"You have got to be joking!" Rose scoffed loudly, with the most entertained expression on her face. Annabelle, Kenzie, and Eryn shared her amusement. The only person not looking as though they were hardly able to contain laughter was Sam, the woman in question.

"I'm not," she muttered quietly. "I'm really not."

"And neither of you vomited?" Annabelle gawked. Sam shook her head.

"Nope."

"Or, you know, spontaneously combusted?"

Sam patted her sides and crossed legs. "Do I look like a pile of skin and broken bones?" she asked rhetorically.

The five friends were gathered once again, the weekend after Neville and Sam's fateful lip-lock. The grass was still frozen and cold, but they'd brought out blankets to sit on and coats to bundle up in and were watching the Giant Squid poke his tentacles out of the Black Lake. No one else was out, but they didn't mind. It was a nice change from the hustle and bustle of their common rooms.

"But you know what the strangest thing is?" Eryn said suddenly, breaking off the happiness and looking curious instead. All her friends stared at her. "You don't seem self-righteous about it all. Like, you aren't rubbing your success in our faces like we'd expect."

A cold look overcame Sam as her memories swirled within her head. Of what Neville had said to her. Of how she felt so empty and at a loss for words when his claims hit her head-on, without deliberation or consideration of her feelings.

"…You treat people like their dispensable…"

"…They see your beauty and only want to get into your pants…"

"…I don't like you, Samantha…"

"Sam?" Kenzie's voice cut through the fog of Neville Longbottom. She shook her head, clearing the smoke so that she was back in reality. Her friends were all gazing at her worriedly, but she smiled a very convincing smile.

"I've just become a better person. Y'know what I mean? I'm grown since the beginning of the year. I've come to learn that sex is not all that matters."

"It's been two months in, Sam," Rose pointed out, always the cynic.

"And guess what I heard?" All eyes turned to Annabelle now. "A dirty little rumor about our dear little Sam! One that involves her and Neville Longbottom's lips!"

Kenzie drew an over exaggerated gasp. Eryn pretended to faint into Rose's arms, much to Sam's embarrassment. She felt her heated cheeks grow even more so when Annabelle continued.

"And, apparently, he left in a huff."

"In a huff?" Eryn giggled.

"In a huff!" Annabelle repeated loudly. "The first guy ever to kiss Samantha Calloway and not bed her ten minutes later!"

"What an outright scandal!" Kenzie shrieked, her smile never leaving. Sam kicked her fluently.

"Stuff it," she grumbled. "It's not bloody funny! I swear I've never been kissed like that before! He wasn't all about sex or getting into my knickers! It was…different, somehow. I don't know about it all, just that I want it again. Badly." All the girls shared a knowing look before smiling broadly.

"Sam and Neville, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-"

"I'm leaving, bitches!" And she got off the grass and left.

Harry wandered up one of the many staircases to get to the Gryffindor common room. It was late evening – almost curfew, to be exact – and he was ready to drop onto his bed and fall fast asleep. Classes had drained him of anything he had left.

He was drifting farther up until he heard a noise that greatly resembled giggling. Girlish laughter, coming from down the hall of one of the flights of stairs. He turned his head towards the noise and slowly made his way down, trying to identify the sounds.

No one else seemed to be on that level, for some reason. As if they had purposely avoided the squeals of joy coming from a certain room. He only ran into one person on his way.

"Rose!" he called to where she sat, one knee up by her chest, the other dangling off the edge of the windowsill she sat on. A thick novel entitled Impulse was in her hand as she looked up curiously to see what he wanted.

"Hmm?"

"Do you hear that?"

A moment of silence passed between them as Rose listened to the quiet being broken by giggles and chuckles. Her face blanched a bit but she hid it well enough for Harry not to question why her skin suddenly resembled that of Draco Malfoy.

"That giggling, you mean?" she asked, trying to keep the anxiety out of her tone. She knew who it was making those sounds. She just didn't want Harry to find out.

"Yeah. Any idea who it might be?" he replied. She shrugged and looked back at her book.

"No idea. But if I were you, I'd head up to the common room before Filch skins you alive and mounts your head in his office." Harry quirked an eyebrow.

"You're out here. Why can't I be?"

"Because, Harry, my dear, I am twice the liar you'll ever be. And to add to that, I have the femininity that you lack that makes Filch think twice before sending me to Dumbledore. Plus, I could kill him with my bare hands," she said casually. He let out a bit of a laugh.

"You can't."

"You know Thurston Wentworth?"

"Who?"

"Exactly."

Gulping rather loudly, Harry put both hands up in surrender and backed away towards the sound. Rose smiled to herself at her success in scaring the shit out of him.

As he moved further down the corridors, the sounds became louder until he could tell they were just within the confines of the Charms room. Taking a shuddering breath, he took hold of the doorknob, turned, and yanked it open.

And he was met with the sight of a half-naked Eryn, a partially-naked Kenzie, and a completely nude Sam.

Having a pillow fight with the Charms cushions.

He gawked for a second as they couldn't tell he was there. His face became beet red and he averted his eyes from his long-time crush's nearly exposed chest. With as much silence as he could muster, he closed the door again and ran to the common room so fast he left skid marks.

The day of Hogsmeade arrived and as such, Eryn was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement. She was about to have her first real date with Harry fucking Potter! It was all she could do not to fling herself off the Astronomy Tower and trust him to catch her.

"Okay, Eryn?" Rose said calmly, holding her shoulders down so she wouldn't fly away. "Chill out. Now."

