"No! He can't die like this! Why?" Rose cried and leaned on Atria for support.

"Rose, it's just-" James started.

"No! He was going to marry her!" Rose screamed. "They were going to be together forever."

"I knew better than to let her watch this movie." Scorpius muttered. He grabbed Rose by the shoulders from where she was sitting on a couch in the Room of Requirement. "It's just a movie. Jack isn't a real person." He said slowly. Lily grinned when Rose glared at him.

"Well, then..." Rose said indignantly, "The Titanic is a rubbish movie!"

"We can agree on that then." Albus muttered. Atria rolled her eyes.

They were all sitting on couches or blankets on the floor in the Room of Requirement watching the end credits of The Titanic. It was the second day of break and they decided to watch a movie. The Room of Requirement conjured up a large T.V. and a number of movies. It was now after dinner and they had watched three movies during the day.

"Such a bloke thing to say." Attie looked pointedly at Al. Albus shrugged and looked through the stack of movies.

"Mum said it was one of the best movies ever made." Hugo told Rose.

"She lied." Freddie grinned.

"What about Lord of the Rings?" Albus held up three movies.

"Yes!" Freddie jumped up. "I've seen the second one and it was amazing! I had no idea what was going on - but it was awesome." He assured everyone.

"I read the books." Rose sniffled as Atria put a comforting arm around her. Scorpius went back to his blanket on the floor with Albus.

"Is it scary?" Lily asked. "I don't like horror movies." She said from the couch across from Rose and Attie.

"It's got some fight scenes, but it's sole purpose isn't to be scary, I don't think." Freddie told his little cousin. Lily shrugged as if she didn't care.

"Let's watch it." Atria said excitedly. "We'll start with the first one though." She laughed at Freddie who huffed.

They ended up only getting through the first movies that night but came back the next day for the next two movies. Basically everyone got hooked on movies, even Rose. She was actually happy with the end of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy - everyone lived and was happy. Rose still cried though.

"Let's go get dinner." Rose wiped away her tears and stood up.

"You sure you want Sal to see you all red and puffy faced?" James smirked at her and Lily stepped on his toe.

"Ow!"

"Oh, shut it!"

Rose looked at Atria. "Maybe we should go wash up in the prefects' bathroom." Atria grinned.

"Sure, I've never been in the prefects' bathroom." Attie clapped her hands. She tried to get Justin to give her the password one time, but he said that if 'would go against his moral code' to let a non-prefect into the prefects' bathroom.

Rose rethought, "Maybe I shouldn't-"

"Don't be such a teacher's pet." Atria pulled Rose.

"Attie stop corrupting me cousin." Albus said sarcastically.

"Come on. Lily you can come too." Rose said. Well, if she was going to break the rules she might as well break them thoroughly. Lily jumped up and followed them out, skipping as she went.

"You can't tell anyone though." Atria said strictly once they were outside the door.

"I won't." Lily huffed.

Rose whispered the password so that Atria and Rose couldn't hear it.

"Oh come on, it's not like we're going to come in here every day and use this as our bathroom instead of using the crummy showers in the girl's dormitory." Atria said with mock seriousness. Rose glared at Atria and Lily laughed. "I can deal with dirty floors and-" Atria broke off when she saw the splendor of the prefects' bathroom.

The first thing that came to attention was the large waterfall pouring into a crystal clear pool of water. Said pool of water was large and the stain glass windows shimmered on the water and every product a girl could want was on marble counters surrounding the pool.

"Whoa." Lily gasped.

"Now, I definitely need the password." Atria grinned and swept a hand along the water.

"Come on, we only need to wash off." Rose said and began to take off her clothes.

"Wait you just bathe together?" Lily blurted out and a blush crept up her neck.

"We're usually not in here at the same time. We've learned who's going to be here and when." Rose shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. I wasn't planning on taking a full bath, just washing my face, but I don't want to get water on my shirt." She explained and Atria paused and the took of her blouse.

"So weird." Lily muttered. "I don't mind getting some water on my shirt." Lily said and approached the edge of the bath. She looked at all the soaps and washes on the counter and picked one to wash her face with. Atria and Rose did the same.

"Dinner starts in ten minutes," Rose said.

