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Chapter Playlist:

- You're Not Sorry ~ Taylor Swift

The entire Gryffindor House was in the common room, celebrating our victory against the Slytherins. I grabbed a Butterbeer and stood to the side. I smiled as Eva walked over with a Butterbeer of her own. "Was a great game, wasn't it?" I asked, taking a sip.

She nodded and watched Ron, who was standing at the center of the celebration. "Ron is a really good Keeper. Why did he look so nervous this morning?" I chuckled. "Oh he was dreadfully nervous, until Harry got him into a good mood."

Eva was about to say something, but was cut off by the calling of her best friend Erin. She looked over at me and then back at Erin. "Go have fun! It's a party." I encouraged her. She smiled and ran off. "That was nice." Harry commented from behind me.

I smiled and took a sip of my drink. We watched as the crowd started to chant, "Weasley! Weasley! Weasley!" Hermione walked up and joined our little group. "Ron seems to be enjoying himself." Harry nodded in agreement. "Yep. Apparently it's his lucky day."

I snickered at his comment while Hermione gave him a look. "You shouldn't have done it, Harry." "Yeah. I suppose I could've just used, I dunno…a Confundus Charm?" I jerked my head and looked at a caught Hermione. I knew she was muttering something. I should've guessed it was her.

"That was different. It was tryouts. This was an actual match–" Harry cut her off by displaying us the vial. The bottle was still full. "You didn't put it in?" He shook his head. "Ron only thought you did?"

Suddenly, the crowd's commotion grew louder. We turned to see Ron and Lavender snogging in front of everyone. Lovely. I turned to see Hermione slip into the crowd, looking quite upset. Harry went after her, leaving me alone. Thanks a lot guys.

"Why are you standing allll alone?" A familiar voice asked. I turned to see Seamus standing against the wall with a Butterbeer in hand. I cocked my head and realized he was slightly drunk. "Seamus, what have you been drinking?"

He frowned. "Butterbeer. What elsse?" I gently took his bottle from his hand and sniffed it. There was definitely something in this that wasn't Butterbeer. "I think your drink's been spiked. Come on, we should get you to bed."

He stumbled after me until I helped him up to his dorm. As I opened the door, I spotted Neville reading a book in his bed. He frowned when he saw us. "I wondered where you were." I smiled at him, helping Seamus to his bed.

"What's up with Seamus?" He asked me. Seamus fell onto the bed and started to get comfy. "I think his drink's been spiked. Butterbeer doesn't have that much alcohol, unless he's had like ten." He frowned and nodded. "I'll watch 'im." He reassured me. I smiled and thanked him, walking back to my own room.

I was in the library the next night, the eve of Slughorn's Christmas Party, with Harry and Hermione, who were talking about the party and Ron. "He's at perfect liberty to kiss whomever he likes. I really couldn't care less. Was I under the impression that he and I would be attending Slughorn's Christmas party together? Yes. Of course, now, given the circumstances, I've had to make other arrangements." I cocked an eyebrow from my seat. Harry and I both knew perfectly well that she did care and a lot.

"Have you?" He asked her, fighting a smirk. "Yes. Why?" "I just thought, you know, since neither one of us can take who we'd really like…maybe we'd go together. As friends." Hermione stopped putting books back and looked like she wanted to smack herself. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"So who are you taking?" Harry asked her. "Um…it's a surprise. Besides, it's you we need to worry about. And you can't pick just anyone. See that girl over there. That's Romilda Vane. Rumor has it she's
trying to slip you a love potion." Hermione told us evasively.

"Really…?" I looked over their shoulders at her, who was staring at my brother. I wrinkled my nose. Ginny would suit Harry way more than that Fourth Year. Harry looked like he was considering her. Luckily, Hermione snapped her fingers in his face. "Hey! She's only interested in you because she thinks you're the Chosen One. You know that, right?"

"But I am the Chosen One." he smiled. She smacked him in the head with an issue of the Prophet. He blinked, surprised. "Okay. Kidding. I'll just ask someone I like. Someone cool."

I walked down the stairs in a blood-red, one-shoulder dress and nude heels. Seamus was waiting at the bottom and beamed at me. He slipped his hand into mine and kissed it as we walked to the portrait. "You look beautiful."

I blushed and moved some hair behind my ear. "Thanks. You clean up nicely. Are you feeling better?" His smile faltered a bit. "Yeah, I'm sorry by the way." I frowned as we walked. "Why are you sorry? It's not your fault." He nodded and looked up at the decorations that hung.

As we walked into the party, I noticed how hectic it was. Not just students were bustling around, but adults that had Slughorn when they went to Hogwarts. I wondered how old he was, but brushed that thought aside.

I spotted Harry and smiled. He waved and I noticed Luna by his side. I beamed at Luna and looked to find that Seamus had disappeared. I turned back around to see him holding to glasses of something that looked like champagne. I smiled. "Gosh you scared me for a moment. Thought you'd left."

He chucked. "Wouldn't dream of it." As I took a small sip of champagne, I pulled it back from my lips. Seamus frowned. "What's wrong?" I stepped aside so I could see over his shoulder. Under some mistletoe, stood a boy and a girl snogging.

When they turned, I saw it was Hermione and Cormac McLaggen. I set the glass down, feeling sick. Seamus saw what I was looking at and wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, that's not exactly appetizing." "She's doing it to make Ron jealous but he's not even here! I cannot believe her." I murmured.

