A/N: Hey! So... uh... I don't have anything interesting to say again. Oh well. Thanks to be reviewers- Banoffee, Black Flaming Heart, Annimouse, shadow929, MotherCrumpet, CatherineMcq, LilJester, sarcastic spastic, shayacatalystscifigirl, lucid-03-days, PrincessPotter16 and suffles101. This is an extra long chap, so I hope you like!

Oh, and some people have been asking me if I could send them an email to let them know when I've updated, if they don't have an account. Can I just say that I don't really believe that any of you are stalkers, etc, but I just feel really uncomfortable giving out my email. If you really want me to, I will, I just thought I'd make myself clear. So if you still want to get messaged about this story (if you don't have a registered account) you can tell me in the review. Thanks!


October 15th

I awake to someone shaking me furiously. I try to shut it out, but it gets even more insistent. "What…" I mumble sleepily.

"Katie! Get up!" An all-too-familiar voice chirps.

It's too early for happy people. God, I hate happy people. They make me even grumpier than I naturally am. "Piss off…" I mumble, snuggling further into my bed. It's warm and comfortable.

"Oi! Bell! Wake up!" A harsher voice yells from further away.

Wait a minute. I know that voice, too. I open one eye, to see Alicia standing next to me, grinning maniacally.

I sit bolt upright, banging my head on the bed-head in the process. "What?" I ask suspiciously. When Alicia loses her normally smart and demure demeanor, you know something's up. Because she only ever does that about three things in the whole entire world: George Weasley, the O.W.L.'s or what she classifies as 'romance'.

In this instance, I'm guessing it's the latter.

"It's Saturday," Alicia emphasises.

"So?" I say, flopping back on the pillow.

"Don't you have someone to be?" she asks slyly.

"Er… no?" I ask, confused.

Angelina throws a pillow at me from the other side of the room, where she is braiding her hair in front of the mirror. "Duh, you reject," she says, rolling her eyes, "what she means is, you have a Hogsmeade appointment today."

I gaze blankly at her. "Oh my god!" I exclaim, panicking. "I didn't agree to go with Cedric, did I?"

Alicia gives a little scream of frustration and jabs her finger at me. "No, you idiot!" she yells, while I laugh at her expense. "Lee asked you out, remember?"

"Oh yeah," I say, recalling the conversation we had on Monday. In the five days since he asked me out, we've just gone about our normal lives. Like, we still sit next to each other in Muggle Studies (and apart from the occasional flirting, which isn't that unusual since we used to do that anyway) it's normal. Like, we still joke around and make fun of people, and it's cool seeing Stormie McNamara glare at me every time I turn around. The good thing, though, is that she's sitting next to Cedric now, and latching onto him like a leech. It's quite amusing, really.

And I don't even know how Ange and Alicia found out about our 'date'. I mean, it's not like we've acted any different, and I haven't mentioned it to them. I know, I know. I'm a bad best friend, but seriously. I mean, they COULD get their own lives, rather than sit back and laugh at mine.

"How did you even know?" I ask, closing my eyes. The world is just too bright at this time of the morning.

In case you haven't noticed yet, I am NOT a morning person. And that just makes Lee all the more annoying, because when I come down to breakfast last and tired, he's sitting down in the Great Hall with a cup of coffee going, "and GOOD MORNING, to you too!" all happily, like he doesn't know I hate mornings. Prick.

"Bell, we're your best friends," Angelina calls from where she is sitting, on her bed. "We know everything."

God, THAT sounded just a tad creepy.

"So you're stalking me too?" I mumble into my pillow. Ah, so soft; so cosy.

"Hmm." Ange pretends to think about it for a moment. "Yeah. When I'm not with Fred snog-"

"Okay!" I yell, putting a hand up in the air. "I do NOT want to know about your escapades with Frederick!"

"Wow, Katie," Alicia remarks, "you actually sound like an intellectual."

Huh. Who even SAYS that in this day and age? And just because I walk into doors, fall down stairs, fail assignments etc, does NOT mean I am an idiot. In fact, I bet I could read before Alicia.

"Hey 'Lic," I say conversationally, trying to adopt the 'casually interested' tone that Fred and George take up when they want to weasel information out of someone.

"Yeah?" she asks suspiciously.

So I'm not the greatest actor in the world. At least I can sing.

"When did you learn to read?"

"What?"

"Katie! Get dressed!" Angelina shouts. "I need some coffee!"

I roll my eyes at her dramatics. I mean, who even LIKES coffee? Well, you know, apart from Lee, and Angelina, and my mum, and my dad, and my brother Michael, and my brother… Anyway.

