Sixteen Candles

Chapter 8: The Morning After

Lavender POV

The sun was shining through the red velvet curtains that were closed around my bed. The air around me was quiet and I could only hear it move in and out of my body. As I lifted up onto my elbow I rubbed my eyes to see a mess of red hair laying besides me.

"No way!" I practically screamed.

It woke Ron up besides me as he turned around to face me. "Morning beautiful." he said, running a hand over my hair.

"Um." I began as I held back the enormous headache that was beginning to form. "Did we?" I asked pointing my index finger between us multiple times.

Ron laughed a little. "No, you wouldn't have it that way. We just fooled around a little, nothing really serious." he answered me.

I settled back against the pillows and sheets, relieved that the alcohol didn't take over my decision making. We both just laid there for a while until Ron opened the curtains just a little to look upon the rest of the girls dormitory for 7th years.

"Dang, it's like almost 11." he exclaimed. "And no one is even in here but us."

"So, what do you want to do? I mean we missed breakfast, and there's no classes today." I pondered.

"Well, we can just stay here," Ron wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer into his bare chest. "Until we absolutely need to wake up."

Suddenly the sound of heavy footsteps came towards the bed and the curtain flung open. "Ron!" Someone yelled out at us. I ducked beneath the covers, the blinding light affecting my eyes tremendously.

"Agh! Harry what's the matter with you? How did you even find me here?" Ron shouted back at him.

I peaked open and saw Harry Potter standing at the edge of the bed. We was dressed in a pair of dark blue Levi's and a blue polo shirt. He had a pair of black Vans on his feet and his hair was messy, as usual. He looked like he'd been up for hours already and was a wee bit out of breath.

"Never mind that! I need you to do something for me." Harry breathed out.

"What is so important to you right now mate?" Ron began. "Can't you see that I'm in the middle of something very important?" Rod nodded towards me and Harry saw the top of my head that was poking out from the sheets.

"Good afternoon Harry." I greeted him.

"Hullo Lavender." Harry acknowledged me. He turned his attention back to Ron. "I didn't see you stuffing your face down at breakfast so I assumed you'd be up here with your new girlfriend, and I guess I was right." Harry explained himself.

Ron let out a huge sigh and straightened up against the back of the bed. "Okay Harry, what is it?"

"I need you to help me get Hermione Granger in front of the school when you see her at lunch." Harry explained.

"Wait!" I exclaimed. I sat up and looked at Harry with wide eyes. "What do you need Hermione for?" I asked him in a very serious tone.

Neville POV

The pounding on my head was what woke me up the next morning. I tried getting up but it proved to difficult. The light was hurting my eyes and every sound was piercing into my eardrum.

"Hey wake up!" I heard someone yell. I covered my ears quickly for protection but the damage had been done. I looked up and saw Cho Chang sitting next to me. Her dress was on her body and her hair was all messed up. She had a very serious look in her eye.

I sat up, realizing that my lower half that was still under the covers was bare nude. "Whoa." I breathed out.

"One crazy night huh?" Cho asked me. She tilted her head to the side but didn't really want to look at me.

"I can't really remember anything?" I told her.

"Well I can, at least the basic points." She informed me. I detected a hint of sarcasm in her voice when she spoke.

"Wait," I said as I tried to make my brain start working. "Did we?" I asked pointing my index finger between us. Cho answered with a nod as she bit her lip.

"Whoa." I said as I leaned back behind the headboard. "How is it that you can remember but I can't. I mean you were more drunk than I was."

Cho shrugged towards me. "Hey, can I ask you a question?" I spoke up after a moment of silence.

"I don't see why not." Cho told me.

"Well," I began, embarrassed. "Do you remember if, you know, if I was good?"

She looked at me like she was about to laugh. "You know," she began. "I think you were."

My face lit up red. "And well," I stammered. "Did you like it?"

Cho looked up at me. "Um," she started. "I think I did."

Both of us just sat there in the cold room, sitting there just the way it was from last night. "Where are we?" I finally asked.

"I dunno. But there is a door over there. Do you think we should be leaving soon?" Cho asked me.

"I guess so." I responded. I got my clothes and quickly changed into them before we left the room together. The door exited into the 4th floor corridor. As we shut it, it vanished back into the wall.

We looked around until we both realized that at the end of the hallway, Harry Potter was standing there. "Oh shit, I'm so dead man." I muttered to myself. Cho heard me and let out a chuckle.

"Don't worry, I'll talk to him." Cho said. She pulled herself together and walked down to speak to him. The emptiness of the corridor allowed me to hear every word they were saying.

"Things really weren't working out anyways, were they?" Harry asked her.

"Guess not." Cho replied back.

Harry shook his head, laughing. "So are you with the dork now?" He asked.

Cho looked back and me and threw me a smile. "I dunno, I guess we'll just see if it's going to work out." She told him.

They hugged each other for a while, then he left by continuing his way down the staircase.

Cho walked back to me, looking at the floor the whole time. She looked up to me and kissed me on my cheek. I blushed a little as I looked into her brown chocolate eyes. "So, what do you want to do now?" she asked me.

And I didn't really care.

Hermione POV

Outside on the grounds, I seated myself underneath the shade of an old oak tree that faced the lake. The water carried the ripples of people splashing around or skipping rocks across it. I wear wearing one of my new pale pink skirts that followed out to my knees and a white cardigan over a pink tank top. The sun was shining and the breeze brushed through my hair.

That morning at breakfast I hadn't seen Lavender and assumed the rumors that were spreading about her and Ron were true. I ate alone and then I decided to come out here, and spend the morning afternoon relaxing outside.

