Get ready for a long chapter! Here's the second bit of everyone's Holiday gift from me! Hope you all like it! Please do review!

Chapter Fifteen

Don't Ever Say Sorry for Something You Meant to Do

Cailee hadn't realized how much time had gone by. They had less than a month, more like two weeks now, until mid-terms before break. She had spent every night of November studying with her friends, since Hermione kept nagging them about where they wanted to go in the future. They just humored her by studying with her. She was a Prefect, so she had made a new rule that it was to be silent at ten o'clock in the Common Rooms, or any offenders would have to serve detention. Harry couldn't help but smile at the girl he loved so dearly and how dedicated she was.

Cailee was actually pretty happy at where she was right now in her schoolwork. She had good grades in them all, except Divination, which didn't bother her too much, she didn't really care about seeing. Parvarti had come up to Cailee and called her a list of horrible names, and tried to hex her. Cailee had her wand out and blocked her, before cursing her so badly that she had to go to the Hospital Wing because she couldn't see, and her body was shrinking rapidly. Cailee had been docked thirty points for it, and given a detention in which she had to clean the Great Hall after dinner one night, but it wasn't too bad. She'd had it with Parvarti. She hadn't been raised to act like this, but she wasn't going to take it lying down. So after it had happened, she went and told Brian. He and his friends had gone up to her one day and talked to her, making evil threats to her if she ever said one more word about Cailee. And Parvarti did. She was in the Hospital Wing again for a week after that. Madam Pomfrey wasn't sure how many curses hit her, or which ones they were for that matter, so it took a while for her to sort it out. Parvarti then went around trying to correct the rumor she had started, and lost a great deal of friends because she had lied about Cailee. Cailee was surprised that Lavender stuck by her through it all, but she was the only one who did. Cailee didn't talk to Parvarti, even though she had apologized.

And things with Malfoy. . . Cailee didn't think about them too much. In all honesty, she didn't care. She hadn't so much as talked to him since the night of the party, or looked at him, or even acknowledged that he was there. She had noticed he had grown more reticent in recent weeks, though. She still thought he was handsome, but she could live without him. She had gotten a letter from her dad telling her to fix things with Malfoy, or he was going to pull her out of there, but she wasn't going to fix something he broke. Seamus had started dating Amber, so her friendship with him had to be downsized a little. She didn't like him anymore. In fact, she only liked Brian at the time. He often walked her to classes, and she usually went down to the Quidditch pitch with him once or twice a week to watch him practice when she could. They did hang out a lot, and Cailee noticed people growing jealous in both houses. Cailee friend's weren't jealous though; in fact Brian had become a part of their group, he hung out with Cailee so much. And Brian's popular group and merged with Cailee's so-so group, to form one group now. There were about twelve of them that did a lot of things together now, and hung out in the classes they shared. Cailee found that Brian had a fascination with stars also. He had met her one time at one in the morning to take her up to the top astronomy tower and watch a meteor shower. She had gotten cold and he wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Are you excited?" Ginny asked her, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"For what?"

"The Hogsmeade trip tomorrow, duh," Ginny said, looking up at her.

"Yeah, I am. I've never been there before," Cailee said.

"What? Ohmigosh! We have to show you everything! There's Zonko's, and the Shrieking Shack, and Fred and George's new store out there—" she said excitedly. Cailee laughed at her excitement.

"You're like my little brothers and sisters. They were always so excited to show me things I hadn't been shown yet." Ginny giggled at that.

"So, let me see, I guess I'm going to have to treat you like I treat them. I would tell them, 'We need to go to bed, so tomorrow will come faster,' because we usually had lots of fun things in store. So, I guess we need to get to bed, huh?" she asked, grabbing her bag, and heading upstairs.

Hermione followed soon after, and she and Cailee sat up talking for a while on Hermione's bed until Parvarti and Lavender came in, with Amber, which was a surprise for them all. Parvarti looked over at Cailee with wide eyes, as though pleading with her to talk to her, but Cailee just looked away, and continued talking with Hermione and Amber. At first, Amber hadn't liked Hermione, and vice versa. But they eventually learned to get along. Hermione had even let her give her a makeover, and Hermione loved her. Amber was smarter than she looked; she was able to tame Hermione's hair with a simple potion taken once a month, and had shown her how to use makeup. Now Cailee and Amber weren't the only one's people had their eyes on, Hermione was in on it too. She seemed flustered by the attention, and Harry seemed jealous. After an hour or two, the three finally went to bed.

