CHAPTER 14

"Jamecey."

Merlin's beard. What the frick am I going to do?!

HOW ON EARTH COULD I POSSIBLY STILL FACE PUCEY AFTER WHAT HAPPENED?!

Calm down. Think of the pros, Elizabeth.

At least I've had some sort of experience with men –if you could even call it that –and I truly know how their anatomical structures should really be –in a sense that men really should have only one firm ready-at-arms soldier and not a softie in hiding.

And that men should definitely only have one bulge and not two…

And… and…

Oh who the heck am I kidding? Pucey's gonna break up with me if he ever finds out that a half-naked Wood landed himself on me and managed to park his hands on some delicate areas of my body! He'll think I'm a tramp for letting someone else touch his girlfriend!

Okay, maybe not since we're not even together. But let's just pretend for now that we are. Trust me. I'll soon nab him.

"Jamecey."

And speaking of someone else's girlfriend, Wood's bloody little miss Blondie is going to have my neck for this if she finds out.

Well, on the other hand, maybe she won't… since you know, Wood's probably just as terrified of what she'll do if he lets the cat out of the bag.

"OI, JAMECEY! KNOCK KNOCK!" I felt Fred's knuckles on my forehead as he was gently knocking on it. I turned my head to my left and stared at him.

" That essay of yours won't answer itself no matter how long you stare at it."

"He's right, Elizabeth. Unless you want Professor Sinistra blasting us off to space, then we best finish this bloody essay, yeah?" George added beside his twin, his eyes glued to his parchment.

Lately, I've been spacing out after the memory of Wood's wet body on top of mine. Ever since that day, it's taken a toll on my performance and behavior. A constellation of awkwardness in its various forms. Wood immediately apologized and tried to make it up to me by offering a hand with assignments and whatnot. As tempting as it may be, I denied the generous offer and avoided him like a plague. Even to the point of asking for some time out from our usual flying lessons.

I apologize if it sounds as if I'm overreacting again. But I just felt so… molested. And defiled? Given the undeniable fact that most girls would kill to be in my shoes that faithful day, I couldn't be any more traumatized from that little stumble we had.

What's worse is the constant image of his soaking wet, perfectly chiseled body that I can't shake off. I didn't just avoid him because I felt uncomfortable after what happened; I needed to stay away for the meantime because it came to a point where I was seeing through his clothes like a damn straight up pervert.

"UGH! I have no idea what else I should write! Let me have a look –" Jeanine snatched Mai's essay while she was preoccupied with a small parchment she was holding. Looks like a note.

Jeanine's eyes darted from left to right before frowning. "Jesus, Mai! I've written more than you have!" She grunted and slapped the parchment back to wooden table. "Ugh! Forget it! George! Let me see that! –"

Jeanine, Mai, the twins and I were all at the library working on an essay for Astronomy that was due today. Apparently, Professor Sinistra forgot to mention it to us due to the unforgivable fact that she got overly excited about the Quidditch match the other week. Mind you, Astronomy isn't just your average subject that you can breeze through. Thank god though that Pucey tipped Mai about it after Professor Sinistra reminded him yesterday.

See how considerate my beloved Adrian is? He's too bloody perfect! Looks like someone's about to receive another bag of sweets.

Focus on your essay, Elizabeth!

"So what else can we say about Uranus' moons?" I asked out loud to no one in particular. "So we also need to at least identify five and differentiate them."

"Isn't that the hardest of the planets?" Mai inquired, parting her eyes from her note that she hid underneath the desk.

"I swear, Professor Sinistra can be a dragon in owl's clothing sometimes." Jeanine was slouching on her chair, both hands and head hanging from the back rest.

"Doesn't Uranus have like twenty seven moons?" George stated, looking at me then Mai and Jeanine.

" –And has Ariel, Bianca, Portia, Juliet and Miranda as moons?" Fred continued while counting with his fingers.

The two girls gave each other looks that told me they were not having it. "Fred –MOONS. Not your list of exes." Jeanine rolled her eyes as she scoffed.

George stepped in, defending his twin. "He is serious. Those are some of Uranus' moons. If you want more, there's Ophelia, Cordelia, Belinda and Perdita."

