I'm back! You know you missed me.. :D I was digging through old stories and ran across this one that I had started ages ago but never got around to finishing. I've been stuck with this one so I figure reviving my FF-self might inspire me.

Disclaimer: I'm a poor college student; there's no way I own the rights to the Harry Potter universe...

Enjoy and let me know what you think! Send me any kind of feedback, please.

"Alright," I said. "Let me get this straight. We each write down a dare and toss it into Fred's… sock? Can we please use something else?"

"Absolutely not!" Fred cried indignantly. "What's wrong with my sock?"

"It's your sock!" Alicia squealed in disgust. "We can just use that hat over there…"

"The sock is an essential part of this game," George argued.

"How?!" Alicia, Angelina and I exclaimed simultaneously.

Fred leaned in closer to us and looked around as if to make sure there were no eavesdroppers. He looked us each in the eye and finally wriggled his eyebrows. "It adds to the mystery…" He explained a hushed tone.

My two friends gagged while I just sighed. "Is it at least clean?"

"What kind of man do you take me for, Katherine Bell?"

I just looked at him pointedly but continued. "Right. So, whatever… we'll use the sock. We just write down our own dares, put them in the sock and all of us take one out. Then we have to do it."

The twins nodded in agreement.

"What happens if we refuse?" Oliver queried from next to me.

"You agree to be our personal test subject for the remainder of the year."

"School year or calendar year?" Harry asked.

"Calendar."

"It's January!" Angelina cried.

George grinned. "Exactly."

Alicia stood up from the circle. "I'm going to chicken out. I don't trust what you two will write and with my luck I'll be the one to pull something bad."

George shook his finger at her. "No can do, my dear. It's too late to back out now."

"It's far too late." George stated.

"How is it too late? I just walk away."

"That's part of the rules that haven't mentioned yet. Once you're in on the game, you're trapped." George explained with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Oh, don't worry, dear brother." Fred smiled in glee. "Let's not talk her out of it. We have already gained a test subject! I just knew there were gains to be made here!"

"Oh, fine!" Alicia pouted and plopped back down in her seat. "I'm in."

"Any one else feel the desire to leave?"

There was a jumbled muttering of 'no's.

"Excellent. Let's get to it, then." Fred grinned as he passed out scraps of parchment and quills.

"Make them good!" George laughed. "I know my dare is exquisite!"

I groaned. I'm really going to regret this. I suppose as long as I don't have to humiliate myself in front of Oliver I'll be fine.

We all wrote down our dares and gave them to Fred. With his signature smirk he shoved all the scraps all the way down to the toe of his sock.

Angelina and Alicia squealed dismay while I just buried my face in my hands. I felt Oliver reach over from next to me to pat my back reassuringly.

Unbeknownst to anyone else, my heart fluttered and a blush crept on my face. Yes… I'm that completely, utterly hopeless.

"Don't worry, Kates. It can't be that bad…" he said, unsure.

But who couldn't swoon for that gorgeous accent? It's to die for!! After five years of knowing him, I STILL find it hard to suppress my girly squeals!

Ugh… I sound like some crazed fan girl but I swear I'm not that bad. I don't have pictures taken from behind columns and bushes of the man like some of the second years.

Fred laughed at our reactions but just continued to shake his sock.

Because shaking a sock is going to jumble everything around so well, won't it? I love the twins but they are downright baffling.

"Right!" he exclaimed. "Pass the sock around and pull one out. Don't read it until it's your turn."

We all followed his instruction.

"Angelina, why don't you go first?"

The girl glared daggers at her crush but obliged. "Snog the person to your left senseless." The girl actually turned beet red, despite her darker skin tone and gulped as she turned to look at Fred.

The twin grinned widely, unable to suppress his excitement. He wriggled his eyebrows and puckered his lips comically.

It was rather obvious that the two fancied each other. When Angelina grabbed the back of Fred's neck and pulled him in for one of the heaviest make-out sessions I've ever seen in my life, the rest of us cheered loudly and applauded. We thought they would never get around to telling each other how they felt.

When they pulled back Angelina was out of breath and Fred just looked around, lost for a moment. Then he grinned bigger than ever and threw his arm around her.

Angelina smirked. "Who's next?"

"Let me get mine over with," Alicia said and unfolded her scrap. "Are you serious? I got my own!" She sighed half in irritation and half in relief. "Stop pranking people for the next three months. Well at least I got off easy."

"My turn! My turn!" George sang in high spirits. He read his, smirked evilly and looked at Alicia.

The girl's face flushed completely. "…What…?"

"Go on a formal date with Alicia. Dress up and all. Thank you, dear brother!"

Alicia was left speechless. Only Angelina and I knew that she returned George's feelings; she was just waayyy too shy to admit it.

"Alicia, my dear." George stood up, knelt down in front of the beet-red girl, and took her hand in his. "Will you be so kind as to go on a date with me this evening?"

I assume she lost her voice because all she could do was tremble as she nodded.

Angelina and I squealed at the adorable moment. Fred whooped and Oliver just shook his head, smiling. "You four better not let this interfere with Quidditch, though!" he said half-heartedly.

"Aye, aye, Captain!" The twins saluted Oliver.

"I guess I'll give mine a go," Harry offered boldly. "Choose an odour." He looked at the twins, apparently baffled. He hesitated slightly. "Watermelon."

To this the twins grinned maniacally and cast a hex on him. A pained look came across his face for a fraction of a moment but it disappeared as quickly as it came. We looked at him, confused, and then a wave of watermelon smell washed over us.

"Dear Harry here will be farting watermelon for the next week!" George announced to everyone in the common room. "Any time you smell watermelon, you can take comfort in knowing that Harry has passed gas! We've given him an extra gassy boost to help him make Hogwarts smell scrumptious! Congratulate the good man for his flatulence!"

Mortified, Harry could only stare at the twins as we couldn't help but erupt in laughter.

"Katie, I do believe it's your turn," Angelina said, bringing us back to the game.

I took a deep breath, unfolded the parchment, and gaped. "Are you kidding me?! How the bloody hell am I supposed to not only locate ten butterbeers, but drink them all within four hours, too?"

"That's no problem at all. Fred and I have our ways." George stated confidently.

"We have our ways," Fred rubbed his hands together maniacally.

I groaned. "I suppose it could be worse…"

"Let's see what you deviants wrote… Stuff Fred's sock in your mouth!" Fred actually laughed, finding this funny in some sick way and without hesitation shoved the entire sock into his mouth and closed his lips around it.

Alicia and I squirmed in disgust while Angelina just stared. "You've got to be kidding me."

"No worries, my dear." Fred said once he removed the sock. He took up his wand and said a Mouth Wash spell.

One by one, we all looked at Oliver, as he was the last one left. "Right," he sighed and opened his parchment. "Follow the person to your right around for a full 24 hours. You must be within 5 meters at all times."

Within two seconds, five pairs of eyes were on me. I blinked in confusion. "Wait… what??"

Fred and George laughed. "Ollie Poo will be your shadow for the next 24 hours!"

The girls grinned, knowing full well that I'd been fancying Oliver for the past few months. I wanted to smack them for making it so obvious. I knew he didn't like me back so if he found out now, I would be mortified.

I threw a half-hearted fit. My heart raced at the thought of finally being able to spend some time with Oliver but really… 24 hours? What about sleeping? What about loo breaks? I'm going to be blushing non-stop; he's sure to find out! I've perfected playing it cool around him in few hour increments but a full day would be near impossible. I was sure to do something stupid or embarrassing and I wouldn't be able to hide or run away. UGH!!

Oliver saw my pout. "What? You don't want to spend time with your favorite captain? I see how it is, Kates…" He folded his arms across his chest and looked off in the other direction sulkily.

"No…" I began, pulling his arms down. "It's not like that at all…"

"She's right, mate." Fred said.

"She just knows she's going to make a fool of herself after her ten butterbeers!" George chuckled evilly.

… Oh Merlin…

I stood up and started pacing apprehensively. How could I have forgotten? So on top of spending twenty-four hours with the man I've had an eye on for the past four months and not being able to escape when I turn into a sloppy mess when he does something cute, I also have to get drunk and make an even bigger fool of myself.

"Are you in or not?" George questioned menacingly.

All I could do was run my fingers through my hair nervously and squeeze my eyes shut as I nodded my head regretfully.

"Most excellent!" exclaimed Fred. Immediately, I felt a ring of warmth around my arm and my eyes snapped open just in time to see a faint pink light encircle my wrist. An identical ring appeared around Oliver's wrist and before I could even react, a chain of light connected the two bracelets. Without warning, the chain shrank into what I imagined was five meters, unexpectedly yanking me off my feet and sent me flying into Oliver's armchair.

"Owww…" I rubbed my head where it hit and jumped a bit when I felt someone help me to my feet again. I noticed the light fade and disappear completely but I could still feel its warmth linger.

Oliver glared at the twins as he helped me into his chair. "What? You don't trust us?"

"To be honest, no. You can charm it off at any time but we'll be able to find out who did it and when." Never had I seen more devious grins than those that were plastered on the twins' faces.

"Now to get some delicious beverages for our dear Katiekins!" George chimed.

I groaned as the twins leapt up jovially and skipped off to retrieve my butterbeers. Oliver and I shared a look in which we both silently agreed to pay the twins back tenfold.

