"You really screwed things up, didn't you, Lil?" Teddy asks me as soon as I sit down for dinner. I stare at him blankly, waiting for some kind of explanation. Ted and me are close, he's like another older brother, but bloody hell, can he get on my nerves. Though he's already graduated, and is an assistant professor now, he still sits at the Gryffindor table with a good two thirds of the Weasley clan.

"I overheard Alice gossiping to one of your little friends in my class today," he explained. I don't take Ted's subject; Arithmancy just isn't my thing. Alice adores it, though.

I sigh, looking down at my food miserably. It doesn't seem appealing at all now that I know that my best friend is angry with me. "I didn't do anything, Teddy. Honest." I really didn't! Alice just has a hard time controlling her temper.

At that very moment, Fred sits down next to me. "I sincerely doubt it, Little Red," he says, chuckling. Of course, all of my cousins know about the pranks Hugo and I pull on a regular basis. And that's probably what Fred assumes we're talking about.

I stand up, irritated with my cousin and godbrother. More irritated with myself, though, for ticking off Alice. I don't want to talk about this with them. My friend drama and boy issues should be none of their concern. I walk away, just barely hearing Fred ask "What's got her knickers in a twist?" as I go.

I know I can't go to my own common room, because Alice might be there and I'm almost certain that she wouldn't let me explain the fact that I wasn't flirting, and I was only blushing from embarrassment, and that I would never do anything to hurt her...

So instead I go down to the quidditch pitch, where Alice wouldn't be caught dead. She hates flying, which has always been a source of befuddlement for me. There's nothing I love more than being up in the air, the feeling of the wind on my face, the feeling of lack of solid ground beneath my feet, and the feeling of my fingers closing around the Golden Snitch.

I climb the stands, sitting in the topmost row. The Ravenclaw quidditch team is practicing, but I don't mind. It's calming for me, just sitting here. I catch Rose's eye and offer her a grin, and she smiles back. She's the captain, so you'd think she'd be intolerant of others sitting in on their practices. But she isn't. Not like Fred, who took over for Gryffindor after James graduated. Fred is crazy about his team, he'll yell at anyone who interrupts practices, and he does his best to keep us in line. Which, of course, we complain about incessantly. I know we could have it worse, though. According to Dad, Oliver Wood was even tougher on his team than Fred is on us.

I'm snapped out of these thoughts by the sound of splintering wood. A Bludger narrowly missed my head, smashing through the planks of wood behind me, making a hole in the stands. It's quickly followed by a sheepish looking Joseph Wood.

"Are you alright, Lily?" he asks for the second time in a 24 hour period, hovering near me on his broom. I nod curtly, looking into his brown eyes for only a moment. "I'm sorry," he continues. "I'm a rubbish Beater, but that cousin of yours insists on making me play Beater during our scrimmages."

I manage a reluctant smile, and he repeats "Sorry," before flying away again. My heart seems to have sped up, and I try to convince myself that it was the fright, and not the large brown eyes that had met mine for so brief a moment. Stop it, Lily, I think to myself, scolding.

A little while later, I make my way back up to the castle with the Ravenclaws, who don't seem to mind my company at all. I stick to the back of the group, walking beside Joseph in silence. Rose keeps glancing at me, raising her eyebrows suggestively, and I scowl back at her.

When we reach the staircase, I look at Joseph, pausing for a moment. He stops on the step above the one I'm on, looking at me quizzically. "I'll see you tomorrow. I'm sorry about that whole fiasco in Charms today," I say finally, and I mean it. I hate that I embarrassed him, even though I find him too irritating for words a good ninety percent of the time. He doesn't say a word, just smiles at me and turns to walk away up the staircase that will take him to his dormitory.

It's been a week since the morning of the stolen toast and the overreaction to it. Alice is talking to me again, thankfully. It took her a few days, during which I only had my cousins for company. Not that that is such a horrible thing, but a girl does need some friends that aren't blood relatives.

I'm sitting in the library, with Lucy and Molly across the table from me. They're the only twins of the Potter/Weasley family, though they are far from identical. They're third years, and actually pretty adorable, if you ask me.

"Okay, so the thing you have to remember about Boggarts is that it's best to have at least one other person with you, to confuse it." Lucy writes this down in her notes, and Molly is just sort of staring into space. Uncle Percy asked me to tutor them, even though DADA is more of Al's thing; Potions is what I'm best at. Albus doesn't have patience with Molly's mucking about, though.

Just as I'm about to gently nudge Molly, to try to get her head out of the clouds, someone does it for me. Gets her head out of the clouds, I mean, not nudges her. Alice comes bounding into the library, a Cheshire cat grin on her face.

"Lily!" she squeals, causing my littlest cousin to jump, and whirl around to face Alice, clearly bewildered. Alice isn't deterred, though. "Lily! Oh Merlin, Lily, you won't believe what's just happened!"

I like seeing her happy, so I smile in spite of myself. "What, Alice?" I ask, almost excited.

"Joseph asked me to the ball!" she practically shouts, and my grin fades. But... why? He doesn't even fancy her! I tell my brain to shut up, and carefully compose a smile, so Alice won't suspect anything. Why do I feel the way I do? Angry... jealous, almost.

The ball's in a couple weeks, the fifth of November. I don't have a date, up until now I had been counting on going with Alice.

"That's great, Alice!" I exclaim, feigning enthusiasm. I'm still a bit puzzled as to why I have to fake the enthusiasm, though. I should be happy for her. My best friend got asked out by the boy she likes! This is fantastic news! ...Isn't it?

A/N: Thank you for the lovely reviews! I appreciate it very, very much, it motivates me to keep writing when I know there's people reading.