Outside The Fire

Outside The Fire

Thank you very much to everyone who has read this so far. A special big thank you to everyone that has reviewed.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters or events that appear in the book series or movies. JKR, various publishing gurus and a movie mogul group own absolutely all rights to this wonderful universe. They did not give them permission to play. The characters just stopped over for tea, and well, I convinced them to get into a little trouble. Don’t worry Ms Rowling, I’ll have them back by curfew (I hope).


WARNING: I wish to remind everyone that this is a slash story (men are, or will be in love with other men). If you have any problems with this, please DO NOT read this. I cannot be held responsible if anyone’s sensibilities get injured. You have been warned.


Chapter 2: Realizations and Strategies


After a week of that damned song following him every where he went, Harry had decided that he was definitely angry at Lexi this time. This had crossed the line! Her stupid music had always been a source of curiosity to Harry. He knew muggle music. He loved all types of music. However, over the last two years, Lexi had managed to thrust upon him some often times horrifying and down right scary music. To Harry, this was all a part of the charm, the fun, the thrill that was Lexi. But this time, it was too much!

Harry stormed into their apartment. “Lexi!” He slammed the door shut behind him. “LE – XI!” He yelled so loud the walls rattled.

A flustered Lexi came running from her room.

“What’s the matter?” Her eyes wide with fear, she glanced around the room. “Harry! What’s wrong?”

Harry glared at her. “Make the song go away! NOW!”

Lexi slowly smiled at him. She seemed to understand exactly what he was referring to. She had, after all, done something like this to him before.

“I don’t have a clue wyou you are referring to.” She said with bitter sweetness dripping from her lips. She pouted and batted her eyes to add to the effect. She knew, or easteast she thought she knew, how to work Harry Potter. And she was working him for all she was worth at this moment.

“Harry continued to glare at her. “The song. You know damn well what I’m talking about.” He sneered at her for effect. Two could play at this game and he had learned how to sneer from the best that ever lived to sneer.

Lexi just batter her eyes more, tilted her head to one side and tried to look the picture of innocence. She even added a little hair twirling around one finger for additional effect.

Harry continued to sneer.

“Alright!” She finally gave in. “I hate it when you do that!” She flopped herself down onto the nearby couch with a huff. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted like a petulant toddler. “But, only if you agree to go to the gala.” She would not even look up at him.

“What gala?” Harry was truly confused now.

“The one you have obviously tried very hard to forget about.”

He still looked lost.

“The one at Hogwarts.” She threw her arms up in the air in a sign of desperation and resignation for his abysmal memory. “I told you about it when the invitation first came.”

Slowly, Harry looked as though he was catching up. “Oh,” he said softly as he slid into the seat next to her on the couch. “I had actually forgotten about that.”

Suddenly, he turned his full attention towards her. He crossed him arms over his chest and looked at her as though she where a student caught out of bed after curfew. He raised one eyebrow at her. “So what does this gala have to do with that song of yours?”

“First,” she flipped her hair out of her eyes with one quick toss of her head, “you can not intimidate me with his techniques.” Harry smirked at her. “They don’t frighten me,” she said haughtily. “So you can stop now.”

Harry quirked that eyebrow again. A small smile attempted to pull up at the corner of his mouth. No one else would have notice this minute twinge, but she did.

“Secondly,” she smirked at him. “I can not remove the song from your head.” She smiled a very large and overly proud of herself sort of smile.

Harry’s eyes narrowed at her. “What do you mean? You can’t make the song go away?”

She continued to smile and nodded her head. She looked very smug. She began to hum the song to herself as she sat there.

“STOP THAT!” Harry bellowed at her.

She stopped humming and tried to look innocent again. “Oh!” She squeaked, “I didn’t mean to bug you.” She smiled sheepishly at him.

“Knock off the little innocent angel routine!” Harry snapped. “Why won’t the song go away?” He was frustrated to his breaking point. “Why can’t you remove it?”

