As I sat at the noisy Gryffindor table, drinking my tea and reading the current issue of Witch Weekly, a scrumptious looking Chase Wood approached me, running his hands through his tousled hair.

"Hey, Rose," he said so smoothly that my heart stopped beating for about a full ten seconds.

I replied with something really intelligent like, "Errubduhuhguhshuh…"

Thankfully, he pretended not to hear it. "So," he began. "Hogsmeade trips are coming up next week and I was wondering if you wanted to attend one with me. Are you up for it?"

I stared at him in awe wondering why the bloody hell he was asking me, and before I could say yes, a furious looking Al stammered into the Great Hall yelling, "STAY AWAY FROM MY GIRLFRIEND, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

My eyes widened and I laid my face in my hands. Oh my God.

"Uh, dude, isn't she your cousin?"

He gulped and responded with, "Uh, that's what you want to think. She's my girlfriend. We've been dating for about three years. In fact, our anniversary is coming up soon and I was planning to take her to Hogsmeade as a romantic date. Isn't that right, Honeybear?"

My jaw fell to the floor in complete and utter disgust. "Okay, first of all, yes, I'm ashamed that he is in fact my cousin. And no, we are not dating and we never will. Sorry, Al, but I'm not a big fan of incest. You should ask James if you're seriously into that. And, I'm not your 'Honeybear!' That just makes any girl want to gag up her internal organs! Oh, and lastly, EWWWWW!"

"Well I am refusing to let you go out with this stupid bloody oaf!"

"Hey!" I defended. "Stay out of my personal life, git!"

He shot a glare at me which I deflected with my middle finger.

Shocked from my actions, his mouth opened wider than a Muggle football stadium and he stormed out of the Great Hall.

I sighed and turned back to Chase. "I'm really sorry about that."

He laughed. "It's totally fine."

"Really?"

"Oh, totally. I understand how it is. Cousins always try to act as older siblings and protect their relatives."

"Exactly! The only thing is that he's younger than me!"

Chase laughed again, his smile making me feel dizzy almost like I was growing wings and soaring up to Heaven. "You're really funny, Rose."

I shrugged. "It's all in the genes."

"Mmm. Do you wear flared or skinny?"

This time, I was the one who laughed. "Oh, Chase!" I said dreamily as I nudged him playfully with my elbow. "See, you're really funny, too!"

He did his famous half-smile and my stomach performed a flip. "So, what about that Hogsmeade trip?"

"Oh, I'm totally up for it."

"You're sure you're not dating Al? Because I can keep secrets, you know."

I smirked. "Nah. If I had to romantically involved with that hideous creature, I'd probably kill myself."

He laughed again. "Cool. So, I'll see you around."

My brain began to go fuzzy and I stumbled through the Great Hall with a ridiculous looking smile on my face. I hurried up the stairs attempting not to fall over. Finally I made it to my dorm and found Belle asleep on top of her bed. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Belle, get up. You're going to be late to class…again."

"Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhh," was her educated response.

"Chase Wood asked me out."

She shuffled through the blankets and sheets trying to process the information. "Wood out Chase you asked? Date a on like?"

"Yes, like on a date. We're going to Hogsmeade together next week," I explained, the goofy smile returning to my rosy coloured face.

She frowned. "But I thought we were going together as friends the first weekend."

Shit. How could I have forgotten that? Belle and I had been planning this ever since the summer! We were oh so anxious to go as friends because James has always been much of a coward to ask her and I really doubted any of the guys paid any attention to me. But here I am, in the biggest dilemma, deciding to go with the guy of my dreams or my absolute best friend in the entire Milky Way.

"It's okay. I can cancel it. We'll reschedule it to the next weekend. We had plans first."

She scoffed. "Are you kidding me? You can't just cancel on Chase Wood! We can go another time!"

"Merlin, Belle! Who's side are you on? Besides, you can go with James."

She sighed. "He doesn't like me."

I rolled my eyes. "He does too. That's why you need to ask him. He'll feel less pressure."

Her eyes went as wide as saucers. "Are you joking? I can't ask James out! It will make things all awkward," she said the word 'awkward' like it was poisonous acid dripping off of her tongue.

I pursed my lips. "I'll see what I can do. I'm a Weasley; I always have a back-up plan."

She smiled. "I'm happy for you, Rose. Really."

I smiled back. "Thanks. And don't worry too much about James. He'll come around."

….

But the truth is, I'm nothing except a dirty liar. I had no back-up plan. The only other option was to get James to ask her. And trust me, that is not an easy task.

"No, that's weird," James responded to my question with his cheeks full of scarlet pigments.

"How is it weird? You'll only be going as friends!"

"It'll just be awkward, Rose. I don't want things to be awkward with her and I. It's just that…I don't want to wreck our friendship."

Al raised an eyebrow from across the common room. "Yeah, sure. That's it."

"Will you shut your mouth?" James scolded angrily.

Al threw his arms up in surrender and returned to reading his novel that he stole from the Muggle Literature section of the library. It was about eleven o'clock on a school night, meaning that everyone else was upstairs sleeping, if not, studying. Oh, who am I kidding? Gryffindors don't study. But anyways, the three of us were all alone in the common room free to discuss anything that we wanted.

"Can we please change the subject?" James begged earnestly.

"No," I insisted.

"Whoa! Scout and Dill are married already? Damn these American kids grow up way too fast!" Al exclaimed.

James and I both looked up at him with eyebrows raised.

"Sorry," he said bashfully and sunk his head back into the book.

"You're taking Belle to Hogsmeade and that's all there is to it!"

"No, Rose. It'll be awkward."

"I promise you it won't."

"It will."

"Well if you approach it with that attitude, it will."

"Exactly my point."

"James, you stubborn little brat! Why won't you take Belle?"

"Because…" he stammered and pursed his lips. "Because I already have a date!"

My jaw hit the floor. "WHAT?" Al and I both yelled in unison.

"You can't go with anyone except for Belle!" I shouted angrily.

"Yes I can! It's my life!"

"I don't care!"

He sighed heavily, the fury inside him growing stronger. "It figures!"

"Who are you taking anyways?" I asked irritably.

"Melanie! Who else?"

My eyes widened and my mouth made the shape of a capital bolded 'O.'

"Okay, it's official. I absolutely hate my life."

A/N: Ooh, intense right? Lots of romance and twists in this chapter! Aren't you all proud of me? Let me know what you think in a review! And while I'm on the topic, I would like to thank all of you for your amazing feedback! Remember, the more responses I get, the more effort I put into this and the more effort I put into this, the faster I publish it! In short, if you review, I post faster. But anyways, I have a few shout-outs to give. The first goes to my best friend, Di (RachelsBerry). If you didn't notice it yet, go back and re-read because I inserted a Starkid reference from Starship with the "hideous creatures" thing for you! (The title also has something to do with AVPM because I was thinking of you.) Thanks so much for your feedback! I love you, Di! And next, I would like to give a special acknowledgement to Meteolojinx Recantofor reviewing every single one of my chapters so far! Unfortunately, I am unable to reply to them because you have private messaging disabled, but it's not a problem. Just wanted to thank you all! Remember, the more reviews, the faster I publish! Tell me your favourite parts of the chapter or even a quote that you liked (those are always the best!) or perhaps what you thought was funny! Anything is appreciated! Thanks! -Tea