"Come on," Ange says, hauling at Alicia's sleeve and practically pulling her out the door. "We're going to get breakfast. Come and join us when you're ready, Bell."

Five minutes passes, and I guess I had better get up. I mean, I wouldn't want to keep Lee waiting, would I?

Of course not.

I get up and shuffle towards the showers. At least I won't smell. Lee should be impressed... Just kidding. I have a shower everyday. I don't smell. Well, not as much as Lachlan Turris, anyway.

When I get out of the shower, I rummage around in my trunk for something to wear and pull out the first clean clothes I find. It's a pair of navy trackies and a white and green hoodie. Hey, I like to be comfy. I pull on my black volleys and run a brush through my hair.

It's eerily quiet when I get downstairs. I mean, wherever I go there's always noise. I guess because of the fact that I create it, or something.

I take so long getting down to the ground floor that breakfast has finished and students are everywhere; walking back to their common rooms, going outside or whatever.

I'm so busy looking for my friends that I jump when a voice beside me says, "nice to see you've dressed up for me, Bell."

It's Lee, and he's busy smirking at me. I whack him in the arm crossly. "I like to be comfortable," I tell him, raising my eyebrows.

"I can see that," Lee replies. Then he extends his arm out towards me. "If you might be so kind," he says in a mock-polite voice.

I stare up at him, looking sceptical. What annoys me most about my friends is how they're all so TALL. I mean, I am 5"2. In my opinion, that is not short. But when I'm staring up at Lee, who is about 5"11, I'm starting to think that maybe, just maybe, it is. I can't even look mad, because everyone coos, "aw, isn't that sweet? She's so small!" And pats me on the head. "Alright," I say, shrugging.

He grins and pats me on the head. "Good girl," he says, in a tone that you say to a dog when it rolls over.

"Watch it, buddy," I say, poking him. "Just because I'm short doesn't mean that I can't hit you in the head."

Lee puts his hands up as if to say, 'I surrender'. "I'd like to see you try," he adds.

All I can do is pull on the tip of a dreadlock. "Fine," I say huffily, turning away. Some kids are staring at us creepily. You know, like maybe they want to stalk me. I really have got to get over the whole 'paranoia' thing. It's kind of getting old.

"Aw, come on, Bell," Lee whines. He steps around in front of me.

Does he ALWAYS have to be so in-your-face?

"You know you love me," he wheedles.

"Yeah, whatever," I mutter, but I'm grinning. I love being mean to Lee, it's just so satisfying.

"Ha, I knew you were joking," Lee declares as we try to walk down the hallway inconspicuously. Unfortunately, because we both have such loud voices, heads keep turning our way. And then Connie Cretin took a photo of us, even though we weren't doing anything other than walking. He is SUCH a weird kid. I mean, no wonder Harry has nightmares about him.

We reach the one-eyed-witch portrait, but there's too many people around to use it. Okay, so like three. But that is three too many. Not for the first time, I am glad that Fred and George found that stupid smelly map. I mean, even though they were like, OBSESSED with it. But it was okay after the first year, because they were like so obsessed with it that they memorised it, so we didn't need it any more.

We get through and then we're in the dark, damp corridor. And you know the absolute BEST part? I can feel Lee moving in closer to me, because he's afraid of the dark. Oh, this is the BEST bit of blackmail I've ever had!

"Are you afraid of the dark?" I whisper in between my bouts if laughter. I mean, come on. If you just found out that your best friend (and soon-to-be boyfriend) is AFRAID OF THE DARK, you'd be chuckling a little, too. I mean, that is just not NORMAL.

Lee nudges me so hard he almost sends me sprawling. "Shut up," he snaps. "I just had a bad experience with a boggart when I was five," he adds sheepishly.

I keep laughing. "Dude, it's ten years later," I tell him.

Lee shrugs. "And you are still afraid of frilly pink nightgowns," he counters with an evil grin.

Point taken.

"Okay. How about, I won't tell anyone you're afraid of the dark, if you don't tell anyone I cry if I'm forced to wear a frilly pink nightie." I mean, Alicia and everyone knows my weakness. They just don't know how bad my reaction is. Miraculously, the little midget second years didn't actually see me go hysterical. I mean, at least since they were scared of me (and probably Lee, since he's pretty scary, as well) they didn't dare to laugh at me.

Lee stops and shakes my hand seriously. "Then we have an accord," he says solemnly.

I laugh and hit him again. I am such a violent little child. "You idiot," I say.

Luckily I don't have to yell at him any more, seeing as how we're at the entrance to Honeyduke's cellar. Lee lifts up the hatch and goes through, and I follow.