"Yea and then goes on for another two hours." Atria smirked. "Unless there's another reason you're eager to get to dinner?" She looked at Rose knowingly.

"Let's just hurry," Rose insisted and Atria and Lily grinned at each other. Yet, as much as Attie teased Rose about Sal, she wasn't sure if they were right for each other. Sal was a bit too mysterious for Atria (yes, she was a hypocrite) and Rose seemed to like that. He was a puzzle for her to solve, but Atria wasn't sure why he was interested in Rose.

Not that she wasn't amazing, just that she didn't think Rose would be his type. No matter, if Atria said anything Rose would no doubt listen to her. But if Sal didn't have malicious intentions or even less-than-honorable ones, then Atria will have ruined something for Rose. And maybe Atria was just being over cautious, which came a bit too naturally for her.

"Atria," Rose said waving a hand in front of her face. Atria came out of her musings.

"What?"

"Come on, we have to go." Rose demanded, already getting dressed again. She fixed her hair in the mirror and checked herself over. Lily watched her with a grin. It was funny to see her obsessed with a boy other than Scorpius or Albus. It was always, Scorpius is so annoying, Albus did this, Scorpius did that, Scorpius got a better grade on the test. In fact Lily wondered why Rose and Scorpius were friends.

It all started with Atria, but they still did things without the other two friends. They studies together, went to Hogsmeade together, when Scorpius didn't have a date that Rose would complain about. Lily had to guess that they liked challenging each other-otherwise they wouldn't be friends, only in the company of Atria.

It was a weird dynamic to be sure, Lily thought as they exited the prefect's bathroom. Atria and Rose were talking about something, some 6th year assignment, that Lily paid no attention to. She went back to thinking about Rose and Scorpius.

Sometimes Lily wondered why they were all friends. The fact that Attie lived with Albus and he was Rose's cousin - that made sense. But Albus treated her like a the devil at home, and at school, yet they were still sort of friends. But where did Scorpius come into it? She knew that Atria was friends with him, and Amanda sort of fell in there as well, but Rose and Albus became attached to Scorpius.

Lily knew that James had begun to accept Scorpius and Amanda to please Atria, he had made no secret of that. But James wasn't trying to please Atria as much anymore, Lily realized as she thought about the past few months. Maybe because Atria now had Justin, or he realized that in a few months they wouldn't see each other as much.

"Lily," Someone called her name, pulling her from her thoughts. "Lily." Her friend, Casiopea, a fellow fourth year, called again. She waved Lily over to the Gryffindor table. She was one of the few people staying over Easter break. There were a few more scattered people throughout the Great Hall. James and Freddie were bent over a piece of parchment, no doubt planning to blow something up. Al and Scorpius were sitting at the Slytherin table, where Attie and Rose had just joined them.

"Where have you been?" Cassie asked as Lily sat down. "I was sitting here all alone awkwardly." She elbowed Lily in the side.

"I was with Rose and her friend."

"Atria." Oh right, everyone knew them. Lily sometimes forgot when she was with them, but Rose and Atria were popular. They didn't realize it, especially Rose, but everyone was aware of them, even if they weren't a part of the gossip ring that circulated about her cousins constantly.

"Yea, I was just thinking about their complex friendship." Lily told Cassie, thinking maybe an outside view would be helpful.

"Rose and Atria?" Cassie munched on some chips.

"All of them. Like why are Rose and Al friends with Scorpius, and why does James hang with them even though he has plenty of seventh year friends?"

"Whoa, take a breath." Cassie laughed. "Maybe they all like each other." She shrugged simply.

Lily's eye twitched, "But Rosie and Scorpius argue a lot, and Attie and Al are just plain mean to each other. Yet they all manage to be best friends. And Amanda wasn't friends with any of them until Attie came. And James never hung out with them before."

"Oh, that's easy." Cassie waved off Lily's concern. "Rose and Scorpius fancy each other, James used to fancy Attie but I don't think he does anymore-"

"I don't think he does either," Lily interjected. "But he still hangs around them."

"I don't know why he does that, maybe out of habit." Cassie continued, "And Atria and Albus…" She paused dramatically, "Simple sexual tension."

Lily stared at her friend, "You think they like each other?"

"I think they're attracted to each other." Cassie corrected her, and looked around to make sure no one had heard. Lily thought about it and her friend continued speaking as she played with her hair. "I think they used to genuinely dislike each other, now it's just a game."

Lily looked at Attie and Al who were sitting across from each other whispered heatedly. And yet… Albus looked a little bit thrilled and she couldn't see Atri's face, but her hair wasn't fiery red like it got when she was angry. Instead it was a soft blue. And Scorpius and Rose were next to each other looking at a book. Lily didn't see Sal in the Great Hall.

Wait… "Did you say Rose and Scorpius fancy each other?" Lily gaped. Cassie nodded, looking unconcerned, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Yep."

"But Sal-"

"The new boy who follows Rose around? I think he's a passing fancy. It's not like they realize they fancy each other, so Rose is happy to let herself believe she actually likes Sal." Cassie explained. Holy merlin, this was why Lily needed an outside opinion.

"Rose seems to really like Sal." Lily argued.

"Of course she does. He's an italian god, and really cute. Plus he's sort of mysterious and who doesn't love a mystery. But in the end, I think it's just curiosity. I mean she's wants to explore her options, before settling on Scorpius."

"And him?"

"He's a boy. They're hopeless about feelings." Cassie giggled. Lily ate some chips while she thought on this.

Over the next week I was pretty sure that I gained copious amounts of weight. All we did was watch movies and eat, with the occasional friendly competition of Quidditch. And when I say friendly I mean-

"Pass me the quaffle, you daft idiot!" Albus shouted at me. Instead of playing with full teams we decided that we would play with only one beater, one bludger, three chasers, and no snitch. There weren't enough people to have a real game of Quidditch and McGonagall didn't want anyone to get injured because there was no referee.

"JAMES IS RIGHT THERE!" I scream back. Okay, so Albus was quicker than James but still. Approaching Hugo in the goal I shot in the third hoop and… he saved it. Damn.

"I told you to pass to me." Albus sneered as he flew past me.

"People get a hold of yourselves!" Lily flew over to us. "You're on the same team! Try to get along without all the," She stumbled looking for the correct word, and then gave me a weird smile and flew away.

Scorpius,James and his friend Parker passed between them until they came against Rose in the goal. When dividing the teams, James exclaimed that it was unfair to get me, Al, and Lily all on one team so to balance it out we had to take Rose as our keeper and a Hufflepuff beater, Joe Bainbridge. He wasn't bad he was just… a hufflepuff.

Rose was not able to block James's shot. She tossed the ball to Albus who gave me a look, but eventually tossed it to me. I threw the quaffle to Lily and she scored. And that's why she was a chaser. Okay, so admittedly I wasn't the strongest person, which was the reason I was the seeker, but it was embarrassing that Lily could throw a quaffle better than me.

"It's almost lunch time!" Rose hollered. Any excuse to get out of playing keeper. I shook my head.

"Lunch is for wimps!" I yelled back across the pitch.

"Then consider me a wimp." Rose shrugged and flew to the ground. If only she took the bait like the boys did. Sal was waiting for her in the stands. He had showed up halfway through our game, but only watched. He walked down the stairs to catch up with Rose.

"Prat." Hugo muttered.

"Give her a break." Lily berated him.

"I don't like him." Scorpius muttered as we all met in the middle of the pitch, hovering on our brooms. Lily muttered something, but with the wind, I couldn't make out what she said.

"He's actually okay." Freddie shrugged, swinging around his beater bat. Joe glared at him when Freddie almost hit him on the head.

"See you later." He said quickly and flew to the ground, following Rose and Sal to lunch.

"Okay, well we may as well get lunch seeing as they're all quitters." Freddie said, but I knew he just wanted an excuse to eat. James followed him and then there were four of us.

"I guess we may as well get lunch." Scorpius shrugged, he started to go down. "Are you coming?" Lily followed him but I looked at Albus.

"I'm not hungry yet." He told me. I looked at Scorpius.

"We'll be down in a little while." Lily raised her eyebrows, Scorpius just shrugged. Once they were gone I looked at Albus. "Now what?"

"Let's fly." He stated simply. He began flying in circles around me.

"I could go get the snitch and we could chase it. Have a little competition?" I grinned at him, but he shook his head.

"Let's just fly."

I frowned. "Just fly?" He stopped flying around me and gave me a questioning look.

"Yes, don't you like to fly?" He sat up straight, gripping the broom.

"Of course I do." I said defensively. A few moments of silence went by. "Is it because you know I'll win?"

He laughed. "Does everything have to be a competitive? Can't we just fly around - two seekers just enjoying the wind in our hair?" He was really confusing me. He didn't want to compete, but he still wanted to…

"You just want to hang out?" I said stupidly. Bloody hell, I didn't want to hear the answer to that. And he didn't answer he just looked at me. "Wait! Are you trying to get the edge on me? Watch how I'm flying so you can beat me?" I said accusingly. He sighed and hovered a bit closer.

"It couldn't be that I actually enjoy just flying?" He snapped back at me. "This is why you're so bloody annoying! You always think it's about you. You didn't have to stay, I just thought that you might want to fly around for fun. Me wanted to relax on a broom had nothing to do with you and if you're so suspicious of me you can just leave!" He growled at me.

"You were the one who wanted me to stay!" I shouted at him. His green eyes darkened and the wind ruffled his hair.

"Well, clearly that was a mistake. Besides it wasn't directed at you specifically, it was an open invitation to anyone who wanted to fly a bit longer." He sneered. I opened my mouth and then closed it. He was technically right - he hadn't asked me to stay, but he had looked at me.

"Don't worry I'll leave, so you don't have to deal with my egotistical self any longer." I sneered back at him. And flew to the ground as fast as I could. He was still hovering in the air when I left the stadium. Damn he was an arse. Granted this time it may have been my fault, but he was still a prat.

I went to the Great Hall without bothering to put my broom away. Sal and Rose were sitting at the Ravenclaw table and everyone else was sitting at the Gryffindor table. When I went over everyone had just began eating and they were complaining about how there was only one more day of break left.

"I don't want to take N.E.W.T. tests." Freddie groaned dropping his head on the table.

"You're only taking four N.E.W.T.'s this year, Fred." Lily laughed and he glared at her.

"Well, I took five last year!" He said defensively.

"And you only passed three of them." James laughed. Despite James being a royal idiot most of the time, he was quite smart. He had passed all of his N.E.W.T.'s last year and was still taking five N.E.W.T.'s this year.

"So if I pass two of these that's a total of five N.E.W.T.'s. That's plenty." It was enough to get a job but still… only five N.E.W.T.'s? I was taking six this year and would definitely pass with all O's and E's. As long as I mastered that bloody Patronus charm. Defensive spells weren't my strongest suit and I still could on muster a little silver spray when I cast a Patronus. Defense Against the Dark Arts should have been one of my best subjects, but of course my mother never taught me defensive charms.

If you're being attacked, go down fighting. None of this defensive rubbish.

"You're lucky Rose is here." Scorpius chuckled, giving Freddie a knowing look. True, if she heard her cousin right now she would write to his mother about his lack of motivation and then Angelina would send him a howler. Scorpius looked towards Rose and Sal and glowered at them. I don't think he liked being usurped as Rose's studying partner. He could be a bit territorial sometimes, especially of Rose.

They continued to talk about N.E.W.T.'s and how they didn't want to go back to class over break. Eventually Albus came in and sat next to Scorpius, who gave him a questioning look. Probably because Albus was scowling and muttering things under his breath.

"I'm going to talk with Rose." I announced and got up, gathering my broom.

"Maybe we should take this opportunity to talk with Salvatore?" Hugo suggested to James. James and Freddie grinned at each other. Scorpius looked like he wanted to join in as well.

"No!" Lily and I growled at them. "You stay here." I commanded like they were dogs. I left before they could argue. Rose and Sal were looking of potions notes. Hey, I usually helped Rose with potions!

"Hey Atria." Rose smiled as I down opposite of her.

"What are you doing?" I looked between her and Sal. He just looked at Rose, letting her explain.

"Studying for the potions test we have next week." She knowingly, as in she knew I didn't know about the test.

"Right, I thought we were going to study together? I still need some help with-" I broke off, looking at Sal. I couldn't let a perfect stranger know about my weakness in Defense Against the Dark Arts. "-that thing." I finished lamely.

