CHAPTER TWO:
I landed in the middle of his Quidditch pitch with a loud thump. A loud, painful thump at that. I pulled myself into a sitting position, rubbing my head to sooth the pain, but with that silly smile lingering on my face. I pulled my shrunken broom out of my bag and took it out of the case. Crossing my fingers, hoping not to get caught, I waved my wand and resized the broom to the proper size.
I carelessly hopped on with ease and slowly increased my speed until it was going the maximum velocity possible. I purposefully went through the forest this time though, having fun dodging trees and not getting all cut up. In no time, I was back at the Potter's big home and knocking on James' window that was behind his bed.
He turned around and his face lit up with glee. I motioned for him to open his window, flying in slowly once he did.
"ALEXIS! You came back to me!" he screamed, obviously surprised. I did tell him I was going to didn't I? OH yes, I did. What a silly little fellow that James is.
"I did tell you I was going to come back," I pointed out, flopping down onto his bed comfortably.
He opened his mouth wide to retort, and then snapped it shut. I smirked, he stuck his tongue out at me. He started blabbing on about something, but well, my attention span isn't that long…The silence brought me back to the conversation and I nodded along and said 'yeah!'.
"Lexy, dear, I've known you forever. I can tell when you zone out," he said knowingly.
"Well, err, yeah. But what were you saying?"
"It doesn't matter honestly. So, the family is coming over in fifteen minutes and we can play Quidditch and then the parent's are going over to Ron and Hermione's house and we can party," he informed me.
Ron and Hermione bought the land (from Harry) next door out in the country by Godric's Hollow where the Potter's lived. It was pretty handy.
"Sounds brill! I can't wait to play Quidditch. I love Quidditch. Don't you love Quidditch, James? Of course you love Quidditch! Everyone loves Quidditch," I said nodding to myself in a great impression of Loony Lovegood, one of James' parent's old mates. Her twin sons, Lorcan and Lysander, were crazy too. They're in our year but Lysander's a Ravenclaw while Lorcan ended up in Gryffindor (nobody knows why…he doesn't fit in at all).
James laughed and smiled at me. It warmed the cold spot in my heart that was all 'JAMES, I HATE YOU' from earlier. I like James. He's the bomb-dot-com. That's a Muggle internet reference, bee-tee-dubs (btw, by the way).
We sat in silence for a moment before someone screamed up, "JAMES?"
I recognized that voice immediately. That was the voice of the devil reincarnated. That was the voice of Louis Alain Weasley. I cringed. Oh how I hate thee, Louis. James called him upstairs. How dare he do that. How dare he acknowledge his cousin whom I hate so? Fuck you James, fuck you. The clambering of two feet warned me that the Devil's right hand man would most likely be coming to. Must Louis and Malfoy always come and ruin my happy?
Yes, actually, they must.
Louis and Malfoy came and jumped on his bed, landing on top of me.
Ew. They're touching me. I scowled and kicked Louis in the gut.
"Don't touch me," I snarled. He laughed and laid down on top of me. I hate you Louis Weasley.
"I hate you, Louis Alain Weasley," I mumbled, by my face was covered by his shirt and it ended up sounding more similar to I haswu Lous Awain Weezley.
"What was that, dear?" he asked, wriggling around and causing me pain. Ew, he's touching me and straddling me and ugh.
Why wasn't James helping me? Oh wait, I can hear him and Sco—Malfoy laughing at me. How rude. Why does Fate hate me so? Then Louis started humping me.
I cried on the inside. Seriously. I mean, I get that I'm absolutely bloody gorgeous and awesome and perfect (ha), but I hate you Louis. Why can't you understand that? I do not want you to hump me while lying on top of me, and your fat self is too heavy for me to push off with my arms trapped beneath you.
James and Malfoy started dying of laughter at this point. I decided to bite Louis. So I did, hard, right on the shoulder.
He yelped and jumped off of me immediately. Go sharp teeth! Who's the bomb-dot-com? Alex is. Go Alex, it's your birthday, gonna party like it's your birthday. Oh wait, it IS your birthday. Woop woop.
"If you ever do that again, I will hex your bits off," I said, deadly serious. I turned to James angrily. "If you ever let him do that again, I'll hex your bits off too."
"Yes ma'am," James mumbled. James is whipped. By me. Win? I think so. Louis just laughed and flung his arm around my shoulders.
"But Alexis, that was my birthday present for you, love," he whined. I grabbed his hand and flung it back into his face. Take that, Weasley.
I rolled my eyes and glared at him though. I don't take that bullshit. Well, I would from someone else, but not the devil reincarnated or Slytherins.
"Quidditch?" Scorpius asked, breaking the glare-fest that I was having. I was winning too. Malfoy was a Beater just like the Devil-Weasley.
With a hearty agreement from everyone, we all pounded down the steps. We were about to fly out to the pitch when the rest of the Weasley Clan popped in through the fireplace. One after one, all billion and twelve of them arrived in the living room. Teddy was even there.
Teddy is here.
