Chapter 26

Mistletoe in May

oOo

"Am I realistic or pessimistic?" Kasia asked the boys one surprisingly warm May afternoon studying by the lake, remembering Demi's accusation after Yasmine broke up with James.

James grinned. "You're a pessimist for sure."

Kasia ignored the fuzzy feeling that James' smile gave her. After his break-up, it seemed her feeble attempt at repressing her feelings for him had well and truly shattered, leaving them hitting her like a tidal wave.

That didn't stop her from growling at him.

Fred glanced up from his Arithmancy study. "I'm going to go with realist for my safety."

Kasia scowled. "A pessimist is what optimists call realists."

"There's nothing wrong with being an optimist," Demi said defensively.

"Except when your ridiculously high expectations get destroyed," Kasia said promptly.

"Better than expecting everything to turn out for the worse," Demi shot back.

"If it makes you feel any better, Zia," Fred said absently as his quill raced across parchment. "James is a raging pessimist, too."

James shoved his shoulder. "That's not true."

Kasia watched curiously as Fred laughed. She wouldn't have thought James was a pessimist.

"Are you kidding me, mate? Were you there the night Yasmine broke up with you?"

James' eyebrows twitched upwards. "I'd think being broken up with is a bloody good reason to act pessimistic."

Fred rolled his eyes. "Not about that—" James cut him off with a hard glare.

"You know, I have to get a book from the library."

He got up abruptly with a short nod to each of them, and Kasia recognised a flash of pain when their eyes met.

Demi shook her head. "So insensitive."

"Takes one to know one," Fred snapped.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it's supposed to mean." With that, Fred gathered his things and followed James.

Demi sighed and buried her head in the open book.

"Have you apologised to him yet?" Kasia asked.

"No," Demi's muffled voice said. "I'm telling you, he won't forgive me."

"Just tell him how you ruddy feel."

Demi scoffed. "Yeah, like you told James? Oh, wait… you didn't. And instead, you're still lurking around with Higgs every chance you get."

Kasia growled. "I still think it's a daft idea for me to get into a relationship, Demi. And I'll…I'll talk to Trey."

She found her opportunity on prefect's rounds the next night, when she and Trey had swapped with two sixth-years to avoid their usual slot, which would only be three days after the full moon.

He leaned in to greet her, and she stepped away.

"It's getting to the end of fifth year, Trey. I think we should stop this."

Trey raised an eyebrow. "This doesn't have anything to do with James now being single?"

"No," Kasia said firmly. "It's just not really fair to either of us. Can you honestly say you don't want to go on a date?"

"Yes," Trey said at once. Then he allowed a smile. "No."

"And I can't give you that."

"Why not?" Trey grinned. "It'd be fun."

Kasia shook her head wearily. "If Teddy and Demi and James and my dad and just about everyone else who knows can't convince me to date, what makes you think you can?"

Trey's eyes sparkled. "Have any of them tried convincing you like I've tried?"

"You…were trying to convince me this whole time?"

Trey's smile fell slightly as he looked more nervous. "Did it work?"

"Trey…"

"Got it." Trey managed a smile. "Hey, it was fun while it lasted, right?"

Kasia nodded uncomfortably while Trey packed away his books. "You won't…you won't tell anyone my secret, will you?"

Trey looked at her sharply. "Of course not. Did you think I would?"

"I—I don't know."

The rest of rounds were exceedingly awkward, but Trey seemed determined to pretend he didn't mind at all that she asked they stopped kissing. Either that, or he really didn't care.

Rounds drew to its close as Peeves found them in an empty corridor, introducing himself by dumping a huge bucket of strangely bitter-smelling water on them.

Kasia and Trey gasped as the poltergeist cackled and disappeared, dripping wet.

Then they started laughing, and trying to keep quiet, which made them laugh harder.

Kasia brushed her wet hair from her face with a grin, and Trey's eyes fell to her neck.

He gestured to her. "Your, um…scars…"

Kasia's hand flew up to cover her neck at once. The water must've washed off the makeup.

"It's not a big deal," Trey said hurriedly.

"It is to me."

Trey looked as if he was going to argue, but instead, pulled off his Slytherin scarf. "Here. You can get it back to me tomorrow."

"Thanks, Trey."

oOo

Kasia yawned widely as she came into the common room, and was surprised to find the lights still on.

