Chapter 16

The four girls woke up that morning and went downstairs to the common room to find Harry laying his head down on one of the desks.

"Whoa, Nelly is he hung over?" said Jackie

"I don't know." said Heather. "Let's poke him."

The girls started to poke Harry so he would wake up.

Harry said, "Ow!" After about five minutes. "What's going on here?"

Danielle replied, "Well we should be asking you that question. We found you here lying down."

"Well…I guess I fell asleep." answered Harry

"No really?" said Heather

Harry ignored Heather's remark.

"What's this?" Danielle said noticing the piece of parchment on the desk. She read it out loud.

People who are trying to kill me

Suspects include:

Voldemort

Draco Malfoy

Mr. Malfoy

Rocky Treanor

Colt Slade

Riley Applebalm

Amanda Ott

Casey Panning

Meghan Beach

Mr. Judge

Kreacher

And that rubber duck that Neville has

Heather said, "Mr. Judge? Why would he want to kill you?"

"Well…I broke up with him so he might be upset about the break up thing and he may be the one that is sending death threats to me."

Jackie said, "Aww that's so sad. But you know what else is sad? That you think that Draco is sending you death threats because I don't think he would do something like that."

"I would." said Nehal. They all looked at her. "He hates Harry's guts with a passion. No offense Harry and I saw Malfoy in the owlery last night."

"What were you doing in the owlery?" asked Jackie

"We were sending letters. It's not like we making-out or something." answered Nehal

Harry laughed, "Yeah Jackie relax."

There was silence.

Nehal said, "Oh look there's Ron and Hermione. Why don't you show them the list?"

Harry said, "I will later but right now I'm hungry!"

"Me too!" said Heather. "Listen to my stomach its saying FEED ME! FEED ME!"

The girls laughed and went to the great hall; however Nehal decided to wait for Ron.

"Hey Ron! I haven't talked to you in a long time. How's it going?"

Ron blushed, "Er…it's going good…I guess."

"That Padma girl looks interested in you." commented Nehal

"That Rocky guy drools whenever you walk by." Ron said shrewdly and walked off, leaving Nehal standing alone in the common room. Nehal then walked down the corridor and saw a snake slithering towards the great hall.

"Cool a snake!" Nehal scooped the snake, up into her arms.

POP! The snake turned into Draco Malfoy.

"Ahh!" screamed Nehal and dropped Draco on the ground. "How did you do that?"

Draco replied, "I got a book in the library about snakes and I found out how to transform into one. It's really cool you can freak people out so easily. My next victim is Applebalm!"

"You didn't freak me out." lied Nehal

"Yeah right!" Draco smirked at Nehal. "So, why are you so late?"

"Personal things you don't need to know about." Nehal snapped. Just then Jackie walked in to ask Nehal what kept her.

"We shared a lot of personal things in the owlery!" said Draco

Jackie crossed her arms over her chest. "So Nehal is lying to me." Jackie thought. She then backed off and went to eat.

"Okay! Ron's mad at me, because Rocky likes me!"

Draco scoffed, "Weasel likes you?"

"What? No one can like me? And you shouldn't call him that."

"It's a habit."

Nehal rolled her eyes, "Anyways I'm gonna go back to the common room I don't feel so good."

"I'll know what will you cheer you up." Draco whispered something else into Nehal's ear and she nodded her head.

Draco turned back into a snake; Nehal picked him up and walked towards the Ravenclaw table. "Hey Riley!"

Riley looked up at Nehal, "What do you want?"

"I want you to look at my pet snake." Nehal put the snake beside Riley. Riley moved away from the snake.

"Nehal what are you doing with a snake?" Jackie asked with her eyes glued to the snake. She gulped in fear of it.

Nehal said, "You'll see."

Riley looked at the snake again. The snake started to slither around the table and slithered down to the ground and around his feet.

Jackie lifted her feet up.

Roger Davies walked towards Nehal and got out his wand, "Is this a trick?"

Nehal said, "No of course not why on earth would you assume that I would do something like this?"

Roger looked at Jackie. "Did you have something to do with this?"

Jackie gulped, "I don't even know how she got the snake in the first place."

The snake crept slowly towards Roger. Roger raised an eyebrow at Jackie.

"I'm serious! Dude, stop pointing that wand at me!"

"I'm head boy and I demand to know what's going on!"

