A few things to say before I get started:

I swear that I'll try my absolute hardest to not use the word k-n-e-e-s (technically Becca, I did not use the word just now, I spelled it.) I too am tired of using it, but when nothing else comes to mind, what can I say?

I hope that no one was disappointed by Chapter 8. I thought that it would be a good time for some excitement, and that's just what I did. Of course, right now my O.C. is stuck between 2 boys. Even I don't know what happens yet! I just go with whatever comes to my mind.

Enough talking from me, enjoy!

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Chapter 9

            "Cristina, wake up! Are you forgetting what we have to do this morning?" someone whispered to me.

            "This morning.......what?" I asked groggily, since I was so rudely awoken by Bethany. "Oh yeah, that's right!"

            "Well now that you remember, hurry up and get ready before anyone else wakes up. Otherwise this won't work," she said to me as I got out of bed and went to get dressed.

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            "Are the guys up and dressed yet?" I asked as she closed the door to our dorm room.

            "I hope they are," Bethany said as she opened their door and pushed me in.

            Luckily I ran into Andrew and Oliver as they were about to walk out the door. They just kind of looked at me. They probably thought that I was crazy or something.

            "Were you coming to get us Cristina?" Andrew asked me.

            "Yes, but I had no opinion in the matter," I replied as I turned around to glare at Bethany, who was, in fact, laughing her head off.

            "¡Cállese Bethany! You'll wake up everyone!" I hissed at her.

            "I'm ok now. Let's get out of here," she said, still holding back some laughter.

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            We finally reached the Great Hall. Thankfully no one else was around to see us walk down there. We didn't even see any teachers.

            Sitting down at our table, the food began to appear. Oliver just stared at it like it was going to disappear. Before you knew it, he was attacking all of it!

            "Oliver! It's not going anywhere! Down boy!" I said to him while the rest of us laughed.

            "Maybe we should start eating before he takes it all," Andrew said, still laughing.

            And that we did, until we heard a loud mass of students heading our way.

            "Well Oliver, I guess you'll have to do the same as what I did when I came back," I said, turning to speak to him.

            "And what exactly did you have to do?" he asked me, looking rather confused.

            I dropped my fork under our table: "Hold on a second while I get it."

            Oliver grabbed my hand under the table and looked me in the eyes: "Don't bother; I'll get it."

            Letting go of my hand, he stuck his head under the table and reached for my fork. This was so perfect; I could easily hide him now. So he wasn't expecting what I did next.

            Before he knew it, I had my hands on his back and shoved him under the table. Then I put my feet on top of him to hold him there. He wasn't too thrilled about that.

            "Cristina?! What the hell are you doing holding me down here?!" he asked me.

            Before I could answer, the rest of the school's population poured into the Great Hall. It wasn't easy holding him down there, but I did as the rest of my friends filtered in.

            "Morning Cristina! You seem to be in a better mood now," Rebecca said to me as she sat down.

            "Oh she is," Bethany and Andrew said in unison, yet still managing to keep smiles only.

            "Cristina? What are you doing down here so early?" Becca asked me as she walked in and sat down in front of where Oliver had been sitting.

            But, not knowing that he was there, she kicked him when she sat down; thus causing him to jump out from under the table, cussing and rubbing his head.

            He also happened to get the attention of everyone in the Great Hall at the time. Personally, I loved how the Slytherin Quidditch team just glared at him, knowing that their plan to take us out after I had beaten the shit out of their Captain had failed. I couldn't help but sit there and grin.

            But then it also occurred to me as I looked around the Great Hall: every girl in the school that was in love with Oliver was staring at him, mouths open and tongues practically hanging out.

            "Uh oh. So much for keeping a low profile," I whispered to him as I stood up.

            "I couldn't help it. I know she didn't mean to because she didn't know I was there, but that really hurt," he whispered back as our friends stared in disbelief.

            Bethany was just looking around, trying to act like she didn't know anything about Oliver being down here. Andrew was just sitting next to where I had been, his face buried in his hands; laughing.

            "Memo me, kick Andrew later and see how funny he thinks it is then," I said to myself as the girls of the school stood and stared some more.

            Before I knew it, Oliver had a hold on my arm and we were running through the school, trying to get away from all of the screaming girls following him.

            "What about our bags?" I asked as we continued to run.

            "Don't worry about it. We'll go back later, when it's safe," he replied as we turned left into a dead-end hallway.

            I'd say that we had about three minutes before the girls caught up to us. We couldn't go back, they'd surround us easily.

            "Aye! Now what do we do?!" Oliver said, trying to find a way out.

            That's when it occurred to me: "Oliver! Quickly, into this portrait!"

            "What's the password for it?"

            "You don't need one. Just walk in!"

            Not moving, I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the portrait just as the screaming got louder behind us.

            "Don't say anything. Just keep looking out there. We can see out, but no one can see in. Not a word until they leave," I whispered in his ear.

            It was pitch-black in that fairly small room behind the empty portrait.

            You're probably wondering how I happened to discover this little secret. Well, I'll tell you: I was looking at The Marauders Map with Harry one day when I noted a hallway that was only filled with portraits and was a dead-end. I knew it was one of many, but I decided to check it out when I noticed a small room behind one of the portraits. I then asked Fred and George about it later. They told me that I would find a portrait with no witch or wizard in it. It was completely black. All I had to do was go up to it and just keep walking through it. Then I would be inside of the secret little room. Anyone inside of it could see and hear all that went on outside of the portrait, but no one could see into it. But they could hear you if you were too loud.

