For Alan.
Merry Christmas.
Angelina Johnson woke early, as usual. The sun was barely rising, faint rays peeking out over the crest of the horizon. Standing by the window in the dorm room she shared with five other girls in her year, Angelina sighed softly. Wistfully, she thought of Christmas and the class-free holidays which were mere days away. Thankfully, today was the weekend, meaning no classes. Groaning softly, she knew she had awoken for no reason. This year, her sixth year at Hogwarts, there was no Quidditch practice as the Triwizard Tournament was taking place.
Unfortunately, Oliver Wood was no longer at Hogwarts. Wood had graduated the previous year - the year Gryffindor finally won the Quidditch Cup.
Sighing again, Angelina changed out of her flimsy night shirt and shorts, her typical sleepwear, and put on a tee, jeans and a jacket. Sticking gloves in her pockets as an afterthought, Angelina pulled on soft socks and silently padded down to the Common Room, boots in hand.
Thankfully, the Fat Lady who guarded the Gryffindor Tower was used to being awake in the early morning hours. Angelina slipped quietly out of Gryffindor Tower and walked through the castle.
Angelina had been asked by several boys to go to the Yule Ball with them. While she, Katie and Alicia hated the Slytherins on the Pitch and admired guys like Cedric Diggory, Angelina was hoping one person would ask her. He happened to be a personal rival and his green robes accentuated his eyes.
Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell, Angelina's closest friends, didn't know of Angelina's Christmas wish. It was that private and that taboo.
Katie was going to the Ball with George Weasley as 'just friends', or so they said. Alicia was going with Lee. Angelina was glad Lee hadn't asked her first. Despite his endless flirting, Angelina knew Lee deserved someone better. Someone sweet like Alicia.
Angelina was beautiful and ambitious, adventurous and independent, fierce and temperamental. She wanted a fiery guy who could handle her. Someone who was not Lee Jordan and certainly not Fred Weasley. Although they were best mates, they were just mates. Nothing more, nothing less.
Suddenly, Angelina found herself in the Astronomy Tower. Brought out of her thoughts abruptly by the feel of the cold wind on her face, Angelina walked to the balcony railing and stretched leisurely. She enjoyed the fact that her hair whipped around her face, long straightened locks flying about her body. What she wasn't prepared for was the person who also entered the Tower.
"You!?" a harsh voice shouted, drowned in the wind.
Whirling around, Angelina looked in shock, eyes wide open, at the person who had intruded on her privacy.
"What are you doing here?" he asked meanly, his customary scowl on his face. He crossed his arms to appear more intimidating. More than six feet in height, he already towered over the majority of the school.
She regained her composure and smirked back at him. "Well, I was enjoying the air," she said, loftily, walking towards him. "Until someone interrupted me." Although shorter than him, Angelina struck an imposing figure herself.
"Oh, pray excuse my interference, Johnson," he sneered, "but this is a public area."
"I never said the interruption was unwanted," she teased, flashing him a coy smile.
Damn, she is pretty, he thought. No! I mean, she's so innocent-looking... Damn, she's got me.
Angelina waited for him to say something, enjoying the tormented blush that slowly crept across his face.
"Cat got your tongue?" she purred, moving closer to him.
At this close distance, he could smell her - a pleasant mixture of cinnamon and lavender.
Wanting to say something that would stop his intoxicating thoughts, he snorted and tried to look haughty and disdainful. "You must be confusing me with someone else, Johnson. Who are you meeting up with at this hour?"
"Why so curious, Montague?" she replied, batting her eyelashes at him.
Montague shifted uncomfortably.
Angelina laughed at his reaction.
Getting angry, Montague hissed, "So I can take away points! I'm a Prefect, remember?"
"Oh, and how many points would that be?" Angelina toyed with him, enjoying their morning banter. Both on and off the Pitch, the two argued incessantly.
"Johnson!" Montague warned.
"Ooh, well, let's see then. First up would be Lee. He's an early riser, too. Though he won't really leave the Common Room until seven thirty, he does wake up first. Then, there's Harry. He's a light sleeper."
Montague's fists were clenched in the pockets of his robe. He wasn't liking this list one bit.
"It's always a toss up with the twins. Sometimes George is awake first. Sometimes it's Fred. Either way, you can tell them apart from their eyes and their laugh."
Montague gritted his teeth. "Are you quite done now?" he demanded irritably.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Angelina said brightly. "There's Ron and that idiot McLaggen. Dean, Seamus and Cedric..." Angelina frowned, counting. "Although Cedric's probably sleeping in today."
Montague smacked his hand against his forehead. He did not need to hear that.
"There's Blaise, Warrington and the dunderhead Bole," Angelina continued counting on her fingers.
"WHAT!?" Montague shouted, losing his composure at this unexpected tidbit.
Angelina sneered. "You didn't know? Oh well. Too bad Oliver and Marcus are gone this year."
Montague's jaw dropped.
"Oh, and I can't forget Draco, Adrian and Terrence. Roger and the other Ravenclaws are too snooty, preferring to be holed up in the library. The other Hufflepuffs are now trailing after Cedric, so that counts them out, too." Angelina smiled up at Montague. "So..."
"What sort of damned list is that, Johnson?" Montague fumed, interrupting her count.
"You don't see, do you?" Angelina pouted and turned around, starting to walk away from Montague.
Quickly, Montague reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her movement.
"No more games, Johnson," Montague growled. Jealousy consuming him, he asked, "What about me?"
