Chapter Nine: The Slytherin Party

When I open my eyes I am standing in front of quite possibly the most lavish mansion I have ever seen in my entire life. The grounds of the house are breathtaking all on their own, but coupled with the giant house it gives such an impression that I already feel inferior, something no doubt done on purpose.

"Holy shit!" I exclaim, looking up at the giant house. "This is the biggest house I've ever seen in my entire life!" I gaze at it in wonder. Though, I would never want a house this big. For one I would be afraid that someone could break in and then live in my house and I wouldn't even know. How creepy would that be? You know, one day I'm walking down the East wing and some guy comes out wearing a bathrobe and says he's been in that room for a year. No thank you.

Also, what the hell do you do with a hundred rooms (as Cole has just revealed to me is the exact number this house has)? There is only so much unnecessary crap one can have before even that runs out and you have empty rooms. Just vacant, dusty rooms where homeless people come and live.

In our house we have fourteen rooms and even that seems like a lot. Mum did not know what to turn the last room into and she told me they even considered having a fourth child just to have something to put in there. Alas, it simply became a second guest room for when the guests that never visit have a nice place to stay.

"Come on, let's go inside," Cole says, grabbing my arm and tugging me up the pathway. I go along with him silently until he gets to the door and rings the loud doorbell. It has to be loud, obviously. It has to echo throughout a hundred rooms.

"You did tell them it was me who was your date, didn't you?" I ask quickly as I hear footsteps or something coming towards the door.

"Of course I did," Cole says dismissively. "I even gave them three whole days to adjust so they wouldn't kill you as soon as you walked into the door."

I'm about to respond when the door flies open and a small house-elf looks at us nervously. It fidgets with its filthy apron before bowing deeply, its little nose pressing into the lavish tile floor.

"Are you here for Master's party?" it asks in a squeaky, terrified voice.

"Yes," Cole replies.

"Tibby will take you," it says, stepping aside to let us through. It glances back, perhaps to check if we have coats, and then walks in front of us along a hallway. Before we even get to the door I can hear the soft music coming from within the room.

I chance a glance around at my surroundings, noting all possible exits (windows included) and can't help but be impressed by the lavishly decorated home I am standing in. Well, home is a bit loose. I'm basically standing in a castle decorated by angels.

"Here we are," Tibby the house elf says. "Will Master's guests be wanting something to drink?" It eyes us cautiously as though I am going to strike it down for looking at me.

"I'll have a butterbeer," Cole says. "Roe?"

"Erm, same," I say. "Thank you."

The elf gives me a bewildered look and hurries out of sight, presumably towards the kitchen where the drinks are.

"Alright, here it goes," Cole says to me, and throws the door open. It is in that second that I realize perhaps he, too, is nervous about what his friends thought about me. Surely he has some semblance of a best friend thing with Sebastian that mirrors what I feel with Demi. If Demi hated Cole I'm sure I wouldn't like Cole as much as I did and I worry it will be the same with Cole, though I also doubt anyone has such an intense non-gay relationship with their best friend like I have with Demi.

All eyes in the vast room turn to stare at us and most conversations stop so the only sounds come from the record player in the corner. I am just about to start my nervous giggling when I hear, from the corner of the room, "You made it!"

This was followed by, "Finally!"

I glance around and find myself completely dumbfounded. I had expected a party with dozens perhaps close to a hundred people to fill this house. Instead what met my eyes were Sebastian, Theodora, Petra, and another Slytherin from our Year, Holden West, who I knew to be Petra's boyfriend.

"Sorry," Cole says, smiling at Sebastian. "I was a little late leaving the house." He takes my hand and firmly leads me further into the room where we are instantly surrounded by his friends.

"Hello, Roe," says a husky voice to my left. I turn sharply and come face-to-face with Petra Zabini. "You look very pretty this evening." Something about the way she says it causes me to believe she's lying, but her voice is enchanting. It's kind of raspy and husky and very sexy. "Doesn't she, Dora?"

"Very pretty," Theodora agrees. "Cute dress." At least the way she says it makes it sound as though she might actually like my dress, while Petra just sounded as though she were mentally smirking at me. "Sit down, have a drink."

"Thank you," I say, allowing myself to be led towards a plush couch with dozens of throw pillows. I sat down and instantly nestled my way into the comfort that was this amazing couch. I was seriously considering shrinking it and sticking it in my bra to take home.

"So, Roe Potter," Petra says, a smirk now fully on her face. She quirks an eyebrow at me and I swallow nervously before turning to see where exactly Cole was. My biggest fear now, seeing as they haven't killed me, is that he'll leave and then that's when they'll strike.

"Yes?" I say, when she says nothing else.