I've been in here tons of times before, but every time I see it, it amazes me because it's all so COLOURFUL. I love bright things. There's tons of rainbow jars and they're all so hippie-ish. I like hippies. Maybe when I grow up, I'll move to the woods and run around barefoot and become a hippie, and then when the giants come around and try to rip out all the trees I'll chain myself to them.

Even though it's not a Hogsmeade weekend for Hogwarts students, it's still really busy, and it's a good thing we're not wearing our uniforms. Then again, I'm mistaken often enough for a small child, why would now be any different?

"Where would you like to go first, Bell?" Lee asks with an impish grin.

"Hmm," I say, thinking about it. "Dunno." I'm still too tired to be up at this time. I mean, I am a night-dweller. So if you think about it, I am sort of like an owl. Well, apart from the whole turning-their-heads-around-in-a-full-circle thing. You'd think they get a sore neck… do owls even have necks?

"Bell?" Lee says, waving a hand in front of my face. "How 'bout the Shrieking Shack?" he suggests, wriggling his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

I give him a shove. "You are such a freak," I laugh.

We end up going to Zonko's first, and I am surprised by how many adults shop there. I mean that, or they're paedophiles, just waiting for innocent, unsuspecting children to come wondering into the shop. I buy a quaffle that magically avoids the keeper, just so that at our next practice, I can throw it at Oliver and see his face when he tries to catch it. The look will be priceless. He'll fall to pieces… that guy must have the biggest ego in the world.

Then we go to the Shrieking Shack. It's pretty cool, even though you can't really see it, and I've been to it a hundred times. One time last year, the six of us were just about to go in except Cho Chang caught us, and so we had to pretend that George had lost his toilet seat. (Why Fred said that, I will never know. I mean, those Weasleys have a strange fixation on toilet seats… when they first came to my house, they stayed in the toilet for like half an hour, simply because it's one of those decorative ones, with shells and stuff under the clear plastic.)

Splat! Lee hits me right on the nose with a mudball. (Even though it's not quite snowing yet, we've been having a lot of rain. I heard McGonagall say that it was the coldest weather we've had in autumn for a hundred years, because of the dementors. Anyway, we call bits of mud and slush mudballs, 'cos, well, they are.) And it's COLD! I shriek and run away. (Huh, I'm shrieking outside the Shrieking Shack…)

"Suck!" I yell when I get him in the head.

I turn around to pick up some more mud and Lee sneaks up on me, pushing me in the biggest puddle. "Whoops," he murmurs insincerely, grinning down at me. He sticks out a hand to help me up, but I pull him down with me, so we're both laying on our backs in the middle of a mud puddle. Cool.

"This is fun," I say cheerfully, turning to look at him.

"Yeah," Lee agrees, grinning again and then leaning forward to kiss me.

We were just in the middle of a very nice snogging session when I hear a voice above us. I pull away and look up slowly. And then I blanche.

Because standing tall above us, looking most disgusted and not at ALL amused, is one Severus Snape. The grease is practically dripping off his hair today, and it's making little steaming piles in the slush.

Next to me, Lee gulps softly. "Uh oh," he mutters.

Snape blinks, as if deciding what to do. He looks so mad, there's almost STEAM coming out of his ears, and his usually pale face is an interesting pinky colour.

I can't resist the urge to snicker, and immediately Snape turns on me. "And what are you two doing here?" he bellows. "Not only are you breaking school rules, have you failed to notice that there is an escaped murderer on the loose?"

"What's his name again?" I ask, ignoring Lee's groan as he elbowed me in the ribs.

Snape's eyes narrowed. "You know very well what his name is!" he barked. "I cannot believe that not only you have risked the safety of your lives, but also those of the students at Hogwarts!"

Whoa. He REALLY has some issues. I mean, he is way emotionally unstable.

"Dumbledore will hear about this!" He hisses. I mean, now that his voice is doing that snakey thing, it's not such a joke any more. Believe it or not, he can be SCARY when he's like that. But then I think about what Harry said, how Neville's boggart turned into him and then he was wearing Neville's grandmother's clothes, and I start laughing all over again. I mean, I can so totally see Snape as a cross-dresser. Make up to smooth his complexion, a little fragrance to make him smell nice, a pretty dress for circulation down there…

Lee is making shut up motions as Snape rants some more. I've sort of learned to tune him out, I mean, who REALLY wants to learn about important potions skills that will 'stay with you for life'? Not me.

Just as he looks like he's winding down, he suddenly looks over our shoulders and whips out his wand.

Lee and I turn our heads so fast that I think his dreadlocks will permanently scar me, and freeze.

Because floating about a hundred meters away is a horrible black dementor. And dude, he STINKS!