Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Article

Mya and James spent the rest of the day wondering around Hogsmeade. He bought her handfuls of candy from Honeydukes. He showed her the addition to his uncle's joke shop where Zonko's Joke Shop used to be. Mya held a pygmy puff and confessed to James that she had always wanted a cat, but her father never got one for her since Alice was allergic. That seemed to get the wheels in James' head moving.

They talked in hushed voices together as they moved their way back to the castle arm in arm. Several Hogwarts students passed by them on their way back up; some people ignored them, but most of their peers were still staring and whispering about them. Then there were the others who were politer to their faces. Courtney Wood passed by them holding hands with Holden and turned around to wave to the young couple. Mya and James were doing a decent job ignoring their negative and nosey peers, until James saw Blaine headed their way with Abby and Penny right on his heels. Panicking, James locked his grip on Mya's arm and dragged her behind Honeydukes, so they were off the path that lead back up to the castle.

Mya brushed herself off and gave James a displeased look. "What was that for?"

James slapped his hand over her mouth and peered around the building to make sure Blaine and the girls were out of earshot. Mya however didn't like that she wasn't getting answers bit his hand. He quickly dropped his hand with a startled yelp of pain. "What the bloody hell was that for?"

"Why the hell would you cover my mouth?" She demanded, hands on her hips.

"I didn't feel like dealing with Blaine. He would have heard you; you kind of have a loud voice Longbottom."

Mya gave him a dirty look, but then her face softened as she blew a hair out of her eyes. "You know we're going to have to face them at some point, right? We can do it together; he doesn't scare me. Besides if he really pisses me off I could always just jinx him."

James let out a high fake gasp of surprise. "Mya Longbottom you're Head Girl, you couldn't possibly jinx another student."

"Oh, sod off." Mya shoved James with a laugh, but then her smile faded. "Do you head that?"

James pulled away from Mya with a frown and listened. "It sounds like someone is crying over there." He nodded to farther behind the building, but Mya was already headed in that direction. "Wait Longbottom, what if they don't want anyone seeing them cry?"

"Yes, but what if they're hurt and need help?" Mya suggested over her shoulder.

"Then they would say help me." James mumbled, but he followed Mya around the side of the building. He didn't' get too far though since Mya was standing frozen watching the crying girl. She held her arm out to stop James from going past her. "Is that?"

"Dominique." Mya nodded, but she looked quite pale. "What do we do?"

"You're the one who wanted to help; I figured you would have some kind of plan."

"Well yes, but I didn't expect to know them personally. She's my teammate and your cousin." Mya said defensively.

"Does that mean she doesn't deserve help?" James asked completely confused.

"Well no, she deserves help; everybody deserves help. I just would feel more comfortable if it was someone whose life I could possibly ruin that I wasn't personally involved in." She hissed.

"Who's there?" Came a shrill shriek from behind them. They turned around slowly and Dominique sighed when she saw the two of them and stuffed her wand away. "Of course, it's you two."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mya questioned raising an eyebrow.

"You two are on the list of people I really don't want to talk to or even look at." Dominique huffed turning to face away from them.

"You have a list?!"

"What did we do?" Mya demanded speaking over James.

"Right now, you two are the nightmare to those who are unlucky in love." Dominique was in a grumpy mood and James and Mya seemed like the perfect punching bags even if they didn't deserve it.

It suddenly clicked in Mya's head; this was about a boy. "Dom, you can't let a boy get to you like that."

Dominique gave Mya a dirty look. "I never said I was upset over a boy."

The older witch was taken back. "You said you were unlucky in love, I just assumed-"

"I was straight?!" Dominique snapped bitterly before she paled.

Mya's mouth dropped open, but James looked confused. His face was all scrunched up as he tried to connect the dots. "But I thought you liked someone on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team."

Mya placed her hand on James' shoulder. "She does."

"You can't tell anyone; nobody knows except for Harmony. I know she won't tell anybody; I threatened her if she even thought about telling anyone." Tears were starting to stream slowly down Dominique's face.

"Dom, we wouldn't dream of telling anyone." Mya sat down next to the blonde witch, but Dominique scooted away from her and Mya tried to hide her hurt expression.

"I don't understand why you told a complete stranger and not Lily; isn't she your best friend?" James asked, still not quite sure what to say to make Dominique feel better.

"James!" Mya was horrified at James' question.

Dominique ignored Mya's outburst and snorted at James' question. "Lily believes in fairy tales where the girl finds the boy. Victorie and Teddy, you and Mya, her and Scamander. There's no fairy tales where girls find other girls; she wouldn't understand. Besides I didn't want anyone in the family to know. I don't know how to tell them; we're never had anyone in the family who was gay."

