Hi! I know it's been a little while since I last updated, but here it is! :D
As usual, thanks to everyone who has actively reviewed, and to everyone who has this story and Story Alert as well.
You guys make this story a success, and I can't thank you enough for that.

Note: I know I haven't mentioned anything about the Triwizard Tournament or anything, but it is going on in this timeline, as you are likely to see. Just a quick note on that. Also, some slight sexual context in this chapter, and talk of the Yule Ball. :D :D

Soundtrack for this chapter:
"Misery Business" - Paramore; "Shameless" - All Time Low; "Tomorrow" - Avril Lavigne; "Whoa" - Paramore; "She's A Handsome Woman" - Panic at the Disco; "Crawling Towards the Sun" - The Hush Sound; "I Don't Love You" - My Chemical Romance; "Tearin' Up My Heart"- *NSYNC; "Give Me Anything" - The Maine.

Misery Business.

Chapter Seven: Give Me Something, Please, Just Give Me Anything.

Alicia paced back and forth outside of the portrait hole in the Gryffindor common room.

"God, Leesh, you're gonna wear a hole in the carpet!" I noted.

She glared at me. "Where the hell is Katie? We agreed to meet here, at two."

I threw up my hands. "Heck, I dunno! I'm here with you!"

She sighed. "Well, we've waited long enough I think. Let's go."

We both crawled through the portrait hole, and when it swung open, it revealed…

Katie and Lee were standing in front of us, oblivious, in a passionate lip lock.

For a moment, Leesh and I could do nothing but gape. Then, Alicia regained herself, and she cleared her throat loudly.

Katie and Lee broke apart quickly, as if they had been electrified.

"So this is what kept you?" Alicia asked furiously, hands on her hips. I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing at the looks of confusion and fear on both Lee and Katie's faces.

"What are you talking about?" Katie asked dazedly.

"We're supposed to go talk to George, remember?" Alicia snapped, grabbing my arm and jerking me forward. "And, because of you two nimrods, we're gonna be late."

"Oh, yeah," Katie said, comprehension dawning on her face. "Hey! Wait up!" She hurried after us, calling over her shoulder, "See you later, Lee!" She proceeded to blow him a kiss, and to my horror, he pretended to catch it and held it to his heart.

I rolled my eyes in disgust. Fred and I would never be like that if I could help it. Of course, if there ever was and Fred and I.

"C'mon, you guys, seriously," Alicia grumbled, tugging even harder on my arm as we speed-walked down the hallway.

"Geez, Leesh, calm down, he won't care if we're a few, teensy minutes late!" Instead of listening to me, however, she just tugged me again and picked up the pace.

O.o O.o O.o O.o O.o

We had a hard time spotting George when we entered the unusually crowded Hogwarts library.

I wasn't the only one that noticed that the library was packed to the gills. "What's the deal?" Katie asked me as we squeezed our way past a group of swooning first-year girls.

"That's what the deal is," Alicia said, pointing across the library to a tired-looking Viktor Krum. "Figures. The guy comes here for a quiet read, and he gets mobbed by zillions of horny school girls," Alicia huffed.

"We aren't harboring any secret feelings towards ridiculously good-looking Quidditch players, are we Leesh?"

Alicia and I both jumped at the sound of George Weasley's voice behind us. Katie just looked smug and said, "Saw you coming."

Alicia rolled her eyes. "I do not have a crush on Viktor Krum, George, God."

"I meant me, actually." His grin grew a mile wide as a blush colored Alicia's cheeks. I had to hand it to the guy, making Alicia blush was a nearly impossible feat. She must have fallen really hard.

Suddenly, she was back to her same old militaristic self. "Oh, find us a table, will you, George?"

But George wouldn't have any of it. "Not a denial, not a single one! Could it be true, Miss Spinnet?" She opened her mouth, then shut it again, her face getting redder by the second. "That's what I thought. Fancy going to the Yule Ball with me?"

"I—What?" Alicia asked, clearly thrown off-guard.

"You, me, Yule Ball in two weeks? Do the math, sweetheart."

She stared at him for a second, long enough for George to start to get a little nervous. Finally, she said, "Alright, but only if you find us a table."

He licked his lips, then smiled. "Deal." He turned to six second-years occupying the table next to us. "Oi, little buggers, get up!"

One of the smaller girls began to protest. "But this table is ours! You can't just—"

"I can and I will. Now, move it."

Hastily, the girl and her friends got up, heading to a different table.

"George, was that really necessary?" I asked, but sat down anyway.

George shrugged. "Truthfully, I just like being rude to little children."

I rolled my eyes. "He's all yours, Leesh."

She grinned. "I know, right?"

"Anyway," George said, casually slinging his arm around the back of Alicia's chair. "Why did you want to meet with me, exactly? I mean, besides to gaze upon this beautiful face, of course." He laughed at his own joke.

Alicia said. "We'll really have to work on that, dear. Anyway, we need to know if Fred has come to you with any… vital information, as of lately."

"How 'lately' are we talking about here?"

"So he told you something!" Alicia squealed, not bothering to lower her voice because Madam Pince couldn't hear us over the murmurs of Krum's admirers.

George gave her a side-smile. "Not exactly, no."

"What the hell does that even mean?" I asked. "He either told you, or he didn't."

