A/N: Anyway, I hope this is a good chapter. I'm kind of stuck in a corner, figuratively, with my writing. I'm becoming immensely discouraged about all the other stories I read and how much better they are…. I'm also freaked out because I'm having idea overflow and I want the main character to be called Mia. I also realize that this is a different chapter then the last chapter 7, for those of you who have been reading. That's because I realized I left a huge chunk out of this….so here it comes…

Disclaimer: Even though I haven't put this on in a while, maybe out of hope, maybe by accident, here it is. I do not own the Harry Potter series and any of its characters and specifically now, I do not own Mafalda. Mafalda was J.K. Rowling's creation, but she was cut during editing and replaced with Rita Skeeter. (I got her off of J.K. Rowling's official website) I only own Scarlett, Alli, Alex, Emma, Nina (if you don't remember her don't worry) and Stella.

Chapter Seven: Pink Mafalda and Look Who Passed Out Again

"So, Stella's little sister Emma is starting Hogwarts year, right?" Alli said through the mouthful of food, still chewing her breakfast roll and looked at me expectantly.

Her brother Alex grinned and motioned to her food stuffed face. I smiled. It takes serious skill, which only Alli has, to eat a chocolate croissant, managing to get chocolate in all corners of her dimpled face and to still keep chucking various food items into her mouth.

I nodded at Alli. I was thrilled about it actually. Emma, who was around the same age as Ron, Fred and George's brother, would be coming to Hogwarts this year. I loved how Alli could practically read my mind. But, it was to be expected: Alli was like a twin sister to me, except maybe a bit more hyper, which if you know me well enough, is scary. However, her hair was more blonde than my reddish blonde locks and her eyes were dark green. Sadly, while we used to be the same dress, shoe and pant size, both of our bodies had "developed" more, leaving her looking slender and feminine and me rather skinny and tall. Alli was also a muggle. She knew I was a witch, because I had been at a weeklong sleepover at her house when I had received my letter. Making her royally miffed.

It was two weeks till school began again and it was my second day at the Weasley residence. I'd been spending most of it with Alli so far though, because she lived in the muggle village near their house. She was super energized, because she couldn't wait to meet the twins. I'd sent her a picture that I'd go of them with a digital camera I'd given to George for Christmas. He was incredibly amused and didn't get how it worked at first, so I'd demonstrated. Completely like him, he had managed to destroy it within ten days of getting it. I was supremely pissed at him afterward, and he had excused it with the very annoying excuse of 'A gnome nicked it from me.' Back on topic again, Alli thought that the picture was amazing and the guys were really cute. I didn't really talk with her any further on the topic. I'm not very into pink or any other girl defining activities.

As soon as Alli was done eating breakfast and had cleaned her face and dressed and redressed ten times in countless different outfits that all looked the same to me, but were supposedly different, we started walking over to the Burrow.

"Hey! You guys! Wait up! Can I come, too?

"I swear that is the same dress you were wearing when you started the whole fashion runaway model thing." I turned to Alex and high fived him. He grinned at me and draped an arm around my shoulder. For all of you, who are gushing and going 'Aww', forget it. I am more likely to go out with the giant squid then Alex. He might as well be my brother and just as a general rule, for those nitwits out there, you don't date someone who knows all of your most embarrassing secrets and remembers quite clearly when you peed in your pants when you were two.

"Well then, if you're going to be like that! And we can't all be as unclothes related as you. What a tomboy! I can't believe I know you! I swear you only brought one pair of jeans and like, three t-shirts. Let's not even go to the discussion of your shoes…" huffed Alli and glared at us. I lolled my tongue out at her and walked in what I supposed was a drunken manner. Alli looked at me and edged away slowly, pretending to not know me. We entered a forest, with trees everywhere. Majestic and tall trees were all around us. I kept walking straight, leaning on Alex, who was steering me towards the beaten path, which was scattered with damp leaves, dirt, acorns and slugs.

"I guess she'll just have to elope with one of the Weasley twins…" Alex said, "aren't they like obsessed with fashion?"

"No…I'm pretty sure that wasn't them…." I said looking at him like he was a person from an alternate universe. He held up his fingers in a peace sign.

"Oh. Maybe those were the girl twins. What were their names again? Oh, yeah! Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. From that movie…" I edged away. Alli linked arms with me and sighed looking at her brother in a moment of complete bewilderment…just kidding. By then, the two of us were completely used to Alex and his completely unboyish obsession with romances, especially Shakespeare.

