"I finally told Fred last night." Vicki whispered to Cedric during potions, the day before the second task.

"About the possibility of you being taken tomorrow as my hostage? How did he take it? Should I be hiding from him for the rest of the day?" Cedric jovially asked, but Vicki could sense a small hint of seriousness in his question.

"He took it really well actually. But it could be because we got pretty hot and heavy before I dropped the bombshell so I think he would have taken anything I said well." Vicki grinned.

Whilst Vicki and Cedric didn't talk about their sex lives constantly, it was bought up in conversation every now and again. Talking about crass topics was even more taboo in the wizarding world than it was in the muggle world, so it wasn't openly discussed by peers. Vicki was the only one that Cedric felt comfortable speaking about it with – he felt it was too inappropriate to speak about with his male dorm mates and Vicki was the only close female friend he had. Vicki at least had Stephanie to speak about it with (and had to endure many graphic details Stephanie had shared about her boyfriend, Kyle Stebbins). She also had her muggle friends she could discuss this with through letters.

"Er do I want to know how hot and heavy you're talking?" Cedric grimaced.

"Don't worry, nothing below the belt. It kind of went under the shirt though," Vicki playfully remarked before turning serious "Any revelations between you and Cho?"

"Do you mean if I told her about my love for her, or if there's been any action between myself and Cho? Because if it's the latter I'm not answering. A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell." Cedric responded matter-of-factly.

"Funny. Your last response to that question was a strong 'no' a few weeks ago. You would have just said the same thing again if the answer was still no. You guys have definitely done the dirty." Vicki sniggered.

"Have not!" Cedric defended quickly.

"Have so! Cedric and Cho, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Vicki sang loudly but then quietened her voice out of modesty "Or in this case, S-H-A-G-G-I-N-G. Although it doesn't have the same ring to it."

Her loud teasing was a lot more audible than she realised, and Vicki had gained the attention of the entire class. A few students sniggered upon her words. Unfortunately for her, it meant that Snape had also heard every word of the arrogant teasing and he was not pleased.

"Hartwell, I certainly do not wish to hear about any student kissing, thank you very much. If you dare speak up again and disrupt my class, I'll be taking house points from Ravenclaw." Snape snarled towards Vicki.

She went silent. She wanted to mutter 'git' under her breath once she lost his attention and then joke to Cedric about how Snape made that remark because clearly he wasn't getting any. However unfortunately things weren't going to go to plan due to a very bitter boy sitting behind them.

"Sir, she's been talking to Diggory for the entire lesson about inappropriate topics. Perhaps you should split them both up. I'd happily volunteer to switch seats with Diggory." Graham Montague spoke up from behind them.

Vicki sent a look of panic towards Cedric. He could do nothing but send her a reassuring smile. He was fearful that if he spoke up and said anything it would cause Snape to follow through and force Vicki next to Montague.

Vicki had still not uttered a word to Montague since the Yule Ball a couple of months prior. She guessed he was too fearful to speak to her directly – she found out later that Cedric had approached him and warned him to stay away. Fred had not threatened Montague in any way but it was pretty obvious to everyone how he would feel and react should Montague ever try with Vicki again.

This was their first interaction since he had slipped her love potion and attempted to take advantage of her. At first she was devastated for the loss of a dear friend and fearful of what had almost happened. But now she was angry. Damn angry.

"Why? So you can slip me another Love Potion like you did at the ball?" Vicki scoffed.

Her outburst shocked the entire class. It wasn't common knowledge that Montague had slipped love potion to Vicki, only a small handful of people knew about it. The use of a love potion wasn't a big deal in the wizarding world as it was seen as a harmless prank normally used by school girls. However the rare times it was used for something more sinister did not sit as well with the general public.

Therefore most students sitting in the class either shot filthy looks towards Montague, or sympathetic glances towards Vicki.

"What did I just tell you Hartwell? Ten points will be taken from Ravenclaw for speaking out of turn and disrupting my class." Snape barked towards Vicki.

Vicki was going to let it go. As quickly as anger towards Montague washed over her, it disappeared and was replaced with the same vulnerabilities and insecurities that Vicki had been feeling towards Montague and what he had done to her months prior. All she wanted was to survive the rest of the lesson and then go and see Fred after it finished for a bit of cheering up.

But for once in his life Cedric was going to stand up to a teacher. All for the sake of his dear friend.

"Sir, I must disagree with the house points being taken from Ravenclaw. As you are aware, the student in question attempted to use a potion to take serious advantage of Victoria. It's only fitting she should be able to speak up in protest of potentially being forced to sit next to her would-be abuser." Cedric quickly spoke up.

Many students nodded eagerly in support of what Cedric was saying. Maybe it was because they agreed with what he was saying, or maybe it was just because he was a Hogwarts champion. But when Snape turned around to let Cedric have it, all of the students except the Slytherins were angrily looking on.

