"Regina.." Somebody purred. Reggie whirled around, not surprised to see Seamus Finnigan leaning on the bookcase. She looked him over.
"Yes?" She sounded tired, he noted. She was tapping her French-manicured nails on her denim-clad hip, and her other arm was clutching two or three books. She glared at him over the frames of her black cat-eye lenses. "Is there something you need besides Prozac, Finnigan?"
Seamus laughed heartily. "You're funny, you know that?"
Reggie rolled her eyes. "Yes, I have learned that you know how to say my name and recognize sarcasm. If you have no other skills you want to show off for me, I would recommend you leaving me alone or I'll..."
"What will you do, Reg? What will you do?" Seamus asked in a dangerously serious voice. Reggie backed away.
"Just leave me alone, Finnigan." Reggie muttered, trying to turn around. He grabbed her by the wrist, making her spin back around and drop her books.
"Someday you'll see me, Reg. Someday." Seamus pulled her in. Reggie winced. He was going to kiss her.. On the lips.
He gave her a sweet peck on the cheek before letting go of her gently and walking off.
Reggie sighed heavily as she picked up her books and slid into a chair.
"You can't stalk her forever, Seamus." Dean muttered to him, hitting him over the back of his head.
"I know, I know.." Seamus shook his head, the droplets of sweat in his wet, dark auburn hair splashing everyone.
"Who's Seamus stalking?" Ron asked, moving his queen and wiping off the sweat.
"Just some Ravenclaw girl that he's fallen madly in love with." Dean replied. Hermione, Parvati and Lavender looked up.
"You don't mean Regina Ravenclaw, do you?" Parvati asked snootily, before she and Lavender burst into giggles.
"Reggie? Seamus, you've fallen for Reggie?" Hermione was shocked, shushing the two Gryffindor girls.
"Yeah.. What about her?" Seamus got up, even though Dean tried to hold him back.
Parvati smiled at him in her half-bitch, half-seductive way. She flipped around her sparkly gold quill. "Regina Ravenclaw isn't in your league, Seamus. She's beneath you."
Seamus looked down on Parvati Patil. At one point, he had actually had a crush on her. But now, she was just so disgustingly.. He glanced at Lavender, one of his best friends. They had dated for a while. A mistake. He knew that she was so much more genuine than Parvati would ever be, and she was just hiding behind Parvati, Miss Popular. Lavender's eyes were big and sort of sad.
"Well, Lav?" Seamus turned to her, tossing the Quaffle back and forth. He had earned the Keeper spot on the Quidditch team.
Lavender looked away for a moment, about to open her mouth to chorus Parvati's lie. But she looked up at him.
Lavender made the mistake of looking into Seamus's intense, dark gray eyes. And now, he was sort of glaring at her, trying to get an answer.
Lavender never quite got over Seamus- He was funny and so cool. And he was easily the best looking of the fifth year boys. Parvati wanted him so badly. Right now, he wore the practice t-shirt Lavender had gotten him for the Christmas before they had broken up- It was light gray and it had his surname on the back, like the Muggle players. She put, 'Finnigan, 11', in fire-engine red, his hair color at the time. Besides that and a pair of dark gray slacks, that was all he wore. His arm muscles were well-defined, and he was still tossing the Quaffle back and forth. His wet hair was now a brownish color, and his dark eyes..
Lavender swallowed the lump in her throat, finally moving her point of focus from Seamus's gray flannel-covered abs to his eyes. "Actually, Parvati, I think Reggie would be great on Seamus's arm. They'd make a great couple."
Parvati gasped, shocked. She stood up in a huff. "Well, Lavender, I'm sure your synapses are misfiring. No way would a Ravenclaw descendant be better with Seamus than me. You always said Seamus would look good with me."
"Well, Parvati, I'll tell you the truth. I was lying out of my ass. Go get her, Seamus." Lavender smiled confidently at Seamus, happy to see a grin slowly making its way across his face. Her eyes didn't share the same smile- They were full of pain. But Seamus didn't notice. He was grinning like a lovesick idiot.
"To think, Lav. That used to be you he was lovesick for." She muttered to herself as she closed her Divination magazine and went upstairs. Nobody noticed, except for Parvati, who kept going on about how her best friend was losing it and betrayal and stuff like that.