"Good morning! It's snowing! Dress warmly!" Hermione sang to Cailee and Amber the next morning.

"Thanks mom," Amber said, sitting up in bed and moving back her hangings. Cailee did so too and glanced outside. The ground was already covered in a few feet of snow. She could see the path Hagrid had made up to the castle earlier, and it was already beginning to fill back in. The forest looked smaller, since many of the trees were covered in snow. She couldn't even see out to the lake because it was so foggy and dark.

Cailee rolled out of bed and made a mad dash towards the end of her bed, her feet cold on the wooden floor. From within her trunk she pulled out a pair of dark jeans, and a long sleeved shirt with writing on it. She laughed as she looked at it, forgetting she had even packed it. All her brothers and sisters had stenciled their names onto her shirt before she left, each writing a little message to her wishing her luck. She pulled it on, and then rummaged through her trunk for a hoody. She found the white one she and her soccer team had made last season. Soccer was a borrowed sport in her realm, but everyone still greatly enjoyed it. And her mother and father always had to promote a healthy image, so Cailee and her siblings had to participate in 2-4 sports a year, so Cailee did soccer, tennis, and softball, all borrowed sports. On her hoody she had ironed on the word Ooteropeiaon the centerof the back of her hoody. On the front on the right side it said Cailee, and underneath that the number 27. She found a red and gold scarf, and red mittens, and a black beanie. She slipped all those inside her hoody, and went downstairs alone.

"Hey Ron," she said, sitting down next to him on one of the couches.

"Hi Cailee," he said, smiling up at her, before continuing to gaze into the fire. Cailee began to pull her hair back into a low ponytail, while saying, "So, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm just waiting on Harry. I think he has something special planned for Hermione today. He took the time to put on cologne, which I didn't even know he owned, and tried to tame his hair, which is impossible, but we'll see how it goes," he whispered to her, just as Hermione and Amber came downstairs. Cailee watched Seamus go up to Amber and pull her into a big hug and whisper something to her before she started to laugh. She held his hand and walked outside the portrait.

"That Seamus, what am I gonna do without my best friend today?" Dean asked, from behind them. They turned and saw him leaning against the back of the couch.

"Hang out with me, then," Ron said. "Seems I'm losing my best friend to a girl too," he said, looking over at Harry and Hermione. Harry's hair did look good, instead of it messed up everywhere. It looked like he had used a lot of gel and maybe some hairspray to halfway tame it, it still looked sloppy, but it wasn't everywhere.

"And what am I going to do?" Cailee asked, crossing her hands across her chest.

"Play dolls with Ginny?" Ron said, laughing.

"Only if you'll play too, Ron, like you used to," Ginny said, sitting across from then. Dean started coughing, which sounded like he was trying to hide a laugh, and Ron's ears' burned red.

"Oh, come on. We used to have so much fun together, especially when Fred and George would play too. Until they blew up my dolls," Ginny said, frowning at the memory.

"Okay, you guys, lets go," Cailee said laughing at the sibling rivalry.

After Filch had checked the list very carefully, they walked outside. The snow was so cold, and it filled their shoes.

"Every year mum tells us to bring boots for the snow, and we never listen do we, Gin?" Ron asked.

"Nah, but Fred and George did, once, remember. Bought pink boots to wear. Everyone loved them, especially the girl's, thought it was hot," Ginny said.

By the time they had reached the town, the four were freezing. "What say we go to your brother's shop?" Dean asked them, since it was only a few minutes a way. Everyone nodded in agreement, and continued on down the street.

Inside Weasley Wizard Wheezes, it was crowded. There was so much laughter, and so many kids pushing to the front of the shop, and shoving people in between aisles, daring each other to try some of the twins' foulest creations. Ron pushed his way up to the front, and behind the counter, leading them to a store room in the back. They put their things down and looked around. It was where the twin's lived, obviously. They were in their living room, which had two couches and a bookshelf, and lead into the kitchen. The living room had items thrown everywhere, books, parchments, and some clothes. The kitchen was in a bad need of some cleaning, food was going bad on the counter, and the dishes needed to be washed. Cailee walked down another hallway with Ginny. At the end of it was a bathroom with towels all over it, clothes strewn about the floor. And on either side of the bathroom was a bedroom, one for each twin.

"Ron! What are you doing?" someone asked. Cailee retreated down the hallway with Ginny. A boy, not nearly as tall as Ron, had walked back into the living area. His hair wasn't quit as red as Ron and Ginny's, but he still had just as many freckles. He was muscular, you could tell because of the way his shirt fit him. He was solid, and had a white smile, with twinkling green eyes.

