Chapter 9

"Hogsmeade weekend is soon!" I cried joyously one day at breakfast.

Miranda rolled her eyes. "Why are you so bloody peppy this early in the morning?"

"Shut up," I said teasingly.

Charlotte smiled. She heaped some fruit onto her plate and said placidly, "We'll go as a group to Hogsmeade, all of us. It'll be fun!"

"Except me," said James as he sat down next to me and placed an arm casually around my shoulders.

"Why?" I said in surprise.

He put a large quantity of eggs on his plate and began shoveling it into his mouth. He responded with his mouth full (the manners lessons I tried to give him years ago were fruitless. Waste of my time), "I'm going with Lucia."

I gritted my teeth. Miranda noticed and grimaced in sympathy.

I forced out flatly, "I'm sure that will be loads of fun."

I speared a bite of sausage savagely and stuck it into my mouth, chewing furiously.

James, not picking up onto my obvious sarcasm – or choosing to ignore it – said, "Yes it will. She's planning our whole day. But she said we could go to Zonko's, if we wanted."

"Oh, the master is letting her dog go for a walk," I muttered under my breath. Miranda caught my eye and snorted.

"What?" he demanded, looking from me to Miranda.

I picked up my glass and took a gulp of orange juice. "Oh, nothing," I said airily. "Just discussing the muggle Queen."

Well, we were discussing royalty of some kind, anyway. Her Royal Heinousness, that was.

"Oh," James said blankly. I smiled at his stupidity kindly. Boys. Psh.

Charlotte sniggered. My smile widened. Don't you just love screwing with your best friend?

Not in that way! Ahem.

I flushed slightly and James looked down at me curiously. I quickly took a bite of toast to mask my confusion. Charlotte looked at me inquisitively. Argh, why was everyone staring at me?

Suddenly Ben plopped down next to Miranda. "Morning, you lot," he said with a yawn.

I murmured a response and continued to study my breakfast as though it were particularly fascinating.

"So, Char, d'you want to help me with Transfiguration later?" asked Ben casually.

Charlotte bit her lip and looked fidgety. "Um, sure, if you need help," she said.

"Good, then we can all hang out together in the common room later, okay?" he said glancing at Charlotte.

She was ripping a napkin into tiny shreds. "Mmkayy, sounds good," she agreed in a bright voice.

Merlin, why was Charlotte so flustered? I glanced at Miranda and signaled with a significant look that we would be discussing this later. She nodded almost imperceptibly.

Ben looked at me with a strange expression. I shook my head slightly, as if to say, leave it – she'll get mad if you question her. Her being Charlotte.

James noticed this odd exchange and poked me. I shoved him back. He pinched me and I whacked him upside the head. "Prat!" I said in a mock angry tone.

He laughed. "I'm not the secretive one here."

I hit his shoulder. "Shut up, you prick."

He leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Whatever's going on you're telling me later. I feel out of the loop."

I shot him a look.

Charlotte looked beleaguered. "What's going on?"

I kicked James's leg under the table to let him know he was an arse whom I currently despised. He winced and I smirked.

"Nothing, Char," I said breezily. "Just wondering what we should do in Hogsmeade."

Whew. Good save by me. I was brilliant.

Charlotte continued to act slightly oddly around Ben all day. She would become quiet whenever he passed by her or flush when he spoke to her. During Transfiguration, Ben sat next to her like usual and she squirmed the entire time. I watched her the whole time.

Okay, I'm NOT a stalker. I just liked to observe my friends!

The best was when Ben tapped her arm to get her attention and she pulled it away quickly as lightning from him. I was beginning to think my theory was correct from the other day when I was talking to James. Damn, I was good.

After class, I dragged Miranda by the arm to the Prefects' bathroom, where I knew Charlotte wouldn't be. I shut the door and pulled Miranda to the furthest corner.

I sat on the window ledge and looked at Miranda with shining eyes. "Okay, something dodgy is going on with Charlotte."

Miranda nodded. "I know. Ever since she and Ben hooked up."

"She's been flustered around him and avoiding him till they talked – or he forced her too. If he hadn't, she'd still be ignoring him," I said, thinking hard.

Miranda looked pensive. "I wonder.." she said slowly.

My eyes met hers and I felt a realization come to me. "No! She already fancies him? I made a bet with James that she would date him soon but not THIS soon. Fuck, I'll lose."

Miranda let out a laugh. "I think she does, yes. But I don't think she knows it yet."

"I know. She definitely doesn't. But she's freaking out. You know how Char prizes normalcy and routine."

"Should we help them along?" Miranda asked.

"No. Let them figure it out themselves. I don't want to meddle. I hate when people interfere in my life," I said decisively.

"Okay," she acceded, "But should we help her to realize her feelings?"

"NO! She needs to figure it out herself. Obviously she's confused right now, but she needs to sort out her emotions herself. We can't dictate to her how she feels, and I don't want to further freak her out by telling her something she hasn't admitted to herself yet. Charlotte already is having a difficult time grappling with the idea of snogging Ben."

