((This...is so much fun to write. And this is quite possibly my favorite chapter...I hope you enjoy reading it even half as much as I enjoyed writing it! Second, to the anon who has been reviewing (or anons? I can't be sure...) I greatly, greatly appreciate it!
As always, anything you recognize as a part of the Harry Potter universe probably doesn't belong to me. ))
Friday dawned cold, grey, and rainy. Immediately, Bonnie regretted even considering going to the match.
But Ian had asked again, during their Transfiguration tutorial on Tuesday, and she'd said she'd go.
If she stayed in her dormitory, now, she'd feel guilty for the rest of her life.
Or, at least, for the majority of the weekend.
"I don't see why we're going," Maggie grumbled as they trudged through the rain, down to the Quidditch pitch. "Since when do you go to Quidditch games?"
"I promised I'd be there," Bonnie explained, shivering under Maggie's black and yellow umbrella.
"Yes. Promised a Slytherin you'd be there."
"Maggie, why don't you let Lee Jordan do the commentary, okay?"
Maggie continued to grumble all the way to the pitch, but at least nothing was distinct. Bonnie could pretend she wasn't even speaking, if she focused on the sound of the rain.
"Poor Ian," she said finally. "You couldn't pay me a hundred Galleons to fly in this rain."
"Or to fly at all," Maggie reminded her.
"...True."
They found seats at the pitch and huddled under the umbrella, pulling their cloaks more tightly around them for warmth. Bonnie had looped her Hufflepuff scarf around her neck, and Maggie had (smart cookie that she was) gone to the kitchens to get a refilling thermos of hot chocolate from the House Elves. Maggie was specially liked by them, for one reason or another. They just about fell over themselves to do anything for her. More so than usual, even.
Maggie filled two cups with hot chocolate, and passed one to Bonnie. The rich, sweet liquid was curiously warming - she could feel it burning all the way down.
"Maggie..."
"There's a hint of Ogden's in it," Maggie whispered. "Don't worry, it's not enough to get you drunk. I just thought we might appreciate it, in this cold."
Bonnie shrugged and continued to sip her hot chocolate, squinting through the rain to watch the match.
Or, more accurately, to watch Ian. She tried to keep herself from focusing on the Slytherin Chaser, tried to switch between the Houses a fair amount. But something kept drawing her back to the silver name "Rosier" embroidered on green Quidditch robes.
Maggie poured more hot chocolate into both cups.
"What's going on with Harry Potter?"
"What do you mean?"
"There's a...there's a random Bludger following him everywhere."
Bonnie hadn't noticed. She'd been too much absorbed in watching the red Quaffle and its chasers than anything else. But, sure enough, Fred and George Weasley were spending all of their time flying next to Harry and beating off a very persistent Bludger.
"That is odd," Bonnie said. Soon enough, and much to the displeasure of the Slytherins, Gryffindor called a time-out.
Bonnie watched as Ian, drenched in rainwater and swiping at his Quidditch goggles, joined his team and glanced up at the stands.
There was no mistaking the smile when he saw her there - it was a rare, full smile. Bonnie felt as if something had turned over inside of her. An uncomfortable, flipping feeling that she chose to ignore rather than acknowledge.
Finally, both teams took to the air again, and the match resumed. Slytherin remained ahead for most of the time, until Harry Potter, looking like an enraged falcon, flew straight toward Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Seeker. He didn't hit Malfoy, did catch the Snitch, but was also, suddenly and horribly, hit by the errant Bludger.
Bonnie could hear the sick cracking sound his arm made from her place in the stands.
"Ouch," she said, wincing. Maggie had been pouring them both cup after cup of hot chocolate. As the thermos kept refilling itself, it kept them well-stocked throughout the game.
And Bonnie felt more than a little fuzzy.
With the match over, people were filing down from the stands, heading for the castle and warmth. Bonnie and Maggie began to follow them, kept dry by Maggie's enchanted umbrella.
Bonnie seemed to be having trouble walking in a straight line.
"Bon, are you feeling alright?" Maggie asked, taking her friend by the arm.
"Fine!" Bonnie replied brightly. "Great, even! Can we see Ian? Maggie, I want to go see Ian. He's very nice, did I ever tell you that?"
