Disclaimer: All recognizable characters/places are owned by J.K. Rowling and her publishers, and I do not claim ownership over them or their world. No copyright infringement is intended; this piece leads to no financial gain and it is written for the purpose of personal enjoyment and skill development. OC's and plot do belong to me.

Cunning

The art of winging it

oOo

"A man who is used to acting in one way never changes; he must come to ruin when the times, in changing, no longer are in harmony with his ways."

-Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

oOo

Chapter 1 – Annoyed

Winging it is an art; a form of life. It is well known that as long as you can dodge curses faster than the person throwing them, you'd be able to keep it together. After all, problems really begin when life outsmarts you, and you are out of excuses.

My life began to slip through my fingers faster than a Firebolt one morning during the summer holidays when the post arrived.

"Elizabeth! You are going to use up all of the hot water," I could hear Francis screaming at the door even with the shower on – probably because I wasn't beneath it anymore but he didn't need to know that. I brushed my teeth (twice) while the room continued to turn into a sauna, all the time imagining Francis' beet red anger and giggling.

"Elizabeth!"

I rolled my eyes, secured a towel firmly across my body and opened the door. "Did anybody ever tell you what a fantastic interpretation of an angry bull you make?" I asked, cocking my head to the side, a strand of wet dark hair slapping me in the right eye. "Bugger," I muttered, pushing it back and making a mental note to get a trim.

Unlike my side of the family, Francis and his younger sister Gwendolyn had inherited their father's golden locks which meant we hardly looked alike. In fact, I remember asking their mum if Francis had been adopted on several occasions. "Just shove it," he said, pushing me out of the bathroom and into the hallway, and slamming the door closed. I shook my head and walked away.

A second later I heard the expected high-pitched shout, "Elizabeth! You -!" I snickered, putting my fingers in my ears to keep the sound of my cousin's foul mouth out, and opened the door to the room I shared with my youngest, and more tolerable, cousin.

Gwendolyn was lying on top of my bed, playing a game of chess with the one and only (thank Salazar) Oliver Wood. While Gwen, all thirteen years of strawberry-blonde genius was pondering her next move, the resident brat was staring quite inconspicuously at me. And what was worse, his golden retriever was chewing on my duvet. You know all that crap about Gryffindor's being honourable and whatnot?

Well, it's crap.

"Wood out," I said keeping my voice even and composed, pointing with an outstretched arm to the hall behind me while securing the towel against my non-existing chest. "And take that sodding beast with you!"

The twit licked his lips as he rearranged his burly figure on my bed, "We are playing chess, care to join?" The dog barked and spilled saliva on the floor; I cringed.

"Could you stop that beast from eating my covers? It's disgusting," I said, my mouth twisting in a disgusted sneer. Times like these I really wished my aunt and his mother had never met.

"Daisy is a lady, not a beast," he said with a silly grin and a fake apologetic smile.

"You really need to think twice about what you consider ladies to be, Wood. Although considering that thing you dared call your girlfriend, the dog is a definite improvement."

He gave me small chuckle, checkmated Gwen's king much to her horror, and stretched his arms before getting off the bed. I watched him as he nudged the dog by the collar. She jumped on her paws and rushed past me, almost making me lose my hold on my towel.

I was still standing by the door when he passed me by, lowering his head so as to whisper in my ear, "Don't worry Sarah, I like my girls with an actual rack."

Sometimes, I just want to kill him out of sheer displeasure, "Oh yeah? Well I like my boys with brains, dumbarse!" I slammed the door shut, but could still hear his laughter coming from downstairs. "And it's Elizabeth!"

Gwen stared at me doing a bad job at not laughing in my face. "That was a lousy comeback, Lisa. Losing your touch?"

She had a point, not that I'd ever admit it. "Sod off," I muttered, opening the drawers where I had my clothes and searching for something to wear.

Every year, since my mother was permanently hospitalized in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, my father's sister, Aunt Adelaine, had taken it upon herself to take my brothers and me away during the summer time. Unfortunately, most of these vacations included the Wood family. Mrs. Wood and Aunt Adelaine were old school friends with a penchant for vacationing together, which usually meant anywhere between two to three months of non-stop-Oliver-Sodding-Wood companionship.

Him and his habit of calling me by my first name.

My parents hadn't been original when naming me and had simply insisted I be named after my mother, Sarah; I suppose they threw Elizabeth in there for good measure. Only Wood insisted on calling me Sarah; I was Elizabeth to everyone else.