Jackie looked down and saw the snake on the ground. "Omg, omg, omg…"

"What?" asked Danielle and Heather

Jackie pointed her finger at the snake. "That snake is looking at me…"

Nehal thought, "Uh oh! If Malfoy goes anywhere near Jackie she'll probably have a heart attack. Poor Malfoy, I should have told him that he should talk to her but not as a snake. Jackie hates snakes!"

Harry looked at Jackie, "I know why he is looking at you!"

"Why? Is it because he wants to kill me. Wait a minute, how would you know?"

"I'm a parsel tongue." (I don't know I spelled that right)

"You're a parsel tongue?" said Heather. "That's so cool!"

Jackie looked at Harry. "Well do me a favor please and tell that snake that I won't taste good!"

"No!" said Harry. "He really is attracted to you!"

Nehal's jaw dropped.

Danielle said, "Wow that's random! But I'm sorry Jackie I'm not coming to your wedding." Danielle then walked off.

"Ooo Jaxs, Whatcha gonna do?" said Heather

Nehal said, "I'm sorry about this." Nehal picked up the snake. "I think he's only attracted to your boots Jackie. Sorry! Bye!"

Jackie looked at her boots.

Nehal went into an empty classroom and the snake changed back into Draco Malfoy.

"What were you thinking!" demanded Nehal

Draco replied, "Yeah I should have remembered that Potter could talk to snakes.

"Yeah you think? He could hear you thinking about Jackie and now he knows that you…you…still apparently have feelings for her!"

"Shit. But he does he know that it was me?"

"Probably."

"Listen you gotta keep Potter away from Jackie!"

"Don't worry he's gay!"

"But what if he tells her?"

"She'll probably be really freaked out. Oh yeah Jackie' afraid of snakes!"

"And you could've told me this earlier?"

"Sorry."

(Okay some of this conversation is from the OC)

"Malfoy, what are you doing? I thought you got passed this whole Jackie thing?"

"Right, and I know Pradhan that it seems like not a lot of progress has been made but I have to tell you, well yeah not that much progress has been made despite all my best judgments I cannot, not like her."

"You are such a boy!"

"Uh correction I'm a man now! I've passed this stage of puberty!"

Nehal smiled. "Thanks for sharing that. But I think I know your problem. Girls liked to be chased by guys!"

"And that sounds a little bit like a game to me Pradhan. The only games I play are the ones in the bedroom." He winked at Nehal.

"Maybe you just don't know how to play the game that I'M thinking of!"

"Well…you're a…girl right?"

Nehal gasped, "How did you know?"

Draco laughed. And looked at her chest.

Nehal hit him in the arm. "Ya I'm a girl."

"Uh huh and we're friends right?"

Nehal thought about that. She really didn't know what was going on between her and Malfoy at the moment. Last year they hated each other's guts. "Sure."

"Okay well. Oh fuck I can't believe I'm sinking this low. But…why don't you train me in the ways of women huh, give me a little advice?"

"That's more of a Danielle thing to do that. Besides I don't understand Jackie's mind."

"Come on Pradhan!"

Nehal sighed, "Do you really like her?"

Draco scoffed, "Yeah of course. I really miss her."

Nehal rolled her eyes. "Fine…but I'm not making any promises!"

"Trust me I cannot do any worse then I've been doing."

"That I trust!"

"You're my girl!" Draco hugged Nehal.

Nehal was surprised of this action but hugged Draco back.

"See you later!"

"Yeah…"

It was now Dada class. As usual, the class was quite boring. The girls sat beside each other. Rocky sat beside Nehal.

Rocky said, "Hey."

"Hey." answered Nehal

"So are you excited about the up-coming match against us?"

"Of course I'm excited…who's your captain?"

"George McFordge." (Made that guy up)

Heather said, "Who's he?"

"He's a seventh year." said Rocky

"Oh well…that's always fun."

Danielle raised her hand, "Sir. Mr. K?"

"Yes Miss Mcleod?" said Mr. K

"Can I go to the washroom?"

Mr. K smiled and nodded his head.

"I'll take that as a yes." muttered Danielle

Danielle walked down the corridors and saw Ian coming out of the boys' washroom. They both stopped and looked at each other.

"Ian."

"Danielle."

They both said this at the same time.

Danielle said, "You go first!"

Ian said, "Hey er…I'm sorry about getting into fights with Cory and stuff. I shouldn't lose my temper over stuff like that and I still want you to be my girl."

Danielle smiled, "Ian…I haven't taken off my Slytherin tie yet."

"So what did you want to tell me?"

"I'm sorry too Ian. I totally yelled at you…but if Cory bugs me again just don't punch him."

