Disclaimer: All the good stuff belongs to J.K Rowling. I'm not her. Unless I can get hold of some Polyjuice Potion and a strand of her hair.

A/N: Yeah, I changed my name because.well, I felt like a change, I guess!

Firstly, thanks for the review. You're all so sweet! Secondly, let me apologise for being such a lazy ass lately. It's just been hard to find time and motivation recently.

I do have some good news though. Next week is my last week of high school.ever. Yeah, I'm nearly finished high school for the rest of my life. No more school! Yay! So what does that have to do with you? Well, I finish my HSC at the beginning of November and after that I have nothing to do till March and I'm hoping to get a lot of writing done.

So if you can all put up with my sporadic and inconsistent updates for a little longer I'd appreciate it. After my exams I hope to get at least one chapter out a week.

Now that I've finished taking up all your time we can get on with the story. I'm getting bored with how it's progress so I'm speeding it up so I can get to the interesting stuff faster. I know it's not really professional to make big time jumps all the time but it's really better for everyone this way!

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Chapter 20

Over Christmas, George thought about Alicia's kiss constantly. He thought that spending time away from her over Christmas would help him sort out his emotions but when she returned to Hogwarts he was even more confused.

Alicia was acting completely normal, as if nothing had happened. She obviously didn't care about the kiss so why did George? He was beginning to drive himself crazy with his conflicting feelings.

Finally, one morning after the Easter holidays, George decided he was going to talk to Alicia about it. Running through what he was going to say in his head, George descended into the common room to find it in an utter uproar.

"George!" Katie called from across the crowd of Gryffindor's.

"What's going on?" he asked as he joined her and Angelina. Behind him, Fred and Lee stumbled down stairs still half-asleep.

"What's all the excitement?" Fred said groggily as he rubbed sleep from his eyes.

"We're not quite sure yet. Alicia and Oliver went for a run early this morning and they happened to pass the hourglass on-" Angelina began to explain.

"Wait. Alicia went for a run with Oliver? Since when does she run with Oliver? I could run with her if she just bothered to ask me, I mean I can-"

Angelina scowled at George and he decided it was time to stop talking. "Ahem - as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, they happened to pass the hourglass and Gryffindor is coming last all of a sudden! Apparently we lost a hundred and fifty points over night."

"You three wouldn't have anything to do with this, would you?" Katie folded her arms and scrutinised the three boys.

"We honestly have no idea what happened, love."

"Don't call me love, Jordan."

"We were sound asleep last night. Are you sure we lost points? Maybe it's just a mistake," Fred said hopefully.

"That's what Percy and Alicia have gone to find out. Let's just hope it is a mistake," Angelina said solemnly.

"Weasley!"

George jumped in surprise and banged his shin on a small table. "Jeez, Wood! Could you not sneak up on me like that!"

"I want to know if you had anything to do with this whole points fiasco."

"Blimey, any kind of trouble in this place and everyone assumes it was us. Really, I think I should be insulted." Fred pouted as if he'd been mortally offended.

A murmur ran through the confused students and the group realised that Alicia had returned. She froze as she realised that everyone was waiting for her to talk.

"Percy is still talking to McGonagall but she has assured us that there is no mistake with the points. Three Gryffindor's were caught out of bed last night."

Every eye turned to Fred, George and Lee. Fred threw his hands up in frustration. "It wasn't us!"

"Then who was it, Leesh?" Oliver demanded.

"Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger and.Harry Potter," Alicia said slowly and hesitantly.

Everyone gasped and Angelina swore. Before anyone could ask questions, Percy returned and shooed everyone down to breakfast.

"Wait, who's Neville?" Fred asked as they all took their seats at the Gryffindor table.

"Kid with the toad."

"Oh, right. What about Hermione?"

Alicia rolled her eyes. "You should really pay more attention to your housemates. Hermione is the girl with the bushy, brown hair."

"Huh?"

"The one with her nose in a book all the time. The one you think is too much like Percy," Angelina said helpfully.

"Oh, that Hermione!"

"Why would she break rules though?" Lee asked.

"That's the million Galleon question."

"Well, I'm really disappointed in her," Fred said in an eerie impersonation of Percy.

"You three break rules all the time though," Katie pointed out.

George jabbed his fork at her. "Hey, it's only rule breaking if you get caught."

"Isn't Ron friends with Potter? Wonder why he didn't get in trouble," Lee mused.

"Yeah, they are friends. As a Weasley he should be up for a bit of nighttime wandering. But why didn't he go too?" Fred wondered aloud.

"He was in the hospital wing yesterday," Alicia answered him.

"Really?" Fred and George said at the same time.

"He's your little brother and you didn't even realise he was gone. You're such lovely, caring brothers," Angelina said sarcastically.

"We can't be expected to pay attention to him all the time," George protested.

"How do you know he was in there, Spinnet?"

"I had to go to the hospital wing and I saw him."

"Are you sick?" George asked, slightly alarmed.

She shook her head and her curls rippled. "Oliver had to see her to because he pulled a muscle in his arm and I offered to go with him."

"Oh," George muttered. Sorry I asked.

"What's wrong with him?"

