After the little 'display' Fred showed everyone in the dining room, my day fell to shit. I didn't talk to anyone much after that. I just kind of slumped back to the common room after lunch and the rest of my classes.

I had just gotten out of the shower, fully clothed in my black, pink, and white pajama bottoms and my white wife beater. I started to towel dry my hair, starting at the ends, gently squeezing my way up.

Hey, curly hair is a lot to deal with.

I sat on my bed, waiting and thinking, waiting for something eventful to happen in my life. Something NOT depressing would be nice.

I pulled my legs into my chest and wrapped my arms around them, resting my head on my knees.

For some odd reason, it seems that I attract oddness and depression. Why does God hate me?

I was thinking about what life would be like with both boys; Fred and Cedric.

With Cedric, I imagined myself with a large family, 2 boys and 3 girls. Never having to worry about financial or marital problems. Everything would be perfect…except it wouldn't be real. I would be living a lie because I wouldn't be with the one I truly love.

If I WAS with the one I truly love, life would be a little more complicated later on.

Again, there would be a large family; even larger than the one with Cedric. 4 girls and 3 boys. But there would be yelling and arguing, disagreements. But the one unconditional thing that there would always be in the household, would be love. Fred and I would love each other forever. I already do…

After hours of aimlessly wondering around my room, I started to wonder where Hermione was.

She's never late…for anything! Something must be wrong.

I crept down the stairs silently and stealthily. I didn't want to be heard. It was very late, about 1 or 2 in the morning, and I already broke curfew.

As I descended, I heard whispered, harsh voices.

"Don't you know what you're doing, you little twit?" Who was that? It sounded familiar…

"Of course I know what I'm doing! What makes you think that I don't?" Okay, so does that one.

The first two were boys, and with the voices sounding so familiar to each other, it must be Fred and George.

"If you really know what you're doing, tell us, why are you doing it?" A female voice came. Hermione…? It was quiet for a while. I finally sat down on the stairs and leaned in closer.

"I'm doing it…because…" It was quiet again.

"Tell us why." ANOTHER voice said.

Christ in heaven, how many people are down there?

"Yeah, it's okay mate. We just want to know." Okay, another person.

What in God's name is going on down there?

Let's see who we can account for…Hermione is the only girl I know whose voice is that smooth and elegant, so that's her.

I heard George and Fred's voices, too. I think Fred's the one being interrogated.

George is the most vocal, next to Mione.

I heard Harry and Ron in there somewhere. So that's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…

5 people.

Oh yeah, Math skills.

"You're doing it out of spite, because someone else has what you want and you can't have it. You're trying to make everyone's life miserable so that they feel your pain. So that the people that are actually INVOLVED to feel pain. You're just angry with yourself for not doing it sooner. It's not fair to us, and more importantly, it's not fair to her."

Damn, Mione, you tell him girl!

But, who was the 'her' they were talking about? Are they talking about Tamara? Did he dump the bitch? No…the show he performed at lunch today was a little too convincing…

"You have no right to say that to me! I'm doing it because I'm jealous!" Fred spat.

I felt the color in my face drain. What is he jealous of? Who is he talking about? Why am I asking so many questions?

"About what?" It was silent, again.

"That I'm not the one who gets to hold her in my arms. That her heart belongs to someone else." I heard him take a shaky breathe.

"She's my best friend. I'm worried about her. If anyone should hold her it should be me." He recovered quickly.

He probably didn't want to tell anyone about his love for the person he's talking about.

"Don't try to fool us, mate. We know you love her. And she loves you, too. You two are just too blind to see it." My heart froze.

Are they talking about…me?

I decided that I should walk down there and pretend that I don't know anything about what they had just conversed about.

I stood up, silently, and walked down the stairs. To keep up the charade, I rubbed my eyes and put a tired face on.

"Why are you guys so loud? What's going on down here?" I stumbled on the last step intentionally.

I've always been told that I'm a good actress. Time to put my skills to use.

Everyone kind of stopped. I looked around at them and they were shifting nervously.

Fred was on the couch, George and Hermione sitting next to him on both sides. Harry and Ron were standing in front of him.

Mione decided to speak up. "We're talking about the Yule Ball coming up."

Wow, Mione. For such a smart girl, you suck at coming up with lies.

"Yule Ball. That's bull, Mione. It's 2 in the morning. Why would you guys be talking about the Yule Ball now, of all times?"

She started to babble incoherently, not making sense. George came to her rescue, though his excuse wasn't that much better.

"We can't tell you love. It's a secret." He put his index finger to his lips and made a 'shhhh' noise.

I cocked my head and put my hand on my hip.

"You really expect me to take that as an answer?" He nodded goofily. I sighed.

"I'm going back to bed. You guys should too." I started to walk up the stairs.

"Ari, wait." I turned my head back to look at who called my name.

Fred…

"Hm?" As everyone got up and went to their respective rooms, he walked up to the second stair leading up to the girl's rooms.

"Are you mad at me?" I stared at him dumbfounded.

Did he really just ask me that? Is he really that dense? Oh my God!

"Yes Fred. I'm furious." I was about to continue my ascension, but someone stormed out of their room.

Her name was Sam Sacuta, and she was in the same year as me. She wasn't in any of my classes, so I don't know her well. I've talked to her a couple of times, and from what I've seen of her, she's a pretty cool chick.

"If you people don't shut up, one of you are going to get castrated!" She yelled.

She looked tired and pissed. She looked down and saw it was me.

"Well, Fred will get castrated. Ari's alright." She leaned on the wall near the stairwell and crossed her arms.

"Aye, mate, come back to bed." George's sentence slowed down as he saw Sam.

