Chapter 8

"I figured out who you're going to date!" I said excitedly to Ella at dinner. It was two days later, and I'd spotted a boy in our year in Ravenclaw. James Trenton was perfect for Ella, in my opinion.

"What's so great about him?" Ella asked. "I mean, he's sort of hot, but so what?"

"Oh, no, he's not 'hot', he's handsome. And he's a perfect gentleman. He's really smart, and-"

"Sounds like you like him," Ella commented.

"What? Ew, no!" I made a face. "He's just a friend. But I'm going to start making you sound great. I'll let you know how it goes."

The next day, I caught up with James Trenton and casually mentioned Ella. I did this every day for a week, and one day I introduced them. James seemed quite interested in her.

"He's so nice!" Ella said one day at breakfast.

"James? I know!" I answered, proud that I had made such a good choice. "Isn't he great?"

"Well, it sounds like you're finally warming up to me," James Potter said, sitting beside me.

"I wasn't talking about you," I said, scowling.

"Of course you were! What other James is there that's worth talking about?" He ate a piece of my toast.

"None of your business."

"Yeah, bugger off. Can't you tell when you're not wanted?" Ella said, glaring at him.

James glared back at her, grinned at me (with a mouthful of toast, I might add), and left.

"Ah, he vexes me so!" I declared, frustrated.

"Reading those Victorian-era novels again, are we?" Ella asked, raising an eyebrow. I stuck my tongue out at her. "Wow, great comeback," she said.

"What are you two immature kids doing now?" Al teased as he sat down with us.

"…said the boy who still reads Muggle comic books," I teased back.

"Hey," he protested, "they're entertaining!"

"Shut it, you lot! I can't hear what James is talking about," Ella said, ear turned toward the Ravenclaw table.

"I don't think us being quiet will make much of a difference," Al said. It was hard to hear the people across from you sometimes, let alone across the Great Hall.

"Admit it, I'm a genius," I told her.

"Psh, I would've seen him eventually," Ella replied. Of course, I should've known she wouldn't give me any credit. Al and I exchanged grins as she leaned way out to listen to James Trenton's conversation.

"Ah!" Ella fell off the bench. Al and I both laughed before I helped her up.

"Are you alright?" I asked, trying to compose myself.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said distractedly. She was looking to see if James had seen. Following her gaze, I saw James looking concerned. She gave him an embarrassed grin, and upon seeing her undamaged, James flashed her a brilliant smile. Since I was still holding her arms from helping her up, I felt Ella almost swoon.

"You need to sit down," I instructed. Then to Al I said, "Am I good, or what?"

As I guessed he would, James asked Ella out that day. "Yay, yay, yay! I'm so excited for you! Which is probably a good thing because you're not excited for you at all," I said, putting my hands on my hips.

We were in the girls' dormitory, getting Ella ready. "Would you relax? It's just a date. We're not even really going anywhere. It's just a picnic."

"Yeah, but it's a romantic picnic, with a really hot guy!" I was delighted. "Perhaps with a guy who actually returns your affection, you will see that Orion is a heartless, cruel person whose only objective in life is to snog the daylights out of any female that moves with no consideration to her feelings."

"He's not heartless and cruel, Mae, he's just a bloke. Some blokes are like that."

"He is heartless! He's a prat, just like James Potter," I informed her. "You shouldn't waste another second of your time on him."

"Hey, this whole make- Orion- jealous thing was your idea," Ella reminded me. "And I can like whoever I want."

"I know. You want to like James Trenton," I said, pretending to hypnotize her.

"You don't need to do that. I already like him. Why else would I have said yes?"

"Um, because that's part of the plan? The plan that I no longer agree with. I say we make a new plan. You date James, forget about Orion, and live happily ever after! Oh, yes, it's brilliant!"

We couldn't see them picnicking from the common room windows, so Rose and I had to wait for Ella to get back to hear the details. I had recently told Rose and Al the news. Naturally, Al didn't really care, except for the fact that one of his best mates was happy. Finally, she returned.

"Gosh, that was the longest Saturday afternoon of my life!" I said as soon as she walked in.

