"Betsy! Wake up! Your alarm clock has been going off for the last five minutes!" Emma yelled at Betsy.

"What?" Betsy yawned, and sat up groggily.

"Why are you so tired?" Emma asked. "It isn't like...Betsy!" Emma scolded. "You went somewhere with George last night!"

"How did you know?" Betsy asked.

"Betsy, I've been your best friend since fourth grade," Emma replied.

Betsy smiled. "It was lovely, Emma. He took me on his broom to a tower and we looked at the stars."

"And?" Hermione, who had been listening, asked.

Betsy looked confused.

"How far did you go?" Emma translated.

"Ohhh," Betsy giggled. "He was going to kiss me, but a pesky cat came right then. But I kissed him good night on the cheek."

"That's so sweet," Hermione said.

Betsy started to sing as she got ready. "It's a lovely day today..."

"Wow, she's happy," Hermione said to Emma.

"Yeah," Emma replied, "It's kind of weird, cuz she's kissed other guys, but she's never acted like this."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Betsy said and stuck out her tongue at Emma and Hermione. "Let's go!" She skipped down the stairs leading to the Common Room. "Good morning everyone!"

"Hullo," Ron said. "We were just waiting for you to go down to breakfast."

Betsy met George's eyes. They were aqua. She smiled.

* * *

"So is Catback really different from Hogwarts?" George asked, as he twirled spaghetti around his fork, at lunch.

"Yeah," Betsy replied. "At Catback, the classes are a lot harder, but there's less homework and more extracurricular stuff, like sports and clubs."

"What other sports are there?" George asked.

"Well, there's Crog, and Weddin, and I play Fergelly," Betsy said.

"I think I read an article about that in a magazine," George said. "It's played in water, right?"

"Yeah, it's like Quidditch, sort of, all the balls are the same, but no brooms, of course, and it's all underwater. We eat gillyweed before practice and games, so we can breathe. The goals are different, though." Betsy sighed. "Wow, I really miss it. Everything about it -- not just playing, but the feeling of water, the way it's cool and how you feel weightless..." her voice trailed off, as she thought about how much she missed everything that wasn't at Hogwarts -- Fergelly, Catback, her parents, her friends, the wizard mall, even her sister. Everything was so different at Hogwarts. Her eyes watered, and she brushed it away with the back of her hand and put on a smile.

George hadn't missed it though. Poor dear, he thought, she must really love swimming. He put his hand on top of hers on the table. "D'you want some more dessert? The peach cobbler is cracking!"

"No thanks," Betsy's eyes smiled at him. "I'm so full, I can't eat another bite!"

"Wow, look at them," said Hermione, who was watching from a little ways down the table.

"I've never seen George act this way about a girl," said Ron.

"I've never seen Betsy act this way about a boy," Emma said. "And she's had plenty of opportunities before."

It was the middle of History of Magic Class, and Betsy was doodling hearts containing the name George all over her notebook. Emma passed her a note. Betsy opened it. What were you talking about with George at lunch? You two seemed really occupied in each other.

Betsy wrote back. Just stuff. I was telling him about stuff at Catback and he was telling me about Hogwarts. She passed it to Emma.

Emma wrote on the paper and gave it back to Betsy. Betsy read it. Kewl. Don't you love how we don't get in trouble for chewing gum here? Betsy looked at Emma and chewed her gum really loudly. Emma cracked up. "Girls," warned Professor Binns. The girls smothered their giggles.

Herbology was boring -- all the class was spent watering various plants. The students had to wear masks over their nose and mouth so they wouldn't breathe in pollen from a poisonous plant that was flowering. Emma and Betsy found it hard to talk with the masks on, and so they were glad when the class was over.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was a little more interesting. Dr. Evil showed them his hairless Persian cat, Mr. Bigglesworth He told them of how he and his cat were frozen in space for thirty years, and how his cat lost its hair in the unfreezing process.

After class, George was waiting for Betsy by the door. "I've got a surprise for you," he said. "We're going to have to be sneaky. Filch and Mrs. Norris patrol the hallways and they're a real pain in the arse."

"I have a idea about Mrs. Norris," Betsy said. She went back into the Defense Against Dark Arts classroom, and came out with Dr. Evil's cat in her arms. "Where's Mr. Filch's office?"

Fred led them to the office, and as they walked towards it, Mrs. Norris came out and meowed at them. Betsy put Mr. Bigglesworth down and they walked away quickly. Betsy looked back over her shoulder and her plan seemed to be working -- Mrs. Norris was preoccupied with a Mr. Bigglesworth.

After they were a safe distance down the hall, and were walking more slowly, George took Betsy's hand. "What made you think of that?"

"Well, Mrs. Norris is a girl, and Dr. Evil's cat is a boy, and...well...you know," Betsy squeezed George's hand.

