No Such Thing
as Regrets

Chapter One

It was getting cold for the beginning of November. Harry Potter and his friends chatted merrily as they walked into Hogsmead on a chilly late afternoon. A crisp wind blew through the small town and the small group of students shuddered as they hurried to Honeydukes candy store.
"It's bloody freezing," Ron scowled as he held the door open for Harry and Hermione. The warm air of the candy store was soothing to their ruddy cheeks. Hermione rubbed her hands together as Harry ogled eagerly at the rows of tempting sweets that lined the store. She turned to say something to the redhead but caught him glaring across the street while still holding the door open. She followed his gaze and spotted a speck of blonde across the street.
"Ron?" Harry asked. "What're you looking at mate?"
"Nothing," Ron muttered. He closed the door and joined his friends, forcing a grin. Hermione pursed her lips. What has gotten into him lately, she thought.
"Oi! Harry! Ron!" someone called.
The trio turned and saw Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom appear from around a tower of chocolate frogs and licorice wands, the first grinning cockily. Neville blushed at Hermione.
"Hello Neville," Hermione said and smiled warmly.
"Oh….hey Hermione."
Harry grinned back at Seamus. "What're you so happy about?" he asked.
The blonde Irishman grinned even wider, and his blue eyes darted toward Dean for a moment.
"Dude, don't," Dean pleaded.
"What?" Ron and Hermione asked at the same time.
Seamus looked back at them. "I am victorious," he declared triumphantly.

"Why are we here?" Pansy Parkinson whined.
"To get a butter beer," Draco Malfoy told her yet again with a sigh.
"But I wanted to go to Zonko's!" she pouted.
"Oh shut up Pansy," Blaise Zabini hissed, "and drink your damn beer."
The three of them were sitting in a booth at the Three Broomsticks, waiting for Draco's cousin Rowan to bring them their drinks. The other blonde soon appeared, balancing a tray of mugs in her left hand while her other hand gripped her heavy coat.
"Thanks Rowan," Draco said quietly. She put a mug in front of each of them and then took a seat next to Draco, across from Blaise and Pansy. Sitting side by side, the other two Slytherins could see the resemblance between the Malfoy cousins, but there were too many differences in them otherwise to recognize them for what they were. They had the same blue eyes and fair complexion, but Rowan was slightly darker. And while Draco was rather skinny and slender, Rowan was busty with curves and a heavy-set body type. She had longer, darker blonde hair and she smiled in a different way from Draco. Her smile contained more than the knowledge she could get from books. Rowan also exuded calculated confidence that took many boys, and a select few girls, by storm. She knew she was beautiful and flaunted it frequently.
Rowan took a sip of her butter beer, grimaced, and let her eyes wander aimlessly. Her eyes stopped and narrowed slightly.
Pansy turned in her seat and saw Dirk Smith sitting in the corner of the room, smirking unabashedly. He winked cockily at Rowan.
Pansy whirled around with a gasp. "Rowan, don't! He's bad news!"
" A one-fuck-wonder I heard," Rowan said smoothly. She looked away with little interest and took another sip of her butter beer.
"Speaking of fucking," Blaise smirked, "I heard some of the upperclassmen are conducting a competition."
"Let me guess: who can fuck the most people in about two weeks right?" Draco drawled. His nose wrinkled slightly in disgust.
Blaise shook his head. "One."
"One what?" Pansy asked.
"One week," Blaise clarified.
Rowan, who had been about to take another drink from her mug, lowered it slowly. The look on her face was one of mild horror.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Nope. I heard Smith's crew initiated it. They're calling it the Royal Fuck Competition."
Draco sneered. "How witty."
"Dirk Smith?" Rowan asked.
"Yep," Blaise frowned.
Pansy covered her mouth with her hands. "That's just horrible!" she cried.
"Not if both parties are willing," Draco pointed out. "Then they're both just as responsible."
Rowan was unusually quiet. She drank her butter beer silently and kept her eyes trained on the wood table.
Draco frowned.
"Oh yeah, by the way, what's going on with you and Weasley?" Blaise inquired.
Draco's brow furrowed. "Me?"
Blaise rolled his eyes. "Obviously."
"Nothing, why?"
Pansy giggled. "You hadn't noticed?"
"Noticed what?" Draco snapped.
"Him staring at you! I've caught him at least twenty times!" Pansy exclaimed.
Rowan finally looked up, a smile tugging up the corners of her mouth. "Really? Twenty?"
Now it was Pansy's turn to roll her eyes. "I've seen him doing it a lot, alright? No need to get so technical, Ro."
"Alright, alright!" Rowan chuckled, putting her palms in the air.