"Oh, nothing," she says airily. "Here you go." My butterbeer suddenly appears out of nowhere, as though she's plucked it from thin air, and she hands to it me. "So how did you and our dear friend Cole get together?"

I'm midway through a gulp of butterbeer when she asks and for a moment I try to answer with liquid going down my throat and begin coughing. I cough into my hand for a second before I hear behind me, "Petra, be nice."

"I'm being nice," she replies, smirking up at whoever was speaking. I couldn't hear through all the hacking. "I just asked her a simple question, Cole. No need to get defensive."

Cole sits down across from us. He gives Petra a knowing look and turns to look at me, as though trying to cushion the blow that is Petra.

"Maybe you can tell us, then," Petra says. "You never really did tell us how you and Roe managed to get together. I daresay I'm not the only one interested, right Sebastian?" She turns to her brother, who sinks down on the couch next to Cole.

"Right," he replies and gives Cole a bemused look. "You never did say how you two…er, got together."

"I won't say we weren't a little surprised," Petra went on. "I never knew you two even talked to each other, let alone had hidden feelings. Cole certainly never told us he thought romantically of you." She gives Cole a small smile before sipping her drink. For his part Cole gives her a glare before turning to me.

"Er, we," I say, sipping from my bottle comfortingly, "started talking at that Ministry Ball the other month."

"Hmm," Petra says with a smirk, "some Ball, I guess."

"Petra," comes a warning voice and I notice that her boyfriend has spoken for the first time. She gives him a smile before turning back to me as though nothing has happened. As soon as she looked at me I suddenly realized that I was under attack. It was simple, really. She didn't like me at all and I couldn't say I had warm and fuzzy feelings for her. She obviously didn't want me dating Cole and I wanted to date Cole. As girls we knew how to fight so that boys had no idea we were doing it. It was subtle and unique and deadly.

"Yes, yes it was," I say, suddenly on the defense. Well, if she wanted to have a sparring match with me then, alright, let's go. There was no way in hell I was going to be bitched around by Petra Zabini. Especially when I went to all the trouble of stealing a dress out of Elizabeth's closet.

She smirks at me and takes a sip from her drink. It's an ice blue color and is sitting in a martini glass. One look at it and I know it isn't any butterbeer. I want some alcohol! I mean, damn, if I'm going to be verbally attacked all night I want some liquid courage. All I have is this stupid butterbeer in this stupid bottle. A lot of good it's going to do me if Petra is going to badger me with questions all night.

The rest of the night goes on in such a fashion, though it is only tolerable because at least Theodora hasn't jumped in and joined Petra yet, for which I am grateful. In fact, Theodora has been very quiet almost the entire night, piping in only when spoken to directly. Cole told me she's always like this. She observes people, he says, and she's always been like this, even when they were kids.

I'm not fed, though no one else is, either. It isn't that type of party. There are some finger foods that I munch on while the others talk. I'm quite content to just sit back and let the others do most of the talking. Listening, rather than talking, has many, many advantages. I might try this with my friends and see what people say if you just sit and listen to them. Oh, or, I could do this at home and see if my family spills all types of secrets that I might want to know. Such insight.

Once I've stopped talking Petra seems to come out of her shell. Yes, I know. Hard to imagine that little bitch forty-five minutes ago was a girl in a shell, but it was. She's animated and kind of funny, in a mean, bitchy sort of way. She does tell a good story though, and you can tell she sniffs out her audience before she says anything.

Just by sitting back and listening I've learned more about these people in an hour than I've learned in almost seven years of schooling. For example, I never knew that when Cole was eight he and Sebastian were caught and punished severely for attempting to talk the house elves into bringing them Firewhiskey, and again when they were sixteen. As the night goes on, however, I realize there's a lot about Cole I didn't know. I mean, I knew the basics, what a girlfriend needs to know, but I realize there isn't much else I know but the basics.

The realization hits me that these people (well, not so much Holden. He only came into the group a while ago) know more about him then I could ever hope to. I have some catching up to do, if I can even achieve that. We don't really talk about our childhoods because it brings up the subject of our families which brings us to the guilt that we're sneaking around behind their backs.

"So, Roe do Mummy and Daddy know that you and Cole are an item?" Petra asks suddenly, an evil grin on her face.

I gulp down my drink and look over at her. She's eyeing me in a way that lets me know she already knows the answer. So, I answer her with, "No, they don't. We want to keep it quiet because we want them to respect our privacy."

"Ah," she says, smirking. "It has nothing to do with the fact that he's a Malfoy, now does it?"

"Petra!" I turn sharply to see Theodora smiling tensely at Petra. "I have to powder my nose. Join me?"

