Chapter 8

The last two days had been sheer hell. I wasn't speaking to James, and I was bloody miserable. To add insult to injury, Charlotte was avoiding Ben and it was extremely awkward. Nothing felt normal.

I was staring moodily into the fire, slouched on the couch. A lock of my blonde hair fell into my face and I swatted it angrily away. Ugh. What a shitty week.

I heard the Portrait open and some voices floated over, one of them saying, "And Milla and I aren't speaking and it's really strange. I don't know what's going on. She's been acting so strange lately."

James.

I sighed heavily and turned my head. I bit my slip and said quietly, "James?"

His head whipped round and he looked at me questioningly.

"Could we speak for a moment?" I asked hesitantly.

He nodded slowly, and Ben pushed him towards me. He walked over to me and sat next to me. He looked at me expectantly.

Ugh, I hated apologies.

I took a deep breath and looked up at him. "I'm sorry," I muttered. "I've cocked it up badly… and I don't know what's come over me. I just … I don't know. I'm sorry."

His face was worried and his brown eyes were fixed on mine. "Milla," he began. "I don't even care if you were mad. Just don't not talk to me again, okay? I bloody hate it and I can't stand not talking to my best mate."

I nodded, relieved. But I looked down, I was embarrassed.

James lifted my chin up so I was looking at him. "What's been going on? What happened?" he asked.

I shrugged mutely. "I don't know. I just have been really stressed lately, and I feel like I don't see you anymore. You're always with HRH – I mean, Lucia – and I hardly see you."

James sighed heavily, leaning back into the couch. "Listen to me," he said solemnly. "You're my best friend. Always have been. No one and nothing could change that. Plus, for some sadistic reason, I like you teasing me."

I cracked a half-smile. James pulled me close to him so I was leaning against his chest, and he said, "Good. I like you smiling. And laughing."

I cocked an eyebrow. "At you?"

He grinned. "Near me. Definitely near me."

I smiled, my cheek resting on his chest. I felt immeasurably better. James was always able to cheer me up.

"So how are your parents?" I asked.

He smiled. "Annoying and sickeningly in love as ever. It even comes out in their letters."

I laughed. "Of course. Typical. By the way, your mum knows you're dating HER."

"Lucia?" he asked surprised.

"Yes, she heard it through the grapevine," I responded.

"From Sarah?" he said incredulously.

"Yep, my bloody mum is so nosy."

"Like always." We laughed, grinning foolishly at each other.

This was more like it. I missed this. I missed just me and James. I hated when others tried to encroach. It wasn't acceptable.

James looked at his watch and said grimly, "Shit. I told Lucia I'd meet up with her."

He pecked me on the cheek and left the common room.

I scowled.

Things between Ben and Charlotte weren't getting any better. I could see him try to talk to him, but she blatantly ignored all efforts to discuss what happened. Even when I tried to talk to her or Miranda did, she would hastily change the subject.

It was particularly uncomfortable at Quidditch practices for everyone. The team behaved stilted and awkward around each other, and it affected our playing. Char kept swerving out of Ben's way, and he got pissed off, by the looks of it.

So was James. He hated his team not functioning normally. Luke looked torn – between his best mate and his twin. I'd talked to him – he was stuck between being there for his best friend and being irked that he kissed his twin sister. He also looked annoyed by the fact his sister had cozied up to his best mate.

The worst of it was when Charlotte was too busy looking at the ground when she missed the Snitch buzzing around her head. Ben watched her bemusedly. James looked ready to explode from frustration and irritation.

"CHARLOTTE!" he bellowed from his broom, his face flushed with anger. "If you won't speak to Ben because you snogged him, that's fine, but do it on your own time. Don't fuck up my Quidditch team because of your indiscrepencies."

Charlotte recoiled and I flew over to James and smacked him upside the head. He wobbled on his broom, and he glared at me. "What was that for?" he demanded, rubbing his head.

