October 1st Sunday, Hogsmeade Weekend—
And yesterday I knew just what you wanted
When you came walkin' up to me with him
So I told you that I was happy for you
And given the chance I'd lie again
Just to see you smile
I'd do anything
That you wanted me to
~Just to See You Smile, Tim McGraw (song) Thanks OSK ;)
Arianna woke up early on the first of October—carefully sneaking away from her snoring roommates. The floor beneath her feet was cold and unexpected and Arianna shivered. It had gotten colder, and as a result, Arianna grabbed a jumper and hastily pulled it over her loose tank top.
She tiptoed across her dormitory, and padded down the stairs of the girl's dormitory—still in her jumper and simple plaid pajama pants. She then bounded over to the boy's side of the Gryffindor common room and raced up the cold staircase until she reached a slightly familiar door.
Peeking in, she saw that only three of the four occupants of the room were asleep and one bed was rumpled and empty. Arianna rolled her eyes. No matter how much she reminded Fred, he always wanted to sleep in.
Arianna carefully approached one bed, and slowly pulled back the curtains. She saw some sort of body that was hidden beneath thick bed sheets and a pillow.
"Fred?" she whispered cautiously, as she tugged the bed sheet down. The occupant of the bed groaned, and waved Arianna's hand away. Arianna giggled to herself, and sat down on edge of the bed, while continuing to prod Fred awake.
"C'mon you've got a date today. You wouldn't want to be late would you?" Arianna pestered. Fred just pulled the covers tighter over his head.
"Fred? Fred? Fred!" Finally, Arianna just yanked the covers off Fred's body, exposing a tan bare back, and red boxers. She saw him shiver, and instead of reaching for the blankets, he pulled Arianna to his side.
"You smell nice," mumbled not Fred, but James who began to nuzzle his face into Ari's neck and black wavy hair.
Arianna laid there slightly horrified at the fact that she was lying next to James Potter who was half naked and half asleep.
"What are you...? Get off me!" Arianna replied, while straining to get far away from James' sculpted chest and his wonderful musky smell.
"Ew gross, there are still people in this room guys," commented a very familiar voice. Arianna turned to see Fred emerging from the bathroom looking fresh and wearing jeans and a plain gray shirt. He was toweling his hair while raising his eyebrows off at Arianna's position.
Arianna blushed a magnificent shade of red, and pushed James' arms off her, and quickly stepped far away from the bed. James just grunted and rolled over—hugging a pillow instead. Arianna felt a surge of guilt, and quickly pulled the covers over James' shivering body, before turning to an amused Fred.
"I'm surprised you got up early..." Arianna commented quietly, as she sat on the edge of Fred's crumpled bed—trying to change the subject away from her and James.
"Yes...well..."
"Are you nervous?"
"What? No! Of course not," Fred said defensively as he looked through his drawers and picking up various shirts that were strewn across the floor. "I mean its just Olivia...nothing to be nervous about..."
"Do you know where you're going to take her?" Arianna asked, changing the subject while getting up and picking up a simple long sleeved shirt that she tossed at Fred.
"Well I was planning to take her out to the usual: Three Broomsticks, Honeydukes...what other shop does she like?"
Arianna grinned before saying, "She actually likes your dad's shop a lot..."
Fred looked horrified, as he pulled on his long sleeve top over his head, "Oh no. We are not going there...Merlin, if my dad was working there..."
Arianna just giggled, and handed Fred a coat that went with the shirt, "Don't rush her. I remember one time we spent three hours at the Three Broomsticks..."
Fred nodded while running a hand through his dark red hair, "Thanks Arianna."
Arianna smiled and hugged him, but before she left she heard James calling her.
"What about my hug?" James asked cockily, while stretching out his long arms. Arianna's eyes roamed his bare chest and the way his muscles stretched out. He was really...
"See something you like, Arianna?" James questioned, stepping closer to a blushing Arianna.
She felt her heart thump a bit harder, but Arianna quietly said, "Nope. Nothing at all."
When Arianna came back into her dormitory, she saw Olivia holding onto the bedpost while Claire tugged on her resistant legs.
"C'mon Olivia!" Claire practically shouted while she tried to pull on Olivia.