"Diggory, this is your first and final warning against getting involved in other people's affairs. I understand you may be Hogwarts champion. It's well known the other Hogwarts champion has a nasty habit of arrogantly poking his nose where it doesn't belong too. Should you ever try a stunt like that again you'll be getting a lot more than house points deducted." Snape spat at Cedric with complete loathing before gliding to the front of the classroom and quickly speaking about the lesson to change the topic.

Both Vicki and Cedric remained quiet after Snape's outburst as they were both too fearful to speak up. Even though she couldn't express her gratitude towards Cedric she was deeply touched by the sentiment. Cedric was even more of a suck-up than she was, and she had never witnessed him so much as politely disagree with a teacher before. For him to defend her so vigorously was a very big deal and she very much appreciated it.

"Thank you. I'll never forget this." Vicki said to Cedric as they began to pack up at the end of lesson.

"You've really been there for me this year Vicki. It's the least I could do." Cedric modestly shrugged.

Both of them went silent as they watched Montague out of the corner of their eyes. He seemed to be loitering around as he was packing up his belongings at a very slow pace. Vicki used to work with him in potions prior to her relationship in Roger, she remembered him as being a student who quickly shoved everything into his bag and bounded out as quickly as possible. This was out of character.

Two Gryffindor girls seemed to notice this too as they took a spot either side of Cedric and Vicki. They didn't say anything but kept glowering towards Montague.

Once Montague had packed up he had no other excuses to dawdle to wait to get Vicki alone. He was forced to speak to Vicki with both Gryffindor girls, and Cedric present.

"I wouldn't recommend having two loser Gryffindor Quidditch players as bodyguards, Vicki. The entire school knows both Johnson and Spinnet are useless." Montague snarled towards the foursome.

"If we're losers, what does that mean? Considering we pummeled you last year in the final." Angelina Johnson snickered towards Montague.

"If you really did poison poor Hartwell here, I'm pretty sure you've lost the privilege to refer to her by her first name. So you can move along, Montague." Alicia Spinnet spat as she backed up her best friend Angelina.

Vicki was surprised that Johnson and Spinnet were defending her. They had only spoken a few lines to each other during their school careers. Vicki also knew that Alicia Spinnet wasn't her biggest fan. Vicki guessed they were only standing up for her because they were good friends with Fred and this was for Fred's sake. But she still welcomed it.

Montague looked between the four. Johnson and Spinnet looked on angrily as Diggory took a step towards him to tower over him menacingly. He then focused all of his attention upon Victoria who was averting her gaze to avoid eye contact with him.

He had been biding his time since the ball and was waiting for the best time to speak to her. Unfortunately for him the perfect time never arose. She had made herself scarce immediately after the ball and before he could even blink she had entered into a relationship with Weasley.

Montague had been hoping that Weasley was just a rebound relationship for Vicki. It would make sense – she had only grown close to him as her relationship with Roger was crashing and burning. Montague was hopeful Vicki and Weasley didn't have any special bond compared to the one in his head he believed he had with the girl. But almost two months later they were growing strong.

He couldn't help himself. He had to speak up earlier. He also had to keep going.

"Can we talk? Please? We've been friends since the start of Hogwarts, I still consider you my oldest and dearest friend. I'd love to smooth things over." Montague pleaded, as he grabbed one of Vicki's hands to emphasise his point.

She quickly recoiled it in horror but remained silent. This entire time she had tried to push what he had done to her to the back of her mind and not let it affect her. But now all of her emotional stonewalling was coming undone as this was the first time he had even spoken to her since the Yule Ball.

She was about to be rescued by two unlikely heroes.

"C'mon Vicki. Let's get you away from this desperate loser." Roger Davies muttered as he put a hand on his ex-girlfriends back and began to escort her out of the classroom.

"How sad. You can only get a girl if you slip them a Love Potion. I'd die of shame if that were me!" Phillip Bridge teased as he followed the two, acting as a second barrier between Vicki and Montague.

Both Roger and Phillip continued to escort Vicki, they were silent as they all walked briskly up through the castle until they reached the Ravenclaw common room. Roger answered the riddle correctly to get into the common room ('The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?' Roger correctly answered 'Footsteps').

There weren't many people around as most students would still be coming back from their last class, or potentially skipping dumping their lesson materials in their dorm and going straight to dinner instead. Therefore they were given almost complete privacy.

"Thanks, guys. I know it's not in your usual repertoire to help a damsel in distress but it's very much appreciated." Vicki weakly smiled towards the two.

"I was there that night. I remember it all. It wasn't right what he did," Roger frowned before he continued on "We may not be together anymore but I'll always consider you a good mate. I still care about your wellbeing."