She began to fidget a little where she sat. Suddenly, the arm of the couch seemed to be very fascinating. “Well,” she began hesitantly. “The song was charmed…”

“That much I have already figured out,” he snapped at her.

“If you would kindly allow me to finish,” she snapped back, loosing all pretense of innocence. “The song was charmed to help you … well um, to…” she looked around as though searching for the right words. “The song is intended to help you realize what you need to do.”

That made no sense to Harry and he did not hesitate to tell her so.

“Harry,” she began in a tender voice. “The song can have no effect on someone, if the words have no meaning to them.”

“Harry looked at her, still confused and not getting any closer to not being confused.

“Let me see if I can make this plainer.” She fidgeted again. “Did you listen to the words Harry?”

“Of course I have!” He snapped. “They keep running through my head over and over again! It’s driving me nuts!” Harry seemed about to actually loose tem temper.

“Do you think of anything in particular when you hear the words?” She quizzed him.

“What do you mean? Like memories and stuff?” Harry snapped at her again. He really needed to get a better grip on himself.

“Well, yes,” she said thoughtfully. “That would be one thing.” She sighed. ‘In for a dime. In for a dollar,’ she thought to herself. Here goes.

“Harry, you aren’t living your life!” She watched as he cringed visibly and grew angrier. But, he kept quiet; waiting for her to continue. “You are missing something.” She paused, a thoughtful look on her face. “Actually, that’s not quite right.” Her eyes traced the wall next to her.

“You are running from something, or in this case, I think someone.” She turned to look into his eyes. “You are refusing to live.”

Harry’s face softened and began to look almost sad. ‘She really can see right through me, can’t she,’ he thought to himself.

“You have to live again Harry.” She took his hand in hers. “You have to take that chance.” And, squeezed it gently. “You have to go to the gala,” she whispered.

Harry just looked at her. He had managed to conceal most of his emotions from his face. But, she knew. She had listened to him, over and over again; telling her how wonderful he was. How perfect he was. How Harry thought the universe revolved around him. She knew. She also knew what had happened.

“I told you before,” he sighed. “I have already ‘choose to chance the rapids and dared to dance the tide’, as your little song so wonderfully puts it.” He paused to collect himself. She silently watched him, her eyes piercing deep into his soul. “You, of all people, should know how that turned out.”

“All I’m saying,” her voice was soft and soothing. It felt like a cool liquid gently flowing down his over heated skin. It caressed his very heart. ‘How does she do that,’ he thought to himself. “You need to go to the gala. That’s all.”

Harry didn’t speak. He just nodded, got up and slowly left the room. He spent the rest of the evening locked up in his room.

That evening, in a dark and mysterious pub in the outskirts of London, three cloaked figures met to plot. They sat in the darkest corner. Heads bent low over the table. Hoods of their cloaks up to hide their faces. Whispering.

“Are you certain?” A nervous and uncertain female voice asked.

“Of course I’m certain. He’ll be there.” Another female voice; more confident than the first.

One of the cloaked figures shifted uncomfortably.

“What about Snape?” The first female asked turning to the other member of their small coven.

“Dumbledore has already informed him that the entire staff is required to attend.” A male voice.

“But how are we going to keep him from spending all his time outside like he always does?” The first female asked worry in her voice.

“Dumbledore has already assigned shifts to every professor.” The male again. “He has been given his shift for the dance already.”

“How did you manage that?” The nervous female said with a hint of awe in her voice.

“Let’s just say that Dumbledore knows more than he is letting on.” He leaned back confidently in his chair. “He smells a setup; therefore, what else would you expect him to do?” He shrugged at her.

The female shifted uncomfortably again.

“Do you think this will work?” Her voice was hesitant yet laced with hope and a little excitement. “Really work?”

“Yes,” was the firm replies from the other two.

“I wish I could be as certain,” she said shaking her head disbelievingly.

“Don’t worry Hermione.” The male leaned in and patted her hand. “It will work.”

