VI
Your Bittersweet Reactionary.

-x- Angelina Johnson & Lee Jordan –x-

'Like anyone would be
I am flattered by your fascination with me
Like any hot blooded woman
I have simply wanted an object to crave
But you're not allowed
You're uninvited
An unfortunate slight.'

For the first time all week Angelina Johnson felt relaxed and ready for an adventure.

The workload these last seven days had been phenomenal and now, as she followed Katie and Alicia as they moved slowly forwards in the queue of students waiting to be allowed through the gates of Hogwarts and on to the path to Hogsmeade village, she felt truly able to take a deep breath and forget about anything else other than having a good time.

'Argh, I wish Filch'd hurry up with his stupid list so we can get to Hogsmeade some time this week,' Angelina hissed as she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, trying to stay at least a little warm amidst the bitter weather.

Murmuring their agreement, Alicia and Katie smiled briefly at her and walked through the gates, just before a loud shout sounded behind them and Angelina felt something hit the back of her head with a dull thud. Frowning, she reached up to her hair – it hadn't hurt, but the feeling had been curiously familiar, almost like a wad of chewing-gum hitting her…

'JORDAN!'

Laughing hysterically, one Lee Christopher Jordan fell out of the queue, clutching his stomach helplessly, his wand still in his hand which undeniably marked him as the chewing-gum throwing culprit. George, standing beside him, was trying extremely hard not to laugh, while Fred was long gone, clutching his brother's arm for support as he cackled.

'Eurgh, Ange you poor thing,' Alicia said quietly, leaning forwards to inspect the damage with a grimace, 'oh that is gross!'

'I bet it's really stuck in there too,' Angelina remarked sourly, clenching her fists in rage, 'Jordan never does anything half-arsed when he's aiming to piss me off.'

'You'll have to go to the bathroom in Hogsmeade and pull it out,' Katie said, holding out her hand and inviting her through the gates, 'c'mon; we'll go to the Three Broomsticks: Madam Rosmerta will help.'

'I really don't want to have to walk all the way down there with this in my hair,' Angelina replied with a sigh, casting an icy glare over at the still-laughing Lee, 'besides, by the time I get down there it will have frozen to my head… no, its all right, I'll go quickly back to the dorm and get it out, I'll meet you down there.'

'Are you sure?' Katie asked, sneering loyally at Fred and Lee, who were on their tip-toes inspecting the extent of their damage, 'We can stay back and help you…'

'No, its fine, you two have dates with the redheaded buffoons, I don't want to ruin that,' she replied, moving away from them and out of the queue, 'go on, I have to go and do a spot of Jordan-murdering anyhow.'

With sympathetic looks, Katie and Alicia stepped back down the path, out of the way of the other students, and upon meeting up with the twins, walked towards the village, throwing worried glances back over their shoulders at her.

Seething, Angelina marched straight past the queue of students and started to climb the staircase, heading for the Gryffindor tower.

'Stupid, bloody Jordan, argh, I'd love to kick his arse right now.'

These muttered threats, wishes and generally blood-thirsty remarks continued all the way through the castle and were still being hissed through her clenched teeth as she stomped up the stairs to her dormitory. Bursting into the room, she marched into the en suite and lit the candle near the mirror, leaning forwards to inspect the damage done to her long, braided hair.

Upon realising that the gum had managed to encompass at least a third of the back of her head, she uttered a few more choice words before taking her braided strands gently out of their ponytail and began to pick the gum out of them, swearing with every bit of the sticky substance that got clogged up under her fingernails.

She remained in much the same state of action for about fifteen minutes, before angrily realising that she couldn't reach a lot of the gum as it was in an awkward position on her skull. Reaching for her wand, she was just about to charm it out when she remembered poor Eloise Midgen, who upon trying to curse her acne off had accidentally removed her nose. Deciding that she quite liked her hair and head how they were, she walked timidly back downstairs to see if anyone that was down there would be someone she could ask to help her with her gruesome task.

She had just clumped into the middle of the room and scanned it quickly, her heart sinking as the situation looked most unpromising, when a husky male voice hiccoughed with laughter behind her and she turned to see none other than Lee Jordan sprawled across the sofa, his own dreadlocked hair dangling in his brown eyes.

