Love is in the air
Everywhere I look around
Love is in the air
Every sight and every sound
And I don't know if I'm being foolish
Don't know if I'm being wise
But it's something that I must believe in
And it's there when I look in your eyes
--John Paul Young
Chapter 8---
Rose's POV
I'm meandering down the hall with Z. We are incredibly bored. In fact, we are so bored it should be illegal to be this bored. It's a Wednesday afternoon in early October and we've have done all of our homework, gossiped about how amazing Z's Karaoke Nights are going, wondered where the hell our other two best friends are, talked to James and Fred, and now we were seriously considering talking to Lily and Hugo, even though they're fifth years because that's just how pathetically bored we are.
Suddenly, a beacon of holy shining light opens up from above, shining upon us. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Z asks.
"If what your thinking involves heading out to the Black Lake and thinking up a prank to play on our lovely bestest mates who seem to have ditched us; then yes, I do believe we're thinking the same thing." I say in reply, as I'm looking out the window that looks down on the Black Lake.
Z smiles wickedly, she really shouldn't do that, it scares the living shit out of me. "I was thinking more along the lines of visiting Professor Trelawney to see if I have The Eye, but that works out better." She's smiles mischievously and pulls me outside.
For some reason, Z is convinced that she has The Eye. She made up some bogus fortunes, and predicted that both Al and I would beat Scor in wizards' chess and Presto! She has The Eye. She's a strange one…that Z.
Suddenly, Z stops short. I look at her and see that she's staring at something. Under our favorite tree, Al and Scor sit. Al is talking about something and waving his hand around, showing that he is really into what he's talking about. I nudge Z. She looks at me, winks, and then puts her finger to her lips, motioning me to be quiet, and we quickly change direction, going up behind the tree so we can hear what they're talking about.
"…I don't know, Scor" Al was saying "I mean sometimes it seems like, like it could work out, but I don't know. We have a lot to lose if it goes south." Hmm… interesting what on earth could they be talking about? I look at Z, just as she turns her head toward me, and she looks just about as baffled as I am. She shrugs, and then leaps out from behind the tree.
"What would you lose if what went south?" she asks. Al looks startled and blushes just the tiniest bit.
"How long have you been listening?"
"All I heard was 'I don't know, Scor, I mean sometimes it just seems like, like it could work out, but I don't know. We have a lot to lose if it goes south.' Does it have something to do with the Quidditch strategies we've been working on?" she says all of this really fast.
Ok, first how did she memorize what he said? I only remembered the gist of it! And secondly, why did she give him a way out? It was so much more fun to watch him sweat because if my cousinly instincts are right, (and they usually are), I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking about Quidditch.
But Al just nods hastily "Yeah, I mean what if the new strategies throw us off balance?"
Just then, James and Fred come out from behind the tree. "They won't!" James said confidently. Al rolls his eyes. Fred decides to back James up "They won't!" he echoes.
"That's what I said!"
"So? I was just saying it again for further confirmation."
"Well, don't it sounds stupid."
Just then, James and Fred's friends Frank Longbottom and Owen Layne came up to our group. "Guys," Frank said to James and Fred, "stop fighting in front of the ladies, it's rude." He winks at me and Z in a friendly manner.
"Hey Frank, hey Owen" we say to them. "Long time no see!" Frank smiles at us "I know Rose; it's been forever since that prefect meeting!" I roll my eyes.
Frank is Head Boy this year, and joining him as Head girl is Laure Finnegan (daughter of Seamus Finnegan, who shared a dorm with my dad and Uncle Harry during their Hogwarts careers). Just then, two more people join our group, Lauren (haha I was just thinking about her!) and Alice Longbottom, Frank's twin and object of James' affections for about a year and half now.
