Wow I have reviews! Thank you so much to Sissybuddy, xArchMage and Lelleg for reviewing - I rushed this one out for you guys. I think Roger is a massive jerk too! I'm just remembering the boyfriends my friends and I had at 16, they were all such losers!
It had taken until the afternoon for Roger to even speak to Vicki. Sure enough, as she headed to Defence Against the Dark Arts, she saw Roger approach her and begin to attempt to speak with her.
"Hey Vicki, look..." he began, as he awkwardly rubbed his neck with his one free hand, the other carrying his books.
Vicki only looked at him for a moment before continuing towards the classroom.
"I'm sorry things got out of hand." Roger stated.
This struck a chord with Vicki. Vicki was annoyed at how casual and unapologetic he sounded. She stopped in her tracks and began to sarcastically laugh at him. It was all she could do, she was too angry to do anything else.
Fred was just about to walk into the classroom behind George and Lee when he heard the sarcastic laughter. Lee had already gone into the classroom but Fred pulled his twin back and nodded his head to a few metres away where Vicki and Roger were finally having it out.
"You're sorry things went that way, huh? So you're not sorry you couldn't tell me before Potions you want to work with Phillip, you're not sorry you let him humiliate me in front of the entire class? That's what you should be sorry about!" Vicki exploded, her voice wavering by the end as tears threatened to spill.
Fred who was moved by her upset reaction went to go intervene but George held him back. This had nothing to do with Fred, no matter his feelings for the girl involved. This was only between Roger and Vicki. Fred had no business getting involved, and any motions to jump in would be unwelcome by both parties.
"Well, I don't think you're clingy. But we do spend a lot of time together, so I can see what Phillip is trying to say." Roger casually stated, angering Vicki even further. Roger winced as he anticipated that his girlfriend would explode the moment the words left his mouth.
"That didn't seem to be a problem last night when you wanted me to sneak into your dorm so we could fool around! I spent the whole night with you" Vicki shouted at him, making a few people around them stop for a moment to snicker at the private information Vicki was yelling before they continued on.
Rather than being embarrassed about this Roger grinned and winked at the pass-byers, in a way to show them all he was bragging about his conquest.
However it was as he did this that Vicki looked around and noticed the two twins near the classroom entrance. They were about to quickly go into the classroom to pretend they hadn't been listening into the couple's spat. Vicki was too quick for them, as she ditched a very confused Roger and ran to them. They were surprised when she wasn't angry, but smiling.
"Do you guys reckon I could sit with you?" She asked, feeling a little awkward as she did, refraining from biting her lip as she didn't want them to know how uncomfortable she felt.
"Oh I don't know Fred, what do you think?" George slyly asked Fred, a big grin spread across his face.
"What's in it for us?" Fred asked, mirroring George's playful coy behaviour.
Vicki's nerves melted away upon hearing this. Whilst it maybe should have made her feel more anxious that the two were pretending to be hesitant, she now knew the twins well enough to know that they were just messing around. She knew exactly how to handle them.
"I'd offer you my soul, but it's probably not a good one, it's a bit rubbish. So I'll just offer my company, I promise to make this the most kick-arse class ever." Vicki smiled at the two.
The group headed into the classroom. Lee had saved a bench table with four chairs second from the front which was now convenient as a fourth person (Vicki) had joined them. George took the seat next to Lee. Vicki sat at the end next to Fred, so Fred could sit next to his twin.
When she was seated she took a good look around the classroom. She noticed Roger was looking in her direction behind her, and he had chosen to sit with Cedric Diggory and his friends. Vicki gave a small wave and a smile to Cedric who returned it, but she completely ignored Roger when she turned away.
She then looked towards the front. The second bell (which signalled the official start of class) had previously rung just as her group had taken their seats. There was still no sign of Moody. Whilst some of her fondest memories of primary school were the semi-regular times a teacher would be running late and she got to stay outside and play longer, it never happened at Hogwarts. Teachers were always early, always standing at the front of the classroom as the students arrived. It was very strange that Professor Moody was late.
She wasn't the only one who noticed. A few students around her were muttering the same thing, coming up with wild ideas and theories about where Moody was and why he was late.
A few moments later Moody burst out of his office. He took a long swig from his flask as he descended down the staircase from his office into the classroom. He paused at the bottom of the staircase and peered at all of the students with his good eye squinted, the mechanical one was rolling all over his head. Vicki noticed she wasn't the only one in the classroom to shudder at his appearance. It was even more ghastly up close, the scar tissue all over his face being very prominent.
"Take a look to the person at your left. Then take a look to the person on your right." Moody gruffly said to his students.
Whilst a few students eyed those sitting next to them, no one took his request seriously.
