A/N: I was bored and felt like writing. It took me about three hours to write the original first sixteen sentences however. No joke. And I'm not exaggerating. Tell me what you think in a review. Please. lol. Especially if you think I should drop it. Which I will if I don't get enough good reviews so tell your friends! Lol jk bout the tell your friends part. PS: please excuse the OC, I hope she doesn't turn into a Mary Sue, but I don't think she will Please don't give up on me, lol. And if it takes like a long time for the next chapter to come out, it WILL come. Have faith. But im just getting this out now cuz its been sitting here for like ever. Please tell me what you think, if you think I should continue, if you think I have talent, and if you want notification for updates. Thanks~ Manda

DISCLAIMER: FANfiction. That's all I have to say. But Alissa Lazarus is mine.

            You didn't come out studying a certain illustrious blonde babe's amazing technique with no less than Omnoculars for hours at a time replaying a certain moment without learning a few things.

---*---

Traipsing through the thick bog, Laurel swiftly turned her head - locks flailing in the wind- to Trent, finally feeling up to discussing their early morning skirmish.

"I just want to say that…" she began, tucking one of many unkempt, loose tendrils behind her ear, two soft brown eyes peering out from behind a translucent shield of unruly, black tresses. Prepared to launch into the well-rehearsed speech she'd gone over continuously for the last hour, she finished with, "I was wrong." She'd planned on letting the words loom there for a bit as they walked on in silence, letting them replay in Trent's head, letting the sincerity sink in, allowing him to realize that she'd never apologized to him before in the full 15 years they'd known each other. What she hadn't anticipated, however, was that-

Curiosity, invoked by the vague source of a sudden creak, shattered her ardent concentration. Heaving an exasperated sigh, she diverted her heedful stare from the book of the mythical conquests of her favorite teenage heroine, Laurel Rose, perched in her lap, to-

            "Alissa?"

            A set of moist and glazed light brown eyes and uncouth red hair.

            "Ginny." Her stoic tone betrayed none of the consternation invoked by the sound of her roommate's shaky voice. She had always considered Ginny so emotionally strong, and most certainly not one to cry or even come close to tears.

            "Pigwidgeon… He died today." Alissa knew the former, irritating, twittery bird well, and seemed genuinely sympathetic for a moment, as she perceived that she'd never see his gawky little takeoff or be awoken by his shrill screeches ever again. "He flew headlong into a muggle mosquito zapper my dad was experimenting with. The shock was just too much for the old bird." Ginny sniffed dramatically.

            "I see." The plucky brunette tended to unintentionally keep up her three-word-vocabulary reputation whenever she interacted with someone- unless she felt like showing off, of course.

            "Yeah. So," said Ginny lightly, bouncing over -fully recovered- to her bed positioned directly next to Alissa. Despite her Weasley trend of making fun of people behind their backs, she had the ability to be perfectly nice to their faces.

            "So." Ginny's instantaneous recuperation was not surprising in the least to Alissa, who was used to Ginny by now.

             A quick stream of light from outside the window illuminated the room, catching Ginny's eye.

"It's a nice night for a flight," she said, turning back from the window.

            Alissa's eyes flashed briefly blithe in the direction of the unveiled opening. "So it is."

            Ginny, intent on uncovering the girl's outlook on her own much loved sport, continued. "Do you… like flying?"

            Alissa smiled. Flying was her favorite thing to do. She loved the feel of the wind whip through her hair, of the invisible force colliding fiercely with her face, and the indescribable feeling that she was so free. Ginny, detecting the subtle change in the other girl's softened features, prompted her to answer.

            "I love flying," she opined simply.

            Ginny smiled understandingly. She found describing how she felt about flying an arduous task as well. "Me too."

            "Get dressed," said Alissa suddenly, rising to forage through her trunk for a cloak.

            Vibrant red eyebrows shot up into the middle of Ginny's forehead. "What do you mean?" Pause. "Here," she said, handing her the cloak Alissa had been looking for from off the back of a nearby chair.

            Alissa grabbed her cloak from Ginny, a mischievous glint in her eye. "I mean, get dressed. We're going for a ride, and I challenge you to a race," she explained with a sly grin, feeling sporadic due to the exposure of common ground.

            Ginny was impressed. She'd misjudged and underestimated her roommate. "You're on."

---**---

            Draco snapped his fingers. Instantly, Pansy rushed to the side of the comfortably lounging Slytherin. "I have an idea," he began, fingering the leather arm of the recliner. "Get me my hat." Pansy cued Crabbe, who walked up readily, the Slytherin version of the Sorting Hat in his hand. Each of Draco's ideas, they noticed, began with the hat. It was specially made for him, and upon command, a random name of a Gryffindor third year or above would appear. First and second years were too easy in the opinion of the Slytherins, not to mention any year Hufflepuffs. Any time would do to terrorize them. As for Ravenclaws, they made great girlfriends.

            "Name," he stated boredly, and he grabbed the slip of paper emerging from the empty hat. "Alissa Lazarus, fifth year," Draco read. "Perfect. What a reject. Okay, now my plan: I'll charm a bracelet to look like a piece of shit -not literally," he reassured his audience, resulting in an inundation of relieved glances from all around the room, "- to everyone, except her. Better yet, once she puts it on, a picture of whoever she's in love with will materialize above her head, just the way she pictures them. Or should I say me?" Pansy and Slytherins from all around the Common Room let out roars of laughter.

            "That's genius, Drakie!" shrieked Pansy.

            Arching his left eyebrow, he asked nonchalantly, "You were expecting?"