At the fireplace sat James, asleep with his head resting on the desk in front of him, his mouth slightly open. Kasia smiled—she'd forgotten he was staying up to do his essay—and walked over to him.

Still in his Quidditch jersey, James' relaxed face made her hesitate before waking him. "James."

He mumbled incoherently.

"James, wake up."

Slowly, he pushed himself upright, and Kasia's mouth twitched at the ink stains on his cheek as he gazed sleepily at her.

He yawned. "What a sight for sore eyes."

Kasia had the sudden urge to giggle. Her own tiredness did not make hiding her feelings for him any easier, and despite her telling Trey she wasn't ending things because James was single, she couldn't convince herself as easily.

James' eyes focused on her, and his grin froze.

"What?" Kasia asked self-consciously, looking down and seeing Trey's scarf around her neck.

James' expression was still frozen. "Whose scarf?"

"Um…"

"Is that Higgs'?"

"See, Peeves dumped some weird water over us on the sixth floor—"

"Right." James collected his things. "I should get to bed."

"What's the big deal? The water washed away the makeup covering my scars, and I didn't want him seeing them—"

"Why not? He already knows you're a werewolf."

Kasia glared at him and sat down beside him. "I don't just go showing off my scars to everyone who knows that."

James' voice lowered. "You showed me."

Kasia flushed. "That was different."

"Was it?" James challenged. Then he sighed. "Look, if you want to date Higgs—"

Kasia's eyes widened. "We're not dating."

"Then why did Yasmine see you two snogging in the library, and in the hallway…"

Kasia flushed. "Those weren't—hang on, when did Yasmine tell you that? And why do you care?"

James' expression hardened. "I don't-She told me the night she broke up with me. So, it's true?"

"They weren't exactly dates, it was just…just that. Kissing. We never dated."

James looked like she'd hit him in the stomach. "What? Why?"

Kasia shrugged uncomfortably. "Because he knew I didn't want to date, and neither did he with O.W.L.s, so we just…kissed every now and then. It was just some idea…"

"Was?"

"Yeah, was. Fifth year's nearly over, so… Now he can find some normal girl," Kasia mumbled.

Sarcasm slipped into his voice. "Just snogging. No dates. And that fits in with your decision to not 'burden' anyone with your condition?"

Kasia's chest burned with indignation. "I don't have to defend myse—"

"I'm not trying to attack you." James laughed incredulously. "Merlin, though, Zia. Why Higgs? Why didn't you think of that back in Rio?"

Kasia gaped. "What?"

"Bloody hell, I'd have taken it." He laughed again, somewhat uneasily as he looked at her, seeming to realise what he'd said.

Kasia chose her words carefully. "...I couldn't have done it. It wouldn't have been enough." She realised how close they were sitting—or had she moved closer? He turned his head to meet her eyes, and Kasia forgot the point she was making.

"You're right," James said quietly. "So... I was thinking, we really should do something about Fred and Demi."

Kasia straightened. "Um, yeah. It's getting ridiculous."

James nodded and gave her a sideways glance, shifting away from her.

"Fred still fancies her," Kasia said. "He told me as much last month."

"Yeah, I know. That doesn't mean he'll forgive her."

"They just need to talk things over," Kasia insisted, and hesitated. Demi had kept all her secrets, but telling one of hers would work out best in the long run. Kasia lowered her voice. "Demi fancies Fred."

"What? Really?" James smiled suddenly. "That's perfect, then! They need to talk...and then either they forgive each other, or get together."

"Or we just make it worse."

James rolled his eyes. "And Fred thought I was the pessimist."

Kasia raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, what was that about?"

James shrugged. "I was just being an idiot."

"So, no different to normal, then?"

James gave her an exasperated look. "Are we going to plan how to get them to talk or not?"

"Okay, okay. We just shove them in a classroom and lock the door. I know the charm to stop Alohamora from working."

James rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Simple, but effective. Although I was thinking something more...entertaining." A sly smile crept to his lips. "At Christmas, Fred and I were working on this idea of enchanted mistletoe. Your feet get glued to the ground beneath it until you kiss."

"And you were going to put these everywhere?"

James laughed. "Yup. Every hallway would be like going through a minefield."

"How do you know about mines?"

He waved a hand. "Muggles have made a lot of movies, Zia. So…Fred and I were planning on having the mistletoe sing cheesy Muggle love songs too, but I think that might be a bit much."

"How come you never did it?"

