Chapter 39: Girl Trouble

January 13, 1994

Neville watched Kylie from afar, frowning. She was two years younger than him, but she was really pretty. With her bouncy brown ponytail, that laugh on her face, and the flawless shape of her face, she was prettier than any third-year could be.

So, naturally, Neville had developed a small crush on her.

To make matters worse, Kylie walked up to him just then. "You left your pants at the Slytherin table," she informed him matter-of-factly.

What?!

Neville looked down and saw that, indeed, his pants weren't on. He was wearing…

"Oh!" cried Neville, turning red as the Hall erupted in laughter. "Could I… er, can you get me my…"

"Pants?" Kylie asked.

"Yeah."

"Ew," Kylie said obnoxiously, recoiling. "Not over my dead body."

Neville spluttered. "W-What's wrong with giving me my pants?"

Kylie rolled her eyes. "Disgusting."

Why she emphasized the "gus", Neville would never know.

"Hey, Ginny," Luna greeted, walking over to her friend. "How's it going?"

"Good," answered Ginny casually, running a hand through her hair. "What about you?"

"Fine," Luna replied. "My robes ripped this morning, though."

"Why?"

"Oh, some fifth-years pushed me onto the ground," Luna answered vaguely, picking out a clump of mud from her robes. "And they snatched my necklace." She rubbed the spot on her neck where the pendant used to touch. "That's my… last charm from my mom."

Ginny frowned. "That's sad. Can I help?"

"I don't think Percy can help this time. They've probably destroyed the necklace by now."

Ginny scowled. "How dare they! I'll show them."

"Thanks," Luna sighed. "You don't have to, though."

"Of course I will," Ginny assured her, patting her shoulder. "They shouldn't be bullying you. What do they look like?"

"One is this tall," said Luna, holding her hands apart, "and has dark brown hair. The other has blonde hair and he's really skinny. He was wearing a black shirt. The last guy has light brown air and he's kind of fat."

"Do you know what House they're in?"

"Gryffindor. I saw it on their robes."

Ginny huffed. "My House is totally ruining its name. Don't worry, Luna, I'll make sure you get your necklace back."

"Thanks."

She frowned again. "This might be personal, but did you say it was the… last charm from your mom?"

"Yeah. She's dead."

"I'm sorry," Ginny said, and Luna could tell that she meant it.

"Thanks," Luna repeated, not knowing what else to say. "She's still alive though. Who knows? Maybe I'll see her again some day."

Ginny smiled and nodded, but Luna didn't miss her saying, as she walked away, "Didn't she just say she was dead?"

For Nymphadora Tonks.

That was all the envelope said. The emblem in the corner was the one of the Auror Office… oh, shoot. Tonks's heart rate sped up. Did she get accepted? Rejected? Did she have to go through training all over again? How had she done on her exams?

"Go on," Remus said encouragingly, rubbing her back. "It'll be fine. I'm here with you."

True. With Remus by her side, Tonks could face a three-headed monster, an ogre, and Voldemort all at once.

With trembling fingers, she ripped open the envelope and unfurled the letter. It read:

Nymphadora Tonks,

Congratulations. You have been accepted into the Auror program. You scored a perfect 300 on 300 on your exams. Your first reporting duty will be September 5th, 1994.

It was a short letter, but it was full of meaning. Tonks stared at it, the excitement taking a while to sink in, and then she looked at Remus, a true, happy smile breaking out on her face.

"Remus, I made it!" she exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "I actually made it!"

Remus wrapped his arms around her. "I knew you would," he whispered into her ear. "I'm really proud of you."

She smiled, leaning into his warm touch. "That really means a lot."

"Mm," he said huskily, his lips brushing her ear. "Aren't I required to, as a boyfriend?"

Tonks shivered. "I guess so."

"A perfect 300 on 300?" he asked. "Accomplishment."

"Thank you," she murmured.

"Of course, you are the smartest person I know, so it doesn't really surprise me," he whispered, his hands roaming her body.

"Stop that," she moaned.

His lips moved a few inches to the right of hers. "Stop what?" he whispered in a low, husky voice.

Tonks blinked. "Think… talking… no, ergh." She shook her head. "I can't form a sentence now."

"Can I do that much to you, Auror Tonks?" Remus asked, still using a low voice.

"Yes," Tonks managed, shivering. "Yes, you can."

Remus smiled, and then he leaned in.

Hermione was doing her homework.

Harry was supposed to be doing his homework.

Ron wasn't even trying to act like he was doing his homework.

Since Ron was sleeping.

"Ron, get up," Hermione groaned, shaking him lightly. "Why the heck are you sleeping?"

"Hmm?" asked Harry, looking up from the essay he wasn't even working on. "Oh, Ron, wake up."