'Jordan? What are you doing here?' she said, confused, before changing tact completely, 'But actually, I really don't care. Do you think this is funny do you?'

'N-' he started to say, but was interrupted when she lost her cool.

'HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY THINK PUTTING GUM IN SOMEONE'S HAIR IS FUNNY? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT'S GOING TO TAKE TO GET THE STUPID STUFF OUT! SEVERAL HOURS AT LEAST BECAUSE IF I USE MAGIC I RUN THE RISK OF SCALPING MYSELF!'

The Common Room was deathly still, everyone either painfully averting their eyes from the scene unfolding or watching silently, gob-smacked at the sheer volume of her voice, a volume even ex-student Oliver Wood, Bellower-Extraordinaire would have been proud of.

In this awkward silence, Angelina panted heavily, glaring at Lee, who was sitting on the lounge, his face distorted painfully as though he was waiting to be punched. After a few seconds, in which he hadn't been punched, he dared to open one eye and was stunned to see that she was still glaring at him, seemingly unable or unwilling to inflict some sort of bodily harm upon him.

'Y-you aren't going to kick my arse?' he asked suspiciously, clutching the rug next to him just in case he needed some kind of shield.

'No,' she answered coldly, still breathing heavily, 'because if I want to get some kind of sleep tonight I'll have to continue to pull your stupid gum out of my hair or else I'll be up well past midnight.'

Turning on her heel, she got halfway up the stairs before stopping when she heard his voice, humble and completely unassuming for an extremely delightful change.

'Ange, I'm really sorry.'

She was just about to blast him for a second time when she noticed the look on his face… it wasn't a fake, puppy-eyed expression: the one he usually gave her when he wanted forgiveness; it was a sincerely apologetic expression, almost fearful…

'Look,' he continued quietly, his voice barely above a whisper, 'why don't you stay down here and I'll help you get the gum out?'

'Uh,' she answered, unable to help herself, 'because you, you immature, selfish pig, will probably put more gum in my hair or pull some other ridiculous prank on me.'

He winced.
'Okay, so I deserved that, but I promise Ange, I'll just help you get it out and then I'll leave you alone – won't even talk to you any more if that's what you want.'

'I-I um,' she stammered, confused at the expression on his face, the tone of his voice, and the butterflies that had suddenly appeared in her stomach for no apparent reason, 'I… I don't really want everyone watching me pull my braids apart; my hair looks gross when that happens.'

He laughed a little, a lopsided smile present on his face.
'Why don't you come up to our dorm and I'll fix you up there – oh wait, that sounded really suss.'

She snorted, smiling in spite of herself.
'Yes, yes it did, but it sounds like a good idea anyway – no wait, ew, Jordan, not in that way.'

They held each other's gaze for a moment before erupting into good natured laughter. Shaking her head and quite unable to believe she was doing it, she followed Lee up the staircase to his dormitory.

'Ooh, um, ignore the, err, mess,' he said, his dark cheeks flushing pink slightly as they walked into the completely trashed room, 'uh, um, that's Fred and George for you.'

Raising an eyebrow, she picked her way over to the cleanest bed and sat down gingerly.
'I'll just sit here, shall I?'

Running a hand through his dreadlocks, he shrugged and followed her, sitting cross-legged behind her and inspecting the damage he'd done to her beautiful, long locks. Cringing, he leant over her shoulder.

'Oh, um, I really made a mess of it didn't I? Sorry.'

She rolled her eyes.
'Yes Lee, yes you did.'

Looking back on the whole chain of events later, Angelina was quite unable to believe that she'd spent an entire afternoon in the presence of Lee Jordan without wanting to wring his neck. On the contrary, once they'd gotten over their initial stage of awkwardness, it had turned out to be a rather enjoyable time indeed. His fingers as they'd worked nimbly through her braids, had been soft and gentle, and she'd eventually fallen asleep, collapsing backwards into his lap, where she'd stayed until he'd all but gotten the gum out.

Yes, Lee Jordan had surprised her, and no matter which way she looked at it, she had no choice but to admit, that while annoying, stubborn and immature as he was, the boy did have something special, even if it was only his amazingly gentle way of charming her when no one else was looking.

A/N: lyrics used - 'Uninvited' by Alanis Morisette