I felt pretty damn wise with my words. I was blown away by my own sagacity.

Haha.

I hardly ever feel philosophical or perspicacious. I usually leave that to Miranda and Ben.

Miranda nodded. "Okay, good plan."

"But," I said wryly, "I can't wait till she DOES realize and freak out and then finally date them. Then they'll get married and have lots of lovely Thompson children."

Miranda snorted. "Bloody likely. And you're too sappy for me. You're turning into Charlotte, for fuck's sake!"

I thought slyly that she'd be eating her own words when she married first and I'd win my money from James.

Fat chance. But one could hope, couldn't they?

Later that evening I was resting in the common room, my head resting on James's lap. He was playing idly with my hair and we were chatting. In the lounge chair next to the couch was Miranda, flipping through book. Ben was resting his head on a pillow while on the floor, talking with me and James. Charlotte and Luke were fighting the remaining armchair.

"Bloody hell, Char!" Luke growled as she shoved him roughly off the side. He stood back up, rubbing his head, and he lunged after Charlotte. She jumped off in time and sat on Luke's lap, and he looked grumpy. She pinched his arm and he moved aside as he jumped up and yelped in pain. Ben sniggered and Luke glared. Charlotte nimbly leapt into the lounge chair and smirked from her seat. Luke's face was red.

I laughed, and Miranda looked up. Her eyes roved over an irate Luke and a triumphant Char and she started guffawing. Man, having twins as mates was really entertaining.

James looked down at me, an amused look on his face.

"So we have psychos for friends?" he said in a voice pitched to carry over to Luke and Char. They glared at him and I hit James on the chest.

"You know, you've been doing an awful lot of that lately," he commented with a gleam in his eye.

"What?" I said, giggling.

"Hitting me and generally abusing me in general," he replied, slipping his arm under my knees.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I demanded as he stood up with me in his arms as easily as though I were a book he was carrying, and not a fully grown female.

"I'm getting my revenge," he said, placing me gently on the ground. I tried to get up but James sat on me, one leg on either side of me. He began to tickle my sides, and I felt a rush of breathless laughter overtake me.

"James," I protested breathlessly, my cheeks flushed from laughing, "Stoooppp!"

His dark eyes flashed and he had a grin on his face. He said, "The more you protest, the more I'll tickle."

I shook my head fervently.

"That's it!"

He started to tickle my collarbone and my neck, my most ticklish spots.

"JAMES! That's not fair. You shouldn't be allowed –" I stopped talking because I was laughing so hard "- to tickle me there!"

Careful not to crush me, he leaned down and whispered in my ear, "It's one perk of knowing you my entire life. I get to tickle you wherever I like."

I squirmed, his breath warm against my ear. I felt really warm all of a sudden and I swatted him away. He continued to tickle me. It dawned on me that he was straddling me, and I felt a strange emotion overcome me, building in the pit of my stomach.

But his incessant tickling was enough. So I decided to tickle HIM. I reached my arm out and tickled behind his knee, the only place I could reach. His eyes widened, shocked, and he began to laugh. I used this moment to push him off me and he rolled onto the ground next to me.

"GO MILLA!" shouted Luke, clapping.

I smiled victoriously and sat on top of James, continuing my assault. He was laughing beneath me. I decided to pull his own move on him, so I started to tickle behind his ears, his own sensitive spot and I leaned down toward him to say smugly by his ear, "Two can play this game."

He looked up at me with a strange expression and I felt butterflies erupt in my stomach. I moved away from his ear and looked at his face only inches away. If I leaned forward slightly …

I sat up abruptly. Oh my God. I did not just think that I could kiss James. Since when did I think of him like that? He was my best mate!

And then a wave of horror passed over me. Merlin's saggy left ball. I fancied James.

My face must've expressed my horror at this new revelation and to cover my confusion, I said loudly – too loudly, "I win!"

James looked at me strangely again, as though he were seeing something new and trying to fit this new information into a puzzle. He blinked and shook his head like a wet dog.

I abruptly got off James and sat down on the couch, wrapping my arms around my knees.

"Milla, you alright?" asked Char worriedly.

I nodded absently. I wasn't paying attention to anything.

James was rubbing the back of his neck, and said with an odd look at me, "I'm going to go say goodnight to Lucia." I scowled automatically.

Ben and Luke were chatting, ostensibly not having seen the entire episode. Bleh. Ignorant boys.

Miranda was watching me with an expression of concern and bemusement, and I ignored her looks of anxiousness.

Holy shit. Fuck. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? How and when did I start to fancy the bloke I grew up with? The boy in nappies who drew on me as a little child? The boy I took baths with? The boy that stole my wand the first day of school because he thought it was funny? The boy that laughed at the most ridiculous things like a squirrel chasing his dog Horatio? The boy that was obsessed, like me, with Quidditch? The guy with the unkempt hair and hatred of anything formal? The person I was closest to in the entire world?

The bloke who had a girlfriend?

Fuck.