"For upsetting Charlotte! She's having a rough time right now. I'm going after her. You can have your ruddy game without your Chaser and Seeker. Bye, James."

I threw him one last reproachful look over my shoulder and flew down after Charlotte. She had already made it to the common room, and was pulling off her Quidditch robes angrily.

She saw me enter and yelled, "Why is James being a prat?"

"Because you're interrupting his Quidditch flow and you know how he gets when anything personal interferes with his game." I rolled my eyes. "Git."

She scowled. "I know. I want to bloody pulverize him."

"Please, do," I said, gesturing broadly.

"I could ruddy kill him."

"I know," I sympathized. "That's how I feel most of the time. I don't know why I put up with him."

Char grimaced. "I don't know why at the moment either."

She pulled on a shirt roughly. "I'm so embarrassed. I feel bad, but I don't know what to say to Ben. It's so awkward! I wish there was a book – What to Say to your Best Mate After Snogging Them While Smashed."

I laughed. "Wouldn't that be lovely? A book to solve all your problems."

"Okay, let's go grab Miranda and nip down to the kitchens for a snack, yeah?" said Charlotte.

I smiled. "Perfect."

I quickly put my hair into a messy bun, and Miranda looked inquisitively at me from her bed, where she was reading The Daily Prophet. "What's the big rush?"

"Patrol!" I said hurriedly, pulling on some flats and grabbing my wand off my bedside table.

She laughed. "You're always late!" She turned the page.

"Bye, Miranda!" I shouted, bounding down the stairs.

I saw Ben in the common room, sitting on a lounge chair, deep in thought.

"Ben?" He looked up and smiled.

"Shall we?" he said, proffering his arm. I took it with a laugh and we strolled out of the common room.

"So you and Charlotte," I broached the subject cautiously.

He sighed heavily. "I suppose we should discuss this, since Charlotte won't?"

I nodded.

"Okay, well obviously I was pissed, and so was she. I don't really remember much. It's a really hazy memory. All I remember is her asking me what I was doing alone, and then snogging me. Then everything is kind of convoluted and I don't recall much." He shrugged, and I felt a wave of affection for this mild-mannered bloke. He looked confused and forlorn and I patted him on the arm.

"It'll be okay," I reassured warmly.

He smiled a little. "Thanks."

"Char just needs time to come round," I commented, answering his unasked questions.

"You think?" he said hopefully.

"Yeah. She's just going mad because she doesn't understand what happened. You know Charlotte. She freaks out if she doesn't understand what's going on."

"I don't even get what the fuck happened," said Ben. "But bottom line, we were plastered and it's not like it meant anything."

I nodded. "Exactly. She just has to get over the stigma of hooking up with her good friend and then she'll be fine."

A dark figure – or figures, most likely – loomed in the distance. I put a hand on Ben's arm to quiet him and as we approached, I saw it was Lily snogging a boy in her year.

"OI! LILY!" I said loudly. She broke away from Higgins, I could see it was, and looked embarrassedly at me.

"Hi, Milla," she said nervously. "Er, we'll just be going, shall we?"

I raised my eyebrow and gave her a sardonic look.

Lily gave an anxious titter and grabbed Higgins and dragged him away.

I called after her, "I won't be taking off any points THIS TIME but beware in the future. Oh, and I'll have to tell James!"

I heard a resounding, "No!" but too bad. James had to know, even if he would kick Higgins's arse. It was his own bloody fault for snogging a girl with two older brothers.

Ben was laughing. "Poor Lily. She's always terrorized by us. It must suck to have an older brother- two, rather."

I smirked. "Hence I love being the eldest."

"Well, James acts as your older brother, doesn't he? He takes his role as protective older brother bloody seriously," said Ben.

I frowned. " I know. It's really annoying. I can't date anyone for fear of James hexing them!"

"Well, to be fair, most of the blokes after you are twats."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't even know if blokes are after me, since James doesn't let them. I might have to either join a nunnery or become a lesbian."

Ben laughed. "I doubt James would let that happen. He'd marry you himself, if he had to."