"H-Hey Sam…" He laughed goofily.

She gave him a look that said, what-the-hell-who-are-you.

"Hello, stranger." She said and walked back up the stairs.

I'm gonna guess that George has a thing for Sam. I looked back at George, shrugged, and walked back upstairs.

Fred's face looked defeated.

xXxXxXxXx

I woke the next day tired and, well, tired. I fell out of bed and stumbled to get back up.

Hermione was already up and washing her face. She got one look at me and started to laugh.

"You never where a morning person. Not even when you first got here."

"Hardy har-har." I grabbed on to the foot of my bed and hoisted myself up. I walked into the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth.

I started to wash my face also, finishing and spraying my hair with some water, resurrecting my curls.

I got dressed into my robes, put on my makeup, and waited for Mione to hurry up.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. I had to find my shoes." I looked at her shocked.

"You forgot about your own shoes…that's something that I would do." She just giggled.

She was a lot less anal lately…Then I remembered.

"Who are you going to the Ball with?" She smiled and told me.

"Viktor Krum." I stopped on the stairs.

"Mr. Sexy? Damn, girl. Get some!" She laughed and dragged me down the stairs.

We almost ran into Sam.

"Well, I'm seeing more and more of you." She stated, walking in synch with us.

"I know, right? It's starting to get creepy…Are you stalking me?" I said, a completely serious look on my face. But then I broke into a smile and Mione and Sam followed.

"This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, ladies." Sam said.

'Yeah,' I thought. 'It really is.'

"Mione, Ari! Wait up!" All three of us turned around.

George was running down the hallway, very gracefully I might add, but as soon as he saw Sam, he tripped on his feet and stumbled, eventually falling.

We all stared at him, breaking out into giggles, then hysterical laughter.

Sam was clutching he stomach, her brown wavy hair draped around her shoulders, while Hermione tried to keep herself standing. The back of her hand was covering her mouth, trying to suppress the giggles that dared to break through.

I walked over to George, still laughing, helping him up. He took my hand sheepishly with an enormous blush on his face.

"Do you think she saw that?" He mumbled to me, looking over at Sam. I hit him on the back of his head.

"Of course she saw that! How could should not? She was laughing just as long as I was."

He looked a little down, so I decided to help him out.

"But, it was really cute." He smiled and looked over at Sam, who smirked back at him. She and Mione looked like they were talking about something.

"Do you think she has a date to the ball?"

"I don't think she does. You want to ask her?" He looked at me dead in the face.

"You have no idea how much I like this girl, Ari." His eyes sparkled as he talked about her.

I squealed, as any girl would, and jumped on him.

"That's so cute!" He laughed and set me down. I heard foot steps behind me and saw Cedric.

I smiled lightly.

"Hey boy." He flashed me one of his award winning smiles.

"Hello girl." He pulled me into a hug.

"Getting' it on in the hall? Tsk, tsk. I thought you two had some manners." I heard Sam's sarcastic voice and chuckled.

I wrapped my leg around his waist and bent my head backwards.

"Definitely." Sam and Mione walked up to us and I unwrapped my leg from Cedric's waist.

We walked down the hall to the dining room, yet again. Except this time we have a guest with us. Ms. Samantha Sacuta.

xXxXxXxXx

Cedric sat down next to me at the Gryffindor table. George was on my other side, Hermione in front of me, and Sam on the other side of George. I grabbed a cinnamon roll and started to tear it apart with my fingers.

Fred and Tamara walked in, his arm around her waist and her arm around his. She was wearing double the makeup today. Ugh.

"Morning, everyone." Fred said.

George grunted as a response and Harry gave a polite, 'hello.' No one else said anything.

He looked down at Sam, confusion on his face.

It was quickly washed away as he sat next to her, Tamara next to him and Seamus on her other side.

Ron came staggering in. I giggled lightly.

"Well hello sunshine." Sam snorted.

"You look like you just got mugged." Mione and I broke out into little giggles.

Cedric smiled at us. He was so sweet.

"I feel like I just got mugged." He grabbed some sort of food and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Aw, why?" He sighed.

"I was up late last night."

"I know. So was everyone else." I laughed.

It was quiet for a minute. I got up and went to Ginny.

"Hello, love!" I sat next to her. She was directly across Fred. Damn…

"Hey Aria." She smiled and bit into her roll.

"So, who are you going to the ball with?" She nearly choked.

"Oh God, Ginny!" I tapped her back and she started to even out her breathing.

"Wh-What?" I laughed at her shyness.

"Hun, don't worry. I know someone asked you." She blushed. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Fred's head lift.

"Neville Longbottom." I squealed and hugged her.

"That is soooooo cute!" She laughed. "I think you should go back to Cedric." I pouted cutely.

"You're sick of me already?" I put my left cheek on the table and looked up at her.

"No, he looks lonely." I snapped my head up and looked over at Cedric. He was eating his eggs quietly, not talking with anyone. I felt my heart sink.

I jumped up and ran around the end of the table, running back to Cedric.

"Aw, I'm sorry!" I came up behind him and wrapped my arms around his neck.

He lifted one of my hands and kissed each finger delicately and gently.

"It's okay. I missed you." He nuzzled his face into my hands. I kissed the top of his head.

"Does this mean we're dating now?" He said softly. I stopped breathing.

Time seemed to stop moving. It seemed as if people froze in place. I took a deep ,shaky breath.

"Yes." He turned his head to look at me and smiled.

"Yay." He said softly. He unwrapped my hands and took my face in his hands. He leaned in and kissed my lips softly and buried his hands into my hair. I returned the favor and wrapped my arms around his neck.

Little did I know, Fred Weasley was watching the whole time…