"No, I don't want to go out on a date with him!" Olivia protested.
"Olivia we can do this the easy way or the hard way," Claire said darkly as she released Olivia's legs, while glaring at her friend.
Olivia completely melted under her friend's hard stare, and sheepishly walked into the bathroom where Claire followed her triumphantly.
"I put your clothes out on the bed, Arianna," Claire threw over her shoulder as she closed the bathroom door.
Arianna was momentarily surprised as she examined her dark blue jeans and simple tank top over a soft cardigan. But then she remembered her date with Bobby Chandler.
After several minutes had passed, Claire and Olivia emerged from the bathroom; Claire pleased, and Olivia slightly uncomfortable.
Olivia wore a snug green v-neck sweater and dark skinny jeans, and her hair was down—the way Fred liked.
"You both look good," Claire complimented, as she handed Olivia Magical Mascara!
Olivia just sighed, grabbed some galleons, and left through the dormitory—Arianna and Claire followed closely behind.
When the three girls reached the Gryffindor common room, Fred was already waiting for Olivia. He was talking to James to pass the time.
"Hello ladies," Fred greeted as he saw all three of them, come towards the couch they were sitting in. In a quieter voice he whispered to Olivia, "You look nice."
Olivia blushed in surprise but said firmly, "Let's just get this over with, Weasley..."
Fred looked amused, but he got up anyways while gesturing towards the portrait hole.
Arianna and Claire giggled as they watched, Fred try and wind his arm around her waist, but Olivia just pushed him off.
"Well looks like it's just us left," James mused as he turned back to the two girls. However someone crept up behind Arianna—gently taking her hand.
"Sorry James, I'm going to have to steal Arianna away. We have a date," Bobby interrupted happily, as Arianna blushed.
James' jaw tightened, "Oh right...well, uh...see you later then..."
"Bye Ari," Claire smiled.
Arianna waved good-bye, but her gaze strayed towards a James who looked less then pleased.
"So where do you want to go?" Bobby asked, as he wrapped a cautious hand around Arianna's small waist.
Arianna pointed to the Three Broomsticks sign, that hung down up ahead. The pair was met with warmth and the sounds of conversations as they entered the Hogsmeade inn.
"Why don't you grab us a table? I'll get the drinks," Bobby suggested as he released his hold on Arianna's waist
Arianna just nodded and found a two-person table near the huge windows. She gazed outside, only to see Olivia and Fred outside. They were both laughing happily, and she could see Fred holding Olivia's hand.
Arianna grinned to herself, but her thoughts were interrupted by Bobby holding the drinks.
For a few minutes neither of them said anything; they only sipped at their warm butterbeer.
"So tell me about yourself, Arianna," Bobby said as he pushed away his drink, and stared at Arianna expectantly with his deep brown eyes.
"What do you want to know?" Arianna asked shyly.
"Well what do you want to do after Hogwarts?"
There conversation continued like this for a while: talking and discussing the future of their lives, and the upcoming seventh year.
After a half an hour, Arianna felt vaguely tired of the conversation. She didn't really like the way Bobby talked about the future. He seemed to always be planning for something upcoming—never enjoying the present moment.
She herself didn't have many plans for the future. Arianna had goals, sure, but not definite plans the way Bobby did. Arianna believed in taking one day at a time; living in the moment, and eventually things would fall into place...
"But the thing is, is that if I go into Spell Damage when I'm a healer I would have an easier time. But really, the galleons are in Creature-Induced Injuries..."
Arianna just nodded politely, as she sipped the last remains of her butterbeer.
"Can we go to Honeydukes?" Arianna interrupted suddenly—effectively ending Bobby's long spiel.
He grinned widely, "Sure."
They picked up their coats and left some galleons on the table along with their empty jugs of butterbeer, and left the Three Broomsticks.
While they were walking to Honeydukes a breathless Claire intercepted Arianna.
"Hi there Bobby, you don't mind if I steal Arianna away for a teensy moment do you?" Claire asked enthusiastically, as she held onto Arianna's arm tightly.
"No, I don't mind," Bobby said amused, "I'll be inside Honeydukes..."
"We won't be long," Claire replied as she dragged Arianna away from the entrance of the cozy sweet shop.
"What—?" Arianna protested.
