A/N: As it turns out, I'm alive! I know this story hasn't been updated for almost three years, and I'm extremely extremely sorry to anyone who had been waiting for it. To be honest I don't expect anyone to still be around "after all this time" (lol I'm lame), but well I said I was going to finish this and now I am! I'm actually a little nervous about posting this in case it isn't good enough to justify the long wait, and admittedly it's a lot more serious than funny. Also a lot more about what the girls are thinking than any actual action. But hopefully the action will resume in the next chapter! I don't want to make excuses but I've been ridiculously busy with my medical course the last few years. Now that my final exams are over, I hope to be a lot more free to write this year. Oh, and happy new year! Hope 2015 will be fantastic for everyone out there!
"Let me get this straight – the both of you actually confessed? Are you crazy?" Elle asked in disbelief. "Wait – don't answer that. I already know you are. What I can't understand is how you both hit on the same idea at the same time!"
"I don't know!" Katie wailed. "I swear, I just wanted to check that we were still on for–" she stopped abruptly, having forgotten for the moment that none of the girls knew about her secret meetings with Bletchley. Cho and Elle might be Ravenclaws and wholly unconnected to the Gryffindor team, but with a captain as fanatical and insane as Oliver Wood, it was best to not let such delicate information get out through any outlet.
"On for what?" Elle asked, burying her face in her hands, although she honestly was too tired to try to find out. She was curled up on the window sill, and Katie and Cho were pacing the floor of the empty classroom they were in. She had walked out of Defence against the Dark Arts to find Katie and Cho looking as if they had just gotten out of a wrestling match with the Whomping Willow. Before she could even comment, both girls had grabbed the chance of the ten-minute break between classes to shuttle her into the emptying room and spilled out, in despair, what had transpired between them and the Slytherin boys. Five minutes of conversation had already left her head pounding. The amount of information she had been forced to digest since morning was almost too much for her to take.
"Nevermind that first." Katie said quickly. "Just take it that I had fully intended to talk to him about – well, anything but how I feel about him!"
"How do you feel about him?" Cho asked suddenly.
"I have no idea." Katie whispered. "I mean – I've always been attracted to him, you already know that. And these few nights with him–" she stopped again. What in Merlin's name was wrong with her? Was her brain even functioning today?
"Alright, I think we can safely establish that you and he have been meeting in secret these past few nights." Cho said irritably. "You have been mysteriously disappearing after dinner, and you just asked to copy my Charms homework when you've never so much as asked me how to answer a Transfiguration question in the past few years we've been classmates. Let's stop with the secrecy already or we'll never be able to finish this conversation."
"Yes, we've already taken up five minutes of the ten." Elle called from the window.
"Fine." Katie said, her cheeks flushing. "We have been meeting in secret. But don't expect me to tell you what we have been doing during these meetings."
Cho and Elle exchanged a look. "It's alright, we don't want to know." Elle said quickly.
Katie could tell from the look on their faces that the girls' impression of what exactly was going during hers and Bletchley's secret nighttime meetings was far more amorous than what was actually going on – a three-hour awareness lesson on just how badly body parts she never even knew existed before could ache. But since they had only ten minutes and there were more important things to discuss, she decided to save correcting that misconception for another time.
"So as I was saying, these few nights with him have really messed me up. I'm not even sure what I feel towards him anymore. I've almost forgotten that we have this whole big revenge plan going."
"I've kind of forgotten too." Cho admitted uncomfortably.
"So that's why you both decided to confess out of the blue? You think you actually genuinely like these guys now?" Elle asked.
"Merlin, I don't know!" Katie moaned. "For all I know I might actually have fallen for that prick without realizing it! I just couldn't stand hearing him call me a groupie – and this is so ridiculous because that was actually the effect I was going for. But when he said it himself, I felt like I just had to tell him I was different from all those other girls."
Elle looked at Katie helplessly, like she was simply at a loss to decipher the situation. Instead, she turned to Cho. "And what about you? Do you feel the same about Higgs?"
Cho shifted uncomfortably. "I've got to be honest with you girls – I actually didn't feel that way when I told him so. I just really wanted him to admit that he liked me, and so I said that."