            "You're right! Of course, Draco darling! I wasn't thinking!" She was about to kiss his lavish, self-cleaning, self-polishing, black boots in apology, when Professor Snape trudged up the stairs from his dismal sleeping quarters.

            "What's the commotion?" he droned bleakly.

            Draco was pelted with expectant stares from his mindless peers.

            "Oh, nothing, nothing at all. Just plotting the downfall of the Gryffindors."

            Snape smiled wryly in a way no one –short of Draco- had ever seen before. They all inwardly winced. "Carry on, then," he said proudly. Draco nodded once and Snape left the Common Room. Apparently he'd just been passing through.

            "Anyway, I know just the spell."

---***---

            "On our marks…"

            "Get set…"

            "Go!" the girls screamed in harmony. Ginny and Alissa tore through the air, Ginny on her Cloudskiir, a present from the flourishing Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes's cofounders to assist in the carrying on of the Weasley Quidditch legacy, Alissa on an equally powerful HanGlider 105. Pulling up ahead, Alissa got cocky and performed an elaborate, pretentious loop-de-loop, allowing Ginny to take the lead. Outraged, Alissa was on her tail and as her temper fueled her, once again the girls flew head-to-head through the Quidditch pitch.

            Getting bored with the straightforward pursuit that ensued, Alissa risked losing the race with a new tactic that, if effective, would surely pull her into the lead: she'd try to distract and hopefully veer her opponent off track, by pushing into Ginny's course.

            The stubborn and impetuous Gryffindor positioned herself at the far right of Ginny, some twenty feet away, and gradually began to speed up, fully aware of the peril of flying at such high speeds and making sharp turns. Just when she felt she had enough of a lead on Ginny, she swerved maniacally left in front of Ginny, passing her ever so slightly and taking her place before her.

            A positive impact of playing Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team against the notoriously devious Slytherins for nearly a year now, was that Ginny managed to develop a feel for averting their ruthless tactics. On impulse, she dived below her and sped toward the goal hoops, flamboyant red locks whipping her colored-with-cold face. She almost forgot about Alissa, and darted toward the goal hoops. She was almost there! Just a few more meters…

            Alissa, plan foiled, was distraught. How dare she do that to me!? she thought. Narrowing her eyes, I'll show her! she thought. After all, she had a few tricks up her own sleeve too.

Curving two plump, pink lips into the clever smile of one who'd just come up with a brilliant Slytherin-like strategy, she flew with all her might to the carrot-top's left side. Finally breathlessly approaching Ginny's side, she brushed up against her to let her know she was there, and proceeded with the ever-popular Quidditch foul of blurting –neglecting to realize that at high speeds this was an extremely stupid thing to do…

Caught off guard, Ginny shifted gawkily at the jolt. She almost slipped off of her broom, and was sure that any minute now, one of them would explode and push the girls' brooms so hard they would both plummet to their untimely deaths.

---****---

            "What exactly is it that I have to take from her?"

            "A DNA sample. As in a Polyjuice Potion."

            "And how exactly am I to obtain a DNA sample from a Gryffindor?"

            "Are you questioning me?"

            "No, no, of course not!"

            "Then do it."

            "Yes, Sir."

            "Don't call me that. It makes me feel old. Master is acceptable."

            "Yes, yes, of course, Master."

---*****---

            She wandered listlessly through the castle. Finally! she thought, reaching her destination. The Room of Requirement. I'll bet it was Slytherin himself who thought of such a clever concept. All right, let me see. Passage to the dorm room of… Shit, what if it's not empty? I've got it! Handheld Spy Mirror of the Location of the User's Desire. As an after thought she quickly added, And Revealer of Whereabouts of the Person of the User's Desire.

            Following Draco's 'researched' directions exactly, Pansy flipped back her straight, raven-colored hair haughtily and pulled open the plain-looking austere door.

            The mirror she had requested was balanced lightly atop a dresser identical to the one that currently resided in her section of her shared dorm room. She studied the ornate engravings on the polished wooden backing and handle of the little mirror. Elaborately carved roses with stems protruding from a vine that bordered the entire mirror's backing made up the majority of its intricate design. Pansy found it ironic how something so beautiful could play such a significant role in such an underhanded plan. Nonetheless, she gazed curiously into it to find the empty dorm room of her victim.

Resolving that the mirror had great potential for future plots, she tucked it delicately into her robe's interior pocket, and strolled out of the room, prepared to request an entrance to Alissa Lazarus's empty dorm room. Once again following Draco's instructions of creating a Room of Requirement, she thought strenuously of Alissa's room. But when she walked into the room, she found nothing but the dresser on which the mirror had been perched. She nearly fainted with worry.

What happened??? She assessed the situation bleakly. Draco will kill me! I don't know where the entrance of the Gryffindorks' Common Room is. I have no way of getting to her room without the Room of Requirement, which is apparently on the fritz. Now what?

---******---

            "Alissa!" Ginny shrieked in hopes of capturing the attention of the competition-crazed 5th year.

            Ignoring her, the clueless Alissa continued on squarely with her mission, unperturbed by Ginny's beseeching. She had almost won, almost knocked her out of the way. She might have tuned in more closely to her sensible side had she not been fueled by her anger and irrefutable thirst to prove herself.

            Coming to the harsh conclusion that Alissa would not back down and the only chance of them surviving this violent battle of control of the sky was in Ginny's hands was overwhelming. Then, to both girls' amazement, it started to rain. That was when it dawned on Ginny that the light she saw in her dorm room was lightening, and she they were caught in an electrical storm. With wood.