Matter of heart - 3

Harry had been grinning at the calculating look on both Iris and Fred's faces, but it turned into a scowl at mention of his own name. Ginny elbowed him in the ribs.

"A Quidditch player, hmmm? Someone like Oliver Wood?" Fred asked, raising an eyebrow triumphantly.

Iris dropped her eyes for a moment before shrugging. "Oliver's old news. I'd suggest someone more…current," she said, her eye twinkling.

"That could work," Fred mumbled, forgetting about his fight with Iris and rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Of course it would," Iris replied, waving her hand in the air. "A more Slytherin kind of practical joke."

"You're a devious woman, Iris Parkinson," Fred said, smiling widely. "I can work with that. Come on, we need to talk to George. He's the brain of the operation – I'm the gag man."

"I can see that," Iris smiled, smirking. She allowed Fred to take her hand and drag her over to the corner where George and Shannon were seated. George didn't appear pleased with the interruption at all.

There was a moment of stunned silence before Ron turned to look at them, his eyes wide, aghast. "They were flirting! Making eyes at each other out in the open for all to see."

"Oh, well spotted," Ginny said, giggling.

Hermione smiled, patting Ron on the arm. "At least you did notice this time, Ron. You're making progress."

"But…but… she's a Slytherin," Ron said, his eyes darting back and forth between the girls.

"Well, The Sorting Hat did always say that the Houses needed to unite," Hermione said, barely able to control her laughter.

"It didn't mean that physically," Ron said hotly.

"You mean figuratively," Hermione said automatically.

"That, too!" Ron shouted, sending both Hermione and Ginny into gales of laughter. They collapsed on the couch, propping each other up as they giggled.

"Barking mad," Ron said, shaking his head and moving toward the Butterbeer.

Harry let his eyes roam around the room. He noticed Draco and Dudley sitting in a corner, each watching the others in the room with a similar expression that Harry couldn't quite name.

When Draco noticed Harry's attention, he sat up straighter, that familiar, cocky expression returning to his features. "What are you looking at, Scarhead?" he asked.

Harry rolled his eyes, ignoring the jibe.

"Don't call him that," Ginny snapped, moving to stand beside him. Her eyes flashed fiercely, apparently taking more exception to the name than he did.

"Would you rather keep the title for yourself?" Malfoy asked, smirking. "Matching scars. Aren't the two of you pathetically cute?"

Ginny's hand instinctively went to the top of her forehead where the red mark was visible, angering Harry.

"That's enough, Malfoy," he said, seeing red as he took a step closer to the blonde. "This is her party, and you're not to spoil to it."

"Keep your knickers on, Potter. I'm not going to ruin your girlfriend's little homecoming," Draco said, taking a sip of his Butterbeer and keeping a wary eye on Harry's wand.

"Hey, Ginny. Glad to see they finally sprung you," Dudley said, peering around Draco to smile at Ginny.

Harry had previously been amused by Dudley's obvious crush on Ginny, doubly so since his slow-witted cousin hadn't yet caught on to Ginny's distinct coldness towards him. But he wasn't in the mood now. He ground his teeth together as he clenched his jaw.

"Dudley," Ginny replied, coolly.

"Are you feeling better?" Dudley asked.

"If it makes you so miserable to be with all of us, Malfoy, why don't you just leave? Permanently." Ron said, elbowing his way past Harry and Ginny to stand in front of Draco with his arms folded across his chest. "I mean, no one is going to fight to keep you here."