Pumpkin Juice

Today I started my firm resolution of getting over Fred in an attempt to make myself unpathetic. So, I was sitting there thinking and a stroke of brilliance hit me! Well, not literally. That would actually hurt having a stroke, my uncle had one once. Was in a hospital for a bit.

Back on the top diary dearest, I had a stroke of brilliance, in a figurative way, and choose the next best thing to Fred! His identical twin! I know, applaud me. And it's not like I'm using him or anything, because theoretically I do like him. Kind of. Well, the closest thing to him. At least I'm not doing anything mean. I'll will myself to fancy him.

So today I put my plan into action; it all started at breakfast. Have you ever thought about that word? Breakfast, I mean. It makes a lot of sense. You're breaking because a fast since you didn't eat since dinner and that's like a fast. It's one of the smartest words in the English language, not that it has much competition.

Anyway, I plopped myself down next to George. My friends, being so observant, didn't notice. Then I laughed at all his jokes and was acting flirty, more so then I am around Fred normally. Nobody noticed yet again though; I honestly am starting to think that all my friends are extraordinarily dense.

Then, the horrific thing happened! I went all happy and cheerful off to Care of Magical Creatures, and boom! Hagrid's left us and we're stuck with some substitute. Granted, she is a nice lady. Still, I miss Hagrid.

I had already read a bit on the creatures we were studying, mokes, and managed to answer the first question correctly! Of course, if Trish was here I'm sure it would have been more detailed, but I thought it was fair. Alicia even earned us ten points for knowing that you can use its skin for handbags. I wouldn't want one though; I don't think we should use animals like that!

I continued to use my charm by sitting next to George. There actually wasn't much to do in class as the mokes kept shrinking. Anyway, I talked loudly about Keeper try-outs until I got Fred and George to join in. I purposely ignored Fred (must throw all suspicious friends off the scent!) and only talked to George. Hopefully, no one'll figure much out as of yet.

I am really hopeful for the Keeper try-outs. Honestly though, we don't have that many options! I just hope that whoever we pick is good.

So, then I went to potions class taught by a rather revolting bat. Ahem, I mean, Professor Snape. Fred immediately partnered up with Trish because of her brains, not that I was jealous or anything. Because, you know, I'm completely over him.

Yes, we had to partner up boy-girl and all that rubbish. Now, my first thought was George, he is semi-intelligent and really, how much can I reinforce the message?

Anyway, I managed to snatch him before Alicia could, leaving her to the torment of Lee. We all love him, but the boy can get annoying.

Goerge told jokes because, well, he's a Weasley twin. I dutifully laughed at him, and then I helped him out in what I hoped to be a kind manner. See, that shows him good personality! We were making some complicated potion so I actually didn't get to flirt with him too much. Though I suppose it's good; only so much flirting in a day before I wear myself out. At least he helped though; poor Trish was practically working alone while Fred seethed at anyone and seemed to be muttering under his breath. I wonder what his problem is, not that I care or anything.

Well, maybe Trish was better working alone. When Fred did help he must've made some mistake, and...it wasn't pretty. Snape was somewhat…miffed, to say the least. Luckily Trish's smart enough to know the spell to fix it. Not that she'll tell Fred that; she loves playing with other's feelings.

Dinner was held in the great hall per usual and I found out that my seeker did something that makes him resemble an imbecile. He got bloody detention with the TOAD!

"Oy, Potter!" I called angrily.

"What now?" he asked wearily. That rude little imp!

"I tell you what now," I said, marching up to him and poking him. "How come you've landed yourself in detention for five o'clock Friday?"

"What?" He's ignorant, too! "Why…oh yeah, Keeper tryouts!"

"Now he remembers!" I snarled, as opposed to the dismal tone that had been threatening to escape me. "Didn't I tell you I wanted to do a tryout with the whole team, and find someone who fitted in with everyone? Didn't I tell you I'd booked the Quidditch pitch specially? And now you've decided you're not going to be there!"

