"This is stupid." James murmured in my ear as we stood at the dance the next day. "I hate this—I just wanted to go to the kitchens to get Louis a stupid cake and then he had to get all annoying and—"

"Will you stop whining?" I hissed at him, turning to him. "It's Louis's birthday, we've been here for all of twenty minutes—suck it up." James just glared at me, crossing his arms over his chest, and I turned back to the table, grabbing a cup of pumpkin juice and taking a small sip. I wasn't usually this cranky but my arm hurt because I'd ditched the sling for tonight and James wasn't helping. "And if you're really bored, just ask someone to dance or something." James choked on the bite of brownie he had, and I smirked. "Really slick, there, Jamesie." James glared at me as he spat out his brownie, and I made a face. "Ew." I muttered.

"I'm not just gonna go ask some random girl to come dance with me." James protested after he'd spat out his brownie. I smiled a little bit at him, feeling slightly reassured by this: my suggestion had sounded bad to my own ears as I realized that would entail me being by myself for a little bit.

"Just a suggestion." I told him pleasantly. Rory slid up beside me, and slipped his arm around my shoulders, a manipulative smile playing on his features. I saw James glance apprehensively at him out of the corner of my eye, but ignored it. James was always the first to get weird about normal stuff, closely followed by Louis--arms around shoulders, hugs, pretty much anything that involved human contact.

"So, that distraction you promised me." Rory murmured under his breath, and I rolled my eyes but grinned up at him. "I'm calling it in. Now." His gaze flicked to Edie and Collin who were sitting pretty awkwardly at a table with other Ravenclaw first years. I took a deep breath, feeling nervous: I had to go ask Collin to dance with me, and even though I wasn't actually asking him because I liked him, I still felt I reserved the right to try to summon up some guts before I dared cross the room. "Just ask him to dance, I'll dance with Edie, this'll all be through in a heartbeat." Rory offered, and I glanced frantically at James, feeling seriously, seriously nervous.

But I couldn't let on to that.

"Eh, you take as long as you want." I told him with a shrug and a smile. "Come on, let's go ask." I began to cross the room and felt James and Louis's burning gazes on my back, Louis from where he was talking to Aileen and Neil, and James from the dessert table. Divya was also watching me, as were Greg and Brian. But I always had people staring at me--the point-and-laugh type, mind you, so when people just wanted to observe me, it didn't bother me halfly as much as it probably should have.

I sank down on the other side of Collin as Rory did the same with Edie, and both looked suddenly greatful for our appearance, even if the rest of the table was staring at me sort of rudely. Ravenclaw kids were sort of exclusive--they felt they were smarter than everyone else, and thus shouldn't have had to deal with everyone else in the school on any kind of regular basis. Mind you, that was only some of them: Collin was perfectly nice. "Hey Collin," I said cheerfully, and he smiled a little at me. Collin and I had only talked a few times since the first night, but we did sit together in some classes.

"Hi Sera." He paused, glancing at Rory and Edie, who were already getting into a conversation, before he turned back to me relievedly. He obviously didn't want to ditch the girl he asked to the dance, even if they weren't having a very good time. That was nice. "Hey, okay. What's up?"

"I was actually wondering if you wanted to dance with me?" I forced my voice to stay as confident as it had been when I'd been teasing James, and Collin raised his eyebrows a bit, his eyes going wider as he met my gaze. I just held it, holding my breath as well, before he nodded, flashing me a small grin. He stood up and grabbed my hand. I blushed a little, letting him lead me onto the dance floor and trying to ignore James's murderous gaze.

Of course a slow song came on as Collin and I stepped onto the floor, because fate works that way, and he stopped at where we were on the floor, cautiously putting his arms around my waist and I put my arms around his neck. I'd never danced with a guy before, but I did watch some muggle TV and I'd been at Alec's party last summer when he invited some of his friends and they'd danced. I bit my lip and took a deep breath. It was a little bit awkward being this close to a guy I wasn't that close with, I wasn't going to lie, but I was doing this for Rory--and Rory deserved this. He was a pretty good friend and hadn't--with James--let my butt get kicked by those guys in the forest. I could be a little awkward for a few minutes with a nice guy who'd forgive it to help him.

