Chapter Sixteen: Facing Fears

"Jamie," Hermione cried again, reaching me as I was opening the door to leave. "Don't leave…uh…"

I halted reluctantly and faced her. "What…?" was all I could manage through my confusion. I meant to say "What the heck is going on?" but I was so speechless.

Hermione looked over her shoulder at Klaus, who was still frozen and both looked very nervous to have been caught.

"We were just…um…" Hermione trailed off, looking just as tongue tied as I was. Why was she the confused one? Especially Hermione. It wasn't like her to be so flustered about something.

"It's really not what it looks like," Klaus said stepping forward to move to Hermione's side.

"Then, what is it?" I said, looking back and forth between them. "Why are you in the girls' bathroom together?"

"We were just…exchanging notes," Hermione said unconvincingly.

"Jeez, I'm not that stupid," I said, "Do you honestly expect for me to believe that? Just tell me the truth."

Hermione's face was contorted with worry. "I-I can't," she said, "I made a promise."

"To who?" I said. "All I see is my best friend and my ex in the bathroom together doing who knows what?"

They were both silent.

"You know what? Fine, don't tell me," I said, and turned around. "Have fun…I guess."

"Please, Jamie," Klaus said, "We're not doing anything I swear. We were only meeting because—"

"I don't need you to make any excuses," I retorted over my shoulder at him, "Looks like I'm the only one who's expected to tell the truth around here."

"Wait," Hermione said before I could push the door open. "I'll tell you. But you have to promise to keep it a secret."

I crossed my arms. "Go on," I said. "Explain then."

"We were—" Klaus started.

"I was talking to Hermione," I said a bit testily. There was only one person I could really trust in this room and I prayed that it wasn't about to be completely blown in my face.

Hermione pulled the necklace out so I could finally get a real look at it.

"This isn't just an ordinary necklace," she said, "It's not even an amulet. It's called a Time Turner and that basically captures what it is. It allows someone to go back in time."

I turned around as I looked closely at the Time Turner. "So that's how you've managed to take so many classes?" I asked. Hermione and Klaus nodded simultaneously. "So this, you two meeting here, is this a daily thing to use the Time Turner?"

Hermione still looked nervous as she spoke. "Some days our schedules don't clash so we can usually use it at different times. Students aren't technically allowed to have them and they're even banned to most wizards and witches by the Ministry of Magic. This is nearly the last one." She put a hand on my shoulder. "I swear, I would have told you, but Professor McGonagall made us promise to keep it a secret. I probably shouldn't even be telling you this now. But you just have to promise not to tell anyone what you saw, okay? And I'm sure you won't. Not even Harry or Ron can know if they ever decide to speak to us again."

"I'm not going to breath a word," I said, genuinely as my worries calmed. I knew it couldn't have been anything but that. "I understand completely."

"Thank you, Jamie," Klaus said, "You know I would never do that."

"Right," I said bitterly. I was still a bit pissed at him. "Just like you swore you never wanted to be with Fiona."

He frowned. "That has nothing to do with any of this," he said.

"Actually, it kind of does," I said, "See, Klaus, it doesn't matter whether you were actually together or not. You still lied about it. And yes, maybe I lied about kissing Malfoy. But you made me feel so horrible about myself for keeping my secret. When all along you had your own."

"That's hardly fair," he said, "Those are two very different secrets."

"Are they really?" I queried. He didn't respond, only continuing to frown at me. "Well, I'm just going to go to the library or whatever," I muttered, not wanting to stay any longer. "Get on with your Time Turner stuff."

I waved at Hermione, hoping she would know my anger wasn't directed at her. I barely acknowledged Klaus as I left. I didn't like being nasty to him, since there was apart of me that still cared, but that was just it. It hurt too much that I could only cope if I channeled it in anger.

When I reached the library, my high hopes from before faded slightly after seeing Klaus. I put a fresh smile on my face as I sat down beside Charlie and pulled out my books to study.