"Reggie! Reggie! Oh, oh, oh, Reggie!!!" Hermione called, waving her arm above her head.
"Look, Crabbe. Goyle. Mudbloods of a feather fly together." Malfoy drawled.
"Oh, shove it, you insecure sociopath." Reggie snapped. "I have been messed with by you pureblood male chauvinist pigs one too many times today!"
Malfoy looked taken aback.
"And for your information, you will notice that I am the pure heir of Rowena Ravenclaw. What does that make you? Slytherin scum beneath my feet. I wouldn't even waste my words on you if I wasn't already so pissed off I didn't give a damn. As for your intelligence and Quidditch skills, I pass you so much it isn't even funny. It's sick. I was raised in a Muggle world and I know a thousand times more than you about your own culture--.." Hermione had to drag a screaming Reggie away.
"Nice pick, Finnigan. I totally support you banging her. Maybe it'll get her to shut up." Malfoy muttered as he passed Seamus, Dean, Neville and Ron in the hallway. "If she didn't hate me so much, I'd go for her myself."
"Glad I have your approval, Malfoy." Seamus drawled in reply.
"You don't. Since when have you dressed like a Muggle jock, Finnigan?" Malfoy retorted.
"Since somebody gave me something decent to practice in. But, considering you never practice, and it shows on the Quidditch field, you wouldn't know what it was like to get your good clothes all sweaty. Tell me, Malfoy, have you ever sweated in your life? Excluding the times you've been screwing all the good little Slytherin sluts." Seamus replied, walking off.
"You'll pay for this, Finnigan!" Malfoy shook his fist in the directions of the four Gryffindor boys.
"Whatever, Malfoy!" Seamus shouted over his shoulder.
"What do you want, 'Mione? I've had a hard day." Reggie told her exasperatedly, sitting down in the library chair in a huff.
"I can tell. You went Professor McGonagall on Malfoy back there." Hermione chuckled a bit, pulling up a chair next to Regina. "It's about Seamus Finnigan."
Reggie groaned and rolled her eyes. "What about him? He was the reason my day was so bad."
"He's completely and utterly head over heels." Hermione gushed. "He made Parvati Patil so irritated, she started yelling her head off. It was classic!"
"Head over heels? With whom? A Hufflepuff?" Reggie flipped open her book.
Hermione laughed really, really hard.
"No, silly. You." Hermione stopped laughing, flashing Reggie a smile.
Reggie's jaw dropped.
"Can't you see it? I thought a Ravenclaw would be less blind to this!" Hermione giggled. "He can't resist you."
"Are you kidding me? All he does is tease me about how I'm driving him crazy and how I'm absolutely perfect for him and.. Oh my Merlin's beard!" Reggie gasped.
"It took you this long to see it?" Hermione started giggling insanely. "Regina Ravenclaw, Seamus Finnigan is completely and utterly in love with you."
Reggie reacted the only way she could. She stood up, looking a bit sick.
"I don't feel too hot, 'Mione." She muttered before fainting into her chair.
"Hermione, what happened?" Seamus demanded, rushing over to Reggie's chair. He was on his knees, looking at her worriedly.
"I don't know.. We were talking, and I said.. Er, something. And she got up, looking like she was going to hurl, then she said she didn't feel too good and then she fainted!" Hermione looked at him worriedly. "Sorry?"
"It's not your fault, 'Mione, I'm sure. What did you say?" Seamus looked from her to Reggie. Ron, Neville and Dean stood back.
"Um.. Nothing. I mean.. Seamus, are your ears burning?" Hermione asked.
"No, that curse Malfoy tried to pull on me was warded off." Seamus shrugged. "Why?"
"Do you remember the Muggle superstition that if someone's talking about you behind your back, your ears will burn?" Hermione asked slowly, looking guiltily at the floor.
"You didn't." Seamus said in a dangerously quiet voice. "Did you?"
Hermione nodded slowly.
"Oh my Merlin's beard..." Seamus muttered, getting up and pacing around the small section of library.
"Ms. Granger! Do tell your group to be quiet!" Madam Pince roared.
"Oh, dear.." Seamus murmured, looking quite sick himself.
"Seamus?" Dean asked wearily. "You don't look too good."
At that very moment, Seamus Finnigan did something completely unexpected. He fainted on the floor next to Regina Ravenclaw's chair.