What is this; Invasion of the seventh years? Now Al, Scor, Z and I stood with James, Fred, Frank, Owen, Lauren, and Alice. Now, personally I think good old Frank has a thing for Lauren, which makes these seventh year love lives even more complicated. So James and Alice have a thing, even if they don't know the other likes them. Fred, James, Owen and Frank are best friends, so James is a lot like Uncle Harry, fancying his best friend's younger sister (even if it is only by 8 minutes). Owen, I believe, has a ickle tiny bitty think (by which I mean major crush, on Lilly) again, vice versa, so Lily is channeling her dear mum, Aunt Ginny, and crushing majorly on her older brother's best friend. So, in short the couples will be:
James/Alice
Frank/Lauren
Owen/Lily
And Fred/???
Hmm…I'm curious now. I must find out who Fred fancies. As I am considering this, Lily and Hugo enter our quickly growing group. "We decided that since practically our whole family is here, we might as well join the group" Lily declares.
"Lils, this isn't even a tiny ickle bit of our family!" I laugh.
"Yeah, well, it's close enough." Lily says. Owen laughs and says "Tiger Lily, if this is close to having your whole family here, I can't even imagine what getting your whole family together is like!"
She sticks her tongue out at him "Yes you can, you come over to our house during the Easter hols every year!"
I laugh at their bickering. I turn to James to see if he's noticed how deeply in love with each other they are, but no such luck he's boasting to Alice about an idea that he, Fred, and Z have for a prank.
Just then, Z clears her throat and says "I have an announcement to make!" We all look at her expectantly. "As you all know, our lovely Head Boy and Girl, Frank and Lauren over here, have decided to throw a Halloween ball in just a few short weeks!" Frank and Lauren groaned and shook their heads.
"Ok, well, I guess you guys didn't know, but you do now." Z says as James and Fred start jumping up and down and Owen watches them, amused. "Anyway, Frank and Lauren hadn't decided who to pick for the entertainment at the ball." Now we're all curious as to what Z is going to say; even Frank and Lauren look intrigued. She smiles smugly at us. "I believe McGonagall told you guys," she said while motioning her hands to show that she was talking about Frank and Lauren, "that she had an idea as to who could provide the entertainment for the ball, but she had to check with someone first."
Frank and Lauren nodded. Hmm…who could Z be talking about? Then, it hit me! "No!" I scream excitedly while smiling at her. "Oh my gosh, Z that is so amazing!" "I know!" she screams right back at me and we begin to jump up and down, giggling.
"Umm…as much as we hate to interrupt your jump up and down and giggle at the same time fest," Al says "we still have no idea what Z is talking about." "Oh, right," we look back at everyone and Z continues, "Well, you see, Professor McGonagall seems to have heard about my Karaoke Nights that occur once a week at the Gryffindor Tower. Alice, Lauren and Lily gasp, I think they're beginning to get the direction of our thoughts, but James, Fred, Scor, Al, Frank, and Owen still seem lost.
"In short, she asked me to perform a couple songs during the ball and we could open it up into a Karaoke!" She finishes smiling.
All the boys whoop and congratulate her. "And Rosie," Z apparently isn't done with her news, "I mentioned that you and I sing together quite often," Oh crap. Shit, crap, mother of all that is holy, no. "And she said you could join me for a few songs!
She smiles at me expectantly, and I smile back at her. If I pretend like I don't have stage fright, maybe I'll get over it. "Then I guess we have some work to do, don't we Z?" I ask.
"Yay! I'm so glad that you're gonna sing a few with me!" Z yells. I roll my eyes at her, "Of course I will, but wait, how many songs are you going to sing?" "McG said between 12 and 15 songs, whichever I choose." "McG?" al asks.
"Oh, come on, isn't everyone tired of saying McGonagall?" We all laugh and us girls start talking about the ball.
"Obviously, it's a costume ball because its going to be held on Halloween night," Lauren is explaining to us, "you can go with dates, but its not required because the ball is for all the years. First and Second years curfew is at 9, third and fourth years is at 10 and fifth through seventh years curfew is midnight."
Lily squeals at this, "yes! I have the same curfew as you guys!" We all smile at her and start talking about what costumes we're going to get for the ball.