"You look a little distracted," Charlie said, when he noticed my attempts at transfiguring my quill into a candlestick failing. "You're usually pretty good at that one."

I lowered my wand in defeat as it failed again. The quill had taken the shape of the candle, but failed to actually transfigure into it.

"That really is bad," I said and we shared a laugh as we looked at the miserable looking quill.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked, giving me a small nudge. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, looking away to my parchment which was covered in blotches of ink to cover up my many mistakes. "I'm just a bit overwhelmed…everything seems to be happening at once."

"You're still upset about Klaus, aren't you?" he asked.

I looked back up at him, trying to remain nonchalant. Inside I was anxious, wishing he hadn't brought that up. I didn't want him to be involved with it. I liked that we had a friendship where he didn't have to know everything.

"Yeah," I said, with a shrug. "But it's nothing to fuss over. I just need time to get over him, that's all."

"I'm sure you will," he said, and I glanced at him again. We locked gazes for a moment. And yes, I did think about it. All I would have to do was lean in and I could…forget about—

"What are you doing?" he asked, looking a little startled as he pulled away from me.

"O-oh," I said, in surprise, feeling flustered now. "I-I was just…"

"Were you trying to kiss me?" Charlie asked, squinting at me.

It was just so unbearably awkward. "Well, I thought that you might…want to…"

Charlie frowned and looked puzzled. "I'm sorry if I gave you that impression, Jamie," he said, getting up now. "But I just considered you as a good friend, that's all. I hope you're not upset."

"Just…just go…" I said, looking down in embarrassment.

I felt him leaving and I stared at my parchment in dismay, letting my quill scratch roughly against it until it snapped.

So that ended my brief friendship with Charlie. Now, I was forced to go to lunch or hide up in my dorm until Hermione's nagging convinced me to join her in the Great Hall. Now that I knew about the Time Turner, it actually seemed to help her mood improve. Before, not only did she have the stress of juggling the work for all her classes, she had to keep such a big secret from us. She kept making me promise not to tell anyone, especially Harry or Ron. I agreed, of course. And I found ways to help her. I would hold onto some of her books for her so she didn't have to strain her back over the heavy load. I probably owed it to Hermione after everything. If it weren't for her keeping me focused on work and life in general, I probably would have retired to my bed along time ago and never got up again. She kept me going, which I needed until I found a way to do it for myself again.

Things turned around when Professor McGonagall returned Harry's Firebolt. He walked into the common room and was immediately swarmed by the Gryffindor house.

Hermione and I were sitting at a table, getting our work done. I was mostly focusing on mending my quill but my mind was too unfocused for me to accomplish much. Bonnie was lying underneath our table, playing with my shoelace. I had to stop sometimes to nudge her away every now and then before she could gnaw them apart.

The crowd parted after a moment and I glanced up as Harry and Ron approached us. Hermione was pretending not to notice.

"Looks like you got it back after all," I said, narrowing my eyes and leaning back in my chair with my arms crossed over my chest.

Harry was grinning broadly as he held up the Firebolt.

"I did," he said, "See, Hermione?" he tried to get her attention.

"There wasn't anything wrong with it!" Ron said.

"Well — there might have been!" Hermione said.

Harry must have noticed that I wasn't as happy as Hermione seemed to be because his grin faded slightly.

"What's the matter, Jamie?" Harry asked.

I clutched my quill tightly. "What's the matter is that you've been giving us the cold shoulder for days," I said, getting to my feet, my arms uncrossing. Bonnie seemed to enjoy this abrupt movement and pounced on my shoelace, as if we were playing. "And I know, I know. McGonagall took your Firebolt, but…I needed you to be my friends. And you cut me out. I needed you so much." I crossed my arms across my chest again, hoping to suppress that sharp pang in my heart.