"Not like you've been doing any work anyway," shot back Hermione. "Stop blaming him. At least he's not pretending to work on it."

"I'm working on it!" cried Harry, waving his essay in front of her.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You've only written your first name. And you forgot the "y" after 'Harr.'"

"I did?" Harry turned around the paper and scribbled in the 'y.' "There. I did it."

"You've only succeeded in spelling your name - wrong, if I may add - in thirty minutes?"

"I was planning everything out in my head!" Harry argued.

"While your quill was moving on the paper?" Hermione countered.

Harry blinked. "I was tracing out the words I was thinking in my head."

Hermione snorted.

"No, really!" continued Harry, running a hand through his black hair. "It helps me think, Hermione, it's my style of thinking."

"Okay, so what have you come up with?" Hermione asked testily.

"Er… I don't want to share them with you. Not until they're finished."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "That's the worst excuse you've ever come up with, and trust me, you've come up with a lot of bad excuses."

"I…"

"Wassgoinon?" Ron asked sleepily, rolling over the sofa and falling onto Hermione.

"Ah!" cried Hermione, looking away from Harry and to a heavy Ron, whose hands had flown to her stomach to keep his balance.

"Oops," muttered Ron. His gaze met hers, his blue eyes meeting her brown ones. She looked away first, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Ron," she croaked.

Something flashed in his eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Can you-"

"Where did I hurt you? Are you alright?"

She closed her eyes. "No, I'm-"

"What happened? Am I squeezing you tightly?"

"No," Hermione snapped exasperatedly, "but you're on me. Can you get off, please?"

Ron's eyes widened as he crawled off her. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"It's fine," grumbled Hermione. She saw Harry back out of the room, clearly expecting an argument, and she felt her anger vanishing slowly. It wasn't Ron's fault, and Harry shouldn't have to pay the price. "Sorry for yelling at you."

Embarrassment and shame filled his expression. "It's fine," he mumbled, not quite meeting her eyes.

Hermione sighed. "It's really not your fault."

"Yeah." Ron looked around. "Where did Harry go?"

Ron never talked in depth about his feelings or acknowledged him. He probably wasn't good at receiving deep feelings either. Natural of him to change the topic. "I think he left."

"Why'd he do that?"

Hermione grimaced.

"Oh," said Ron, nodding understandingly. "I get it. Well… let's get him back, shall we?"

"Yeah," agreed Hermione as he began to exit the room. "Wait," she called, and he stopped at the door.

"Yeah?"

"I…" She faltered. What was she about to say? "Never mind."

He put his hands in his pockets uncomfortably. "Er, are you all right?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?" He raised an eyebrow. "I'm… here, Hermione, if you need anything. I can help."

Hermione smiled. "I'm fine. Thanks."

"Er, yeah." He rummaged around again. "Well, er, should we go?"

"Yep. Let's go."

Cedric ran a hand through his hair. He'd received over ten proposals from other girls. Why was today the day he had to be asked out? It wasn't even Valentines' Day. Ugh.

"Cedric?" asked a voice. A girl's voice.

"I don't want to go out with you," Cedric said, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice. After ten proposals that he'd rejected kindly, he was bound to lose his patience. "Please, just… leave."

He looked around, hoping he hadn't made the girl cry (nine of the girls had, and the other had said "Okay, I'll come again tomorrow!"). But to his horror, he saw the shocked and hurt face of Cho.

Huh? Why was she hurt? Merlin, he'd gotten terrible at reading emotions.

"Er… I was going to tell you Adam wanted you to meet him at the courtyard in fifteen minutes."

"Oh," said Cedric, realization, followed quickly by guilt, filling him. "Yeah."

Cho half-smiled, hurt and confusion still on her face, before she turned around and walked away quickly.

"Cho!" called Cedric, jogging behind her and putting his arm on her shoulder gently. "Cho, wait."

She turned around. "Yeah?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean that I didn't want to go out with you," Cedric explained, feeling like more and more of an idiot with every word. "I just… I've been asked out a lot today. For… some reason."

Cho smiled softly, but it didn't quite meet her eyes. "It's all right," she said gently.

He brushed a strand of hair out her face. It was so soft… "No, it's not, Cho, it's not okay for me to have done that to you."

"It's all right," she repeated. "Don't worry, I'm… I'm fine."

She smiled at him, and he felt his heart melt. But to ruin a perfectly good moment, a blonde-haired girl sauntered up to them.

"You deserve to go to jail," she said plainly, "because you stole my heart."

Cedric clenched his teeth together. "Did I?" was all he managed.

"Yep. Cedric Zuko Diggory," - where had she come up with that middle name from? - "will you be the honor of being my date?"

"No, sorry," Cedric said quickly, trying to keep patience and kindness in his voice. "I… won't."

