Chapter 14- A lot of tension

Marcela looked at Anne and then at Chris. She repeated this for almost ten times until Chris snapped. "What? Do I have monkeys jumping on my face or something?"

"You two did something, didn't you?" Marcela frowned. "I mean, the kind of thing you used to do when you were on second and third year."

"No," Anne said. "What on Earth makes you think that?"

Marcela didn't seem convinced and continued to stare at them as they studied in the common room. Anne almost sighed with relief when Andrew sat with them and carried a heavy book.

"Hey, Andy, Andrew, Andrewster, the Mr. Andrew, Big Andrew," Chris said eagerly and everybody stared at him.

"You know how I get under a lot of pressure and a serious amount of awkward situations," Chris said as he lowered his head.

"Whatever," Andrew said, shaking his head. "Are you guys ready for the OWLS? I heard that it's going to be the toughest test in a hundred years!"

"Hey, I've been studying since I was in my mother's womb," Anne said jokily. "I'll be fine."

"Chris is the smartest kid on our year," Marcella said dreamingly as she looked at Chris. "He helped me study so I'm not worried."

Chris snorted. "You trust me way too much." His eyes lingered for a moment in Anne and Andrew frowned slightly.

"Chris, would you help me go through Transfiguration?" Andrew said darkly.

"I would love to, but I-"

"Now," Andrew growled. Chris shrugged and patted Anne's shoulder as he stood up. He kissed Marcella softly on the lips and walked away with Andrew.

"I love him so much," Marcela said, staring after him.

Anne chose to ignore Marcela as she continued to study Potions, though she knew it was a lost cause.

"Hey." Wayne sat next to her and Marcela grinned.

"I'll go look around, you know, at, er… things," she said and left almost running away.

Wayne squeezed Anne's hand gently and sighed. "I know she knows," Wayne said hastily.

Anne turned to look at Wayne. "So? What's next?"

"There's no point in hiding it, is it?" Wayne smiled and leaned in to kiss Anne. Anne put her arms around Wayne's neck and moved closer to him. Wayne drew away slowly and chuckled.

"A bit embarrassing display of affection, isn't it?" He said mockingly.

"Who cares?" Anne breathed as their lips met again for another kiss. Anne felt people staring at them, so she drew away and giggled.

"A bit embarrassing, yeah," Anne grinned.

"I feel like I have been a bit of an idiot with all this," Wayne said. "I've never dated someone I actually like so much."

"Really?" Anne smiled.

"You're wonderful, you're the kind of girl I would definitely fall in love with, that is… if I'm not already in love with you," Wayne said and leaned in for another kiss, but Anne backed slowly.

"What?" She felt her heart pounding on her chest.

"I think that I'm in love with you," Wayne said. "And maybe it's too soon, I know. You don't have to answer back."

Anne looked into Wayne's eyes and she knew that deep inside he wanted her to say the same. But was it love what she felt for Wayne? Feelings could be so confusing sometimes. But maybe she did love him, but since she had never felt like that before she didn't know how to call what she felt for Wayne. Anne decided to give it a try.

"Well…I think I love you too," she said uncertainly.

Wayne grinned and kissed her. "You're great," he said. "Hey, we should get going, OWLS start in fifteen minutes.

Anne gave him a gentle kiss and grinned back. "Let's go," she said. They stood up and held hands as they walked to the door. Outside they met with Chris and Marcela. Chris seemed pretty upset by something, but it didn't seem like Marcela was the reason of it, since Chris had his arm around her and Marcela was talking animatedly to him.

"Oh, so it's public now?" Chris asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I guess," Anne said, blushing deeply.

"Nice to see you had the courage to accept your feelings for Anne," Chris said, still using his usual tone of dark humor. "I thought we would graduate and you two would still be denying everything."

Wayne ignored Chris and kissed Anne on the cheek. "What OWL do we have first?

"Potions," Anne said sadly. "Not a chance. It sure is great that I'm not planning to be an Auror."

"Then… what are you planning to be?" Wayne asked.

"A writer," Chris and Anne said at the same time.

Wayne frowned and Marcela looked at Chris questioningly. Chris and Anne stared at each other and Chris became very pale.

"A lot of pressure and a serious amount of awkward situations," Chris muttered.

"What are you planning to be?" Marcela asked to Wayne, her voice cracking a bit.

Wayne chose to overlook the tension and smiled at Marcela. "Something to with Healing, I guess," he said cheerfully. "I want to help people."

Chris looked away from Anne, who seemed lost in thought.

Later, that afternoon

"I'm so sorry," Anne said as she sat next to Wayne during dinner.

"Hey, you did a bit awful in Potions, but everyone melts a cauldron every now and then," Wayne chuckled. "As a matter of fact, during my first year-"

"No, no, about the thing with Chris in the morning," Anne said softly.

Wayne looked at her and burst out laughing. "Anne, please. You two have been friends for years. It's natural that he knows what you want to be."

"Really?" Anne asked.

"Yes," Wayne said. "I do hope I get to know you better than anyone, but I know it'll take time."

"Thank you," Anne smiled. "You are truly amazing, Wayne."

Wayne blushed and shrugged. "I try to make up for keeping this relationship in the dark zone," he said.

Anne kissed him and laughed. "God, the cauldron melting was so…"

"Hilarious?" Wayne said, putting his arms around her. "Snape's shoes were glued to the floor!"

Anne laughed hard, her cheeks very red. She closed her eyes as Wayne kissed her again and suddenly Chris came into Anne's thoughts.

She drew away quickly from Wayne, blinking. "What's wrong?" Wayne asked.

Anne shook her head and surrendered to Wayne's kisses.