"Romeo oh Romeo, where art thou, Romeo?" he recited.

"LA LA! LA LA! LA LA LA!" I tried to block out his voice and pulled off several large leaves off an astonishingly short tree, which was probably younger than me, to stick into my ear. I know, really mature. But then again; that's me!

"Ooh. She's hot. The other one thinks it can sing." Two familiar voices came closer to us as we approached the end of the dark forest we had just gone through. Oh no. It was them!

"Fat chance, George,"

"Why?"

"She's surrounded by two guys." George sighed. Then, giggled as we approached them.

"That's not what it looks like…"

"Is one of them a girl?"

"Oh my gosh. It is! AAH!" The twins came out of the trees, behind which they had been lurking.

"What is it?" The twins pointed at me, whispering to each other, with the air of two scientists observing a very temperamental animal. I stuck my tongue out at them and then wiggled it, wondering what a piercing would feel like in my mouth.

"Take me to your leader." I said removing the leaves, from my ears, and tossing them to the ground. "By the way, that was me singing. And only because he was reciting Shakespeare."

The twins looked at me, trying to figure out whether I was being serious or completely sarcastic and then turned to Alex, held out a fist each, fist pumped them and then smirked at each other, self satisfied. No idea how that is a good greeting or whatever, but boys will be boys… Oh god, I'm sounding like my mother. Then, I noticed something. Alli, who is normally the louder half of me, was standing there, stupefied by the twins. The guys were no longer chatting to themselves and now looked at her curiously. That is, the guys except for Alex. He knew her well enough, to his delight. I snapped my fingers in Alli's face.

"I can cut the tension here with a butter knife! LOL... umm… help?" It sort of sucks when there is an awkward silence, because you never know whether it is awkward because no one knows each other or whether it's one of those deep spiritual moments.

"Okey dokey. So, this is Alli, my best friend and my evil half, and these are Fred and George Weasley." Yep. Everything was still quiet and awkward. I mean, I've always known that Alli was good looking in a guy's perspective, but seriously….

You're just jealous.

AAH! Who is that? I had a voice inside my head, as of now. I wondered whether the voice could hear me talking.

Yes, I can. Don't change the subject. You think Fred is really mega hot, don't you?

"AAH! Going to hide under a rock now. This can't be good for my blood sugar level~!"

I ran to find a rock. Suddenly, realizing that everyone still wasn't staring at me, I decided something must be up.

Wow. Full of yourself much? You're such an exhibitionist sometimes. Yeah right, you're not the center of attention for a change. Get a grip with that.

Okay. Okay. HyPerventilating. So, I get a voice, for some bizarre reason, and then it has to be a sarcastic and nagging voice. Whenever I need that I can see my grandmother. Why not an encouraging voice? Sometimes I could really use a little positive self esteem. Anyway, as my brain was piling up with thoughts as fast as dirty laundry underneath my bed, the twins seem to have struck up a conversation with Alli and she was fluttering her eyelashes at them flirtatiously. Alli had long eyelashes. Her eyelashes were wiggling. Everything, everywhere, wiggling. I narrowed my eyes, trying to get the world back into focus.

Uh oh. You're going to pass out, soon.

Why was the world so blurry? I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hands. Oww… it stung.

Probably better to close your eyes before rubbing….just saying…

Okay. I closed my eyes and rubbed. I tried to tear them open, but nothing would work….

"What type of girl faints when she meets you two?" a clear, bratty voice said, lacing ounces of pure poison into her speech, yet giggling when the twins commented.

"That's Scarlett. She doesn't always pass out when she sees us!" Yes! In your face snobby, bratty, wart hoggy, perfectly annoyingly, poison lacing, bitchy, hag scaring witch! At least one of the twins cares enough to comment. "She just passes when she doesn't get all the attention she needs or when she runs into something. So basically most of the time."

Forget it. 'So basically' none of the twins give a damn about me. I feel so loved.

He has a point, you know. You are sort of self focused… ignore what I said…. AAH!

"What an attention hog! I could never be like that…..I just like to share," Curse you! Swearing after little Miss Bitch who awoke me out of my fantastic dream about me and…. Probably won't help.