James snorted. "I full heartedly believe that Uncle Charlie is gay or into some kind of beastiality."

When he saw that didn't get Dominique to crack a smile her moved to sit on the other side of her. Mya got up from the other side, realizing that the cousins needed alone time. James wrapped his arm around his cousin's shoulders trying to comfort her. Mya was surprised at how compassionate James was; she knew they should be alone and she would meet up with him later. She slipped silently away, knowing James was probably what was best for Dominique right now. She disappeared around the corner thinking she would go buy something for her father.

"Lily doesn't know everything, despite what she tells everyone. There are so many people out there Dom; everybody supposedly has someone out there."

"I thought she was my person; I must look like such an idiot." Dominique wiped her tears away.

"You're not an idiot; besides only three people know you like her anyways." James offered his cousin his shoulder to lean on. "Just because she isn't the one doesn't mean you don't have somebody out there."

Dominique leaned her head against James' shoulder, something about it felt right, even though they had argued for the past six years. She tried to remember the last time she had relied on James for anything. She remembered when she was four she used to follow James around and adored him. She was heartbroken when James returned from school and shut her out. He was the reason she had joined the Quidditch team; she wanted to prove she could go against him. Everyone had the favorite cousin and as much as Dominique loved Lily, she always secretly had looked up to James.

"I really thought she was the one; our parents seemed to have it easy finding their soul mates." She let out a deep sigh.

"Dom, you're too young; you don't need to know who your soul mate is. Not everyone can be a Harry and Ginny Potter and meet your soul mate when your eleven. Or even Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur I'm sure they had a hard time too; everyone tells the fairy tale part of the romance, no one wants to hear about the real struggle. Although our parents do teach you the lesson of your soul mate could be right in front of your face. Look at Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione or me and Mya; I can't believe I just said that out loud."

Dominique's head lifted off James' shoulder and she stared at her cousin, noticing that his cheeks had a slight pink tint to them. "You think you two are soul mates?"

"How would I know? We've barely been dating." James was speaking at an incredibly fast rate. "All I meant was we never know who we'll fall for and that it could be someone who was always in front of us."

"When did you become good with love?"

"I wouldn't call it good with love. I just found a girl that's too good for me." James shrugged.

"No, I don't agree with that." Dominique shook her head. "If you love someone that should be enough, especially when they love you back. It doesn't mean she's too good for you. You balance each other out."

"Loving someone isn't always enough." James then registered his cousin's words. "You think she loves me?"

Dominique rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's quite obvious. It's the way she looks at you when you're not looking. And I can tell you love her because you get that stupid smile. Yep like the one you have now."

James tried to force himself to frown, but it wouldn't stick. He couldn't help it; Longbottom loved him. "I don't have a stupid smile."

Dominique elbowed him in the side. "Don't be sensitive; it's a compliment. Besides I'm sure Mya loves that stupid smile. Where did Mya go? Wasn't she just here?"

James looked around, Mya wasn't anywhere. "She must have gone to get something."

"I interrupted your date with Mya, what were you doing before you found me?"

James thought back and then became ashamed. "Right before we found you we were actually hiding from my friends."

"I never liked your friends." Dominique scrunched up her nose. "Besides they seem like crappy friends if you had to hide your girlfriend, who you love, from them."

"I'm a coward, I always have been; there's plenty of reasons why I wasn't sorted into Gryffindor."

"If you really love Mya you wouldn't hide her; coward or not, love is what makes you strong. If you think you need to hide your girlfriend you need to either let Mya go or find better friends." Dominique nagged.

"You cannot tell me to let Mya go; I love her." James confessed.

Dominique crossed her arms angrily. "Then act like it. You are lucky enough to have someone that loves you back; don't throw that away and ruin this for yourself. This family has a way of self-destructing."

James' eyes narrowed. Dominique had always been one of his favorite cousins; he had never heard her be so negative about their family before. "Why would you say that?"

"Good things can happen to us and we don't know how to react to them. You haven't exactly been present in this family for the past six years." Dominique's words cut deep, but he knew they were true; he had turned his back on his family. "Not that you would know, but Vic's called off her wedding to Teddy at least four times. Molly got an internship and ended up getting herself kicked out. Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron have been fighting a lot lately. Rose said that Uncle Ron has been sleeping at the shop."

"He's sleeping in Uncle George's shop?" James asked in amazement. "Aunt Hermione must be really pissed at him over something."

"James it's serious; Rose won't tell anyone what's going on, not even Scorpius. All actions have consequences and Rose is worried that what's happening between her parents will affect her relationship with Scorpius. Carpe diem."