"Of course." Petra and Theodora leave and exit the room. Meanwhile, Sebastian announces they are all out of chips and he and Holden leave to retrieve some more. As soon as they're gone Cole and I turn to each other.

"What is that girl's problem with me?" I snap immediately.

"That's just Petra," he replies with an apologetic shrug. "She's a bitch. We know that, she knows that." He gets up and comes to sit next to me. "She takes a bit of getting used to and once you do…she's mellow. She doesn't like bringing new people into our group, that's all."

"I don't want to join your group," I say instantly.

"If you're dating me you're in our group, Roe," he says, frowning at me. "These are my best mates. I'm going to be hanging out with them a lot of the time and you're going to be with me most of that time."

"But they make me uncomfortable," I hiss. "And Petra doesn't like me. She's never liked me. It all stems back to that stupid Potions explosion in Second Year."

Okay, what happened was Demi and I had been giggling incessantly over some twelve year old thing we thought was funny and we were broken up because of it. I was placed next to Petra and Demi was placed next to Cole. Petra and I worked in relative harmony until I accidentally knocked my hand into a vial and our potion exploded. Petra said I did it on purpose, which I deny even to this day. So, alright, perhaps most of it—alright, all of it—got on her. It looks a little suspicious, but I retain my innocence until someone can prove I did it on purpose.

"Don't be stupid," Cole says with a laugh.

"It's not stupid, Cole. You know that's why. She's probably told you about it, right? When you mentioned I was coming she probably told you all about it, about how I 'purposely' knocked the stupid thing into the potion."

"I want you to take a moment to hear how ridiculous you sound," Cole instructs me.

I am silent for a moment before I say, "I did and I don't care. It's true and we both know it. Petra is—" I lower my voice and lean in closer to him. "—crazy!"

"I'm thinking the same about my girlfriend at the moment," he says, shaking his head in amusement. I throw him a glare and heave a giant sigh. "Hey, we only have to stay a little while longer, anyways. Sebastian and Theodora are going to disappear in a second and Petra and Holden will probably follow suit."

"What?"

"They break off into couples," Cole replies. "We always do it when we get together. The six of us stay together and chat for a little while and then we break with our dates. Don't you and Demi do that?"

"No!" I cry. "That's weird." He shrugs.

But, an hour later and I am lying in a vast bed with silk sheets and velvet hangings. My head is spinning out of control as I try to remain some semblance of my surroundings. The last thing I want is for someone to hear me or burst in on us or something to that effect. I don't want any of his friends coming to see who's strangling a cat.

"Stop moving around so much," Cole whispers in my ear as he tries to tug down the straps of my dress. I can't reply because all of my thoughts are fixed on a giant painting of a man. He's currently sitting in his chair with a glass of scotch, watching us.

"That picture is looking at me," I mutter in Cole's ear. He pauses, turns to the picture in question and makes a sound of outrage.

"Oi! Get out of here, you pervert!" he shouts, yanking the curtains shut. "Bloody thing," he snarls. "That's why I hate guest rooms. People feel compelled to fill them with pictures to make it homier, but then they watch you in intimate moments." I giggle and kiss him again. We break apart and lay on our backs.

"You're not in the mood," he says.

"No," I admit. "I'm sorry. I can't do it here. I don't feel comfortable."

"It's alright," he replies. "This room is kind of creepy, now that I think about it. I'm sure that picture in the other corner was watching us eagerly when we came in here."

"These beds are very comfortable," I comment, letting my eyes slide closed for what I wanted to only be a moment. However when I open them I notice the sunlight streaming into the room and birds outside are chirping away merrily without a worry in the world. I frown, still somewhat asleep. Suddenly I sit up with a gasp of horror as I realize we fell asleep in the room. "Cole!" I cry, shaking his shoulder as hard as I can.

"Five minutes," he mumbles, his face pressed into a pillow. I slap him as hard as I can and he gives a familiar groan. "Roe?" he asks, turning to me quickly. "What are you doing in my—Oh, fuck!" He sits up quickly and glances around in horror as he realizes we accidentally fell asleep.

"I have to get home," I say, stumbling from the bed and yanking my shoes back on as quickly as possible. "I'm going to be in so much trouble. What time is it?"

"Seven," Cole replies, his eyes fixed on a clock on the bedside table. "C'mon, I'll take you home."

"Right, that'll lessen the amount of shit I'll be in. Oh, while we're at it why don't you come to the door with me and introduce yourself as the boy who deflowered me. They'll love that!" I snarl, smoothing my hair down in the back. I took it down last night so that we could shag, but we didn't.

He doesn't say anything to me but buttons his shirt as I close my eyes and try to leave with some dignity but no good-bye for my boyfriend. I try for a second before I open my eyes and look at Cole helplessly.

