As it turned out, I had broken James' nose. Needless to say, James wasn't too happy about this. Neither was Madam Pomfrey, for I had not only broken his nose, my Herbology book had, in fact, completely shattered every single bone in his nose, and James was therefore forced to spend a very painful night in the Hospital Wing, regrowing his nose.

I knew that the right thing to do would be to apologize to James for ruining this very central part of his face, but I wasn't feeling particularly charitable towards him at that moment. Most of the Gryffindor House, however, wasn't feeling very charitable towards me, as I had impaired the Quidditch team Captain's nose, and we were playing Slytherin in only a few days. Therefore I kept my head down in classes all day and barely spoke at all, except to answer questions. Once classes were over I decided against sitting in the Common Room and chose instead to go into refuge in the Library.

Al, however, managed to find me there. He sat down next to me, taking me quite by surprise.

"Rose," he said.

I looked up from my homework and took in Al with surprise. "Al!" I said. "How did you know that I was here?"

"Wild guess," Al said.

"You walked here – without me! All by yourself!"

"Yes, well, after four and half years at this school, I have learned my way around, yes."

"So – so you don't even need me anymore?"

For some reason, the fact that Al had managed to walk from the Common Room to the Library with my help to guide him, made me almost cry.

"Of course I do, Rose, you're my best friend."

This made me want to cry as well.

"Oh, Al…"

Al shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Don't get sentimental," he said. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"About?" I asked.

"About you."

"Like a therapist?"

"I don't know what that is."

"It's a Muggle person who talks to people about their feelings – never mind, what about me?"

Al paused, apparently contemplating what to say next. Finally, he said, "You haven't been very happy lately."

I didn't know if it was a question or a statement, so I nodded, but then remembered that Al couldn't see. "Yes."

"And it is because of Scorpius Malfoy."

"No – well, yes, it is because of him, but he hasn't really done anything in particular to make me unhappy – actually, I feel that he makes me happy, in a way, I kind of guess that it's everyone else's reaction that makes me unhappy – or maybe just my reaction to everyone's reactions…"

As I trailed off I realized that, for once, I was right. It wasn't Scorpius' fault. In fact, he had only tried to make me happy, what with kissing me, and saving my life, and asking me to go out with him –I was the one making myself unhappy. James, of course, had contributed to that, but maybe if I hadn't let him get to me that much, I would have been happy. Maybe, if I hadn't let Felicia boss around with me, just because I felt bad about our fight (which she started, by the way) I would have been happy. And maybe, if I hadn't ignored my real best friend, Al, through all of this, and confided in him – maybe then I would have been happy.

"You're being awfully quiet," Al said.

"Al," I said, "I'm having an epiphany."

"An epiphany."

"Yes."

And being my best friend and all, Al didn't question this. He didn't even ask what the epiphany was about. Maybe he knew. He merely nodded and said, "Yes, that happens."

So Al and I sat there for another half hour, and I told Al all about Scorpius, and how I liked – loved? – him, but how I was still angry about him telling McGonagall about my crime. And Al told me how he hated James for being mean to me, and for being mean to Felicia, and how he adored Felicia, but sometimes wanted to slap her for being so ignorant about him.

Talking to Al made me feel much better. So good, in fact, that I went to the Hospital Wing to talk to James.

"James," I said. "I would like to apologize for breaking your nose."

"You mean, of course, that you are sorry for assaulting me and thereby mutilating my entire face," James corrected, lying in the bed and looking pathetic with a huge bandage on his nose.

"Yes," I said, rolling my eyes. Luckily, he didn't see.

James was quiet. I could tell that he was having some sort of internal struggle, because he kept opening his mouth and then closing it again. Finally, he said, "I'm sorry for being a dolt to you."

I didn't know what to say, so I kept quiet. This seemed to pressure James into continuing to talk.

"If you want to be with Malfoy, fine. I won't promise not to beat him up, though. I'm not going to kick you off the team. You're the best Chaser we have. Besides me, of course."

I realized that this was the best that James could do. "Thank you, James," I said, smiling at him. "That means a lot to me. Don't worry, though, Scorpius has been a prick lately."

"Good," said James, looking relieved. "If my nose heals, there's Quidditch practice tonight. And again tomorrow. And then there's the game the day after tomorrow… Promise me to beat them, Rosie, please."

"Promise," I told him.