Harry put a hand on my shoulder. "You're right," he said, his green eyes gazing at me in understanding. "We shouldn't have ignored you." He glanced down at Hermione briefly.

"Yeah," Ron agreed, shifting his feet and looking a bit uncomfortable, "I guess we should have at least let you explain yourselves."

"So, are we good now?" Harry asked.

I sighed. "Alright," I said, mustering a small grin. "As long as you promise to let me have a turn on it."

Harry chuckled. "Of course," he said. We hugged and it felt better to know at least I still had a few of the people I cared about back in my life. I gave Ron a hug too, despite him looking a bit awkward about it.

"At least you know now that it's safe!" Hermione said.

"Yeah, I suppose so," Harry said. "I'd better put it upstairs —"

"I'll take it!" Ron said eagerly. "I've got to give Scabbers his rat tonic."

I wrinkled my nose as Ron took the Firebolt and carried it carefully up to the boys' dorm.

"Can I sit down, then?" Harry asked Hermione and I.

"I suppose so," Hermione said.

"Of course," I said, eagerly. Hermione and I cleared her heap of parchment off one of the chairs.

Harry sat down, looking cheerful again and his eyes surveyed the messy table covered almost entirely by Hermione's various essays from Arithmancy to her very long Muggle Studies essay on electricity. Right now, she was working on a rune translation. I returned to my own long essay for Potions, which Hermione hadn't even started.

"How are you getting through all this stuff?" Harry asked her.

"Oh, well — you know — working hard," Hermione said.

"Why don't you just drop a couple of subjects?" Harry asked, as Hermione looked for her rune dictionary.

"I couldn't do that!" Hermione said, as if Harry had just offended her.

"Come on, Hermione," I said, "I mean, do you really need to be taking Muggle Studies? It seems a bit redundant. I think you know all there is to know about electricity."

"It's not," Hermione said, "I happen to enjoy learning it from a Wizarding perspective."

"Yeah because everything is so different," I muttered. "Technology is the same whether you know it from a Wizarding perspective or Muggle."

"Arithmancy looks terrible," Harry said, and picked up a number chart that looked very difficult.

"Oh no, it's wonderful!" Hermione said earnestly. "It's my favorite subject! It's —"

Before Hermione could explain how great Arithmancy was, she was interrupted by a muffled yell, which made the entire common room fall silent, looking frightened. Bonnie's back arched and she was making choked hissing noises. I reached down to pull her onto my lap. There were quick footsteps and Ron appeared abruptly with his bedsheet.

"LOOK!" he bellowed, thundering over to our table, and looking solely at Hermione. "LOOK!" he yelled, and shook the sheets at her.

"Ron, what — ?"

"Calm down, Ron," I said, feeling like I knew where this was heading. "There's no need to make a scene."

"CALM DOWN? SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!"

Hermione was looking at the sheet in befuddlement, leaning away from him. That was when I noticed the red spot on Ron's sheets. It looked like—

"BLOOD!" Ron yelled as the rest of the common room watched in stunned silence. I felt my face flushing in embarrassment. Ron didn't seem to care. "HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"

"N — no," Hermione said in a quivering voice.

Ron threw something hair-like onto Hermione's Ancient Runes assignment. I realized at a second glance that they were cat hairs—long, ginger cat hairs.

Despite mending my friendship with Harry and Ron, Hermione's friendship with Ron seemed to deteriorate completely. They were so angry at each other and I wasn't sure how long it would take them to fix it.

I wasn't entirely sure what happened, but I was just so over this whole Crookshanks-Scabber thing. Honestly, Crookshanks wasn't even that bad of a cat, at least when I was around him. And there wasn't a whole lot of proof that Scabbers was actually eaten. Harry took Ron's side and even though I warned him not to, he still tried to convince Hermione that Crookshanks ate Scabbers.

"How did it go?" I asked when Harry returned to the sofa in the common room. Hermione was at her own private one across the room so she could concentrate.