"If I had asked you to study, would you have?" Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." I lied automatically. Of course not, we were playing quidditch.

"Go study with Scorpius." She said and there was a bit of defiance in her voice. Was that towards me or Scorpius? Because I was pretty sure that things were all patched up between them.

"Fine." I said and left them to 'study.' I marched over the Scorpius. "Let's go study." His eyes bugged out.

"Have you been drinking from the cauldrons again?" He asked like I was crazy. Okay, so it was well known that I hate studying, but he didn't have to sound so shocked.

"No, there's apparently a potions test next week and Rose won't study with me and I need to learn how to do a patronus charm!" I pouted, slumping down on the bench.

"You can't do a patronus?" Albus smirked at me. "I'm pretty sure Lily knows how to do one and she's fourth year." I will not punch him in the face. I will not punch him in the face.

"But what about the potions test?" Scorpius asked.

"Oh who cares about that! I know everything. I need help in DADA." I whined, giving him puppy eyes. Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Besides you don't need my help in potions." I told him.

"But Albus does." Scorpius pointed out. I crunched up my nose to show distaste.

"So?"

"So he can do a patronus better than anyone." Scorpius told me. I already bloody know that! How does that help me? Albus wouldn't help me for all the cauldron cakes in the world.

"I'm not going to help her." Albus snapped. See?

"I could help you." Freddie said. What? Did he even pass DADA last year? "I'm better at Patronuses anyways." He smirked at Albus, who blanched at that suggestion.

"You are not!" Albus said indignantly and he turned to me. "C'mon, I'll have you doing a patronus within the hour. Possible a full corporeal one." He challenged Freddie, who didn't look like he cared.

Albus stormed out of the Great Hall and I had to chase after him.

"Where are we going?" I asked excitedly.

"To the Room of Requirement of course." He snapped. Perhaps he realized he had been tricked into this. Either way, unfortunately, this may gain him some points in the "gentlemen" column for our list. Bullocks.

Of course, the room was prepared with all of our needs. Which was basically simply space to practice.

"Think of a happy memory." Albus told me. I rolled my eyes - I knew that part. I thought of the happiest memory that I could remember. "Now say the words expecto patronum." That was it?

I did it and nothing happened. Albus shrugged. "Probably not the right memory. Try another." He suggested.

"What's your's?" I asked. He didn't reply so I thought he wasn't going to answer but eventually he did.

"There was this time my dad decided to take me and James fishing," He began.

"Fishing?"

"Yep." He grinned. "It was the summer after my first year and he wanted to do some bonding I think. You know, all of his boys had left the nest. Anyways, it went horribly wrong. Our boat got stuck in the middle of the lake. We tried to paddle," At this point he was laughing so hard his words became a bit jumbled, "But James hit my dad into the water... and then my dad decided that James and I could push the boat from behind." He had tears in his eyes at this point. "But we just tipped it over. We lost all our supplies..." He grinned to himself. "And then I got bitten by some fish."

"That doesn't sound like a happy memory." I said, but I was trying not to smile.

"It wasn't at the time, but looking back it was bloody hilarious." He shook his head. "Merlin, that was the best day of my life."

"Do your patronus." I told him. He looked at me and then stood up. He cast it easily and a large silver shark swam out. "Wow." I said grudgingly. I hate to admit that he was good at anything but this was amazing.

"Now you try." He ended the charm. I thought of a new memory. One that wasn't perhaps as big, but was still important. I cast the charm and silver spilled out from my wand. It didn't take a form but it was there.

Once I broke off the charm I took a deep breath. "I can't believe I did it."

"It was a start." Albus shrugged. "Still a long way to go before you impress the N.E.W.T. examiner." He reminded me. "Try it again, but really focus on how you felt that day. Don't just remember it, go back to it." I nodded and bit my lip. "I'm curious to see what shape your's takes so lets get a move on."

"Okay okay." I grinned, excited to try again. "Expecto Patronum." The silver mist came again this time a bit more solid. I tried to think about how I felt when the Malfoys had taken me out to lunch after that quidditch game. It was the first time I felt like I belonged. And then Grandma Weasley came into my memory and the patronus got a bit strong. But then it faded.