"How are you victorious?" Hermione asked incredulously.
Neville blushed again.
"Dude, seriously," Dean warned again.
Seamus ignored him. "I found out who Dean likes."
Dean groaned while Hermione giggled.
"Who?" Harry asked with a mischievous smile.
"Oh I can't tell you that," Seamus said airily, but there was an excited glint in his eye.
"Aw come on Seamus!" Ron exclaimed.
Dean was trying unsuccessfully to appear nonchalant about the whole thing, but his clenched fists gave him away.
"No, I wouldn't do that," Seamus said softly, his blue eyes searching Dean's chocolate brown ones.
"Really?" Dean snarled. " 'Cause you could have fooled me." And with that the Gryffindor boy stormed out of the candy store.
"Dean! Hey, man, it was a joke!" Seamus called and darted out after him.
Hermione followed them with her eyes worriedly, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. "He shouldn't have said anything," she finally decided.
"Lighten up Hermione. It was a joke," Ron said angrily.
At Hermione's shocked look, Harry joined in: "Ron, what's wrong with you? Calm down," he said.
"Whatever," Ron grumbled and pushed past the others to a deeper part of the store. The other three watched him stalk off.
Neville gave Harry and Hermione a weak smile. "I think it was just hard for Dean to accept that he likes this girl. She seems nice to me though."
Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'll go get Ron and we can head over to the Three Broomsticks and grab a butter beer or something."

The four Slytherins' beer glasses were getting low. Blaise was leaning back in his chair lazily, inspecting his perfectly manicured nails while Pansy listened attentively to Draco's Quidditch plans for next week's practice. Rowan yawned. She checked her watch.
"Guys, remind me to-," she began.
"Hey there," said a deep voice.
Pansy and Blaise turned around, seeing the tall, well-built figure of Dirk Smith standing just behind them. He leaned forward and rested one hand on the table as the other rested on his hip. His dark brown hair flopped into his equally dark brown eyes. His smile, while charming, seemed just a little too calculating.
"Hello," Rowan said coolly. It was apparent that she was mildly annoyed at his presence and her having been interrupted.
"Are you doing anything later?"
The blonde's eyes narrowed perceptibly. "You're very forward, aren't you?"
He smiled cockily. "When I see something I want."
"Unfortunately, I'm busy."
"Can you change your plans?" Dirk asked smoothly. He said it in such a way that it was obvious he was expecting her to comply.
"Sorry, no."
His eyebrows scrunched together, a dead giveaway to his surprise. "What're you doing?" he asked, his voice a mixture of suspicion and genuine disbelief.
At first, the other Slytherins thought Rowan was going to respond with something like "none of your business", but it soon became apparent that she was thinking about her answer. Her normally warm eyes became cold as they raked Dirk up and down quickly.
"Oh, I don't know," she finally responded. "Hmm….drowning puppies…. Hanging out with Peeves… defacing school property… massacring first years, studying: basically anything, and everything, other than going on a date with you."
Blaise's eyes widened; Draco choked on his swig of butter beer, and Pansy's jaw dropped open; but Dirk's reaction was the best. He was extraordinarily slow for a Ravenclaw and it took him a while to understand the meaning of her words. When he did, his face turned an interesting cocktail of reds and purples of rage. He opened his mouth to say something, but Rowan cut him off.
"Judging by the hotel room key jutting out of your pocket-," Dirk's hand went to pat his pocket, and sure enough, a hotel key was sticking out. He colored further-, "you are partaking in the "fuck contest". I will take no part in that contest, or have anything to do with you or any of your friends. So please leave."
Dirk gave her a final black glare but his swagger was off. Rowan, in turn, seemed deathly still. She watched Dirk walk away, headed toward the door. The door opened and the bushy hair of Hermione Granger walked in, followed by a flushed Ronald Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Harry Potter.
Pansy gushed, "Oh my gawd, that was awesome! You seriously told him! He'll think twice about trying that on you again!"
"Yeah…." Rowan trailed off. Her eyes were studying the party to just enter the bar.
Pansy turned around again to see what had caught Rowan's attention. She smirked.
"Oooh, it's Ron, Draco," she smiled devilishly. And then winked.
Blaise looked at her. "Since when did you start calling Weasley "Ron"?"
Pansy just shrugged.
Rowan looked at her watch. "I need to head over to the cloak store."
"We can go look at dresses too!" Pansy shrieked. Several heads turned in her direction, including the group of Gryffindors by the door.
Pansy's friends looked at her blankly.
"Dresses for what?" Blaise snorted. Draco glanced at Rowan to see if she knew what the other girl was talking about, but Rowan just shrugged her shoulders.
"Honestly, you guys-,"
"You sound like Granger," Draco interrupted.
"As I was saying," Pansy asserted with a glare, "there's another Yule Ball being held this year, the Friday before we go on break. I want us all to go together."
"We always do that, you dolt," Blaise sniffed.
"Yeah, but this year I want us to bring dates."
Just as Blaise was about to lean forward to ask Rowan if she wanted to go with him, Pansy added, "And we can't choose each other."
Blaise scowled at the brunette and reluctantly sat back, folding his arms moodily. Rowan laid her head back wearily, her blonde tresses falling over the back of her straight chair.
"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered.
"What?" Pansy demanded. She sounded a little hurt.
"I don't date," Rowan told her pointedly.
"Go with Dean Thomas," Blaise suggested, suddenly unfolding his arms and looking excited. The others looked at him as if he were insane.
"Or there's that seventh-year Hufflepuff. He's pretty cute," Blaise continued. At Rowan's unhappy glare, he said, "Hey, I'd go with you, but you know Pansy would kill us both….."
"I think it's a great idea!" Pansy trilled.
"Yeah, yeah, we all know you love your ball idea about the dates," Rowan said, sounding tired. "Let's go to the cloak store and then we can go look at dresses."
Pansy looked confused, but followed suit as Rowan and Draco stood and headed for the door.
"What's wrong?" Blaise asked.
"I wasn't….. I wasn't talking about the date idea."
"What were you talking about?"
"Dean Thomas."

