Disclaimer: People like me don't have the mind of Jo Rowling, so I can't claim any credit for what she has created. She created the Harry Potter world and everything in it, and I'm merely attempting to spread a lil love in my own way. But if my ideas get stolen without proper credit, well... I'll Avada Kedavra your ass (Kidding, but disclaimers are repetitive and this one needed some life- ironic though how I mentioned the killing curse giving something life. Wow. I'm going to leave).

Title: Chatter and Confrontation

Time: November 2021

The Love Factor

Dee categorizes herself as quiet, unassuming, self-sufficient, and so on. But despite being fairly unsociable until this year, she has had some experience concerning dates and boyfriends.

She had only been a student at Hogwarts for a month when the Scamandar twins decided it'd be a splendid idea to place some mistletoe above the entrance to the staircase for the girl's dormitory and snog the first person to walk beneath it. They stuck their arms in front of Dee to keep her from passing by and both boys kissed her in full view of the entire Ravenclaw Common Room. Hardly anyone saw it, but that didn't matter. Either Lorcan or Lysander, she couldn't remember which, had become her first kiss. Later on, in the third year, Hugh Davies cornered her in an empty corridor and snogged the daylights out of her, before promptly asking whether or not she would care to join him in Hogsmeade that weekend. She did care, and the two spent a pleasant but overall unsuccessful date, after which Davies completely ignored her. And the next year there was Benjamin Corner, of course, who was her first steady boyfriend. She gained a lot of experience from dating him, even though it turned out to be a total disaster (he made her uncomfortable in the long run, not to mention he attempted to dictate her life).

So with all failed and embarrassing attempts at finding love or even simply a good relationship accounted for, Dee thought she had gathered valuable experience. In fact, she was sure of it. But there's so much more to it than that.

Dee Collins

Dee was packing up her things in the Potions classroom, just about ready to leave for dinner in the Great Hall. She was ridiculously hungry, having skipped lunch to finish a Transfiguration essay and having spent her only free in the library to complete one for Potions.

While Dee was fairly confident in her swimming abilities, she might just drown in parchment. Forget being a Ravenclaw.

She said goodbye to Marabelle Wendley, her Potions partner, a Hufflepuff Prefect and Quidditch team member. Marabelle offered a friendly smile in return before leaving the classroom. A few moments later, Dee followed, walking alone to Ravenclaw Tower where she quickly dropped her bag off and headed for dinner.

As if he was waiting for her arrival, Clive intercepted Dee as soon as she walked through the large doors of the Great Hall.

"I hope you've remembered it's your night for rounds," he said without greeting. He of all people should know there was no need for her to be reminded of her own responsibilities. Dee couldn't help but notice his cold stare and his hands clasped tightly behind his back. "Better not be late, or you could be stripped of your privileges." And with that, he turned sharply and strode towards the Gryffindor table.

Dee couldn't help but follow him with her eyes. Her expression was frozen in bewilderment and shock, and the feelings only increased when she made eye contact with Rose, who sat surrounded by her family, a little ways down from Clive. Rose hurried over and dragged Dee to an empty seat at the Ravenclaw table.

"What the bloody hell was that about?" she hissed, still clutching Dee's wrist.

Dee thought over the scene the Head Boy had made. She laughed sourly and muttered, "I expect Clive's still bitter about the other week."

"The other week?" Rose repeated, puzzled. Then she yelped, "What happened the other week?"

Dee's cheeks burned. "Oh, well, Alfie and I-"

"Alfie who?" Rose interjected, a manic spark glinting in her eyes.

"Alfie Bell. We were doing our rounds and Clive let us go early. Well actually," Dee corrected herself, "he let Alfie go early, but made me stay behind. Said he wanted to talk to me or something."

"And?"

"And he asked me to Hogsmeade." She paused, watching Rose as she soaked in the news.

"Well?" Rose asked.

"Well, what?"

"Well, what did you say?" she demanded.

Dee rolled her eyes. "I said no, obviously. I was with you and Al last trip, wasn't I?"

"Oh, right. So you reckon he's still hung up on that?" Rose scoffed, hardly refraining from rolling her eyes. "What a tosser."

Thinking their conversation was over, thinking Rose would return to her family, Dee piled some food onto her plate.

"Who's a tosser?" a new voice asked. It seemed Savitri Malladi had overheard some of their chat.

Dee was in the midst of chewing her first bite, and in her haste to reply (and hopefully put Malladi's overactive mind to rest), she swallowed too much food. Coughing and attempting to blink away the hot tears of discomfort pricking at her eyes, Dee was forced to let Rose and Sav begin what was bound to be tomorrow's nugget of gossip gold.

"Clive Donoghue," Rose replied.

"The Head Boy?" Malladi gasped. "What's he done?"

"He asked Dee out." Sav's eyes widened and landed on Dee's face, which was reddening by the second, and not just because of her coughing fit. Oh, sod.

"And what'd she say?" she eagerly asked Rose, continuing as if Dee wasn't sitting right there.

"She said no!"

"Merlin's beard!" Sav exclaimed. "Dee Collins, on her way to claiming the title as this year's ultimate heartbreaker," she teased. "Who knew?"

By the next day, it seemed everyone knew shy girl Dee Collins had rejected Clive Donoghue, Head Boy. Dee wasn't prepared to face her brother, who would no doubt want to have a talking to. But as it turned out, Lee wasn't the one she should've been concerned about.

