It may be hard to believe, but I'm a mess. Yes, I was a mess before, but I'm even more of a mess now. Natasha and Francis have kept me up till late the past few nights, and I'm still not on speaking terms with Lorcan. To make matters worse, Al keeps smirking at me whenever we pass in the hallways, and I'm fairly certain that it's not just about my fight with Lorcan. Malfoy and Lysander seem inseparable this week, you don't see one without the other. Every time I see them, they exchange knowing glances and send me identical smug looks. I don't know exactly what they're trying to tell me (or trying not to tell me), but it can't be good.
"Rose? Rose!" I'm currently at lunch, sighing to myself and wallowing in self pity, desperate to come up with a solution for my problem. Al's right – I wouldn't want to date a bloke who kept screaming at me and went crazy over what seemed very small, insignificant and potentially untrue things either. Tonight's another patrol and I have no idea what'll happen.
My best guess, at this moment, is that they kidnap Lorcan (or he stays behind willingly, who knows) and have Lysander take his place. He then will make this night a living hell for me, or he'll try to make me tell him how to open my diary. Not that I can't tell the difference between Lorcan and Lysander, but with a few minor spells, they might look very alike. Or they could feed Lysander (or Malfoy, or Al) Polyjuice Potion to make him look like Lorcan. I immediately discard this idea, though. There's a reason why they're not in Potions class anymore – they could never brew a Polyjuice Potion.
Yes, I know that mum did that in her second year. But she's exceptionally smart. None of those three boys is exceptionally smart. Even in their sixth year, they wouldn't be able to tell a Polyjuice Potion from Amortentia, I'm sure.
"Rose! Are you listening?" I suddenly realise that someone's been trying to get my attention for at least five minutes.
"Will!" I say, surprised to find him there. He and his friends never really hung out with us girls before, so the fact that he's now constantly around is still something I need to get used to. "What's wrong?"
"I've been trying to get your attention for ages!" he says, shocked that all of a sudden, I am listening and responding. "Anyway, could we talk for a minute?"
"Yeah, sure," I tell him. "What's wrong?"
He looks around carefully. "Not here," he hisses. "Let's go outside." Without asking whether I am, I don't know, still eating or something outrageous like that, he grabs my elbow and drags me out of the Great Hall.
"Will!" I protest. "I can walk by myself, you know?"
"Would you come if I let you walk by yourself?" he wants to know.
"Probably not," I say, shrugging. "But still, I can walk." Once we're outside, he pushes me towards the greenhouses. "Isn't it a better idea to stay in the open field?" I ask. "That way, at least we can see if someone's coming."
He thinks this over. "You're right, Rose. Let's stay here, then." He sits down and gestures for me to sit down too. As I plop down, I wince.
"The ground is almost like a rock!" I say, looking down accusingly.
"It is a rock," Will says matter-of-factly.
"But it's so hard!" I whine.
Will chooses not to comment on this (a very wise choice) and looks around once more. "Rose, do you think Natasha really likes Mark?"
I don't need to think long about the answer. "Yeah, she does. I thought you knew that – with all the comments about giggling whenever he was around and staring at him and whatnot. She's pretty obvious."
"Yeah, I figured as much," he says quietly. "But – does she really like him or is it just a small crush? What do you think?"
"I have no idea, Will," I tell him truthfully. "You should really ask her this."
"No, that's alright," he says hurriedly. "Let's not tell Natasha about this, alright?"
"Sure," I say, frowning a little. "Why do you want to know?"
"I just want to know," he says, shrugging. "I did ask her to Hogsmeade and all…"
"Wasn't that just a ploy to make Mark jealous?" I ask. I was fairly sure that it was, but the longer I think about it, I start hesitating more and more about whether or not Will explicitly said that.
He looks at me in disbelief. "What? No! Of course not." He shakes his head. "Is that why she said yes?"
Without thinking, I say, "Yeah, why?" Only then do I realise that he actually sounded… sad when he asked that question. "I mean – " I start, but he shakes his head.
"I knew it," he mumbles. "I should've known."
"Will," I say, realisation dawning on me, "you don't – " I can only stare at him. This is bad. Especially since Natasha not only likes someone else (Will's best friend, no less), but also thinks that he's only going out with her to make that someone else jealous. He just gives me a sad look. "You do, don't you?" I suddenly feel very bad about how I've dealt with this situation.
"Yes, I do," he says, staring past me towards the Whomping Willow. "The fact that Mark keeps prancing around the fact that she'd be willing to do whatever he wants makes it even worse." He sighs. "But I suppose I'll just have to try to make the best of it. Even if I don't stand a chance."