"You can count on it!"

Danielle put her arms around Ian's neck and he put his arms around her waist. They kissed.

Danielle said, "I gotta go back to class…bye Ian!"

"Bye baby girl."

Danielle came and sat down beside Nehal.

Nehal said, "So how did things go with Ian?"

Danielle looked surprised, "How did you know that I was visiting Ian?"

"Oh trust me, I know."

"Well did you know that Jackie likes Colt."

"She does?"

"Yep."

"No she can't like him…I mean…what about Malfoy?"

"She still likes him…I think."

"That's good."

"What's good?" said Heather joining on the conversation.

Nehal whispered into Heather's ear about what she and Danielle were talking about.

Heather said, "Omg! I never knew Jackie was a boy magnet. Does Roger Davies still have thing for her?"

Nehal and Danielle looked at each other. "Probably."

"Well I hope Jackie realizes that Malfoy still likes her." answered Heather

Danielle said, "There's got to be a way to get them back together."

Nehal smiled and whispered to them both. "You know the snake that I brought in the great hall at breakfast?"

Danielle and Heather nodded their hands.

"That was Malfoy! He transfigured into a snake."

"So Malfoy is your pet?" asked Heather

"Ha ha good one Hey Hey. I was just pretending that he was my pet snake so we could trick Riley but you know that didn't really work."

After class finished the four girls were walking down the corridors when they stopped and saw a Hogsmede sign.

Hogsmede Trip

3rd-7th years only

Friday, October 3rd

Don't forget to bring money and permission form signed by a legal guardian.

"Yay!" said Heather. "A Hogsmede visit is coming up soon!"

"Great." said Jackie sarcastically. "I'll have to owl my parents and tell them to send me more money.

"Maybe Malfoy can lend you some money." suggested Danielle with a huge smile on her face.

"Why would he lend me money?"

"Oh I know!" said Heather raising her hand frantically in front of Danielle's face.

"Heather!"

Nehal said, "He would lend you money because you're such a nice girl."

Jackie said, "Um…okay."

Danielle, Heather and Nehal just smiled at Jackie.

"What the hell is going on?"

The three girls kept smiling at Jackie.

"Oh…okay um…I can take a hint…I guess I'm not wanted here. Well bye gurlios!"

"Don't forget Quidditch practice!" yelled Nehal as Jackie walked down the corridors.

As soon as Jackie was out of sight, Nehal and Danielle both smacked Heather on the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For giving away the whole Malfoy/Jackie thing!" said Nehal

Heather replied, "But isn't that what we're supposed to do. Were giving hints to Jackie that Malfoy still likes her."

Danielle said, "She's right you know."

Nehal looked at Danielle. "Shut up Danielle." Nehal then walked away.

"Well we certainly got off to a good start." said Heather

"Shut up Heather!" Danielle walked away, leaving Heather standing by herself.

"What? Is it something I said?"

It was now Quidditch practice.

"Now today we're going to have a very short practice." said Nehal. "This is because you all know about Hufflepuff. They haven't won the cup in like 20 years!"

There was silence.

Nehal said, "That was supposed to be a joke."

"Oh…a joke…right!" The team said and started to laugh. However, Jackie was the only one who wasn't laughing.

"That's much better. Anyways let's do some jumping jacks."

The team followed Nehal's orders as Nehal walked by examining on how they were doing. "Come on David you can do it! Will…you need a breath mint. Oh, hold on Jackie you got all the arms wrong!"

"It's not brain surgery, Nehal!" snapped Jackie

"Okay, what's with the attitude?" Normally, Jackie wasn't one to yell at anybody except for her younger brother. Usually Nehal was the one yelling at Jackie.

"What's with your life? Seriously, aren't you embarrassed that the most important thing in your world is winning a Quidditch cup just to prove to your sister that you can handle this kind of responsibility! Why don't you just go crawling back to the boyfriend formally known as mine!"

"Look, I'm really sorry things didn't work out with you and Malfoy, but don't go all Mariah on me okay?" (That line is from One Tree Hill)

"You think this is about Draco?" Jackie was pissed because obviously Nehal was lying about her and Draco's relationship. Jackie really liked Draco. She had never felt this way about a guy before…except for Chad Michael Murray and Orlando Bloom. Jackie had known Nehal for a long time and she never thought Nehal would betray her any way. Jackie then wondered if Danielle and Heather would ever betray her too. "You're not even close! You're not even in the neighborhood of close!"