Harry sighed as he sat down. "She's upset with me now. Because she thinks I always take Ron's side and blame her for everything."

"That's not entirely false," I said. "You do seem to take Ron's side a lot."

Harry frowned. "The evidence is all there, Jamie," he said, "All you have to do is look at the sheet. You can't honestly ignore that Crookshanks ate Scabbers."

"Maybe he was eaten," I said, "Maybe he wasn't. The evidence doesn't prove much, does it? The cat hair could have been there from before—from Christmas. Let's just agree to disagree though, because I really don't feel like arguing about this."

Harry looked like he wanted to keep going about his side, but then, nodded.

"Yeah," he said, "It's bad enough that we can't go anywhere without Ron and Hermione arguing."

"Besides," I said, giving him a smile. "We have a Quidditch match to worry about."

"We?" Harry said, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm going to be playing," I said, "Only for the first ten minutes. But I'm still a bit nervous."

Harry smiled. "Don't be," he said, "You've been doing really well in practice."

Ron came downstairs then and joined us, looking a bit sulky. He seemed to bring the loss of his rat with him wherever he went.

"Someone looks a bit pouty today," George said who had been playing Exploding Snap with Fred, Mel, and Ginny in front of the fireplace.

"Are you really that upset about it?" Mel asked.

Ron scowled at them. "Of course I'm upset," he said, "He was eaten by Crookshanks. You saw."

"How do you even know he's dead?" I asked, skeptically.

Ron frowned at me now. "You saw," he said, "There was blood all over that bed sheet."

"Come on, Ron, you were always saying how boring Scabbers was," Fred said bracingly. "And he's been off-color for ages, he was wasting away. It was probably better for him to snuff it quickly — one swallow — he probably didn't feel a thing."

"Fred!" Ginny said indignantly.

"It wasn't as if he mattered much," Mel said, "He was just a rat."

"All he did was eat and sleep, Ron, you said it yourself," said George.

"He bit Goyle for us once!" Ron said miserably. "Remember, Harry?"

"Yeah, that's true," Harry said.

"His finest hour," said Fred, unable to keep a straight face. "Let the scar on Goyle's finger stand as a lasting tribute to his memory. Oh, come on, Ron, get yourself down to Hogsmeade and buy a new rat, what's the point of moaning?"

Harry was looking for a way to cheer Ron up, so he convinced him to come to the last practice for Gryffindor's team before the match against Ravenclaw. I was secretly pumped for this game especially since it was against Klaus and Fiona's house. Harry promised that Ron could ride the Firebolt after and I made sure to get in on that too.

So the three of us headed out to the field, with Ron talking avidly about the Firebolt, his mind off of Scabbers for the moment. It was nice since; his constant moaning had been getting on my nerves.

Mel was already there and gave me a slight smile as we approached Madam Hooch. She marveled at the sight of the Firebolt and Wood had to actually ask for her to return it to Harry so he could practice. Madam Hooch went to sit with Ron in the stadium to watch.

Wood had us gather around to give us a talk about tomorrows match.

"Now, Jamie, since you're going to be playing your first game, I want you to get a good rest. And make sure to keep your head up more in case there's an opportunity to pass it. Just keep it out of the other team's reach and whatever you do, stay on your broom."

I nodded and so did the other Chasers who would be playing tomorrow—Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet. Katie Bell was in the hospital wing after being jinxed by a group of Slytherins.

"Harry, I've just found out who Ravenclaw is playing as Seeker. It's Cho Chang. She's a fourth year, and she's pretty good. … I really hoped she wouldn't be fit, she's had some problems with injuries. …" He scowled, clearly not happy that she recovered, and went on, "On the other hand, she rides a Comet Two Sixty, which is going to look like a joke next to the Firebolt." He looked at the broom excitedly, and then said, "Okay, everyone, let's go —"

We mounted our brooms, me on my Nimbus 2001 and Harry on his Firebolt, which shot off like a rocket. It made it difficult to focus on practice when all I wanted to do was admire the Firebolt's grace and speed, zooming across so fast that Harry was a blur, and everything that made my Nimbus 2001 seem a lot less fun.