He gave her a wry smile. "It'd have to be a charm, and neither of us have much umm...patience...with charms."

"Patience, or skill?"

"Both," James said with a dashing grin. "But you, Miss Days, have an astounding talent—and patience—for charms."

Kasia's mouth twisted into a smile. "Well, it'd be a simple combination of a powerful Stickfast Hex, linked to the mistletoe with...with..." Kasia bit her lip in thought. "You know, I've never looked up kissing charms."

"Library?" James suggested, and Kasia nodded.

"But tomorrow. I seriously need some sleep."

oOo

The next morning before breakfast, Chandi Talley pulled her aside.

"What's up?" Kasia asked.

"Kasia…" Chandi looked uncomfortable. "I've, um…noticed you've…well, you're looking a lot thinner this year."

Kasia's eyebrows flew up. "What?"

Chandi kept her arm on Kasia's. "I noticed it just after Christmas. I mean, you've always been small, but you've lost a fair bit of weight, and then I noticed you don't eat much in the Great Hall." Chandi managed a worried smile. "I just want you to know that you can talk to me anytime, about anything. But I'm worried about you. Maybe you could talk to Madam Abbott about—"

Kasia laughed. "Oh, Chandi, I don't have a problem with eating, it's just—" She stopped. "I mean, I've been sick a lot this year…"

Chandi gave her a smile that told Kasia she didn't believe her. "I hope you don't mind, but I've told Demi my concerns. I thought, if you wanted to try, I mean… Demi might be able to help make sure you…you stay healthy."

Kasia returned her smile. "Thanks, Chandi."

When Kasia told her friends at breakfast, she expected them to laugh with her about it, but James and Fred looked surprised, and Demi worried.

"Well, have you been eating enough?" James asked her matter-of-factly.

Kasia shrugged. "I dunno. Sometimes I forget meals, I guess, because I don't feel that hungry after… you know."

"But you still need food," Demi said. "Probably even more so at that time."

Kasia rolled her eyes. "It's no big deal, guys. I just forget sometimes."

"Well, here's your reminder," Fred said as he threw her a croissant.

From then on, her friends eyed her carefully at every meal, especially around the full moon.

oOo

After class, James and Kasia went to the library after their classes, passing Trey on the way, who avoided Kasia's eyes determinedly. Out of the corner of her eye, Kasia saw James shake his head in disbelief.

Kasia and James searched the shelves for twenty minutes before she pulled out a sickly-sweet-looking pink book with a wrinkled nose. "101 Charms To Your Happily Ever After. Ugh."

James laughed loudly, earning a glare from the librarian. "Sounds like that author's been watching too much Disney."

Still mystified at James' knowledge of Muggle movies, Kasia pulled the book out and opened it on their desk.

"Merlin. One of these charms claims to make the victim happier in the castor's presence. The author claims it's based on Muggle psychology."

"Victim?" James asked incredulously. "It doesn't really say that, does it?"

"No, I added that. It seems fitting."

James laughed again, drawing another glare, and Kasia shushed him.

"You know, there aren't any charms that just make someone kiss you in here."

James raised an eyebrow. "And probably for good reason. It'd be wrong to force someone to kiss you if they didn't want to."

Kasia thought of Rio and how James had waited, his lips an inch from hers, until she leaned in. He had made sure she wanted to. She glanced at him, and he met her eyes for an instant. Is he thinking of Rio, too? Kasia looked away and frowned. He's probably thinking of Yasmine.

"Well, its, um... not too different to a love potion, really," Kasia mumbled.

"Another awful thing to do to someone. I'll give you seven reasons why love potions are a stupid idea, and all of them are Voldemort."

"What?" Kasia couldn't imagine Voldemort using love potions.

James told her how Voldemort's parents had only been together because of a love potion. "Not a lot of people know that," James said when he finished the story.

"Perks of being Harry Potter's son."

After scouring through the awful book for fifteen minutes, Kasia found something she thought could work and showed it to James.

"The Pucker-Up Jinx will cause rain to fall on you and your target when you kiss," James read, and grimaced. "Target is almost as bad as victim. But how would this help us?"

"The Stickfast Hex makes an adhesive on the ground, and it gets deactivated in water." Kasia bit her lip.

"Are you sure? Will it work on enchanted water?"

"We'll need to test it."

"Yeah, that's a given, we—wait...what?"

oOo

Kasia watched James, her heart bounding. It's only a kiss, she told herself, but she had never felt so nervous before kissing Trey.

