Short one...

The day before the famous Celestina Warbeck performed at Hogwarts, the volume of the school had finally reached a dull roar. Professors, for the most part, completely gave up on attempting to teach. McGonagal gave them a rowdy study hall and simply stared down her nose at them. Sprout claimed they were going on a "nature hike" to look at natural foliage and didn't seem to notice that no one went with her. Trewlawney predicted that class would be let out early... and lo and behold it was! Flitwick hid under his desk from a careless group of students who kept misfiring their charms and then disappeared themselves when he vanished. Snape tried valiantly to keep order in his classroom and attained a record for most points taken during the course of a class period. No one cared but him.

Finally, the day ended with a loud dinner in which only half the professors made an appearance at the staff table. The rest hid in their rooms and waited for normality to return. This being a complete misnomer because nothing is ever quite "normal" at Hogwarts... but I digress. Again.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione, despite their apathy about Celestina, were excited for their own reasons. Draco Malfoy was looking particularly smug, and they imagined his face when his bubble popped. This was actually a favorite day dream of Harry's... not that he would admit that any of his mental images had anything to do with Malfoy.

Neville fiddled with a bottle, popping the top off, considering the bottle carefully, and then replacing it.

"Whatcha got there, Neville?" Ron asked leaning over and making a swipe at the bottle.

Neville jerked the bottle away from Ron. We all know Neville quite well at this point, and clumsy is a generous term for our accident-prone Gryffindor. So... the bottle went flying. Unfortunately, the top was currently off and the bottle was aimed at Harry. He found himself covered in a powerful, musky scent.

"Ugh! What is that?" Ginny gasped for breathe, leaning away from Harry and nearly falling off the bench. She was lucky. Hermione was sitting on his other side, caught a big whiff, and immediately fell over. Harry was too concerned with his scent to notice.

"No!" Neville jumped to his feet and made a grab for the bottle, which was now empty and quite useless to him. "It's cologne. My gram bought it for me for my birthday. I heard that it's Celestina's favorite." His eyes pooled with tears of frustration, although it may just have been the overwhelming musk. "Now she'll never notice me."

Ron leaned back from the table and breathed through his mouth. "Trust me, Neville, you're better off without it. Although, I suppose Harry could rub up against you or something to transfer the smell..."

Neville's eyes lit up, and Harry interjected, "No way! Besides, I don't smell that bad."

Ginny slid off the bench altogether. "I think you can't smell yourself anymore, Harry. You... you... you reek!"

"I'm not that bad," Harry argued. "You don't hear Hermione complaining..." He trailed off and looked around for his friend. "Where'd she get off to, anyway? Ah, there she is..." he spotted her feet still propped up on the bench she'd tumbled off of. "Taking a nap during dinner...?"

He was interrupted by a small, squeaky voice. "Excuse Dobby, Harry Potter, sir." One small hand clutched his tomato-shaped nose. "I is having the thingy you is wanting." He handed over a small package, which Harry tucked into his pocket.

"Are you alright, Dobby?" Ginny asked with concern from her place on the floor.

Dobby looked embarrassed for a moment, then blurted out, "Harry Potter stinks," in the general direction of the floor. With an "Eep," followed by a loud crack, Dobby disappeared.

"I'm going to go take a bath," Harry muttered.