            But anyway, back to the small, can't-see-anything-in-here room...........

            I only knew where Oliver was for one reason: he had his arms wrapped around my waist as if I was going to try to go back out into that mob scene we were watching. Yeah right! I would never give away a friend's location if they were hiding for good reasons. I considered this a very good reason not to leave.

            Then he pulled me closer to him and put his head on my shoulder. But he didn't stop there. Oliver then moved his head behind my hair, which I had not put up into a bun yet, and began kissing the back of my neck.

            "Oliver! Stop, they'll hear me!" I whispered in between giggles.

            "Why do I have to stop? You're the one giggling," he mumbled, not stopping to talk.

            I was really having a hard time staying quite, so I pulled out my wand and put a silencing spell on myself. I was immediately glad that I had done so too; the horde of girls filled into the hallway, looking for Oliver.

            "Where is he?!" some girl frantically yelled.

            "He must have Apparated away!" another girl screamed.

            "Wait! I know exactly where he went!" I heard someone yell over all the noise.

            Suddenly everything was quiet. Oliver stopped kissing me and went closer to the portrait entrance/exit. I followed so that I could see who was speaking. But I couldn't see anyone.

            I still had the silencing spell on myself, so I couldn't say anything to him, but I swear that he read my mind.

            "It's Kevin; I can just barely see him over all of the girls," he barely whispered to me.

            "Why should we listen to you? You're probably trying to hide him," some girl called out.

            "Well, I don't know what to say then. I mean, I just happen to be in his first class, which is Divination............."

            Before Kevin could finish what he was saying, the swarm took off for the Divination room. Making sure that no one else was around, Kevin walked toward the portrait we were behind. He then got as close to it as he could without walking through it. Then he stuck a hand through the portrait and signaled us to come out.

            It was still black as night in that small room, so Oliver couldn't see me when he grabbed me. But he realized where he'd grabbed me after we stepped out into the light.

            You see, we had been in such a hurry to get Oliver down to the Great Hall before everyone else that I only had time to grab my school robes. I was planning to put it on at breakfast, but I never had the chance to. So when Oliver grabbed me, he ended up grabbing the back of my skirt. When he pulled me out of the room, he wound up un-zipping my skirt. Though I wonder if her knew he had done that because he gave me this huge smiled when we stepped out.

            "Um Oliver, Kevin. If you guys don't mind, could you maybe.........you know?" I said to them after I had removed the silencing spell, blushing as I spoke.

            No sooner had I said that before they had turned around. I then proceeded to zip my skirt back up.

            "Ok, now we may get back to breakfast Oliver. But it may be almost over. Though, I do believe that you ate enough for a couple of people," I said, walking between the two boys.

            "Oh well. And thanks for the help Kevin. Otherwise I don't think we would ever have gotten back out," Oliver said to him.

            "As funny as we thought it was, we knew that someone would have to drive them away. So I decided to since I had already finished eating," Kevin replied.

            "But how did you know which portrait we were behind?" Oliver asked him.

            I answered his question: "One day last year, Kevin ran up to me and asked if I knew of a place where he could hide; his sister wouldn't leave him alone. So I showed him the portrait we were just behind and shoved him in. I just walked around, pretending to look at the portraits when his sister came up to me and asked if I had seen Kevin. I said that I had just seen him in the Library; so she took off. I then went back to the portrait and told him it was safe to come out. That's how he knew about it."

            "Yeah, she really helped me out by doing that," Kevin said, smiling at me. "Well, I gotta go now, so I'll see the two of you in Transfiguration."

            And with that, Kevin left us to get to some far off class.

            Seeing that no one else was around, Oliver slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him as we walked back to the Great Hall, which was a fairly short trip. I don't know what made him think of what he did next: he moved his arm just a little lower than my waist, so that his arm was touching my ass.

            "What the hell is he trying to pull here?!" I asked myself.

            Reaching the Great Hall, I said to him, "Oliver, would you please remove your arm from my ass."

            He did, but not before whispering in my ear, "You have quite a lovely arse Cristina."

            I was very tempted to slap him; but how could anyone when they looked at that face of his? I mean, the way he looks at me with those eyes! It's enough to kill a girl! Oh, lo siento, back to where we were...............

            The first thing I did was put on my school robes and put my hair up into a bun. Then I picked up my stuff and headed towards Potions with Oliver.

            We found Andrew and Nick waiting for us half-way there.

            "I was wondering if Kevin had found you two yet," Andrew said to us as he walked next to me.

            "That wouldn't have been good if you ended up missing Potions. I could only imagine what torture would be planned for you," Nick said, using his odd sense of humor for the last remark.

            "Whatever; let's just get down there now," I said, walking faster to make them pick up their leisurely pace.

            Upon reaching the Dungeons, I went and sat between Bethany and Robin, as usual.

            Leaning over to Bethany, I whispered to her, "Bethany, when the day's classes are over and after dinner, meet me in the Library. I really need to talk to you about something."

            "Alright, I'll meet you there. Just as long as we aren't there all night; I still have to finish my essay for Charms."

            Not long after she said that, Snape walked in to begin class.

            "Why do we have to go through with this?" I asked myself.