"Breakfast is ready, hurry up or Francis and Oliver will eat all of the food before you even get there," Gwen said. I waved her off as I put on a top and a pair of shorts. It was supposed to rain that day, which meant no beach. What, I ask Salazar, is the purpose of vacationing in Greece if it is going to rain for four days in a row? It had been four days trapped with not only Wood but Francis. As if dealing with one Gryffindork wasn't enough… at least Gwen was in Ravenclaw. My brothers, William, Armand, and Nicholas had all graduated from Hogwarts (William was even married) already, and were thus exempt from these trips.

Oh Salazar, please help me survive the next Gryffindork-infested month with at least half my brain capacities intact. I solemnly swear I shall abuse my prefect status to benefit our noble house if I do. I finished dressing and walked down the stairs towards the kitchen. I took a seat next to Gwen and away from the two laughing trolls and grabbed some tea. The adults were having their breakfast out of doors. It wasn't two minutes before Mrs. Wood walked right into the kitchen.

"Post is here!" Mrs. Wood chanted as she distributed the day's mail. We were all sitting at the round, rather small, kitchen table enjoying some dry toast and slightly burned bacon. Well, I was enjoying the toast, not the bacon. The dog was safely locked in Wood's room for the time being, and the dork seemed to have taken that a bit too personally. I shrugged for what could I possible do to make it better?

"Here you go, dear," Mrs. Wood said handing me a letter. Curious, for I had expected zero correspondence over the summer, I looked to see whose it was. A groan escaped my throat before I could help myself.

There, written in ridiculously uptight writing were the words "Terrence Maximilian Higgs." I looked at my half eaten toast, and whatever appetite I had disappeared. Deciding I would not continue to ruin this hideous morning, I put the letter down and picked up my cup of tea.

"Who is that from?" Francis asked with his mouth full of bacon. I recoiled; little things like this made it extremely hard to believe we were actually related.

"None of your business." He gave me a wicked smile before diving in and grabbing the letter from right beneath my plate. Bugger.

"Francis, give that back before I am forced to hex you," I said, trying to sound calm.

"Oooh, Terrence Maximillian Higgs…. Do all of your ex-boyfriends write letters with their full names on them? What do you reckon he's trying to do, Oliver, make up for something else?" Wood spat the tea he had been drinking all over himself, and even Gwen giggled. My cheeks heated up. "What can I say? I don't particularly like having you in the family, Liz, but dumping that twat was perhaps the only moment in which I was proud to call you my cousin."

"Francis, I'm warning you," I said through gritted teeth. Of all mornings to forget my wand upstairs I had to choose this one.

He raised his eyebrows before tearing the envelope apart, "Do you worst," he said with a grin, throwing down the empty envelope and holding my letter with his left hand. We both sprung from our chairs at the same time. He was closest to the door, and I had to go around Gwen so I almost tripped on the small carpet Mrs. Wood had positioned at kitchen's entry.

Somewhere above us, the dog barked.

I chased him across the living room and up the stairs until we reached the room he was sharing with Wood. The dog barked again. We both froze; his hand on the handle mine itching for my wand. "Francis," I tried to reason, "Give me the letter and no one gets hurt."

His smile widened before he turned the handle. I had no time to prepare before I was tackled to the ground, the dog holding me and my nose hostage. I tried to pry her away from me, but she was weighting me down. It took me two whole unobstructed breaths to realize Wood had grabbed her by her collar and had to pulled her off of me. He even had time to offer me his hand- which I ignored.

Rushing inside the room, I found Francis sitting comfortable on his bed and reading my letter. I gave what sounded like a war cry andI threw myself on top of him and tried to remove it from his hands, but the prat had longer arms than me and kept it out of reach. Wood walked in as if two people weren't fighting to the death wasn't anything worth remarking upon, and took the letter from Francis' hand. I fell; thankfully, on Francis' back. If I was lucky, the impact would have broken his spine. However, I happened to have more important matters to fret over.

Like the fact that of all people who could possibly read whatever humiliating thing Terrence had written, it had to be the sodding Scott.

"Wood, give me that letter," I said trying to keep the terror from popping into my voice. I pushed Francis' head down against the wooden floor and propelled myself off of him and unto my two feet.

"'Dear Elizabeth,' " he began reading; I tried running at him like a mad woman, but Francis grabbed my ankle and I tripped. " 'I hope you are having a nice summer; I am too, if having a nice summer means that all my time is spent thinking of you,' how sweet," he threw me a mocking smile. "'I am quite sorry not to be there with you and blah blah blah.' Honestly, Sarah, you can get a cavity out of this thing."

I could feel my face getting hot, with something more than just mortification. "Hand it back, Wood!"

He cleared his throat before continuing, "'I really wish you would let me explain the events that transpired' –transpired? Who uses that word on a letter?"