"TEDDY!" I screeched. I jumped into his outstretched arms and he nuzzled into my neck. Ted Remus Lupin is the bomb-dot-com times 433241934271. To be completely honest, Teddy is my favorite person in the Weasley-Potter-Lupin clan. Forget what I may have said earlier, Teddy and I are the same person except he's even better than me. I know, you didn't think that was possible, but it is! He's perfect. Seriously.
I can sort of hear a growling behind me. I wonder why. I looked back and saw Victoire foaming at the mouth. Not really, but she was trying to kill me with her glare. I smirked. I never really liked her. She's too goody and perfect-in-the-bad-annoying-way.
Teddy finally put me down, but he kept his arm firmly around my waist. It's kinda funny cause he's super tall, taller than Jamesie, and I'm short. He ended up moving his arm to around my shoulders when he realized he had to bend down to keep it around my waist. I snorted at him. Vickie looked disgusted. James didn't look to happy either, but I don't really know why. Oh well, sucks for them.
"I think we need to have a nice long talk," he murmured into my ear after noticing James. I smiled and nodded up to him.
"They're all going to play Quidditch. We can go out to the lake and talk then instead, yeah?" I whispered back once James turned to look at Dom who was poking him insistently.
After a moment of everyone saying their hellos, the entire Weasley clan plus me, a total of fifteen of us, marched outside and mounted our brooms. Everyone followed the same path, but Teddy and I shared a look and veered off, heading towards the lake.
I know what I had to tell him, that's for sure. Beginning with meeting Brian and ending with today. Only what…all summer and a bit of last year to catch up on? I needed to see this kid..man?..more often, that's for sure. I did wonder what he had to tell me though, as we companionably flew towards the lake in a peaceful silence. We touched down at the edge of the lake, letting our feet skim the sand before finally stopping and hopping off.
I ended up laying down with my head on his lap as he propped himself on his elbows. He ran his fingers through my tangled hair, smoothing it out.
"I think Victoire likes me," Teddy said simply.
"She's liked you since she was four, dumbass," I retorted.
How oblivious could guys be…Stupid men. Oh Teddy. Silly, silly Teddy.
"Oh. Well, I think I may ask her out. She's hot."
"You're going to ask the Perfect Bitch out because her Veela charms are fully kicked in and you find your hormones raging?" I asked. Oh god, please don't do this Teddy. Please.
"Uh, well. Yeah, maybe?"
You're a fucking idiot.
"Hey, be nice!" he exclaimed.
Woops, I guess I said that outloud…I do tend to do that quite a bit.
"Do you want to be called Ted, or even worse Theodore even though it's not your name, for the rest of your life? She's stuck up, annoying, and condescending!"
He skipped a rock into the lake as he shrugged, avoiding the problem here. "Plus, it's practically incest! All of the Weasley's are practically your cousins since Harry Potter is your frickin godfather."
"Yeah, I guess," he shrugged noncommittally. "I dunno. I mean, yeah, I grew up with her, but we aren't actually related."
"Close enough, though!" I retorted.
"Yeah, whatever. What did you need to tell me?"
"Well, last May, Jamie and I snuck out of Hoggywarts and went to London for a concert. It was All Time Low, Mayday Parade, and Stereo Skyline. I know you've heard them from either James or me, and they're some of our favorites so we went. And after the concert, the bands were hanging out for a while and we got to meet them and shit. And I was beyond smashed, and I ended up snogging Stereo Skyline's bass player, Brian," I paused, waiting for his reaction.
"Only you would go snog a famous guy you don't even know drunk," he said laughing.
I laughed too. "Haha, yeah, well you know me! Anyways, so I ended up getting his number and we became friends and started talking a lot and shit. And he was over in England again for a promo or something, and so we met up and hooked up again in June I think it was. Perhaps July, same thing."
"Define hook up," Teddy cut off, worriedly.
"We didn't shag or anything, Theodore," I said, grinning. "But we did do more than just snogging and that's all you need to know. So, we've been talking a lot and I trust him, like he knows about my dad and everything. Stuff that just you and Jamesie know. He's become one of my best friends who I just happen to snog whenever I see, you know that dealio."
"Friends with benefits!"
"Yeah, I guess so. And today James was being an absolute prick to me about Brian and he pretended to be my dad when Brian called to wish me happy birthday and we fought. Oh, and when Brian called he told me he came to London to see me and celebrate the ending of his tour. So I told him I'd meet up with him after tonight's party, but I went to go see him when I left here."
"Wait, James pretended to be your dad?" Teddy asked, scowling.
"Yeah," I mumbled, looking away. I wasn't exactly over the circumstances in which he died. Or that he died at all. That he left me alone. That I wasn't important enough to live for.
"I'm going to hex that kid to oblivion," Teddy said seriously.
"Yeah, well, whatever. Anyways, so we met up at Regent's Park in London and hung out. And then I told him about what James did and shit, and he didn't want me to ruin our friendship by talking to him and it was so sweet. And then we ended up snogging later on, except this time it was different, we weren't smashed or like this summer when we were just hooking up to hook up. I dunno, this time it meant something…and I think I'm starting to fancy him. But he's a Muggle and he doesn't know I'm a witch, and I really wanna tell him. So, I don't know what to do. Or explain to him why I won't be able to talk to him until Christmas since phones don't work at Hogwarts!"