"So did you come with someone...?" Collin asked me quietly, which was pretty much the only way he ever talked. Collin was pretty reserved, pretty mature, and I thought it was sweet: of course, James found it as annoying as hell.

"Not really," I admitted softly. "No one really asked me, but the boys were going so I just sort of came with them for fun." Collin nodded once, and I smiled. He was making an effort, at least. "Having fun with Edie?"

"Er, yeah." He said, lying but too nice to do anything else. I raised my eyebrows, and he chuckled once. "Well, not really, but it's not her fault." I nodded understandingly.

"Got it." I murmured.

"This just isn't really something I like to do." Collin told me after moment of silence, looking anxious as he glanced down at me, intent to keep the peace. I just kept my face expressionless: I didn't like dances either, but I wanted to hear Collin's honest opinion, not his please-people opinon. "The whole get dressed up, go to a dance thing--that doesn't sound nice to me." I grinned up at him, chuckling.

"Well, yeah, Collin, no one really looks at these things and thinks 'yay, a dance'!" I kept my voice lightly teasing, and he grinned, nodding hurriedly.

"I know, but the girls usually do." He shrugged, looking over at Edie and Rory who were dancing, looking awkward, and I was pretty sure there wouldn't one dance tonight where people wouldn't be awkward for at least part of it. "And Edie's nice, she is. But we just don't have that much in common." He rolled his eyes. "And she was practically in tears after Rory asked her and I'm not really equipped to deal with tears." Collin looked sort of alarmed at the prospect of tears, even in retrospect, and I laughed softly.

"Well, I don't really like dances either." I told him. "If that's any comfort. And I think she was just panicky at the idea of hurting someone's feelings, not trying to ditch you for Rore." I shrugged my good shoulder, and Collin nodded. The song ended and I grinned at him, pulling away, and I glanced at James, who was sort of scolwing darkly. I crossed my arms defensively across my chest and crossed the floor, going up to the table he'd sat down at at some time and pulling a chair up beside him. "Okay, what's wrong?" I asked him softly.

"Nothing," James said darkly, and I straightened up, looking up at Louis, who was standing, talking to Aileen Quigley. I couldn't catch his gaze, and I swallowed, looking back at James.

"You sure?" I asked after a second.

"I'm sure, okay? Everything's great." He said sarcastically, standing up and shoving his chair towards me: I sat back, my eyes wide, startled by the loud noise. No one else seemed to notice, but James stormed out into the front hall, and I felt a hasty blush work it's way up from my neck, unreasonable tears filling my eyes.

What had I done wrong?

Louis must have seen James storm out, because he smiled tightly at Aileen and came over to put his hand on my shoulder, looking concerned. "What's up with Jamie?"

"No idea, I just asked him what was wrong..." I whispered, looking up at him, and his eyes widened. I bit my lip, looking at the door James had just gone through, and Louis squeezed my shoulder comfortingly, the biggest amount of emotional maturity I'd ever seen in my life.

"Come on, SerBear." He said affectionately, pressing his lips together. "James's is a jerk sometimes, you get used to it. It's hard to predict." He sighed, looking after his cousin for a minute, before he glanced at me and sighed tiredly. "C'mon, it's not worth--"

"I'm going to go talk to him." I murmured, rising to my feet and tucking a few stray strands of hair behind my ear. Louis put his hands on my shoulders and shook his head emphatically, holding my gaze with his own hazel gaze.

"James is being a jerk to you and it sucks but don't play into it." Louis said quietly. I blinked, then nodded once, ducking my head and blushing with embarrassment. He slipped his arms around my shoulders and gave me a one-armed hug. I wasn't sure why this was so embarrassing--I mean, I hadn't done anything wrong--but James being mad at me was somehow destroying any good mood I might have taken away from dancing with Collin. "I'll beat him up later for you?" He offered, and I smiled up at him, swatting my hand at him.