"Really? It went by so fast for me," Ella said breezily.

"You must tell us everything," Rose smiled.

"Well," Ella began, "He was very gentlemanly, like you said, Mae."

"Urgh," Al said, pretending to vomit. "I'm leaving before this gets worse."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Go on, Ella. Tell us how he was a gentleman," she prompted.

"He gave me a flower and kissed my hand," Ella gushed.

"He didn't!"

"He did! And then we had a nice long walk to the far side of the Black Lake, and then we had a picnic. And you'll be so proud, Mae, I didn't stuff my face!"

I laughed. "That's good," I said. "Keep going."

"Hmm, well, we talked about… stuff," Ella said. "And that's all I want to tell you."

"No fair!" I exclaimed.

"He kissed you, didn't he?" Rose asked calmly.

"No, of course not, why would you say that?" Ella answered, but her face gave it away.

"You're blushing! He did kiss you! What was it like?" I squealed.

"It wasn't like a big snogfest or anything, just a peck." She blushed harder.

"On the lips?"

"Yes."

"Eeeeeeee!" I hugged her.


I could tell James really liked Ella. Indeed, soon they were "official." Although it had been my original plan, I was superbly surprised to see Orion acting as he was supposed to. I hadn't even really believed he would, but there he was, suddenly asking a lot of questions about Ella. Eventually, I thought I saw him look almost longingly at her.

Thankfully, Ella was distracted by her new boyfriend. Still, it was sometimes annoying that she spent quite a lot of her time with him. I was bored and lonely and wishing I had someone special. Rose was still going out with her boyfriend Jacob, who, being in Ravenclaw, was friends with James Trenton. So, of course, they all did things together and had a jolly time and I was left doing my homework with Al.

"Hey, can I read what you put for your introduction on the Potions essay?" I asked him one Saturday. It was exceptionally warm for the beginning of February. A warm front had come in, and no one was wasting it. Al and I sat under a tree, on a patch of dry ground.

"Yeah, sure," he answered, handing his parchment to me.

His almost- finished essay gave me ideas, so I handed it back and began my own. Occasionally, I looked up to give my eyes a rest. I watched Ella, James, Rose, and Jacob all laughing together.

"Hmph. Look at them, all happy and whatnot," I grumbled.

"Well, I, for one, am glad that we don't have to be around them when they go all mushy-gushy. Not pleasant," Al replied, mock scowling.

"Oh, Al, you're so unromantic," I said.

Al didn't reply. He was busy scribbling on a scrap of parchment.

After a moment, I asked, "What are you working on now?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, folding up the parchment and stuffing it in his bag. "Just some… writing." This was highly suspicious.

"Come on, I let you see my writing," I begged, reaching for his bag.

"No," he said, more forcefully than usual. When he saw my taken aback expression, he amended, "It's just a rough draft. You can read it when it's done, alright?"

"Promise?"

"Yes."

"Alright," I said meekly. "What is it, anyway? A story?"

"You'll see."

A quiet moment passed, and then Al said, "You know, I was thinking that maybe if you talked to James- I mean, really talked to him- perhaps he'd leave you alone."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, talk like a mature person, instead of yelling at him. It was just a thought."

"I guess I could try."

So the next time James approached me and made comments about me going out with him, I said, "Look, James. I'm tired of this. You can be a really nice guy sometimes, like when you apologized that one time. That was very nice."

"Then why do you hate me so much?" he asked, looking slightly hurt.

"I don't hate you," I said. "I just don't like you like that."

"You used to," he stated, as if that solved everything.

"Yes, I used to. But I'm allowed to change my mind. And I suggest you change your mind about me and focus on someone else."

James sighed. I felt a little guilty about hurting him, but not that much. "Can we at least be friends?"

"Of course."

"If that makes you happy, then I'm happy too," he said.

Then he rather boldly gave me a hug. After a long moment, I said, "Alright, now you're pushing it."

"Sorry." He stepped back, blushing slightly.


Please review! All Harry Potter characters belong to JK Rowling. All other characters (aka Ella, Mae, and such) are mine.