Dominique set her head down on James' shoulder again. The two sat in silence, just thinking. Somehow, they knew it was okay not to talk anymore and they felt comfortable with that.

OOO

The next morning Mya walked into the Great Hall with a spring in her step. She was starving, but felt great. She had met up with both James and Dominique and they had a few fire whiskeys together. She and James did their best to help cheer Dominique and she seemed to be doing better. They had walked up to the castle together, but that didn't stop them from kissing good-bye as they parted. Dominique teased her the rest of the way up to their common room, but Mya didn't care. She felt genially happy for the first time; maybe she did tame the beast that was James Potter.

She snapped back to reality when she almost ran into a body that appeared in front of her. She blinked and Kaylee Chang became clear in front of her, her hair tied back into two pigtails, a magazine clutched in her hand.

"Umm, hi Kaylee." Mya said awkwardly. She kept trying to side step the other witch, but Kaylee stepped back in front of her each time. "Can I help you?"

Kaylee gave Mya a sickly-sweet smile and held the magazine up so she could read the article title she had on the page that was open. She stared at the bold letters with confusion; James Potter, Hogwarts' Playboy. Mya's eyebrows crinkled together; what the hell was that supposed to mean? It wasn't like he hadn't been called that before, but things were different now. Was this old?

"Guess you're not as great as you think." Kaylee replied smugly. "You bored him, so much he had to find someone else to shag. Everyone thought you were so great, but I knew James would never change. He always liked having more than one girl; you aren't anything special. Look there's even a picture of him with another girl; some blonde. It's only a matter of time until he comes crawling back to me; I was always his favorite."

"Let me see that."

Mya reached for the magazine, but Kaylee was quicker than her and shoved it in her face. "Take a good look at it. It's all anyone is talking about. That and how big of a fool you are for thinking you changed him."

She snatched the magazine out of Kaylee's grasp and pulled it out of her face so she could read the article. She looked at the page and saw a picture of James' back and a smaller girl leaning against his shoulder. There was another one of her and James sitting together in the Three Broomsticks laughing together. The pictures were in black and white; Mya's head was reeling as she tried to figure out how Witch Weekly got those pictures. She quickly scanned over the gossip article trying to figure out what the hell was going on. There's no way James could be cheating on her, she tried to tell herself as she read over the words.

Is there already trouble in paradise? James Potter, the Harry Potter's oldest son is probably one of Hogwarts most sought after bachelors. However, the rumor is that he is off the market as we discussed a few weeks ago. There have been many sightings of the Potter boy with Mya Longbottom (See the article from three weeks ago, to see the profile on Miss. Longbottom) and for the most part we have had no reports of trouble brewing in paradise between the new couple. Now we have an insider who supplied us with the photos, give us the latest scoop on Mr. Potter, or should we say Mr. Playboy. Last Saturday Mr. Potter was seen out with Miss. Longbottom, but the two separated and Mr. Potter was seen getting cozy with a young blonde, our insider tells us. "James is known for not being able to stay with one girl at a time. He gets bored with one girl and jumps to another. It's no surprise she reached the end of James' attention span; she's such a bore." Our insider explained to us. There's no news yet on who this mysterious blonde is but, we promise to uncover more and find out who this new girl is. Maybe she will know the key to holding the Playboy Potter's heart. There is no telling how Mya Longbottom will react to hearing the news. Guess she should know not to fall in love with a playboy who can't feel love. Until next time my loyal readers. Kisses!

"What is this shit?" Mya questioned looking up from the magazine. "It's gossip and poorly written. There's seriously a witch that writes about James every week; he's not that interesting."

Kaylee's eyes narrowed. "That is your downfall Longbottom. Everyone thinks you're so great. This proves you're not and not even James thinks anything of you; he cheated on you. I just need to figure out who this new girl is; of course, it had to be a blonde. Oh well I guess I can buy hair dye or bribe one of my roommates into creating some for me."

Mya took a closer look at the picture of James and the mystery girl. They were together on Saturday when Mya had her back turned, but the only girl she had left him with was his cousin, who was blonde. Everything clicked in Mya's head and she started laughing.

"What's so funny? Your boyfriend is cheating on you!" Kaylee steamed starting to get angry.

"Oh, yes he's fucking his cousin." Mya snorted. She shoved the magazine back at Kaylee. "Look at the picture; it's Dominique. Nice try though Kaylee."

Kaylee looked back and forth between the magazine and Dominique, who was staring at the two older witches along with Hazel, Rose and Lily. She ended up giving a little scream and storming over to the Ravenclaw table where she sat down and gave death glares towards the Weasley family. Mya shook her head and went to her table where she was bombarded with questions.