"His hand was all icky and infected. He says it was a dog bite that got out of control. I hope I never meet a dog that can turn your hand green."

"You don't believe him then?" Lee asked.

She shrugged, not wanting to speculate. "I don't know."

"I hope he isn't telling the truth. At least lying is something we can be proud of," Fred said with a pleased smile.

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The next day things were only just beginning to die down. Harry was still in everyone's bad books but the Gryffindor's had started working on ways to get the points back. Oliver in particular.

That evening Alicia joined him at a table where he was reviewing Quidditch plays. The table was completely covered in parchment and Oliver was looking very disgruntled.

"Having fun, captain?" Alicia grinned as she sat beside him.

"Loads. Oh, you'll never guess what happened today," he said.

"Hmm. Would it have anything to do with Quidditch?"

"Is that you're idea of an insult?"

"Of course not, dear," Alicia assured him with a wink.

"Right, well, Harry tried to resign from the team today."

"Resign!? Why on earth would he do that?"

"He seems to think we all hate him and want him off the team," Oliver replied.

"Poor thing. I hope you set him straight. He can't go around thinking we all hate him! Did you talk to him about all this? I'm sure he could use someone to talk to right now."

"I told him not to resign but that's it. I'm not his damn mother," Oliver said. He did not like the way the conversation was going.

"I know that but you're the closest thing he has to a big brother," Alicia reasoned.

"You're like an older sister to him as well then. You talk to him," he countered.

"I'm already a big sister to Jasmine thanks. You're an only child just like him. It would be nice for you to have a word with Harry, perhaps offer him a little guidance," she suggested innocently.

"I know Quidditch not emotional stuff, Leesh." He rubbed his neck awkwardly as she scrutinised him. "I can't do touchy feely. You're the expert there."

Alicia gave a small smile. "I prefer to think of it as active listening and helpful advice."

"Whatever it is, you're good at it. Not me."

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Oliver. I believe there's more to you than Quidditch."

"See, you're doing it right now."

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Unfortunately, Gryffindor didn't win the Quidditch Cup that year. Harry had been in the hospital wing during the last game. Because they didn't have a reserve Seeker listed they had to play without one. After the game the Slytherins had happily informed them that it was Gryffindor's worst defeat in three hundred years.

"Our names will be in the record book, at least that's something, " Fred had stated glumly.

Oliver had been moping around all the time and he was still complaining at the end-of-year feast. Alicia was sitting in between him and George when Harry entered the Great Hall and took a seat with Ron and Hermione.

"I don't see why he couldn't have played with a few injuries," Oliver commented.

"He was unconscious. I dare say he would have fallen off his broom a few times had he played," George replied tartly.

"Come on, Olly, he had a perfectly legitimate excuse. It's not everyday that You-Know-Who tries to gain immortality," Alicia said, ignoring George's not-so-friendly reply.

"Can't he have fought the Dark Lord after the Quidditch game." he rested his chin on his fists grumpily.

Alicia smiled and rested her head on Oliver's shoulder. George scowled and opened his mouth to say something but Professor Dumbledore interrupted him. The Gryffindor students listened dejectedly as Dumbledore read out the points. Gryffindor had finished last. Slytherin had finished first thanks to their Quidditch win.

Alicia's head snapped up when Dumbledore announced that he had some last minute points to award. The Hall fell completely silent as he awarded points to Ron, Hermione then Harry.

"What does that bring us up to?" Oliver asked urgently.

"Umm." Alicia tried frantically to add the numbers in her head.

Fred beat her to it though. "We're level with Slytherin!"

Everyone stared at him and he blushed and looked down at his plate. He'd always tried to hide his ability with numbers.

"Just one more point!" Oliver grabbed Alicia's hand.

George saw this. Not wanting to be out done, he grabbed her other hand tightly. She gripped both their hands and held her breath.

Come on, just one more measly point! She closed her eyes.

"I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom."

The Gryffindor table exploded with excitement. Everyone jumped to their feet and screamed and cheered. Angelina kissed Fred much to his surprise. Katie even hugged Lee. Oliver was jumping up and down and waving his arms in the air. He was obviously glad their shocking Quidditch game hadn't lost them the House Cup.

Alicia turned to George and threw her arms around him. George gripped her tightly and buried his face in her hair.

Her hair smells so nice, he noted absently.

He froze. Was it even normal to smell your best friend's hair? George had a feeling it wasn't.

Alicia wriggled from his grasp and looked up at him. "Are you all right? You look a little funny."

George shook his head and forced a smile. Alicia smiled brightly back at him. Suddenly George found himself admiring her smile and even her eyes.

So large and brown, he thought wistfully. Why hadn't he noticed any of this earlier?

From that moment onwards, George knew he had a crush on Alicia Spinnet.

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A/N: Yep, George had finally admitted it to himself. Yay! Sorry for the short, crappy chapter. I just thought I should get something out before I go on my break. I probably won't update for ages though. Again, I apologise. I really just need to study.

After October I'm all yours though. No homework or anything to worry about!

If you're bored and have nothing to read during my absence you can check out some of my other stories. Even try some of the stories in my faves list!

Please leave me a nice review. I could do with some encouragement right now. Thanks!