James was looking at his feet, admiring the adhesive, and then he met her eyes, his warm brown eyes burning.

"So..." Kasia started to say, but trailed off when James took her hand, his eyes not leaving hers for a moment. His hand brushed up her arm and shoulder until it was at her neck, tracing her scars with his thumb.

He pulled her gently towards him, and she closed her eyes.

He didn't just kiss her for a moment, enough to break the charm. Instead, he kissed her soft and slow. Rain fell on them hard, and she leaned into his chest as he wrapped an arm around her waist and kept kissing her. Finally, he pulled away, still holding her face in his hand and his eyes blazing.

"Kasia," he said in the gentlest of tones. Then a smile grew from his lips, and she leaned in again...

"Kasia."

"Mm..."

"Zia, wake up."

Kasia opened her eyes. She was in her hospital bed, two nights after the full moon, and James sat at the chair next to her, leaning his elbows on his knees with a curious expression.

"Good dream?"

"Um...yeah." Disappointment threatened to crash over her, but her tired mind reminded her that James was right here. They didn't need the mistletoe or the rain.

Kasia titled towards him, and James leaned back in his chair, his eyebrows raised.

Kasia froze.

James cleared his throat. "Er..."

Then her mind worked on overtime. "Sorry. Nearly—nearly just fell back asleep."

"Oh! Right."

"Yes, okay?" Kasia finished with a smile.

James chuckled. "Exactly. Sorry. I, um…just wanted to say Demi's in the common room already and Fred's heading back early from dinner, so now might be the best time."

"For...?"

James raised an eyebrow. "For the Stickfast Hex. Merlin, you really are tired, aren't you? If you want to do this another time, that's fine, but after the match today—"

"Oh, yeah. How did it go?"

James scowled. "We lost. 290 to 60. Ravenclaw's Beaters didn't leave Demi alone the entire match, which of course she blamed on Fred…" His fists clenched. "This plan had better work, Zia. I need a win today."

"It'll work. Just give me a minute to change."

James nodded and got up, pulling her curtain around as he walked to the door.

When she was changed, they walked up to the Gryffindor tower, and Kasia saw the mistletoe in his hand. They reached the changing staircases, and Kasia, halfway up them, stopped to catch her breath. The room was spinning. Bloody full moon.

"Alright, Zia?"

Kasia nodded, her eyes shut, then forced herself up.

James chuckled and put an arm around her waist to help her up, releasing it when they reached the top of the staircase.

"Thanks," Kasia breathed.

"Have you eaten enough today?"

"Probably."

James scowled.

They reached the corridor outside the Gryffindor common room, and Kasia followed James to a tapestry.

"Wingardium Leviosa," James said, and the mistletoe floated above them and to the space outside the Gryffindor common room.

Kasia pointed her wand at the ground beneath it. "Colloshoo."

A thin layer of shiny adhesive covered the ground. She pointed at the mistletoe and waved her wand, thinking the nonverbal Pucker-Up Jinx.

"Did it work?" James whispered.

"It worked on Apollo and Poppy last week, didn't it?"

James nodded, and pulled out the Marauder's Map. "Fred's coming up the stairs." From his other pocket he pulled the stuffed Invisibility Cloak and threw it over the two of them.

Kasia glanced at him, realising he'd stepped closer to fit them both under the Cloak. Her shoulder brushed against his chest when she turned. "I still think we should get Demi to come out first."

James shook his head. "He'll get suspicious when he sees Demi's stuck." He looked from the mistletoe to meet Kasia's eyes, and after a prolonged moment—wherein Kasia's breath quickened—he averted his eyes.

Kasia looked back to the mistletoe. "Shouldn't we at least make the mistletoe invisible?"

James pulled out his wand. "Good point." He muttered a cloaking spell, and the mistletoe above the Fat Lady—who was napping—disappeared.

Fred soon came down the corridor, a book in his hand as he muttered to himself numbers and meanings.

"I'm so glad we don't do Arithmancy," James breathed next to Kasia's ear. She nodded nervously.

Fred came to the Fat Lady, and glanced up briefly. "Non ducor, duco."

The Fat Lady roused. "What's that?"

Fred looked up again, annoyed. "The password."

"Oh, yes, of course." The portrait swung open, and Fred stepped forward.

He almost doubled over the portrait hole when he realised his feet were fastened to the ground.