"When is your date going to end with Bobby?" Claire asked with a slight tone of longing.
"I don't know...we didn't really talk about it..." Arianna responded while running a hand through her shoulder-length black hair.
"Well do you think you could hang out with me for the rest of the afternoon?"
"Claire..." Arianna started, but Claire interrupted her.
"Please Arianna? It's so boring with out you or Olivia," Claire pleaded Arianna looked at her friend helplessly, while Claire pouted adorably.
"Plus I'm sure that you don't want to spend the entire day with Bobby..." Claire trailed off.
"Alright fine, I'll talk to him," Arianna said exasperatedly, as she slowly started to draw away from Claire.
"Thank you! Thank you so much, Ari!" Claire exclaimed as Arianna approached the quaint store.
Arianna traveled past the barrels of salt-water taffy, and past the exotic deserts like cockroach clusters and towards Bobby who was waiting in line.
"Hey, you wouldn't mind if I left after this would you? I sort of promised Claire..." Arianna inquired.
"No that's fine...on one condition," Bobby grinned.
"What?"
"We do this again some time," he proposed while leaning in towards Arianna.
The words were flowing out of her mouth before she could even think over them carefully, "Okay..."
"Great."
"Yes! You made it!" Claire greeted in triumphant, when she saw Arianna walk towards her. Arianna grinned, and sat down next to Claire on the park bench that was outside of Scrivenshaft's Quill shop.
"So what have you been doing without me and Olivia?" Arianna questioned.
"Oh absolutely nothing," Claire replied dramatically, "Mostly, I've been spying on both of your guys dates, but I have to say that Olivia and Fred's date was much more interesting..."
Arianna looked shocked however. "Claire! You can't do that! And I can't believe you were spying on us!"
"Calm down Arianna, I didn't only do that...but I think you'd be interested to see what our little Olivia has been up to..."
Arianna quirked an eyebrow at Claire, but Claire merrily grinned mischievously.
"I'll tell you what's been going on, on the way to Weasley Wizard Wheezes..."
Claire promised as she got up from the bench and gestured to Arianna.
"So basically Olivia has completely forgotten about whatever grudges she had with Fred. I'm really happy for her actually since she seemed really happy with Fred...especially that whole thing about her mother getting remarried. It's been awhile since I've seen that smile on her face," Claire rambled as the girls stepped into the vibrant joke shop.
Claire made her way towards the Skiving Snackboxes section, and she examined some Fainting Fancies.
"Plus it made me feel less guilty when I saw them together like that. Maybe it wasn't so bad, that I made a bet on Olivia," Claire continued as she roamed the aisles of the shop.
Arianna gave her a skeptical look over some of the invisible hats and cloaks.
"All right, so it was a bad choice, but it turned out okay...Who knows, maybe they'll go out again. This could be the guy that Olivia actually keeps a while! Maybe she'll bring him along for her mom's marriage," Claire said excitedly.
"Lets not get ahead of ourselves," Arianna reminded Claire, as she fingered some fake wands.
"You're tight. Hey, do you think I could get away with this?" Claire asked over an aisle while holding up some Puking Pastilles.
Arianna shrugged and turned around and suddenly bumped into someone.
"Oh I'm so—James?"
James Potter turned around and gave her a grin that made her heart skip a beat.
"Oh hey Piff. Looks like you dropped your...chicken," James said, leaning down and picking up the fake wand that had turned into a rubber chicken.
Arianna blushed and placed the chicken back onto a shelf.
"So, um, who are you with?" James asked with a strange expression, while looking behind Arianna, as if she was hiding something.
Arianna crinkled her brow and pointed a finger at Claire who waved from the cash register.
James seemed to relax as he nodded, but the chime of a bell distracted both of them.
Arianna glanced at the door to see Fred holding it open for Olivia.
Without a second's hesitation, Arianna grabbed James and dropped down onto her knees—pulling James with her.
They were really much too close in the cramped space between aisles, but Arianna ignored her racing pulse and instead peered around to watch Fred and Olivia interact.
"What are you—? Are you spying on them?" James whispered into Arianna's ear as he came up beside her.
Arianna didn't bother replying, and instead she watched as Fred showed Olivia some of the products of the joke shop.