I unlocked my eyelids out of their currently permanent squint and looked around groggily. All around me there were books, vile looking potions and people. The books were piled high, with such unnerving names as; 101 Ways to Cure the Subconscious with Pickled Narglewart juice, Finding the Inner Karma and Fighting off Fainting Frenzies with Potions. I peered out over the books, which were admittedly not piled that high, and saw that I was in Ginny's room. I was lying on her bed, being gazed down upon skeptically by a poster of Gwenog Jones, and my bare leg was stuck out underneath the cover in my customary sleeping position.

Frowning to myself, I slipped it back under the snuggly warm covers. Suddenly, I felt a smallish hand squeeze mine and I saw two large brown eyes staring at me. It was Ginny and she was, very much in character, rolling her eyes at the annoying girl next to the twins and smiling at me toothily. I'd missed her so much. She was like the sister slash twin I'd never had.

Ha ha. Don't even act like you weren't thinking of recruiting Ginny for your no good gang of evil hooligans.

I'm guilty. Kill me if it bugs you.

"Hi, Ginny. Who is little Miss Bitch over there?" I said to her glaring at little Miss Bitch, who was wearing a long pink hippy dress, pearl necklaces and a winter style pink hat. She was actually quite pretty, with long auburn curls and almond shaped grey eyes. But she was wearing pink mascara. I gagged…pink. Ginny giggled as she heard my description and began explaining.

"Her name is Mafalda, but she said we should call her Mally for short. Even though she looks like she's flirting to high heavens with Fred and George, which I really don't get: she is actually sort of related to us. I think she's like a step sibling of a cousin twice removed or something. I can certainly see why she's removed, but still…. Mally is staying all summer!"

"Come on Ginny. Leave Scarlett alone! She probably has better things to do then talk to you," Fred or George groaned from the door. I poked my tongue out at him. Mally looked at me imperiously and draped her arm over one of the twins' shoulders.

"Leave her alone, Fred or George. Poor girl only has brothers! I would DIE!" I pulled Ginny into a protective hug…

"Wait, doesn't that mean you're already dead? Don't you have like 4 older brothers?" Ginny asked quizzically. Fred, Mally and George snorted at me.

"Five and they are actually step siblings... But now that I think of it, yes, Ginny, I would be dead. " Mally nodded her head annoyingly and smirked. "Ginny, I think you are still the worst off though..."

"Why would she be?" Mally said smiling at me cruelly, reminding me more every minute of an effortlessly gorgeous Cruella (from 101 Dalmatians).

"She has Fred and George as siblings." I said, fighting evil with evil. Ginny grinned widely and I gave her a high five. The twins looked slightly, but only slightly, pained.

"Well… at least Ginny can acknowledge that she has siblings, even if they are slightly, well…." Mafalda smiled at Fred and George. Oh my gosh. She did not just go there.

You know, you don't own teasing the twins. It's not just your thing.

"Hey, you guys. I just woke up from a self induced hyperventilation comma. You can't expect me to acknowledge that I have step siblings." I grinned at myself, glad that I had reached a point. My heart felt warm on the inside, happy that I had not failed my competitive nature.

"How's my favorite sister's best friend?" Alex asked, entering the room in a swagger making it appear slightly crowded.

"Amazing, now that you're here…" I said sweetly, smiling up at him, and stretching my arms out to hug him. I winced; deciding it probably wasn't the best idea and just gave him an air hug. Fred scowled.

"Where's Alli?" An all too familiar voice said as I opened my mouth, gapping at the person speaking, shocked down to the bone. It was Mafalda. Alli was my best friend.

"Alli is in the kitchen, helping Mrs. Weasley cook something, but apparently she's failing."

"Can I come down, too? Ginny, where did you put my stuff?" I said, getting up or at least trying to.

"No, I don't think you should go down yet. Molly isn't sure about the pickled Narglewart juice and its other side effects, but I remember reading in Magical Creatures of Great Britain that it leaves people dizzy, groggy and in constant pain." Mally said as she exited, aiming a last spiteful glance my way. I flipped her off. Luckily, no one other than Alex and Fred or George were left in the room so I didn't have to apologize, not that I would have meant it anyway. The two guys eyed me awkwardly and then left the room.

Please don't tell me you are actually considering going down there. Oh no. If you pass out one more time, I'm….

Regardless of the warning, my 'voice' had just given me I hopped out of bed. I was wearing the same gray tank top I had been in the morning and a pair of black denim shorts. I looked around for my backpack and my stuff and walked over to it, got out a glucose meter and an insert strip and pricked myself. Grinning, I let the drop of blood land on the test strip and looked at the display screen. Okay, I was good. Dropping my stuff, back into my backpack, I sat down, dwelling further into my backpack looking for a hairbrush. When I had found it, I attacked my bleached red blond hair viciously, oblivious to the pain that my brushing caused. Finally, after reaching a level of momentary satisfaction, I bundled my hair into a messy ponytail. Reaching for my wand I used it to quickly remove all the leaves and dirt that seemed to clutter my tank top like it was a magnet. Then, I walked slowly out of Ginny's room, down the stairs and towards the Weasley kitchen.

"Oh my gosh, Fred! You are so funny!" Mafalda said, to my absolute delight.

"I know, right? He's hilarious." Alli repeated Mally, lapping up her every word, giggling at Fred nervously.

"So, Fred, tell me about Hogwarts," Mafalda said,

"Well, it looks like a castle, the ceilings are enchanted and there's this really awesome ghost called Peeves. Scarlett, George and I always love to fool around with him, pulling pranks and such. In fact once-" Fred smiled, I could hear him do it as he spoke, and I knew he would have gone in if Mally hadn't interrupted.

"- I'm a prankster, too! Oh, what a coincidence! So what pranks have you done?"

"Hi. I've decided that I'm all better, now," I mumbled, feeling dull and bland as I heard Mally's flirtatious tone, obviously lying, or so I hoped, entering the kitchen to a barf worthy scene. Fred was sitting on a stool stirring a sauce in a saucepan (Duh! What else would be in a saucepan?) and Mally had her arms draped around him, smiling flirtatiously. Alli stood there, looking kind of lost. Where the hell was Molly?

"Are you sure you're feeling better, Scarlett?" Mafalda said, a mask of pure concern clouding her face. I smiled back at her, false sweetness everywhere, and nodded. "I was just telling Alli here how I wanted to invite you to the all girls sleepover I'm having tonight." Wow! She can lie through her teeth.

We don't all get tongue tied like you, sweetie….

How do you know that?

What can I say? I have connections.

"Thank you so much for inviting me. Where are we eating?" I asked Fred, who looked at me, baffled at my sudden cheeriness. Ah. He knows me too well.

"Oh. Outside. Mum has decided that there isn't enough room in the house, so she's helping Charlie and Percy set up the tables in the garden. I grinned at him and walked outside, holding the plates with one hand and yanking Alli outside with me with the other.

Near evening time, I bundled together my blanket and brought my stuff up to Mafalda's room, which was up in the attic. As Ginny explained to me, Mafalda's parents were a wizard and a muggle and they had just recently come back from a three year long business trip in Paris and wanted help introducing Mally back into Wizarding society. She would, to my immense joy, be attending Hogwarts the next year as part of an exchange program, with her school, Beaubaxtons. Molly and Arthur, despite bad experience with Mally's parents had decided to take her in for the summer.

Her room was decorated with some admittedly pretty hot, posters of Quidditch stars and the room had a musty attic-like smell to it.

DUH! It's an attic, genius.

When we entered, Mafalda was flittering around her room everywhere; plumping the pillow on her bed, folding a t-shirt, straightening out even things that looked fine already. Her bed was covered with a large pink quilt, with hearts and peace signs everywhere.

"Oh, hey! What do you wanna do?" Mafalda asked, looking like she'd rather die than do something we wanted to. "So, I was thinking we could start with a game of Truth or Dare. I asked little Ginny whether she wanted to come and she said she'd be coming but maybe later, so maybe we could start with Truth or Dare." Whoa. Mafalda seemed genuinely nervous, talking really fast and flittering like a social butterfly wannabe. Haha. Like I care.

Hey. Be nice. This is the girl who invited you to a sleepover…. Despite probably thinking you are an obnoxious attention seeking bitch. I love repeating that!: D

"So, Alli. Truth or dare?" Mafalda said, popping with the excitement of a first year.

"Truth?" Alli repeated, unsure and lost.

"Okay, how about…who do you like?" Ah. Typical. Everyone always starts out with that one.

"I like Fred Weasley… only sort of though… I really like this guy in my chemistry class… Julian Cormack." Alli said, as was to be expected. She'd liked Julian since 1st grade.

"What's chemistry class?" Oh boy… this was going to be a long evening…

"It's the muggle version of Potions Class." I clarified, rolling my eyes internally at her stupidity of the muggle world. Understanding dawned on Mally's face as she turned to me for the next truth or dare.