Fred groaned. "Who would—ahh!" His parchments fell to the floor in his effort to balance, and an ink pot broke open. Fred cursed and inspected his feet.

"Stickfast Hex..." He muttered, then glanced above him and sighed with relief. He pulled out his wand and narrowed his eyes in concentration.

After a prolonged moment, he swore again. "Bloody charms." He raised his voice. "Anyone in the common room know the counter-charm for the Stickfast Hex?"

Demi's voice answered him. "Hang on, I'll get Kasia's charm book!"

Fred sighed, frustrated. "Of course it'd be her," he muttered under his breath.

"The Stickfast Hex is in my charm book," Kasia said to James in a low voice.

He grinned, and pulled a book from his bag. "You mean this charm book?"

"Brilliant."

Soon, Demi came to the door, where Fred was attempting to remove his shoes, without any luck.

She stepped outside, too, and Fred's eyes widened. "No, wait!"

But it was too late. Demi gasped, and fell to the ground, her feet stuck. Fred didn't make any effort to help her up.

"Good one."

"I thought someone just hexed you, not the floor," Demi said irritably as she pulled herself up and leaned away from Fred—they were stuck awfully close to each other.

"Do you know who did this?" Demi demanded.

Fred glared back. "I had some idea, but..." he trailed off, turning his glare to the air above him.

Kasia pulled out her wand and reversed the cloaking charm.

The mistletoe revealed itself, and Fred's face contorted.

"James! I know you're around here somewhere under that stupid Cloak!"

James and Kasia exchanged grins.

"What? How do you know it was him?" Demi asked curiously.

"Because of that." Fred jabbed a finger towards the mistletoe, and Demi furrowed her eyebrows.

"Mistletoe? But it's not Christmas."

"Yeah, and we aren't going to kiss, so Potter you'd better undo this charm right n..." Fred trailed off with a thoughtful expression. "Kasia's in on it."

"In on what?" Demi asked annoyedly. "Kiss?"

Fred shoved his hands in his pockets. "James and I came up with a prank for Christmas, but we didn't go through with it because we couldn't think how to charm it right."

Demi watched him warily. "And?"

"So we're stuck under this bloody mistletoe until we kiss."

Demi's eyebrows flew up. "What?"

"James is so dead."

"They'll be thanking us for it," Kasia whispered to James, who nodded.

Demi laughed uneasily. "I mean, if there's no other way, we could just... get it over with." Fred stared at her and her voice quietened. "It's doesn't have to be a big deal."

Fred scoffed. "Maybe not to you. It'll just be one more kiss you didn't mean. Add it to the list from when we were 'going out'."

"This is just like some soap opera," James said with something remarkably like a giggle.

"What's that?" Kasia was confused. "And did you just giggle?"

Demi flushed. "I meant, if there's no reversing it, it'd be better now than when everyone else comes back from dinner."

"There'll be a way to reverse it," Fred muttered. "If a bunch of seventh years can't figure it out, they'll do horribly on their N.E.W.T.s"

"Yeah but will they?" Demi said. "These are Gryffindors we're talking about. Would you help a few third years if the same thing happened to them?"

"Maybe, if I knew one of them likes to manipulate her friends."

"Bloody hell, how many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" Demi spat.

"You haven't apologised once!" Fred exclaimed.

"Because I didn't think you would forgive me! But I'm sorry, Fred, I'm sorry! I—I feel awful about it." Tears sprang to her eyes, and Fred looked uncomfortable.

James and Kasia exchanged an excited smile.

Fred raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because I'm pretty sure you were using me to make Jordan jealous. That's all there was to it, right? It's not like I wanted to go out with you or anything because I actually fancied you." His voice was dripping with sarcasm. "People don't just throw themselves in front of curses for no reason, you know." He seemed to regret his last sentence and looked at the floor.

Demi's voice was quiet. "I really am sorry. I didn't fancy you then and I shouldn't have pretended I did. But I do now. I realise I have the worst possible timing—"

Fred looked taken aback. "You do what now?"

"Fancy you," Demi said in a small voice. "Fancy. What a pathetic word. Last Christmas when I thought you—when it looked like you might not wake up..." Tears flowed down her cheeks. "I just couldn't stop thinking how I wish you hadn't jumped in front of that curse. That it should've been me. And it was s-so dumb what I did to you, Fred, but it was more than a year ago. Please, can you forgive me?"