Suddenly, she pulled away and ran. I told Seamus I'd be right back and ran after her, well as fast as one can in heels. "What the hell you doing?!" I asked her in the curtain that shielded us slightly. Hermione turned around and saw how her hair and lipstick were messed up.

As she fixed her hair she shrugged. "I'm trying to make Ron jealous." "He's not even here! And even though Cormac is vile and disgusting, you don't use people like that, regardless who they are!" I reprimanded.

Suddenly, Harry walked through the curtain. "What're you doing? And what's happened to you?" He asked Hermione. She looked from me, who was glowering, to Harry. "Hm? Oh, I've just escaped—I
mean, left Cormac. Under the mistletoe."

"Cormac! That's who you invited?!" Harry asked her, exasperated. "I thought it would annoy Ron most. But he's a menace. He's got more tentacles than a Snarfalump plant." I snorted at her analogy. A waiter peered into the curtain holding a platter. "Dragon tartar?"

"No thank you." Hermione told him. "Just as well. They give one horribly bad breath." He warned us. Hermione suddenly grabbed the tray. "On second thought—maybe it'll keep Cormac at bay. Oh no, here he comes!"

I rolled my eyes and watched her run away, shoving the platter in Harry's hands. "She brought it on herself." Harry nodded and watched as Cormac approached us. "I think she went to powder her nose." he told him.

Cormac plucked a piece off the tray in Harry's hand and ate it. "Slippery little minx, your friend. Likes to work her mouth too, doesn't she? Yak yak yak. What is this I'm eating, by the way?" "Dragon balls." Harry told him.

The look on his face was priceless. Harry and I tried to slip away, only to have the hanging brushed aside by Snape. "What's going on here?" he drawled. Cormac spit raw dragon all over Snape's shoes, earning a not very well concealed laugh from me. Snape looked down at his shoes and then gave him a deadly look.

"You've just bought yourself a month's detention, McLaggen." I sniggered into my hand and watched him saunter off. Harry and I tried to follow but are stopped by; "Not so quick, Potter. You may go Collins." I gave him a look and went off to find Seamus.

I heard a commotion from behind me and turned to see Malfoy being dragged in by Filch. "Take your hands off me, you filthy squib!" I flinched at his hurtful words and watched the scene before me. Slughorn frowned and watched Filch come closer.

"Professor Slughorn, sir! I've just discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party." Filch reported. "Okay, okay, I was gate-crashing. Happy?" Draco snarled. I raised an eyebrow. Malfoy wanted to come to the party? That much was an obvious lie, but what he was covering; I didn't have the slightest clue.

Snape stepped forward. "I'll escort him out." Draco's eyes shifted to him. For a spilt second I could've sworn I saw fear, but was instantly replaced by disdain. He shrugged free of Filch's grasp. "Certainly… Professor."

As the commotion died, I still couldn't find Seamus. I walked into the hallway in hopes of finding him there. I heard chanting and loud noises coming from a hallway near me. I frowned and quietly walked towards the sound, my heels clicking in the darkness.

I turned to see a fight happening. I gasped when I saw Seamus was in the midst of it. What was even worse was I saw maybe a Third or Fourth Year being beaten up by him. "Seamus get off him!" I screeched.

Everyone but Seamus and the Third/Fourth Year looked at me. I pulled of my heels and threw myself between Seamus and the kid. Seamus threw a punch but I grabbed it and flipped him on his back. "What the hell is wrong with you?" I grunted angrily as he tried to break free of my hold.

The kid stood up and watched us. Seamus, once again, looked drunk. His face lightened up when he recognized me. "Heyyy it's my bitch! Come to join the fuuun?" I stood up and put my heels back on and pushed the kid away from the madness. "What the hell is wrong with you? You keep apologizing for getting drunk yet you continue to do it? Besides, I'm not your 'bitch'! I don't date alcoholic bullies, Seamus. We're done." I told him in an icy voice. Seamus shrugged. "Whatever. You're loss."

I heard shouting and madness from the hallway as I took the kid into an empty hallway. "Are you alright?" I asked him. He shrugged and looked down. I noticed his black eye and told him to look at me. His hazel eyes looked scared and his midnight black hair kept falling in his eyes.

"Tell me what happened and I won't tell anyone you were out of bed." His eyes widened and he sat down. "Well, I couldn't sleep, so I started to roam the halls, then those Sixth Years came and started to beat me up and stuff. Called me a geek 'cause I had been reading some spell books." I frowned. "I'm sorry that that happened. I'm Laurel." I told him softly.

"I know." he smiled. I cocked my head. "How do you know my name?" He looked up at me with admiration. "Everyone knows you. You're popular, kind, powerful, smart...pretty. You're also Harry Potter's best friend and brother."

I blushed. "I still don't know your name." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Noel." (A/N: Pronounced Knoll) I shook it and smiled. "Now, how about we clean you up a bit. We don't want people asking questions, do we?" He shook his head and watched as I pulled out my supplies.

I handed him a flask with the milky pink liquid in it. He handed me the flask and I put it in my bag, deciding to deal with it later. "What Year and House are you in?" "I'm a Ravenclaw in Fourth Year." I thought back to my Fourth Year and shuddered. "Thinking of the Triwizard Tournament?" he asked.

I nodded. "I gotta go, my friends are probably looking for me. It was nice meeting you Noel, maybe I'll see you around." He flashed me a toothy grin and nodded. "Maybe."