"I didn't decide not to be there!" said Harry. "I got detention from that Umbridge woman, just because I told her the truth about You-Know-Who —"

"Well, you can just go straight to her and ask her to let you off on Friday," I hissed fiercely, my teeth gritted. "and I don't care how you do it, tell her You-Know-Who's a figment of your imagination if you like, just make sure you're there!"

And then I turned on my heel and stalked off, cursing that frog spawn of a teacher under my breath.

Authors' Note: Well, this chapter has been different from the orginal chapter four because I had to re-write it. That was a painful process. Even to think of; I can only imagine what it must have actually been. I hate re-writing things. See, we love this story, and we love writing it, but re-writing is completely different. Did you know that only 8 of the people that have me on author alert review at the moment? Sad day. :moment of silence:

nd great news all, for we have found chapter nine! Yep, I'm totally thrilled to have found it. See, I used to keep Braids and Boils all as one document, but soon we realized it would be a somewhat longer fic. Once our story was taken down I skimmed the Braids and Boils document, and it seemed to me that I was missing chapter nine, though I was sure I'd saved it. Well in the process of copying five and seven to send to Tev, I actually read the document a bit better, and yes indeed, chapter nine was there. I started bouncing in my chair, really. This is god for Tev, too, because she still has to write eight and ten, but it'll be easier with the in between chapter to look at. Bear with us, guys; after chapter ten we'll be back on track for good!

Jersey Princess: Really? Orefect reminds me of George Orwell, Animal Farm and 1984 are fantastic books. Reminds me of the word orifice. Wordmaster word. A small opening…like a mouth. Saw that in Miss Congeniality 2 (which I LOVED) also. Mwaha. I'm glad you are enjoying re-reading it and thank you for still reviewing. Definite ditto, you're doing a TON for our confidence.

MellyV: Thanks! It was horrible of someone to report us, I am very mad at whoever it was. I don't trust myself to speak on the subject. Glad you liked 16 though. :smiley face: Ha, I got cake! And it had some random ingredients in it because my sister improvised but it tasted quite yummy, in case you were wondering…Erm…

DownerLithium: Thank you for the compliments, I am glad we have gained a new reader! Same here! Great to get new people on the second time around, and you can read chapters as they come now. You get to witness the New and Improved Braids and Boils firsthand; can't wait to hear what you think of it!

Satinzevi: Thank you for reviewing, and you'll see that we update fast as we can. The next few chapters should come pretty quick, but then it'll be a tad slow since we have to rewrite three consecutive chapters. Argh.

Nikki Weasley: Erm, I don't go in the Mugglenet chat rooms at all, though I love the sights. I can't get to the chatrooms for some reason, or maybe I'm just stupid. But even so, I probably wouldn't go as w00t, cool as it is. The way we communicate, if that's what you are asking, is by AIM and e-mail. Ah, the joys of the twenty-first century.

Flagstone jester: Ah, I love her descriptions of Umbridge too! Well, that was vain of me but hey, what are you going to do? PELT YOU WITH DOUGHNUTS! Or I could just agree and say the descriptions are indeed genius. So glad you like my Gred and Forge lines! I trust you as a critic because you compare my writing to my writing, so what you say is usually right on point. I too am eager for all the chapters to once again be posted, stupid abuse reports. :turns purple: What are you writing your English paper on? I recently did one on how drugs are becoming a reality as perceived in Brave New World. Such a dull report. My English teacher needs to go away. As so many do, but I shouldn't talk since I have been quite blessed in the department of English teachers. Except for that book report in sixth grade. Had to read The Secret of the Andes because the teacher said I was too far into Journey to the River Sea to use it for my report (had to involve another culture). I hated the Secret of the Andes, and I still get annoyed thinking about that whole thing. Thanks for reviewing! A ditto, and thanks for putting up with my ramblings.

crzyangelchic: Well, we are posting all of the orginal chapters we have. We need to re-write three, and thats including this chapter. Yep, and it was originally six we had to redo so we're pretty happy. Yes, all the chapters are diaries, and oh-so-fun so far, and we haven't updated because we have been extremly busy. Translation: I am a lazy bum. Thank you for reading and bothering to respond! Hope this is fast enough And welcome, welcome to the Braids and Boils Reviewers Club; we hope you'll come back!

crzyangelchic: