Disclaimer: Surprisingly enough I still don´t own Harry Potter. Who would´ve thought so.

A/n: Can´t think of much to say here, except for thanks to all those who reviewed (more than on any of the other chapters!). You are the best!

Alicia´s PoV:

The following Sunday, I was wandering aimlessly around the castle deep in thought. The subject upon which I pondered was (of course) George Weasley.

My brain was still refusing to admit the fact that I was in love with him, but the rest of me had fully and wholly accepted it. Every time I so much as looked at him now, my heart started skipping and my stomach lurched. Of course, his having this effect on me made me so embarrassed that I started blushing. Then George would ask me what was wrong, causing my heart to skip again and my face to become even redder. It felt like I was trapped in an eternal circle. I couldn´t stand to look at George, but I couldn´t stay away from him either.

It was clear that I had to do something about this, but what? I couldn´t think of anything. I could, of course, stay in my room for the rest of the year and hope that my crush had passed come June, but I didn´t really think that was a good solution. Neither was pretending that George didn´t exist.

What choices did this leave me with, then? Only one thing came to mind: Admitting to George how I felt about him. That one was obviously out of the question. Not only would it be terribly humiliating, but there was also the risk that he might think I was only using him to get over Fred. After all, I had done it before, so it wouldn´t be unreasonable of him to think of that possibility.

When I had gotten this far in my thinking, my search for a solution was suddenly interrupted by a voice.

"Hey, Spinnet!"

Angered by this intrusion in my peace, I spun around to see the person who was so rudely disturbing me. I found that Adrian Pucey was smirking at me.

"What do you want, Pucey?" I said, scowling at him. Talking to him was the last thing I wanted to do right now.

Unfortunately my scowl didn´t have the effect I had hoped for. Instead of running away screaming, like he should have, he came closer to me.

"A pretty girl like you shouldn´t be wandering around all by herself. You might get into trouble, you know."

"Is that a warning or a threat?" I replied icily.

"That depends on you." Suddenly he had stepped forward and grabbed my wrist. I shrieked and tried to pull away, but he was too strong.

"How dare you! Let me go!" I tried to slap him, but he caught my hand before I managed to hit him.

"Easy, Spinnet! There´s really no need to get violent," he said calmly. I glared at him. "I only want to ask you something."

"Go ahead and ask, then!" I said angrily. "But let go of me first!"

He ignored me completely. "Are you going out with Weasley?"

Well, that was unexpected. "What?"

"You heard me. Are you going out with Weasley twin number 2?" He grinned, apparently thinking that he was funny. I didn´t think so, though.

"His name is George," I informed him. "And no, I´m not going out with him! Not that it´s any of your business," I added quickly.

"Perhaps I´d like it to be my business," he said, sneering at me.

"And what do you mean by that?" I demanded to know. Somewhere in my mind I already had an idea of what he meant, but I didn´t really believe it. It was too improbable.

"If you´re not going out with him," Pucey explained to me, "then you can go out with me."

"What?" I couldn´t believe my own ears. Adrian Pucey was asking me out? In a very odd way, but still… he was asking me out! I looked up, expecting to see pigs flying around. There were none, though. A bit of a disappointment, that.

"So, when do you want to have our first date?" he said.

I looked at him in disbelief. "Who said I wanted to go out with you?"

"Why shouldn´t you? I mean, I´m handsome, rich, and a pureblood… You´re a pureblood too, aren´t you?" he asked, appearing to have suddenly remembered something.

"Yes, I am," I said. "So what?"

"You´re a pretty girl and a pureblood. Then you should be able to get something better than that Muggle-loving blood-traitor, and a poor one at that."

At this, my fear was turned into rage. I retrieved my hand and slapped him hard across the face. "I refuse to listen to this crap!" I shouted at him. "George is an amazing guy, much more handsome and kind and sweet than you could ever be! And as for that Muggle-loving´ part, I´ll have you know that Angelina, my best friend, is Muggle-born. So you can just shut that big mouth of yours, cause I´m not interested in hearing anything you´ve got to say!" I tried to free my other hand, but he tightened his grip around it.

"You think you´re too good for me, is that it?" he snarled. All the fear, which had left me earlier, was now back with full strength.

"Let me go," I pleaded again, but he didn´t even seem to hear me.

"D´you really think Weasley can make you happy? He can´t. He´s just a poor blood-traitor. I would be much better for you."

"I told you to let go of me!" I cried out, desperate to get away.

Then, suddenly, another voice was heard. "Let go of her, Pucey."

Both our heads turned to see who it was. I was amazed to see Angelina walking towards us, looking perfectly calm, as always. Pucey probably was surprised too, but I imagine that he felt none of the relief I felt.

"Angie!" I said softly. She smiled briefly at me before she turned to Pucey.

"If you do not let go of my friend this instant," she said coldly, "I will report you to Professor McGonagall for attacking her. I don´t think she´ll be very happy to hear about this." She gesticulated to my wrist, which was still caught in his hand.

"Mind your own business, mudblood," Pucey said angrily, but he let go of me and walked away, rather quickly. Angelina and I were left alone.

For a while none of us said anything. I was studying the floor intently, feeling worse and worse about myself as the moments passed in silence. Angelina had saved me from Pucey, even though I had betrayed her by not telling her how I felt about Fred. It made me feel completely rotten.

"Leesh…" she said at last, in an uncertain voice. I looked up and was surprised to see that she was teary-eyed. Impulsively I put my arms around her and held her, for a moment forgetting that she was angry with me.

"What´s wrong, Angie?" I said in my most soothing tone. Angelina didn´t answer me at once, she just sniffed and tried to dry her eyes. I let go of her, suddenly remembering that she was mad at me right now, but she didn´t seem angry that I had hugged her. Instead, she looked me in the eyes and smiled weakly.

"I´ve missed you, Leesh."

"I´ve missed you, too." I took a deep breath, preparing for what I knew I had to say. "I´m sorry I didn´t tell you how I felt about Fred. It was wrong of me, I should have told you. But I didn´t want to hurt you, I know that you two love each other and…" My voice died out, I couldn´t find the words for telling her how bad I felt about what I´d done.

"It´s okay, Leesh," Angelina said suddenly. I looked up at her.

"Really?" I whispered.

"Yeah. I overreacted and I´m sorry for that," she told me, her smile turning into a grin. I couldn´t help grinning back.

"We´re cool, then?"

"Absolutely." More hugging, crying and apologies ensued. I couldn´t believe that Angelina had forgiven me this easily, as she was good at holding grudges, but I was incredibly happy that she did.

At last we let go of each other, both of us smiling with tears still running down our cheeks.

"So… What made you decide to forgive me?" I asked curiously.

"I heard what you said to Pucey about me being your best friend," she said quietly. "And then I started feeling really bad because I´d refused to speak to you for so long. Besides, I had to help you get rid of that bastard."

"Yeah, I appreciated that. I don´t see why he was asking me out, but there´s no way I´d ever accept." I made a hand gesture to show just how I felt about Pucey, and Angelina snickered.

"I know what you mean," she said, grinning. "He´s a Slytherin, after all."

xxxxx

As we were walking back to the Gryffindor tower, I realized that there was one more thing I had to tell Angelina.

"Angie?" I said.

"Yes?"

"I´ve got something to tell you." I could feel my face getting red. "I haven´t told anyone about this yet, but… There´s someone I like. No, it´s not Fred," I added after seeing the look on her face. "It´s someone else."

Angelina´s reaction was just like I knew it would be. When she heard the news she was on me at once, begging me to tell her who it was. I smiled mysteriously and enjoyed the sight of her grovelling.

"Say please," I commanded.

"Please, please tell me who it is!" she readily obeyed.

"Well… It´s someone you know. A Gryffindor, actually." I could see that she was considering who it could be, apparently without reaching any conclusion.

"You haven´t guessed yet? I´ll give you another hint, then," I said. "I went to the Yule Ball with him."

Angelina´s jaw dropped. She stared at me for at least half a minute before my words finally seemed to sink in. At last she managed to regain her voice. "You´re in love with George?"

I nodded, smiling sheepishly.

"Wow! This is so great!" She became more and more excited as she spoke. "Have you told Katie yet?" I shook my head. "Then you´ve got to tell her! We have to get you two together! You´d be the cutest couple ever. Except for me and Fred, that is."

I watched in awe as Angelina´s Katie-like side came up to the surface. With her and Katie on the case, there was no way George and I could keep from getting together.