"I can't leave," I snap at him, as though it were his fault.

"You can't in the house," Cole coldly. "We'll have to go outside to leave. Why don't you hurry up and gather your stuff so we can leave." I give him a look of outrage but yank my purse into my hands and walk past him, my head raised nice and high.

We walk down the hall in silence and all I can think about is what I'm going to say to my parents. They know I haven't been home, they have to. I told Dad earlier yesterday morning that I wouldn't sleep out. All I can hope for is that my parents assumed I'd stay with Demi or something.

"I don't understand who you're so mad with me!" Cole snaps at me as soon as we get into the foyer. He tried to guide me by the elbow but I yanked it back with so much force I accidentally knocked into his ribs with a painful thud. He rubs them now and walks past me towards the door.

"Because—" I begin loudly when we get interrupted by Sebastian coming out of the kitchen looking sleepy and mussed up.

"Well, well, glad to see you two had as nice a time as I did last night," he says, giving Cole a smirk while my cheeks flush slightly. "I'm heading back to bed…are you two leaving?"

"Yes," I snap, yanking Cole's arm forcefully.

"I'll owl you later," Cole says to Sebastian. He takes my arm gently as he leads me outside but as soon as the door is closed over he drops it and starts down the giant stone steps. As soon as his feet hit the crunchy gravel he whips around and fixes me with a furious glare. "What's your problem?"

"My problem is," I spit, coming down to the last two steps so that I am at his eye level, "is that I didn't even want to come to this stupid fucking thing and now I'm going to get grounded because of it!"

"If you didn't want to come, Roe, then you should have said so!" Cole snarls. "I wouldn't have made you come if you didn't want to!"

"You should know I didn't want to go, Cole!" I snap. "Why would I want to meet your friends? No one was nice to me—will be nice to me and you know that! Why would I want to meet your snobby, stuck-up, assholes of friends?"

"Because I met yours!" he bellows back. He turns sharply and walks forward before turning back so quickly my foot freezes midair from where I was going to step down and follow him. "So are you basically telling me that I have to hang out with your friends but you don't have to hang out with mine—or, better yet, that you refuse to hang out with my 'assholes of friends'?" I am silent because that is exactly what I'm thinking. I drop my gaze guiltily and he gives a disgusted snort. "Well, too bad!" He turns and starts walking down the pathway.

"Excuse me?" I bellow, hurrying after him. "Too bad? For you, you mean. Too bad for you, right?"

"Nope. I hang out with your friends and you'll do the same for me, Roe," he snaps, not turning around. "You're very selfish and stubborn and spoiled. It's getting to be very tiring."

"What?" I screech. "I am not selfish and spoiled and stubborn!" I stop and watch him walk further down the pathway, still not turning back. "Cole!" I call after him. "Cole!" He pretends he doesn't hear me, which, upon everything else that is happening, causes me to snap. Before I can comprehend what I'm doing I bend down and pick up a nice sized rock. "Cole!" I cry and hurl it, aiming for his back. However, this time he turns to me and my aim sucks so it hits him right in the ear.

The moment it happens I am already frozen in shock. He stumbles back slightly as the rock bounces off of him and lands on the ground again, all innocent as though it wasn't hurling through the air fifteen seconds prior.

My hands fly to my mouth and I gape in horror as Cole's hand moves to his ear where I am horrified to see the faint traces of blood on his fingers. I move forward cautiously, wondering if he's going to pull out his wand and attack me or something. He doesn't seem to realize I've moved forward until my hands touch his face gently. He jerks back instantly and tries to pull away, but I move forward as well.

"Stay still," I murmur, seeing a slight bruise where the rock hit. "That's going to swell," I comment as casually as I can, as though I didn't cause these. I bring my fingers up to touch it again but he slaps my hand off.

"Don't touch it!" he says through clenched teeth. "Don't you think you've done enough as it is? Just leave it and me alone."

"No," I say softly. "Here." I go up on my tip-toes and press my lips to the marks the rock left and kiss it. I go back flat on my feet and wait for him to move back from me and disappear or push me back. After a tense moment he drops his head and our foreheads press into each other.

Neither of us apologizes because, quite frankly, what we said was true and we'll have to deal with it on our own. I'll try to be less stubborn and spoiled and selfish and I'm sure he won't force me to hang out with his friends if I don't want to. Or, maybe I'll suck it up and hang out with his friends as he does with mine, though he actually likes my friends and they are nice to him.

I slip my wand from my purse and press it to his temple and watch the wound slowly starts to heal itself. He brings his hand up to touch it before dropping his hand just as quickly. For a second we simply stare at each other, trying to message everything we can't (or won't) say into our looks.