Fred stared at her for a moment, and then cleared his throat, looking away. "Even if I forgave you, what reason have you given me to trust you?"

Demi's breath was shaky through her tears. "Nothing. But I'm telling the truth. I really do want to be with you, and I'll spend every second trying to make up for what I did." Demi cursed. "Now I feel like a prat, assuming you'd even want me."

"Don't cry, Demi." Fred muttered, his eyes softening as Demi wiped her tears.

She sniffed again, wiping away her tears that were instantly replaced by more. "I don't know how I could even begin to make it up to you. Tell me how. Please."

"Come on, Fred," Kasia chanted.

"He's going to forgive her." James grinned. "One does not simply ignore a crying girl."

"Speaking from experience, Mr Potter?" Kasia asked slyly. James reddened, shook his head, and gestured for her to be quiet.

Fred clenched his jaw, and finally looked at Demi.

"Say you're sorry one more time."

Demi looked up, her eyes shining with tears. "I'm sor—"

Fred cut her off with a kiss, and rain drenched the both of them in seconds.

"Aww!" Kasia squealed, squeezing James' arm excitedly as Fred wrapped his arms around Demi's waist tightly. "They're so sweet!"

James looked at her in surprise. "You sound like Yasmine."

Kasia froze, her eyes wide, and let go of James' arm. "If you tell anyone that I reacted like that, I'll have those freezing mistletoes follow you around everywhere you go. Kasia Alexa Days does not squeal."

He compared me to Yasmine? His ex-girlfriend of less than a month? What does that even mean?

James chuckled. "Okay, okay. Only if you won't tell anyone that...I think it's kind of sweet too."

"Deal."

The charm on their friends had been lifted from the moment their lips met, but they didn't stop kissing.

Even when the crowd started to come back from dinner.

"Maybe we should save them from some embarrassment," Kasia pondered, and James hummed, considering it.

"Maybe we should." He pulled off the Invisibility Cloak and raised his voice with a grin. "YOU ARE WELCOME!"

"No need to thank us or anything," Kasia joined in, smiling broadly. "What we did was from the goodness of our hearts."

Fred and Demi shared a look, and Kasia and James started running, laughing their heads off as they did.

"You two are in for it!"

"You should be grateful!" James roared back.

"I'm Fred bloody Weasley, you think you're going to get away with this!?"

As he said this, a red light streamed between them.

"That's an odd choice of middle name!" James retorted.

"He's got a point, you know!" Kasia said as they ran. James nodded, grabbed her hand and ran faster.

"This way."

James led Kasia past the Arithmancy classroom, to the North Wing and into a study hall, where they crammed into a human-sized niche behind a tapestry.

"No offence," Kasia whispered, "but this isn't the best place to hide."

"Just give me a second," James breathed.

"We might have a minute, if they didn't see us come this way. We're faster than them."

They stayed silent, listening for the sounds of their friends approaching the classroom. The only sound Kasia could hear was James breathing softly. It was then she realised he was still holding her hand, and how close they were to each other. There wasn't much room behind the tapestry, and Kasia was pressed up against James' chest, so that she could feel him breathing as well as hear it.

She looked up at him, and he had his eyes closed, thinking. The small amount of light meant that she could only see the outlines of his face. Her heart beat faster, and it couldn't have been from the running. She just hoped he didn't notice.

"Er..."

"I remember!" James murmured, and muttered a spell. Suddenly the lighting was different, and Kasia could faintly hear the chatter of the school nearby.

"Where are we?" Kasia whispered, taking her eyes away from James. He still had her hand.

"We're one level below ground, near the kitchens. Come on."

"How did we get here from the seventh floor?"

"The Map, of course," James said with a laugh. "Fred doesn't know all of the passageways, but I do."

He went up to the painting outside the kitchens and let go of Kasia's hand to tickle the pear.

"We'd better get some food, since we all skipped dinner."

Getting some food in the kitchens seemed like a quick thing to do, but the house elves showered them with the food from dinner.

Soon they caught up to the last of the people coming back from dinner and followed them up to the Gryffindor tower, earning strange looks because of the food they were carrying. Yasmine gave them dirty looks.

"We come bearing gifts!" James announced to Fred and Demi when they reached the common room. He and Kasia put the food on the table.

"This isn't over." Fred glared at James, grabbing a pie.

