Fourth chapter now up…


I woke up, unable to forget Rose's words from last night. "You have more in common with James than Emily will ever have." Really? So I was alike to a hot, popular guy who was the son of Harry Potter, and had half of Hogwarts falling at his feet. Yes Rose, I do see a lot of resemblance there.

Scorpius and Al met me at the entrance of the Great Hall; Scorpius looked nervous as he checked to see if I was alone. "Merlin, I am not ready to face Rose yet" he confessed, his gaze not meeting mine.

"Yeh, well, if you weren't such an idiot towards her, maybe you would be," I glared at him slightly, but a smile begrudgingly came through as he looked at me with guilty eyes.

A petite brunette suddenly came to us, her face forming a scowl as she fixated on Al. For the first time (although it's only been a few days), Al glared at the girl. She then turned to me, and I could finally see her pretty features coming out. She stuck her hand out to me, "Hi, we've not met before, and although you maybe have heard a lot of unpleasant things from Potter here, I am Arianna Bennett."

Wow, another Lily. Confident, sassy and of course, gorgeous. What is with the girls in Hogwarts being so attractive? Even the guys too!

Great, I just dozed off into my thoughts and now, they all were looking at me slightly strangely. I quickly shook her hand and gave her a small smile. Satisfied that I had now acknowledged her, she turned to Al once more.

"Glad to see you haven't polluted her yet, Potter," she said, giving him a small smirk. Al scowled, before giving her a wider smirk, and whispering near her ear, "What? Like I polluted you?"

The poor girl went red in the face, but I quickly realized she wasn't blushing. She slapped him and hissed, "Hell, if I ever try that again with you!" and stalked off.

Al shook his head, and after deciding we'd had enough drama for one morning, we walked in. Some of the Wotters were already seated, like James and Roxy and Fred.

James smiled as I sat down in Scorp and Al each side of me. We were just discussing Quidditch when there was a flash of red hair in front of us, and Rose sat down next to James, right in front of Scorpius.

I could see Scorpius swallow slowly, as if there was nothing more he wanted to do that get out of her. Rose finally looked up to him, gave a sickeningly sweet smile, and said, "Did I ruin your appetite, Malfoy?"

Although I could tell Rose wasn't still okay, it helped because I could see Scorpius smile slightly as he taunted her back. Merlin, those two should be in a TV show.

"So Lena," James was talking to me, "Are you going to the Wotter party tonight?" Wotter party? They have a party named after them too, seriously?

"Um, I'm not sure, I didn't even know there was even one on," I confessed. Al laughed slightly, before nudging me and said, "Don't worry, Jamie, I'll bring her along."

I gave him a big grin as he winked at me and continued eating. Boys, jeez. James was looking half confused, half glaring at us, specifically Al, but the expression only lasted a few seconds.

"It's great, you'll love it. All the best people from the other houses are there, well all Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs thirds year onwards and a couple of Slytherins. Only a couple though," he joked. I noticed the way his eyes lit up as he talked about pranking the Slytherins and thrashing them in Quidditch, and couldn't help but sigh contentedly.

Rose gave me a warning look as Emily and the rest of the Wotters sat down. I turned to talk to Lily, and I saw James out of the corner of his eye looking slightly affronted by my clear dismissal and turned to talk to Emily. Good. He could have her.

The girl named Arianna Bennett came to our table and started saying something to Rose; I noticed she had a Gryffindor crest on her robes and she looked to be about mine or Lily's age. "Don't bother with her, she thinks she's everything worth being," Al whispered to me. James snorted as he heard this, and gave him a look. Great, now they were having some sort of silent brother conversation.

"So…anyone want to tell me what is going on?"

They both looked at me, before Al shook his head. "It's better if you don't know; you don't want to get dragged up into all of this." Arianna had now moved Scorp up, and seated herself next to me. She gave me and James warm smiles, but failed to acknowledge Al.

"So James, how's the team coming along? I heard you introduced new girl here into the team." James nodded, then said confidently, "We're kicking ass. You won't have any problems when you're commentating on our games."

Al snorted loudly. "Right, 'cause commentating on Quidditch is so hard," he said snidely. Somehow, this side of Al only seemed to pop up when Arianna was around.

"Look Potter, I'm not here to pick fights. In fact, since I'm feeling somewhat nice this year, I decided to make truce," she finished off, sticking her hand out to him. Al looked shocked for a moment, and then gave a casual smirk as he shook it, saying. "Why not? What harm can it do?"

James was now looking warily between the two, as if he didn't believe for a second what was going on. Arianna now tuned back to her food, looking somewhat satisfied with herself.


