English

Chapter Ten

Disclaimer: Off By One owns that awesome song "Finish Line" and J.K. Rowling owns most of those awesome characters featured in this story!

Author's Note: Hey, it's me again! I want to give a big thanks to those wonderful reviewers!


I know I could be the one you want

It's just that you don't know it yet

Soon, you're gonna see, whoa

I would wait a million years for you

Walk around the world for you

Where you are is where I'll be

Until the end, until the end

'Cause I want you, I know I want you

I want you, I know I want you

Every day and every night

I'll do anything you say

Say tonight I can stay

I want you, is that okay?

So when you're telling me we're just friends

Sure why not, I can pretend

But you don't know that I know

I will wait until the time is right

Maybe it will be tonight

The Finish Line by Off By One


"No…." Fred said, his eyes growing to the size of rememberalls.

"What?" I asked, quite confused.

Oliver and Marie just smiled. Fred still looked quite shocked.

"What?" I repeated. Why was I not getting this? I'm never the last to know. I mean, Fred got what happened before I did. I did not like not knowing what was going on. It was quite unnerving.

Fred seemed to have regained his composure. "Are you serious?" he asked Oliver. Oliver nodded and looked over at Marie, who smiled even wider if that was possible.

"What?" I said, now just plain annoyed.

Marie held up her hand and Oliver's. It took a second, but then it dawned on me. "You have got to be kidding!"

"No," Marie said, still holding Oliver's hand. "We really did it."

"Why?" I asked. "You just got out of a serious relationship and now exactly two days later you're, you're married to Oliver Wood?"

"Hey," Oliver said, obviously not liking the way I said his name. I didn't mean it like he thought, it's just I have never seen two people make such a huge mistake.

"It was perfect ziming," Marie explained. "It was fate. We met after I broke up with Pierre and we instantly connected. And I already 'ad all ze details set up for ze wedding. So, it made sense. We got married."

"It was just the way we wanted it," Oliver continued. "Of course, I wish our friends could have been there, we'll just have a party later or something, but this way almost seemed better. I mean, we got the small wedding we wanted, no press or media."

I somehow highly doubted that. A marriage between a supermodel and the most famous quidditch player? It would be the front page story. Someone had to have seen them get married. News spreads in the wizarding world rather fast.

"I can't believe you just went out and got married after two days!" I said, unable to keep my opinion in. I mean, I wanted to, but I just couldn't sit back and let them screw up their lives.

"I know, isn't romantic?" Marie said with a smile.

"No, it's stupid!" I blurted out. "You hardly know him!"

Marie looked stunned. "Pardon me?"

"You are being so stupid!"


"I think I can decide for myself who I marry and when!" Marie snapped, defensively.

"Whoa!" I said, stepping in before claws started flying. "She knows that Marie, she just thought that it was a bit of surprise."

"Don't you go interpreting my thoughts for me!" Hermione hissed before turning to Marie and sighing. "I'm sorry," she said, making it appear that it took a lot in her to say that. It probably did. "I support you and Oliver in your decision, I just thought you moved on rather quickly, and maybe you weren't just doing it because you were eager to get over him."

Marie smiled and put a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "'ermione, I zink zat you should know, I probably would not 'ave gone zrough with ze wedding with Pierre even if I 'ad never caught 'im with you or anyone else. I knew as each day got closer to ze date zat it was a bad idea. And I am zankful zat you are kind enough to speak your mind to protect me. But I know what I am doing. I love Ollie. We are meant to be."

Well, I'm not sure who was more stunned; Hermione with the information that Marie had actually thought it through, or me with the realization that Hermione actually apologized for something she said, something I'm not sure she had ever done before.

"You know, I really kind of tired," Hermione said, stretching her arms out as if to prove the point. "I probably ought to be heading home."

"What about the milkshakes?" I said, remembering the reason we came back in the first place.

"I'm really tired, Fred," she repeated, shoving her hands in her pockets. "How about a raincheck?"

"Or maybe we could have them tomorrow?" I asked her.

