"Hey Fred!" Angelina called from behind us. He spun around so fast he almost knocked me over. "You're pairing up with me today. Last time Dean about knocked the sense out of me! Sorry George, but you're on your own," she said, shoving between us.

Fred winked at me and guided Angelina into the Room of Requirement ahead of us, then said, "Maybe you'll get to hook up with Alicia today, eh?"

"You offering me one of your brunettes?"

Fred and I had a deal: I get blondes, he gets brunettes, redheads are off-limits. That way there's no competition on our part, and the girls aren't forced to choose between us. I usually prefer blondes anyway, and Fred doesn't care either way, so it works.

"Might as well. I'm busy with this one anyway," he said, indicating Angelina with a jerk of his head. He grinned and ducked into the room.

As far as brunettes go, Alicia's not bad. She's a decent Chaser, and she always laughs at our jokes, and I'm pretty sure she liked . . . well, one of us. Doesn't matter which, as she'd only have known it was me because Angelina would be with Fred.

But by the time we got there, she'd already paired off with Katie, apparently aware of Angelina's intentions. In fact, Fred and I were the last ones there, and everyone had already found a partner for the day's practice. Everyone except . . . the blonde, and not the hot one either. The weird one.

She saw me standing there and walked over to me. She stood directly in front of me and just stared, unblinking, for a few seconds before pronouncing, "You're George, then."

"Yeah," I said, mentally raising her weird rating up another notch. No one ever got it right that quick. "And you're Loon . . . Lovegood."

"It's Lun-a," she said, "and yes. Shall you go first or shall I?"

"Erm . . . " I look around to see everyone else taking positions a few metres apart, readying for whatever lesson Harry was teaching us today. Since I had no idea what we were supposed to be working on, I answered, "You can," and took my place across from her. Whatever it was, I was sure I'd be able to defend myself against a nutty little fourth year.

I underestimated her.

It wasn't that she was particularly talented (although, for a fourth year, she did pretty damn well), it was that I couldn't anticipate anything from her. Not once. I think half the time she caught me because I was still bewildered by the last thing she'd done. I don't suppose it helped that I was used to dueling with Fred, whom I could predict with a good measure of certainty. But she confused and frustrated me for the entire session, and when Harry said we were done for the evening I bolted, storming all the way back to Gryffindor Tower.

By the time Fred turned up I was already in bed. He didn't let that stop him though. "What was that about?" he asked, flopping down by my feet.

"What?"

"That! Did the ickle fourth year beat you up, Georgie?"

"She didn't beat me up. She's just . . . loony! What a waste of my time! No one would ever have to actually fight like that. I would have been better off dueling Ron!"

"Oh, now that's harsh," he said. "She couldn't have been all that bad."

"She's completely barking!"

"At least she's a blonde though, right?"

"Fred, you're just as loony as she is," I deadpanned.

He shrugged. "She's kind of cute, admit it."

"Yeah, in the "I'm an insane person" sort of way." I grabbed the pillow from under my head and threw it at him, but he caught it before it hit him. "Get off of my bed! I'm going to sleep!"

He tossed the pillow back at me, then stood and crossed to his own bed, saying, "You always did go for blondes."

Instead of replying, I pulled the curtains shut, blocking him out.

But as I lay there in the dark, I had to admit, I always go for blondes.