "So sure of your love that you tattooed each other's name in a heart on your arse. Explains why no dates in the last few years, doesn't it?"
"Yes," Susan answered. "Leaves a few questions to be answered, though. First off, why are they hiding it? It's not like anyone gives a damn about sexual orientation. Second, and I guess third, are why did they walk into the Great Hall naked, and why aren't the teachers doing anything about it?" She looked up at the Head Table.
McGonagall spoke up, thoroughly confused. "I see everyone in this room as fully clothed." The rest of the teachers nodded their agreement, although the Potions professor seemed to have the beginnings of a smirk on his face.
"Well, from the way the cameras went off," Harry said, "I'd say that the rest of the students see what I see - a table of Gryffindor students that are wearing something between zero and nothing." A quick survey of the room showed agreement with Harry and the rest of the quintet.
Harry stood and walked to the table. "I know you guys don't like me," he said to a fourth year who'd never actually bothered him except by toeing the Gryffindor 'party line', "but will you trust me this far?" he asked as he removed his own robe and handed it to the girl. She smiled nervously and covered herself with the robe - which promptly disappeared.
"Well, there goes a perfectly good robe," said Ernie MacMillan. The girl looked down, puzzled, and then looked up at Harry.
"It disappeared, at least from my point of view. I take it that you can still see it?" Harry asked, studiously looking not quite at the girl, who nodded and made the motions of removing a robe. When she was done, Harry's robe was in her hands.
"Looks to be a proximity effect," Terry Boot said. "There's Harry's robe again. Good spell work, whoever it was."
Harry put his robe back on. "Sorry 'bout that," he shrugged and turned to walk back to his own table.
"Sticks with the person, too," MacMillan said. "Aimed at the Gryffs then."
"Bravo, then," someone from the Slytherin shouted. "Teach 'em a lesson!"
"And show us that maybe Potter wasn't so crazy when he screwed the Weasel girl," Malfoy drawled. "Looking good, Red."
Ginny stood and levelled her wand at Malfoy. "Keep it up, Malfoy, and I can promise you that the line will die with you," she snarled.
Harry should have, but couldn't stop himself. "That's a familiar threat." He suddenly found himself deflecting a hex, which turned out to be Ginny's infamous Bat Bogey hex when it still managed to strike Malfoy.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor!" McGonagall yelled. "And a detention with me tonight, Miss Weasley!"
"This is your fault," she growled at Harry.
"Isn't it all my fault?" he quipped. "Isn't it my fault your brothers decided to lie to you? Isn't it my fault that you believed them? Isn't it my fault that except for the twins, your entire family proved to be worthless, back-stabbing worms?" He turned and headed back to his table, knowing that she was fuming.
"Can a worm even back-stab?" Luna asked. "They have no hands." Harry snorted.
"You really wanted to get that off your chest in public, didn't you?" Hermione asked softly. "Let some in the student body know that there is a second side to the story?"
"Not that any will listen, but yeah," Harry answered her.
Other points of view, and something bad happens.