Chapter 2

A/N-- For the purpose of this and forthcoming chapters, we'll just say Alicia Spinnet (a Chaser for Gryffindor) has graduated. lol. Oh yeah, and I know Quidditch was suspended during the Triwizard Tournament...but...I'm not exactly following the book...haha. I'm gonna put in the Yule Ball but that's mostly it from book 4...I know, I know...shame on me for not sticking closer to the story. But hopefully the next couple chapters makes up for it. :)

The next morning, Victoria woke up at seven. She groaned as she got out of bed, the rest of her roommates still sleeping peacefully. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. Sighing, she went to take a quick shower. About fifteen minutes later, Victoria stood in the common room, waiting on Lee, Fred, and George. She had hoped they could go get breakfast before enduring the morning with Snape. When it got to be 7:30 and the boys still hadn't come downstairs, she went up to get them.

Being careful not to wake their other two roommates, Victoria went into the room to get up her lazy friends. She shook George's shoulder.

"Five more minutes, Mummy," he mumbled, pulling the blanket over his head.

"George Weasley, get up!" Victoria hissed in his ear and pulled the blanket off of him.

George shivered and opened his eyes. "Oh, hi, Tori," he said through a yawn.

Victoria rolled her eyes and went to wake Fred next. She didn't waste time with just trying to shake him awake. Instead, she jumped on his bed. Startled, Fred woke up.

"Tori!" Fred shouted. He seemed almost alarmed.

"Oh, shut up. I had to wake you up somehow."

Lee was always the hardest one to wake. In his case, Victoria just pushed him out of his bed. He landed with a soft thud and groaned tiredly.

"Get up, you git," Victoria said.

"God, what's got you in such a mood this morning?" George asked.

"Probably the fact that we're not going to have time for breakfast before detention. I thought you guys were gonna meet me in the common room at 7:15."

"It's not 7:15, Tori."

"Yeah, I know. It's 7:50 now."

"Oh crap," Lee said, getting up off the floor and scrambling into his robes.

"Yeah, my sentiments exactly."

Once the boys had finally gotten dressed, the four of them took off running down to Snape's office. They got there just as it turned 8 o'clock according to Victoria's watch. Panting, Lee knocked on the door. The door swung open and they went inside.

"Good morning," Snape said.

"Wish we could--" George started.

"--say the same," Fred finished.

Since Victoria had been standing between them, she jabbed them both in the ribs with her elbow. They winced.

"Jordan," Snape said, ignoring the twins. "You are going to be scrubbing these floors clean. Wallace, you will be organizing all of the ingredients; the first years are very careless when putting things away. Weasleys, you'll be alphabetizing files. Fred, you take A-M. George, you take N-Z. No magic is to be used by any of you. No talking. Now get to work."

Grudgingly, they all set off to do their tasks.

After nearly three hours of work, Snape finally released them. Victoria felt nearly faint with hunger by the then and she heard the guys' stomachs grumble. They took off for the great hall to catch a late breakfast.

"The next time we get an early morning detention, I'm going to breakfast without you three," Victoria said.

"That's fine by me. I don't think I want you pushing me out of bed again anytime soon anyway," Lee said through a mouthful of pancakes.

"Sorry, but unless I had more time, there was no other way to wake you up."

"Let's just hope we don't get anymore early morning detentions," George said.

"I'm all for that," Fred agreed.

George glanced at his watch. "Oh, I'm supposed to go meet Renee. I'll see you guys later." He grabbed a few more slices of toast before taking off.

"That he remembers, but he can't remember to get up for detention." Victoria said, rolling her eyes.

"Well Snape isn't somebody you particularly look forward to seeing," Lee said.

"He makes a valid point," Fred pointed out.

"I suppose that's true," Victoria said, as she finished off her food. "Oh, what time's the Quidditch game tomorrow?"

Another thing Victoria and the Weasley twins had done together was join the Quidditch team in their second year. Fred and George were both Beaters; Victoria was one of three Chasers. Lee was content to commentating each game; he always had so much fun doing it. "I'm a lousy Quidditch player, anyway," he had once told them with a laugh.

"Ten o'clock."

"Why hasn't Oliver called for practice today?" Victoria wondered.

"I heard that he got too backed up with his classes," Lee said. "Been doing too much strategizing, not enough homework."

"Oh well. I'm glad we don't have practice today," Fred said. "A whole Saturday to do whatever we want. Besides, we'll be playing Slytherin tomorrow. We'll be fine."

"I wouldn't get too cocky. Slytherin likes to play dirty," Victoria said, frowning. "I almost wish we did have practice today because of it."

"Oh relax." Fred slung an arm around Victoria's shoulders. "We're gonna pulervise them!"