Hermione laughed. "That's what a raincheck is Fred. Thanks for tonight and everything. I really enjoyed myself." She whispered in my ear and quickly kissed me on the cheek.

The kiss however, probably had no meaning behind it because Hermione certainly didn't react like it did. In fact, it hardly seemed that she even knew she did it. "Congratulations, really, guys, I mean it."

"Thanks," Oliver said, his arm around Marie's waist. With that, Hermione apparated away.

"My," Marie said. "Zat girl needs to learn to loosen up." I don't think she meant it as it sounded though. It was more pitying than critical of her.

"I'm working on that," I assured Marie. Merlin knows Hermione could do with a little less tension in her life.

"Well, I'm going to run 'ome and get some clozes and essentials, Ollie." Marie said, giving him a kiss on the lips. "I'll be right back." She apparated to her apartment, I assumed.

"Wow, today was a big day for you," I said to Oliver once we were alone.

"Yeah. Fred, man, it was just so spur of the moment. One minute we are discussing the Paris scenery –"

"Wait, are you telling me that for once Oliver Wood was having a discussion that didn't involve quidditch? Man, this girl did change you," I teased.

"- I'm going to ignore that. Anyway, we were talking about Paris and then next, Marie made the comment that two days ago she thought she would be getting ready for her wedding at this time and how glad she was that it wasn't happening because I was the one she wanted to spend her life with. And at that moment, I realized I wanted to spend my life with her. I've never felt that way about anyone. Joking, she was like 'everyzing is set up, all we would 'ave to do is go' and next thing I knew, we were married. It's crazy, but so awesome."

"Speaking of her accent, you know what I just realized?" I said unable to keep from grinning.

"What?"

"Marie has a cat named Holly. She can't say the letter 'h'. She calls her cat 'olly and she calls you Ollie. You have the same name as her cat!" I laughed.

"You are joking," Oliver said, shaking his head. "That is a stupid joke, Fred."

"Funny part is, I am dead serious," I said, although I was still laughing.


When I came into the apartment, Lavender was no where to be found. The meeting with her soon to be in-laws was probably still going on.

I was semi-glad. I wanted a girl to rant with, but she was one of the very girls I was mad at. Well, not mad, more jealous of I guess.

Just a few weeks ago, everything was different. I was perfectly happy, with the exception of my going nowhere career. I didn't care about a boyfriend or anything like that. I was fine without it. Now, in such a short time period, I had loved a guy and lost him while at the same time, I watched two others get swept off their feet and treated like royalty. I want a boyfriend, I want a date with flowers and nervousness, I want the planned out proposal, or even the spur of the moment, happens only in fairy tales, wedding. Merlin, I'd even settle for someone just asking for my phone number. But no, they get fiancées and proposals and weddings and kisses and I get left home sitting on my sofa crying. Life sucks.

I didn't want to feel jealous. I love Lavender to death, I should be so happy for her and Seamus. And I even knew that their relationship didn't happen overnight. They were on and off throughout school and were together years after before they were this close. Marie, I should be so happy that she doesn't want to hex me for being with her fiancée. I should be happy for her that she was able to get back on her feet before she even bothered to hit the ground.

All I needed was a good cry.


Marie came back a few minutes later, arms full with several bags and a suitcase.

"Marie, what's your cat's name?" Oliver asked her.

"'Olly," she answered, dumping the bags on the sofa in our living room.

"See!" I said, delighted in watching Oliver sigh. "You have the same name as her cat!"

"No!" Marie said, coming into the kitchen. "'er name is 'Olly. 'is name is Ollie." She explained, but both Oliver and I knew there was no difference between the way she said either one.

"Maybe, you ought to stick to Oliver," he said, taking the suitcase from her. "To avoid confusion."

"Why would I confuse you with my cat?" She asked, clearly not understanding the situation.

I couldn't help myself from laughing. This was funny. "I'll leave you two to sort this out."

"Thanks," Oliver grumbled.

"Do you not like cats?" Marie asked, still not getting it.


