A/N: Okay, yeah, I know I have a severe OC problem, but get over it. I think this one might actually get finished!! OMG!! This is my first heteroromance fic, so forgive my newness. Oo

Disclaimer: I wish I did, but I don't own any thing in this story. It sucks… Man, I wish I owned some PAPER that didn't SUCK though!

"I hate myself."

Ash and Allyssa looked in surprise to their best friend sitting on their right. Carmen was glaring at the pretty Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang.

"What?" Allyssa asked in surprise.

"I-hate-myself."

"Why?"

"I'm ugly and can't ride a broomstick."

Allyssa rolled her eyes. "We aren't doing this again. We do this every time Ravenclaw plays."

"WELL, you should've anticipated it before you made me come then, huh?" Carmen snapped viciously as she snatched her things and began to leave.

"LOOKOUT!" someone yelled.

Carmen wheeled around to see the bludger a foot from her face.

She screamed and tried too duck, but ended up flipping over the banister and out of the stands instead.

"Carmen!" Ash and Allyssa yelled, looking over the side, but they were drowned out by Carmen's screams as the ground grew nearer.

She hit something hard and soft at the same time and got the breath knocked out of her.

"Are you alright?" asked the red-headed beater.

Carmen gaped at him for a moment, then remembered to breath and sucked in too much air, making her cough.

"Uh…" she finally said after a moment.

The two were still flying, as the game had yet to finish.

"I'm George Weasley." He said.

"C-Carmen… Sh-"

"Carmen Shivers. I know." he said, grinning.

"You do?" she asked, surprised.

Panic, then amusement flickered across his face. "Yeah." He laughed.

"How?"

"He grinned down at her, then looked up and became serious again. "Think you can beat?" he asked urgently.

"I guess, but- Ah!" Carmen smacked the bludger away and it disappeared in the distance. She looked at the bat in her hand, wondering how it got there, but then looked up for the bludger to make sure it wasn't coming back at her. When she realized it was gone, she asked, "Oh, did I lose the thingy?"

"No, it's fine." He laughed.

Carmen looked up into the stands where her friends sat. Allyssa was gaping hopelessly, along with everyone else, and Ash was laughing hysterically.

"Hold on." George said, gripping her waist tighter.

She put her arm around him nervously. "Why-" The word was cut short with a scream as they shot foreword to smack a bludger away from Katie.

"Really, you can put me down now. It's really okay. Really."

He looked down at her, his expression unreadable.

Suddenly, the alarm went up. Gryffindor had caught the snitch.

As Carmen and George touched down, Carmen's legs buckled.

"Are you okay?" George asked.

"I-don't-fly," she said.

He pulled her up and held her to him. "You were a brilliant beater though."

"I was terrified! I thought I was gonna get a face full of bludger!"

George smiled softly. "I wouldn't have let you."

"Carmen! Carmen! Are you okay?"

"Did you really catch her? Wicked…"

Allyssa mentally noted how close George was holding Carmen, the careful placement of his hand on her hip, the fact that he'd barely looked up since they'd touched down.

"C'mon Carmen. You should probably see the nurse." Ash said.

"Okay."

"See you around, Carmen." George said, staring after her.

"He likes you," Allyssa whispered excitedly.

"What? No. He likes Angelina or something… I think…"

Allyssa glared at her. "No, he likes you," she insisted. "Fred likes Angelina. He took her to the ball."

"Whatever. Have fun with your delusions," Carmen said, rolling her eyes as Madame Pomfrey did her check.

"I'm serious, Carmen! I know what I'm talking about!"

Ash hesitated as both of her friends looked at her for support. "Sorry, Carmen. He was pretty reluctant to let you go. What's wrong?"

Carmen stomped out. "You two are going to get my hopes up and then they're gonna crash and I'm gonna cry!"

"Carmen! Listen to us! He-"

"SHUT UP!"

"I wonder what they're arguing over." George wondered, leaning on his broom and watching Carmen and her friends leave.

"It worked. I can't believe it worked," Ginny said, standing behind him.

George grinned. "I told you."

"I can't believe I let you talk me into hitting a bludger at a girl," Fred grumbled angrily.

"Shut up," George replied, closing his eyes and remembering the perfectly confused look on her face when he knew her name. As far as he was concerned, Carmen was a dream given form, though she was probably by far the strangest girl, if not person, in the whole school.

She was the meanest, laziest Hufflepuff anyone had ever met.

Her friends, Allyssa and Ashley, were in Slytherin and Ravenclaw, also very strange. Allyssa was the nicest Slytherin of the house and Ashley didn't care much about her grades.

Though she didn't remember, Carmen had endeared herself to George the first day he had met her, when he'd found her in the library, bewitching the books to sing "Feliz Navidad" loudly when they were opened.

On Easter.

Since then, George had noticed her more and more often, and found himself wishing he knew what to say to her.

It was Hermione who had come up with the initial idea. Not on purpose, of course, though.

It had been a week beforehand and George had been going on, yet again, about Carmen and how he wished he knew how to go about talking to her.

He'd never been shy before, but Carmen seemed to make the words cling to his throat.

"Why don't you just attack her with a bludger and run in and rescue her!? She's bound to notice that, isn't she!?" Hermione had snapped.

By the next day, Fred and he had worked out exactly what they would do.

Surprisingly enough, it had worked like a charm and George finally had his foot in the door.

"Carmen!"

She whipped around t the sound of her name, as did Ash and Allyssa.

"Yes?"

"Hey, Carmen," George said. "What do you have next?"

"A free period. Why?" she asked, smacking Allyssa, who had begun nudging her.

"Well, er- ahem, uh, er-"

"Carmen, did you do your, er-" Allyssa glanced at George warily, "uh, Advanced Potions homework?"

Carmen froze, her eyes wide. "Oh, crap! No. I'll catch you guys later. I've gotta go to the library." With that, she flew down the corridor.

George's features fell.

"You were supposed to offer to help, you dope!" Allyssa snapped, shoving George.

"Wh-what?"

"That's why I did that!"

"I- I don't think I understand…"

"What is there not to understand? You like Carmen, don't you?"

"Uh, wh- y- no. Why would you say that?"

Allyssa rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the confirmation."

George's face turned the color of his hair.

"Something sweet…" Allyssa said, tapping her chin, thoughtfully.

"What?" he asked.

"You need to do something sweet, but she doesn't really like flowers much. She loves candy, but she's not supposed to have it at school since the incident with the sugar rush in the dungeons."

"Are you trying to set us up?"

"Well, you're doing a crappy job, aren't you?"

"Llyss!" Ash scolded, laughing.

"Well, he is!"

"Wait! I've got it!"

A/N: don't forget that the soup apper-she-ate's reviews!! Let me know what you think. I don't neccisarilly appreciate flaes, but I will take constuctive criticism!

note- flames do NOT equal constructive criticism!