"A few times...how much hot chocolate did you drink?"
"I don't know, however much you gave me. Let's go. Let's go see Ian. Before he goes to get changed, 'cause then I won't see him at all."
Maggie glanced at the thermos in her hand. She, with her low tolerance for heat, had been sipping her cocoa slowly throughout the game. Bonnie didn't seem to be having the same problem. She'd also, she realized with a flash of sudden horror, forgotten that the thermos refilled with whatever its first contents had been.
Meaning that each refill had been spiked, and not just the first, as she'd thought.
"Damn," she muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing, Bon. Listen, I think we should just go back up to the cast-"
"No, Maggie, I told you...I want to see Ian, first!"
Maggie sighed, looking at Bonnie's flushed cheeks and her soft, drunk eyes.
"Fine, Bon," she said. "I know I'm not going to persuade you. But five minutes, alright? That's all you're getting. And then we really are going back up to the castle."
"Fine, fine..."
Their feet hit the wet grass, and Bonnie was off like a shot, flying toward her Slytherin friend.
"Ian! Ian!"
He turned, smiling slightly when he saw her running through the rain. She misjudged how long it would take to stop, and skidded on the wet grass, colliding with him. Luckily, he caught her, holding her up. Her hands came to a rest on his shoulders.
"Oops," she giggled. "Sorry."
"Quite alright, Bonnie. Are you..."
She lost her balance and slipped, and Ian looped an arm around her waist to keep her standing.
"This grass is so slippery," she said, breathless and still giggly, "it is going to kill me."
"Bonnie, what...?"
"I wanted to find you," she told him very solemnly. "'Cause Slytherin didn't win, and I think they should have, and also you are the best Chaser ever in Hogwarts."
Ian raised his eyebrows and glanced over Bonnie's shoulder to Maggie, standing helplessly by the stands with a hand over her eyes.
"Bonnie, are you..."
"Maggie had hot chocolate," she told him. "Ian, have I ever told you..."
"Told me what?"
"You're really cute, did you know that?"
"...Thank you?"
"Even more than Cedric, and everyone likes Cedric."
"Bonnie, I think Mag..."
He didn't get to finish his sentence, as Bonnie rose up on her toes, pressing closer to him until their noses touched.
"I really like you, Ian," she whispered. "Like...really like you. Okay?"
"Okay...Bonnie..."
But whatever he was going to say was lost, as Bonnie, with uncharacteristic boldness, brushed his lips with hers. And then they were kissing, drenched by the sheeting rain, Ian's arms tight around Bonnie's waist, her hands pressed to his chest.
Ian, when he managed to pull his thoughts back together, was the first to pull away. He pushed Bonnie back gently by the shoulders.
"Bonnie," he said, eyes both curious and hurt, "You should go back to the castle now, okay? Get out of the cold."
"But..."
Her eyes were bright, but whether it was because of the firewhiskey or the kiss, he couldn't tell. Ian had imagined that moment for longer than he cared to admit, but it had never included a Bonnie so drunk she could hardly walk.
"Maggie, can you help Bonnie get back to the castle?"
Bonnie, eyes wide, looked as if she couldn't quite understand why Ian wasn't coming with her.
"Yeah," Maggie said, looking embarrassed enough for all of them. "Of course."
She put her arm around Bonnie's shoulder and began to lead her away.
"Rosier?" She called over her shoulder, looking back to see Ian with a hand buried in his hair, head down. He glanced up at her. "I'm sorry," she said.
Ian nodded and turned away, walking slowly to the Slytherin changing rooms as Maggie and Bonnie headed slowly for the castle.
"Oh, Bonnie," she said quietly. "What are we going to do with you?"
Bonnie was walking in a daze, hair dripping into her eyes and a hand pressed lightly to her lips.
"I'm so sorry, Bon," Maggie continued, though she wasn't really sure Bonnie was listening at all. "I hadn't thought..."
Neither, of course, had Bonnie.
Maggie got her back to Hufflepuff and into the dormitory without incident, where she made sure Bonnie didn't fall over as she got changed. Maggie tapped one of the bed warmers with her wand and slipped it under Bonnie's mattress before pouring a glass of water from the clay pitcher on the high windowsill.
"Drink this," she ordered as she set it down, before aiming a jet of hot air from her wand to Bonnie's head, drying her hair. "I've got a sleeve of soda crackers, too, and I want you to eat those, okay?"
Bonnie nodded, blinking blearily, and yawned.
"Maggie, I'm tired. Why am I so tired. And I feel funny. Where's Ian? Did he leave?"
"...You...could say that."
"Oh. I kissed him, Maggie. Didn't I?"
"You sure did, Bon."
"Am I drunk?"
Maggie laughed.
"Just a bit."
"Oh. I never knew it felt like this. I'm not sure I like it."
"That's okay. You don't have to."
"I'm sleepy, Maggie."
"I know. Hold on just a bit, okay? Let me dry your hair."
Maggie finished drying her friend's hair, then braided it for her quickly. Bonnie nestled into her pillows, pulling her blankets up like a cocoon around her.
"Maggie?"
"Bonnie?"
"You're a good friend. You know that?"
"...I wish I were, Bonnie. You wouldn't regret quite as much in the morning."
"Good night, Maggie."
"Good night, Bon."
When Bonnie woke up in the morning, it was to a blaring headache and even more blazing embarrassment.
"What have I done?" she muttered, blushing furiously into the early-morning air. And how, she wondered, was she ever going to be able to look at Ian again?
For now, she decided, she just wasn't going to.
Let Operation Avoid Ian Rosier (or "O! Air" as she called it...but only in her head) commence.
Avoidance, honestly, wasn't very hard. Mostly, it involved curling up in the Hufflepuff Common Room with (normal!) cocoa and homework on Saturday instead of going to meet Ian at the Room of Requirement, and then keeping her head down during mealtimes.
"Almost no one's talking about it," Maggie assured her. "Really, Bonnie, hardly anyone saw."
""Hardly anyone" doesn't include Ian," Bonnie reminded her. "And he's the one that matters."
But by Monday morning, any and all talk involving one Miss. Bonnie Hargrave was over and done with.
There were bigger fish to fry.
Colin Creevey had been petrified.
Just like Mrs. Norris.
The first human victim.
This time, the school was not just abuzz. The whole school was roaring. Amulets were being sold in the corridors, talismans could be seen everywhere. Everyone seemed to have their own idea about what was causing these strange attacks.
"It's Salazar Slytherin himself!" She heard one over-excited Gryffindor first-year exclaim. "Back from the dead!"
Sadly, this was not the worst of the crackpot theories. Most of which, even more sadly, did not come from first-years.
"Bonnie."
So great was her surprise and so frazzled her nerves that Bonnie, who had thought she was alone in the hallway, shrieked and tossed all of her books in the air.
"You didn't think you'd be able to avoid me forever, did you?"
Of course.
Ian Rosier.
It would be.
"I was hoping for at least the week," Bonnie admitted, avoiding his eyes as she took a few books from him. "Or at least until I could stop my face from turning into a tomato at the thought of speaking to you, whichever came first."
"Bonnie..."
"Look Ian, I'm...I'm sorry, alright? I'd never had that much Firewhiskey in my life...or any Firewhiskey for that matter...so I was drunk, and I wasn't thinking, and..."
"Did you mean it?"
"What?"
"You told me..."
"I...I remember, Ian. Believe me."
"You remember what you told me?"
"...Yeees."
"Did you mean it?"
Maybe, normally, she would have fibbed. Said she was too drunk to know what she was saying. Said she didn't remember.
But she'd made the mistake of making eye contact, and Ian looked so earnest and upset that something stopped her.
"Ian, I..."
"Bonnie. Please. It's very important to me. You know I would never...never make fun of you. Please. Just tell me."
Bonnie blinked, looked down, looked at the wall, looked everywhere but at Ian.
"Yes, Ian," she whispered. "I meant it."
She'd never seen such a big smile on Ian Rosier's face. And even this she didn't see for long, because Ian's hands were suddenly cradling her face, suddenly buried in her hair, and his lips were suddenly on hers.
Bonnie very nearly dropped all of her books once again.
"I like you, too, Bonnie Hargrave," Ian said. "Like, really like you. And I meant that. And I mean this..."
They didn't leave that hallway for a long time.
And when they did, it was with bright smiles and hands entwined between them.