Quidditch practice ensued for two days in a row. James was pushing us harder than ever, and wanted us to practice for up to five hours. He didn't seem to have any regard for our school, our health or our humanity. I didn't mind that much, though. Gryffindor House seemed to have forgiven me, seeing as James was talking to me again, and training Quidditch gave me an excuse not to talk to Felicia about her love potion, and it meant that I didn't see Scorpius, whom I was still angry at. After Quidditch practice Friday night, the last night before the big game, James gave us a huge speech about how beating Slytherin the next day would give his life meaning and fulfill his goal for the year, et cetera, et cetera.

I returned to the Common Room feeling pretty confident in myself and in the team as a whole. I sat down between Felicia and Al, and watched Felicia try to flirt with James by continually offering him chocolates. I didn't know where she had gotten the box of chocolates from, and I tried not to feel offended that she wasn't offering any to me. I attempted to get started on some of my homework, but I was still planning to go to bed early (something that James had ordered the entire team to do, but that I always did the night before a Quidditch match).

Suddenly, James jumped to his feet and leaped onto the armchair that he had been sitting in moments before. I had been expecting him to order the team up to bed, but instead he shouted, "I WOULD LIKE TO ANNOUNCE THAT I AM IN LOVE WITH FELICIA CROPPER!"

The Common Room fell quiet. A few people laughed. Someone fox whistled. James jumped down again and went over to the couch where the three of us were sitting. He attempted to squeeze himself in between Felicia and I. There really wasn't room for more than three on the couch, however, so Al and I were horribly squished, but James didn't seem to mind.

"Felicia," James said, and I noticed that his eyes were strangely unfocused. "Felicia, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

"Oh," giggled Felicia. "Oh, yes."

"Would you like to come home with me over Christmas break?" James continued, in a voice most unlike his own.

I was starting to get a little suspicious, so I reached behind James and poked Felicia in the side. She ignored me.

"I thought that you were going skiing?" she asked James, her eyes wide and adoring.

"Who cares?" said James. "I would rather spend time with you."

I poked Felicia harder. "OW!" she exclaimed, frowning at me.

"Don't hurt my beloved!" bellowed James at me. I decided not to pay him any attention.

"What in Merlin's name have you given him?" I hissed.

Felicia shrugged innocently. "Maybe he's just discovered his true feelings for me."

James nodded heavily in agreement.

I rolled my eyes. "Honestly," I said. "No one acts that way naturally."

Felicia sighed. "Fine. My older sister sent me a Weasley Wizard Wheezes love potion. Happy?"

She turned back to James, who has now slobbering all over her neck.

"No, I am not happy!" I snapped at her. "That's just a cruel thing to do."

"Honestly, Rose," Felicia said, glaring at me. "James just needed a pinch of potion to find his heart."

I decided to give up the fight. The effects of the potion would probably wear off eventually. "Just make sure that he is alright by tomorrow," I told her. "We have to win that game."

I told Al that I was going to bed, but he didn't seem to be listening, he was sitting with his fists clenched and his eyes shut tightly. I walked over to the stairs to the girls' dormitories, hearing James say, "Felicia, I must kiss you!" and a very loud smacking noise as he did. I wanted to vomit. Then, as I was walking up the stairs, I heard the sound of someone being punched and then falling to the floor. The entire Common Room fell quiet for the second time that evening. I turned and looked down at what was happening.

James was lying on the floor, looking dazed, blood pouring from his nose, which appeared to have been broken again. Felicia looked pale and shocked, and Al stood over James, rubbing his fist with a triumphant look on his face.

I was the first to break the silence. "AL!" I cried, in a very high pitched voice.

Al ignored me, turning to Felicia instead, the eyes of everyone in the Common Room on him. "Felicia," Al said loudly. "I am in love with you. And I don't need a love potion to feel it. I've loved you since the first day of First Year."

"You punched him!" Felicia said faintly. "He's bleeding!"

"Yes, he is," Al said proudly.

"Oh, Al," said Felicia. "I never knew you were so strong!"

"I was only doing what a man needs to do," Al said, and at that moment, just about every girl in the Common Room, except those of us who are related to him, was irrevocably in love with him.

I turned and walked back down the stairs, to where Al was basking in his glory and helped James to his feet. "Felicia…" he muttered.

"Come on, James," I said. "I'm taking you to the Hospital Wing. We need to get your nose right. And your head, for that matter."

I lead James out of the Common Room. Hardly anyone noticed, everyone was engulfed in Al's success. As we walked out of the portrait hole, I head Jane whispering, "He's blind, and yet so brave!"

"I never knew that he had so many feelings," Eurydice agreed with her.

I lead James to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey wasn't happy to see him, but I told her that it was crucial that he be well enough to play the next day. Madam Pomfrey promised that he would be fine.

"But his nose might be crooked," she said. "Breaking a nose twice within twenty – four hours…. It isn't exactly good for the bone structure."