The two both shot George the 'jesus-christ-another-idiot' look. They were still not convinced. "Let's settle this then." Clapped Jeanine, as Mai nodded, leaving the twins frowning.

Mai suddenly spoke as she looked me in the eye. "What do you think, Elizabeth? Think we should believe them and risk our grades?"

I raised a finger about to say something, but ended up breathing out "Uh…" and my voice suddenly trailed off. How was I supposed to know?! And who even assigns Uranus' moons with girls names anyway? I think whoever was in charge had a different idea of "moon".

"But we are telling the truth!" both the twins chimed, wide eyed.

Jeanine rested her head on her hand and smiled sheepishly all of a sudden. "I know exactly how we can settle this!" She then cocked her head to her right, looking at the entrance of the library. We all turned to the direction she was referring to and saw Wood and his friends taking their seats in one of the tables.

Oh god. She better not be thinking what I think she's thinking.

As if she read my mind, her smile grew even wider alongside with her eyebrows perking. "He did say he would offer you a helping hand with homework…" her voice had a wave of various tones. Merlin.

I shook my head and waved my hands in defiance. "Oh no. I'm not going anywhere near him. You go." I said dismissively, turning my head away from Jeanine.

She scoffed as if she didn't even think about that. "You know I would, except that he's hands off. One question isn't going to kill you, geez." Hands off? What the heck does she mean?

I turned away from Jeanine, which was sadly a bad idea because I caught a glimpse of Wood, searching a book from one of the bookshelves and the sudden image of him half-naked appeared. You see what I mean?!

I crossed my arms and faced Mai across the table. "Fine. You go then, Mai."

She raised her hands and leaned away from me. "Nope. Leave me out of this. It'd be far more awkward talking to him after that day." Oh yes. How can I forget that Mai also got to catch a glimpse of Wood's insane body.

"Christ! We're already telling you the bloody answers! Fred said through gritted teeth while George had his arms crossed, shaking his head at us for being skeptical. "—Jamecey, you believe me right?" Fred locked eyes with me, looking for support. uh… funny, that word –believe.

I stared at him, half-smiling.

"I don't believe this!"Fred raised his voice alongside his hands up in defeat. He pulled my chair and forced me to get up. "Alright. Go take him up on his offer about lending you a hand. You have my blessing. Go on! Run along now!"

Standing with my parchment in one hand with fear across my face, I looked at George who was snickering as a hand was placed on a semi-irritated Fred, while the two girls were shooing me to Wood.

Honestly, why am I always the one they send out? They really enjoy torturing me, don't they?

Grudgingly walking over to Wood, I could sense my friends' eyes following me as they were enjoying the view.

Calm down. He's fully clothed anyway. Nothing to get worked up about. I reached his spot and lightly tugged on his robes and he turned his head to me, surprised. "Oh, hey!"

I looked at the ground awkwardly, trying to avoid his eyes as my grip on my parchment tightened. "Hey. Umm… could you—if it's okay with you… we need a bit of help." I showed him my homework.

"Oh… of course!" his voice sounded as if he was caught off guard with my question but was overall glad. He didn't seem awkward, at least.

"Eliizabeeth!" Came chirpy voice that sounded like Lucy. She hugged me from behind that made me instantly flinch. She peaked from one of my arms. "What are you doing here? We can't give you another makeover, sorry to say."

"Oh hi. Umm… actually, we were working on our Astronomy homework and sort of needed help with –"

"—Cool! We can help you with that! Come!" and she pulled both me and Wood to their table where their other friends were seated at, reading and writing on their parchments. I stood there awkwardly and greeted the rest of the seventh years which they casually reciprocated. Lucy explained my homework dilemma and they all took a look at my half-written parchment.

"Well, Uranus consists of twenty seven moons –that's for sure." Wood began taking a seat and pulling up and extra one beside him for me to occupy. I took my place and slowly inched away from him. "And didn't it have Cupid as one of its moons? And that Ardiel? –"

"Ariel, Oliver." Corrected Caleb, who slowly lowered the Potion's book he had his nose in. "—And Bianca, Portia, Ophelia, Cordelia, Belinda, Francisco, Puck –she only needed five, right?"