Wood focused on Harry first, who was having the time of his life trying out his Firebolt. He was making sharp turns and steep dives that made us all gasp. When Wood let the Snitch out, Harry outraced a Bludger and caught the Snitch all within ten seconds.

Wood moved on to working on the rest of us. He was especially hard on us this practice and made sure to keep a close eye on me most of the time. It was a bit nerve-racking to be under so much pressure, but I figured it would help me withstand the upcoming pressure of the actual game. Wood hardly needed to worry though. Harry's Firebolt rose our spirits to the point that we all executed our best moves flawlessly. Even I managed to play a smooth game, scoring a couple of goals and dodging a Bludger at one point. By the time we finished and returned to the ground, Wood was beaming proudly at us.

"I can't see what's going to stop us tomorrow!" Wood said. "Not unless — Harry, you've sorted out your dementor problem, haven't you?"

"Yeah," Harry said, sounding a bit uncertain.

"You don't have a dementor problem either, right, Jamie?" Wood asked me.

"It's all cleared up," I lied, feeling a bit uncomfortable as I realized I might in fact have a slight problem with it. I was pretty sure Harry was receiving help with his problem from Lupin, but I was still stumped on what I would do if I did cross paths with a dementor. I didn't think any amount of practicing could eliminate my reaction.

"The dementors won't turn up again, Oliver," said Fred confidently.

"You saw how pissed Dumbledore was last time," Mel said, "He's definitely not going to allow that to happen again. To anyone." She winked at me.

"Well, let's hope not," Wood said. "Anyway — good work, everyone. Let's get back to the tower … turn in early —"

"I'm staying out for a bit; Ron and Jamie want a go on the Firebolt," Harry informed Wood.

"Not for long though," I said, as the rest of the team went to the locker rooms. "It's freezing out here."

Ron jumped over the barrier of the stands to meet up with us. Madam Hooch was sleeping in the stands now. Harry let Ron ride it first and we stood at the edge of the field, watching his flaming red hair become a blur.

"Try a dive!" I suggested and Ron made a swoop to the ground. For a moment, it looked thought he actually would crash and I prepared myself for the blow, but Ron steered the Firebolt up just in time. In moments he was fifty feet in the air.

"Okay, enough hogging, Ron," I called. "It's my turn now!"

Ron did a few more laps while I waited eagerly for him to reach the ground. Ron looked a bit sad to have to give up the broom to me, but I was too excited that I took off right away.

The moment I shot off the ground, I was catapulted upwards. I learned quickly that my thoughts were controlling the broom rather than my grip on its handle. It was so cathartic to zoom around the field, with my hair blowing behind me and easily gliding even against the wind. I made a dive myself and felt my stomach drop like I was on a rollercoaster, but this was faster than any rollercoaster. I pulled myself up and my stomach did a slight jolt. Then, I shot up and started making sharp turns. As I was making another lap around, I heard Harry calling to me.

"Madam Hooch says we need to leave!"

So I returned the ground, making a final dive and then, stopping just as my feet touched the grass.

I gave Harry his Firebolt and we carried our broomsticks over our shoulders. We couldn't stop talking about the Firebolt and how precise it was in turns and the immense speed.

"I bet it's faster than the Batmobile even," I said, "You could probably fly around the world and make it back here in about an hour."

"What's a Batmobile?" Ron asked, looking confused.

Harry and I shared grins. "It's Batman's car," I explained, "He's a superhero in the Muggle world and well, he's dressed to look like a bat."

Ron looked like this was the craziest thing he'd ever heard. "Why would anyone dress up like a bat?"

"One of these days, we're going to need to have a Muggle movie marathon," I said. "You're missing out on so many things."