"That was better." He nodded. Rumour had it, that he had been able to cast a patronus on his second attempt. Not a full corporeal one, mind you, but still it was impressive especially for Albus. But his strong suit had always been DADA.

"It gets easier with practice," He told me, "you figure out which memories really help you and which feelings you want to reproduce."

"How much do you practice?" I asked. I had tried this probably twenty times and this was the first time I had been able to actually made the patronus become a shield.

"After the first time I did it, it took me quite a few tries to get it to take a form. I probably did it fifteen or twenty times before mine became corporeal." He smiled, almost grimly. "My dad told me he produced a corporeal patronus after only doing it three or four times."

"Your dad lived in a different time. He had a reason to push himself. We're only doing it for exams." I said, although I'm not sure why. I didn't try to make a habit of comforting Albus, but he was clearly upset about something. "Besides I had to do this twenty times before I could produce anything, much less a corporeal patronus."

"Are you admitting that I'm better than you at something?" He grinned and a light flashed in his eyes.

"I'm admitting anything." I stuck my chin up proudly. "I'm simply stating facts. Besides, do you really want to start comparing our accomplishments?" He glared at me.

"This is why I was surprised you complimented me." He muttered. I shrank back a little. "You don't need me anymore. Just practice that a few more times and I'm sure you'll be doing it better than I ever have." He said calmly and walked out. Bloody hell, I hated it when he did that. It made me feel worse than when he actually got angry. Then again I may have been a bit antagonizing to him.

Dammit, I was going to have to give him some points for today. First, inviting me to fly, then ignoring that and helping me with DADA, and then didn't curse me when I insulted him. Even worse than him being nice, I had been a hag.

The rest of break passed without incident. Well, without a serious incident. Surprisingly, contrary to what he said, James seemed eager for break to be over. Admittedly, I was a bit sick of being stuck with the same people again and again. And I missed Justin... sort of. I hadn't actually thought of him that much and that made me feel guilty. I hadn't written him the whole week and he hadn't written me.

While we were in the Great Hall waiting for the train to drop all the students off in Hogsmeade, I spoke with Rose about it.

"Maybe you're just secure enough in your relationship." She said, but sounded doubtful. "Have you thought about what you're going to do when he graduates?" Not really.

"I don't know. We haven't really talked about the future much." I avoided it heartily.

"Do you want to stay together?"

"Maybe, but I'll be in Romania over the summer. I'll barely see James or Freddie next year and they're family. I just don't know if I like him enough to put in the effort." She nodded, understanding where I was coming from.

"If you don't like him that much, break up with him." Rose said simply.

"But I like him enough for the rest of the school year." I clarified. She gave me a look and I felt a little guilty. I did like Justin, he just wasn't the one. "You know it's not like that. Are you planning on marrying Sal?" I threw back at her.

"Well, no-" She stumbled.

"But it's nice to have someone."

"I don't need a boyfriend." She snapped defensively, then checked to see if anyone overheard her loss of temper. Luckily, we had managed to ditch the boys for a little while, so we were catching up on girl talk. After a few moments, Rose opened her mouth then closed it. I waited for her to say whatever it was she wanted to say.

"Oh just say it already." I shook her.

"Have you had sex?" She blurted out. I think my mouth hit the ground. And then she went into a nervous ramble. "I mean, I know you've had boyfriends before, but none of them seemed serious. Yet at the same time you seem to live life in the moment and I don't know but I can't ask anyone else about this." I knew if I didn't stop her she would work herself up.

"Rose, relax. It's okay to wonder." I gripped her shoulder. "But no, I haven't. I've never really come close. I've only ever snogged my boyfriends. I've thought about… going farther, but essentially I know that I'm not ready." She took a deep breath.

"And if I think about… it? I mean, I don't even have a boyfriend. I've never had my first kiss!" She bit her lip.

"You're not the only person in sixth year you hasn't been kissed." I assured her. "And you don't want it to be some random boy, you want your first kiss to be a boyfriend. It's better when it's with someone you know and trust." I hoped the train was running late because this was turning into an in depth talk.

"I keep thinking about what happens if I get a boyfriend." She whispered nervously.