Daily Prophet, September 13th

QUIDDITCH STAR WEDS SUPERMODEL IN SURPRISE WEDDING

Quidditch Keeper for the Scotland Team, Oliver Wood, married actress/supermodel Marie Alexandria in an unannounced wedding last night. The two had not even told the public that they were dating; in fact Marie Alexandria was thought to be engaged to Pierre Gregory, best-selling author, but last night, several reporters caught the unsuspecting couple's nuptials. The two were seen exiting the hall where they were married (see picture below) shortly after eleven p.m. Representatives for Wood and Alexandria were unable to be reached for comment.


Teen Witch

This Keeper Has Kept Some Secrets!

Last night, Scottish Keeper, Oliver Wood, 27, married actress Marie Alexandria, 25, in a private ceremony at Hogsmeade's exquisite Starry Night Hotel and Ballroom. Only the couple was in attendance; not a friend or family member was seen. Wood, last week's cover star, revealed nothing about a relationship with the actress. Alexandria was still linked to best selling author cutie, Pierre Gregory. Clearly, that relationship ended, but the answers to these questions lie only with the newlyweds. Teen Witch was still trying to reach the representatives for Wood, Gregory, and Alexandria at press time. (Photograph taken two days ago of couple outside of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes in Hogsmeade. Photo credits go to Eliza Rupert.)


Witch Weekly

Get Out Your Tissues!

Quidditch cutie, Oliver Wood, is no longer on the market! Yesterday, in a private ceremony, this keeper married pretty girl, Marie Alexandria. Just three weeks ago, Witch Weekly photographers captured Marie with former beau, Pierre Gregory, at a book signing event in Berlin, Germany. For months, rumors had been circulating regarding the state of their engagement, but the couple denied all reports of a break-up. Pierre's loyalty to Marie was in constant questioning but maybe this whole time the rocky relationship was due to Marie and her relationship with Oliver? A rep for Pierre declined to comment while Marie and Oliver's representatives were not responding to their owls.


Oh, Oliver was not going to be happy when he saw this.

It seemed like every paper, magazine, and talk show knew about the marriage. I couldn't escape it on the telly. Every paper I got that morning had pictures of them on the cover. And when I walked by the newsstand on the way to work, it was very clear that every magazine, with the exception of The Quibbler who had a picture of a blue Crumple Horned Snorkack, had a story on the wedding.


"OLIVER WOOD!" A deep voice bellowed right next to my ear, scaring the daylights out of me.

"AHH!" I screamed, burrowing my head under my pillow. Who in their right mind was in my bedroom?

"You have some explaining to do!" The voice told me again.

Then I recognized the voice. "Hey, Simon," I said, removing the pillow from my head. "Oliver's room is down the hall. I'm his roommate."

Simon went pink. "Ah, jeez, sorry 'bout that Fran." He apologized before storming off down the hall. Simon, Oliver's agent, was such a small guy with such a large voice, who never got anyone's name right. "OLIVER!" he shouted again, this time kicking open what sounded like Oliver's door. "Ah, jeez, it is true!"

I fell back asleep for a bit, but a few minutes later I was woken up to more shouting from what sounded like the kitchen.

"I cannot believe that you went and did this!" Simon was yelling. "This is such a career killer!"

"What?" Oliver shouted back. "My marriage has nothing to do with my skills as a quidditch player."

"But it has everything to do with you being a quidditch heartthrob!"

"I don't want to be that! I only wanted to be a quidditch keeper!"

"I cannot believe that you did not consult with me before you did this!"

"I do not have to ask you to do something! The only person I had to ask in order to have this marriage was Marie! And she said yes! So take it and shove-"

I jumped up and hurried into the kitchen to find six foot three Oliver towering over five foot six Simon. Marie was sitting on the kitchen counter, still in her flowery pink pajamas, remaining uncharacteristically quiet while pajama clad Oliver argued with business suit Simon.

"I have magazines and newspapers hounding me for information about relationship I had no idea existed! I had no idea you even knew her! I get to hear about it on the Saturday Show with Samantha Spade like every other wizard! Does being your agent mean anything anymore?"

