I stare at Meredith as she glares at a dumbstruck Julia with a look of evil satisfaction.

It's an oddly good look for Mer…

A very good look for Mer…

What would I do if that look was directed at me?

Julia screams in fury. In a flurry of movement, Julia pulls out her wand and sticks it in Meredith's face. Even from where I'm standing, I can see the familiar ugly sneer adorning her features. Meredith smirks at Julia's challenge and pulls her wand out of the pocket in her Quidditch robes.

"Just try it." Meredith's voice is cold and dangerous. The look in her eyes tells me she means business.

Uh oh. Not good.

I begin running towards them, but before I can reach them, Julia throws the first hex. Meredith reflects it easily and holds her wand up defensively in front of her. I don't know who, in their right mind, would challenge Meredith to a duel. I'm pretty sure the entire school knows that she's one of the best.

Then again, Julia could just be stupid.

A small crowd has formed around the two girls as nosy students try to figure out why someone screamed. My path is blocked and the noise in the hall is growing, making it impossible for me to hear Mer and Julia anymore. I see Meredith's mouth moving and that evil smirk still on her face while Juila's features become more and more contorted in anger. Mer's taunting Julia. I've never seen Julia look at anyone so hatefully.

"Meredith!" I start pushing my way through the ring of student and towards the dueling pair. Julia and Meredith both turn to face me and we all freeze.

Meredith still has that look on her face… and it's directed at me… I never actually answered what I would do if that was directed at me and I wish that I had. My brain has gone to place it shouldn't be all too suddenly.

After a second, Meredith's face softens and the look passes from her features allowing my brain to restart. I release the breath I didn't even know I was holding.

Meredith closes her eyes and breaths deeply as Julia looks back and forth between us. She lowers her wand, and, like Meredith, her nasty expression dissolves.

Is this the end of all of this? Please let this be the end.

Instead, Julia opens her mouth. "Aw… isn't this sweet. It seems you two are together, now."

That's like a stab to my heart. Mer's not mine and probably never will be, considering the way I've acted. I purse my lips, but don't respond.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Meredith's fists clench at her sides, causing her wand to emit red sparks out of its end.

"I can't say I'm surprised," Julia continues. Her tone is that of someone who has waited a long time to say something they had been holding in. "I understood from the beginning of our relationship that James was just trying to get with as many girls as he could. But honestly, I thought you would go for a bit of a challenge."

"From what I understand, Julia, you seem to have already been with every guy in school, while you were with him," Mer puts in, unfazed. "You've been so easy, what would you know about a challenge?"

Julia's face twitches with anger and she rounds on Meredith. "I'm easy?" she says, a note of disbelief in her voice. "That's rich. Especially with a reputation like yours…"

The group of girls surrounding Julia giggle loudly and Julia continues to smirk. I turn my attention to Meredith. "Why do you keep saying that?" she spits.

Julia crosses her arms across her chest and leans on her right leg. "As if you don't know. I'm surprised this hasn't been a big thing sooner." She rolls her eyes and looks back at Meredith. "How else would you be 'friends'," Julia makes finger quotes as she says this, "with only the most popular guys in the entire school?"

Um… what?

There is a hiss from the crowd as they take a collective breath at Julia's words. Meredith raises her wand again. "Don't bring them into this."

"But don't you see, Meredith?" Julia replies. "They are what this is all about. Sure, you've gotten bored and been with a few other guys, but your escapades from this year and especially fifth year really just back the story up, don't they?"

What the hell is she talking about?

Meredith's wand continues to emit red sparks threateningly. Her knuckles are white with the strain of her grasp. "You…"

The students in the direct line of fire of Meredith's wand step back from the pair silently. I've never heard a group of students this large be so quiet outside of exams. My mind is in overdrive trying to figure out what Julia is talking about.

Fred is the first to say anything. "So that's what you've been spreading? Huh." He must get what this is all about. His voice has the tang of fake amusement. He scowls as I have only seen reserved for the very girl it's delivered to now. All pretense of amusement gone from his voice, he adds, "Who are you to say something like that about Meredith?"

Meredith drops her wand suddenly and looks at Fred. Her face is confused, relieved, and slightly tortured all at the same time. Mer's gaze flicks to me, then the other members of the team and the tension that built up in her again as she spoke with Julia seems to release.

I can practically feel the gears in my head turning trying to get this to make sense. Meredith is our friend, sure. She doesn't really get on with any of the other Gryffindor girls in our year, but I just chalked that up to Julia. She does spend loads of time in our dormitory because of that. You know, I can't think of any girl that I've dated being up in our dormitory… or any girl ever for that matter.

Before the final Quidditch match last year, I got on this bend where we had to spend 24 hours together as a team before we played and we had to hide her from Reid under Roger's bed because I told her she had to sleep over. She slept with us that night and…

Oh.

Oooooh.

Ooooooooooooooooh.

That bitch.

"And who are you to say that about us?" Fred continues raging. "You seem to have found your own group of guys to shag whenever you want: every desperate dirtbag who crosses your path."

"Actually, I believe Meredith has claimed that group quite nicely in the past few years."

"How long has this been going around?" I ask, my voice forced. I feel like I just got hit by a troll. I can barely get the words out.

"Everyone's been saying it for years."

Years? I never even considered Meredith as more than just a friend until this year. How could anyone have confused our close group with what Julia just insinuated?

Julia is watching Meredith in hopeful expectation. I look over to her. She seems shocked, but otherwise expressionless.

Meredith bends down and grabs her wand which rolled a foot or so away from her. Standing back up, Meredith twirls her wand in her fingers, sticks it back in her pocket. "I really couldn't care less what people say about me, Julia," Meredith says with a smile. "And it would be a damn shame if I let a slag like you tell me what kind a person I am." She takes a step towards Julia, and adds, "Whatever lies you spread about me will never be anywhere near the truth everyone knows about you." And with that, she turns and walks away from Julia, the crowd parting to let her through.

That's it?

No duel? No curses? No fight?

That is unexpected.

The students watch silently as Meredith disappears around the corner the team and I just came from. I look over at Roger, Phillip, and the twins who shrug and shake their heads. Weird… I thought Fred was here, too.

I turn to see a truly disgruntling sight. Fred is leaning against a wall, looking utterly repulsed while Julia talks to him, occasionally reaching out and touching his arm, all the while moving even closer. Gross.

Something Julia says seems to put Fred over the line and he yells, "Julia! I'm not interested by any stretch of anyone's imagination!" Fred finally pushes Julia away when she kept forcing herself closer to him and the crowd around us starts snickering. "Just stay away from me!" Fred looks the angriest I've ever seen him and Julia smiles the same smile I'd seen a thousand times before. It's the same smile she used whenever she knew she was going to get what she wanted.

"Please, Freddie," Julia coos in her interpretation of a sexy voice. It sounds, to me, like she has a really bad cold. "I'm just making sure you know that you won't be able to hold out against me much longer."

Fred's jaw drops a fraction at her words. Shaking his head and pushing himself off the wall, Fred stalks over to the far side of the crowd of now bewildered students. Julia is watching him coyly. Fred closes his eyes. He looks like he's preparing himself for something.

"Julia," he finally says with forced calm, "You want to know how unlikely it is that I would ever be involved with you again?" Julia raises her eyebrows as a challenge.

In an instant, Fred has grabbed the girl he was standing in front of and kisses her hard. The crowd erupts with cat-calls and whistles as the girl flings her arms around Fred's neck and kisses him back. I didn't even realize who she was until now, but this makes much more sense than if Fred was just kissing some random girl.

Fred and Prisca Fenn pull back from each other and laugh shyly. I see Fred mouth 'sorry' and Prisca smiles and rolls her eyes.

Prisca is in our year in Hufflepuff. I think she had a crush on me in first year. Maybe not… all she ever did was ask me if she could borrow a quill, but Roger and Phillip teased me about it mercilessly. That's why I remember.

I direct my attention back to Julia. She appears to have been completely blindsided by this turn of events. With an angry sniff, Julia turns on the spot and leaves, her and her friend's heel clicking loudly on the stone walkway.

Applause breaks out from the students surrounding us. I hear someone behind me say, "That was even better than the match!"

I make my way over to Fred as the crowd thins and the students return to the castle. He and Prisca are still whispering together and I hear the tail-end of the conversation as I approach.

"…be bad. You know what happened with James."

"I'm not scared of her."

Fred clenches his fists so hard his arms shake. "How could she-? Why would she-? Just because I-." He starts pacing, clenching and unclenching his fists and scowling so hard I think his face may be permanently creased after this. Phillip and Roger, who had moved towards up to slap Fred on the back, stop suddenly at the sight of him, smiles falling in concern. Prisca places her hand gently on Fred's arm and he takes a couple of deep breaths before continuing, "She's a bitch! I can't believe she still expects me to think she's irresistible! How can she be so self-absorbed? Who is she to spread those kinds of rumors about anyone?"

Fred pauses at this last statement. "Those rumors," he repeats. He smiles oddly, his body visibly relaxing. "Those ridiculous rumors!" Fred lets out a huff and then starts giggling. Not a second later, he is overcome with uncontrollable laughter. "Oh, Merlin! Can you believe-?" Phillip, Roger, Lorcan, Lysander, and I watch apprehensively and Prisca half-smiles as he leans against the wall outside of the locker rooms, still howling.