George narrowed his eyes at me. "Alright, then, you want it set it stone, Ange, then he didn't." I sighed, and crossed my arms. "But, being his twin, I can tell when something's up. And something is definitely up."

Alicia raised her eyebrows. Katie said, "Define 'up.'"

George grinned. "Well, Katie, 'up' is the opposite of 'down'—"

"So not what I meant!"

"George, stop being a prat and explain!" Alicia sighed.

"As you wish." He mock bowed, then cleared his throat. "Fred seems to be, rather… bored with Chloe, lately. He… he doesn't act like Chloe's Fred."

"Chloe's Fred?" I asked.

"Yeah, the person he becomes around her. Y'know, obnoxious, materialistic, gushing, glowing, I-am-God's-gift-to-the-Earth-and-everyone-in-it Fred."

"I guess I'm just not around them enough to notice."

"With good reason," he added knowingly.

"Back on topic!" Alicia barked. "Did Fred mention anything—anything at all—that would suggest that he and Chloe are about to be—for lack of a better word or phrase—utterly demolished and beaten to a pulp?"

"Leesh, you could've totally just said 'over!'"

"Shut up, Katie!"

"Holy Geez, Leesh, talk a fugging chill pill!" Katie quieted after Alicia shot her a glare. "Please don't hurt me," she whispered.

Alicia just rolled her eyes and turned to George. "Well?"

George swallowed. "He—er—mentioned something about having to talk to her about something important… this morning, I think it was. After breakfast. Said he had to find her, that's all he said."

"Did he sound urgent?"

"Umm… no?"

Alicia grabbed the front of George's robes. "C'mon, George, think!"

"Well, he just sounded… resigned. Like, he was being forced to do something he, um, didn't want to do. Then I said something about maybe grabbing a bite to eat with you lot later, and he perked up real quick at the sound of Ange's name—"

"George, you brilliant, brilliant man!" Alicia pecked him forcefully on the lips, then stood up to leave. "Now, all we have to do is go hunt down your twin and get him admit his undying love for Angelina, and then our day's work will be done."

George nodded numbly, obviously still in shock from the kiss. Katie and I stood up and made to follow Alicia out of the library, which proved harder than it should've been.

"God, will you people move all ready?" I moaned, shoving past a heavily make-upped fourth year Ravenclaw.

"I got this," Katie whispered. Then, louder, "Make way, make way! She's gonna blow! Get her out of here fast, or she's gonna hurl chunks everywhere!"

I gave Katie a weird look. She gave me her Just go with it look, so I tried to make myself look as sick as possible while resisting my urge to laugh. Alicia was still ahead of us, unabashed by my supposed feeling of sickness.

"I said MOVE!" Katie yelled. "OR ANGE WILL PUKE ALL OVER YOUR HORNY LITTLE ARSES!"

Miraculously, this worked. Students quickly made a path for us, dodging out of the way. It's amazing what a little lie about puke will do. All of the sudden, it was like the parting of the Red Sea.

"Shit," Katie muttered. "Pince heard, she's coming, she's coming, go, go, go, fugging go!" We hurried out of the library, out into the corridor and past Alicia. We dove behind a pillar with ninja-like stealthiness. Alicia gave us a weird look.

"Where are you two going?" she asked, but she needn't have bothered. Madam Pince emerged from the throng of boy-crazed teenage girls, looking vicious.

"Miss Spinnet," she said furiously. "Did you happen to see where those two miscreants went?"

Comprehension dawned on her face. "Umm, yeah, I think they went that way," she answered, pointing her in the opposite direction.

"Thank you," Madam Pince answered through pursed lips, marching off down the corridor.

Katie and I collapsed from behind the pillar, laughing hysterically. Alicia walked over to us, and odd mixture of amusement and disapproval on her face. "You weirdies. I don't even wanna know."

Katie shook her head, still laughing too hard for breath. I slowly stopped laughing and sat up. Katie, however, continued rolling around in hysterics.

"Katie, oh my God, get a fugging grip!" Alicia said shrilly. "We need to go find Fred!"

My stomach churned at the thought of him. Fred. His name alone sent my heart into overdrive.

"Gimme… a second…" Katie gasped in between ripples of laughter.

"Never mind." Alicia's eyes had suddenly become very round as she looked behind Katie and me. "He's coming over here anyway."

"What?!" I yelped.

"Hey, Leesh, Kate, Ange." I turned around to see a beaming Fred towering over me. His gaze shifted from me to Katie, who was still convulsing with laughter. "Is she… er… alright?"

I sighed. "You have no idea." My heart was beating so fast, I was sure he could hear it.

"Need some help, Ange?" He gave me that sideways smile, the one that he must know makes my heart pound into overdrive. I took his outstretched hand and let him haul me up.

"Thanks," I muttered, feeling slightly crestfallen when he dropped my hand.

"Actually, I, uh… I wanted to tell you something," he said, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"Um, alright? Shoot," I answered.

"I, uh… I broke up with Chloe."

I felt my heart leap into my throat. Was this really happening?

Well, there you go. Chapter seven. Hopefully, I'll get chapter eight out a lot faster. Again, reviews are extremely encouraging! :D

Until next time,
Rachel
aka
dancingxinxthexrain