Olivia seemed to be less guarded, and she laughed openly as Fred talked animatedly to her. They both paused for a moment before Fred gently swept back her long hazel hair and Olivia blushed deeply.
Arianna was surprised to see Olivia blush so intensely. Their date seemed to be going very well.
"Hmm... Looks like they're getting along just fine," James muttered pleased. Arianna turned to look at him, only to find that his angular face was very very close to hers.
So close that she could clearly see each of his freckles, and the way his brown eyes bore into hers. His eyes were different than Bobby's: in shape and color. But for some reason, Arianna felt that James looked at her differently—more intensely...She swallowed nervously, and a blush was slowly making its way up to her cheeks.
"Hey, guys, let's get out of here before they see us," Claire suddenly whispered also on her knees and clutching her bag of joke shop items. She seemed to appear out of no where, but either way, Ari and James followed her.
The trio crawled towards the door—careful not to make a sound, although Olivia and Fred seemed to be too preoccupied with each other to notice anything else.
Slowly, Claire pushed open the door and bolted outside, Arianna and James following quickly behind.
"Phew! That was close," Claire acknowledged, a she walked across the pavement of Hogsmeade. "I say we go to the Three Broomsticks to get a drink. James you coming?"
"Sure, why not?"
Arianna stared at him, trying to decipher if he was being sarcastic or not. He just glanced at her with his usual playful smirk.
"By the way, Arianna, you barely even told me about your date with Bobby..." Claire asked as she entered the Three Broomsticks. James immediately went over to the bar and ordered the drinks. Arianna could see the back of his neck turn red.
"Um it was fine..." Arianna answered quietly. It was at that moment that James and Gage Finnigan approached hearing distance
"Aw c'mon Arianna, you got to give me more than that! Was he good kisser?" Claire leaned in conspiratorially. She seemed completely oblivious to the fact that James and Gage were coming to sit down.
"We didn't kiss..."Arianna trailed off when she saw James run a hand through his black hair. He and Gage had definitely heard their conversation.
"Umm..." James quickly fished for something to say, "I hope it's okay that Gage is here..."
Claire and Arianna murmured in agreement, and less than a second later, the curvy waitress gave them their glasses of butterbeer.
It seemed that the awkward silence had been broken because suddenly Gage and James were telling all sorts of jokes and funny stories.
They were all in stitches by the time they finished their butterbeer.
"And then—" James started to say, while wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, "—Gage says, 'You don't need to say Lumos Maxima to turn me on'"
"And then she says, 'What about turning you over?' and she uses the Levicorpus spell on him, and he's just hanging by his ankle—flashing his boxers to the whole world," James laughed, while the other girls giggled hysterically. Gage, however, blushed embarrassedly.
The rest of the afternoon goes like this: with James, Gage, and occasionally Claire telling funny stories. By the end of it, Ari's stomach hurt from laughing so hard, and she was breathless.
"We better get back Arianna," Claire suggested as she got up and stretched her limbs. She walked with Gage towards the exit, while Arianna dug around for spare change to pay for her drink. It seemed slightly odd to her that she had more fun with Claire, James, and Gage than with Bobby, her date, but that's what had happened.
"Don't bother," James protested, pushing away Arianna's hand full of knuts and sickles. Arianna looked down to see that James had already paid for her drink.
"You didn't have to do that," Arianna said quietly as she hesitantly put away her money.
"I know," James replied, while giving her a faint, genuine smile.
A/N: Oh gosh, that monster of a chapter is over! Rejoice! rejoice! Anyways, I'm deeply sorry for the lack of updating but I've had finals, and school to deal with. It's been pretty crazy, but I'm glad that I got this chapter up. Oh and please please tell me if you liked it or not! Favorite parts?
ALSO, an important note: I will be gone after Christmas since I'm traveling which means absolutely no way of updating till early January! So please be aware of a long-ish break :/
So until then, please please leave a review! REVIEW CHALLENGE: What are your Holiday plans? Chocolate or sour candy? Dumbledore vs Gandalf?
Happy Holidays and thank you thank you thank you! I reached 80 reviews! :D *faints*
Pickles
Special thanks to Official Scroll Keeper for basically starting this entire story, and suggesting the song above ;)