"I dunno what to tell you, Alex. I mean, he seems like a pretty good guy, but you're underage so if he freaks out about the whole magic thing, you can't even Obliviate him. Are you seeing him again later?"
"Yeah, around twelve, I'm ditching the party and Flooing over to London and we're meeting up and going to a club and partying."
"Well, I'll Apparate you over and hide under James' Invisibility Cloak. You can tell him about being a witch, and if necessary, I can just Obliviate that moment and then you can go partying with him. Does that sound okay?"
"Yeah, perfect! Thanks, Teddy, you're the best," I said smiling, looking up at him, the sunlight illuminating his head making him look like an angel.
"No problem, Alex. Now, let's go play some Quidditch, yeah? I need to beat your arse."
Teddy used to be Hufflepuff's captain when he was in school. But he had graduated a long time ago. Except not really that long ago. He was seven years older than James and I, so he had just graduated in our first year since he had a late birthday.
"You're out of practice, dearie. You're too busy with Auror school to play Quidditch, even though you should have just gone professional."
"Yeah, yeah, twerp," he said as we mounted our brooms and flew towards the Quidditch Pitch, joking around and laughing. It was good to be in a better mood. Thank Merlin Ted Remus Lupin exists.
We got there and the cousins were still just fighting over which team is which. So I, being the brilliantly mature and Captain-y type of person, called the bajillion people to order.
"OI!" I screamed. "Shut the bloody hell up. Teddy and James are captains. The end, now everyone stand in a nice pretty line," I said smiling innocently. That innocent smile that warns the world of the upcoming evil. But, they all listened to me of course.
"James picks first, Teddy gets the Quaffle first. Okay? Ok perfect."
"Alex, of course!" he called, and I bounded over to him happily. I hoped we got the rest of our Quidditch team on our team. I mean, we Gryffies need more practice so we can win again. Most of our team was part of the Weasley-Potter Clan or their family-friends that are basically family. Plus Scorpius, who was the same person as Louis. There was James and Louis and Scorpius and Lilybean and Bryce (Wood). And then we had to find a new Chaser this year. Louis and Scorp were Beaters, Lillers was the most brilliant Seeker of all, and Bryce took after his dear ole Dad, Oliver Wood (Puddlemere United Keeper extraordinaire).
And so, the teams were picked and we did successfully gain all of our Gryffie members. Plus Rose as our last pick. Brill! I like Rose.
The other team had Teddy and Freddie (that's fun to say!) who were both brilliant Chasers. Their other Chaser was Roxanne, who was pretty good, but not as good as Rosie. Hugo was their Keeper, and he was our Reserve Keeper on the Gryffie team so he was pretty amazing, but not as good as Bryce. Albus and Dominique were Beaters, and Molly was their Seeker. Lillers would murder her.
Oh, Victoire was being "Referee" if you were wondering. And the other cousins just weren't here yet.
"I like Rose," I whispered to Lily. She enthusiastically agreed. Such a sweet thing she is.
"Rose is one of my favorite cousins! Her and Freddy and Dominique and Teddy and of course Hugo and…" she continued, naming everyone of her cousins.
However, I became distracted by a more interesting sight. Ah, the joys of Quidditch. Yes, I may be ogling my best mates and his family…but well, they are athletic and attractive blokes.
I nodded approvingly as we went to gather around our Quidditch hoops to devise an evil plan to take over the world…or win the match. Same difference.
James went into captain mode. Great. No really, it is. He's so determined when he does that. But bossy…oh well.
"Lillers, don't catch the Snitch for a while. Just fake whoever their Seeker will be, probably Lucy or Roxy, out so they don't get it either. I want to get some good practice on these plays in. Lou, Malfoy…just do your thing. Don't aim to hurt them too bad though. This is just a family match." At that point, he gazed sternly at them and they smiled back easily. That stupid mischievous smile. "Bryce, mate, just play as brilliant as you always do. Let's try to have a shut out, yeah? They do have Teddy, though, so it will be difficult. We all know how brilliant of a Chaser he is."
How boring. All those instructions. They are almost like rules. Oh rules, how I despise thee. How you constrict life and force stupid impositions upon us. How you make my life oh so miserable and cause such a large amount of suffering. How you succeed time and time again of causing heaps of trouble to fall upon me.
"Here all that, Alex, Rosey?" James asked.
Oops. I just decided to nod along anyways. I am quite intuitive on the pitch about what James and I are going to be doing on the pitch. I can wing it. Right? RIGHT!
…maybe.
"Sure thing, Jamesie!" I lied enthusiastically. "Let's go kick some arse. Gryffies on three! Uno, dos, three!"
"Gryffies!" We all shouted. James went over and grabbed the Quaffle, released the Bludgers, and the Snitch. I saw Lily's eyes following it closely until she lost sight of it with a sigh.
James and Teddy shook hands, we mounted our brooms, Victoire blew the whistle, and the game started.