“I hope your right Draco. I really hope your right.” She whispered.

He chuckled softly and leaned into the table. “We have our secret weapon don’t we?”

The other figure nodded.

“Good then!” He said in an excited whisper. “Nothing can go wrong.”

Hermione looked confused; however, the others could not see it. So she asked, “What secret weapon? What are you two?”

“Don’t worry Hermione.” The voice of the other girl was soft and reassuring.

A small plastic case was slid across the table to the first girl. She took it and looked it over.

“All you have to do is get that to be played. When the entertainers are taking their break will be good.”

The first girl nodded. “I have already told them when they will be allowed to take a rest. They agreed.” She paused. “Did you get the?”

“Yes I already have it. The male removed a small box from his cloak. “Picked it up from the Weazle twins today.”

“Did you test it?”

“Yes, works fine.”

“That’s amazing! How did they get a CD player to work around magic?” She sounded excited.

“Not now Hermione! La-ter.” She would have seen him smirking, if she could see under the hood of his cloak.

She looked the case over. “Muggle music? How is this supposed to help?”

The other two figures attempted to share a knowing glance.

“It is charmed,” they said in unison.

“What? Is that?” The first girl stuttered. “Won’t Dumbledore? You can’t.”

“Don’t worry,” the second girl used her best reassuring voice. “Its not going to make them do anything they don’t want to already.”

“You can’t mess with someone’s minds.”

“It only focuses their minds.”

“Hermione,” the girl’s soft voice again. “It is perfectly safe and perfectly legal.”

“Are you certain?” She did not sound completely assured.

“Yes.” Her voice was firm. “All it simply does is cause them to focus on one thing.” She shifted in her seat. “And it wont let them stop until they give in,” She mumbled.

“What?”

The second girl turned to face the first squarely. If one could see under her hood, one would have seen the deeply serious face. “It simply causes their mind to continually focus one something that they should be thinking about already.”

“But then you are forcing…”

“We are not forcing anything.” Her voice became gentler. “I like to think of it as gently persuadthemthem to think about something they already want to think about.” She paused. “But are just too big of an arse or too much of a coward to actually think about on their own.”

The male chuckled again. “Snape would kill us all if he ever heard anyone call him a coward!”

“Just because someone is brave in battle,” she glared unseen, “does not mean they have the necessary courage in matters of the heart.” She sat back and took a drink out of the glass that had been sitting on the table in front of her. “Some people just require a little…”

“Gentle persuasion.” The male chuckled again. “As long as he never figures it out.”

The first girl fidgeted a little again. “How do we know it will work? We haven’t even tested it yet.”

“Oh, we’ve tested it.” The boy smirked.

“Really, when? On who?”

The other two shared a smile that no one could see. “Do you remember our last year at school?” The male began leaning into the table again.

She leaned in more to ensure she heard every detail. “Yes.” Her voice was hesitant and slightly confused.

“We used it then, on Snape.” A definite note of pride in the voice as he leaned back in his chair again.

“You didn’t!”

His smirk could literally be heard by both the girls. “Yes. It worked wonderfully!” He took a small sip from a glass that had been sitting in front of him. “Why do you think that he went out there and offered to help Potter learn how to dance?”

The hiss form the intake of breath was heard at tables nearby. “Hermione. Shhhhh!” The others hushed her.

“You did? Really?” He nodded. Her eyes were as round as saucers.

u diu didn’t think he would have done something like that on his own did you?” He said. She looked from one to the other searching for confirmation.

“Took almost the entire school year to break him down,” the other girl said shaking her head.

“I thought he was going to go stark raving mad before he finally gave in,” the male chuckled. “Living with him was terrible during that time.”

“Oh, I had forgotten about that.” The first girl blushed but no one could see it.

“He has been a wonderful guardian,” the boy sighed.

The other two nodded in agreement.