We (and by 'we' I mean Alicia, Angelina and I) decided to make good use of the time by preparing Alicia for her date. Merlin knows she was too shaky to do anything properly by herself.

It took the three of us to levitate Oliver up the girls' staircase just because we were only used to moving objects no larger than tea pots. We bumped his head into the ceiling a few times and almost dropped him when a first year unexpectedly screamed in surprise from behind us.

Luckily we got him up with no further issues.

I really have no idea how he's able to climb the stairs in the first place. He seems to have no problems whatsoever at five am to wake us for Quidditch practice but when we asked him to show us how, he refused. Said that if we knew how, we could prepare something to hinder him next time. He must have seen right through us.

Anyway… so we all crowded in the bathroom as Angelina and I chose exactly which make-up products to use on Alicia. Once we decided on the items that would give her a more subtle, yet drop-dead-gorgeous look, I left Angelina to apply it on the nervously shaking girl. It was my task to search through our collective wardrobe to find a suitable outfit for the occasion.

Oliver followed me out of the bathroom and sighed happily. "Thank you so much for getting me out of there, Kates. I don't know how you girls are able to put up with that. Are you like that every morning?"

I laughed lightly. "Of course not; this is a huge occasion. Alicia's had a crush on George for the past two months. She's been trying to make some kind of move on him but she always chickens out at the last minute. She claims it's impossible for him to like her."

"That's crazy… he's liked her since October. Won't shut up about her, actually. It's a bit annoying."

"Seriously?" I asked as I started going through the tops we had accumulated. "It would have been much easier to get her to do something had we known that. Oh well- it doesn't matter any more. After tonight they'll be a couple. I can guarantee it."

I saw Oliver smile as he sat down on my bed. "Angelina and Fred, too. Well, at least the twins will be distracted now. Not nearly as many pranks. Maybe they'll even stop putting mouse traps next to my bed."

I giggled at the image of Oliver shuffling out of bed in the wee hours of the morning only to snap awake as mouse traps clamped down on his toes.

"Yeah, yeah. Hilarious," he muttered indignantly.

"Oh, come on. You know you'd be laughing if it were anyone else."

"I guess you're right."

I looked up by accident, not expecting him to be looking right at me so when our eyes met, I couldn't tear mine away. I probably looked like an idiot just staring at his gorgeous chocolate eyes. I finally forced myself to blink and turn around to look at the wardrobe again.

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and tried not to sigh in irritation. Great- I just made a fool of myself.

Well, it's not like I can help it, really. They're the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen and they belong to the man who has stolen my heart. Seriously- how can you not just fall into those pools of brown paradise?

I blushed angrily. I was going to blow my cover and make our friendship extremely awkward if I couldn't control myself. Hold it together, Katie!

I decided to distract myself by flipping through the tops.

"I don't even remember this picture being taken." I heard from behind me.

My hand froze in mid-reach and I turned around slowly, desperately trying to keep the panicked look off of my face.

Oliver was holding a framed photograph I kept by my bed of the two of us after the first game we played (and won) this year. In the picture he ran up to me, picked me up, twirled me around in two circles, and finally pulled me into a huge hug.

He smiled at the photo.

"I'm pretty sure Colin took it. You know how he is with that camera. He told me he wants to go pro."

"It's a great picture."

"Yeah. That was a great game," I said, trying to take his thoughts away from the fact that I apparently treasured a photograph of us. If he acknowledged the fact that I had a picture of the two of us rather than of my family or the girls or anything else, it would be a dead giveaway. Any Quidditch talk was sure to divert his attention.

"That was a smashing game!"

Aaannnd it worked. I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding.

He had been gushing about the game like a little kid does about Chocolate Frogs for a solid five minutes before Angelina's voice called from the bathroom. "Katie! We need that outfit now! We're ready in here."

I made up my mind between the black skirt and the tan one, grabbed the rest of Alicia's attire, and scurried off the bathroom, thankful to get away from Oliver.

To my utter dismay, he got up from my bed and followed closely behind me.

I held up the cute and moderately low cut top with a tan skirt that had a small bow on the hip. Angelina clapped her hands delightedly and shooed Oliver out of the doorway, closing it inches from his face.

"Hey!" he called through the door.

"Alicia is about to change, you perv!"

"WHAT?!" Oliver cried. "I am NOT a perv! It was incredibly rude to slam the door in my face!"

I gave the clothes to Alicia, careful to stay relatively close to the door and Angelina turned to me. "Isn't this the best day ever!?" she squealed excitedly. "Not only did I get to have a totally hott make out session with Fred, but Alicia gets to FINALLY go on a date with George AND you and Oliver will definitely be together by this time tomorrow!"