When Rowan got outside, she immediately noticed Dirk Smith standing a few yards away conversing with Mike Truce. They were both Ravenclaws, and best friends; but while Dirk was straight, Mike was openly gay. It was also a known fact that Mike was promiscuous and had slept with almost every gay boy in Hogwarts, no matter what year. The only ones he avoided were the Slytherins and any boys under their fifth year. On the surface Mike seemed like a nice, caring guy, but Rowan classified him as a predator in that moment. It was apparent Mike was taking part in the "fuck challenge" by the look on his face, and his eyes carried a bitter chill to them instead of their normal vibrant warmth. As Rowan watched them, she saw Dirk reach into his pocket and hand something to Mike.
Rowan hesitated by the door of the Three Broomsticks. Draco came out and ran right into her, pushing her down. An airy gasp left her lips as she went down, thankful of her extra pounds and large arse as she collided with the cobble stone, scraping her palms.
"Merlin, Rowan are you okay?" Draco demanded, flustered, as he knelt beside her.
"Couldn't keep your eyes off me, eh Rowan?" Dirk called.
"Go to hell," Blaise snarled as he joined the others outside, Pansy at his heels.
"I'm fine," Rowan muttered, picking herself up off the ground with Draco's cold hand on her elbow.
Her cousin immediately noticed something was off with her.
"What's wrong?" he asked quietly.
"Nothing," she lied, and proceeded to dust herself off.
"Hey, you alright?"
Rowan's head snapped up, a flush creeping up her neck and onto her plump cheeks when she saw Mike standing before her, concern written all over his face. Her blue eyes darted past him for a second and saw Dirk walking in the other direction back to the castle.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks," Rowan said hastily.
"Okay. Well, I'll see you 'round." Mike smiled and then headed into the Three Broomsticks, giving a quick wave before disappearing into the tavern.
"You sure you're okay?" Blaise asked.
Rowan nodded. "Fine."
"Come on guys, let's go SHAAAAAAAAWPIIIIIIIIING!" Pansy sang, grabbing Blaise's and Rowan's hand and tugging them away from the Three Broomsticks, the latter giving a little wince. Draco shook his head, a light smile playing on his lips, and followed them.