When there is a lull in our conversation, I hear a little tiny piece of what the boys' conversation is. "We have to pull something great." James is saying "this ball has to be legendary." Al and Scor are looking half bored, half amused, and Frank, Fred and Owen are looking very excited. What on earth are they getting up to? "We'll have to talk to Z…" James breaks off when he catches me staring. I squint my eyes at him, trying to figure out what they were talking about, but I soon give up and turn back to the girls.
"So," Z says, "I assume that Lauren will go with Frank, Alice will go with James, Lily will go with Owen if he picks up the courage to ask her out, Freddie will go with Emma Sterling, and Rosie will go with Scor, but who will I go with?"
We all stare at her. "What? What did I say?" We mutter something to the boys, something along the lines of going to the loo, and all stand up and pull Z along with us, looking confused.
"What are you on about?" we all ask at the same time. She scoffs "Well it's obvious you guys are all head over heels for each other" she says while rolling her eyes. I'm not that obvious, am I? I mean yeah, I hang out with Scor a lot, but he's my mate and we have prefect duty together, and we both enjoy hanging out with each other.
Lauren, Alice and Lily seem to be completely immersed in their own thoughts as well while Z pretends to pick some lint off of her robe. "You don't think James knows do you?" Lily says suddenly. "Knows that Alice loves him as much as he loves her or knows that you and Owen are completely in love?" Z asks.
"Well, both, but I really wanted to know about me and Owen." Lily says quietly while she blushes. "Well, I could totally tell, but I think James was too busy flirting with Alice to notice you and Owen practically unclothing each other with your eyes." Z says.
Lauren and I burst out laughing as Alice and Lily turn bright red. "But never fear, you lot, your guys will get the courage to ask you sometime. It might be helpful if you give them a couple hints along the way, though. My personal favorite hint is grabbing him unexpectedly then throwing him into a broom cupboard and snogging him senseless, but hey that's just me." She smiles at us while she says this.
"So, Z" I say casually "is that what you're going to do to Al as soon as he enters the common room tonight?" I tease.
She looks away and I realize she's staring out the window that looks down upon the Black Lake. "Ha, I wish," she shakes her head, "It wouldn't work out between us." We all look at her like she's crazy. "Z, he's completely head over heels for you," Lily says, "I would know, I'm his little sister."
Z smiles a little and looks thoughtful. "Well, maybe, but I don't want to scare him away now, do I?" she says as she winks at us.
Then, something hits me. "Z?" I ask.
"Hmm?"
"Who's Emma Sterling?"
"Pretty blond quiet girl who sits two rows in front of us in Potions." She replies
"How long as our dear old Freddie liked her?"
"Since we played a prank on her and she slapped him on the face so hard he had an imprint of her hand on his face for about two hours." She says laughing.
I laugh with her, "tough Love." I say and she nods in agreement.
The rest of the night passes pretty much uneventfully. Lauren, Alice, Lily, Z, and I gossiped more about our boys and the ball for a while, and then Z and I left to start coming up with the list of songs that she would sing.
Before falling asleep that night, however, I seriously considered going for Z's plan. Just walking up to Scor, pulling him into a broom closet, and snogging him senseless. I could do it during prefect rounds…I shook my head. Z was delusional; I mean she was right about James and Alice, Frank and Lauren, and Lily and Owen, but definitely wrong about me and Scor. It would never work out.
But that night, all my dreams consisted of him, and when I woke up, I realized that I definitely liked him as more than a friend. I'm about to throw my pillow to wake Z up, but I decide on singing instead, maybe today will be the day.
A/N: yay! i hope you like this chapter! thank yout to my reviewers! For the next chapter...would you please give me 3 reviews? it only takes 30 seconds and is greatly appreciated!! I hope my babbling during the whole 7th year love drama is understandable...let me know if it isn't andi'll try to explain it better! coming up on TBofF:
Hogsmeade Trip
and a Halloween ball!! :) be ready!
~wwccd