All the other Quidditch players on the team stopped working out and watched the bitch fight between Nehal and Jackie.

Nehal replied, "Okay, then what's wrong Jaxs?"

Jackie answered, "What's wrong is how…pointless all of this is!"

"Stop saying that!"

"No! Because it's true, what difference does it make if you date a popular guy, or you go to the right party, or you know a secret play to do with some lame-ass game I could care less about!" Jackie then stormed off, feeling everyone's concerned eyes on her.

Nehal turned back to the Quidditch players. "Practice is over for today."

The Quidditch players left for the change rooms while Nehal gathered the quaffle and bludgers.

"Hey." said Rocky

Nehal looked up at Rocky. "Hey."

"I saw what happened. You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. It's just feels like we switched places or something, you know role reversal?"

"Uhh…I'm not sure…"

"Let's just say Jackie doesn't like to get into fights, yet she just started one. "

"Oh I see. So…do you need help with those?" Rocky was referring to the quaffle and bludgers.

"Yeah I could use some help."

Nehal and Rocky gathered the rest of the Quidditch stuff and carried the box to Madame Hooch.

"Thanks for the help." replied Nehal

"No problem." answered Rocky

Nehal smiled.

"Have you heard about the Hogsmede trip?"

"Yeah I have."

"Well…I was wondering if you know we could go together?"

"Are you asking me out?" asked Nehal surprised

"No."

Now Nehal was puzzled.

"I just wanna feed you."

Nehal laughed, "That's clever. Sure Rocky I'd be delighted to go out with you on a date."

"You will?"

"Yeah that's what I just said."

Rocky smiled and gave Nehal a hug. "Thanks…and I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah…"

"Bye!" Rocky said and ran off

Nehal smiled to herself and ran to the common room to tell her friends.

Meanwhile Jackie didn't really know where she was going. She just let her feet lead her to her destination, which turned out to be under an old oak tree. Jackie sat down and put her head in her hands.

"Hello." said a voice

Jackie looked up. "Hi."

"I know how you feel."

"What are you talking about?"

The girl sat down beside Jackie. "I know what it feels like to have people betray you and call you a nutter and crazy and a freak."

"Luna Lovegood."

"See? You know me as Looney Lovegood the school nutter."

"That's not true. I bet you don't even know who I am."

"You're Jackie Allan. The seeker for Gryffindor and one of the most popular girls in the school. Tell me how does it feel to have everyone worship and fall in love with you and your friends?"

Jackie just stared at Luna. "Look I'm not really in the mood for talking right now."

Luna nodded her head. "Go figure. I saw what happened back there. Ever heard of anger management? Maybe you should go the hospital wing and load up on some wizarding painkillers. Trust me they work."

"Thanks for the advice." Jackie said sarcastically

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." said Luna in a sing – song voice.

Jackie gave Luna a weird look.

Luna sighed, "The Slytherins give me looks like that all the time. They also tease me a lot just because of my nickname Loony Lovegood."

"That's stupid. Luna you shouldn't let those little things get to you. If everybody judges each other, then we'd never get to know anybody."

"People also keep taking my possessions. They hide them you know."

Jackie felt sorry for Luna. "How come people hide your stuff?"

Luna shrugged her shoulders, "It's because they don't like me. I don't fit in at this school."

"That's no reason for them to take your things."

Luna just stared at her feet.

"Why are you telling me this? I mean we barely even know each other." asked Jackie

Luna answered, "Maybe that's the point."

Jackie quickly learned the ground rules with Luna. It wasn't hard. There were only two of them. 1) Don't lie 2) Don't ask her how she's feeling.

At one point, Jackie looked up and saw Draco. He and his friends were tormenting some first and second year students. Jackie's heart started beating faster.

Luna said, "Why are you holding your face like that?"

Jackie glared at Luna. "What do you mean?"

"You know with your cheeks all sucked in."

"I…I…I…um…"

"Do you still like him?"

"Ya…kind of…"

"Everyone knew that he liked you last year and that you liked him back. But what exactly do you like about him?" Luna stared at Draco. "I think he looks stupid."

Jackie rolled her eyes, "You do, do you?"

"I can't believe so many girls like him. I mean look at his hair. How much gel went into that hair?"

Jackie laughed. That would be something that Nehal would say. "Um…no offense Luna…but he actually takes good care of his hygiene unlike some boys in this school."

"No offense taken." Luna said obliviously enjoying herself. "I'll tell you what, I'll find you a worthwhile guy sometime and you tell me if you don't agree."