"I should get home," I say softly. "I'm probably going to be grounded. I'll owl you and let you know what happens."

"Alright," he says and holds onto my shoulders and then kisses my forehead. "I'll see you later, then." I tilt my head up at him for a kiss and fight a delighted smile from spreading on my face when he complies.

I wave at him once before leaving with a crack. When I open my eyes I'm standing in my bedroom. The house is completely silent and I feel some relief though I know it's still very early. With a thudding heart I open my door and peek around at the hall. No one in sight. Good sign.

The stairs creak beneath my feet as I go downstairs, wondering if anyone is even up yet. No one seems to be in the living room, luckily. I heave a giant sigh of relief and make my way into the kitchen in the huge silence that follows me.

"Glad you got home okay," I hear from behind me. I whip around to see James sitting on a kitchen chair, a cup of steaming coffee in his hand. I open my mouth to explain (or, really, to make something up) when he raises a hand to interrupt me. "Save it." His voice cuts through the room and causes me to wince as though I was slapped. "I know you didn't go to Demi's and I know that isn't where you were last night, either. Mum and Dad do, though, thanks to me. You're lucky I gave a fuck and came up with a plausible explanation before Mum and Dad really started freaking out. I don't want to know what you're doing but just be absolutely aware that I will not lie for you anymore and I will not make any more of your excuses. If you have a boyfriend, fine. You obviously don't want any of us to know about him, even better. You need to wise up, grow up and get the fuck home on time before you do get caught and Mum and Dad find out what you're really up to." He stands up and tosses the paper down on the table. "I'm going to work." He walks through the door and I feel my shoulders slump in defeat. I think he's gone but he suddenly pokes his head in and says, "And you look like a fucking mess. Get cleaned up before anyone sees you." The door shuts with a sharp snap.

I listen to him for once and make a quick beeline towards my bedroom. I hurry in and shut the door over. It is then that I remember it's Dad's day off so it's probably why I'm still not grounded or being yelled at. Relief is all I can feel at this point because I got away with it again.

A scowl arrives on my face as soon as I glance into the mirror. I literally nearly let out a yell before I stop myself. My hair is a complete mess, as though I've rolled around on the floor instead of slept in a very expensive bed. My makeup is smeared and makes it look as though along with the rolling around I was snogging the crap out of someone. Really, it was my pillow. It was made of silk and smelt like lilacs. What would you have done?

I'm not done, though. There is a giant hickey on the side of my neck where Cole was sucking last night. I gape at it in horror and pick up my hair to look at it closely. Usually I don't allow anyone to suck on my skin so hard that it leaves marks but it's so different with Cole. I actually want him to give me a hickey, I really do. Perhaps it's sick but I don't care. What I do care about, though, is my family seeing me—the girl without a boyfriend—with a giant hickey.

I tug Elizabeth's dress off, wondering if she knows it's missing. It would be just like James to cover for me, but tell Elizabeth I wore her dress so that I would get yelled at by someone. The soft fabric of the dress easily slides down my body before I toss it in the corner wondering if I should just burn it so she never knows I had it.

I run a brush through my hair and tug all the knots out of it before I walk back into my bedroom and pull on a giant shirt and shorts. I fall into bed and close my eyes, suddenly tired from James's little speech. As if he should even talk. How many times have I had to make an excuse for him about almost everything?

If it weren't for me Mum and Dad would know everything that he does because without me coming up with something in a pinch, he'd be screwed. Like, for example, the whole thing at the Ministry Ball. Mum would have found out he was with Lila Post, the Minister's daughter. And she would know all about how he and David would sneak porn and pot into his bedroom to enjoy an afternoon of Merlin knows what.

I am a good sister. I do not pull a complete and utter guilt trip just because he didn't come in the night before. As if he has to do this all the time and he's finally reached the end of his patience and he's not doing it anymore. I've got three years on his dumb arse! Three years where he would have been otherwise grounded or shackled in our basement. I deserve a medal. A big shiny medal that says what an amazing sister I am, dammit!

With my mood slightly improved I think I will go and see if Elizabeth is up yet. Perhaps if she is she can tell me exactly what happened last night so I can see what James told my parents. Hopefully it wasn't something stupid, like I was at a meeting for Over-Eaters Anonymous or something. That would be just like James to help me only to fuck me over even worse. I think if he said it was something stupid I'll just tell them I was with my boyfriend.

Elizabeth's door was closed over so I knock. There is no reply so I knock again…and again…and again. I am just about to think maybe she, too, went into work early when I hear, "Just a minute!" come from behind the door. I wait patiently for a moment and then the door opens and Elizabeth looks at me questioningly.

"Hey, Roe, what's up?" she says, blocking her room from view. I frown in thought and she suddenly snaps, "Hey, zone in or get away from me."

"Sorry," I say. "Can I come in?"

She gives a disgruntled sigh and opens the door. I walk past her and realize that she is still in her pajamas and her hair is a complete mess. I resist a snort as I turn to face her.

"Did you just wake up?" I ask.

"Yes," she replies, smoothing down her hair. "Did you need something or are you just keen on bothering me today?" I notice the way her eyes never leave mine as though afraid I will start looking around the room.

"I just wanted to know if you heard anything Mum or Dad was saying about last night," I say carefully, turning from her to go sit on her vanity stool. It was then that I saw her bed was already made with Elizabeth perfection. I froze in my tracks for a second before planting my butt firmly in the seat and looking at her again.

"I don't know," she says with a shrug. It suddenly hits me that she didn't sleep here last night. I narrow my eyes slightly and clear my throat.

"You didn't hear them yelling about James's pot?" I say in what I hope is a convincing voice.

"Oh, yes, I think I did hear something last night. I fell asleep over a report again. Work is really kicking my ass." She puts on a huge smile I instantly recognize as her fake smile when she's nervous. When she's nervous of you (if she's done something wrong or is going to do something wrong) she is extremely nice to you. I mean she became my best friend when she accidentally killed my pet toad when I was fourteen. She would sleep over in my room and do my hair and giggle with me. Finally, I found out she killed him by mistake and she had been so nice to me I made the mistake of forgiving her. She suddenly dropped the act about three days later.

"I see," I say. I turn my head to her bed slightly and feel a jolt in my stomach as I see the hanger I used last night to hold her dress was laying in the same exact spot that it was last night. I turn back to her. "Did you sleep here last night?" I ask.

She gives a titter and rolls her eyes. "Of course I did, Roe! Why are you being so snoopy?" She eyes me cautiously and then says, "You know what I thought would be a great idea? Why don't we go shopping for Dad's birthday present together!" She smiles brightly and my suspicions are instantly confirmed.

"Sure," I say just as brightly. "That sounds great."

She ushers me out of the room and for the first time I do not fight her as I leave. Instead I walk back to my room in silence and close the door over once I get there. My bed is inviting me to come and lay down on it, to think over the previous night's events and my first big fight with Cole.

I fear I am becoming a bit violent. First I push him out a window then I hum a rock at his head and hit him in the ear drawing blood! What if he thinks I'll get worse and he'll dump me? Even worse, I don't think his friends like me and he knows I don't like them. What if this is what I was in fear of? What if he breaks up with me now because his friends and I don't get on alright?

The next thing I know Mum is shaking my shoulder and handing me a steaming cup of coffee. Her smile instantly lets me know I'm not in any sort of trouble. Well, I if I am then they aren't dealing with it at the moment. Luckily, though, I don't think I am.

"Roe, I just wanted to let you know that we're having Dad's party this Saturday night, so don't make any plans for it, alright?"

Oh, I almost forgot Dad's birthday was Saturday. "Yeah, sure, no problem. Er, Mum…could I sleep at Demi's tonight and Sunday?"

"Sure," she says, shrugging. "If it's fine with her parents it's fine with me. Come downstairs you've slept the day away, my dear!"

"What time is it?" I ask hurriedly.

"Two-thirty, Roe. Get up and I'll make you lunch."

"Who else is home?"

"Everyone except Elizabeth. James is home on a late lunch break and Dad's been working in the garden all day." She watches me pull my hair back. "We don't see much of Elizabeth anymore, do we? I swear, work must really be getting to her! When she's not slumped over in bed from exhaustion she's working on weekends and late hours. She even had to stay over night at a patient's home to make sure they were recovering well enough." I give Mum and incredulous look.

"Oh," is all I manage. Perhaps I'll have to confront James with my little bit of information and see if I can wheedle something out of him. "Oh son of a bitch," I murmur to myself. I am an idiot. Of course James knows what's going on…that little rodent made up the story about Elizabeth stealing some girl's job! What a little dick! I feel all dirty and deceived.

Mum and I make our way into the kitchen to see Dad and James both eating sandwiches, potato chips and talking animatedly about something or other, most likely Quidditch. I am almost sure of it now that I hear, "No way, Mulroney is the best beater ever. Period!" They are either talking about Quidditch or swapping masturbation stories. Hopefully it isn't the latter.

"Afternoon, all," I say, not looking at James as I take my seat.

"Glad to see you graced us with your presence, Roe," Dad says, glancing over at me with an almost questioning look. "You must have been up late last night."

I open my mouth to say something when James cuts in. "Dad, you know Demi. She talks a mile a minute. Plus, Frank snores so you know they weren't getting any sleep at his house, especially with Luna tinkering away in the basement." He gives me a dirty look as I process the story.

"Luna was down there until four this morning," I say, adding to the story. "I don't know what she's doing down there but it was loud and the stink was atrocious."

"Probably a new spell she's got cooking up," Mum replies. "She's going to blow herself up one day." She suddenly turns to James. "You know, I heard Allie might go into the same field. Isn't that interesting?"

Mum has been pushing Alice Longbottom on James since they were born. What she doesn't know is that they actually do get to know each other. Quite frequently when they're both out of relationships and horny. Basically they get together to shag and then part from each other, still friends. They meet up and chat occasionally, but mainly they have sex with each other. No one else knows about it except me because I walked in on them in the middle of it.

I'm kind of a gossip queen, now that I think about it. I can't help it, though. I don't want to know everything about everyone (as it gets very tiring), but that is just how the cookie crumbles for me. Dad says I have an open, inviting face and I look so innocent and nice that people almost feel compelled to tell me about their personal life. I know almost everything about everyone in our Year.

"Really? That's nice," James says, his mouth twitching as though fighting a smile. He looks up at me and narrows his eyes before moving back to my father's and resuming his conversation.

"Oh, Roe, I almost forgot! You got your Hogwarts letter today! Open it up," Mum says excitedly. "Maybe we've got our final Head Girl in the family!"

"Mum, Chloe wasn't a Head Girl," James reminds Mum.

"Well, really who cares about—" she stops herself with a nervous giggle. "She didn't go to Hogwarts, darling, so that's why."

"Still, why would they make Roe a Head Girl? Their jobs are to regulate the school population, not screw it up even more," James says.

"Oh, suck my dick, James," I snap.

Instantly I hear, "Rosemary Ginevra Potter!" from both my parents. They each give me a look of complete outrage and it is my father who continues with, "You are a lady! Act like it, dammit!"

I am forcibly reminded of a previous even where he uttered these words.

When I was eleven I nearly got my arse hexed off after a particular bad run-in with a few reporters. Dad and I were being quite harassed while trying to walk along Diagon Alley. Supposedly it was the anniversary of something and everyone was keen to know what Dad was doing at this time. Wouldn't they like to know he was taking his daughter to buy her first training bra because her mother had to rush into an emergency Hogwarts meeting about something James blew up. It was an end of the year prank he pulled in May (which is also my birth month) and got caught. No one was happy.

Anyway, these reporters wouldn't leave us alone. No matter how many questions Dad answered they had three more to ask. Finally, they all rounded on me once Dad let them know he was finished answering questions.

I got all types of questions hurled at me and I guess perhaps I finally snapped after a minute of this, especially when I was blinded by a photographer.

A reporter asked me, "What was it like growing up Potter?"

I replied with, "I don't know. What was it like growing up ugly?"

Can you believe I got grounded for that? Dad said it was rude and I was a lady, dammit, can't I act like one?

One would have thought I ran that woman down with a muggle car or something the way my father was going on about it. At one point, after he brought me home and sat me in a kitchen chair, he got so angry all our cabinets flew open. Dad didn't like to yell and he tried to repress all of his anger every time he got angry. It probably wasn't healthy, hence our cabinet doors hanging off their hinges.

According to James, who eavesdropped when I wasn't around, Dad doesn't like to punish us because he says there are other, better ways to deal with a misbehaving child. I highly doubt that and I am all for corporal punishment for my children. But, Dad is Dad and no matter what we do or say he will always be like that and is too damn stubborn to change.

However, I have to love Dad for being so naïve about almost everything about us. He truly thinks his children are angels. For the most part he's right because one third of his children are angels. James and I just strayed a bit somewhere along the line and wound up being a couple of sluts. Well, I'm pretty sure I'm in love with Cole, so I don't think I'm a slut if I'm in love…unless I'm a slut in love…See, there should be guide books for crap like this.

I always wonder what Mum or Dad would do if they knew half of what their kids did behind their backs. Well, of course, this excludes Elizabeth who is little Miss. Perfect with her perfect job and her perfect hair and her perfect damn boobs.

Mum would surely combust. I can see it now…Oh, she would die of embarrassment if she knew that James screws around in his bedroom while she's home. Sometimes when she's right down the hall sleeping or cleaning. However, that is simply a reflection on James and James alone. We were certainly not raised to believe sleeping around with dozens of girls was alright. In fact, it was highly frowned upon by our parents. We even had a delightful little speech that went along with it when I was fourteen.

