Chapter Eighteen

The next day I woke up with quite the sore throat and runny nose, but seeing as it was Saturday and the first Hogsmede visit of the year, I pretended nothing was wrong.

"It's just a little stuffy doze." I had said when Hermione noted that I sounded "ill".

I walked dizzily down stairs and rubbed my head. Oh no! I had one of my famous headaches! The kind I got every time I had a fever. I groaned loudly. Why did I always have to get sick on the worse possible days?

"What's wrong?" Harry said.

"Oh. Dothing." I replied grumpily.

"You sure? You look terrible." He said, feeling my forehead with his hand. I didn't want him to know I had a fever in case he, Ron and Hermione made me stay at the castle for our first Hogsmede visit, so I pushed it away irritably.

"Well thanks Harry." I said sarcastically. "I'b fide. Let's just go to breakfast, okay?" Harry looked at me skeptically but brushed it aside.

"Okay..."

XXXX

I didn't really have an appetite but I managed to eat a piece of toast.

"Doh!" I said leaning on my hand when I spotted Henry Porter walking over to me.

"So!" He said fiercely.

"So..." I said dully. "What?"

"So you're cheating on me!"

"Dot today, Hedry please! Dot today. What are you talking about?"

"Oh I think you know exactly what I'm talking about!" He replied, accusingly.

"Doh, Hedry I really don't." Henry glared at me.

"Yeah? I saw you, Skylar!" I thought hard. Then it hit me. So that was what he was talking about! No Henry! I thought. Don't say it! But he did. "I saw you kissing this Harry guy yesterday!" The color rose in Harry's face and Ron's snort quickly turned it into a cough. I probably would have been embarrassed if I had had the energy.

"So?" I said.

"Okay," Henry said slyly. "We never said exclusively. Besides...I like a challenge." He bent down and kissed my cheek.

"Eww." I moaned when he stood up and walked away. Harry glared at the back at his head.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Hermione said.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"You just don't seem like yourself. Knowing you, you probably would have slapped him or something." I chose to ignore the question. She was right. I probably would have slapped him.

"Let's go." I said before the conversation could go any farther. But who was I kidding? Harry, Ron and Hermione knew I was sick. I don't really know why it was they didn't make me stay. I was actually half hoping they would.

It was a cold, clear December morning and that was not good for my cold. I shivered nonstop as we walked down the streets of Hogsmede. I did not have the energy for this. I saw a bench on the end of the street.

"I'b sorry guys. I gotta sit dowd." I said wearily.

"You're sick aren't you Skylar?" Ron said, looking slightly concerned.

"Doh," I said sarcastically.

"We shouldn't have let you come." Hermione said. "At least not without taking some Pepper-Up first." Pepper-Up! I thought miserably. Why didn't I take any Pepper-Up? I'm such an idiot!

"Do you want us to take you to the castle?" Ron asked.

"Doh. Let's just get a butter beer so I cad rest a little." I replied, standing up shakily.

We entered The Three Broom Sticks and spotted a table at the far corner of the room.

"Look! There's one!" Ron said, though the rest of us had already seen it. We moved toward the table with some difficulty, as there was a very large drunken man blocking the way. We had the most trouble when he grabbed Hermione around the waste and tried to dance with her. At this Madam Rosemerta came over and kicked the man out. And to be honest...it was really funny. I just didn't have the throat to laugh. Harry however was cracking up and Ron put and arm protectively around Hermione's waste. Hermione was looking very taken aback and slightly shocked. I smiled vaguely at the situation as we sat down at our table. I put my head on the cold, hard tabletop and coughed loudly. Harry looked at me sympathetically.

"Come here." He said. I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes as he stoked my hair gently.

"So should I go get the drinks?" Ron said.

"I'll come with you." Hermione said, eyeing Ron with a suspicious look on her face. It was common knowledge that Ron used to "fancy" Madam Rosemerta.

While Ron and Hermione were gone Harry and I didn't say much to each other. We just sat there, with Harry stroking my hair, enjoying each other's company. And suddenly being sick didn't seem so bad. I had Harry and that made it all right.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. I was still sick but I managed to live through the day. We went into all Harry, Ron and Hermione's favorite shops and I loaded up on Honeydukes candy and Zonko's products. The only thing I wasn't able to do was go up to the Shrieking Shack. While Harry, Ron and Hermione were hiking up there, I went to The Three Broomsticks and got another butter beer and ended up having an actually very nice conversation with the giant Hagrid about Hagrid's very large dog, Fluffy.

"I'b telling you Hagird, bost people like little dogs better thad big dogs. Or at least that big a dog. It would probably be hard to find sobeone who would want to take care of Fluffy if you were to go od vacatiod, for example." I said.

"Wha's wrong with my Fluffy?" Hagrid replied defensively.

"He's a giant three headed dog! He's a bonster! I very dice bonster I'm sure." I added, just as Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into the "pub".

"Hello Hagrid, Skylar." Hermione said.

"'Ello Hermione, Harry, Ron."

"We were just having a dice little chat about Hagrid's dog Fluffy."

"Fluffy," Harry said. "Ah the memories." We said our goodbyes to Hagrid and headed back to the castle. I skipped dinner and went straight to bed. I had had enough for one day.

A/N: Please review!

Review Responses:

taniita: Yay cuteness! Hehe. I love your idea! Will see where I can inject that one perhaps. As for the comment on Bulgaria, please do not take offense! My sister lived in Bulgaria for two years, I think it's an awesome country. Just kind of random...i.e., not a country you hear about every day. You know what I mean? And words from there ARE hard to pronounce for me (information gathered from sister's e-mails). I think it's so cool that you're from Bulgaria, so please understand that I meant "random" in no negative way. Rock on!

BellaVolo: Thank you. I will continue to try, and hopefully improve. I'll check out the link. Question: what is there besides Mary Sues...and not Mary Sues? I don't know. I'm having trouble with this one, because I'm actually quite fond of my Skylar character...but I'll try and get better anyway. Thanks for commenting!

PadFootCc: lol, thanks. Please read more!

ki-ki93: Thanks Kiersten! You're doing famously! xoxo!

WhyDoYouCare36: Hehe, thank you tons. I'm glad you liked it! I don't know how quickly I did that, but here's more. Keep reading and reviewing, I appreciate it oodles.

Voldie on Varsity Track: Sowy! I did have a reason, but decided it kind of mushied up the story...if you will. I guess I should have left it there. It was really funny, but I felt it was a little bit pointless...bad call on my part. I vill try to be more detailed. lol. Thank you for the tip.

chelsea: Thanks! I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it and like my character, it's encouraging. Please keep reading!

PrettyPink: What a great review. Thanks! I appreciate you pointing out both good and bad. I will try to slow things down a bit. Hope you still like cuteness, I have this foreboding there will be more of it.

jc2021: Hehehe, gracias. Updating can be stressful, can't it? I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor. Review again!

Karen: Thank you so much for the encouragement! Gotta wonder what's going through those flamers heads, it's good to have someone on my side. lol, I'm glad you like it!

waytoomuchtime: Thank you! I'm glad you like!

dillydally272: Thank you for two things. In the flame part (lol), you mentioned that Harry was all "Romantic Sly Seductive" and that was a little out of character. You said something useful and I always appreciate that, even if it's littered with pointless degrading remarks. Hehe, not that I didn't get a kick out of it as always. I especially appreciated your "your story sucks but at least you're not immature" review...it was actually quite nice to receive. Showing a bit o' respect actually showed me that maybe you're not so terribly immature yourself. So there you go. Have a lovely day!