"You're going to love the surprise." George said. They stopped at a statue. "This is the Prefect's Bathroom." Betsy's eyebrows went up a little at that -- a bathroom wasn't really her idea of romantic. "The password is pine fresh.." He put a hand over Betsy's eyes, and Betsy heard him opening the door.

"Am I going to bump into anything?" Betsy asked.

"Just go straight," George replied.

They entered a warm room. "Can I look now?" George took away his hands, and Betsy opened her eyes. They were in a room made completely of white marble, lit by a beautiful silver chandelier. There were six windows going across the wall facing the lake, framed by white curtains, and there was a painting of a mermaid on one wall. And in the middle of the room, there was an empty pool, about ten meters long, with a diving board at one end, and jeweled faucets along the edges.

"A pool!" screamed Betsy. She turned and threw her arms around George. "Thank you George!"

"I knew you'd like it," George said.

"I love it!" Betsy said.

The door opened, and Hermione walked in. Betsy and George quickly ended the embrace. "OOPS!" she said, and her face turned pink. "I'll leave...I'm so sorry." She started backing out.

"Hermione! It's fine!" Betsy grinned. "You can go swimming with us." She paused. "I'll have to go get a bathing suit, now that you're here." George turned bright red. "I was only kidding!" she protested, seeing George's and Hermione's faces.

"Er, I do too," Hermione said.

"We'll be back soon," Betsy told George. She was halfway through the door, when, on impulse, she ran back to George and kissed his cheek. "Thanks," she whispered. Then she left just as quickly. George stood there for a moment, speechless.

When Betsy and Hermione came back, with Emma, Harry, Ron, Fred and Ginny, George had transfigured his boxers to a bathing suit and was looking out the window at the Slytherin Quidditch team practicing. He turned around as the door opened, and wasn't surprised to see everyone there. "The Slytherins are good this year," he said. "When we play them, Harry, you'd better catch the Snitch quickly." The boys got into a discussion on Quidditch.

Ginny and Emma were turning on different taps, filling the pool up. Out of one, rainbow colored water poured. Out of another, different colored bubbles in the shapes of animals came out. One tap had pink colored bubbles that smelled like peaches coming out, and they filled the air with their delicious aroma.

"Let's go swimming!" Ginny said.

Betsy took off her clothes, revealing a blue bikini with white Hawaiian print. She looked over at the boys, and saw George, who was in orange board shorts, looking at her with bright green eyes. "Don't stare at me like that," Betsy blushed. "You're making me feel self-conscious. Do I look fat in this or something?"

"You look absolutely perfect," George said, as the boys conversation broke up, and they got in the pool.

Betsy rolled her eyes. "Sure. Look at you, you've got a six-pack." She stepped closer to him and traced the outlines of the muscles on his stomach.

"Cut it out you two," Fred splashed them. "We're here to swim, remember?"

George grinned, "Last one in's a rotten egg!" George and Betsy ran to the pool and jumped in.

"Let's have chicken fights," Emma said.

"What's that?" Ginny asked.

"Two light people sit on the shoulders of strong people and they hold hands and try to knock the other off," Emma explained..

"Okay," Fred said. "Me and Emma against George and Betsy."

"Me and Hermione play winner," Ron said.

"And Ginny and I play winner of that match," Harry said.

George went under water and Betsy climbed onto his shoulders. She and Emma entwined their fingers. "Ready...set...go!" Emma shouted.

"Okay George, back up. This way," Betsy nudged him in the side with her leg, the way she would a horse. "No, other way!" George turned sideways and pulled Emma off Fred's shoulders. "We win! Okay George, we can take on Hermione and Ron!"

After a while, Emma looked at her watch. It said the time was 5:45. That couldn't be right. Emma shook the watch, but it was working. "Hey guys, there's fifteen minutes till dinner."

"Oh no," Hermione said. "I wanted to go to the library to work on my History of Magic essay."

"It's not due for another week, Hermione," Ron said.

Hermione thought about that. "I'll be able to work on it tomorrow," she said.

As they walked to the Gryffindor Common Room, Betsy couldn't help but notice how they were walking in the pairs they had made while chicken fighting.

* * *

After dinner, George, Fred, Harry, Ron, and Emma had gone out to play Quidditch again. When they came in, smiling cheeks rosy from cold, George looked around the Common Room. Ginny was talking with some other fourth year girls, and Hermione was, as usual, doing homework. He found Betsy in front of the fire, asleep on a sofa. Gently, so as not to wake her, he picked her up and carried her to her room. George figured Hermione's bed was the one that was perfectly made, Emma's was the unmade bed, and Betsy's bed was the one that was made, but sort of rumpled. He laid Betsy down on her bed, took her slippers off her feet, and pulled the blankets out from under her so they covered her. Then he stood for a moment, just looking at her. She looked so innocent and helpless. George bent over and kissed her forehead. He straightened up, and looked at her for another moment, then turned and left.