"Not when he's trying to mess with my personal life!" Oliver snapped, waving a hand at Marie, who was still sitting on the counter, absentmindedly twisting her wedding ring.

"This was such a mistake!" Simon hollered, stomping his foot. "I cannot believe you ran off and got hitched to some pretty face witch from Paris!"

"You take that back!" Oliver growled when he realized the 'pretty face' comment was not meant to compliment Marie. "If you are going to stand here and insult my wife then you can leave!"

"This is ludicrous!" Simon shouted. "Face it, Wood, you made a mistake. You didn't even think to get a pre-nuptial agreement! The only reason this woman married you is sitting in a Gringotts vault!"

"No!" Marie snapped, appearing quite shocked that Simon would even suggest such a thing.

"Do you really think that I give a damn about money, Simon? I live in a two bedroom apartment with a roommate when I could afford to have any freaking house I want all to myself! Even with that aside, why the hell would she marry me for money? She probably has more than I do! She's an actress, a supermodel, the owner of her parents' publishing company! I'm just a quidditch player!"

"I did not marry 'im for 'is money sir. I 'ave quite a big inheritance from my parents too, zey owned ze company and were aurors; I 'ave no siblings so I inherited after zey died in ze attack. I do not love Oliver for 'is money sir. I am not like zat." Marie said, much calmer than the others in the kitchen.

"Oh, so what was this for then, you two decided you were bored and needed something to do?" Simon mocked her. "Were you guys just hanging out and thought ' what will make this more fun?' 'I know, why don't we get married?'"

"Yeah, that's exactly why they got married," I said, rolling my eyes. Simon glared at me.

"I don't think I was talking to you, Frank." Simon grumbled.

"It's Fred." I told him.

Simon seemed annoyed. "Fred, Frank, Francine, what's the difference?"

"Isn't Francine a girl's name?" Oliver asked.

Simon just looked at him and threw his briefcase down in anger. "Merlin, look at what you make me put up with!" He bellowed, practically tearing tufts of hair out of his head.


"Camera's broke," Sam told me when I arrived at the site. I didn't even bother to correct his grammar.

"Where's Mandy and Fox?" I inquired about the assistants.

Sam just grumbled. "You want to know the truth? They're bloody traitors, they are. Bunch of them just up and transferred, the good for nothing fools," he muttered. "I'll tell you this. Give me an hour or two and I'll have a new camera so we can shoot this clip, 'kay?"

"Sure," I said, looking around for some place to grab a cup of coffee. It was still early, only eight, and not much was open. Fred's apartment though, was right down the street. He probably wouldn't mind if I popped in for a cup of coffee.

"You have to have an interview! Just one! That's all you need! Just enough to sort the rumors out!"

"Simon, Marie and I do not plan on having any interviews! All reporters do is poke into things and we do not want our past relationships brought up. You find a reporter who will stick with our terms and then we'll discuss it. Until then, you can shut your – Mione?" Oliver said, the first to realize that I had popped in.

"What?" The man I assumed to be Simon asked, quite confused.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to say hi, this is a bad time, I'll come by later." I said, quickly but the three still wearing pajamas all stopped me.

"No, you don't need to go, we were done here, weren't we Simon?"

"Mione! Stay! We can have pancakes!"

"'e does make excellent pancakes 'ermione."

"So you will have the interview?" Simon kept pestering.

"I SAID I WOULD, DIDN"T I?" Wood barked. "Now, I have breakfast plans with some friends, so I will owl you later when I decide who for the interview."

"You know, I do happen to know a very nice reporter, you've probably heard of her Rita Sk-"

"You 'eard my 'usband. Later." Marie said, slowly as if he was the one that spoke the foreign language.

"You people can never make my life easy, can you?" Simon muttered under his breath as he slammed the apartment door shut.

"We probably ought to change the locks," Oliver noted, nodding his head. Marie nodded in agreement, but gave off the impression that she had no idea what was going on. That seemed to be the normal with her.

"Pancakes?" Fred offered.

