Rosie's POV

"Rosie," I heard this being whispered into my ear in a somewhat urgent tone, hardly registering that someone or other wanted my attention. As my name was repeated a second time, I felt a gentle tapping on my shoulder. It wasn't until I smelled the coffee, however, that I came to a partially conscious decision to wake up. I groaned and opened one eye to see who was bothering me. Ally was perched next to me on the bed, holding coffee out toward me in an apologetic way.

"Ally, I already hugged you goodnight," I murmured sleepily as she laughed.

"I wouldn't do that. Wake you up for a hug? Psh."

I gave her a look at that, the one she had told me was intimidating and seemed to say: "Is that so?"

"Once," she reminded me, "Just once." She rolled her eyes although I could tell she was more amused than annoyed that I'd brought it up.

"Alright," I said, sipping my coffee. It was made just as I liked it. Ally wasn't stupid. Even I wouldn't bargain with me if I were lacking some form of caffeine. It's not that cooperate at those times. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" I inquired, still drowsy.

"Well," she mumbled, seeming unclear about where to begin, "I don't know where to begin."

I simply kept my attention on her. I'm not just sympathetic to being unsure about how to word things, I'm the queen of it. That being said, I gave her a moment to figure out her speech dilemma and made space for her beside me. Even if she had woken me up in the wee hours of the morning, I didn't wish discomfort on her. I'm just like that, I guess. I care about people.

"You remember earlier, when James left the oak tree, how I asked you guys what you were thinking?"

I nodded, remembering exactly. "You mean Ruffles?"

She stared at me, incredulous. "Catsy nicknamed him already?"

The way she said it made it sound as if she were worried one of us might steal him from her or something. I'm sure she knows this isn't true. She just never really caught on to our nickname craze, I guess.

"We could tell you were attracted to him," I stated simply, defending myself and Catsy.

She didn't seem annoyed in the least. Quite the contrary , she seemed relieved not to have to spell it out for me, and laid her head on my shoulder.

"So which of his friends are you after, then?" she asked jokingly.

"The quiet one. Remus, isn't it?" I answered, dead serious. She glanced over at me, checking my expression without moving her head. " is Catsy going for Sirius then?"

"Actually."

I could feel her smiling into my shoulder. "So now that we've established that, do you want to know what I was thinking?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," I remarked cleverly, almost surprised. I'd thought she was just going to tell me that she liked him. Apparently, Ally had other things on her mind.

"Do you remember how we met? In that muggle flea market at the fortune teller booth?" she prodded.

"Mhm. Catsy and I collided with you as you rushed out of the booth. You were in a daze and must've dropped your Hogwarts letter out of your pocket. School was starting soon so we figured you'd need it and came after you. "

"And" she said, nodding and gesturing for emphasis.

"And we became friends?" I added hopefully.

"And I told you both what the fortune teller had predicted," she corrected, looking to me for some sign of remembrance.

"Sorry. I don't remember. Please elaborate?"

"The lady said I would discover something great, hidden beneath the blue. I remembered that because as James, Remus and Sirius were walking away, they were discussing their plans to go swimming in the lake this morning before sunrise."

I stared at her, wandering how she could have heard all of that while she was sneezing neurotically the entire time they wear near us. I guess trying to understand was futile anyway; we had to retrieve Catsy and get to the lake.

"Here's what I want to know," I giggled "what are you going to discover underwater with Ruffles?"

I'd caught her off guard with that one, and she snorted "Rosie!"