Ron still looked confused and I realized he probably wasn't entirely sure what a movie was. But I didn't get a chance to explain further because Harry came to a sudden halt, looking to his left.

"What's the matter?" Ron said.

I grew worried now, wondering if it could be…Sirius Black. I followed Harry's gaze and all I could see was darkness. But then, poking out of it were a pair of gleaming eyes.

"What do you see?" I asked, in a whisper. I pulled out my wand and cast "Lumos!" in the direction Harry was pointing. The beam of light emitting from my wand fell onto the grass and then, the base of a tree, and then, its branches. Finally, the light fell onto a ginger-colored fur ball—Crookshanks.

He was crouched in the leaves. I slowly inched forward, hoping to bring him into the castle. Hermione seemed worried about him when he vanished.

"Come here, Crookshanks," I crooned softly, "Come on out, you handsome boy."

"Get out of here!" Ron roared, and he picked up a stone to hurl it at him, but Crookshanks was gone again.

"Ron!" I cried in annoyance. "Why did you scare him off?"

"Don't you see?" Ron said furiously, as he tossed the stone away. "She's still letting him wander about wherever he wants — probably washing down Scabbers with a couple of birds now. …"

"Actually, Crookshanks hasn't been back since Scabbers went missing," I said, "If you would have let me get him, maybe he could have led us to Scabbers."

Ron looked furious still. "Scabbers isn't missing!" he argued. "He's dead! You saw the blood, Jamie!"

"That's not nearly enough proof," I retorted. "You don't even know if it was Crookshanks."

"Oh, great," Ron said, "Take Hermione's side! I knew you would!"

"Stop it," Harry said, "Come on, Ron, Jamie. We can't have you arguing too."

Ron and I kept frowning at each other, but we stopped our bickering as we stepped into the brightly lit entrance hall.

We headed up the staircase to the Gryffindor Tower with Harry and Ron when I saw Charlie lingering outside the portrait hole, holding what looked like a pot with a green stem embedded in soil.

"What is he standing there for?" Ron asked, a bit too loudly. "He's not in our house. Is he lost?"

Charlie looked up at us.

"Hey, Jamie," he said, "Could…we…uh…talk?"

"Is that your new boy—" Ron started, but I elbowed him in the ribs—not too hard, just enough to get him to stop talking.

"Yes, of course," I said to Charlie. "Um…Harry…Ron…why don't you go on ahead?"

I gave them a meaningful look and they headed into the common room.

"Sorry about that," I said, trying to laugh it off. "Ron can have a bit of a loud mouth sometimes."

"Don't worry," Charlie said, giving me a slight smile. "I have friends like that too. You just have to learn to adapt."

"Yeah…" I said, fumbling in my brain for something to say.

"So, uh, Quidditch practice, huh?" he said, gesturing to my broom. "You have the match tomorrow, right? With Ravenclaw, right?"

I nodded. "I'll be playing actually," I said, "It's going to be a tough game, but we've got a good team going."

"And the Firebolt, right?" Charlie said, "I noticed Harry carrying it. You're going to win for sure with that broom on your side."

"It's amazing," I said, "Harry let me ride it. It's super fast and the turns are so sharp. I wish I could go out and ride it a bit more."

"The Slytherin team is going to go ballistic," Charlie said with a laugh.

"I know," I said, and thought about Malfoy. I couldn't wait to see that smirk wiped off of his face tomorrow. I realized then, that we were getting a bit off topic. I should probably be embarrassed that he was here. He had rejected me last time I saw him. What was he here for anyways? "Look, Charlie, if this is about me trying to kiss you…don't worry about it. I get it if you just want to be friends."

"That is why I'm here," he said, with a slight nod, "but it's just that…I've been thinking about it. About you. See that's the problem. I can't seem to…I don't want to be friends." He held up the pot. "Do you think you could give me another chance?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I think I can," I said, "But I think maybe…we could start things slow. You know, build a foundation first."