"Will, don't say that," I try to console him. "At least she doesn't hate you, otherwise she wouldn't even have agreed to go to Hogsmeade with you. Just try to make her see that you like her, that you care for her, something Mark doesn't…"
He shakes his head. "It's no use, Rose. I can see the way she looks at him. There's nothing I can do about that. Thanks for being so honest."
"Will," I say, tugging his arm. "I'm sorry about being so… straightforward about it. But it's never too late. Just be there for her. Be yourself. In comparison, you come off as a lot nicer than Mark."
"Thanks, Rose," he says. "But I don't know. Do you really think I should still go on a date with her, while she thinks it's just supposed to make Mark jealous?"
"You could give it a try," I reply. To be honest, I have no idea either. "I'll ask Francis about it, yeah? Perhaps she knows what you should do."
He nods simply. "Sure, if you think it helps. Just don't tell Natasha, please?"
"Of course not," I assure him. He smiles.
"Thanks Rose," he repeats. He pulls me into a friendly hug, but lets go quickly, something I'm rather happy about. It's not as if we know each other that well, so hugging is a little awkward. "Now, let's go to class. We wouldn't want to be late."
I roll my eyes. "Imagine what they'd think if we'd turn up late, together."
He blushes a bit, and I'm sure that my face doesn't have its regular colour anymore either. "Yeah…" he says slowly. "As I said, let's go."
"It's a pity you can't speak Parseltongue, like your dad could," I tell Lily during our next meeting in the bathroom.
"Why?" she asks, staring from the cauldron to me with a questioning look.
"Then we could put this cauldron down in the Chamber of Secrets," I reply, grinning. "Think of all the possibilities…"
"Then Al would be able to speak Parseltongue as well, though," Lily points out, and I grimace. Of course. Al always ruins everything. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be spending my free afternoon in this toilet.
"Do you think if we would put this cauldron in that corner over there, and cast a Disillusionment charm over it, we could just leave it here?" I ask Lily.
"We can always try it," she says. "What other options do we have?"
"Room of Requirement," I say. "But we're never going to get this thing in there now. It's far too heavy."
Lily nods. "We'll just leave it in the corner, then," she says, looking around.
"Wait," I say, suddenly thinking of something. "What if Myrtle decides to flood the bathroom?"
We're silent for a while, trying to hear if said ghost is around at the moment. She's usually very expressive when it comes to emotions, so when we don't hear her after half a minute, we conclude that she's not here. "That could be slightly problematic," Lily agrees. "How long until we've added all the ingredients?"
"A week," I reply, chopping dodgy looking somethings to pieces.
"I can try to keep it under my bed," Lily offers, observing my actions. "Nobody comes there, usually."
"Who knows where the House-Elves go," I say, concentrating on my stirring now. "Besides, then we might as well take it to the Room of Requirement, don't you think?"
Lily pulls a face. "Yeah, that's true," she says. "But still, there's nowhere else to go, is there? What about your dorm?"
"Then we'd have to tell Natasha and Francis," I say, thinking out loud. "Not to mention the House-Elves come there, too."
"We don't have that much of a choice, do we?" Lily says. "And Erin? What about her?" We simultaneously shudder.
"She's almost never there," I blurt out. Erin spends her nights in empty classrooms with male companions, after all.
"She isn't?" Lily asks. "Why? Is she with Al? He always tells me that they haven't had sex yet, so I should abstain from that as well."
Oops. Lily, of course, doesn't know about Erin and her nightly escapades. "Yeah, well," I say, thinking quickly. "That's what he says."
Lily just shrugs; she doesn't seem very interested in Erin whatsoever. I wish that was possible for me, but her threat is still fresh in my memory. "Let's go, then," I say, standing up. Fortunately, the cauldron is small enough to actually fit underneath my bed. Hopefully it won't make any weird noises at night, though.
It takes us some time, but in the end, we manage to get the cauldron up to the seventh floor. Since I'm older, and therefore, according to Lily, stronger (she's clearly crazy), she casts a Disillusionment charm over me and sends me up the stairs. Meanwhile, she'll try to keep my dorm mates out of the dorm for as long as needed. Since there's nobody there, and nobody even walks upstairs while I'm putting the cauldron under my bed, that was very unnecessary.
Lily doesn't really react as I tell her this, but instead says, "Let's go to dinner, I'm hungry."
Slightly peeved, I walk out of the common room again, Lily following behind. Walking through a corridor at the third floor, I suddenly stop dead in my tracks.