"Um, no, I just stopped by to say hi," I told him, not entirely sure that I wanted to eat anything he made. I had learned over the years not to accept food from either of the Weasley twins. Vivid images of yellow feathers and canaries still haunted me from Hogwarts.

"Well, 'ave some coffee at least," Marie said, holding up a pot of the best thing on the planet.

"Thanks," I replied; I was pretty sure that Marie had made the coffee and not Fred. That tea he made the other day left such a bad taste in my mouth that it took three tooth-brushings, two capfuls of mouthwash, and an extremely strong peppermint to get rid of it.

"What's up?" Fred asked, looking like he was trying to be cool which wasn't really working considering he was wearing pajama pants and a tee-shirt with a "F" on the front, clearly Mrs. Weasley had something to do with it, his hair still ruffled from sleeping.

"Nothing." I replied, trying to ignore the hair that I so wanted to laugh at. "I was just around the corner working and I thought I'd stop by and say hi. I had some spare time."

"Cool," Fred said, running his fingers through his hair, messing it up even more. "What are you working on?"

"A piece about the new odds and ends store they are opening a couple blocks away." I told him, slowly sipping the warm coffee.

"I'm gonna go get ready," Oliver said to Marie. "I have practice and I'd prefer to get out of here before Simon returns."

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and set his mug on the table. "I will meet you for lunch." She said, tucking a wandering strand of dark hair behind her ear.

"It's a plan." He smiled before disappearing down the hall towards the bedrooms.

"Why don't I get ready and I'll come with you to see your shoot?" Fred said, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, no, that's okay." I told him, but something inside of me wanted him to come.

"No, really, I want to come. I want to see how this video camera thingy works. It looks so cool." Fred said, eagerly nodding his head. Great, he didn't want to see me, he wanted to see a video camera.

"Sure," I told him, but he didn't even bother to wait; he was already in his room.

"Listen, I'm sorry about last night," I told Marie as soon as we were alone.

"Ah, forget it," she said, absentmindedly stirring her coffee. "No 'ard feelings."

"Good," I said, knowing that a bout of awkward silence would soon follow.

I was right.

What I wasn't right about was how quickly it would end. And how she would end it.

"You and Fred would be perfect for each other." She said calmly as if she had just said "it looks sunny outside".

"What?" I said, still trying to comprehend what she meant by that.

"You guys just fit together." She said, sipping her coffee.

"What makes you think that?" I asked her.

"Dunno," she said, shrugging as if she had no idea why she had told me that completely random, not to mention false, statement.

"Fred and I are just friends." I said, copying her actions and just kept drinking the coffee.

"So…" Marie said after a few seconds, "…it looks sunny outside today."


It was really sunny outside. The kind of sun that you can't help but notice. There was not a rain cloud in sight which is quite a rarity here in Hogsmeade. That bright sun just seemed to be screaming that it was going to be a wonderful day. A beautiful day.

"Ah, Hermione!" A big, round short man said, his wand tucked behind his ear. "I got another battery! We're all set to go."

"Good," she said, smoothing out her hair which was kind of pointless because her hair stylist and best friend was running down the street towards us.

"MIONE! YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT I HEARD!" Lavender screamed, still not slowing down at all as she hurried towards us. Not very gracefully, she darted past a couple of sixteen year old wizards who had locked eyes on her and barely managed to scoot around a runaway kiosk from a grumpy one-eyed hag. "MELINDA FROM THE MORNING SHOW WITH MELINDA QUIT!"

"Oh, honey, that's old news. And she didn't quit." Sam said. Hermione, Lavender, and the tallest of the sixteen year olds were all staring at Sam, waiting for him to embellish. "She was fired. The producers told her she was too grumpy in the morning. She told them that she was up too early in the morning to be pleasant. They had a huge row right before the show went on the air yesterday morning. She went on, more pissed off than usual, and insulted the newly cured Gilderoy Lockhart right on the air. Told him that it was his own stupidity for using a broken wand to try and cast a spell. Lockhart's lawyers had a field day. Trying to sue Melinda and the network. But the real drama was when the producers tried to get her off stage about halfway through the "yelling at Lockhart" bit. She started cursing them! Blew up about half the set! The network was forced to cancel the show, although yesterday's show had the show's highest ratings ever. Now their trying to start a new morning show to fill the time slot. That's where my two camera assistants are, the little traitors. They had the idea that they can run the morning show. Like any credible network executive is going to give such a high show time slot to two nineteen year old goofballs."

