A/N: Sorry it's been a while… but now finals are over! Yay! Back to the kind of writing that I actually enjoy… Wow! More reviewers! Thanks to Katrina, Cecilia Orechio, dreamcoat, Ashleigh, Jagged Epiphany, and Lady Mione. You guys were very kind. Thank you also to everyone who put me on their favorites list – I never expected that! I was wondering if anyone would want me to do an email update list. If people would like me to, I wouldn't mind sending an email when the next chapter is up. If you would want that, you could leave a note in your review. Ok… Happy reading!
Disclaimer: All of the recognizable characters and situations belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. The not so good stuff is mine.
That night, I was sitting on my bed, changed into my pajamas, trying to sort through all of the text books that I would be needing for my classes. Angelina had gone off to take a shower, and Katie was setting up picture frames on her nightstand. I looked over at the one that she had just propped up.
"Aw. What a cute picture of you guys."
Katie grinned. "I know."
The picture in question had been taken after we had won the quidditch cup our fifth year. In the background, you could see almost the entire school crowded onto the pitch. Wood was visible, sobbing onto Harry's shoulder. I couldn't see either Fred or George, but Angelina and I were jumping up and down and screaming our heads off. Katie and Lee were in the foreground. Katie was covered in dirt and sweat, and Lee had the biggest smile on his face that I had ever seen. They were hugging happily, smiling and waving at the camera. I shook my head.
"Wow. So you guys have been dating now for… a year and a half?"
Katie flopped backwards onto her bed. "A year and eight months. We started dating on Christmas Eve of our fifth year. You should know, you convinced Lee to tell me how he felt."
I smiled. "Just doing my duty. I like seeing my friends happy and in love."
Katie sat back up. "Really. So that explains why you just love seeing Fred and Angelina together."
I sighed. "I don't know, I mean, I'm happy that they're happy. But I really wish that they weren't always all over each other all the time. It gets really irritating."
Katie nodded. "I know what you mean."
I looked at her in surprise. "Really?"
She just smiled at me and then returned to setting up her photos. I sat back, slightly puzzled. I had always been under the impression that Katie's loyalties lay fiercely with Angelina. But then again, maybe being with Lee had made her see all sides of every situation – after all, that's what he always did.
"Hey," said Katie. "Did you bring those pictures you took at Lee's birthday party?"
"Oh, yeah. Hold on, they're in my trunk." I retrieved the pictures from my trunk, and then launched myself onto Katie's bed. I managed to land partially on top of her.
"Ow! Get your bony arse off of me!" Katie shoved me aside and I laughed as I rolled over.
"Just for that, maybe I shouldn't show you these pictures." At the look Katie gave me, though, I quickly relented. "Here."
Katie began to flip through the pictures, pausing to study each one. I curled my legs up under me and smiled as I remembered how much fun we had all had at Lee's party. He had just invited us three girls and the Weasleys, and we had opened presents, eaten cake, and, best of all, gone in Lee's humungous swimming pool. I had originally stayed out of the water and taken photos. Until George had told me to put the camera down (I, like an idiot, obliged) and then picked me up and tossed me into the pool. That's when the real war broke out. I think we stayed in the water for an hour and a half, splashing and dunking each other, before we got out, put out our towels on the deck, and just sat and talked. It was by far the best day of my summer.
"Can I have this one?" Katie was holding up what was, in my opinion, one of the best photos I'd taken that day. Lee had picked Katie up and was about to dunk her under the water, when, seemingly out of nowhere, Katie had pulled out this tiny little squirt gun and nailed Lee in the face. The photo was hysterical. Both Lee and Katie were in the pool, dripping wet, and then there's Katie just aiming and firing, and this tiny little jet of water hits Lee in the face. The expression on Lee's face was priceless.
"Yeah, it's all yours."
"Good. I want to give it to Lee." Katie rummaged around on the bed for a moment and picked up a quill. "Now give me something poetic to write on the back." She looked at me and waited expectantly.
I stared at her incredulously. "You want me to compose a poem about you and Lee?"