"I'll just squish him at quidditch practice tomorrow," I said in what I hoped sounded like a normal voice. Louis just grinned back, dropping his arm from around my shoulders. "So, birthday boy, what's next on the agenda?" I asked him, and he raised his eyebrows. He glanced around, evidently looking for something fun to do, but then he turned back to me and grinned again.

"Let's ditch--I want some of my birthday cake." I nodded, swallowing and then forcing a smile. Louis seemed to appreciate the effort because he moved his arm back around my shoulders and we walked towards the entrance of the large room. And then that complete retard Gallagher decided to come and make me feel worse.

"Aww, Weasley and Finnigan," Gallagher said snarkily as he slipped between us and the door, stopping me, and I just glared at him. "The Bloodtraitor and the Mudblood. So perfect together."

"I am not a bloodtraitor." Louis said angily, removing his arm from around my shoulders and shoving Gallagher back: Brian fell back a few steps, but stayed standing. "And she's not a mudblood." He blushed hastily, the red color staining his pale skin easily as he continued, addressing Gallagher's third comment. "And we aren't together."

"Touchy touchy, Weasley," Gallagher said easily, shrugging with a smirk that was beginning to make me want to kill him. "A little too defensive, I think."

"What the bloody hell do you want?" I demanded angrily as I stepped up beside Louis, crossing my arms over my chest. I narrowed my eyes and flipped my hair over my shoulder.

"Just to say happy birthday and to warn you that the game next Saturday is going to be..." Gallagher smirked. "Interesting."

"You're such a big idiot that I think you actually believe that sounded threatening instead of just ridiculously stupid." I raised my eyebrows patronizingly as I spoke, smirking. "You're miserable at threatening, and worse, you're so pathetic that instead of spending tonight all alone, you thought you could come be annoying to us, when really, you're nothing." Louis laughed appreciately beside me, and Brian just smirked.

"At least my parents don't think I'm nothing." He murmured to me, beginning to walk past me and hitting my shoulder with his. I saw red.

"Don't talk about my parents!" I hissed at him, turnning around and grabbing his shirt, turning him back around to face me.

"I don't have to." Gallagher hissed back, smirking. "Because yours don't care enough about you to respond to your letters or tell them about their new job--" Brian was still sneering, and I don't know what made me, but the next thing I knew, I was slapping him, loud and hard, and Louis pulled me back a step as Gallagher stood there, shocked.

"How do you even know about that?" I demanded angrily, and I saw guilt and shock and remorse flit over Gallagher's face, but somehow I was pretty sure it wasn't because he was sorry for saying what he had. "Brian! Answer me!" I fisted my hands in his shirt and brought him closer to me, even as Louis glanced frantically around. "I haven't told you, I know sure as hell that my brother didn't tell you--who the hell told you about my parents?" By now we were capturing attention, but Louis grabbed my arm. I saw Wes watching us, his eyes narrowed, and Alec was watching us too--as were Teddy, Selma and Grace. Brian just jerked away, though, and Louis pulled me back another few steps, throwing a piercing glare at Gallagher.

"Stay the hell away from us." Louis growled at him, and I turned my back on Gallagher, and Louis put a hand on my back. We pushed through the crowd, ignoring the looks we were getting. Louis and I emerged into the hall, my arms crossed across my chest nervously, and we stumbled past the kids who were just chatting outside the party.

"How would he possibly know that?" I demanded of Louis, glancing at him, my gaze flashing. "He's not a friend--at all. He doesn't have any siblings at the school, Wes didn't tell anyone I don't think and I trust you and James." I ran a frantic hand through my hair and then I slowed down--my walking, my breathing, everything. I took a few deep breaths, letting myself calm down before I looked at my best friend, sighing. "Thanks for not letting me stay there long enough to get caught."