"Truth," I said alarmed at the way this was going. Didn't she know that in Truth or Dare the person who was asked asks next?

"Why are you flirting with both George Weasley and Alex? You might be hurting their feelings, you know," Oh dear. This conversation had definitely gone the wrong way.

Stop getting off topic! What are you going to say? Think! Think! Think!

"No. Why would I be?"

"You keep flirting with both of them. What a lying cheating bitch."

"I wasn't flirting. I was just talking. To a guy. Which you can't do without flittering your eyelashes or saying something cheesy." I said, trying to keep myself as cool as a cucumber.

"Take that back! I can SO talk to guys. I just do it better than you, that's all. Most of my friends are guys."

"Yeah. Sure. So you must be flirting with them all."

"I'm not the lying cheating clawing bitch!"

"You really are the most annoying, stuck up, bratty, bitchy, flirtatious, nice person wannabe I have ever met. First of all, you can't cheat on anyone when you aren't with anyone. Second of all, I don't like either Alex or George, and even if I did, it would be none of your business!" I burst out at her.

"You can't keep your eyes glued of Fred!"

So true.

"Uh oh. Now is probably not the best time to interrupt is it?" It was Ginny, chewing at her lip and looking at me with a worried expression. I forced a smile on my face and told her everything was alright. Then, I flung myself past her, charging out of the room, running down the stairs as fast as I could, flinging the door of Ginny's room open and running smack dab into someone, hard. Tears were streaking down my face, smearing all the mascara Alli had applied to my face in a hurried attempt at making me dress me up for the sleepover. I had run into Fred. Quickly, I turned around, running downstairs, one more level, till I got to the quiet bathroom, locked the door and cried, sitting on the toilet seat.

Why are you crying? Shouldn't you be really pissed? You are one messed up little witch!

My subconscious slash voice knocked me out of my oceanic world and I got up from the toilet seat and went over to the mirror, using water to dab at my black gray streaked eye rim. Nothing came off. Frantic, I began violently prodding my eye with my wet finger.

Duh. You're supposed to use something like lotion, baby oil or Vaseline.

Yup. I have one really helpful subconscious. Where am I supposed to get all that stuff? Deciding that the illegal choice was probably the best, I decided to use my wand and some simple charm work. After doing that I sat on the bathroom floor for a while till I heard footsteps.

"Hey Scarlett, are you okay?" Dang it! It was Fred. Why did people keep turning up at the most random moments, when they are obviously not wanted?

"Yup," I croaked out, popping the p, my voice sounding unrealistically giddy and joyous, not at all like I had expected.

"Then why are you sitting in the bathroom, possibly crying?" Oh crap. He has a really good point. Making something up, making something up, umm…

"The girls are doing makeup. Like makeovers. Scary stuff," I lied, my voice barely a whisper through the door. Hopefully he would believe me. It wasn't really that difficult, I thought. I hardly ever used makeup. Except for on special occasions.

"Are you coming out, already? Because I really need to go to the bathroom, bad." Fred said and through his voice I could hear that he knew I was lying to him. I giggled at his explanation and slipped out of the door, letting him in. Waiting for him to finish his thing, I sighed and thought thoroughly through what I was going to tell him.

"So. Make up. Scary stuff. Are you sure you don't want to tell me about it?" Fred had come out and was sitting next to me on the stair step, barely several centimeters taller than me. I winced and rolled my eyes.

"This is when I ignore you trying to act like an elderly brother figure and just nod." I said, contorting my face into a fake scowl.

"Hey! Well… I guess you're like the younger sister I never had."

"Umm, what about Ginny?" He frowned at me as I confessed this apparent fact.

"Oh crap. Don't tell her I said that…please,"

"What do I get?" Me and my devious little mind.

Wait are you implying… ooh la la…

Wait! No of course not!

"That jar of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. (I nodded) Yeah, well, it's yours now…"

"I watched you hex those! Hooligan!"

"Exactly." Fred said grinning, laughing about my hooligan remark, probably remembering the first train ride on the Hogwarts Express. I poked out my tongue.

"How about Exploding Snap, then?"

"You're on!"

A/N: READ AND REVIEW! THE NEXT CHAPTER IS THE OLD CHAPTER SEVEN. READ ABOVE!

~bluebookbutterfly