Disclaimer: Do not own the Wonderful World of Harry Potter… is not making any money from my writings… DO NOT LIKE that Rowling has killed Sirius Black and have chosen to pointedly ignore that certain fact, allowing him to make an appearance here…

Note to readers: your reviews are welcome in only these types of formats: praise, gushing, skepticism, flames, anger, denial, repulse/disgust, and I suppose constructive criticism can be entertained as well…

A/N: I am not really sure how the whole thing with the kitchen and the fruit basket works, so I'm just gonna improvise

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Ron joined the trio two minutes later, and they set off. Hermione and Ron were in front whispering amongst themselves, clearly disagreeing on something. Harry and Jessica were left to make up the tail. Harry ran his fingers through his hair, and Jessica was fighting a losing battle with her brain/hormones. In the last hour, her hormones had taken over her brain and were wreaking havoc on her body.

"So I take it, you apologized to Hermione?" he whispered. She nodded.

"Yeah, I was wrong to bite her head off like that," she admitted.

"That's mighty big of you to say you're sorry," said Harry, obviously impressed. Jessica was glad for the darkness to hide her pink cheeks. Slow down, girl; don't start getting your knickers tied in a twist. He doesn't care about you remember? He said so himself, she reminded her hormones. That managed to squash them for a while.

For what had seemed like an hour, though in real fact was just ten minutes, they came up to a huge poster of a fruit basket. That's exactly what I'm gonna be if I don't get a hold of myself soon, Jessica thought. Ron reached up and tickled the pear. It laughed and wiggled and jumped out to reveal a hole. Hermione climbed in, followed by Ron. Jessica hesitated. Why would a kitchen door be through a hole in a picture? Maybe they aren't taking me to the kitchen… maybe its some kind of torture hall…oh no! The iron maiden. Jessica would have run off if Harry, who had seen her apprehensive look, hadn't carried her and threw her into the hole. She landed on the other side with a thump! She got up and was about to give Harry a major tongue lashing, when the weirdest creature, with huge watery eyes and mismatched socks came up beside her.

"Mr. Harry Potter. Oh what an honor it is," said the creature.

"Hello dobby, how are things?" Harry asked casually. The big eyes began to water even more.

"Mr. Harry Potter remembers me. He has not forgotten old worthless dobby," the creature sobbed. Jessica couldn't pry her eyes away from the creature.

"Dobby, this is my new friend Jessica," he introduced. Jessica snapped out of it and held her hand out smiling. The creature clasped onto her hand and gave it a wet kiss.

"Dobby honored Harry Potter introduce his girlfriend to Dobby," the creature stammered. But before she could correct him, the creature ran off appearing seconds later with others of his kind. But all Jessica could see was the plates of food in each of the creature's hands. There was a big fat chicken, tarts, jelly, mashed potato, and so much more. Her stomach growled angrier than before. Hermione grabbed her hand and sat her down.

"Don't be shy, Jessica," she said. Shy? Me? Not in this century, she thought then dug into the food. Only after she had cleaned half the bowl of mash potato, two chicken legs, and two goblets of pumpkin juice, sis she realized she was the only one eating.

"Aren't you guys eating?" she asked, reaching to spoon some jelly into her bowl. Mmmm, strawberry!

"No, we're not that hungry," said Hermione. Jessica shrugged her shoulders and continued eating.

"Where were you anyways, that you forgot about dinner?" she asked again. Jessica looked briefly at Harry, who remained silent. Tell her the truth, her brained said. Why should I? She's your friend… do the right thing.

"About and around. I had a lot on my mind," she answered vaguely. Stupid chit! Shut up brain.

"Don't worry about the points, we've done our fair share of point losing," said Hermione. Jessica didn't really want to discuss the topic. There was still a lot of planning to do and the risk that it may not work. She took a bite of her last tart (because there wasn't anymore), and wiped her mouth on her napkin.

"I am so stuffed, thank you guys so much for feeding me," she said. The person who said a way to man's heart was through his stomach was obviously a sexist. He stomach was full and she was in love with each and every one of them. The three friends had slightly surprised looks.

"What?" she asked.

"That's the first sentence you've said that doesn't end in sarcasm," said Ron. She was too contented to be insulted. In fact, she actually blushed at the compliment.

"Yeah, well… let's go, before I fall asleep right here. Dobby excellent food, my compliments to the chef," she said to the house elf (that's what he is!). Dobby's eyes started to water and began to thank her for being such a great witch, and a wonderful person, unworthy of old dobby. She quickly exited before he decided to hail her as queen of house elves.

"That dude has a major inferiority complex. He should seriously seek counseling," she said once they were outside.

That night, as she lay in her bed, under her pink cover, she thought of her impromptu dinner, and mostly of her dinner company. She knew she was sarcastic and indifferent, but then these two qualities had been important for her to survive, to remain at the top of the food chain. She'd never cared about people and no one cared for her, till now. Suddenly, she had taken Neville under her wing and as much as she hated to admit it, Hermione had taken her under wing. Hermione never gave up on her. She slowly turned to listen to the other girls soft breathing, then fell asleep herself.

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The next morning, Jessica woke up with images of Hermione, Harry, Ron and the other students laughing at her and calling her a freak swimming in her mind. Other people would dismiss it as just a dream, but to her it was a warning not to loose herself. Her fortress was back up again. She took a quick shower, got ready and began to descend the stairs. Just as she reached the bottom, she saw Hermione starting to climb up. Hermione beamed at her.

"Good morning," she said.

"Morning," she mumbled. There had to be laws against being so happy too early in the morning, she thought as she pushed pass Hermione.

"We were waiting for you," she tried again. Jessica looked warily at the two boys.

"What for? I know my way, I'm not blind," she said and then walked out, not before hearing Ron mutter to the other two;

"So much for thawing the ice queen,"

If only he knew the will power it took her to maintain her façade.

A/N/N: well, you couldn't really expect her to turn over a new leaf so quickly right?