I grabbed the Quaffle as it was thrown up into the air and zoomed off down the pitch, doing a Sloth-Grip Roll to avoid a Bludger coming at me hit by Dominique and go around Teddy. I flicked the Quaffle towards Rose who immediately passed it forward to James. I looked at him and he nodded slightly, so I flew next to the right goal post and he passed it back at me. Hugo had thought he was aiming for the right goal and dove to block it, but I caught the Quaffle and threw it through the left goal.
James and I high-fived.
Teddy looked pissed and started yelling at his team to do better. I sniggered and flew off. Hugo passed it to Roxy and James, knowing she was their weak link, swiped the Quaffle from her arms, passed it to Rose, who confused her little brother and scored.
And so the game went on, and it did become close towards the end. Louis and Scorpius were hounding Freddie especially and Teddy. We were only up by three goals when Lily saw the Snitch.
She went into a ninety-degree angle dive and James started yelling at her to be careful. Oh, silly over protective brothers. Molly, thinking Lily had seen the Snitch like the rest of us, dove with her.
Meters from the ground, Lily straightened out and flew up excitedly having just successfully pulled a Wronski Feint that had worked brilliantly. Molly had jumped off her broom, not being as good as a flyer as Lily, to avoid crashing and was just mounting back up when Lily was already at a regular altitude. She had found the real Snitch this time, and was zooming off to catch it. She grabbed it easily, smiling, and we all went around her and were being silly.
"Good job, Lillers!" I said excitedly. "That was a perfect Wronski Feint. You couldn't do those last season!"
"I know, I've been working on them all summer with dad and that was the first time I did it completely right!"
I grabbed her and pulled her into a one-armed hug. "This season will be brill!"
She smiled winningly and we descended to the green grass.
"Lillian Luna Potter," James started angrily. I swatted him on the nose though, so he quit, but still sent her that angry glare of 'that was way too dangerous'.
We, we being all of the family plus Bryce and I, slowly trooped back to the house, but for some reason (that I didn't question, but just went with) we were walking. This is like a mile and a half walk, I'd like to point out. But it's cool. I dig it.
Except not really.
But it's cool.
And then, a sharp object rammed into my head.
I turned around quickly, eyes searching for the culprit.
Louis Weasley, of course. Did he dare to just challenge me to an acorn fight, of which I am the champion? Yes, I believe he did. I bent down and grabbed a handful of the annoying things and threw one at him, aiming for his eye and successfully hitting him.
And somehow, the one battle between us (of which I won, Chaser skills and such) turned into a war of epic proportions. People were diving behind trees while throwing acorns and overall doing crazy things. It was every (wo)man for h(im/er)self, except James and I had inevitably become a team with our alliance. We were standing back to back with a tree covering one side and rapidly throwing and dodging the bloody little things.
But, all immediately stopped when Ginny's amplified voice rang out, "Lunch time!" Then there was a mad frenzy rush as all the males ran the remaining distance to the house.
I shook my head laughing and ended up walking with Dominique. We were year and housemates, but I can't say that we were that terribly close. Her and Jace were besties though, so we were definitely mates between that and James.
"How's your summer been?" I asked amiably.
I didn't get such a friendly answer though, but I don't think it was cause of me.
"I hate my bloody mother," she responded. Well, to be honest, I kind of hated her mum too. And her sister. But I didn't feel like that was my place to say that to her.
"I'm sorry," I said sincerely. I would go bloody mad if I had to live with those two. Maybe Victoire had moved out though? "What happened?"
"She's just annoying as anything, and I can't stand anything about her. I don't understand how Dad fell in love with her."
"People always have worse views of their parents?" I said hesitantly. I really didn't know how to handle this situation at all. If it was Jaclyn or James, then that would be different, but I didn't know Dom all that well in comparison.
"I suppose so," she grumbled, falling into a somewhat awkward silence. I was simply relieved when we got back to the house and the rest of the family. Teddy had saved me a seat between him and James and smiling I slipped in between my two favorite people. Who weren't wizards at least.
Victoire was sitting across from me, glaring menacingly. I kicked Teddy and gave him a look that said 'Look at how she's about to bloody murder me, you can't date her!'. I sincerely hoped he understood that, and I think he did considering how he looked a bit frightened when he glanced over at her.
"So Alexandra, when will you be leaving?" Victoire said 'nicely'.
"Well, my name is Alex. And if you must insist in annoyingly calling everyone by their full name, at least use the right one, which is Alexis. And I stay here every summer starting on James' and I's birthday. I thought you would have maybe noticed the pattern, seeing as it started oh, four years ago," I replied, grinning. "When will you be leaving, Vickie?" I asked, successfully getting on her nerves.
She glared at me and didn't respond. I sniggered.
Alex 1, Victoire ZIPPO!
Who is a winner? I believe her name starts with an A. Then an L. After than an E. And then an X. It spells Alex, which is me, because I win.
I did notice happily that Scorpius was sitting next to Rose.
Scorp was madly in love with her, well, I'm 99% sure. Rose didn't know it at all, but I had a strong feeling she fancied him as well. But, her dad would surely flip at her being with a Malfoy, even one who was in Gryffindor.
But, Louis was of course sitting next to Scorpius. And realizing when I was looking near him, winked suggestively and licked his lips. I cringed and hid behind Teddy. I hate you Louis Alain Weasley.