"Fred!" Ginny said, flinging herself into him. He looked a little shocked, but hugged her back.

"Ginny, you're fifteen, pull yourself together," said another twin, coming back into the room. He looked exactly like his brother, except he was a little taller.

"Hey, Dean, Ron--" Fred said, after Ginny had let go. His eyes had stopped on Cailee. Cailee could feel herself blush, because she was embarrassed. She hadn't put on very much makeup this morning, and her hair was getting ratty from the snow melting on it.

Wow! They actually make girls like this? Fred wondered. How come I never saw her at Hogwarts? Surely I wouldn't have missed her. She's tall, and her hair is such a gorgeous brown. I've never seen eyes as blue as that, either. Lighter than the skies. And her figure. . .he thought.

"Fred, George, this is Cailee Ooteropeia," Ron said, introducing her. Fred had gotten over his shock and walked up to her, sticking out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Cailee. Jolly good, now tell—" he started, but was pushed out of the way by George.

"Smashing, darling. Now, how old are you?" George asked.

"Sixteen," Cailee said laughing at the way these boys behaved. So much like Harry and Ron, and Dean and Seamus.

"Oh really now? Come, come, do tell us about yourself," Fred started, shoving George out of the way. Just then someone yelled from the front.

"Fred! George! Out here now!"

"Lee works for you guys now?" Ron asked, mildly amused.

"Works with us," Fred said. "Co-owner," he said, before striding out of the room.George winked at Cailee, and then walked out of the room too.

"Well seems you've made an impression on my brothers," said Ron, going into the kitchen to look for some food.

"Oh, and don't you just see me shouting for joy?" Cailee asked with mild sarcasm.

"You should be. I mean, I know they're my brothers and everything, but people do talk about them, and so many of the girls had crushes on them. They were all jealous of Katie Bell, George's on-again-off-again girlfriend," Ginny said, sitting on the couch next to Dean. He put his arm around her shoulder, and then looked up to see Ron coming back from the kitchen with a look of pure hatred.

"Ron! Grow up! I'm a big girl now! I don't need you looking out for me all the time!" Ginny wailed, standing up, pulling Dean up with her.

"Ginny, ok, I'm sorry," Ron said. "Hey, hey, you know what? We should all go to the Three Broomsticks and get some butterbeers, okay?" he said, looking around eagerly. They all agreed, and started back through the shop. As Cailee pulled up the counter, she saw Malfoy perusing the shop near the front. Their eyes caught for a moment, but then Cailee looked away as Fred pulled her into a big hug and said something to make her laugh.

The snow was biting. Cailee was shivering, and she wished she'd worn more than a hoody today. She started shivering, and Ron placed his arm around her shoulder, and she put hers around his waist. After a long walk in which they ran the last few minutes of, the reached the tavern.

A loud blast met their ears, just like at the joke shop. Everyone was laughing and Cailee saw a lot of her friends. While Ron went to get the drinks with Dean, she and Ginny went around from table to table saying hello to everyone. Cailee saw Brian and went over and sat with him for a few minutes before she saw Ron and Dean head to a table in the back where Harry and Hermione sat. She gave him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek, and then left.

"Hey you guys! Where've you been?" Cailee asked Harry and Hermione.

"Oh, just around, walking and talking and stuff," Harry said.

"Oh yeah?" Ron asked with a sly grin. Harry punched him on the shoulder, and Ron slopped some of his drink down the front of his coat.

"Oh Ron," Hermione said giggling, and cleaning up his mess with her wand. "What would you do without me?"

"Probably get kicked out of the school cause of bad grades," he said in all honesty, smiling.

"So really. What were you two up to?" Dean asked, sitting next to Ginny.

The two exchanged glances, and then laughed.

"You guys think it's so serious. No, we honestly just were walking around, went into a few stores, and Harry and I bought each other a few things, because, if you remember, it's our six month today," Hermione said, still laughing.

"Ohh," they all said.

After a round of butterbeer, Harry and Hermione left, claiming they had "some stuff to do." Dean and Ginny left to, leaving Ron to pay the bill, and go outside with Cailee.

"Ron! OY, Ron!" someone called. They looked around to see the Ravenclaw Ron had spent a lot of Halloween night with at the party.