"Why not?" she asked, her eyes widening. Her eyes darted to Cho. "Is it her? Is she manipulating you? She's not nice, Cedric, she's a Ravenclaw. Stick with your Hufflepuff brethren."

Cedric glared at her. "She's got a name. It's Cho. And I don't care if she's a Ravenclaw or Slytherin, she's way nicer than you. I know her better than I know you. The way you're going, I don't even want to be your friend. Cho is amazing. She's friendly, nice, funny, and she's bold. While I'm glad you gathered up the courage, insulting my friends isn't going to help you."

He'd rendered the girl speechless. "I… I…"

"Goodbye."

And bingo, the tenth girl of the day to burst into tears.

Severus was sipping coffee, flipping through an essay. Merlin, the grammar of students these days had gone to the dogs.

"Hey, Severus!" exclaimed Charity, hurtling into the room.

"Hi," he replied shortly. "Did you need something?"

"I brought you chocolate lava cake!" she said enthusiastically.

He looked down at it. "Was there a reason for this, Burbage?" he asked stiffly, peering at the dark brown cake.

"Nah, I was just making some for my students and I had some left," Charity explained, plopping down on the seat in front of him and kicking her feet onto the table. "I gave some to most of the other teachers."

"Most?"

"I mean, a lot of them declined the cake. Filius is going on a diet." She giggled, a clear, high-pitched sound. "I offered it to everyone, though, except one." Her smile faltered for a moment.

"Who?" he asked in a bored manner, not really caring for the answer.

"Professor Potter."

He jerked up, spilling his coffee all over his robes. "Lily Evans?"

"Lily Potter, yeah."

He shook his head. "Right, sorry. Er, why?"

"I don't like her," Charity answered shortly.

Severus judged her. This happy-go-lucky didn't like somebody? That was a first. He wondered why, though.

"Well-"

"Anyhoo," Charity started brightly, "I hope you like the cake! Please don't deny it! You don't need to go on a diet!"

Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Sure, I'll eat it."

Charity burst into a smile. "Thanks!" she cried. "You're amazing."

Severus nodded, bored.

"Don't even," groaned Percy. "Sarah…"

"You are with Penelope on every one of your rounds!" Sarah justified. "You have to be with other people sometimes. It's so obvious you are in a relationship."

Percy scowled.

"So I'm with you. End of story." Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you'll learn Penelope isn't the only girl in your world."

"Are you suggesting…?" Percy snapped.

"Maybe, maybe not. But you can't get your eyes off Penelope to notice anything," Sarah continued. "Your life is all about Penelope, Penelope, Penelope. And you try to keep your relationship private?"

Percy glared at her. "Fine, let's go, then."

Sarah rolled her eyes as they set out on their rounds. She kept brushing against him, touching him more than necessary, and she kept flirting with him. It got worse when they bumped into Penelope and her partner.

"Hey," Percy greeted, nodding at Penelope. Her eyes narrowed at the close contact between the two of them, and Percy took a step away. "So, er… did you find anything unusual?"

Penelope dragged her eyes away from Sarah and to Percy, annoyance and suspicion painted all over her expression. "Some second-years out past curfew, trying to set off dungbombs."

"We gave them detention," said her partner casually, running a hand through his hair, completely oblivious to the tension between the other three.

"Cool," said Sarah smugly. She turned to Percy. "Where to next, hon?"

"Hon?" Percy and Penelope asked at the same time.

"Uh, yeah. I call everyone that."

Percy rolled his eyes. "We have to go to the Hospital Wing next, I think."

"Sure," Sarah said, brushing her arm against his again. "Where do you two need to scout?"

"Great Hall. We can walk with you guys and then split up," the boy said.

"Okay," Sarah said, "accidentally" bumping into Percy. "Oh, ouch!" she cried in a false voice.

"Stop doing that," snapped Percy.

Her eyes narrowed. "I just fell."

"Who falls at that angle?" Percy asked.

"I don't think about the angle when I fall, Perce, if I did, then I wouldn't have fallen at all," she argued.

"Perce?" Percy snarled.

"Penelope calls you that. So do Fred and George and Ron."

Penelope's eyes flared as they reached the Great Hall. "Come on, Benjamin," she growled. "Let's leave them to their business."

Benjamin shrugged, still oblivious. "Sure."

Percy sighed as they walked away.

He had a lot of fixing to do.

A/N: So here's 39! The double date's next chapter, so stay tuned for that!

A note about Severus & Charity: Nothing will ultimately happen. It may seem like it, but our purpose with this is to explore Snape as a character more deeply, and his confusion about whether he's over Lily or not. Severus and Charity are not going to actually be together, though. It's more just romantic confusion.

Thanks to all who review! :)