"You mean there is a going to be a new morning show?" Hermione said, looking like Christmas had come early. "Did they pick new hosts?"

"Nah, just started looking this morning. They'll probably just play re-runs until they find someone. Nancy at the main office told me that they're probably just gonna start a whole new show. Start fresh, they say." Sam said, playing with some buttons on the camera.

Lavender smacked Mione. "We could host the morning show!" She told her.

"Lavender, they wouldn't pick us. We have hardly any experience." Mione told her, being her usual practical thinking self.

"We just have to come up with some edge that no one else has." Lavender said, still smiling. Hermione's pessimism wasn't going to bring her down.

"Yeah, cause that's not too hard to do," Hermione snapped sarcastically. "Let's just forget about it and finish this shoot."

Then it hit me. It hit me harder than that rogue bludger that hit me in the head. It hit me harder than the cauldron that George and I accidentally blew up. It hit me harder than Percy did when I accidentally spilled that pitcher of syrup on Penelope's shirt that day she sat at Gryffindor breakfast table.

"I think I might be able to find you that edge." I told them. Sam ignored me, Lavender clapped her hands together in delight, the group of sixteen year olds kept staring at us, and Mione just gave me a look like she dreaded what I was thinking yet wanted to know if it would work all at the same time.

"Let me talk to Oliver and come back and get you." I told her, waving goodbye to them, leaving a happy Lavender and a puzzled Hermione.


"I'm thinking Lavender and Mione in the Morning or Mornings With Mione and Lavender. Add the alliteration in there." Lavender said. I just looked at her. "What?" she said.

"Nothing," I said, shrugging. "I had no idea you even knew what alliteration was, let alone how to use it."

"Funny," Lavender said, rolling her eyes and flipping her hair.

"Just don't get your hopes up." I said, helping Sam pack away the camera gear.

"Fred said he had a plan." Lavender said, as naïve and innocent as ever.

"And you trust Fred? The boy who gave your fiancée at least a dozen canary creams in his life time?"

"Ah, my fiancée," Lavender sighed. Since the engagement, nothing could bring her spirits down. Not that much could before it.

"Anyway, Fred said he had an idea. And that he was going to discuss it with Oliver. Not meaning to be pessimistic or anything, but I wouldn't put the future of our careers in the hands of Oliver Wood and Fred Weasley."

"I bet if we did put our careers in their hands they would at least be fun. Oliver and Fred always look like they're having fun." See what I mean? Nothing brings her down.

"We should give them a chance." Lavender said. "I believe that Fred has a good plan."

"LAVENDER!" I screamed, the happiness was killing me. "Rainy days! Death! Heartbreak! Loneliness! For Merlin's sake, don't be so damn naïve! Not everything goes to plan!"

Lavender just looked at me with hurt and confused eyes. "Well, just forgive me for being optimistic. If you haven't noticed our careers are stationary. We finally have a chance to move up and you don't even want me to be happy about it? I understand that you're still heartbroken about Pierre and everyone else having happy relationships but there is no need to drag the rest of us down. For the past couple weeks all I have been trying to do is cheer you up and you snap at me for being cheerful and perky. And Fred has been nothing short of a friend for you. You should be thankful that he is even talking to you after you ignored him and his family for the past two years! He's taken care of you and is now trying to help you find a job and all you can do is put him down!"

I was shocked. Lavender never yelled at me like that. Sure, she's yelled at me. "Mione, do something with your hair!" or "Mione, be more social!" or "You are not seriously going to wear that top with that skirt!", but she never yelled like that.

"You're right." I sighed.

Lavender spun around. "What?" she said, accusingly.

"I said you are right."