I sat quietly, reading one of my favorite books, The Great Gatsby. It powerful message of love and money always made me more relaxed when I read it familiar pages.

But it was almost impossible to concentrate with all the stuff going on around me. Because just then, Cho Chang came out of the school walking hand in hand with Neville Longbottom. But, wait, what?

Everyone starred at amazing as they both smiled as they disappeared over by the Quidditch pitch. What exactly happened then last night? If Cho had moved on and was with Neville now, then what happened to Harry?

Then, Ron and Lavender came out hand in hand from the castle, spotted me and quickly jogged over to my spot beneath the tree. "Good afternoon Hermione!" Lavender greeted me as she sat down besides me.

"Afternoon Lavender, Ron." I nodded to her new boyfriend.

"Wow, that was some party last night huh? Did you see Cho and Neville?" Lavender began on in amazement. "Who would have thought? I mean she's so beautiful and popular, and he's, well, Neville!"

"Yeah, crazy night." I agreed with her. "I mean just look at you two."

"Well, weren't not as huge as a shock as that over there." Ron pointed to Neville and Cho both flying on separate brooms over the castle together.

"Yes, I mean she was seeing Harry." Lavender brought up the subject.

I felt my face heating up. I buried it in my book, trying to concentrate on when Gatsby and Daisy are re-meeting for the first time since the war.

"Why are you reading on a perfectly good day like this? What are you even reading anyways?" She asked as she yanked the book out of my hands and looked at it herself. She flipped through the pages quickly.

"Hey! Give it back Lav!" I said trying to retrieve my book with no luck.

"Oh my gosh, why can't you just relax for a while?" Lavender asked me.

"Well I was trying to." I told her.

The bells then rang 12 times, signaling midday, as well as lunch. "Well I think I am going to go eat." I said marking my place in my book and getting up.

"Oh, we'll go with you." Ron started getting up right away. "I'm famished, we did manage to miss out on breakfast this morning."

"Yeah, I know." I informed him. "The whole school knows."

"Well, it's not like we really care, common, I'm starving too!" Lavender said getting up and taking her boyfriend as they began to head back towards Hogwarts and I followed behind them.

The Great Hall was filled with students piling in for lunch. The meal was an assortment of beard and cold cuts with appropriate toppings. They also had French fries and chips. Perfect.

I made myself a turkey sandwich on a pita, followed by a couple of fries. It would have been great, if Ron would have kept his mouth closed while he chewed. But it would have been kind of hard for him anyway because he was shoving so much food into it.

"Hey slow down there tiger." I told him.

"Can't." he said with a full month "'oo hun gee!"

I sat there, trying to finish as soon as I could. "Oh Hermione!" Lavender said. "I left your book by the tree!"

I let out a sigh of air from the news. "Okay, I'll be back." I got up from the table and exited the Great Hall. I could have sworn I had heard Lavender say "Told you." But ignored it anyways.

I walked back out onto the grounds and shielded my eyes from the sun. That's when I stopped and saw Harry Potter standing there in the grass. In one hand he had his broomstick and in the other, my book.

"I think you may have left this behind." Harry said as he held my book out to me.

HA! That's where I'm stopping. You'll get to see what happens next, don't worry. This story has only one chapter left though. So, here's to all my old and new fans!

firemnwnb: Thank you for inspiring me to finish this chapter. No seriously! I wasn't even thinking about it and I saw your review in my mail box and my writers block totally just disappeared. So thank you and I hope you enjoyed my new chapter and the next IS underway already.

cameron62: Oh my goodness! How cute!!! It didn't come up that way in my e mail but it's cute! Thanks.

fairytale87: Thanks so much. All the other couples keep the story together, in a way, so yeah. I'm not sure if I want to put anything about Cho and Neville in the last chapter? Suggestions?

GunShotResidue: Well here's the update. And thanks for loving my story, and your screen name is pretty cool too.

Katrina-Rar: Well can I just say that you are AWESOME and thanks for leaving such an awesome review.

Dark Yellow Dino: Psh…maybe you should make your reviews longer. Jk jk, But I hope this one fills your need for more longer chapters. Thanks once again for reviewing!!

NickiNick83: Don't worry, just one last chapter and it'll all come to an end. Thanks for leaving such a killer review and hope to hear from you again.

Vika: thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Please keep on reviewing, and thanks for totally loving the story.

ACforever: Thanks for the awesome review. I'm so happy your loving the story. Sorry for the long update, but it's better late then never.

Hermione HarryLOVE: Because Hermione is all knowing, and how on earth could Colin Creevy get a girlfriend, let's be honest. Lol. Thanks for reviewing, I wonder what number you'll be next.

Hermionewiz27: Of course I'll make it totally romantic, but not too sappy. Unfortunately in this story, Harry's parents are still dead, that's why he's still so famous and popular in the story. Because everyone totally wants to date the boy who lived.

MiKaYGiRl: Yeah, she's off her rocker. That's the way I needed to portray her to keep it to the movie. Cho is suppose to be the (oh shot, I totally forgot all the character's names, wait, here it comes) Jake's first girlfriend and she's all drunk at the party and ends up cutting her hair. And then gets with the nerd, you know how it goes.

Okay so I only responded to the people who posted a review for the seventh chapter. I know I got a review from someone who said that they were having problems getting to the last chapter, but there wasn't anything suspicious when I went on it.

Anyways, the last chapter is already underway, it should be up (hopefully) by next weekend. Thank all of you who have stayed with me through the whole like, year of writing nine chapter. And thanks to those of you totally love the plot, even though it's not mine, and love the story I've created.

Coming soon, Chapter 9: The Happily Ever After

Best Wishes!

Holly