What happened was Mum and Dad heard James was dating a Fifth Year and decided to give us an updated sex talk. I was kind of hoping they would get all twitchy and embarrassed about it. I wasn't disappointed. At one point Dad got so flustered he revealed that it wasn't a bad thing to remain a virgin until marriage.

At that point I asked, "Did you?"

Both my parents turned bright red and remained silent for what I assumed to be three full minutes before turning to each other with doubtful expressions. Whatever they had expected from this little chat they certainly did not expect that question.

"Well, er, no we weren't," Mum replied, her cheeks rivaling in color with her hair. "But we lost it with each other and we got married, so that's different."

"So, you're saying I can sleep with a girl now, I just have to marry her later?" James piped in suddenly.

"Yes," Mum said, looking even more doubtful. "But you're still very young, James."

"And if you go on that basis you're treading the waters of polygamy," Elizabeth hissed at him. That earned her a smirk from James, who looked quite pleased with himself. He thinks shagging a girl is like some big obstacle he overcomes.

"I think we need to get back to what I was trying to say," Mum said, looking nervously between the three of us.

"Which was?" Elizabeth asked.

"Sex is…like a gift," Dad said awkwardly. "A very special gift that you give someone only when you know that you will spend the rest of your life with them." He looked briefly at James. "You shouldn't give this gift to just anyone at anytime just because you want to. That's how you accidentally get another gift nine months down the line."

"So," I said, "let me get this straight." Mum and Dad looked at me worriedly. "I can shag say, Frank, as long as we get married sometime in our lives?" (This is why my Dad doesn't really like Frank. He thinks we've shagged or something.)

"No," they said together.

"But you said—" I began to protest.

"DON'T HAVE SEX!" Dad bellowed. "Just…don't do it, alright? At least until you're older…er, thirty, perhaps?"

Anyway, I didn't get Head Girl, much to my relief. It was actually my biggest fear that I would get that stupid thing. Thankfully McGonagall read my mind and decided to give it to someone else. Hopefully it's that stupid bint Lila Post. I hope she has a mental breakdown and rips all her hair out.

Mum is disappointed, but I can just toss that onto the pile of stuff I've done to disappoint my parents. It's kind of growing steadily now, more so now that I'm out of school for the summer. Most of it involves Cole and what we do, but if I take that away then it's only a few things.

The rest of the day I spend doing some homework I've neglected until now. Stupid Potions, though. If I knew what I wanted to be then I would know what I don't need to take, but I don't so I have to take almost everything. There is no time-turner needed, luckily, but still. I'm getting my arse kicked daily even on a summer break!

James and I don't speak all day after he leaves for work and returns for dinner. This is fine by me as I need some time to work out my strategy for getting the information out of him. So far I am either going to get him: drunk, high or laid. One of them just has to work!

I also don't see Elizabeth all night. According to Dad she's working late and is staying in London for the night with some friends from school. Right, I totally believe that.

At nine o'clock I announced I was tired and headed up to bed. I went straight for my owl and pick her up. She eyes me cautiously as I tie a letter to her leg.

"Send this to Cole, please," I say to her.

I release her and she flies into the night sky. It is ten minutes later when I hear a tapping on my window. I go over to it and open it. My heart begins to beat wildly as I see it is Cole standing on my roof, a giant basket under his arm. He hurriedly comes over into my bedroom and places the basket on the window sill.

"Lock and silence your door," he instructs softly.

I go over to my door and poke my head out. "I'm going to sleep!" I call to the house. I hear my parents answer and then close my door and lock it. I turn back to Cole hesitantly and see he has pulled my vanity away from the wall and has swept everything on the surface into a box he conjured up.

"What are you doing?" I ask questioningly.

"Well, I figured if you were grounded then I'd have to come to you. I also figured we should have a nice candle-lit dinner for once." He walks over to my light switch and flips it off, just as the candles on the table erupt with flames.

"This is very nice of you, Cole, but I didn't get grounded," I say to him, my heart swelling with joy. Cole is absolutely amazing and I am so in love with him it physically hurts sometimes. "But, still, let's enjoy."

"So you can still come over tomorrow night?" he asks.

"Yes. And I look forward to it very much," I say, leaning in to kiss him.

A/N Please read and review. I so enjoy getting them and reading what you guys think of what I'm doing so far. The next chapter is going to be the last summer chapter and then Roe and crew will be going back to school. After that the whole family dynamic will be lessened, but her parents and siblings will not be non-existant, at all. I plan to take this through her year and then back into the summer with a short break for Christmas in between. I have all the plot twists planned out and written so it should keep moving along nicely. Always expect an update within a week unless I've gone away or have writer's block, like I did with this. So, hope you enjoyed it, please review!!