"Whoa, Sam, turn that camera back on, we need to document this! Hermione Granger was wrong and Lavender Brown was right! This is the kind of thing that will go down in history!"

Sam just rolled his eyes and I laughed. "There's my Mione." Lavender said, putting her arms around my neck.

"Thanks," I whispered, hugging her back.

"That's what friends are for." She whispered back.

Ah, what a sappy moment. But without the sap, it wouldn't be Lavender.


Mione looked nervous as hell. Lavender was bouncing off the wall more than that time when Ron at a whole stick of this muggle food called cotton candy. Not to be confused with cotton, the stuff robes are made out of. Not the same at all.

"Calm down. You'll do great." I told her as I placed my hands on her shoulder.

"Calm down?" she croaked. "I have a meeting with some of the top executives of the network and you are telling me to calm down?" She then gave a quick glance at Lavender. "I mean, thanks Fred."

I had no idea what that was about. It was now two days since the news of the search for Melinda's replacement and I was standing in the tea room of the Wizarding International News Network with a nervous Hermione, perky Lavender, tired Oliver, restless Seamus, and bored Marie.

"You will do fine, 'ermione," Marie said for probably the fifth time that hour. Network people sure do run late. We had a meeting scheduled for a hour and ten minutes ago.

Finally after another thirteen minutes of Hermione's pacing, Lavender's giggling to Seamus, Seamus's head nodding, Oliver's snoring, and Marie's bubble gum popping, a tall man in a suit came out of a door.

"I'm sorry, Miss, uh, Granger and Miss Brown, but I think we've found our replacement." He said, pushing his glasses farther up his nose.

"No!" Lavender cried.

"You're looking at the new host of Mornings With Millicent." A pudgy, beady-eyed witch said with a cackle.

"Mione! She stole our alliteration!" Lavender moaned, pointing at Millicent.

"You got the job?" Hermione said, her eyes round and wide. "I lost a job to Millicent Bulstrode?" she said to herself, clearly in disbelief.

"Actually it's Millicent Bulstrode-Goyle." She corrected Hermione. Hermione just looked like she wanted to throw up.

"But sir!" Mione said, tailing the man in the suit. "You haven't heard our preposition!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Brown, but Mrs. Goyle had some excellent ideas. All that's left is the paperwork." He said, not bothering to slow his high paced walk down.

"So, it's not final yet." Hermione said, clicking back into her usual all-business self, not even bothering to correct him on the name. "Sir, if you would just hear us out-"

"I'm sure that you cannot offer anything here that Mrs. Goyle couldn't."

"I could get you an exclusive interview with the new Mr. & Mrs. Oliver Wood!" Hermione blurted out.

The man stopped short; Millicent looked furious as she just noticed the couple that the wizarding world had spent the last two days talking about non-stop. "Seriously?"

"Miss Brown and I would like a proper meeting to discuss the details." Hermione said, Lavender nodding in agreement.

"Very well, then."

"I want in on this meeting." Millicent said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Fine. All of you. In the board room." He said, pointing them in the direction of a room filled with a large table and ten chairs, two entire walls were all glass windows. Very professional looking.

Four hours and sixteen minutes later, I was partying with the two new hosts of Wizarding International News Network's newest morning show, Wake Up Wizarding World! With Hosts Lavender Brown and Hermione Granger.

Hermione was having a ball. "Did you see Millicent's face when he announced it?' she laughed, providing a little evidence that she had drank a couple of butterbeers.

"It was priceless," Seamus agreed, downing some butterbeer of his own.

"Yeah, thank you so much," Lavender said to Marie. "You two really sealed the deal for us."

"No problem." Oliver said, his arm around Marie's shoulder. "You actually did us a favor. Simon will finally get off our back's about having an interview."

We were all in the back party room at the Three Broomsticks. It was quite a party. Of course Hermione, Lavender, Seamus, Marie, Oliver, and myself were there, but somehow we picked up a bunch of people along the way. Seamus had called his best friend, Dean Thomas and I think Lavender called their friends Padma and Parvati Patil. Sam from their work showed up along with two people they introduced as Mandy and Fox. George and Katie, who happened to be dining at the pub when we showed up, joined us, were dancing away. Somehow Angelina and Alicia and Lee had shown up, Alicia always did seem to have this uncanny ability to find a party. A couple other girls from WINN that Lavender and Mione knew were there too.