Anyways, we ate lunch and before we knew it, the boys had gone to go set up and the girls' were off to start getting ready. My least favorite part, by far. Don't get me wrong, I like the final outcome and since this was the one time each year I had to dress up fancy I didn't really mind it, but the work that had to be put in wasn't my favorite. I like looking and feeling pretty, but not the process to get there, ya know?
But, for happy news, I had bought a gorgeous, well in my opinion anyways, red dress and black heels. And, I was gonna wear my hair down and straightened with a poof (not the ugly way-to-big kind, but the cute kind). Plus, the necklace I always wore (but was usually hidden beneath a shirt) that Dad got me in Hawaii when I was eleven but would look adorable.
And so, the process started. I was ordered into the shower by either Dominique or, gag, Victoire (I was shoved in too fast to get a close enough look, only the blonde hair that set them apart from the rest of the Weasleys). But I did as I was told and took a hot shower, washing my body and hair from the grime of playing Quidditch, and drying off and putting on athletic shorts and a tank top.
Roxanne, our resident girly-fashionista (other than the prude, annoying, devil, evil, terrible Victoire who didn't count because everyone, aka me, hated her), set herself the job of getting me ready. I was a bit frightened. She was beautiful, a future model I was sure, with mocha skin and dark red hair. It was an amazingly unique, unusual combination that was absolutely beautiful. She refused to do use magic on hair for some strange (and stupid, I'm sure) reason (especially since she was of-age and could use magic), so she set to taming my hair the "Muggle" way. It was more painful. I reminded myself never to get stuck with her again.
But, by the time she was done, it did look gorgeous. I did convince her to spell it in place though, so it wouldn't get tangled and ugly during the night. I did want to look pretty for Brian later.
Just the thought brought a slight blush to my cheeks, but nobody noticed 'cos they were too busy getting ready. Or getting me ready. And my outfit picked out.
Erm, hello, dimwits, I already have an outfit… do they not realize this? Apparently not.
"Oi, you lot, I already have clothing, dimwits!" I yelled as they dug through bags of clothes they brought over.
"Where?" Rose questioned.
"On the bed, it's the red dress and black heels next to it," I answered slowly. How dim. I thought Rosie was smart, but apparently not.
"Alex, dear, there's no dress here."
I turned around, yanking my hair out of Roxanne's expertise grasp, and stood up rushing over to the bed and frantically looking for it. My immediate thought was to blame Victoire, as I know it had just been there and she's the only girl evil enough to sabotage my outfit considering how Lucy wasn't here yet.
I turned around and glared menacingly at her. "Where is my dress?" I asked pointedly. "It was on the bed when I went to shower."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Victoire said, blinking her eyelashes innocently and smiling.
That fucking bitch.
"Roxanne, summon my dress," I growled, staring at Victoire.
"Accio Alex's dress," she said, waving her wand. Parts of red fabric, that used to be a dress, came out from under the bed, behind Victoire's back (of course, how surprising), and other various hidden places in the room.
I was conflicted on whether to break down and cry, since I had saved up money all year for that dress, or fucking murder Victoire. By strangling her. With torn pieces of my dress.
In the heat of anger, I ended up putting the two options into a nice combination of slugging her in the face (and I have a mean right hook), bruising and ruining the perfection, with tears running down my eyes. And cursing. A lot of cursing.
I felt people pulling me back, I felt her claws scratch my face before I elbowed her in the stomach, I heard people yelling at me to calm down and quit.
But I was past caring, I was past rational thought. I was beyond peeved. I was angry and upset and fucking pissed. There goes a whole years worth of savings.
I suppose I should explain. Since dad died, Mum quit her job and sits around doing nothing productive. Therefore, we have no income and we weren't exactly wealthy to begin with, so I have to work two jobs over the summers until I come to James' to have enough money for her to feed herself, buy my (second-hand) supplies for school, and a bare minimum of clothing usually found in thrift shops. The rest of my money goes to James' presents for our birthdays and Christmas, and my dress that I wear that year to the party.
And now, my dress is gone. Three months of working at least eighteen hours total a day, except on Saturdays (my chosen day off), gone.
Eventually, after hitting Victoire several more times, the boys' had come up and pulled me off of her. Teddy, well I'm pretty sure it was Teddy (it smelled like him), had wrapped me up into a protective hug as I sobbed.
What a petty girl he was considering dating.
I faintly registered James yelling at Victoire and asking what the fuck happened. I don't know what exactly happened after all of that, but it was a blur filled with hazy tears and anger.
Teddy asked me carefully if I wanted to take a shower again. I nodded. But I couldn't have him leave. He was my stronghold, my rock. I shook my head, and with a croaky whisper told him to stay.
He looked nervous. I didn't care. I just stripped down to my underwear and sports bra I was wearing and stepped in. Teddy always knew best, I told myself. And he suggested that a shower would make everything better, so damnit as soon as I got out everything was going to be better.
With that rock hard (ha, not) philosophy, I left the shower. Teddy was obediently, which is why I love him so, was still perched on the counter sink. He gave me a towel, then spelled my clothes dry, and I smiled in thanks. We went and sat silently on the bed.