"Rose? What – " Lily starts, but I place a finger over my mouth, indicating that she should be silent. There are muffled voices somewhere nearby and I'm determined to find out who they are and what they're discussing. I sneak closer to the classroom the voices are coming from and crouch down next to the door. Lily crouches down behind me and gives me a look that clearly asks, 'What are we doing here?'
I point at the door and lean towards it, trying to hear what's said inside.
" – conclude that she made up a spell herself."
My heart stops; that's Al's voice. This is it, I'm done for.
"How are we going to figure that out, then?" Malfoy doesn't seem very happy with the news.
Hopefully never, I think.
There's a pretty long silence, until Al breaks it. "I think I've got a solution for that."
He does? Well, that's comforting.
"You do?" Lysander sounds as surprised as I feel. Lily has raised her eyebrows as well and she sends me a worrying glance.
"Yes, gentlemen. I've got the perfect solution."
That's all I need to hear. I can already feel myself going crazy again. I slowly stand up and sneak away; fortunately, Lily follows me. It appears that Lorcan isn't my biggest problem anymore.
That evening, I decide to go to the Entrance Hall to wait for Lorcan. I have no idea where else we could meet up, and if he can't find me, he can just ask Al for the Map. Or he could go the rounds by himself, I couldn't care less.
"Well, what have we got here? If it isn't Rose, our beloved Prefect." My blood starts boiling; I have to literally restrain myself from jumping up from where I'm sitting on the stairs and throttling her right at this spot.
"If it isn't Erin, our local slag," I mutter, looking anywhere but at her.
"Thank you, dear," she says sweetly. "I wear that title with pride. At least I can get some action, unlike some of us." She smirks at me triumphantly, but I won't let her win so easily.
"At least I have morals, unlike some of us," I say, standing up to appear taller, and trying to sound confident.
"Oh, Rose," she says, still smirking. "Who wants morals nowadays? Except for you and – him." She looks sideways now, with a repulsed look on her face. It makes her even less attractive.
I look around too, to find Lorcan standing there, glancing from me to Erin and back. "Am I interrupting something?" he asks, not sounding quite at ease in this situation.
"No, Scamander," Erin says, sounding rather disgusted. "You're not interrupting anything." She sends me another sickeningly sweet smile. "I'll see you around, Rose. You can bet all your money on that." Without sparing Lorcan another glance, she struts away, but not before forcefully bumping into me.
"Oh, I hate her," I mutter.
"As I've said before," Lorcan comments, still standing a couple of feet away, "I really don't see why Al likes her so much."
"And the rest of the school," I remind him.
"Right," he says, and for a second, we just stand there, suddenly remembering that we're not really supposed to be this friendly towards one another, after what happened last week.
Without saying anything else, we almost automatically start walking towards the fifth floor. While walking, I ponder on how Erin looked at Lorcan. She didn't seem to like him very much. I don't know much about Erin, but I do know that she flirts with every male in this school, provided they're not too young. I've seen her flirting with many blokes I've also caught her with. I look at Lorcan curiously. I don't see why Erin would be so disgusted by him, but that's all the better for me, right?
"Lorcan?" I ask carefully. He keeps looking at the end of the corridor, pretending not to hear me. Fine, then. I'm not going to beg him to listen to me. I'll just talk, and he can ignore me, or listen. His pick.
"So," I start, wondering where to even start. Let's just do it quickly – it'll be over sooner, and less painful (I hope). "I'm sorry about slapping you last week, and about starting a fight again a few days ago. I was just – angry and mad and… stupid, I guess."
"I'm sorry too," he says softly. "For… shouting at you that first time. And for letting it get so out of hand."
"Don't be," I tell him firmly. "It wasn't your fault, after all." I did all the screaming, shouting, and accusing. I might've blown everything out of proportions. I've been acting like a drama queen, overall.
"I should've tried to stop you from blowing up like that," he says just as firmly. "I should've stayed calm. Why were you even so angry?"
"I suppose I just didn't like the idea of you and Erin, because… you know, we're friends, right? Sort of. And she's a slag, and I guess I was just a little… concerned," I say after a short pause. Lorcan just stares at the floor.
"You're right," he says after what seems like hours. "We're friends, so as my friend, you should've believed me when I told you there was nothing between me and Erin."
"I know," I mutter, slightly disappointed by his firm agreement that we're (just) friends. "I'm sorry."
"Why didn't you believe me anyway?" he asks.
If only I knew the answer to that. "It just seemed so suspicious, you know?" I shrug. "You not wanting to tell Al at any cost. And you wouldn't tell me why."