"That wasn't just a line. I want you all to do as I say. Look at the person on your left, then look at the person on your right." Moody spoke up, a bit of a growl in his voice as he became even more firm.
This time, the students did as he said. Fred firstly looked towards his right and made a comment to George that he was the better looking twin. George said a cheeky rebuttal, and then he turned to the girl on his left. Vicki was staring at him, and she gave him a nervous looking smile as she did.
"Hello." Vicki said as she stared into his eyes. She noticed they were a unique sort of brown, rather than the usual chocolate brown a lot of people had they were a bit lighter, and his playful nature ran deep enough through his whole persona to be obvious in his eyes.
"Hi." Fred grinned back. He could feel Vicki was really staring at him, most likely in a way she had never done so before. He couldn't help but to grin. He was having some sort of moment with her, and he couldn't be any happier.
A few seconds later she whipped her eyes back to the front, and Fred followed suite.
"It's very important to keep an eye on your surroundings when you're faced with dangerous situations. Keep in mind who is with you. Get to know the witches and wizards you're constantly around. You never know who can turn on you. Constant vigilance." Moody darkly announced.
Vicki furrowed her eyebrows. She wasn't disagreeing with what he was saying, but she had never heard a teacher speak so gloomily before. It seemed Moody was going to teach more than just textbook spells, and that's most likely what this subject needed.
"Therefore I'm going to restrict seating. The people you are sitting next to will be the people you will be sitting next to in all of my classes for the foreseeable future. Gives you a chance to know your neighbour, and you'll constantly be aware of your surroundings." Moody stated.
Fred held back a smile. Moody was now officially his favourite teacher. He had prompted some kind of (small) special moment with his obsession and had now made it where she would be sitting next to him every class. He was beyond ecstatic.
He looked over to Vicki to see if the seating plan bothered her, but instead she looked fairly happy too.
"What did I tell you?" Vicki smiled "I promised you I'd make this the best class ever."
The class seemed to go by fairly quickly as Moody reflected on his career and taught some quick spells to the students. He mentioned he'd start covering the Unforgivable Curses in his next subject.
This is something sixth years were looking forward to. It wasn't until sixth that the ministry deem students mature enough to handle them, so that's what was in the ministry approved coursework. Vicki learned from a few older students in the past that apparently a lot of it was theory based learned from the textbooks, with the only practical part of the course was learning possible counter spells that helped.
Professor Moody on the other hand said he was going to show his class "absolutely everything" and also stated he didn't give two hoots what the ministry said, he was going to teach fourth and fifth years the same.
Every student held onto his every word and they all were a bit disappointed when the bell rang. There were no options to even ask Moody any questions. As soon as the bell rang he gruffly said goodbye to his students, took a swig from his hipflask and limped out of the classroom.
"That was such a good class." Fred said to Vicki as they began to pack up their books. He packed his up a lot slower than usual, hoping to have another good conversation with her.
George and Lee could see what he was doing. Lee eyed Roger nervously as he saw that Roger had his eyes on their group before Roger began to shuffle out of the classroom. If anything were to ever happen between Fred and Vicki, Lee was hoping Roger would still be friendly towards him, but Lee would always put Fred first. Roger was a good friend. Fred was a best friend.
"Hey, slowpoke. We'll meet you at dinner, you're moving too slowly." George teased his twin, but sent him a wink when Vicki wasn't looking as he bounced out the door with Lee.
"Sorry that I'm kind of going slowly myself. I just really don't want to go to dinner. I know a few people have been speaking about Roger and I all day, I feel like I'm going to get the brunt of it at dinner tonight." Vicki weakly smiled.
Fred could only imitate her smile and quickly change the topic as he waited for Vicki to collect her belongings. He knew she was most likely right, they were the golden couple of Hogwarts, and so any serious rifts between the two would be hot gossip for the entire school. He didn't want her to feel bad though, so he kept his mouth shut. He worked out in his head that hopefully tonight in the Common Room he might be able to work with George and Lee to figure out something that might cheer her up the next day, as they had Transfiguration together, and hopefully she would sit with him.
They made small talk as they walked down to the Great Hall together. Fred realised this was his first time with Vicki where it was just the two of them, and he really enjoyed her company. It was like during the World Cup before the attack happened, she would genuinely laugh at his jokes, and offered good contributions to the conversation. He had been so focused on his obsession with her, he forgot that one of the main factors was how much he enjoyed speaking with her.
As he bid goodbye to her and they made their way to their respective house tables he felt after a small amount of time together, he could start to let go of the creepy 'obsession' with her, and focus on being a part of her life and most importantly, being her friend. He knew one day when the time was right he might be able to win her over but for now he was happy to be friends. It wasn't an 'off' switch, but he would start to obsess less.