"Are you okay?" he asked tentatively.
"Better," I responded. My voice still sounded like I had been crying…oh wait I have. And today, I've cried more than I have in the past six years combined (other than Dad's funeral, but even during that I was more numb than weepy…).
Fabulous. Teddy probably thinks I'm an overemotional girl. Ew.
"Thanks," I added.
Awkward silence ensued. Which never happen between us. Awkwardd…
Then James walked in. Thank Merlin for James.
"You broke Victoire's nose and jaw. And her entire face is discolored! And you may have broken one of her ribs!" James came in, in a chipper mood.
At least he knew that I would just want to not remember the weepy-moment. I like him, he knows me better than I know myself.
"She deserved it," I said darkly. "Three months down the drain," I huffed. "Now, I have no dress, I need Roxie to redo my hair, and makeup. And the party's in two hours. Can I just not go?"
"No, you have to go," James ordered. I saw Teddy sneak out of the room, but I didn't stop him. I knew he didn't deal with crying people well, but I personally think he handled me remarkably well. I'll have to make him a nice pretty card. "We've been planning this since last year's train ride, the set up is all perfect out at the lake, and we've already successfully snuck in the booze thanks to Teddy and Roxanne. Roxanne is already almost done with your new dress. She's started designing in her spare time or something."
Roxanne is just now legal to buy the good alcohol. I mean, you can get butterbeer and usually drink firewhiskey under age (even though you can't buy it). Once you're seventeen, you can buy all the minor-league stuff in comparison, like firewhiskey or mulled mead. But once you turn nineteen is when you can legally get the good stuff. Tabitha's Tequila, Everclear (a taste-less extremely strong vodka), Verodyante (absinthe, known to have a bitter taste and psychedelic qualities), red currant rum, sherry, single malt whiskey, Amblenoc (amber alcohol that's another type of brandy), and nettle wine (a particularly strong wine that creeps up slowly and hits hard). The list goes on and on, and we had successfully brought a ton in.
But I honestly don't think I could handle dealing with people right now. I just wanted to go to bed. Or snuggle and then go to bed. But I couldn't let Jamesie down. If it were anyone else, I would reject the plan without a problem. But I knew how hard he worked for this year's party and how excited he was for it. With a sigh, I agreed and was directed to another room where Roxanne was finishing up touches on my new outfit.
My first reaction was that it was absolutely horridly disgusting…but then, after a second look I realized it was ugly and quirky enough to be completely me and cute. I decided I loved it because I wanted something good to happen and thanked Roxanne. The dress was two layers, the first a black slip and the second more of a fishnet material with gaudy metallic rhinestones placed into shapes and the bottom had silver chains going down. It was weird-looking, but I liked it.
She helped me get dressed and agreed to magic my hair straight. She pinned up my bangs and front layers that were shorter into a poof that was acceptably me instead of preppy and girly and gross.
Er,yeah, anyways…I was forced to put on bright red lipstick as Roxanne did my face and eye makeup which ended up looking very natural, which I appreciated. I wasn't a big makeup fan, I usually just dabbed on some concealer if necessary and some eyeliner. The end. I put on black, shiny extremely tall heels (borrowed from Rose) and we prepared to leave.
Okay, so we may have managed to get me ready and such in slightly less than two hours, but I still hated Victoire. She was the worst…ever.
"I hate Victoire," I told Roxanne.
She smiled sympathetically at me, giving me a last look over before nodding me. I was released! Hallelujah. Praise Merlin. I praise you Merlin!
I stood and carefully made my way downstairs. I hate heels. I don't care that I'm short, heels are uncomfortable and hard to walk in. And yet, Rose loved heels. And these ones just happened to be like, four inches.
I walked up to James and Teddy. I looked at him seriously, "Thanks Teddy. Sorry I was being such a girl." I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly. Even if I didn't have much of a family on my own, I did have James' family and they (minus a certain few…okay just Victoire. I could even deal with Louis) were the best you could ever ask for.
The party was, well is, a total success. I think there were around five hundred or so people there, which is like, the population of Hogwarts. And it's not like the underclassmen who we didn't know were there. But graduates who James and I knew were there and his family friends. And professional Quidditch players.
Like Freddie, except not a rookie. Like Morgan Nale, the amazing Seeker playing for the Tornadoes. She's golden. She went to IQA, the Irish Quidditch Academy that was the breeding ground for professionals.
I met Morgan. We got along wonderfully. She's like, ma new best frand.
I may be exaggerating just a tad.
I think Freddie digs her. I dunno how they would have met other than playing against each other in Quidditch. Freddie's on the Falcons. She's on the Tornadoes. Kind of like…oh, I don't know, giant rivals. But I'm down if Freddie's down. Maybe he's going for the Romeo and Juliet vibe. I hope they don't die in that case…but I was right about Freddie digging her. Later that night, I found him about to shag her. Good catch, Freddie!
Anyways. Point is, famous people (besides the whole Weasley-Clan) were there.
And we were having a jamming good time. I made sure not to drink too much 'cos I wanted to be pretty sober when I met up with Brian. But damn, some of those drinks that I don't even know the name of were delightful.