"Cho Chang!" Katie said in exasperation. "First you feed the guy a love potion, and now you're telling him you like him when you actually don't! I never took you to be such a player!"
"I am not!" Cho shot back. "And if I am, it is Roger Davies who made me so!"
"Alright, girls, calm down." Elle said hastily, jumping off the window sill and standing in between Katie and Cho. "Cho – are you serious? I thought you just told us that you'd forgotten that you were going after Higgs simply for revenge!"
"Yes – I felt that later." Cho sighed. "I mean – when I saw him looking so flustered, and unsure, and even a little hopeful – I really felt like maybe I did like him after all." She straightened herself. "But you know what, you guys are right. It's not fair to him. I was upset that Davies was never sure about me yet strung me along, and here I am doing the same to Terence. I'm leaving him alone from now on. I'm done."
She turned and walked out of the classroom, leaving Katie and Elle to stare dumbfounded at each other as the bell signaling the end of the break rang.
"What do you mean, 'she's done'?" growled Angelina in a low whisper as she jabbed her wand at the canary on her desk. With a loud squawk, the canary turned into a brilliant purple shade.
Alicia quickly waved her wand at Angelina's canary, returning it to its original creamy yellow feathers. "For Merlin's sake, Angie, pay attention." she hissed. "Professor Flitwick's glaring at you, and believe me you do not want to antagonize him any further. I don't think he's completely forgiven you since that last time you know."
"Nevermind him for now, tell me what Cho said!" Angelina demanded, brandishing her wand furiously. Her voice had risen unconsciously, and Flitwick turned to glare at her once more.
"Miss Johnson, Miss Spinnet, I'll have less talking and more practicing if you please. Five points from Gryffindor."
Alicia sighed. Their usually mild-mannered Charms professor had been extremely hostile towards Angelina and Gryffindors in general ever since that incident. Still, who could blame him? After all it had only been two days since Angelina inflated his head, and Alicia had to admit it had been pretty stupid of her to choose to tell Angelina about what Cho had said during a Charms lesson. She had thought it had been safe under the cover of the loud squawking of the canaries and the Weasley twins' continuous discussion about "canary creams", whatever those were. They always think they're so bloody amusing, Alicia fumed.
A loud shriek from the other end of the classroom diverted Flitwick's attention as two canaries which a couple of Ravenclaws had been practicing on burst into flame.
"Merlin's beard!" yelped Flitwick, as he hurried off to put out the fire and berate the unfortunate Ravenclaws.
Seizing the opportunity that the temporarily diverted Charms professor's attention provided, Angelina grabbed the sleeve of Alicia's robes and pulled her towards her with such force that her robes nearly ripped. "Now tell me what Cho said!" she whispered urgently.
"I told you, I didn't hear it myself." Alicia whispered back, tugging her robes back out of Angelina's grip before she could do any further damage, and keeping an eye on Flitwick as he shot jets of water from the tip of his wand. "Katie told me something about how Cho confessed to Higgs that she liked him when she actually didn't, or something to that effect. Then Cho said it wasn't fair to him and wanted to end it all."
"What kind of an explanation is that?" Angelina hissed. "Why did Cho tell Higgs that? Who cares if it's fair or not? Did those two–" she jabbed her finger violently in the direction of Fred and George, who were roaring in laughter at the commotion rather than helping, "–think about whether they were being fair to us when they treated us like spare brooms?"
Alicia was starting to think that Angelina had a most promising future as an interrogator of Dark wizards in the Auror department. "Angie, I honestly have no idea what happened, Katie was being really vague. But will you calm down? Let Cho do whatever she wants."
"Oh, you can act all calm and serene now that you've got your man." Angelina snapped. "Do I need to remind you that all of us have put our necks out and are already too far in this to pull back? I've offended a beloved teacher – probably for life – nearly got myself permanently mutilated by Grindylows and received a death threat from Wood for missing practice!"