I heard voices coming from outside. "Maybe we should go somewhere more private?" Rose looked around and nodded. We ended up going to an abandoned room on the third floor.

"I can't imagine kissing anyone…" Rose thought for a moment and then shook her head. I wanted to ask what, or who, she was thinking about but she continued. "What if I want to have sex?"

That was a loaded question if there ever was one. I really hoped Scorpius or Hugo didn't walk in here, because no doubt they would have Sal's head. He was probably the reason that Rose started freaking out about kissing and sex all the sudden. I hated the fact that she was so upset about this.

"What if he only wants to shag?" Rose said, her eyes full of worry.

"Then you kick him to the curb. You deserve to be with someone who loves her. Just think about this when you have sex - do I want this person to be the father of my children?" That shocked her. The thought of children at sixteen - her birthday wasn't until May. "And if you don't think he'll stick around, you probably shouldn't be shagging."

She thought about that for a minute. "Dom said I should be careful because all boys want in is sex." I wasn't sure, but I trusted Dom when it came to boys. She was experienced and knew about these kinds of things. Dimitri hadn't pushed for sex but we weren't together that long and I had only been a fourth year. Maybe that was part of the reason we had broken up. I wasn't as physical as he wanted.

Justin hadn't demonstrated an unyielding thirst for sex yet, but we had only been together for a little while. Maybe that was going to come later.

"Just do whatever feels right." I told her, thinking that was always a good option. She was smart and I doubted she would do anything that would put her in jeopardy. Unlike me, she always thought ahead.

She nodded and said, "We should probably go before the boys find us. I wouldn't want them to overhear this conversation." She muttered, voicing what I had been thinking a few moments ago.

"Maybe we can talk to Amanda about it." I suggested. Rose nodded absently, clearly thinking about something else. Once again, I wanted to ask her where her head was at.

We found her when we went back to the Great Hall. She still had her bags and was speaking with James, who was grinning. We raced over to her and pushed James aside.

"Hey!" He cried.

"How was your break?" I asked her excitedly. Even in the summer we had never gone this long without seeing each other.

"Pretty good. It was nice to see mum." She shrugged. "How about you? James said you watched a lot of movies." She glanced at him and laughed. Why was he still hovering around?

"We did. Anyways, let's go drop your things off and then we'll catch up." I said and gave Rose a look.

"Wait, but…" James said as we left, but we were already gone.

"Why are we in such a rush?" Amanda asked as we quickly ran up the stairs to our dorm.

"Rose and I need some advice." I told her, including myself so Rose wouldn't be put on the spot like I knew she felt she was.

"About what?"

"Not here."

"What-?" We dragged her back to the third floor where there was the abandoned corridor. "Will you please tell me what is happening?" She grinned curiously.

"We need advice about sex." Rose said firmly. She had calmed down a bit from when we had talked. Amanda though, looked shocked.

"Why does you need advice about… that?"

"We were just wondering." I shrugged.

"I'm a bit nervous about having a boyfriend." Rose admitted and Amanda smiled at her understandingly. I gave Amanda a brief version of the conversation we had had before.

"So have you had sex?" Rose asked eagerly.

Amanda shook her head. "No, I've come close a few times, but I was too scared. I figured that if I was too afraid to let someone else see me naked then I wasn't ready to have sex."

"Okay, now that we have established when you should have sex, can we go eat?" I complained. My stomach grumbled in agreement.

"One more question!" Rose threw up a hand. "Do all guys just want sex?" Amanda bit her lip.

"I think they think about it a lot." She smiled secretly, "But I also think that they want more. Some guys are okay with not having sex even if they want to." Rose seemed calmed by this and we went back to the Great Hall. James was there talking with his friends who had just returned and Scorpius had also popped up. But he was talking with Jenny, so we didn't approach him.

I didn't see Justin yet, but I would find him later. Rose went over the Gryffindor table and Amanda and I went to the Slytherin table to greet our housemates who had just returned. While everyone traded stories about break, I thought about what I was going to do about Justin. Clearly, we needed to have a talk.

Yay! Sorry that took so long. My Spanish computer was being a butthead and wouldn't let me upload, but I'm back in the U.S. for two weeks so I'm going to try to update as much as I can in the next two weeks. Enjoy and review! - Alex