James and I stayed near each other all night, and I was never out of sight from Teddy either. He knew we had to go meet Brian soon.
It was fun. We danced and drank and fooled around. And played drinking games which are always delightfully fun! And I didn't even hook up with anybody, which is very unusual. But I was a bit preoccupied with thoughts of Brian.
Jamesie hooked up with a several older women. Bint. He even hooked up with the Harpies' Keeper, Gemma whats-her-face. I cheered for him. He was smashed, and well, so was she. I made sure to direct one of the cameras floating around to capture the moment.
And in such, time passed having fun. I hung out with Jaclyn and Dom a bit, but mainly I just danced a lot. I even danced with the He-Devil(s) Louis and Scorpius. I did love the dance floor, I kind of dominated it. Even though I was a shit dancer, I sure did have fun doing it! I checked the time again and cursed, spinning around and looking for Teddy.
I found him hooking up with Dominique. Ooh lala. Wait…that's kind of like, pedophile status. Twenty three and almost-seventeen? (Dommie is older than us, she had a really early birthday in October while Jamesie and I had a really late birthdays). I'll have to scold him about that later. I really hope he's just drunk or high or something and not hooking up with her. He wasn't supposed to take my earlier advice to heart and actually go hook up with Victoire's sister…even though Dom is pretty awesome.
I grabbed Teddy by the ear and dragged him away.
"What the bloody hell was that for?" he asked me angrily.
"It's a little past midnight and you said you'd Apparate me to King's Cross and stay with me until I told Brian I was a witch in case he needed to be Obliviated. Plus, Dominique is sixteen, you're twenty three. That's illegal, for Merlin's sake!"
He huffed. "Whatever." He wrapped his arm around my waist and with a loud Pop! and the sickening feeling of being compressed, we were Apparated to the alley by the station.
Teddy Disillusioned himself having forgotten James' Invisibility Cloak and put a Silencing Spell on himself and we walked towards the front. Brian was waiting by the red phone booth like he said he would and looking around, and I smiled immediately.
He was in dark wash blue skinny-ish (not to the gross, weird point, but tight and fitted) with a maroon button up shirt untucked. He looked fancy-shmancy, but not in the formal kind of way. In the 'I'm gonna look sophisticated, classy, and hot and go party with my girl' way. I liked it.
I walked up to him and put my hands over his eyes. "Guess who?" I asked, attempting to disguise my voice. It didn't work. He spinned me around and latched his lips onto mine in greeting.
"Alex, perhaps?" he asked grinning, kissing my nose lightly. He looked at me and wolf-whistled. "I'm going to have the most attractive date at the entire club," he concluded. I laughed lightly. He's such a flatterer.
"I have something to tell you first."
"What is it?" he asked worriedly. "Did James do something again?"
"No, nothing like that. Everything's peachy with James again," I smiled. "I don't really know how to tell you this, other than just being blunt. But, I'm a witch."
"No, you're not," he said confused. "You're one of the sweetest people ever."
"No, not witch like the nice word for bitch. But witch as in I can do magic. As in a girl version of a wizard. A magician," I spit out quickly. Searching for his face for a reaction, worried and scared I had just ruined everything.
"What are you on, Alex? Magic doesn't exist. I mean, I know you were at your party and all, and I'm not judging you, but I didn't know you were into drugs and shit."
I locked my eyes with his. "I'm being serious, Brian. I'm a witch. And I'm not high on anything. Teddy?" I called out. He ended the spell and appeared out of nowhere, literally.
Brian jumped away and hid me behind him, protecting me. Daww, isn't he the sweetest?
"Brian, this is James' kind-of brother, Teddy. He can do magic legally, I'm not old enough yet. He just appeared out of nowhere 'cos he had put an invisibility spell on himself," I explained, stepping out from behind him.
"Teddy, this is Brian," I said smiling.
Brian just looked oh-so confused. I don't blame him. Hell, what was I thinking telling Brian I was a witch. We aren't even dating for Merlin's sake. Bloody hell, I'm an idiot.
"You better not hurt Alex," Teddy said roughly.
"I wouldn't ever hurt her," Brian retorted. "I don't believe this magic thing. Prove it." Then he looked at me softly. "Please?"
I nodded at Teddy. "We should go back into the Alley so we don't get caught," I pointed out and he agreed. I grabbed Brian's hand and gently tugged him back to the Apparation spot. "What do you want Teddy to do?"
"I don't know," he answered slowly.
"Levitate him?" I directed towards Teddy who nodded and with a lazy flick of his wand, sent Brian up towards the top of the building.
Brian screamed, so Teddy put him back down.
"It doesn't look like he's going to freak out, and I'm sure he can get more proof tomorrow. Bring him to the Den or something. I want to go back to the party," Teddy told me, annoyed. Don't be a snippy-bippy, Ted. It's not very becoming.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't do anything you'll regret with Dominique," I called after him as he walked back over to the corner and disappeared with a crack.
"Wait…so you're really a witch?" Brian asked, turning towards me.