Alicia felt a twinge of guilt. "Ange, I'm not saying you have to pull back. I'm saying let Cho pull back if she wants to. I know for a fact that Katie's not stopping, and neither is Elle. And I'm behind you hundred percent."
Angelina sighed as she let go of Alicia's sleeve. "I'm just really tired." she whispered. "I – I'm not even that sure if I want to go on with this anymore."
Alicia's heart went out to her friend – the girl who was always so confident, so cheerful, so quick to laugh at any joke or mischief. The girl who never let anything get her down. Now the ever-perpetual twinkle in her eyes were gone, and she looked utterly defeated. Perhaps they never should have gotten into this whole stupid thing in the first place. What exactly were they trying to get out of it? Revenge? Satisfaction? She'd been pretty darn satisfied alright when Warrington had looked into her eyes and said "I will go with you." But how far were they going to carry this joke exactly? She thought of what Cho had said, that she didn't want to play with an innocent guy's feelings anymore. Was that what they were all doing right now?
A sudden slam broke into her thoughts and made her jump.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" Angelina hissed, her hand still on the table where she had slammed it. "Just thinking of giving up? This is crazy – Alicia, if you ever hear me say anything as stupid as that again, you are to slap me till I wake up. Ok?"
Merlin, the girl changes her mind faster than a hyperactive Pygmy Puff, Alicia thought. "Ange, that wasn't stupid at all. Look – you know, none of this is making us feel any better. It was fun at first, but just look at us now – you're upset, Cho's upset, Katie's apparently just made a real fool of herself-"
Angelina stared at Alicia in disbelief. "Just ten seconds ago you said you were behind me a hundred percent!"
"But – just ten seconds ago you said you weren't sure if you wanted to go on anymore!"
"Well, now I'm saying I'm not giving up!"
Suddenly the whole class turned silent, and the two girls realized that all eyes were on them.
"Miss Johnson, Miss Spinnet, what in Merlin's name is going on exactly?" Professor Flitwick asked, glaring at them both. "The both of you have been whispering incessantly, your Charm work is sub-standard, and you both look like you've barely had enough sleep for the past few days! Do you need me to refer you both to Professor McGonagall?"
Angelina suddenly stood up. "I need to go to the hospital wing." Without waiting for a reply, she turned and strode out of the classroom, not even bothering to pack her things or take her bag.
The most awkward ten minutes of Alicia's entire life followed as the entire class burst into whispers while Professor Flitwick took her aside to a corner and questioned her relentlessly. Try as she might she could not think of a single plausible excuse for Angelina's behavior, nor could she provide any explanation for the way the both of them had been behaving. By the end of the interview a very frustrated Professor Flitwick informed her that while he was willing to let this go for now, he would be bringing them straight to Professor McGonagall if they could not keep their private problems out of his classroom. When the bell rang, Alicia heaved a sigh of relief and collapsed, exhausted, at her desk. The rest of the class was already filing out of the room, but she took her time to pack up her things. She really did not feel like talking to a single person at that moment. As if some god above had heard her thoughts and was hell-bent on making her life difficult, however, she saw from the corner of her eye that the last two people on earth she wanted to talk to at that moment were approaching her desk.
"I've got to tell you, Alicia, I'm really worried about Angelina." Fred Weasley said, casting a shadow over Alicia's desk as he stood before her. "Even if you girls are mad with us, this has gone on long enough. Can you please tell us what the hell is going on?"
Alicia ignored him as she stowed her books into her bag and then proceeded to pack Angelina's parchment, quill and books as well. George came to stand next to his twin. "Flitwick is right you know – Angelina looks really out of sorts. It's not like her at all. You look pretty bad yourself."
Alicia knew he had not meant it that way, but in the current mood she was in, she felt like she would take a perverse pleasure in misunderstanding him. Her knuckles whitened as she gripped the book she was about to pack into Angelina's bag. She looked up into George's eyes and in that moment the redhead knew he was in trouble.