I realized after the bell rang that I had a free period. Al and Scorpius had one too, but they had snuck off somewhere, so I couldn't find them. I was walking down the corridor, humming the tune to a song, and looking at the portraits, when I collided with someone.

"I'm so sorry…James?" I looked, confused. "Don't you have class right now?"

He helped me back onto my feed and dusted himself off. "Yep, but there's no harm in missing class once in a while, is there?" he winked, "Besides, I asked Emily or Fred whether they wanted to join, but Fred was sleeping and Emily said she couldn't afford to miss this particular lesson."

I nodded. Of course he'd ask Emily – she's his girlfriend. "So where are you heading?" I asked, curious to see where the infamous James Potter spent his time. "Well I have one place in mind, you fond of chocolate?" he gave me a cheeky grin. I could only laugh in response.

Turns out his idea of passing by free time was going through secret passages and going against all school rules. We were walking through a dark passageway when I asked him. "Where are we going?" He laughed at my impatience, but said nothing.

We eventually reached a dead-end with a small trapdoor above. He helped me up through the hole, and I could only gaze in amazement at our surroundings. There were rows and rows of chocolate: white, dark, milk, nuts…the list was endless. Finally, I looked at James, who was chuckling in amusement at my astonished expression.

"This is amazing James! How did you discover it?"

He removed an old, rolled up parchment from his pocket and said, "With a little help from my granddad and his friends." He then proceeded to go pick some chocolate off the shelves and broke it into two pieces, handing one to me.

"You- you just stole some chocolate!" I said, shocked.

"Na, whenever I come here and get something, I always leave some money on the table. Besides the lady upstairs who sells the chocolate loves me, well my family really, so doubt she minds."

I nodded. There was always something to discover about James Potter.

"Hey James, can I ask you something?" I asked softly "Well you already have, but go on," he joked, his face now becoming slightly serious.

"What's the deal between Al and Arianna?" my voice was slightly small, I was unsure as to how he would react to my question. He looked up at me sharply, his eyes slightly narrowed, and I thought to myself, 'Oh no, I asked the wrong thing!' but his face relaxed and he said warily, "Al was right when he told you it was better not to get involved, but I guess I could tell you this. Arianna and Al have history together, and it's not all bad. They didn't always hate each other you know?"

I found it sweet how he was trying to be loyal to his brother and obey his wishes, but I couldn't help but wonder about Al and this girl. If they were once close, how come they weren't anymore?

I know, I'm nosy. Sue me.

"But why would you care?" James' suspicious voice broke my thoughts as his eyes narrowed once more. "It's not as if you and Al are a thing right?" I let out a loud laugh; me and Al? What? Sure, he had been one of the nicest to me since I got here, but doubt there was any chance Al had feelings for me. Besides, I was already, sort of interested in his brother. But of course, I couldn't tell James that.

"Nope, no way. He anyways seems to have too much drama in his life for me to add to it even more. " I joked playfully. James chuckled and agreed with me.

"Good," he finally said, "I mean – well, as Emily's cousin, you've now become part of the Wotter clan, therefore we all look out for each other. For all girls, that means protecting them from guys who want to date them."

Of course. He was only asking me because I was Emily's cousin. And he probably only brought me here and showed me this place because I was Emily's cousin. I forced a smile back onto my face and replied back, "Even your own brother?"

"Especially my own brother. Two people to protect then." He winked at me and helped me onto my feet as we made our way back to Hogwarts. I couldn't stop the nagging feeling at the back of my mind, telling me I was treading on slippery ground here.


We came back late for the next lesson and although Professor Burrows did not notice me as I slipped into Potions, Rose certainly did.

"Where were you?" she hissed, pulling me down into my seat sharply. "I screamed at Al and Malfoy for not taking you along with them!"

I couldn't answer her truthfully; knowing Rose, she'd give me a look, and would be all over it.

"I was…just roaming around. Guess I lost track of time," I shrugged, hoping she would let it go. She did. "Alright, just don't be late next time! You may be good at Potions, but even you can't afford to miss a lesson!"

As we exited, we bumped into James and Fred; the latter winked at me and whispered, "So did you enjoy your little trip with Jamesie, Frenchie?" I blushed a deep red as he walked off with James, his laugh booming through the corridor.

Unfortunately for me, Rose heard. (She is like a ninja, she notices everything!) She looked at me accusingly before saying sarcastically, "Yes, I'm sure you had a lovely stroll on your own." I could only shuffle my feet in response.

Her tone then turned softer. "Look, I know I told you last night it was alright to like him, but just be careful, alright? I know Emily may be your cousin and all, but that just may bring more trouble into the whole thing."

"But I don't want to take him away from her. I wouldn't ever try anything," I protested, sincerely meaning what I was saying.