"I can't wait to see the look on Malfoy's stupid face after Harry snatches the snitch," Lee said as he finally pushed away his plate.

"Stop talking like that, you guys are gonna jinx us," Victoria muttered.

"It's just your usual pre-game jitters talking, Tor," Fred insisted.

"Jitters or no jitters, I think I'll see if I can get some of the team to practice with me anyway Or whoever wants to play." Victoria shrugged Fred's arm off of her shoulder, almost reluctantly. It had been nice, comfortable even. She mentally shook the the thought away before it could go any farther than that. ('Of course it was comfortable,' she told herself. 'He's your best friend.') "See you two later." She pushed herself away from the table and stood up. She had turned and started to leave the table.

"Oh, Tori?"

She turned around again. "Yes, Fred?"

"The Yule Ball is coming up in a few weeks, and I was wondering if you wanted to go...with me." She could have sworn she saw something in his eyes when asked. She couldn't put her finger on it. Could it have been a hint of hope? A touch of nervousness? But it had been just a mere flicker and that didn't give her time to ponder it.

"Sure, that'd be great, buddy." Victoria had been careful to put emphasis on the word "buddy", mostly to remind herself. She and Fred had tried the dating thing once. They had decided to be friends. Just friends. She felt a strange twinge in her stomach, and promptly ignored it.

Fred gave her a little lopsided smile. "Cool. It's a---"

Before he had time to finish that sentence, Victoria had left the Great Hall.

Victoria had been able to get Harry, Ginny, Ron, Katie Bell, and Angelina Johnson to just run some practice plays for the Quidditch game the next day. It had been fun and relaxed. So much fun that they lost all track of time and played until dark. After their practice Victoria felt much better about the imminent match. Harry, Victoria, Katie, and Angelina couldn't help but notice that Ginny seemed to be a natural Quidditch player, and Ron had some real potential.

After the pratice session, the six of them made their way to the Great Hall for dinner, talking about their scrimmage. They had sat down with George, Lee, and Fred, but Victoria made a point to sit between Katie and Angelina. The brief moment she and Fred had earlier made her feel vaguely awkward and she couldn't shake it. Victoria did notice a slight frown tug at Fred's lips when she didn't sit with him, which then made her feel the tiniest bit guilty. But he had shook it off quickly, talking with George about the best way to go about "rubbing it in Slytherin's face when they lose."

When dinner had ended, Victoria didn't walk with Lee and the twins back to Gryffindor tower either. She had decided to go ahead with Harry, Ron, Ginny, Angelina, and Katie. Victoria did want to get a good night's sleep anyway. Once they stepped through the portrait hole, she had intended to go up to the dorm with Angelina and Katie, but Ron took Victoria's wrist. She looked at him confused as Harry and Ginny passed them.

"What's up, Ron?" she asked.

"I...I wanted to ask you something," he said, looking nervous.

"What is it?"

"Would you...will you..." The rest of his question had come out in such a rush she didn't understand what he had asked.

"Could you say it again? Slower this time. I didn't understand what you said."

"Would you go to the Yule Ball with me?" He was quite red by the end of his question.

"Oh, Ronnie, I would love to..." she started. He looked hopeful and she immediately wished she hadn't started her answer that way. "...but Fred already asked me and I told him yes."

"Oh...right...Fred. I forgot," he mumbled, averting his eyes.

"There's nothing between me and Fred," Victoria said, mostly to herself. "I think he asked me as a safety date. We're just friends." That strange twinge came back, and she just as promptly dismissed it. Ron still looked unhappy and she hated it.

"That's okay." He didn't sound like he meant it. "Really." He gave Victoria a half-hearted smile. "Goodnight." He walked past her and started to go up to his dorm.

"Ron, wait."

He turned around again. "Yeah?"

"I really would have liked to go with you if Fred hadn't already asked me." She found that part of her meant that. "Is it okay if I save you a dance or two?"

He suddenly grinned. "Yeah, sure. Goodnight, Tori."

"Goodnight," Victoria said, smiling a little.

Ron turned again and went up the stairs to his dorm. Sighing, Victoria went up to her dorm as well.

She went through her nightly routine of getting ready for bed and then snuggled under her covers. While her face may have appeared calm to an unknowing eye, her head swam with confusion. Whenever she thought of Fred, she felt weird twinges. They were a mixture of happy and uncertainty. But then she thought of Ron. She glanced at the picture from the Hogsmeade weekend with Harry, Hermione and Ron. She focused on the half with her and Ron. He was really a sweet guy and he made her laugh and she did care for him deeply...

Victoria sighed softly. This was not going to be the good night's rest she hoped for. After what seemed like a long while, she drifted off to sleep.