"Ali – that's not what I mea-"
"Bad, is it? We're looking bad? Do you seriously think that justifies you stringing me along ever since I got onto the Hogwarts express in first year? Do you think that just because I don't fit your stupid golden-haired, sapphire-eyed ideal you have the right to treat me like dirt? Take your concern back, Weasley, and yours too, Fred, Angelina and I don't need it!" She slammed the book as hard as she could onto the desk (imagining with a perverse satisfaction that it was both of their heads), making both Weasley twins literally jump back in shock. A few pages fluttered out of the already battered book, but she barely noticed them.
What she did notice, however, behind the twins, was Cassius Warrington standing in the doorway of the now-empty classroom, staring straight at her.
The bell rang, signaling the start of lunch time, but food was the furthest thing on all five girls' minds at the moment.
"I've never known you to get sick in the middle of the day, dear." Madam Pomfrey said, raising an eyebrow. "In fact I don't think I've ever seen you in my hospital wing for anything other than injuries you get from playing that horrible dangerous sport! Exactly what kind of headache are you having?"
"Just…a headache." Angelina mumbled, gesturing vaguely at her head. She had intended to go straight to Gryffindor Tower, or anywhere else where she might find some peace, but on second thought she had turned around and headed towards the hospital wing. Flitwick had seemed angry, and not to mention suspicious, enough to check if she had really gone to the wing. If he were to somehow discover her elsewhere, he might throw her in detention again, or worse; bring the whole thing up to Professor McGonagall. If that were to happen, they might as well forget about the whole scheme. Which brought her once again to the question she had been asking herself ever since Alicia had told her about Cho's withdrawal from the scheme – why did she care so much? Why was it so ridiculously important that she walk into the dance on the arm of Graham Montague? She had a nagging feeling that this had gone way beyond revenge on Fred. Maybe it was just that stubborn, competitive spirit in her that refused to let her give up on anything she started, no matter how stupid it was. Maybe it was the fact that no boy said no to Angelina Johnson. Or maybe…she had actually grown to ca-
"Yes, but where? How did it start? What kind of a pain is it? You're going to have to tell me more, Miss Johnson!" Madam Pomfrey said impatiently as she rummaged through her stock of potion bottles.
Angelina sighed. It seemed as if she wasn't going to get out of this easily. Madam Pomfrey was more obsessed about symptoms and ailments than Oliver was about game plans. "Just…on the right side. It's been going on for about an hour." she lied.
"Hmm. Well, that still doesn't tell me much. Here – try this one anyway. Sure-fire cure for any headache." Madam Pomfrey uncorked a bottle of bright purple potion and poured a generous measure of the potion into a crystal goblet. "A warning though – it's rather strong. It might make you feel dizzy and you may vomit a little. Also, it might be wise to hold your breath while taking it and swallow it as quick as you can. Otherwise the stench might turn you off. Oh and some students have said it made their tears feel like acid in their eyes, although personally I don't believe a word of that." Angelina felt rather alarmed. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the pungent fumes emanating from the goblet. Perhaps she should have just gone to Gryffindor Tower after all! How in Merlin's name was she supposed to sort out her thoughts here with Madam Pomfrey fussing over her and making her take all sorts of horrible potions?
Unlike Angelina, who was lying on a hospital bed and trying to look as weak as possible, Alicia was tearing through the school in a great state of panic. Ignoring the indignant yells of a large group of Hufflepuff sixth-years as she barged her way through them, unceremoniously shoving some aside as she did so, she scanned the crowd with desperate eyes, with one sole thought running through her mind. Warrington. Warrington. Oh Merlin I HAVE TO FIND WARRINGTON! Frantically she racked her brains, trying her utmost best to recall his likely timetable from all that time spent with the girls working out the Slytherins' every move. Did he have Defence against the Dark Arts now? No, that was that on Fridays. Perhaps he might not even be in the castle – it could have been Care of Magical Creatures or Herbology? He might not even be having a lesson at all for all her flustered mind knew! Why were there no blasted Slytherins in sight when she needed them? Everywhere she looked there were Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs – no Slytherins from whom she could interrogate Warrington's whereabouts out of. And more importantly – what in Merlin's name could Warrington be thinking right now? Why, oh why, was she so stupid to let herself get riled up by those idiotic twins? Why was the classroom door so conveniently left ajar? What exactly had Warrington heard and what had he interpreted? Why had he left so abruptly? A split second after she had realized, in horror, that he was there, he had spun around and disappeared so quickly that she almost thought he had Disapparated. Even Fred and George had not turned around in time to notice that Warrington had been there at all.