"Who knew Higgs could read?" Francis chipped in from the floor. I kicked his head with my free leg, making him squeal and earning my freedom. I jumped on Wood's back and he caught one of my legs, so I was straddling him from behind. "Give me that!"

"Wait a second!" he said with a laugh, slapping my hands away with a lazy move. He didn't seem to mind that I was hanging unto his neck for dear life. "I am about to find out why you two broke up last term."

"Two galleons he forgot to compliment her on a new haircut!"

There was cold sweat coming down from my spine, and my legs felt like jelly. He couldn't, Wood and Francis could not find out why Terrence and I broke up.

"Oliver, return that letter immediately!" we all turned around, quite mid-scene, to see plump Mrs. Wood looking murderously at her only son. I felt Wood's body tense, and begrudgingly he handed me the letter. I jumped off his back and held the wrinkled parchment to my chest. Mrs. Wood motioned with her finger for Woody to follow her, and he threw me a 'thank-you' glare before leaving the room.

I replied by s him a victorious-in-your-face blown kiss before I pocketed the letter and proceeded to walk out.

"You didn't have to overreact you, know?" Francis said; he was finally off the floor and I wondered if the hardwood floor's markings on his face would become a permanent fixture. I hoped so. "It was just a letter!"

I ignored him, grabbed my wand from my room, run down the stairs, put on some shadily constructed sandals and rushed towards the door. Aunt Adelaine yelled something about taking an umbrella with me. I ignored her. I hit the road closest to the cottage, not caring about where I was headed.

Directions be damned.

When it did start to rain, (and I mean tropical-thunderstorm kind of rain) I took refuge in a small coffee shop. I bought a cup of tea with some stray muggle money I had in one of my pockets, and sat down to read the letter.

Leave it to Terrence to be disgustingly sweet when he needs to.

"Lisa, I know you probably don't want to hear from me right now, and I understand. But we have too much history to throw it overboard due to one mistake on my part. There is also our future to consider. I just want you to know that you are still my chosen one. And that I am a stupid git, although you can probably come up with a better insult than that.

Just… forgive me.

Love, Terrence."

What a twit, I thought as I tore the piece of parchment into tiny pieces, only to regret it five minutes later.

It was with a heavy feeling that I returned to the rented house- some couple of hours later.

"Elizabeth, where were you? You can't just run off like -" Aunt Adelaine began scolding me the moment I put one wet toe in the house. Everyone stared, of course: I was soaking wet, it had rained for the entire blasted afternoon, and I had been gone for well over six hours. I even missed tea. And supper. Unfortunately for her, I was hungry, angry and frustrated (not to mention wet) and didn't bother to pay her much attention. She was left with no other option but to follow me up the stairs while yelling at me. She has good lungs, Aunt Adelaine does.

"I'm a witch," I said when I reached the thankfully empty bedroom and began getting off of my wet clothes and grabbing fresh ones to change into, "I'm seventeen; I had my wand on me. I'm pretty sure I can defend myself if need be when surrounded by muggles."

"That is not the point, young lady, you are under my charge here and you will do as I say for once," she continued, now following me towards the bathroom. I needed a long bath, and hopefully Francis hadn't finished the hot water in retaliation for this morning. I doubted the thought had even occurred to him, the poor sheepish fool. "You are grounded," Aunt Adelaine said with finality, arms crossed tightly across her massive chest for effect.

I rolled my eyes, "Fine." I slammed the bathroom door on her face and proceeded to open the hot water faucet. I could hear her threatening to send me back to Britain in a millisecond but we both knew that was a ruddy lie.

I took my sweet time with that bath and by the time I left, perfectly clothed, it was after dark. Of course, Wood was playing chess with Gwendolyn on my bed, again. I leaned against the doorframe with my arms crossed and a frown on my face, waiting for the resident prat to get the point. "What?" he shrugged when he finally met my eyes. He moved his bishop, allowing Gwendolyn a nice view of his queen. Idiot. "It's raining, and we are both grounded; the options for entertainment are rather slim right now so we might as well avoid killing each other just yet."

I snorted as I sat down between them, grabbing Gwendolyn's horse to attack Wood's Queen. He swore colourfully and made a dull move with one of his towers. I smiled. "Mate in five, Wood; you really shouldn't have lost that queen of yours."

"Bugger."

Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this :) Another version of this story was originally published circa 2010 (named 'A long December') and it got to 19 chapters or so before I took it down since I wasn't sure where it was going. This time the story will be completed since it has already been written entirely (yay!). I'm expecting I'll be able to post a chapter a week, but school, work and life may get in between that and delay the posting, although I am hoping it won't.

Also, read the prequel ('A Long December') if you'd like.

Constructive criticism and reviews are much welcome and appreciated:)