She dragged me into a nearby, empty classroom and said, "I know you wouldn't do something like that, but that's not how it may look. Emily knows she was lucky when she caught James' attention and some part of me believes that she actually does like him. But if she ever finds out that you're spending time with him like this, I doubt she'd fail to see you as a threat. The new Emily would at least. So just be careful. You can already see how much he likes you." She gave a very Rose smirk, and headed off towards the library.

What she said was right, it did make sense. I doubt Emily would be forgiving if she found out how much exactly I had enjoyed her boyfriend taking me on a trip through secret passageways, to a chocolate shop where no one could find us.

When did everything get so complicated for me I went from being a simple girl in Beauxbatons, the daughter of one of the school's finest alumni, to this living on the edge, missing classes type of girl who had kind of feelings for her cousin's boyfriend.

Yes, I admitted it. I have sort of feelings for him. Round of applause for me.

I turned round the corner and started to join Lily, who was walking with Arianna. Why was I bumping into this girl so much today?

"Hey Lena, have you met Ari?" Lily called out, pointing towards the brunette beside her. I nodded and introduced myself. "Hi, I'm Lena Rosseau, I'm actually in your year and house."

She smiled, nodding, "I know. Hogwarts grapevine. So you're the girl who hangs out with Potter. Interesting." I could feel her scrutinizing gaze on me but before I could say anything, Lily got there before me. "There's nothing going on between them, Ari. At least I don't think so." I shook my head quickly.

Maybe I should just make an announcement, saying that Al and I are not interested in each other. I'm serious!

Arianna then relaxed and smiled once more. "I'm sorry, just checking. Making sure he isn't corrupting every girl in Hogwarts."

Lily laughed. "You do realize that's my brother you're talking about, right?" Arianna nodded, and Lily continued, "I hope someone had told you about the party tonight. Ari's coming too and it's going to be amazing. Since it's James and Fred's last year, they're going all out."

Arianna smirked and said to me, "You look nervous. Don't be. Hogwarts parties are always filled with drama, so you'll be thoroughly entertained."

Lily snorted. "Says the girl who made a very stupid mistake last time she was at one." Arianna gave her a glare and continued, "A few tips for you? Stay out of Fred's way when he's drunk, he tends to get…touchy. Don't be surprised if you see Rose and Malfoy screaming at each other. Lily here gets quite spunky too, and Lauren even manages to catch a guy. Oh, and not to miss the very pleasant sight of James and your cousin sucking each other's faces off."

I was really starting to like this girl. She clearly thought alike to me. I gave out a giggle and she continued, explaining who to stay away from and who to look out for. She decided to come back to our dorm to get ready as Lily had promised to lend her one of her party dresses.

As soon as we entered, Lily scurried off to get her make-up bag and all the other 'necessities' whilst Rose was rummaging through my clothes…wait, my clothes?

I barely registered what was happening before she flung three dresses at me; one blue, red and white. "Go try them on and show me all," she ordered, pushing me in the direction of the bathroom. The blue and red one didn't really seem appropriate for this party, but the white, strapless one was cute and everyone seemed to approve of it.

Lily worked on my make-up, Ari worked on my hair and Lauren chose my shoes. I looked at myself in the mirror and couldn't hide the shock off my face. Lily had given my face a very natural look and Ari had put a straightening charm on my hair, making me look just right.

"Phew, now you've experienced a proper makeover our style," Rose flopped down onto the bed. To be honest, everyone looked fantastic.

Lily wore a cute, purple lace dress, Rose had gone for black, and Lauren went bold with gold. (I know, it rhymes, right?) But the one that really surprised me was Ari. She had curled her own hair. and wore a sea green dress, which brought out her coloured eyes. She seemed almost shy, conscious as we asked her to twirl for us.

"Wow Ari, can't believe I am saying this, but for once you have my permission to take one of my dresses," Lily said, which I suppose was a compliment coming from her.

Lauren praised her too, but Rose's reaction was the most interesting.

"Al's going to go crazy when he sees you, Ari," she said so softly, I could hardly hear her. I thought Arianna would scowl or frown or ever protest but she just blushed and mumbled "Shut up."

I seriously need to find out what's going on between them.

Lily's voice broke my thoughts. "Come on girls, ready to kick some ass at this party."


I hope you liked that chapter! I'm quite proud of it! Also, it's my longest so far, nearly touching 3000 words, so I am getting closer. What did you guys think of Arianna? She is really growing on me!

Next chapter is the party yay I'm excited but nervous to write about it because I'm so scared I'll get it all wrong. Anyways, leave me a review and tell me what you liked, disliked, any suggestions…

-Vanillaberries