AN: Ok, so like a week turned magically into 9 months... anyway, here's chapter 22!

Chapter 22: Running in Circles

I sat on the floor in the common room, reading over the notes Lily had complied for me in an effort to make sure I passed my Muggle Studies exam. In hindsight, I probably should have asked somebody else because Lily is, in fact, a muggleborn, and therefore her notes were probably not as detailed as they should be.

None the less, I was going to need all the help I could get, so I'd spent the past hour going through what seemed like pointless knowledge. At least it was pointless until I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I flipped to the page and my suspicions were confirmed.

I knew it.

There, in the corner, over some nonsense about toasters was a doodle of James Potter. Now, normally I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but this drawing had no horns, no angry eyebrows, curly moustache, or dumb catchphrases scribbled over it. Instead, there was a small heart that thudded to a beat next to his glasses.

I was immediately torn between ripping the page out and burning it for Lily's sake and running straight up to the boys' dormitory, enchanted steps be damned.

I decided on neither. I was going to be a good friend and mind my own business. At least, I was, until Alice came trudging through the portrait hole, loser boyfriend in tow.

"Elsa!" she exclaimed, sitting against the couch, "Frank, tell Elsa what you just told me- Elsa, you have to hear this, it's a riot!"

I put on the nicest face I could. "This has nothing to do with whales, does it?"

Alice's smile fell and Frank laughed awkwardly.

"I uh, no, it doesn't."

"Good, then what is it?"

"Well, I was just saying that it's time that, actually, you know what, it's time that I kind of apologize."

I rolled my eyes.

"Save it Frank, I'll never forgive you."

Alice opened her mouth but I shushed her.

"But I suppose I could be nice to you, because for some reason, Alice really does like you and I may be a lot of things, but I am not an awful best friend."

Frank rubbed his neck. "Uh, thank you, I guess?"

Alice threw her arms around my neck, knocking me over in the process. "Thank you! I know it'll never be perfect, but I appreciate you trying!"

I hugged her back, and that's when the part about me not being an awful friend went out the window.

"You have to see what Lily drew in her notes!"

"I can't believe it," James groaned, taking a second look at the parchment in front of him. "This is ridiculous."

Whatever it was, I needed it to be quick.

But when it comes to quidditch, I knew that was wishful thinking with James Potter.

Damn him.

We'd been sat around the same table for nearly two hours with the entire Gryffindor quidditch team (minus Marlene), talking about strategies that at this point, were just noise to everyone.

Why am I even here?

"Please tell me the news is so good that we can all leave? I don't even get why I have to be here, I'm not even properly on the team," Rain Borneo said, eliciting similar responses from everyone that had been forced to endure the world's longest strategy meeting for the final match of the year.

"Neither am I," I sighed, "I'm not even supposed to know anybody's strategies. McGonagall is always on me about being completely neutral and you're not helping. Plus, I have to get going."

That was actually true.

In my haste, I accidently left my ice cream unguarded in the dorm.

Fabian agreed. "Yeah, I don't want to act like we have better things to do, but..."

"we actually do," Gideon finished.

"Oh shut it, all of you," James said. "This is going to throw off everything."

There was a collective groan from around the table.

"Then why the ruddy hell was it at the bottom of your stupid pile!" Emmeline yelled. "We've been here for two bloody hours already!"

"Exactly!" Sirius shouted back. "It's Hufflepuff for Merlin's sake! It's a miracle they've made it this far! We'll crush them, strategy meeting or not! Mate, I know it means a lot but honestly..."

"But DeLestrade is back for Hufflepuff as seeker! And he and Thomas have a completely different style. We're going to have to shuffle things around, so Vance, you can-" James was interrupted by quite literally everyone getting up and leaving, including Sirius.

"Padfoot, seriously mate?"

Sirius shrugged and followed the rest of the crowd.

I debated following them, but the look of James' face held me back.

I should honestly win 'friend of the year' for the shit I've put up with this week.

"Hey! Guys! Get back here! I'm not about to lose the most important game of the year because you idiots don't take quidditch seriously!" James yelled after them.

I patted him on the shoulder.

"Better luck next time."

"Elsa, darling, not you too!"

"James, I'm not even on the team."

"Well YOU BLOODY WELL MIGHT BE IF YOU LOT AREN'T AT THE PITCH TOMORROW AT SIX THIRTY!"

"Whatever, Potter!" Emmeline called over her shoulder.

"I just don't get it," James said, putting his head on the table. "It doesn't matter if it is Hufflepuff, I only have two more chances to win the cup!"

"As always, I'm sure Gryffindor will prevail," I mumbled.

"You know, with Marlene still out I don't even know if we can do it. I mean Alice is a good seeker, don't get me wrong," he added, after I shot him a glare, "but Frank is a terrible player and Sirius is all sorts of messed up right now and I mean obviously Vance is not participating the way she should be, seriously, I'm just-"

"James. Relax," I said, taking the parchment he'd just wadded up out of his hands and smoothing it back out on the table. "It's going to be fine."

"I know, but if it's not I'll never live it down. Hufflepuff? After that you may as well just kill me."

After this meeting, it took everything I had in me not to say 'I just might anyway'.

Since the news that Raffie was apparently well enough to play quidditch, I decided to do my best to patch things up between us since, after all, he is my brother.

A right prick of a brother, but still family.

I thought about breaking into the Hufflepuff common room, but realizing that's what got us into this mess in the first place, decided against it.