Angelina looked up into his blue-green eyes and faltered a little, lost in their depths. Recovering her breath, she asked sweetly, "What about you?"
Montague dropped her arm swiftly as though it burned his skin. "Nothing," he grunted, turning away so she wouldn't see his face.
"Fine! Be like that!" Angelina shouted, throwing up her arms. Storming out of the tower, Angelina raced to the lake, hoping everyone was still in bed so they wouldn't see her mad dash. It was Sunday, after all.
Montague paced the tower. Johnson was a mystery. She was pretty and alluring and a damn flirt! Angry at himself for slipping up and blurting out his innermost thoughts, Montague returned to the dungeons.
Angelina enjoyed the lake scene. Furious with herself, she resolved to stop teasing him.
Upon entering the Great Hall for breakfast, that resolve broke down. Flashing Montague a huge, charming smile, Angelina sauntered past the Slytherin table to join the Gryffindors.
Montague noticed her, but tried to ignore her actions. She was a tease, anyway. Montague ground his teeth as he saw her hug her friends. It's not that he liked her, he tried to convince himself. No, he was just mad she was trying to use him.
"Do it, mate," Adrian nudged Montague. "Ask her to the Ball already."
"Ask who?" Montague gasped, shocked by Adrian's forwardness.
Adrian rolled his eyes. "The girl you keep staring at, you prat."
Montague elbowed Adrian back. "I'm not staring. Who are you going with?"
"Right," Adrian smirked. "I'm going with Lisa Turpin."
Montague smiled, not even knowing who Lisa was. "Good for you, mate."
"You should ask her," Adrian continued. "Before someone else does."
Montague thought about what Adrian said. He had a point, except Adrian probably thought it was a Slytherin or Ravenclaw girl. Not Gryffindor's Johnson. Montague frowned. How would he do this?
Sighing, Montague stood outside the Potions classroom. It was his last class before the holidays and he had Double Potions with the Gryffindors. Perfect.
Once inside, Montague managed to grab the seat behind Angelina. She saw him and smirked, giving him a small wave. Montague sneered back. Angelina rolled her eyes and paid attention to Snape's droning voice.
During the lesson, Montague and Angelina worked on their own potions, as were the other students.
Montague finished first and whistled as he walked by her cauldron. Dropping something, he leaned down and whispered, "Watch it!" into her ear.
"Say what?" Angelina asked, startled. She dropped all of her flobberworms into the cauldron as she fumbled to keep a straight face, distracted by Montague's closeness.
"Oops!" Montague feigned apology.
Angelina's cauldron steamed. Turning a purple hue, it boiled and started to spill over.
"Miss Johnson!" Professor Snape hissed. "What are you doing? Evanesco!"
The potion vanished and Professor Snape pushed his way forward. Leaning on her work table, he hissed, "What do you think you are making, Miss Johnson?"
"A Pepper-Up potion variation, Professor," she replied.
"And how many items were you supposed to use?" The silence was tangible.
"Three, sir," she gulped, nervously. Eying Montague quickly, she gave him a murderous look.
Professor Snape sneered, "Detention, Johnson, and fifteen points from Gryffindor."
"Fifteen?" she gasped.
"And another ten for trying to insinuate it was someone else's fault." Professor Snape returned to his desk. "Miss Johnson, you'll stay here. Everyone else may leave." Without looking up, Snape returned to his papers.
The class filed out, leaving Montague, Angelina and Snape.
"Mr. Montague, what are you still doing here?" Professor Snape asked as he stacked his papers neatly. The rolls of parchment flew to their respective compartments at a flick of his wand.
"Well, it was my fault she messed up, sir," Montague explained. "I was hoping to make up for it?"
Snape furrowed his brow. "And you propose what?"
"I'll serve detention with her," he offered, inwardly cringing at his Gryffindor boldness and Hufflepuff sense of duty.
"How noble, Montague. I have to go speak with the other Heads of Houses, but I'm sure you two will be fine." He leered down at Angelina. "No funny business. I will return in two hours."
Professor Snape left and the two of them were alone. It was silent for awhile, neither daring to speak.
"Thank you," Angelina said weakly. "I don't think I could get through another detention with him on my own."
Montague frowned. "What do you mean?" Angelina feared no one.
"He makes me feel...so dirty and useless," she admitted. "Like I don't do anything right." She sighed. "He makes me feel like a failure. I get everything wrong."
Montague was confused. It sounded like Angelina was talking about two different people. "What makes you say that?"
"He doesn't do anything directly, but he'll say something or look at me funny." She shivered. "I don't like it."
Montague wanted to comfort her, but he didn't think a simple, 'There, there', would do it. So he did the next best thing. He hugged her.
Angelina gasped at the contact as she felt his warmth overtake her body. It was comforting and safe.
She smiled and hugged him back.
Montague remembered Adrian's words.
"Who are you going to the Ball with?" he whispered in her ear.
Her head jerked up at his voice. Guiltily, she looked down at the floor. "No one," she admitted, biting her lip. She was so honest with him. More honest than when she was around her own friends.
"Would you go with me?" he asked.
She stared up at him, awed. "You really mean it?"
As an answer, he cradled her body against his chest, picking her up in his arms. "Yes, Johnson, I mean it." He leaned his head on hers as he let her down.
"Okay, then. I'd love to." She stood on tiptoes to kiss him. "I've been waiting for you to ask me."
He was stunned by her forwardness and her admission. He did the only thing his body could think of. He kissed her back.