Vicki took her seat the Ravenclaw table and piled her plate with food. If she could stuff her face with food she wouldn't have to talk to anyone. She saw most people at the table gossiping to one another and rolled her eyes, stuffing some steamed vegetables into her mouth.
"I can't believe that happened. I've always thought that Malfoy kid was a spoilt brat, always prattling on my father this, my father that. We're in a different house in a different year, not in the same friendship group and I still know that." Stephanie giggled as she moved away from her other dorm mates down the table and sat next to Vicki, her plate in her hand.
"What happened? I only just got back from Defence Against the Dark Arts." Vicki asked curiously.
Steph sent Vicki a smile before she continued to explain.
"That Malfoy kid and Potter got into an altercation. He actually insulted Molly Weasley, and then Potter said something about Malfoy's mother back." Steph started to explain.
Vicki diverted her eyes to the Gryffindor table. She saw the twins and Lee had taken a seat next to their youngest brother Ron and Harry Potter and they were all speaking in an excited manner. Rage flowed through her veins as she saw how happy they looked. The twins were the type of people to do anything to bring a smile to other people's faces. She didn't know Ron very well but he didn't seem like a nasty kid. She also liked the youngest of the clan, Ginny. How could some insecure kid say nasty things about their mother purely to spite them?
"Whatever. Malfoy's family are like, inbred, that's what those old family pure blood people do. They're fucked in the head." Vicki hissed lowly. She was mad, but she didn't want to wage war on a powerful family over a few stupid words.
Vicki took another look at the twins who had their wands out and were using spells to send out sparks along their table. There was no point breaking the peace, they seemed to be happy despite what had happened. As much as the rage flowing through her wanted to march over to the Slytherin table and give the stupid kid a piece of her mind, she knew it wasn't worth it.
"Yeah well, long story short it ended with Moody rushing over and turning Malfoy into a ferret. It was great. Little git deserves it." Stephanie explained.
Vicki let out a hearty chuckle as the anger melted away. She was glad Malfoy got his just desserts. It also dawned on her that it was new gossip. As she looked throughout the hall she saw people gossiping together, pointing towards the Slytherin table. Her and Roger's lovers spat was officially old news. Whatever was to happen between them would happen in peace, for now.
"Exactly." Steph grinned as her clever Ravenclaw brain understood Vicki's thoughts, bringing up her glass of pumpkin juice to clink with Vicki's glass.
"Cheers!" Vicki merrily called out.
After dinner Vicki decided to head to the library to get a start on some homework. She didn't have too much to do but homework had a way of easily getting out of hand with no warning. If Vicki could keep on top of it now, she had a better chance of keeping on top for the rest of the year.
After collecting all of the references for a potions essay and mapping out what each paragraph would consist of, she closed her book to see Roger standing over her, Phillip Bridge next to him.
Vicki wanted to say something rude and snappy along the lines of 'what do you want?' but found herself choked up. She then chose to remain silent but slightly raised an eyebrow at the two.
"Phillip has something he wants to say to you." Roger awkwardly stated, doing his nervous tick of rubbing the back of his neck as he had done when he tried to speak to Vicki earlier.
"Yeah. Sorry. You're not clingy." Phillip stiffly stated with no sincerity in his apology at all. It was made obvious his apology had been forced by Roger.
Vicki only let out a small 'okay' as she turned to Roger.
"I'm sorry too. I should have at least let you know I wanted to sit with Phillip during potions. I also should have corrected him when he said you were clingy." Roger apologised.
Vicki looked up into his eyes and studied his facial expressions. He meant what he was saying. Whether he was sorry for his actions or sorry his actions caused consequences was still to be determined, but right now Vicki knew his apology was genuine. It was a step in the right direction. It gave Vicki more strength as some of the power in the situation was given to her.
"Alrighty. Well. Very convenient that you've chosen to do this in the library with next to no one around," Vicki started as she pointed to the empty tables around her, only one was occupied by the fourth year Granger girl "So you can either apologise to me in front of everyone tomorrow, or you can go around telling everyone you've apologised."
Phillip let out a low growl as he was not impressed with Vicki's proposal. Roger on the other hand could sense the animosity growing from Phillip and decided it was best to pull Phillip away.
"Okay. I understand. I'm going to go back to the common room now and reflect on the days events. I'll speak to you later." Roger stated, giving an awkward wave as he turned around and began to leave the library.
Phillip was hot on his heels, not even bothering to say anything to Vicki, giving her a quick blank stare as he followed Roger out.
Vicki smiled to herself. She now felt a lot better on how the day unfolded.