Katie rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not that much of a dolt. I just want some little poetic phrase. Like, 'You're the only flower in the field that I would want to pick. Love, Katie.' Only better than that. And without the double entendre. C'mon Alicia, you're great at this stuff."
I picked up the photo and stared at it for a few moments. "And even though the moment passed me by, I still can't turn away. You're the piece of gold that flashes on my soul."
Katie's eyes widened. "That's brilliant! You should do that crap for a living."
"What, write greeting cards? Yeah, I can just picture telling that to my Mum. 'Look, I know you just shelled out thousands for seven years of education at the top wizarding school in the nation, but gosh, I think my true calling in life is catch phrases for holiday cards.' Yeah, she'd love that alright." I climbed off Katie's bed to go finish unpacking.
"What class is that for?" Katie was watching me attempt to heave a large black book across the room from my trunk to my bed. It felt like it weighed about a hundred pounds. She walked over after I had finally dragged it onto the edge of the bed, and brushed the dust off of the cover.
"Magic: Beginnings, Progressions, and Evolvement," Katie read. "Wow. That's sure gonna be a fun class."
I sighed. "I know. I'm starting to regret signing up for it. I mean, I like history and all, but this looks like it's gonna be nearly impossible. This will take up so much of my time. Not to mention all of my other subjects, plus NEWTS, plus quidditch." I shook my head and walked back over to my trunk to pull out a roll of parchment.
"What's that?" asked Katie, returning to her bed.
"Summer homework," I replied, packing it in my bag for the next day. "For Professor Binns, we had to write a three foot essay on how the study of the history of magic has influenced the development of Hogwarts. I suppose that's what the boys are doing right now. They always leave everything until the last – what?" Katie was sitting on her bed, trying to contain her laughter. And not succeeding.
"I was just thinking of what Angelina and I had to do for summer homework for advanced care of magical creatures."
"Well?" I said, knowing that I wouldn't like the answer.
"Pick out a name for the Niffler that we're going to raise."
I groaned and lay back on my bed, which only made her laugh harder.
"Shut up!" I yelled, tossing a pillow at Katie's head.
She sat up. "You are so dead, Spinnet."
When Angelina came in three minutes later, my and Katie's pillows were duking it out in the space between our beds. Did I mention that I love school?
*************************
"Potions," said Lee grumpily, sitting down at the table the next morning. Fred and George sat on opposite sides of him, looking as if they'd had less than an hour of sleep between them. 'There's a way to start the first day of school."
"Look on the bright side," said Angelina, spearing a stack of waffles. "After that, we have Divination!"
Lee groaned and poured himself some orange juice.
"Fred, move your elbow," I commented, pouring syrup on my waffles.
"Alicia, why must you have a problem with the placement of my elbow? I'm on the opposite side of the table from you. You can't even see my elbow. It's just resting causally here by Lee's glass of – whoops."
Lee, who was now covered in orange juice, glared at Fred before leaving the dining hall, presumably to go change his pants.
"Right then," muttered Fred, mopping up the rest of the juice. "Sorry Alicia. I forgot that you could see the future and such. I thought you were just being your usual pleasant self."
"That's fine Fred," I said, dotting at my mouth with my napkin. "No apology necessary. It's reward enough being right when you're wrong."
Fred was apparently too tired to make a comeback, because he just began to eat his sausages in silence.
"Do you guys have History of Magic at the same time Angelina and I have Care of Magical Creatures?" Katie asked.
George leaned over to look at Angelina's timetable. "Yeah. Right after lunch."
"Good. Right after lunch, good time for a nap," said Fred, punctuating his remark with a loud yawn.
"Fred, don't you ever worry about your subjects? Your grades? How they'll affect the rest of your life?"
"Alicia, don't you ever worry that one day you'll realize that you should never look away from your food when either George or I are around?" Fred smiled calmly at me.
I glanced down and realized that my skin had turned purple. The rest of the table burst out laughing. After a moment of deliberating, I joined in.
"Don't worry," said George, smiling at me. "It'll fade by our first class."