"But I'm so freaking pumped!" Eryn cried out, making several students look at her oddly. She shrugged it off. Being the strange kid in Hogwarts was no different than Harry being the Chosen One. It came by birth and there was nothing they could do to stop those names from emitting other's mouths.

"I'm so happy!" she squealed, and bounded down the walkway leading to Hogsmeade. Every other student in third year or over was behind her and her friends, who were attempting to keep up.

"Why isn't Sam coming to Hogsmeade again?" Annabelle asked curiously. Kenzie shrugged.

"No clue. She said she had to study, but we all know that's code for I'm fucking some seventh year. So, yeah, the norm, really." Rose and Annabelle chuckled but nodded in agreement. Nothing new there.

They moved inland, towards the middle of small village. Eryn immediately stopped at the post office, shifting from foot to foot. As he friends neared her, she fixed her hair and attempted to make her cheeks look less red.

"You look fine, don't worry!" Kenzie assured her. She patted down some of her friend's hair as she smiled nervously. The real Eryn, hidden beneath excitement and jubilance, was finally showing. The Eryn that was anxious for her first date with Harry.

"He'll be here at ten," Eryn informed them for the thousandth time. But they loved her, and nodded as though the information was new. "What time is it now?"

"Nine fifty-eight," Rose replied, looking at her watch. "Just a few more minutes."

"We'll be in the post office. Rose and Kenzie need to get quills and envelopes anyways," Annabelle said. "And don't run off without giving us some sort of signal. We want to know everything afterwards!"

Eryn laughed comfortably and gave them a thumbs up before they ran into the shop and began to look around. The butterflies continued to erupt within Eryn's belly. This was it. She was finally doing it!

By the time that two 'o' clock rolled around, Eryn was willed back to Hogwarts by her friends. They'd wished to take her out to the Hog's Head – it was quieter than the Three Broomsticks, gave them more privacy for tears – but she'd merely shook off the idea and told them that she just wanted to stand outside forever. The next best thing was heading back to the school.

"I can't believe he didn't show," Eryn murmured into her scarf. Rose and Kenzie had their arms around her shoulders and waist, and Annabelle was holding Rose's hand. It was possibly the saddest they'd ever seen her. Happy little Eryn was lower than any number of dead people buried into the earth. And that scared them a bit.

"Something must've come up –"

"Maybe Snape gave him detention, the slimy git –"

"Remember, he asked you out. You can easily say you forgot as well!"

They continued to put out ideas as to why he didn't come, but Eryn knew that there was small chance of any of them actually happening. She just wanted to curl up into her bed with a blanket and sleep away all her troubles.

They arrived back at the castle and climbed up the stairs until they got to the Gryffindor common room. Rose assured the Fat Lady that Eryn wouldn't cause as much ruckus as usual. The Fat Lady held her to that with ease, as tears were practically leaking down her face.

"To hell with him, I say!" Kenzie shouted, plopping onto the sofa next to her friend. Eryn leaned into her as Annabelle was by her other side and Rose took the armchair.

"Yeah."

"You can do better than some asshole who stood you up!" Annabelle offered.

"You're right."

"Let's go burn something!" Rose cried. Several odd looks made her shrug and sink back. "Just a suggestion."

"I still love him," Eryn murmured. "I always will."

As she said so, the stairs leading to the boy's dormitories clattered and down came Sam, her hair a mess of sex, her shirt slightly open. It was more than obvious to her friends – who had seen sexed-up Sam before – that she had just shagged some bloke in Gryffindor. This wasn't worrisome at all.

"What's up with you?" Sam asked curiously, seeing Eryn looking pathetic and sad. She shrugged.

"Harry didn't show up to our date," she murmured. A slightly change in emotion on Sam's face as she hugged her friend around the neck.

"Poor muffin," she sighed. A bright smile lit her lips afterwards, though. "I know what'll cheer you up!"

And from behind her back, she procured a silk black top. It was longer and larger than Sam was by a fair bit and smelled faintly of cologne. Eryn took it kindly and smiled at the sight.

"It's beautiful," she mumbled. "Thanks."

"No problem. Just be sure to wear it tomorrow, alright?" Sam threw her friends a suggestive wink before waltzing out of the common room and down to the Ravenclaw house. Eryn looked at her friends curiously.

"What's up with her?" Annabelle shrugged.

"Who knows? Sexed-up Sam is just as dangerous as drunk Kenzie or angry Rose."

Because she loved her friend, and because she had nothing else to wear, Eryn took Sam's advice and threw the thin black shirt over her head. She got several strange looks from students going down the halls to breakfast, but otherwise was treated as was the norm. She plopped down at the Gryffindor table next to Rose.

"You look chipper," Rose commented, and got a couple giggles at the new word.

Eryn shrugged. "I'll deal with the Harry shit later. Right now, I want cookies." And she grabbed a big chocolate chip cookie from the center of the table. Sam, who was sitting across the table with Kenzie and Annabelle was attempting to keep laughs in that no one took notice of.

"Um, Eryn?"

A nervous voice came from behind her and Annabelle gaped. Eryn's blood froze and her breath caught. Slowly, she turned around to face Harry fucking Potter. The man who had caused her so much bloody heartache last night. The man she was still so bloody in love with. The man she both loved and despised.

"Harry," she replied in what she hoped was a cool, uncaring voice. It came out a bit more flustered than she had meant it to.

"Um…why are you wearing my shirt?"

And every one of the girls froze.

CLIFFHANGER! dun, dun, DUUUUUNNNN... :)

So, a lot of liney thingies here, but I couldn't put it together. Didn't make a lot of sense otherwise.

With any luck, you'll find out all the mysteries to this story next time :) Or at least this mystery. The rest will wait :D

REVIEW! :D