"What did the witch bitch want?" Hazel squealed trying to be heard over her cousins and older sister.

"Hazel," Rose scolded above Lily and Dominique's snorts of laughter. "You can't call her that."

"Why not?" Hazel huffed crossing her arms. "She's a witch and a bitch; it even rhymes, I thought it was brilliant."

"Is there a reason she was giving me a dirty look before she stormed out?" Dominique spoke up over Rose's response.

Mya rolled her eyes. "You guys are going to love this one. Apparently, James is cheating on me."

"What?!" Lily screamed bolting upwards out of her seat and gaining most of the Great Hall's attention. "I'm going to kill him!"

Dominique held her arm out to keep her from charging at the Slytherin table. "Shut up for a minute. Mya doesn't look upset; there has to be more to the story."

"This is the best part." Mya was trying to hold back her laughter, which only confused the cousins even more.

"She's lost it; who laughs about their boyfriend cheating on them?" Lily whispered to Dominique under her breath.

"Witch Weekly did an article about how James is cheating on me with some mysterious blonde. There's pictures and everything of him with her. However, I looked at the picture and its Dominique."

"What?!" Lily and Dominique cried at the same time.

"I need to see this for myself." Lily muttered and walked to the other end of the table where Harper was eating with the magazine in front of her. She put up a protest, but Lily ignored her and plopped down between Dominique and Mya.

Dominique's nose crinkled as she looked at the picture of her and her cousin. "God, it does look like we're secretly lovers."

"Who is the inside source?" Rose asked as she and Hazel stretched to see the article for themselves. "And the author is anonymous. Who wrote this rubbish?"

"No wonder mum never let us read Witch Weekly." Hazel commented crinkling her nose. "Mya, they did a profile on you!"

"How did I not know about this?" Mya chewed on her finger. "It's embarrassing."

The Weasleys shared a look between each other. As much as they loved Mya, they didn't feel sorry that she was in the news. They had all been making headlines since they were born. It came with being a part of this family; whether you liked it or not.

"What were you expecting exactly?" Lily asked. "You're dating the Potter boy. He may be a dick, but he's still pretty much wizard royalty because of our dad. That makes him a media target. Just be glad Rita Skeeter hasn't written anything about you."

"Yet." Dominique muttered under her breath.

"She's the reason mum won't let us read Witch Weekly." Rose whispered to Hazel. "Besides the fact its complete rubbish."

"Speak for yourself. I actually enjoy it." Harper bristled from behind the cousins. She then turned to address Mya. "You can't blame people for believing James is cheating on you; he is a known cheater."

"It's Dominique." Hazel spoke up in defense of both her cousin and Mya.

"I heard, but I think its good for you to hear an opinion outside of the Weasley gene pool." Harper snapped before snatching her magazine out of Dominique's hand and stomping away.

"What crawled up her arse?" Lily asked narrowing her eyes.

"MYA!"

All the girls' heads snapped to the back of the Great Hall where James had rushed in.

"What the bloody hell?" Dominique questioned as James charged towards them.

Mya stood up as James came to a complete stop in front of her. All eyes were on them and Mya could only imagine what her father was thinking.

"Mya; its not what you think! I'm not cheating on you; that's a picture of me and Dominique." He huffed out trying to catch his breath.

She placed her hands on the side of his face and looked into his eyes. All of her anger from earlier and the article melted away and everyone else in the room disappeared. Looking into his eyes and seeing how upset he was made Mya realize how much she loved him.

"I know; it's okay." She pressed her forehead against his.

James let out a sigh of relief. "I was so worried I was going to lose you over that stupid gossip."

"I'm right here; I'm not going anywhere." Mya smiled at him.

"God just kiss already." Lily groaned as Hazel giggled behind her.

James smiled and took his little sister's advice and kissed his girlfriend in front of everyone. He didn't want there to be any doubt that Mya Longbottom was the only one for him.

Ah finally done with this chapter. Enjoy! I think the next one I want to bring Neville into it. I haven't written about him in a while and what he must think of his youngest daughter's relationship. So, I made this chapter super long so everything made sense. I hope you liked it. Of course, nothing is what it seems when it comes to teenagers and magic. I'm not going to make any promises about the next chapter, but I do want to start writing it soon, so hopefully I will be faster than this last time. As always if you love that chapter leave a REVIEW, SUSCRIBE to me or the story if you want to keep updated and FAVORITE. Side note thank you to everyone that has been keeping up with this story, reviewing and subscribing. Your support does mean the world to me. If you would like to see anything in the future of the story I will do my best to add it in or if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them.

-Chelsea 3