Chapter 10

The next day at breakfast, Ella slumped down beside me. "I just remembered something about yesterday," she moaned.

"What?"

"He touched my bum."

Al choked on his pumpkin juice.

"You alright, then, Al?" Rose joined us.

I was still staring open-mouthed at Ella. "He what?"

"I know. I feel so violated," she said, tipping back pumpkin juice like a drunk.

"Well, yeah," I said, not knowing what else to say.

Awkward silence descended. I saw Orion wink at Ella. She turned red and sank down lower on the bench.

We were leaving our History of Magic class the next day when Ella said, "Oh bugger! There's Orion!"

Suddenly, she was gone. "Ella? Where'd you go?"

"Shh! I'm being stealthy!" Her voice came from behind a pillar.

"Hey Mae, where's Ella?" Orion swaggered up to me.

"I don't know," I said, playing dumb.

"I just saw her," he said, looking over my shoulder.

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

"I think you're seeing things," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not! She was just here!" He started to walk towards Ella's hiding spot.

"Oh look! A distraction!" I pointed down the hall. To my surprise, he actually looked. I saw Ella running away out of the corner of my eye.

"Oops, my mistake. There's nothing there, you twit!"

I ran. He swore.

"I'm not covering for you again!" I said when I had found Ella and caught my breath. "I'm horrible at distracting people."

"Well, it worked," Ella pointed out.

"It won't work again."

"It doesn't need to work again," Ella said, suddenly filled with determination. "I'm going to confront him about 'the Shrieking Shack incident.' I'm going to find him and then…," she paused, taking a deep breath, "I'm going to ask him why he felt so inclined to snog the living daylights out of an innocent girl."

"Right. You do that."

"I will."

That evening, I was sitting in the common room when Ella stumbled in, looking dazed. "Looks like it went well," I grinned.

Ella glared in my general direction.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted it…"

"Shut it!"

I giggled. "So what happened?"

"Well there I was, innocently asking him what his motives were, and then he said, 'Is it any wonder?' And I said, 'Yes, because I'm wondering right now,' and he said, 'Have you looked in a mirror lately?' And that was when he started backing me up against the wall, and I had no escape, and he…" She trailed off.

"He snog-attacked you again?" I prompted.

She nodded.

"I don't get you. This is what you wanted almost the whole time we've been at Hogwarts, and now that you've got it, you hate it."

"I didn't want it like this! He wasn't supposed to just jump on me," Ella complained.

"Maybe next time-"

"I don't want a next time!"

"-you won't let him be the one in control," I finished. Ella pondered this for a moment. Then, suddenly cheerful, she bounced up to bed.

"Why was she so happy?" Al asked, coming down the stairs as Ella went up.

"Oh, she snogged Orion again," I replied.

"I thought that made her upset."

"Well, it did, but then she figured out how to use it to her advantage, I guess."

"I see," Al said, though it was clear he didn't.

The following Saturday was a Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. Rose tried to be diplomatic by mostly cheering for her own House, but sometimes she cheered with the Ravenclaws when her boyfriend, Ravenclaw's Keeper, made a good play. I noticed Orion being particularly show-offish. This was quite a feat, since he usually hogged the spotlight anyway, but I sensed he was doing it for Ella.

Gryffindor won, and Ella ran off to congratulate Orion. I waited for Al, who soon emerged from the changing rooms. "Good game," I said, smiling.

"It would've been better if Orion hadn't been doing all those wild moves. He could've let someone else have the Quaffle," Al answered angrily.

"You know how he is. Especially when he knew Ella was watching. Speaking of which…" I spotted Ella through the crowd. What surprised me, though, was that Orion was with her. He had his arm around her shoulders, and she had her arm about his waist. They both wore huge grins.

"Oh my," I said.

Just then, James walked up to me. Al looked darkly at his brother, as if prepared to defend me in a second.

"How did you like the game?" James asked.

"Despite the cold, I had fun," I answered, smiling. It was nice to be able to talk to him civilly, without shouting. "You played really well."

"Thanks. Well, I've got to go. I'll see you around?"

"Yeah."

"What was that?" Al asked when he was gone.

"I took your advice. Remember? You told me to talk to him like a mature person. And it worked," I said as we walked back to the castle.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad to hear that," Al said.

Ella wasn't in the common room like I'd expected. "I just hope Orion doesn't go too far," I said worriedly to Al and Rose.

Finally, Ella and Orion returned. Orion looked like he was about to kiss her, but he saw me watching closely, so he just said goodbye and went to his dormitory. No matter how much I wanted to know what happened, I decided to let Ella tell me without me asking. It was her personal business, anyway.

She did eventually open up. After about half an hour she said, "I can still smell him."

"What?" I asked, looking up from my book.

"Orion. I can still smell him on my robes." She was practically inhaling them.

"Should I be concerned about that?"

"No," Ella said lightly, a faraway look in her eye.

"Ella," I said, drawing her back to planet Earth.

"Oh, Mae, it was wonderful. This time, I snogged him!"

"That's… interesting," I said, unsure of what to say.

"Yes, very interesting," Ella said. She left it at that.

Please review! All Harry Potter characters belong to JK Rowling. All other characters (Ella, Mae, etc.) are mine.