"Of course it isn't." James grinned widely and passed Kasia a sandwich insistently, who rolled her eyes and took it.

The rest of the tower joined in on the post-dinner feast, although Apollo was nowhere in sight.

"He's in denial," Fred said to Kasia when she asked, his arm around Demi and a grin plastered on his face, despite Gryffindor's loss at the Quidditch match earlier that day. "He'll probably still be flying around the pitch, thinking he could score some more points."

"Or his girlfriend could be comforting him," James suggested.

Demi snorted. "Not likely. She was the one who beat him today."

Fred kissed Demi's forehead. "At least I've got my girlfriend to comfort me."

Kasia couldn't help but grin when she looked at Fred and Demi. The two of them kept stealing glances and smiles, and their hands didn't separate the entire night. Kasia turned her beam to James proudly, and he returned a smile, his brown eyes sparkling.

oOo

"What happens when you put a werewolf on the moon?" James asked suddenly at breakfast the next week. Kasia stared at him, because he'd asked loud enough that it drew the interest of most of their peers at the Gryffindor table.

"He'd explode and die because there's no oxygen on the moon," Fred responded promptly, not bothering to look up from his textbook.

Demi shared a confused glance with Kasia, and many of the surrounding Gryffindors laughed.

James looked affronted. "I never said I'd send him up without a suit, you absolute monster."

Kasia tried to laugh casually with the others, but her palms were sweaty.

The conversation, still on werewolves, switched to the update in the Daily Prophet.

"Did you here?" Jonathan Rivers said. "Two werewolves escaped Silverback. A 23-year-old and a kid. Harry Potter said it's really going to help them track Silverback down."

A flutter of hope sparked in Kasia's chest.

In classes that day, Fred was catching up on his Arithmancy homework—due at the end of the day—that he'd been neglecting in favour of spending time with Demi. It hadn't taken long for Kasia and James to grow tired of their inseparable nature—the two of them were always in contact somehow, and Kasia joked to James she was worried her nose would stay wrinkled with the amount she was doing it at them kissing.

In an effort to get back at Fred for his public displays of affection, James was making it his personal mission to annoy Fred that day, who responded in kind.

In History of Magic, Fred slapped his hand between James' chair and his.

"Cut it out," James insisted quietly.

"Sure thing," Fred said with a smile, and continued slapping the chairs.

Demi watched in amusement at James growing steadily more annoyed, while Kasia tried her hardest to pay attention and take notes—their O.W.L.s were less than a month away, after all, and she had begun to realise how unprepared they all were.

"Fred if you don't stop doing that I'm going to hex you," James hissed.

"Oh, is it bothering you? My bad, mate."

The slapping went on, and James' mouth became a thin line.

Finally, when Fred missed the chair and hit James instead, James flung his hand out and whacked Fred in the chest. His eyes widened when Fred's eyes rolled back and he slumped forward. James caught him and propped him back up.

Fred slumped again, and James pulled him up with frantic glances at Professor Binns—who hadn't noticed a thing. Fred tilted forward, and his eyes popped open before his head hit the desk.

He turned slowly to James. "Did you just knock me out?"

Demi descended into stifled giggles, and a smile crept to Kasia's lips as she fixed her eyes on the blackboard.

"I told you to stop," James said patiently, returning to his own notes.

Their class ended, and they headed to Astronomy, Fred and James arguing the whole way over.

They sat down in Astronomy.

"I can't believe you knocked me out!" Fred was saying.

James rolled his eyes. "It was just a light hit to the chest."

"Yeah, that knocked me out! Merlin, I was just slapping the chairs."

"I told you to stop, didn't I?"

Their voices raised as they kept arguing, until the entire class was disturbed from their assignments, watching them and laughing.

Professor Sinistra frowned. "What's this about?"

"James knocked me out!" Fred exclaimed.

"You look perfectly conscious to me, Mr Weasley."

James grinned in spite of himself. "It was back in History of Magic, Professor."

"Both of you have earned a detention tonight."

oOo

"I never thought I'd do the lines I will not knock out my friends," James said with a chuckle as the two of them returned from their detention.

Fred scoffed. "I can't believe they wouldn't let me do the lines I will not be knocked out by my friends."

"I still think it would've been funnier if your lines were I will not knock out my friends and then argue about it in the following class," Kasia said with a grin.

"What were your lines?" Demi asked as she curled into his arms.

"I will not create a disturbance in class."

oOo