"Well, yeah…I mean, I understand if you think I'm a freak now and want to leave or something," I told him, looking down at my shoes defeated. Why did I do this. Why couldn't I just be happy with how things were before. Fuck me in the ass. But not really, 'cos that's just gross.
"No way! That's wicked cool that you can do magic!" he said excitedly. Well, he tried to sound excited. I'm still pretty sure he was confused as hell and freaked out. "Where do you learn it all?"
"My 'boarding school in England' isn't a boarding school in England. It's Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry hidden in Scotland where pretty much all the people in the United Kingdom go and learn," I explained.
His mouth dropped into an 'O'. I told him to close it because he was looking like a cow, and that wasn't really acceptable. He was my hot boyfriend-like person, not a cow.
I explained this to him, and he looked as me as if I was mentally deficient. Honestly, my logic does make complete sense; I don't understand why nobody comprehends this.
At least I had distracted him from the whole magic thing, I told myself smugly. Winner equals I. I equals a winner!
"So, can you like t…" he began. I shut him up by backing him into a wall and pressing my lips to his, tangling my hands in his hair.
"Talk tomorrow, more important things for now," I said pulling back. "Now where is this schnazz club we're supposed to be heading to?"
"It's another block away, dear. You'll see the line in a minute to get in. I left Kevin, Clayton, and Rob there saving our spot, so by the time we get there we shouldn't have to wait too long. Oh, and here's your fake ID."
He handed over to me a credit-card sized ID. It had a picture of me, which made me wonder how he got one and how he got it to look like I was standing behind a blank screen but I figured it was some Muggle thing, and a fake name, age, residence, and all that stuff. It looked completely realistic, especially since I was only two years away from the Muggle legal age and I naturally just looked older.
"Thanks," I said smiling, kissing him on the cheek lightly.
"No problem, really," he answered, sliding his arm around my waist and resting his hand on my hip.
"You're a dork," I declared.
"But I'm your dork." I stuck my tongue out at him. Dork. We met up with the rest of his friend-band-member-people. "You guys remember Alex, right?" he asked.
I kind of doubted it, seeing as how we were all pretty smashed when we met, but I didn't voice my opinion. Which is quite surprising.
The murmured their yes-es and greetings (I love that word), and I waved goofily. "Helloo friends of Brian!"
Then I realized how ridiculous I sounded for (almost) complete strangers and blushed, looking at my shoes as if they were the most interesting things in the world, and promptly shut up. Brian sniggered at me. Bitch please.
"IDs," the large bouncer asked as we came to the front of the line. I handed mine over, excluded an air of confidence and seductiveness, and easily got in. Brian, the one of actual legal age, kept getting stopped though. Karma is a bitch, broseph!
As he finally made his way in, I whispered to him in my eerie-magical-voice, "Kaaaarrrr-maaahh!"
The night was a normal club night. I got sloshed, well we all did, we danced, and Brian and I hooked up multiple times on those nice comfy couches they had.
Oh, I also did a strip tease on top of the bar apparently, can't quite remember that but Rob did. Fuckin' perv.
The least important, most boring and uninteresting part of the evening however was after a few drinks (before being completely smashed), was when Alex asked me to officially be his girlfriend. I debated it 'cos I mean he's kinda ugly, annoying, pompous and a bit of a prat, but I accepted.
Didn't you love my opposites used in that? The only non-sarcastic part of that sentence was the fact that Alex did in fact ask me out.
And it was wonderfully amazing. Insert smiley face!
Hehe.
And then I went home. Well, home if you call the Potter's home. Which I do…obviously. This portkey thing is quite handy. And and and, I think Brian's coming over tomorrow to meet everyone. Like James. I shoo excited. 'Cept for the fact James doesn't like him…but Brian's awesome so he'll change that.
And I arrived back as the majority of people were leaving around four-ish unless they were going to crash there, which was completely okay. They would just go stay in the lake house. So, basically, nobody really noticed my absence. So I thought.
Hello friends. Sorry for the oh-so long wait. I've actually had this chappie done for quite a while but I was just too lazy/forgot to put it up on here. Anyways, blahblahblah more apologies. (:
Tell me what you think about when Alex tells Brian about her magic… I don't think I did a very good job with it, but I rewrote it like 10 different times before deciding it was good enough.
Favorite quotes? Suggestions? Say them in a mighty fine review. And for being so bad at updating, here's a nice preview for the next already half-way written chapter! Oh and also, I made this chapter long to make up for it. And another very important question: do you guys like long or shorter chapters? What's your ideal length? I personally like having long ones, but if more people prefer shorter, I can do that. Anyways….preview!
"Where the hell were you all night?" James asked, surprisingly (pretty) sober.
"Mnah, sleep," I mumbled, stumbling into him on the way to the lake house. He grabbed me again and made me look at him.
"Where the fuck were you?" he asked again. I faintly registered the anger in his voice, but it wasn't very important. I needed to pass out. Or puke. Or both…ugh. Muggle alcohol.
Chester Nimitz was a significant part of World War II because he was the Commander-In-Chief of the Pacific Ocean Areas of the Pacific Ocean Theater. He had command of all of the Allied forces in the area—the navy, army, and air force were under his control.