Vicki smiled upon hearing Roger's words. It was a strange but comforting feeling to her. To be standing in front of the one she used to be deeply in love with, but now she was in love with somebody else. Her feelings for Roger had long faded (she now realised her feelings for Fred began whilst she was still with Roger) but it was nice to have this conversation.

Until now, she and Roger had been awkwardly avoiding each other. They ran in the same social circle so when Vicki wasn't with Fred she was in Roger's presence but they barely conversed with one another.

Vicki felt what she had with Fred was perhaps even stronger and more passionate than what she had with Roger. But Roger would always be her first love and that meant something to her.

"You too, Rodge. I'll always think you're pretty cool." Vicki nodded as she had trouble expressing her feelings in words.

"That's the thing isn't it? You can't ever un-sleep with someone." Phillip crassly stated.

"You!" Vicki shouted at Phillip in frustration but then immediately softened as a small grin came over her face "You surprised me today. Didn't take you for the chivalrous type."

"What can I say? Only I get to make your life hell, Hartwell. That and I saw the opportunity to mock a Slytherin Quidditch player." Phillip responded in an attempt to be lighthearted.

Silence then fell upon the trio. It wasn't uncommon for Ravenclaws to sometimes have trouble with emotional conversations and this was no exception.

The common room started to fill up as students were coming to drop off their belongings and leaving to go to dinner. This gave the three an opportunity to depart from one another.

"You guys coming to dinner? I'm starving!" Phillip exclaimed as he jabbed his thumb towards the spiral staircase and took a few steps towards it.

"Yep. Vicki, coming?" Roger added on as he turned to address Vicki.

Vicki bit her lip as she thought about it. She didn't want to cause negativity to arise after such a positive chat with the two, but the gravity of the situation hit her. Going to dinner meant that she would need to see Montague again. She doubted he would have the bravery to approach her in front of the entire school, but she didn't want to see him at all. She also knew the gossip had probably spread on what had happened and she didn't feel like facing the rest of the school.

"Nah. I'm not hungry. I'll catch up with you guys another time." Vicki meekly stated.

The two boys only nodded and descended down the stairs. They didn't see any value in arguing with her or trying to convince her to go with them so they left without a fight.

Vicki let out a small sigh as she went to one of the many bookcases in the common room and grabbed a book. She used to love reading when she was younger. But now she was nearing her final year of Hogwarts she never found the time to enjoy a good book.

She retreated to one of the comfortable alcoves that overlooked the castle and opened her chosen book.


"Um…Vicki?" Vicki heard a voice say and she looked up from her book and saw Cho Chang standing in front of her.

"Hey. What's up?" Vicki smiled towards the slightly younger student.

"Your boyfriend is hanging around downstairs on the fifth floor. He wanted me to ask you to go out and meet him." Cho nervously stated as she felt a little bad for interrupting Vicki.

Cho also found Vicki a little intimidating. They were friends and they spent a lot of time together after hours in the common room alongside Steph Fawcett. Cho appreciated that she and Vicki were in the same boat – they had popular boyfriends in different houses so they both faced similar relationship hurdles. Cho honestly did not hold a single ounce of resentment or ill feelings towards Vicki.

But she was still slightly threatened by Vicki. Vicki had a special bond with Cedric and it made Cho a little uncomfortable.

"Ah. Right. Well, I better go meet him then." Vicki said as she jumped off the alcove.

Although Vicki didn't want to see the rest of the school she certainly wasn't avoiding Fred. She also found it incredibly sweet he had gone out of his way to see her. She took no time in bidding Cho goodbye as she quickly raced down the steps and made her way outside of Ravenclaw tower.

In the distance she could see Fred pacing the corridor.

As a few students were coming and going he hadn't noticed Vicki approaching him. She studied his form as she made her way over. He seemed concerned as he kept his gaze downwards in his pacing. Very out of character for the normally overconfident Fred Weasley.

"Hey. You wanted to see me?" Vicki asked Fred as she approached him.

Fred looked up immediately upon hearing his girlfriend's voice. He watched her face intensely. Although he had only grown close to her this year he still knew her very well and could read her very easily. She held a small smile on her face but he could tell she was keeping herself guarded.

He also knew her personality very well. He knew exactly how to respond to this.

"I just thought you might want my company. We can either talk about what happened in your potions class, or not talk about it and move on. Let me know." Fred cautiously approached but gave a shrug of his shoulders to show he was being nonchalant about his statement.

Vicki smiled. This is exactly what she wanted. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to have Fred as her boyfriend.

"There's not much to really say. It was a shock to converse with Montague again, but that's it. What he did to me was disgusting but I'm lucky that you and Roger were there that night to make sure nothing happened. I don't want it to affect my life, or our relationship. That's all I really have to say." Vicki shrugged.