I'm not sure why he's laughing so hard, but I get that the rumors are ridiculous. Anyone with even less than half a brain could see that Mer is nothing like what's been going around. She's a total tom-boy and probably about as flirtatious as a Hippogriff (except for recently…?). She wouldn't sleep with just anyone.

And, what about the guys she's dated? Did they think this coming into their relationships with Mer? Why even pursue her when you thought she was shagging the Gryffindor Quidditch team? Granted, thinking she was easy could explain why every guy she's been with has been a complete arse.

I bet Corner was just trying to get one up on me, as well, the bloody wanker.

My heart lurches painfully as a thought crosses my mind: what if Meredith slept with Corner? The very idea makes my stomach churn. NO! No! I can't think that. Meredith wouldn't do that. She hadn't even been with him for very long. I shake my head hard to try to banish the thought from it.

Fred's breaths are coming in gasps as he tries to control himself. One hand wipes the tears leaking from the corners of his eyes, the other holding an apparent stitch in his side. Prisca is actually smiling and shaking her head at him. "Are you done being a dumb arse?"

"He's never done with that!" Albus, Lily, and Rose come into my view, all laughing good-naturedly. Lily runs forward and hugs me tightly around my middle and I smile down at her dark red hair. Rose and Al make their way over to me, smiling and Al pats me on the back. Fred, Prisca, Roger, and Phillip stay back and converse easily as my family members surround me.

"Excellent playing, James," Albus says, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I thought for sure you would screw it up when I heard about Julia."

I roll my eyes. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," I reply sarcastically.

"Well, you don't really have a history of keeping your calm."

"Shove off. Can't you just let me enjoy my victory?" I think about my own words as they come out of my mouth. I'm not really enjoying this victory anyway. Not to mention the person who I would want around to enjoy it with is who-knows-were.

"What kind of Slytherin Sibling would I be if I allowed that?"

Lily pulls back from my midsection and I see that she isn't smiling. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," she says quietly.

I pull her into a real hug and say, "Don't worry yourself about it. I'm a responsible adult, now." She snorts into my chest, and I smile, happy to know that I can still make her laugh right now.

"Hey Scorp, come on!" I look over my shoulder to see Scorpius Malfoy standing a good ten feet away from our group. He gives a half-smile, looking warily at me, and really don't think I deserve that. I've never shown any real animosity towards him… except maybe the first time I had ever met him… but that was only a joke.

Dad had said that I should be nice to him, but Uncle Ron really wasn't interested in any of us having anything to do with him. So, instead of treating him as I would treat someone I actually hate (i.e. Corner), I played an innocent prank on him. It wasn't anything that should make him wary of me, right?

I guess walking around with skin that changed color every six minutes really can get to you for a long time. At least, longer than I think it should.

But that was my second year, and since Al has been friends with him, I haven't made any attempt to do anything to him. Maybe Al has scared him with stories about me.

I hold out my hand as he approaches. He can't think I'm scary. I'm James Potter, for Circe's sake. I'm only scary on the Quidditch pitch, and he doesn't even play!

Malfoy looks at my hand suspiciously for a moment before giving me a confused smirk and shaking my hand firmly. "Well done with the match, Potter," he says, somewhat awkwardly.

"Thanks," I manage. Mentioning the match, again, brings my thoughts back to my missing Seeker. "Have you lot seen Meredith anywhere?" Al and Rose shake their heads, frowning slightly. Malfoy appears to have retreated slightly and looks to be in a world of his own thoughts. Is that what I look like when I do that?

Lily releases me and steps back to stand next to Rose. "Why did Meredith leave?"

After Lily speaks, Malfoy jumps suddenly and turns to me with a look of recognition. "Meredith Blount?" he asks curiously.

"Yeah," I say, a little deflated. What other Meredith would I be talking about? "Have you seen her?" Malfoy nods, eyebrows raised, and I feel my heart start beating faster. "Where?" I shout stepping toward him and grabbing the front of his shirt.

"I saw her running towards the Forest as we were on our way here," he says looking down at his shirt clenched in my hand, alarmed.

I look to the right of him as my mind races. The Forest! Why didn't I think of that?

"I thought it was odd, but I didn't think anything of it since it hasn't seemed to me that you have been on good terms with her recently and unless you became friendly again over the past week I thought you wouldn't care to know, but it's possible I'm wrong and if I am I'm sorry, but you can't blame me…"

I look back at Malfoy, who is still looking down at the fistful of his t-shirt in my hand and rambling nervously. So he does that, too? This kid seems to act a lot like me.

I smile widely at Malfoy, release his shirt, and clap him on the back. "Thanks, mate." Malfoy still looks very alarmed, though I'm guessing it's for a different reason. I turn back to my siblings and Rose, "Sorry guys, I have to go." Without waiting for a response, I leave my team, my family, and a very confused Scorpius Malfoy and start running as fast as I can towards the Forest. I know where she is.