(an: Sorry these chapters have been so short. They just seem like good places to stop.)
Ch. 11
The whole school was in a frenzy. All those attacks on Muggle-borns. I'm scared. I mean, I could be next. Penelope was attacked a few days ago. It hit me hard. But the thing that got me was I had never seen Percy so shook up. I've been staying up late, comforting him. It's been difficult because no one knows they were dating. They had been keeping it a secret because of his brothers. His siblings would never let him live it down. I should know, I'm dating one of them. Talk about a conflict of interests. I can't let my boyfriend know that one of my best friends is dating a girl that was attacked. Damn.
My thoughts were interrupted by a squeal and an attack.
"Emma! Guess what!" Alicia said as she assaulted me.
"We landed on the moon." I tried. She ignored me.
"My mom got married."
"Congrats. . . wait a minute, your mom was dating my uncle."
"No shit, Sherlock. WE'RE COUSINS!" she shrieked, hugging me. Lei and I had set up her mom with my uncle a few years ago. Lei was one of my few female friends because of it.
"My mom just wrote me to say they had eloped. How romantic." She swooned.
Fred and George broke out into their own rendition of "It's a Small World After All."
Percy started yelling at them.
"How can you sing at a time like this? Ten points from Gryffindor."
I ended up hearing a ton of swear words I didn't know existed.
But they were cool.
Four detentions later and everything was okay again. I don't know what I did to deserve a detention, but that McGonagall is on top of things. I don't even question her anymore.
Turns out not forty minutes later, my detention was earned in Potions class.
Snape was being a frog's ass as usual. Percy usually does really well in Potions, but with everything going on, he added the dragon dung two steps too early. Snape started in on Perce, and I cracked.
"I don't know what your problem is, Professor Snape, but I bet it's hard to pronounce. Just out of curiosity, were your parents siblings?"
I seriously thought he was going to hit me. The entire class sat there in shock.
"If anybody's looking for me, I'll be in Dumbledore's office." I said and marched out of the dungeons, just in time to hear Snape screaming in a rage.
Why do I get myself into these situations?
Since I didn't know where Dumbledore's office was, I ended up going to McGonagall's office.
"I screwed up again." I said, marching into her room.
"I figured you would."
Thanks, McGonagall.
"I snapped in Snape's class. I mean, with all these attacks, and I've been staying up late comforting Percy, because I'm the only one who knows he was dating Penelope. So when Snape started tearing down Percy's work and I could see him getting upset, I mouthed off to Snape to get the attention away from Percy."
"I bet he didn't like that."
"No, he didn't. But part of me wanted to get out all my frustrations and being disrespectful to a teacher seemed like a good way to do it. I know it's not the right way, but it still felt good."
I could have stopped.
But McGonagall was listening so well that I let everything out.
"You know what else? Dating George is not right, but it feels good. I shouldn't be doing this to him. I don't like him in that way. He's a great friend and so much fun to be around, but I'm not in love. What I love is having a boyfriend. Someone to hold me. I love kissing him, that's for sure. It's not fair to either of us. Because when I kiss him I imagine I'm kissing Oliver. Ollie's the one I'm in love with. We've been best friends since that first train ride and I've been hopelessly in love with him ever since. I mean, even if we never married, he would always be that guy. The one I could have been with. I mean, I know what it is to be without him, and that was the darkest period of my life. I don't think I could do it again. We could be great, him and I. We would make a brilliant couple. There's just one tiny little detail that shoots the whole idea to hell. He doesn't like me. Okay, there's two details. He doesn't know I like him. We need to work on that. But that idiot has one love and that's Quidditch. Life's funny alright. And just when you realize it's a bitch, it goes and has puppies."
There was a slight pause after all this.
"Feel better?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Know what you have to do?"
"Yes."
"Good. Your detention is tomorrow at eight."I left quietly.