"It's fine." Louis murmured, shoving his hands in his pockets as we fell easily into step together, walking without an aim. We were quiet for a moment before he sighed. "I wish I could have hit him myself, though. He's just a pain in the ass." He frowned at me disapprovingly, but I knew he wasn't disapproving of me. "I hate that he gives you a hard time because of James and me though."

"Yeah, you and everybody else." I said quietly. "Victoire, James and Teddy told me the same thing." Louis raised his eyebrows.

"I knew James feels pretty bad about it--I didn't know Vicky and Ted knew, though." He said quietly. "Though since they're dating, I s'pose that automatically makes it so that if one of them knows, the other does too." He pulled a face.

"Don't like that they're dating?" I guessed, and he shrugged, looking up at the ceiling of the hallway.

"I liked Teddy more when I didn't have to worry about him hurting Vicky." He said after a second, and I stared at him for a second--he was being seriously open with me, and I didn't want to screw this up--before I nodded slowly.

"I get that--but Victoire's pretty capable of taking care of herself." I murmured, then chuckled. "And everybody else, if we'd let her."

"I know, I know." Louis sounded tired. "But I have another sister--Dominique, she'd be fourth year with Wes, if she were here--and I... can't protect her from stuff. She's got issues that are so much bigger than me, and my parents can't even fix her." He swallowed, looking back down at me. I felt a sudden sympathy for Louis and Victoire and their parents--whatever issues meant, it was obviously messing with the family dynamic. "Domi fell off a broom when she was six, I must have been, well, like three, which would have made Vicky about seven, I guess, and she hit her head pretty hard." Louis took a deep breath. "She's been mentally disabled ever since." The sympathy I'd felt for the Weasleys quadrupled. That poor little girl, poor Louis, poor Victoire and poor Mr and Mrs. Weasley.

"That's awful, I'm sorry." I murmured. Louis nodded, pursing his lips then dropping his chin to his chest, watching the ground as we walked.

"Yeah, it's pretty sucky." Louis agreed under his breath, and he sighed. "She's got the same birthday as me. She's fifteen today."

"You send her a card?" I asked quietly, and he nodded.

"Yeah, me and Vick went up to the owlery this morning, before breakfast, sent her a pretty nice card." His mouth twitched into a half smile. "My mom owled us back at lunch, said she read her the card and Domi loved it." Louis bit his lip and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, unfolding it and handing it to me.

It was a child-like drawing, looking like it was by a four-year-old, of three kids, all of them blonde and blue eyed, holding hands in front of a house, but the people were drawn as a small child might, with crayon and sloppily. The house was the traditional house that all little kids drew, that probably didn't look anything like Louis's home. Someone, not Domi, had written in neat script: Happy Birthday, Louis! Love Mummy, Daddy and Dominique. My heart broke, but I glanced back up at Louis with a shaky smile.

"This is really, really nice." I told him softly.

"Yeah." Louis agreed with a soft smile as I handed him back the picture. He blushed suddenly, tucking the picture back in his pocket as we continued to walk, before realizing we were at the portrait hole. I murmured the password, and we walked into the empty common room. Well, almost empty.

James was sitting in the arm chair by the fire, looking incredibly apologetic, a birthday cake on the table in front of him. He glanced up at us hopefully, then stood awkwardly. We stood there in silence before Louis glanced at me, then grinned at James. The silent message was clear: we were forgiving James for being a jerk for three seconds.

"Sera just slapped Gallagher." He told his cousin after a second, and James grinned back at the two of us. I rolled my eyes.

"What?" James demanded, sounding too excited.

"I'll tell you later." I told him, smiling a little as I crossed to him. "First, I think we do have to wish Louis a happy birthday." I stole the box of candles from James's hand, grinning playfully at him while I stuck them in the cake, then reached into my pocket and waved my wand over them. They lit brightly, instantly, and then I glanced at James, nodding a little, and Louis came to stand in front of his, his hands in his pockets, looking sort of adorably impressed.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Louis..."