a/n: okay you guys, I apologize profusely for the wait. I'm also sorry about how short this chapter is but it helps me set up where I need to go in the next chapters. You should thank one of the readers for her... persuasion in posting this chapter update tonight or you probably wouldn't have gotten an update for another week. So a big THANK YOU to her. That being said, I didn't get to have my beta go over this so there may be some mistakes, if you find any don't hesitate to review (or just review cuz you love me! *hint hint*). Ahem. Again, sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but it really is pretty important to the story. Well, here you go! Enjoy.

Chapter Nine: Cunning Devices

Over the course of the next week Felix acted out the part of Perfect Boyfriend amazingly. He walked me to class, wasn't too pushy, and asked me endless questions about how my day was and what I did. As much as the girls were oohing and aahing over him and telling me how sweet he was being, I was quickly growing tired and worn down from him constantly being around me, and I'd taken to avoiding him as often as possible.

Today was one of those times. I'd been hiding out in the library behind a pile of books, half studying and half staring out a window, wondering what on Earth to do about the situation I'd gotten myself into, when I saw the familiar stride of Felix coming around the corner of one of the shelves. Grabbing my books, shoving them in my bag, and bolting I whipped around a different bookshelf.

"Summer? Was that you? Summer?" Felix called out and when I didn't answer and kept running I heard him let out a low string of curse words. I'm sure that I was frustrating him, ignoring him like this, but I couldn't help it. I needed space to breathe, and I was afraid that if I let myself be alone with him then I would end up yelling at him or something for being so... so... so clingy!

As I rounded a corner outside of the library I ran into someone and fell backwards, flat on my arse. There were a pair of long legs in front of me and an arm extended down to me, which I took gratefully.

"Sorry," I said hastily, "I wasn't watching where I was going and-" I broke off when I saw who it was. "Oh. It's you," I said to James' smirking face.

"You're not still mad about that night are you?" James asked, abruptly pulling back the hand that he'd used to hoist me up with as though I'd burned him.

"No, I'm just pissed off for no apparent reason," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"Oh," he said, seemingly uncertain as to how to respond to that.

"Well, if you're quite capable of leaving me alone for more than a day, I have a crap load of homework that I'd like to attend to," I said stiffly, ready to move on. I wasn't really still that mad with him, irritated? Yes. Mad? Not so much.

"Wait, Green, come on. I didn't mean it like that," James said and I turned, looking back at him, keeping my expression blank.

"Then how did you mean it?" I asked, a little more sharply than I intended.

"I don't know," James muttered, running a hand through his hair in that irritating way that almost seemed endearing- I stopped that train of thoughts in their tracks. Where the bloody hell did that come from? I thought in irritation, I didn't think that James bloody Potter was endearing. No sir, not going to happen.

"Well, when you figure it out please do inform me, however... Until then. 'Bye Potter," I said, wanting to get out of there sooner rather than later. Mostly because Felix could come out the door at any second and see me, but also because I really wasn't sure what would come out of my mouth if I stayed around Potter another minute. Mostly the first though. I hoped.

Later that same day, during dinner, Felix walked up to me with a strained sort of smile pasted on his face. He greeted my friends calmly and gave me a look that clearly said come-talk-with-me-NOW. I didn't want him to become more pissed than he probably already was so I gave up hiding from him for now and followed him out of the Great Hall.

"Sunny?" I gritted my teeth as he used the nickname that Al and Rose had given me, I could barely tolerate them using it and coming out of Felix's mouth it just felt, wrong.

"Hmm," was all I could reply with as I stared determinedly at the ceiling beyond his head.

"You've been avoiding me." it wasn't a question, or even really an accusation. Just a statement. I bit the edge of my lip and tried not to look at Felix. And failed. My eyes flickered back to his face momentarily and he looked wary, as though he didn't know what to expect from me as a response. I sighed and scrubbed a hand over my face.

"I just, this isn't really working out that great for me and-" I was cut off by Felix grabbing me and pulling me into his chest.

"Please don't break up with me," I closed my eyes tight against the horror in his voice and tried to steady my breathing, which was hard when he was basically crushing all of the air out of my lungs.

"Alright," I murmured, trying desperately to step out of his tight embrace, "alright, I won't, I wasn't going to, anyways. I don't think," I said, and his face momentarily smoothed out as he smiled at me.

"Give me another chance?" he asked quietly, "I'll do everything to fix this." I frowned at him.

"You didn't really do anything wrong, Felix. I just don't feel like this is going to work out between us. I feel like we're too different of people-" Felix cut me off again.

"One week, give me one week to change your mind, Sunny, please," his voice broke a little on the last word and I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood. I didn't know how to deal with this sort of thing. I wasn't the person who usually had any relationship problems because they didn't have a lot of relationships.

"Yes, alright," I said slowly, feeling as though I was going to dread ever agreeing to this, "I guess that's fine."

And he walked away. Just like that. Not another word, just a smile of relief and the long strides away from me. Whaaaaa-? I thought, but shook it off. Guys were weird, and I couldn't be the only thing that he was worried about, maybe he was late for a prefect meeting, or a before class discussion or... I stopped that train of thought as I reentered the Great Hall. Nope, it was just weird.

XXXX

Marcus glared at the three people in front of him. One was Aurelius, another who look like a strikingly older version of Felix, and none other than Felix himself, who looked like he'd very much rather be anywhere else in the world than in this room.

"And what exactly are you telling me?" Marcus asked quietly, glaring at Felix warningly.

"She gave me a week to prove to her that we can be in a relationship. We need to act within that week, I'm not sure if I can convince her or not - she seemed pretty interested in breaking up with me," Felix looked rather put out by this last statement, as though the thought of a girl ever wanting to break up with him had never occurred to him - in fact, it probably hadn't. Ever since birth he had been the star child, the one "destined for great things", the one who would make his family proud. He never lacked in anything that he might want and was always told that he was superior to others. He had also gained the family's trademark devilishly good looks and he was proud to say that he knew how to use them to get what he wanted out of women. Marcus chose to ignore his response in favor of rounding on Aurelius.

"This was your plan of getting close to the girl? A simple minded boy?" Marcus growled, ignoring (along with everyone else in the room) Felix's squawk of indignation.

"Well, if you will," Aurelius said, his voice low and smooth as he turned his wand over in his hands thoughtfully, "it has worked thus far, and it simply means that we'll need to speed up our plans a bit. And we always have the secondary plan in place in case-" he was cut off by Marcus' eyes narrowing dangerously in his direction as he turned back towards Felix and his dad.

"Do not screw this up," Marcus hissed, and with one final snap of his robes he left the room, leaving behind a thoughtful Aurelius who was staring out the window onto a set of sprawling green lawns, a shaken Felix, who wanted nothing more than to leave this place never to return for any reason, and a determined Mr. Jain, who was set on getting his son a seat with the people who were likely to gain more power than Voldemort ever had.

a/n2: Hiya! Well, we thought Felix was all sunshine and fun did we? No sir-e! But anyways. I should HOPEFULLY HOPEFULLY have the next chapter up on SATURDAY, Sunday at the latest because I do have a piano recital on Saturday and, well, yeah! But, anywho, review please! I love you all! Have a lovely week!