"It better, Weasley, or you won't ever be having children," I said, shoving down the butterflies in my stomach with a large gulp of milk. Why must George have that effect on me? Why must I be cursed with being a girl? Why must George do that adorable half smile thing that makes me want to throw him down on top of the table and –
"Alicia, did you do that whole essay for Binns?" George was staring directly at me. I tried to act as if I hadn't just been thinking extremely unclean thoughts about him.'
"Yeah. Took me three bloody weeks. I can already tell that this class is gonna be a pain."
"We saw Wood over the summer," said Fred, "And he told us that he took that class his seventh year, and that it was absolute hell. He said that it was so intense that he couldn't focus on anything else all year."
"Well, it's just a wonder he found any time for quidditch it all then," muttered Angelina, obviously remembering our training schedule that year.
"On that cheering note, I'm going to head to potions." I stood up and slung my bag over my shoulder. "Anybody coming with me?"
"Yeah, let's go," said Katie, also standing up. The others got up too, and we slowly walked out of the dining hall and towards the dungeons. "The last thing we need is to be late on the first day. Snape could probably put us in the negative points-wise."
"Oh don't worry Katie. Fred and George will lose quite enough points for all of us," I said, shooting a smile at the two of them. Angelina suppressed a giggle while Fred just glared.
"What a shame, Alicia. The purple barely disappears from your skin and you're already setting yourself up for another prank." Fred shot me an ominous look.
"Oh, honestly you two," said George, placing a hand on both of our shoulders. "Fred, relax. She's just kidding. And Alicia. We know that you must fulfill your roll as the sarcastic, witty member of the group. However, first thing in the morning is a little rough. Now you two shake hands and make up." George waited while Fred and I hesitated. "I mean now!"
"Oh fine. But just for you, George." Fred stuck out his hand. Seeing the smile on George's face, I immediately knew that the only way I would have any chance with George was to start getting along with Fred. Even if I had to bite my tongue sometimes, it would be worth it. Just to see that smile on George's face. Snapping out of my sappy (and extremely pathetic) moment, I grabbed Fred's hand and shook. Then a flash of inspiration hit me.
"Come on Fred. Don't act like you haven't known me for seven years," I said, throwing my arms around him in what I hoped was a convincing manner.
"Oh fine," muttered Fred. "If you want to be like that, then let's do this all out." He picked me up off of the ground and squeezed me so hard that I thought that my internal organs were going to explode.
"Really Fred. I'm sorry," I whispered in his ear. He set me down. "Oh fine. Me too." He grinned, and the five of us continued to walk.
"You too what?" asked Angelina, slipping her hand into Fred's.
"Fred was just saying that he enjoyed the sex that we had last night as much as I did," I said, as nonchalantly as possible.
"Oh yeah. Alicia's a real killer in the sack," said Fred.
"Really Alicia. You should have just asked. He's all yours if you want him that badly." Angelina smiled at a shocked Fred. "He's not that hard to replace."
Fred sighed. "Girls. I just don't get it."
George patted him on the shoulder. "You never will, Fred. You never will."
By this point we had reached the entrance to Snape's classroom. Lee was standing outside, a slightly nervous expression on his face. "Good! I thought you lot would never get here. I was dreading sitting alone. You guys ready?"
Angelina took a deep breath. "Let's go. No sense in postponing it any longer. Same partners as last year then?"
We all looked at each other and nodded. "Well, ladies first," said Lee, motioning with his hand. I took a deep breath, glanced nervously at Lee, and then walked through the door.
A/N: Ok, I do not own the phase that Alicia wrote on the back of the photograph. The first part is from "Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls, and the second part is from "Playground Love" by Air. Sorry that this chapter was a little slow moving, I needed to get some stuff established. The action should start to pick up in about two chapters. In the next chapter: potions class, divination class, history of magic class………. And (drum roll please) SNAPE'S FLASK OF OVERCOMPENSATION!!! If you want to know what that is, you'll just have to stay tuned… please r&r!
Love, Betsy