I whacked Ben on the arm. "Yes, that's a great plan. We'd be a brilliant couple, if that didn't sound incestuous to me or if we didn't kill each other first."

Ben winked. "Maybe I'll have a chat with James about easing up the hexing of your dates, yeah?"

I clapped my hands together. "PLEASE! That would be amazing."

Ben commented offhandedly, "Although, I feel worse for Char than you. She has a twin brother, which is worse by far. Luke is so careful about Charlotte. SHE will be the one becoming a nun."

I laughed. "Not if she has any breath left in her body. She has her checklist, and she is determined to marry a walking checklist."

Ben rolled his eyes. "I don't understand that girl."

I giggled. "Me neither, but I love her anyways. Miranda, on the other hand, will make me die laughing if she marries first. She's so bleeding cynical."

"Watch her marry first."

"I'd love to bet on that. 100 galleons?" I said.

"You're on."

The next evening I was sitting in the common room with Char and James. Miranda was off on her daily evening run (fuck her and her punctuality and schedule) and Luke was in the library doing long overdue research for a Transfiguration project (all the while grumbling about killing Charlotte for signing him up for NEWT classes).

I was sitting on the couch closest to the fire, loving its warmth radiating from the grate. James's head was in my lap and he had his feet over the side of the couch. Charlotte was next to me and we were gossiping and chatting.

"Milla, dear, have you read the new article in Witch Weekly about dating do's and don't's?" said Char excitedly.

I rolled my eyes. Typical. "No, Char, I haven't," I said tiredly.

James laughed and a lock of his dark hair fell onto his forehead, so I absentmindedly brushed it aside.

James commented dryly, "I don't bloody understand how you and Luke are such opposites."

Char giggled. "Beats me. Glad I'm not like that idiot of a procrastinator."

James grinned. "That's why he's my best friend."

I whacked him on the shoulder. "HEY!" I said, indignantly.

James made a face. "Okay, Milla, you are, and you know it, but don't tell them, or they'll kill me. Especially Ben –"

"What about me?" interjected Ben smoothly as he strode into the common room.

Charlotte looked up, startled, the amusement fading on her face. Her lips formed a thin line and she wrapped hair around her finger absently. Ben looked at her curiously. She flushed and stood up abruptly, saying, "I should go. Have so much work!"

She turned to leave but Ben caught her arm. He was staring at her earnestly.

He said, "Charlotte, we need to talk."

She fervently shook her head and tried to pry her arm out of his grip. "No, we don't."

"Yes, we do," he replied firmly.

"Fine." Charlotte looked deflated, defeated. She stood, waiting for him to start.

"Char, what happened was a drunken mistake. It doesn't have to mean anything. We got plastered and we fucked up. Lots of people do. And this awkwardness needs to stop. I miss you teasing me," he said plaintively.

She retorted, a confused look on her face, "But everything has changed and –"

"No it hasn't! Snogging didn't mean anything. It doesn't," he said forcefully.

Charlotte looked bewildered, an array of emotions evident on her face. I felt sorry for her. Damn, that was one bad situation.

I glanced down at James, biting my lip, and he was looking up at me with a worried expression. I found his hand and squeezed it reassuring him that everything would be fine.

Charlotte was silent for a moment. Then she said slowly, looking conflicted and perplexed, "Okay. We can just forget it happened. We can ignore it, and just continue on with being mates."

Ben nodded, happy. "Right."

Charlotte gave a small smile but I could tell it was forced, that there was a lot going on in her head.

I would most definitely be grilling her later.

Ben impulsively hugged Charlotte, and said affectionately, "I missed you. These past few days have been weird."

"I know," she agreed.

"Shall we go for a walk?" he offered. She nodded and they walked out of the common room together after waving at us.

I looked down at James, who was looking up at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked incredulously.

"Yep," he said wryly.

"I give it a month. Can't believe I haven't seen it before."

"You're on. 50 galleons?"

I smirked. "Damn straight."