James was perfectly ready for the game the next morning, but clearly quite upset that his nose would be slightly crooked, possibly for the rest of his life. At breakfast he glared daggers at Al, who smiled at him apologetically, but not really looking sorry. Felicia had clearly been won over by Al's declaration of love and the proof of his strength and manhood. She was sitting next to him, asking him if his fist still hurt. This seemed to only make James even angrier, and his eyes started to pop out. This probably was fair enough, as he seemed to be more gruesomely injured than Al. However, he didn't say anything. I think he perhaps felt embarrassed about being punched by his younger brother. Al had not only won Felicia, but he had also gained the affection of Jane and Eurydice, who both glared at Felicia as much as James glared at Al.

"Forget Scorpius Malfoy," I heard Eurydice say to Jane. "Albus Potter is handicapped, emotional and brave."

I wanted to tell Eurydice that being brave was one of the criteria of even being in Gryffindor, and that, by the way, Scorpius Malfoy might not have been handicapped, but he certainly was emotional and brave, too, at least, I thought so. And Scorpius was definitely much better looking than Al, but as I'm his cousin, I might have been biased. I then thought that Eurydice having forgotten about Scorpius might mean that she wouldn't rip my throat out if I went out with him, but then I remembered that I was angry with Scorpius for turning me in to McGonagall. Honestly, did he really have to go to the Headmistress?

With all of these events, I hardly even had time or energy to feel nervous about the impending Quidditch match against Slytherin. I did, however, get quite nervous as we stood in the locker rooms. James seemed to have turned his aggression about his nose into aggression towards the Slytherins.

"Beat them," he growled at us. "Crush them! Make them wish that they weren't on the team," he continued, his voice rising to hysterics. "Make them wish that they had never been born!"

With these words ringing in our ears, we entered the Quidditch field. The supporters of Gryffindor were cheering, drowning out all other sound, except for the booing from the Slytherins. The Slytherin team was already on the field, leaning up against their brooms and smirking at us. I caught Scorpius' eye. We stared coldly at each other for a few moments, then I looked away. The whistle blew, we kicked off from the ground, and the game began.

I could tell right from the start that James had been right – Scorpius was clearly assigned to tail me. Whenever the Quaffle was about to be passed to me, he was there, blocking me, so that I had to make insanely risky dives to get away from him. Whenever I actually managed to catch the Quaffle, despite him zigzagging in front of me, he was there again, blocking me from throwing it, meaning that a couple of times I actually had to drop it, so that a team player below me could catch it. I really wanted to hit him and get him out of the way. At one point, the Quaffle was dangerously close to the Gryffindor goal posts and I was by the Slytherin goal posts, Scorpius blocked me, so that I couldn't get to the other end to help defend our goal posts. This helped Slytherin score.

"Bugger off!" I yelled angrily at Scorpius. He merely shrugged at me. "Can't you play well enough on your own? Are you really so incapable of handling a Quaffle that you have to tail me all the time?"

This seemed to provoke him, so he dived and caught the Quaffle just as it was soaring into James' arms. This irritated me so much that I decided to chase him as he soared through the air, the Quaffle tucked in his arms, towards the goal posts. I accelerated and raced off after him, while James, who was hindered by a Bludger, roared, "GET HIM, ROSIE!"

I soared after Scorpius, my eyes fixed on the Quaffle, and just as he raised his arm to throw the Quaffle through a goal post, I caught up with him and grabbed his arm, stopping him. Scorpius tried to save the Quaffle, but I tugged on it, and he tugged harder, making me lose my balance on the broom, and before I knew it, I was dangling, half on the broom, half off. I wasn't about to let Scorpius win, though, so I tugged on the Quaffle with all my might, making Scorpius lose his balance as well.

Our eyes met, as we dangled in midair. "Let go," Scorpius said, an icy tone to his voice.

"No, you slimy little… worm!" I shrieked back at him, my fury at him for telling McGonagall on me rising again.

Scorpius' lips tightened. "Go away, Weasel!"

"Go away, Hufflepuff!" I shouted, and even as I said it, I knew that it was too hurtful an insult, using a secret that he had told me against him.

It infuriated him, and he gave the Quaffle such a strong pull in his direction that I was lurched off my broom; I grabbed his arm tightly for support, succeeding only in pulling him off his broom, and then we were falling.

Scorpius seemed to realize what was happening before me, because he wrapped his arms tightly around me and shut his eyes. I dug my fingernails into his hands, hardly having time to register that we were going to crash, when we did, and everything went black.

Thank you for reading! As always, please review and thank you to the kind people who have reviewed so far! :)