"SHHHH!!!" I hissed. "Don't be so loud when he's right on the other side of the door!" I sighed heavily. "And there's no way Oliver likes me, Angie… really. I can tell he sees me as just a friend."

"What in Merlin's name makes you say that?"

"I… I just know. I can tell."

"That's preposterous."

"Stop trying to get my hopes up! I know for a fact that he doesn't so drop it. I don't want to foolishly start believing only to have my hopes shot down. I've already accepted it and its fine. Really."

She opened her mouth to retort but was cut off by Alicia. "Guyyyssss!!!" she cried, clearly in distress. We looked in her direction, only to find her a jumbled mess with her skirt half way zipped and her arms flailing around helplessly trying to pull the top over her head. "I'm going to make an idiot out of myself tonight!"

"You two are hopeless," Angelina said, shaking her head. She was always the bravest and most rational out of the three of us. She walked over to Alicia, spun her around, and reached for a zipper on the back of the top that apparently Alicia didn't know existed.

"….oh…" was all Alicia could say as she slowly freed herself. "Thanks."

Angelina briefed her for the next three minutes while Alicia pulled some heels on about what to do tonight and what not to talk about and such. I swear the girl reads far too many romance novels.

Finally we emerged from the bathroom. Oliver was leaning against the wall beside the door looking thoughtful. "I don't know how you girls can seriously take thirty minutes to get ready for one night."

They stared at him in disbelief. "You're just lucky we sped things up!"

The two girls suddenly shared a significant look, ran off giggling out of the room and down the stairs. I just looked at the door way in confusion. What was that all about?

Oliver and I walked over to the stair case and stopped. I groaned. Well, this is nice. I can't levitate Oliver down by myself- I'm horrible at levitating a textbook; I'm not even going to try levitating a full-grown man. He would have to either wait for me to make it down the stairs and slide down once I was at the bottom or I could wait for him to slide down and walk after him.

"Do you wanna go first?" I asked.

"We have to go together. It's more than five meters to the bottom, Kates."

Oh…. "Well how do you propose we do this, then?"

He sat down and patted the ground in front of him. "We can slide together!" he said like a little kid.

"Oh, no we can't! It's filthy!"

Grinning, Oliver grabbed my hand before I had a chance to protest, and yanked me down onto his lap. "Now you won't get dirty," he said cheekily at my scarlet face. I couldn't even try to remove myself from the situation because I was not only half-frozen, but he chose right then to push himself (and consequently me) onto the top stair.

My eyes widened and I clung onto his neck as the steps collapsed into a slide and sent us plummeting down, the sound of my screams echoing off the walls.

I tumbled off of him when we got to the bottom and scowled at his laughter. "It's not funny!" I glared but the look of mirth on Oliver's face made me melt. How could I stay mad at someone so bloody adorable?!

"I'm sorry, Kates. It really was the only way," he said standing up and wiping dirt from his pants."

"We're baa-aack!" Fred's voice sang from the opening portrait hole. To my utter dismay, he and his twin were indeed carrying ten butterbeers between themselves. How they managed to carry so many and past all the professors at that, is beyond me.

I sighed in defeat as I walked over to the fireplace and plopped down on one of the couches. Oliver sat right next to me.

I suppressed the urge to send him a questioning look. Sure, we had to be close to each other but he has five meters to make use of. Why wouldn't he take his favorite armchair or at least sit a few spots down from me? Why right next to me?

Ugh… what if he overheard Angelina in the bathroom and is just trying to humiliate me?

It's going to be a lovely 24 hours, I can just tell…

The twins placed the butterbeers down on the table in front of me.

"Drink up, my dear!" one of them exclaimed. I'm not sure which… I was too preoccupied wondering exactly how to go about drinking that much without getting sick tomorrow.

"And don't worry about getting sick- we have the perfect spell to cure hangovers," one of them said as if reading my mind. For all I know, they do. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they announced that they had concocted some kind of telepathic device.

I finally looked up at them. "Right… well that's tomorrow's problem. What about now? I'll throw up if you make me drink all of this!"

"Oh, but Katie, we're not making you drink!" Fred said jovially. "It's your choice between this and next year of being our testing slave."

Apparently everyone besides me wins today. Angelina gets to be with Fred. Alicia gets to be with George. The twins get to not only be with their respectful girls, but they also either get a riot out of me being drunk or a riot out of me testing their potions. Oliver just gets to have fun making me feel awkward.

What do I have? The foreboding feeling that I'll be puking my guts out, as I've only sipped the occasional butterbeer before. Oh- and I'm quite sure Oliver will disown me after today, as he'll have front row seats to some of the most humiliating moments of my life.

I reached out, grabbed a bottle, and downed half of it before I could stop myself. Let's get this overwith…