So I did what I'd done so many times before and just sat against the wall, hoping maybe, with some luck, Raffie would magically emerge.

Of course, with my luck he didn't.

But guess who did?

"Elsa, why are you sitting outside my common room?" Charity asked.

I sighed and got up from my spot on the wall.

"That's an excellent question, Charity."

"I heard that the guy that fell off his broom is your brother! Is that true? I heard you hexed him off his broom because he sabotaged your quidditch audition back in second year! Is that true too? And I also heard that Dumbledore is just an illusion that all the teachers made together so none of them would have to be headmaster all by themselves! Is that true?"

The only thing I bothered to correct was that quidditch 'auditions' are actually called tryouts. I didn't have the energy for anything else.

Charity stood on her tiptoes and looked me right in the eye. "I hope you get your revenge, Elsa. Sabotage is no joke."

I had to laugh at that.

"Thanks, Charity. But I have to go, er, plot some stuff, so if you'll excuse me," I said, making a move to leave.

She blocked me.

She's always doing that.

"Are you going to see Raymond? Are you guys really getting married?"

I frowned. I hadn't thought about going to look for Remus yet. "No, Charity, we are not getting married. Who do you hear these things from?"

She shrugged. "No one really talks to me, so I just listen."

"Well I promise you, kid, one day they will."

Charity skipped off with a smile on her face and I leaned back against the wall. Although our relationship was sort of strange, I was beginning to appreciate Charity's presence in my life.

I was about to give up and go to the library to see Remus when I actually spotted Raffie with a group of his friends, mostly fellow seventh years.

I ran after him down the corridor before yelling "Slow down you idiot!" which I will admit was not my best opening line to make an apology with.

Life goes on.

"Seriously, you know I don't run," I said jogging to where he'd stopped in front of the staircase. Up until this point, I'd actually not thought much about what I was going to say when I did finally catch him.

That might be a problem.

He looked nervously back at his friends and then back to me, folding his arms tightly.

"Raffie, I'm sorry."

That works.

"I didn't mean to, I swear, I wasn't thinking."

Raffie shrugged. "I know."

"Seriously. That's all you have to say to me?"

Raffie looked at me strangely. "Yeah. Were you expecting something different?"

I should have known. Raffie is so thick that he didn't even know to be mad at me.

"Well I did almost kill you," I said. "You didn't even want to see me after it happened. And dad, he, well, kind of let me have it about you."

"Elsa, I don't blame you. I didn't want to see you after it happened because I didn't want you to see how bad it was. And dad was wrong about all of that, you know."

"How'd you even-"

"Devon told me. Well actually he sent me a howler, but you know what I mean. Elsa, I may be your idiot brother, but even I can see that what he said was wrong. For Merlin's sake he's our father."

I smiled, thinking of the look on Raffie's face when he opened up what he probably thought was another sympathy card.

"Did he really send you a howler?"

Raffie chuckled. "Yeah. And I'll have to thank him later because all my mates thought it was hilarious that I'm still getting scolded by my older brother."

"He always was good at that," I said. "Although now that I think about it, my school life is a lot more peaceful without a lecture every five minutes."

"You can say that again. For six years, all I heard was 'Raffie do your homework', 'Raffie, quidditch isn't everything', 'Raffie, be nice to your sister', I swear, his personal mission was to make sure that even after she was gone mum's nagging spirit lived on."

I laughed through all dad's talk about how perfect my mum was, I'd forgotten about the little things she'd done, perfect or not.

"She was a bit of a nag, wasn't she?"

Raffie slung his arm around my shoulders and smiled. "Yes she was, little sister, yes she was."

We walked down the corridor like that until I realized it was almost time for dinner and made a break for the common room. Raffie went in the opposite direction, back up to meet with his friends from Slytherin who were gathered at the top of the stairs.

It was almost time to leave by the time I made it back to the Gryffindor common room, so I wasn't surprised to see the usual cluster my friends' seemed to always form had already started.

"Elsa, darling," James bellowed, "I was beginning to think you were going to skip dinner to study."

I snorted. "Exams may start tomorrow, but that doesn't mean I'm going to skip dinner over it."

"Are you sure you don't need to?" Peter asked, nudging me in the side. "I mean, I saw you asleep in Binn's class yesterday."

"Very funny," I said shoving him away. "But I will have you all know that not only am I prepared for exams, but I'm going to ace them."

"Are you really?" Remus said, joining our group that was rather inconveniently settled right in the middle of the common room. "That's fantastic," he added, giving me a peck on the cheek.

James wiped away a fake tear. "Merlin, it's just all so touching, Elsa, about to overcome the odds of incredible laziness to pass her exams, thanks to the help of her dorky boyfriend."

"Oi, I've broken your nose before, and I'll do it again," I said.

James stepped back. "Point taken. I take it back."

I rolled my eyes, hoping to distract from the blush that was creeping across my face at the mention that Remus and I were indeed boyfriend and girlfriend.

Did this make it official?

I hope so.

AN: sorry this chapter is so choppy! I just needed to get a lot of things crammed in not a lot of words so I can wrap this thing up!

Hope you all enjoyed reading and I will see you in the next chapter!

P.S. If you wouldn't mind, please leave a review on your way out!

P.P.S. I just finished editing this whole thing and I apologize for my abuse of post script notes.

P.P.P.S. Not really. I love these things!

XO

Val