"Right," Charlie said, "Of course."

"What's in the pot?" I asked. "Is that for me?"

Charlie extended the pot to me and I took it in my hands. "I planted some daisies," he said, "For you. They're not fully grown yet of course."

"Thanks," I said, "That was very sweet of you."

We looked at each other for a moment and then, he leaned forward so that our lips finally met. It wasn't weird like last time and neither of us pulled away. All the same, it was more upsetting to me than anything. Despite how good the kiss felt, I realized it was my first kiss from a guy that wasn't Klaus. All I could think about was how I wished Klaus was the boy I was kissing. And it wouldn't matter how many daisies Charlie got for me, my mind was set on only one boy—the one boy who didn't care for me any longer.


Melissa Sampson

Classes went on as usual, since most of the teachers were reluctant to encourage the holiday's festivities. We had double Potions today, on Valentine's Day; meaning Professor Snape was especially sour. And that was usually when I got into the most trouble. How was I supposed to sit for two hours straight in that boring as hell classroom without having a bit of fun?

We were brewing the Babbling Beverage potion. I was working with Angelina Johnson because Snape officially banned me from working with Fred or George. That usually ended in catastrophe, at least for Snape and any other victims to our reckless Potion skills. Things were better working with Angelina, in a way, since I ended up actually learning how to brew them instead of running my own course. Still, every now and then, I got so into the potion that I would get a little carried away with ingredients so much so that Angelina now made it part of her task to keep the ingredients to herself, only distributing safe portions to me.

"You need to stop losing points for us," Angelina said, which was what she said to me every time I even touched an ingredient. "I would like to win the House Cup again this year."

"It's not like it's intentional," I said, with a shrug as I added some scurvy grass to the mortar. "You know Snape has a grudge against me and the Weasley twins."

"At least try not to provoke it," Angelina said. "That's way too much scurvy grass." I sighed and started putting the extra back in the container, which—by her exasperated expression—was also not the right thing to do. Angelina just dropped it, but then added, "Do you honestly want to spend your Valentine's Day in detention?"

"No," I said, "but honestly, it's probably better than spending it with Lockhart."

Angelina laughed. "I have to agree with you on that," she said as she added some lovage and sneezewort to the mortar.

For the most part—when I wasn't trying to cause trouble in Potions class—Angelina and I actually got along. It was surprising that we were friends because we didn't always share the same values. Angelina was always more focused on Quidditch and while she also enjoyed the occasional prank, it upset her when it ended with Fred and George missing Quidditch practice because of detention. We weren't exactly joined at the hip, but I suppose our friendship worked so well because she wasn't afraid to call me out on things like my reckless behavior in Potions class. I guess you could say she kept me in line.

Well, except for today. I put too much ingredients in and received another detention. Fred did too.

We were sorting puffer fishes. It was boring. So, I threw a puffer fish egg at him.

"Did you really just do that?" Fred said his grin wide as he wiped the slime off his face.

"Yeah," I said, "What are you going to do about it?"

He threw a puffer fish back at me, hitting me in the shoulder as I ducked behind a cauldron. That started it. Grabbing any ingredient we could find, we started a war.

At one point, as I reached for an egg, turning my back for just a second, he grabbed me around my waist as I kicked and laughed, trying to pull him off. His fingers began to tickle me everywhere and I fell onto the floor, giggling with tears in my eyes. He was on top of me so I couldn't move.

"Stop! Stop!" I cried, gasping for breath. "Mercy! Mercy!"

Fred stopped, his face red as he laughed and fell off of me to lay next to me. I took that moment to slide on top of him.

"Ha! Look who's winning now!" I cried and I was about to tickle him in much the same way when he rolled over.

"Very funny Mel," he said, "but I believe I'm the one who's winning."

I grabbed a stray puffer fish egg and smeared it on his cheek.

"We're going to get into so much trouble," I said.