"As my friend, you should've believed me, though, when I said that I had never been with Erin."
"I know," I reply sorrowfully. "And I wanted to believe it, it was just so hard. Aren't friends supposed to tell each other everything?"
"Uh, no," he decides, "not necessarily. So, tell me, Rose, what was up with Natasha last week? She seemed pretty distraught."
"I can't tell you that," I say, blinking. "Why do you even want to know?"
"You just said friends tell each other everything, didn't you?" he asks, and I know that I fell for his little ploy.
"That's different," I try to protest. "Natasha's my friend too, she would kill me if I told you!"
"Exactly," he says quietly, and I glance sideways. "Some things you can't just tell other people – friends, even – because you promised another friend you wouldn't tell."
I immediately get what he's saying – well, that's a first – and nod. "Okay," I tell him. So I still don't know what is going on with Erin that Lorcan can't tell me about, but if he's telling the truth now, he knows something he can't tell anyone. He promised a friend. Which, of course, still isn't that comforting because Lorcan's best friends are Al's best friends as well. But I decide to ignore that for now. "Is that why Erin seemed so… disgusted when she noticed you?"
"Very likely," he replies. "But – as a friend," he continues, and I mentally prepare myself for something I don't want to hear, "what were you doing during lunch?"
"I was eating," I tell him, surprised that it was just that. I am relieved, though.
"That's not what I meant," he says, rolling his eyes. "With… Will – right?"
"Oh," I say, having forgotten about that already. "That was nothing."
"Really?" he asks. "I think we've had this discussion before, Rose." Indeed we have. I stare at my feet.
"But there was really nothing going on!" I say. "Why – what must've been wrong?"
"I don't know, Rose, you tell me."
"He needed to talk to me," I say exasperatedly. "He needed my advice – yes, I know, unbelievable, someone needing my advice – and he didn't want to talk in the Great Hall so we went outside to talk and – why do you even care?"
I notice that he's smiling a little by now. "Just what you said, Rose. Friends are supposed to look out for each other."
"Will wouldn't hurt a fly," I tell him.
"You never know, do you?" he says. "Anyway, I'm glad you're alright."
No matter if he's acting stupid or not, and no matter that it absolutely makes no sense at all, that final comment causes me to smile giddily. "And I'm glad we're alright. We are, right?"
"Of course we are, Rose," he replies, smiling as well. "So, are you still mad at my brother and my friends?"
"Of course," I answer. He doesn't need to know that I've had polite conversations with Al and Lysander. And a not very polite one with Al, after that, though I suppose he can easily guess that the latter one took place. "They still haven't returned my diary to me."
He stares at his feet. "Yeah, of course," he says, sounding a little uneasy. I decide to change the subject.
"Have you found any Nargles lately?" I ask happily (perhaps a little too happily).
"Sorry, Rose… what?" he asks, giving me a strange look. "I don't look for Nargles. That's my mum, remember?"
"You were looking for Nargles not too long ago," I say, becoming a little suspicious now. What else would he have been doing on the floor in the Gryffindor common room? Yeah, he later said he fell, but that was a lie as well, as far as I'm aware.
Lorcan, in the meantime, looks at me as if I've gone crazy. "No, I wasn't."
I scoff. "Perhaps you should start remembering which lies you do and do not tell, then." I want to walk away, but he grabs my shoulder and holds me back.
"Rose, I really don't know what you're talking about. Why do you keep running away from me?" He looks at me with a slight pout, and I sigh.
"Last week, after you helped Hugo with his essay," I say, and I leave the rest up to him to figure out.
"Oh," he says after a while. "Right, I remember." I look at him, to see if he's going to say anything else. It doesn't look like it, though he is turning red. But as we've established before – he looks adorable when he's uncomfortable. "That was – just once."
He's still lying through his teeth, but I decide not to push the matter. Only this time, though. "It didn't suit you, then?" I ask.
He grins, clearly relieved that I let the matter drop. "No, not really," he responds.
Now that we're civil towards each other once more (friendly, even), the patrols aren't as bad as I expected them to be. Which is a very good thing. The evening flies by, actually. When we're done, and I'm back in the common room, I realise that I only have one big problem left now – my diary, again. Oh, and the Will situation, of course. As I climb into my bed, I notice vaguely that my wand's on my nightstand. That's weird – I thought I had it with me the entire night. Then I probably just left it here at some point. I can't really be bothered.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait, again. I'm hoping I'll be able to update more frequently during the summer, but I suppose we'll have to wait and see for that, right? Anyway, what do you think of this? I hope you liked it :) Let me know what you thought, please leave a review! :)