The first girl spoke again. “Ron and I always wondered what had gotten into him.” She looked at the other two. The other two smiled proudly at that. “I mean, it wasn’t like him at all. Was it?” She shook her head in wonder. “Snape teaching Harry Potter how to dance.” She smiled. “Ron was convinced that it was some evil plot to finally kill Harry before we all graduated and left.” The other two shook their heads.

Giggling could be heard form the other girl. “It was my best piece of work; if I do say so myself.”

“Hey! As I recall,” the boy cut in. “I had a rather large part in that one.”

“Yes, love. I could not have done it without you.” She placed a hand on one of his and gave it an affectionate squeeze.

“Damn right!” He snapped heartily. There was no real rebuke in the voice, only mirth.

They all giggled softly for a moment. Suddenly -

“Oh! If they ever find out what we have done,” Hermione began nervously.

“You’re not cutting out on us now, are you Granger?” The boy suddenly sounded a little worried.

“Don’t call me that!” She snapped. She hated reverting back to their old ways.

“It’s okay,” the other girl interrupted, trying to dispel a possiblsputspute. “No one is going to cutout on this one.” She looked at eane. ne. “We have come too far and we are almost there!”

They both nodded. Albeit, the first girl nodded a little uncertainly.

“Well then,” she said rubbing her hands together. “There is just one more order of business we have to discuss tonight.”

They all smiled. “Clothes,” they said in unison. Several patrons at other tables turned to glare at them as they leaned over the table and snickered loudly at their accidental outburst.

A few days later found Harry again scrunched into Lexi’s car as they went on a wild ride through London.

“Lexi if you don’t slow down,” he winced as a call box dove out of their way. “We are never going to make it to the mall!”

“Oh!” She squealed again for the hundredth time since they had left their flat. “I can’t believe you are going to let me dress you for the gala!” She was so excited.

He thought, perhaps it was not such a good idea that she was driving. Even though he still didn’t know how to drive, he was certain that, at this moment, he would have had to have been safer than her.

Shopping for clothes with a girl turned out to be a whole knew experience that Harry felt certain he could have lived without. Apparently, women do not shop alone. They might arrive alone. However, they do not stay alone. They manage to involve and include every other woman in the store in their selections and decisions.

Every item of clothing that was brought to Harry to try on had been voted on, by a majority vote, prior to it being handed to him in the dressing room. Then, to make matters worse, he wasecteected to parade out into the store, like a model, while each of the women gawked, assessed and commented on every outfit. Every thing they liked or didn’t like about each outfit had to be discussed in a group forum. Harry felt like the last piece of meat at a dog show.

By the time that they had completed their shopping, Harry was tired and irritable. He had decided that he certainly DID NOT like shopping. Actually, that was not the truth. HE LOATHED IT.

“So long Lexi! Good luck Harry!” Every woman in the store chimed as they completed their purchases and exited the last store.

“I take it from all the comments and eye wiping that you told them about my little problem?” He wouldn’t even look at her.

“Well, while you were in the changing rooms,” she shrugged, “we had to have something to talk about.”

“How my arse looked in the last pair of pants,” he said petulantly, “or how my chest filled las last shirt out nicely wasn’t enough for…”

“Well,” she cut him off. “We could have,” she latched onto his arm as they walked together. “But, we really didn’t want to embarrass you or make you feel to self conscious.” She smiled mischievously at him.

“I heard you!” He looked livid. “I heard every one of the comments that each of you made while I was in there!”

She huffed at him. “Those walls must be paper thin. Besides,” she said with a shrug. “Women love to hear about and talk about stuff like that.”

“Stuff like what?” He yanked his arm from her grip and turned to glare at her. “My absolute humiliation? The stupidity of my youth?”

“Love Harry! Romance!” Her eyes had that glassy distant look girls get. “Unrequited love is so absolutely romantic. To yearn for another is so … so…”

“So bloody pathetic and awful!” He stormed. “I will never understand you women!” With that he stomped on ahead to the car.