"At least it will be worth it," Fred said and smeared some of the egg on my cheek. As he did, I grabbed his hand and our eyes met as our laughter fell away for the moment. His brown eyes glinted as he leaned forward. I sat up, meeting him halfway as our lips met.

"How was that?" Fred whispered against my lips. "Was that worth the trouble?"

"Hell, yeah."

We broke again, our foreheads leaning against each other.

"What are we doing?" Fred said. "This is a little unexpected."

"I like unexpected," I said, "life would be boring otherwise."

"I don't know if we should be doing this," he said, getting off of me.

I got to my feet. "Why not?" I said, "There's nothing standing in our way."

Fred took my hands and kissed my forehead. "There's my brother," he said, "and your friend."

"George?" Mel said, "Why does that matter? Wouldn't he be happy for us?"

I leaned up to press my lips against his again. Fred's fingers intertwined with mine. Again, after a moment, Fred pulled away and stepped back, dropping my hands.

"We can't, Mel," he said. "George likes you too. He's told me about it and I thought it might go away eventually. But it hasn't. I promised myself I wouldn't do anything to interfere."

"Well, maybe he'll understand…" I said, desperately wanting this.

Fred's eyes softened. "I like you Mel," he said, "a lot. But I could never do that to my brother. And I know you wouldn't want to hurt him either."

I sighed. "Damn," I said, sinking down to the floor, my back against the wall. "The whole irony of this, is that I actually used to like George. And now he likes me as soon as I move on."

"Well, I always thought I was the better looking one," Fred said as he sat down beside me.

"Don't push your luck, Freddie," I said, using the nickname he hated.

"I like you too, Melon," Fred said pulling me closer to him as I leaned my head on his shoulder.


"I'd like to…I'd like to…face my boggart again," I said to Lupin during practice. "If that's possible…"

Lupin nodded. "I'm glad you've decided to face your fears."

I slowly walked towards the cabinet, my wand in my hands, pausing to transfigure an umbrella into a steel bat. I stored my wand in my pocket, knowing I wouldn't need it right away.

A box appeared before me, with the top uncovered, making it look dark and foreboding. I felt like I was going to be sucked right into the box and those dark flashes of myself in a similar box returned to me. I felt the urge to turn away and hide away from it, but I planted my feet so I wouldn't move anywhere but closer to it. Instead, I tried to convert those dark images and the feelings associated with them to build up my strength. Then, I raised the bat, feeling my mind cluttering with fear, convincing me not to move any further. For a moment, I was frozen in that spot, clutching the bat so tightly that my knuckles were white and sweat surfaced on my palms. I took a deep, shuddering breath and using my strength to block the fear from my mind, I brought the bat down onto the box, causing it to tremble and a splintering sound to emanate from it as the wood cracked. I could feel those fearful thoughts beginning to creep back in. I repeated the action, again, again, and again. Each strike bringing back flashes of memories of the past from the moment my hair was cut off to when the bearded associate attacked me. I pushed past them, emitting a half grunt, half-sob with each strike as I relinquished all of the pain and misery that this box seemed to represent. I didn't stop until the crate was a mere pile of chunks of wood, chipped, cracked, and broken on the floor and then, began to sob relentlessly.

After a few moments, I stopped sobbing and pulled myself together. I stood up, pulling my wand out again and uttering, "Riddikulus!"

The broken pieces disappeared and the box became Count Olaf.

"I'm the one who put you in that box, remember?" he sneered. "And you'll be in there again."

"No, I won't!" I cried. "Riddikulus!"

His mouth sealed shut so he couldn't talk and his eyes slammed shut so I could no longer see his shiny eyes. He tried to walk towards me but he couldn't see and stumbled.

I laughed. "Lupin, I defeated him! I did it!" I cried.

Lupin was ecstatic. "I knew you could do it," he said with a hand on my shoulder. "You're a warrior, tougher than anything that comes your way."


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