Albus approached her on the way to History of Magic. He began with a simple, "So." When Dee didn't reply, Al tried again. "So."

"So," Dee mimicked.

"I heard Donoghue cornered you," he said.

"Did you?"

"Mmm, yes, I did. But I also noticed how foul he's been." He sternly held Dee's gaze. "I think you should to talk to him. Donoghue shouldn't be treating you like you're the scum stuck to the bottom of his trainers just because you wouldn't agree to go to Hogsmeade with him."

"Gee, thanks," Dee groaned. She made to walk away, but Al tugged her arm.

"Dee, I'm serious," he said as the corridors emptied. Lessons had begun. "You need to confront him, make sure it doesn't happen again."

And there it was. The reason Al was lecturing Dee: confrontation. What a bloody awful concept. If there was one thing that Dee could never succeed in doing, it would be acknowledging conflicts and friction. There was always the possibility that even a simple discussion about a problem would lead to a row, and Dee hated getting yelled at. She also hated unnecessary disagreements, mostly because they were, by definition, unnecessary, but also because sometimes they were actually just misunderstandings blown way out of proportion. And besides, some people are so ignorant, it wouldn't matter whether she was in the right or the wrong- it'd end badly either way.

In short, Al's confronting business wasn't anywhere near Dee's comfort zone.

"Confront him?" she repeated weakly. "Is that really necessary? I'm sure it'll all blow over soon."

Even as she spoke, Dee knew her reasoning was rubbish. Her shoulders slumped in defeat; she had already resigned herself to either embarrassment or failure, and quite frankly, had this been the previous year, neither of those things would hurt nearly as much as they would now.

"Fine," she sighed. Knowing she was late, Dee, casting a quick glance back at Albus, slipped into Professor Binns' classroom as quietly as possible. But no one in their right mind expected her of all people to show up late, so her arrival caused a slight disturbance.

It was just enough to disrupt and annoy Professor Binns. "Sit, Miss Cooley," he grumbled.

Confused by the name he called her, but unwilling to agitate her teacher, Dee squeaked, "Yes, sir," and took an empty seat in the back, shielding her flaming cheeks with her long curtain of hair.

Annual Festivities

Dee's plans for Christmas generally involved a lot of down time and familiar faces. She mostly stayed home and hung around with her family, never returning to school with legendary tales of arguments or magical mishaps.

James, however, had quite the opposite situation, as per usual.

The names Potter and Weasley were clearly well-known, and not just because they belonged to the saviors of the modern Wizarding world. Harry Potter and Ron and Hermione Weasley were big names in the Ministry, and everyone knew of Ginny Potter, ex-member of the Holyhead Harpies. So when the whole Potter-Weasley clan throws a Christmas party, it's only natural for it to be the party of the year. (So maybe that's a stretch, but it'd be safe to say feelings of anticipation and excitement run high around the holidays.)

Dee's parents have been to the bash a few times, but she has never been herself. She's never had a reason to go.

Dee Collins

"So I've been writing to my dad," Rose chirped, sidling up to Dee on the way to the Great Hall for lunch. It was a welcome surprise, considering it was a Saturday and Rose was typically otherwise occupied with her family and spent the day holed up the Gryffindor Common Room.

"As have I," pitched in Al, coming up on Dee's left.

"Oh?" Dee couldn't see where this was going, or why they felt she needed to know.

"And we have news," Rose gushed. "Your parents work for the Ministry, don't they? They've been to our Christmas party?"

"Yes," Dee replied, warily dragging out the word. She thought she knew where this was going.

"Well, this is us telling you to make sure they attend this year, and to make sure they bring you."

"Oh!"

They'd reached the Gryffindor table, where James was attempting to catch Al's attention. Meanwhile, Rose was still chatting animatedly. "You could come over early and get ready with me, Roxy, and Lily. You could even stay the night! Dee, this'll be fantastic; everyone's been dying to meet you!"

Dee thought that must have been a stretch from the truth, but she couldn't deny she was excited about the prospect of a party. The more she thought about the pros and how they outweighed the cons, the more eagerly she anticipated the Christmas holidays.

Dee,
I hope I haven't caused you any stress, sweetheart. I'm sure you've got enough already, being the brilliantly brainy Ravenclaw you are. But my dear, you needn't worry about me. I'll see you at Christmas, and I'll have many stories to tell of my brief adventure I took not so long ago!
I know this letter is short, but you've only got two weeks until we see each other again. Please, don't worry, dear, everything's perfectly fine, and I'll see you soon.
With love, Aunt Mattie

Dee was assuming the so-called brief adventure was what Matilda was dubbing the time she was missing. Undoubtedly the letter was meant to ease her worries, but if anything, Mattie's almost empty words did nothing but increase Dee's fears. What could possibly be so bad the she had to tell Dee to not worry more than once?

Quite frankly, the letter was pathetic, and Dee wasn't sure she was prepared to face her favorite aunt if she wasn't going to be entirely honest to her only niece.

A/N: So it's been a while, huh? I'm very sorry I've been gone and this probably wasn't even up to expectations and it's not even as long as I wanted but KNOW THIS- I have planned out the whole story and I do not intend to give it up. So please, don't give up either. If you have any questions or would like to see background information on the characters or like useless drabbles and bits of trivial info, please visit my fic blog (link on my profile- I hope you won't regret it.) And now I'm sorry for being chatty and all and ugh just I hope you enjoyed.