"Go," Cailee whispered to him, pushing him towards her. She knew how much he liked her; he talked about her a lot. "I'll be fine." Ron took off running towards her, and caught her in a big hug; they both lost their balance and toppled over in the snow, laughing hysterically.

Cailee continued to walk up the street, peering into every few shops to look. She had just stopped outside Zonko's, and was contemplating how much money she was going to spend inside there on Christmas gifts when an arm caught around her elbow.

"Oh, its you," she said in bitter disgust, looking at Malfoy, trying to get away. He only tightened his grip, forcing her to look back at him. No matter how much she didn't want to be around him, she still couldn't help but notice how strong he was, and how red his cheeks were in the wind.

"Yes, it's me. Cailee, can we please talk?" he asked.

"About what?" she asked, wanting him to admit he'd done wrong at the party.

"About. . . Cailee, well, the party, and other stuff," he said, looking away.

"No. I don't really want to spend my time looking at you, let alone talk to you." She said, trying to start off again.

"Cailee, you're not being fair," he said.

"WHAT? I'm NOT being fair? You're kidding me, right! You haven't been fair to me!" she yelled, and a few people turned to look.

"I know, Cailee. That's why I need to talk to you. Please, come here," he said, leading her off across the street.

They entered a little shop, a quiet, relaxed one.( think coffee shop) There were a few people in here, and Cailee noticed to her disgust that they were mostly couples. Malfoy took her to a table next to a window in the back.

"Do you want anything to eat or drink?" he asked, looking at the menus on their round table.

"Yes, I do. Hot chocolate." She said tersely; as much as she didn't want to accept anything from Malfoy, it was cold outside, and she was freezing.

He got up and ordered at the front counter, and came back with two hot chocolates. Cailee added cinnamon and sugar to hers and looked out the window until Malfoy decided to talk to her.

"Cailee, I'm so sorry," he finally said, looking at her. Cailee found herself lost in his deep blue eyes.

"For what?" she sniffed. She knew she was being absolutely horrible to him, but she didn't care right now.

"For the party. The way I used you. And lead you on," he said, looking down.

"Yeah, so why'd you do it? You don't ever say sorry for something you meant to do, and I'm sure you meant to use me like you did," she said, staring him in the eye.

"I don't know, I really don't. I guess. . . I guess I was afraid everything they were saying was true."

"And how could you believe those things, Malfoy? I thought we were friends, I thought we could trust each other. But I was wrong," she said, looking back out the window.

"Cailee, I want you to trust me. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm apologizing. You don't have any idea what it's been like for me to. . . for me to lose one of my best friends," he said, looking at her. She turned around slowly.

"Lose your best friend? Malfoy, it's not even funny. I don'tlike lies. At home, people who lied were shunned and frowned upon. I don't know how you could believe what everyone was saying about me. If you had any doubts, you should have come and talked to me, instead of trying to use me."

"Cailee, don't you see? I believed them because I was afraid they were true. I was afraid that you were with other guys, and not with me. We had fun at the beginning of the dance, and then I see you dancing with all those other guys just like you were with me, and I felt like it was an act, like you were just doing it to me so I wouldn't feel bad when you were all over another guy. I was jealous. . . and I felt I had to prove myself to you." He said.

Cailee just looked at him and listened to the silence between them.

"Cailee, it's been hard. I don't want to break down and cry like a baby in front of you, but, it's been weird without you around. I would look forward to going to Potions class, and to our tutoring sessions because I knew you were going to be there. You didn't care that I was a Slytherin, like so many others do, you accepted me, and you taught me, and I had fun with you."

"And I loved being around you too, Malfoy. But do you even realize how hard it was for me? Everyone thought I was a whore. Everyone thought I had been sleeping around, and you have no idea how many guys would try to take advantage of me when I was walking between classes. And then…there was you. Not only was I hurt because you believed the rumors, you tried to take advantage of them, and then you went around bragging about it, like it had really happened. I don't know what kind of a reputation you've built for yourself since you've been here, if you have to go around claiming you've been with people when you haven't, just for attention, but if it is, I don't want to be around you."

"Cailee, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'M SORRY! How many times do I have to say it?" he asked.

She stood up, jerking her hand away from him.

"Until you mean it," she hissed, and walked away.

Author's Notes: This last bit about the 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry . . . Until you mean it' part of the conversation was taken from Degrassi, the best TV show ever! (Just had to put that in there.) So I hope you like it. I need to upload more documents from my computer onto the FanFiction thing, so I might do that tomorow, or later on tonight. But either way, I plan on putting up a new post tomorow, after I get some review!