"Fine." Jackie said sure that she wouldn't be spending enough time with Luna to giver her the chance to identify that worthwhile guy.

Meanwhile, while Nehal was headed to the common room she heard someone call her name.

"Pradhan!"

Nehal turned to Draco and waited for him to catch up with her.

"Hey. Have you heard from Jackie?" asked Draco

"Not since she went psycho on me in practice today, why?"

"Oh because I want to ask her about Hogsmede but I can't find her."

"Well…maybe she's out kicking the homeless."

Jackie met Danielle and Heather in the common room. "Hey guys."

"Hey Jackie." answered Danielle. "How was practice?"

"Let's just say…it was very interesting." Jackie took a seat beside Heather.

Nehal then came. "Guess who just asked me out?"

Jackie glared at Nehal. "Malfoy?"

"Uh no Rocky asked me out!"

"Eeeeeee!" squealed Heather

"You go girl!" said Danielle and gave Nehal a high five.

"You did say yes right?" asked Jackie

Nehal replied, "Well obviously or else I wouldn't have ran back here."

Danielle said, "Nehal I'm so happy for you. Rocky is such a nice guy."

"Yeah he is but it's going to be awkward with the up coming match against Hufflepuff."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll do great…c'mon Nehal let's go upstairs and you can tell me all the details!"

"Well…first it started off like…" trailed Nehal as she and Danielle walked up the steps to the girls dormitories.

"Nehal is such a player." said Jackie

Heather said, "Well there's nothing wrong with being a player. Who's she cheating on?"

"Draco."

"Draco? As in Draco Malfoy."

Jackie nodded her head to Heather's question.

Heather answered, "Their not going out…come to think of it, they never really like each other."

"Well…I defiantly think there's something going on between them behind my back."

"Jaxs why would you think that?"

"Because they did something personal in the owlery and I see them whispering and talking to each other all the time."

"Well…maybe they have become friends." suggested Heather

"The worst part is though, Nehal is one of my best friends, you know and she doesn't have any idea how much this is killing me. I don't know what kind of karmic monster I was in my past life!"

"Probably one of those sirens that lure in sailors and then kill them on the rocks." answered Heather

Jackie laughed.

"Look, between you and me, I really don't see Malfoy and Nehal as like an epic romance, ok?"

"I wish I could believe that Heather, but it's not true." Jackie walked out of the common room.

"Jaxs wait!" Heather called out.

Jackie spun around

"Who are you going to Hogsmede with?" asked Heather

Jackie said, "I don't know but I gotta find a date…are you going with Neville?"

"Actually…I'm going with Tommy because he's never been to Hogsmede before so I'm going to show him around."

"Cool." said Jackie

Nehal sighed as she lay down on her bed, "Rocky is so fine."

Danielle laughed. "But what about Ron?"

"What about him?"

"He really really really likes you."

Nehal sighed, "It's not that hard, alright? Ron and I just don't make sense as a couple."

Danielle said, "Look I've seen Ron really try to make an effort to turn things around and it just sucks that he got bit the first time he reached out to somebody, you know?"

"Danie, I'm not the bad girl here, ok? Ron is just too…hard."

"Unlike Rocky who I understand is nice and easy."

"Excuse me. He makes me laugh. He's honest, He's not afraid to be himself. Ok? Plus he's not covered head to toe in issues. What's so bad about that?"

"Nothing! Nothing. If you're happy, I'm happy."

"Are you? Happy?"

"Yeah."

"I hope your right. Nehal said, "Jackie yelled at me today."

"Really? Wow this is even bigger news then you and Rocky."

Nehal glared at Danielle.

"Just joking." said Danielle. She sat down beside Nehal on the bed. "What happened?"

"I was just watching the team do jumping jacks and then I came up to Jackie and told her that she had the arms wrong…"

"How can you have your arms wrong when you're doing jumping jacks?" asked Danielle

Nehal shrugged her shoulders, "I don't think she was really trying and then she just yelled at me. It was very shocking."

"She's probably just stressed from school. Give it time. Talk to her tomorrow okay?"

"Okay thanks Danie."

"No problem."

A/N: Wow that chapter was long to write. There was just so much drama. In the next chapter find out if Jackie can find a date for Hogsmede, if Danielle will find a way for Ron and Nehal to be together, will Nehal talk to Jackie about what happened and will Neville suspect that Heather is cheating on him? Thanks for the reviews, keep it up!