"Mione, you have to dance," Lavender told her as she pulled Seamus to dance floor.

"If I have to dance then you have to dance," Seamus told Mione. The two had spent a lot of the night talking to each other, I think in hopes of avoiding Lavender and her love of dance.

"Well, fine," Mione laughed, giving in unnaturally early in an argument. "Come on, dance with me Fred."

Maybe my luck was turning around.


Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to post. I will actually admit that I was just watching Boy Meets World when I got an e-mail saying that I had a new fanfiction review. So after Boy Meets World ended (You didn't expect me to stop in the middle did you? That show is awesome!), I was anxious to finish this chapter. So thanks to Awesomediva999 for that review which led to the review alert e-mail which led to the motivation to finish this chapter. I actually sat down and wrote another six pages of this chapter, bringing it to a total of seventeen pages at the end of story part (single spaced too!) So I thank her and all the wonderful reviewers for motivation. I'm sorry I took so long to post, I actually wanted to include certain pieces of the story in this chapter but I kept coming up with new parts so it got a little longer than planned. But you probably won't mind the longer part. Anyway, now I'm just rambling. Thanks a lot!

Special Thanks to My Reviewers:

Sporty12gd4u: Thanks for reading!

Padfootedmoony: Thank you for the compliments!

Mary-Jane Black: Thanks for reviewing!

Kiwi: Sorry about the POV change confusion. I put the lines in when I type the document in Word, but the lines don't appear when I upload it so I have to edit it on Last time when I posted, I was kind of eager to post and forgot to edit it for the lines. I realized it right away and tried to replace the chapter right away, but it took a day and a half or so before the replaced chapter appeared instead of the one I originally posted. Sorry about that. Thanks for putting up with my stupidity.

NcBllt: Thanks for reading!

Thamker: Thank you!

Katrina Tonak: You are so nice! Thank you so so much!

MyOnlyCat: I loved your review. It was cute. Thanks for writing it just because I said I liked reviews. That rocks.

Sunny June 46: Thanks for reading!

Zappy Monkey 44: Thanks for the review!

Madame Maya: Cool! I never understand some of those sayings either! "Everyone one and their uncle is out" Funny…

Monica7725: Thank you!

Padfoot-lover1: Thanks for reviewing!

Kirtsy4me: Aren't McFly and Busted awesome? I was so sad when Busted broke up. Anyway, thank you for the suggestion about the "george and I" thing. You were totally right. That's a cool trick though, the ignoring the other person thing to see if it fits. I will totally have to remember to use it. Now, I just realized that I was typing like I talk and definitely just used the word totally twice. Oh well, I'm too lazy to go back and delete it. Besides, it wouldn't be me if I didn't overuse the words "totally" and "like". Thanks for the trick and the really long review!

Brokentoy19: Thank you!

Caladhiel: Thank you for the compliments! Fred is one of my favorite characters too!

PRChick: Ron will definitely play a major part in the story later on. I don't know why but it seems like in all my Harry Potter fics, I tend to push Ron and Harry to the side. I'm not really sure why, cause I like those two characters and everything, I just seem to focus on secondary characters. But never fear, Ron will certainly want his say in this budding relationship between Fred and Hermione!

Mm4ever2gether: You guessed it! Wow! Thanks for reading!

Mhbf: Thanks for reading!

Awesomediva999: Thanks for the review and the motivation!

As I have said before, I love reviews, so pretty pretty please with sugar on top press that pretty little bluish button and review! They make my day!

I haven't actually started the next chapter yet, but I hope to finish it in the next week or two, depending on the amount of homework my teachers assign. (I'm praying for none). If I don't post by then, Happy St. Patrick's Day! If I do, I will just wish you a happy one then too!

Love ya!

Preppy in Pink