In this frame of mind she continued, all the while running up and down corridors, throwing classroom doors open (thankfully none of which were occupied), and tearing up staircases which she thought might lead to the classrooms she thought Warrington might be in. Honestly, she couldn't even be sure of her own name at this point.
Then she was sharply jolted from her frantic frame of mind when her entire right leg sank straight through the vanishing step on one of the staircases. "Oh bloody hell!" she cursed as pain shot through her. A group of Ravenclaw second-years snickered as they rushed past her on the stairs, obviously having forgotten their own experiences the year before when falling through the vanishing step was as routine a rite of passage for first-years as Sorting was. Alicia growled as her fist curled around her wand in her robes, resisting the urge to send a number of choice hexes after them.
"Alicia! Are you alright?"
Alicia turned to see Cho a few steps down, rushing towards her.
"How did you fall through that? Seventh step from the bottom, remember? Everyone except first-years know that." Cho bent down and wrapped her arm around Alicia's waist, and began to pull her up and out of the step.
"You!" said Alicia furiously, glaring at Cho. "This is all your fault!"
"What?" said Cho in confusion. "How can this be my fault?"
"Not about the bloody step – about – everything! Just everything! You went to confess – and you gave up – and you set Angelina off – and the twins – those idiots – they made me go all crazy – I said a bunch of stuff I shouldn't have been saying – or shouting – with the door open-"
Throughout Alicia's jumbled rant Cho had somehow contrived to extricate her from the vanishing step and set her on her feet. "Alicia, calm down, speak slowly – I don't understand what the heck you're trying to tell me-"
"Oh nevermind, I haven't got time to explain this to you now – if you want to make yourself useful tell me where Warrington is now!"
"Warrington? I suppose he must be at the Great Hall like everyone else – it's lunch time. Why?"
"You don't know either? Nevermind, just get out of my way!" Alicia pushed past Cho and ran up the remaining steps as if pursued by a Hippogriff.
Cho was more confused than offended at Alicia's uncharacteristically rude behavior as she yelled after her, "Lunch! I said he's at lunch! Alicia, did you hear what I said?"
As a matter of fact, Alicia had not. She took the remaining steps three at a time and when she found herself in a bare corridor she flung herself against the wall and slumped down towards the ground, burying her face in her hands. It took at least a few minutes before she could compose her stormy emotions. Slowly, she looked up and stared hard at a random spot on the blank wall ahead as she took a deep breath and told herself to calm down and work through the problem rationally like a normal human being. Nothing was going to come out of her tearing through the school like a blind bat searching among the hundreds of Hogwarts students for one Slytherin who could be anywhere in the castle (or even outside it!).
Right, what exactly had she said? The scene replayed in her mind and she closed her eyes as her own words flooded through her mind. Do you seriously think that justifies you stringing me along ever since I got onto the Hogwarts express in first year? Do you think that just because I don't fit your stupid golden-haired, sapphire-eyed ideal you have the right to treat me like dirt?
Oh, this was not good. It was clear as day from those words that she harboured feelings for George Weasley. And that they were, in all likelihood, unrequited. Once again her fist gripped her wand tightly, and sparks flew out the tip of her wand. As far as she could see, there were three possibilities right now.
First, Warrington could have amusedly realized that his Alicia used to be somewhat involved with Weasley and was now rightly reading him the riot act for the careless way he used to treat her, now that she was happy and contented having found him, her true love. Obviously she and Warrington were a long way from being a couple, let alone each other's true loves, but somehow crazy as it seemed she could actually see the secretly old-fashioned romantic Warrington taking such a view on the situation.
Second, Warrington could have been struck extremely suspicious. Here was his Alicia who had asked him to the Yule Ball in the golden glow of the sunset, who had looked at him with those olive green eyes full of emotion and tenderness. And who now obviously felt so strongly for Weasley. The two things did not tally, which meant that this was all a sham. She and her friends were up to something. Alicia cringed at this thought – the thought that he might have blundered onto their plan and that it had been all her fault that her and her friends' carefully concocted plan had been discovered. Angelina would hex her ears off if Montague was made aware of their devious plans before she had the chance to extort from him a confession of his feelings for her. Higgs would be even more crushed than he would be to know that Cho had only used him to make Roger Davies jealous, and Merlin, Alicia was not ready to deal with the emotional backlash that Cho was bound to have when that happened.
Finally, Warrington could have been absolutely shell-shocked and heartbroken to realize that his Alicia, despite having started something promising with him, actually still harboured strong feelings for Weasley and was unable to get over him – which meant that she wasn't serious about Warrington. A strong burning feeling suddenly rose in Alicia's chest at that last thought and she almost cried words of protest at Imaginary Warrington. How can you think that I'm not serious about you!
"It's not true." she said aloud.
Then it hit her – what she had just admitted to.
There was no denying it now. What had started as a revenge plan had now ended in her falling hopelessly for Cassius Warrington.
Cho had never really been the type to brood but she was doing it now. She had been on her way down to the Great Hall for lunch, but the encounter with Alicia had made her lose any appetite she might have had left after the whole episode with Terence. Alicia had not made a great deal of sense but Cho was not so far gone that she couldn't understand the gist of what Alicia was trying to tell her. Now she was at the top of the Astronomy Tower, curled up at one of its window sills and staring out at the Quidditch pitch; a small green oval with hoops the size of teaspoons. Looking at the Quidditch pitch only made her think of Roger Davies and Terence Higgs, simultaneously and in equal measure. The only tricky part was figuring out what in Merlin's name was the nature of those thoughts.
All along, ever since the day Roger had laughed in her face and asked her if she was joking when she asked him to the ball, she had thought it was so simple and straightforward. She hated his guts, cursed the day he was born, borrowed a book on ancient Voodoo from the restricted section in the library, combusted internally whenever she saw him – all the usual stuff. Then Katie gave her the brilliant idea, the perfect revenge. Terence was simply the means, the tool for executing this plan. Cho was almost relieved to feel a crushing sense of guilt at this realization. If she had felt no remorse at all she might as well throw herself off the Tower right that instant. She would have deserved everything Roger had done to her. How could she have been so thoughtless, so selfish, to use someone in this manner? At least Katie really believed herself to be in love, or at least like in that way, with Bletchley. She had gone and confessed to Terence without truly meaning it!
Cho continued to sit at the window sill in silent anguish, internally berating herself over and over again for at least fifteen minutes, before a sudden thought made her stop. This was the first time in a long while that she had actually thought of Roger without wanting to smash something up. In fact, she felt…nothing. Cho's brow furrowed as she decided, like a true Ravenclaw, to put it to the test. Closing her eyes she summoned the image of Roger's face laughing at her, calling her a little girl, asking her if she was joking, patting her on the head, turning around and walking away.
Her eyes flew open. Nothing! Incredulous, Cho hopped off the window sill and turned to look at the Quidditch pitch again. She was half-expecting to see a vision of Terence flying across it on his top-of-the-line broomstick, perhaps turning around to flash a smile at her, like in one of those cheesy Muggle movies she had once watched while staying over the summer in a Muggleborn friend's house. Obviously the pitch remained vision-free, which she took as a sign that her sanity was still intact. She knew now that she was past caring about revenge against Roger.
But she also knew, just as surely, that she wasn't in love with Terence Higgs. She had always been attracted to him, and now she liked him very much, but it wasn't the serious kind of love which was necessary for such a confession that she had just made to him. If things had been different, if the circumstances which had brought her to make herself known to him had been different, she would have liked to go out with him, get to know him better, even go to the ball with him. But after having misled him to think that she was truly in love with him, she couldn't continue to give him false hope. And especially not as part of a silly revenge plan.
She liked Terence. She really really liked him.
Too much to do to him what she had once hated another man for doing to her.