Oh. So the twins were actually right.

"You don't have to help with everything if you guys are busy –"

"Yeah. And the differences of each moon." Wood reminded Caleb before turning to me. "It's alright." He smiled and gave me a wink before focusing on my paper. I looked down, pursing my lips, trying to keep a smile that was forming strapped as those damn butterflies were starting to take flight again.

"Christ, Caleb. Didn't think you still had those in that head of yours." The highlighted haired Lexy said with a cheeky grin as she was chewing gum.

"Maybe if you actually attended class, you'd remember them." Thomas sneered while Lucy gave her the he's-right-you-know look.

Lexy rolled her eyes and presumably kicked Thomas under the table given his sudden 'OW' and startled expression. "Let's just finish her assignment before I show her another moon of your-anus." Err… no thanks to that.

Though I wonder what Wood's glutes would look like… I suppose he would have a fine bum from all that contracting during training. ELIZABETH, STOP. THIS IS ASTRONOMY –NOT ANATOMY.

Much to my amazement, their brainstorming was able to brew up a presentable essay for Astronomy in no time… if you remember to take out all the cussing and threats they threw one another –which were amusing to watch, to be honest. Even with how Wood was subtly trying to get closer to me and the "unintentional" shoulder rubbing, it made me less out of place.

"Thank you so much! And I'm so sorry for the disturbance!" I thank them, lowering my head and parchment to my chest before scurrying off to our table where I could finally settle my friends' debate. Who knew being friends with seventh years could actually be so bloody convenient? And so willing to help, I might add! They were rather accommodating, welcoming and pleasant that gave me a good feeling about them. Wood definitely found himself a good group of friends.

I guess I could say mine were almost at par with his,

Except were a bit… more…

"I'M GONNA FUCKING SOCK YOU IN THE FACE IF YOU DON'T SHUT THE FUCK UP, GEORGE!"

–Rambunctious.

Jeanine started to let out her fury when Professor Trelawney excused herself to go fetch something from her attic. I didn't know teachers had an attic.

"Oh yeah? Let's see if I don't report you –a prefect – to McGonagall for inflicting physical harm on an innocent student. Just admit it! That you were wrong and we were right! We always speak the truth! Not just the way you want us to!" George boasted, obviously not giving a hoot about Jeanine's threats.

Even after the 'Moon' fuss, the twins would not let go of the fact that we were undeniably skeptical of everything they've been saying. I mean, can you blame us? It is rather difficult to convince someone when your expression and tone contradicts one another. Heck, even to this day, I'm still wary of whatever comes out from the twins.

So during class, (and since this morning, actually)George pestered Jeanine about being right and telling the truth; sneaking notes, whispers , looks of "I-told-you-so" and the occasional uncomfortable stares to make the victim's attempts to further ignore you fail. Unfortunately for her, she fell victim for his never-ending badgering. It didn't help that she was on her period and especially when both our tables were right next to each other. Fred on the other hand, was on stand-by; reinforcing whatever his twin started when needed.

If anything, what needed reinforcing was me desperately trying stop Jeanine from punching George in the face. This mentally disturbed girl stood up and grabbed George by the collar, her fist slowly making its way up. I turned to Fred, gesturing him to do something, but the bloke just leaned back and was enjoying the show.

George didn't look worried –not one bit. His face was calm and smiling widely as if he wanted this to happen –which made me slightly disturbed. I swear, I'm currently having a debate about who's the real psychopath here. The class all directed their attention to the two standing students… Or one –since Jeanine was almost lifting George off the ground. Mai was even looking at Jeanine, trying to tell her to behave properly. But that didn't go well considering she was seated away from us.

Mental note: keep a look out if Jeanine secretly goes out to workout at night.

"Have a go, Jeanine. Go on, love." He dared mockingly with that smile of his that never faded. "Let's see what McGonagall'll say."

As if it was some sort of counter curse, Jeanine scoffed and instantly released her grip from George's collar. Taking a seat and punching him on the arm when he followed. I think I even heard her mutter a "Fuck" as she rested her chin on her hand, covering her mouth, looking irritated and somewhat flustered.

"Well, you certainly know how to grab people's attention." My voice was mocking. She shot me a nasty look which made me chuckle from amusement.

"You want me to get Pucey's attention this time?" I waved my hands vigorously. Technically, she did already, but that was obviously personally directed to me.

"That's what I thought. Now pipe down or else I'll shove one down your throat." Honestly, I think this girl might have previously been a deranged prisoner from Azkaban in her previous life. Like, where the heck is this violence coming from?

Trelawney returned from her creepy little attic and announced that she'll be giving a surprise quiz to test our skills. And what could be the best way to gauge us but to subject us to predictions. The teachers seem to have a conspiracy against us fifth years.

She each went to our tables wide eyed, egging us to look beyond our human eyes –which, for most of us, understood it as thinking outside of the box on the spot. I remembered what Wood advised me on how Divination wasn't a subject to fuss over about and that I should just come up with a random death prediction and I'm all set for sixth year. Some of our classmates made some out of this world predictions, while others were just downright stupid. One of our classmates had the nerve to declare that a professor was going to end up knocked up by the end of the year, while the other (perhaps even copying the former prediction) supplemented the former's claims by saying that the father was non human. And that, my friend is how eccentric Hogwarts students' minds are. Which defends my skepticism about most of people here.

As Trelawney reached our table, Jeanine confidently made a death prediction using Hagrid's pets –which she received a look of disappointment with her chosen victim from me. He's honestly the sweetest bloke for her to attack his pets! I'm actually quite surprised she didn't use George as an example given her evident lingering irritation towards him.

But that should honestly be the least of my concerns; when it came down to judging my creativity, I had a complete mental block.

"Yes, Miss James. What do you see?" Began Trelawney as her expectant beady eyes reflected through her glasses. "Look beyond!"

I squinted my eyes and placed both of my hands on the crystal ball for some effect that made Trelawney's mouth slowly curve into a smile.

Crap. What the hell am I going to say?!

Looking around for inspiration –or anything I could use –I glanced at Fred, who had that stupid smug look on his face as he was watching us. Perfect.

"I see…"

"—YES…. YES…"

"I see… a ginger…"

"—Ginger? The crop?"

Shit. Wasn't specific. "—person… it's life sucked out in an instant flash."

It was safe to say my answer was rather acceptable because Trelawney was beaming and nodded her head in approval before proceeding to the next pair. Not a pat on the back! Oh, thank god! And to think, I didn't even get to the juicy details yet. But who am I to complain?

"Trying to kill one of us, if I didn't know any better. Right, Georgie?" Fred nudged his twin and shaking his head in disbelief.

"Right you are, Freddie. Terribly sad. And here I thought she liked us." Well, that's still debatable.

"Er… Sorry…" I said non-apologetically that ended up in shameless laughing. I am just the best with apologies. The combination of disgust and utter shock on their expressions was just priceless. For a second it even looked like they took my prediction seriously. Jeanine then joined me in laughter possibly for revenge after being subjected to George's never ending pestering.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who wants to be rid of you lot." Jeanine's tone was mocking and at the same time almost sounded as if she was proud of my odd prediction even though I had indirectly thrown a supposed friend to his hypothetical death.

"Well, to clear things out... I was pertaining to Fred."

The twins shot us dirty looks that only made us both laugh even harder.

"Would you look at that, Freddie –they're still laughing at us. Honestly!"

And who wouldn't? Especially with how Fred's mouth was gaped and his eyes were wide from horror as he became the subject of my sheer dumb prediction.

Fred then rolled his eyes and sighed sarcastically, showing his attempt to brush it off while George had his arms crossed, shaking his head in disapproval.

However, my laughing fits immediately died down the moment Fred turned to me with a stern face as he said, "As you wish, Elizabeth."

A/N: Hey guys! I'm terribly sorry for the late post and for the long wait! I unfortunately had a lot of stuff to do during my absence. Anyway, since I'm done with all of them(and hopefully nothing else adds to the plate while I continue working on my fic), it's back to the old weekly updates. Thank you for following my story and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Lemme know what you think :)