"Alright." Fred said cheerfully as he put an arm around Vicki and placed a lazy kiss on the side of her head.

This was it. This was the time for Vicki to say she loved him. It may not have been the perfect setting or as carefully orchestrated as Vicki would have liked. But she didn't need fancy shenanigans or a big song and dance to tell Fred her true feelings. Their relationship was built on something a lot deeper.

"Vicki?" Fred asked her, speaking up before she could get the chance.

"Yeah?" Vicki shot back, feeling nervous as she lost control of the conversation.

"I love you." Fred confessed.

"Y-you do?" Vicki asked in shock.

She was overjoyed but caught off guard by Fred's confession as it came moments before her own. So much excitement ran through her that her brain stopped functioning and it stopped her from responding properly and telling him she felt the same way.

Past situations with Vicki normally caused Fred to grow nervous when he was unsure of whether she felt the same way that he did. But in this instance there was no uncertainty. She loved him back and he knew it.

Once Vicki wrapped her head around what Fred was saying she knew she had something to do. She needed to tell him that she returned her feelings. It was easy. It was now the perfect time.

Unfortunately for her before she could do this, Professor McGonagall briskly marched up to the two. They had been so wrapped up in Fred's declaration of love they hadn't noticed her approaching.

"Sorry professor. I know public displays of affections aren't allowed." Vicki quickly stammered out as she sprung away from her boyfriend's embrace.

McGonagall only looked between the two lovers and sent them both a glum look. She knew what was coming ahead for the both of them. She thought they were blissfully unaware and she was about to take that away from them both. She was half right – they both were aware of what was required in the upcoming task. They just had yet to know the full story.

"Miss Hartwell, I need you to escort me to my office." Professor McGonagall requested of Vicki.

Before Vicki could respond to protest, Professor McGonagall turned to address Fred.

"Mr Weasley, I need you to go find Miss Granger alongside your youngest brother and bring them both to my office. I believe they are most likely in the library with Mr Potter." Professor McGonagall instructed Fred.

Both Vicki and Fred looked at each other and shrugged. They both had no idea what was going on and what was ahead of them both but they knew they would be reunited soon in Professor McGonagall's office. They only gave each other a brisk hug under Professor McGonagall's watchful eye and both departed in opposite directions – with Vicki following Professor McGonagall.

The two walked silently throughout the castle to make their way to Professor McGonagall's office. There were plenty of students walking throughout the castle so there wasn't complete silence, but Vicki could feel tension. Something bad was certainly going on.

"So…how about them Montrose Magpies then, eh?" Vicki weakly asked Professor McGonagall in order to break the negative mood.

It was well known by all of the students that Professor McGonagall was an avid supporter of the Montrose Magpies. Apparently her family had followed them for generations as she had a very strong Scottish heritage. It was the only known way of being able to break down McGonagall's cold exterior. She'd never give special favours for Magpie supporters but on occasion she had been known for becoming a little less harsh in a lesson when someone had brought up their winning streak.

"Yes, they are doing quite well aren't they? I didn't know you supported them. I didn't think you had any Scottish in you." Professor McGonagall stated in small surprise.

"Well, I kind of support them. Even as a full blooded English woman. Apparently my paternal grandfather was almost drafted for them before he um, went missing. But my great uncle who raised my father forced him to support them growing up as my grandfather almost played for them." Vicki explained.

The mood between teacher and student was still somber even though Vicki had mentioned Professor McGonagall's beloved Magpies. Silence fell between the two again as there was no response to Vicki's explanation. Therefore in an effort to try and continue on with her plan of lightening the mood, she decided to tell Professor McGonagall some facts she may not have known.

"That great uncle moved to Australia actually. He's a squib so he didn't really feel like supporting any Australian Quidditch teams. They have this sport in Australia that's their own version of football. I don't really understand it. But there's some team there called the Collingwood Magpies so he decided to go for them purely because they were a black and white Magpie team." Vicki stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh, I didn't know this. Are they as successful as our great Montrose Magpie Quidditch team?" Professor McGonagall asked curiously.

Vicki let out a small smile. She had done it, she had managed to lighten the mood a little.

"I'm not sure actually, I don't really know much about them. Uncle William mentioned they have the record for most consecutive grand finals won to date. Apparently they're the most hated team in their league too, but it might not be because of their success. Something about most of their fans being unsavoury types." Vicki shrugged.

The conversation was dropped pretty suddenly as they both arrived outside of Professor McGonagall's office. This was it. Vicki was about to find out what was going on.


Mini theme of the chapter = AFL (Australian Football League) grand final. Which is today. CARN THE PIES! Collingwood Magpies 2018 baby! Hopefully I don't eat my words in a few hours if they lose.

Now the million dollar question - who's going to get chosen - Cho or Vicki? Find out next chapter.