Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling, nor will I ever be. Therefore, I do not own Harry Potter or it's characters... Just wanted to make that clear... haha

This story is rated T for foul language

Chapter 5

Ari's POV

"WHAT Ja-"

I'm not even able to finish my question before James is kissing me. He is cupping my face with both of his hands, pulling my face to his. His lips press against mine furiously, desperately. It's as if he's trying to get all the answers to his questions with this one action. As if this one kiss will make everything right and bring things back to the way they were before.

I start to get into the kiss and grab his shirt to pull him closer, but then I realize that this kiss is really just in response to what happened with Monroe. Although I would LOVE to continue kissing him, I remind myself that this isn't the same James from before and I push him away. "No… This isn't right."

He releases me and backs away, the look on his face showing immediate regret for what he had just done. "Ariana… I'm so… so sorry." He turns and retreats from my room, flashing me one more apologetic look before he does.

I wait until I hear his bedroom door close and then I crawl onto my bed and curl up. I reach around for my wand and quickly send a patronus message. I only lie on my bed waiting for a few minutes before a sleepy Landen is standing in my doorway. He yawns loudly and gives a dramatic stretch. "Why did you send your bloody phoenix into my room?"

I continue to lie curled up on my side when I respond flatly. "I just wanted to talk…"

He stretches again and shakes his head. "You know, we don't all have nightmares and stay up until the wee hours of the night like you Ariana. I was actually sleeping."

We actually do this all the time. If I have a nightmare, I usually just send him a patronus and he shows up. Sometimes the nightmares aren't bad enough for me to send him a message. So he knows that, when he does get one, it's important. A lot of the times that I call him over due to nightmares, he spends the night. It's nothing romantic; it's just that the company soothes me. In my nightmares, I am alone. I watch everything happen alone. I am left standing in the cemetery alone. So it was really hard to wake up and be alone as well. It made the fallout from the nightmares so much worse. The first time he spent the night, it was a bit weird. But now we barely even think about it. He's even started keeping some clothes here since he's here so often.

Normally I would insult him back in some way, shape or form, but right now all I could muster up was "Please?"

His face gets serious and he walks over to my bed, taking a seat on the mattress. "Yea alright… I was only joking. What's wrong?"

I sigh. "James… He-"

He cuts me off and gently grabs my chin, inspecting my face. "Did he hurt you? I'll bloody kill him if he did…" I shake my head and he releases my chin. "Then what Ari? I'm tired and at my wits end here! What happened?"

I sigh again. "He… He kissed me."

I see confusion play out on his face as he registers what I just said. His mouth twitches up into a smirk and he raises an eyebrow at me. "He kissed you? I'm awake right now because he kissed you? Was it really that bad?"

I frown. "Landen, this is no time for jokes… I don't know what I'm going to do!"

He shrugs his shoulders. "Well you could always avoid kissing him again."

"Landon you twat…"

He grins. "There's the spitfire I know and love. Are you alright now or do you need me to stay?"

I shrug my shoulders. "It's up to you. I would LIKE for you to stay, but it's up to you."

"Well then stay I shall!" He lies back with his arm outstretched. "Come on then. I know the drill."

I scoot over to him and lay my head on his shoulder with a smile. "Thank you."

He wraps his outstretched arm around me protectively and gives me a hug. He plants a kiss on the top of my head and yawns. "See you in the morning."

I nod my head and reciprocate his yawn. "See you in the morning."

Landen's POV

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

I open my eyes and groan. I grab Ariana's watch off of her bedside table and turn of the alarm. I rub my eyes and slowly work my arm out from under Ariana. I get up from her bed and look at her. Her mouth is open and her hair is strewn messily about her face. She looks so cute when she sleeps…

I grab a pillow from her bed and snicker as I raise it up and bring it crashing down onto her face. She jerks upright and looks around, clearly startled. I start laughing and she turns her head toward me. "You bloody prat… Must you wake me up that way EVERY time?"

I shrug my shoulders and walk over to her trunk. "Of course!" I pull out a tie and groan. "Is it the bloody weekend yet?"

She laughs and tosses the pillow at me. "Actually, it IS Friday…"

"We should throw a party tonight!"

She rolls her eyes and grins. "We can talk about this in class. Hurry up and get dressed or we are going to be late!" She walks over to her dresser and tosses me a shirt while pulling out one of her own. We quickly get dressed in our uniforms and briskly walk to our first class.

We swiftly take our seats in Transfigurations just as Professor Patil is beginning class. I pull out a piece of parchment and a quill. I write down my note and slide it over to Ariana.

So how about that party?

She rolls her eyes and scrawls something back quickly. She slides it back over to me.

I'm Head Girl… I can't be involved with a party.

Well you don't have to HOST the party; you just have to show up.

Again, that would be highly against my better judgment.

Oh Ari, don't be such a prat. Just come to the party!

Where do you even plan on having this party?

I was thinking the room of requirements.

That's actually not a bad idea…

I told you! You know… since you can't attend the party as a guest… maybe you can attend as a "chaperone"…

Look at you go! Someone's feeling pretty brilliant today, huh? Who all are you going to invite?

I'm not sure yet… I'm thinking most of the Gryffindor house, excluding Monroe and her bitchy friends. Al of course… None of the other snakes though. The Puffs can come too. Maybe even the Ravenclaws can come.

Two flaws with that lovely plan of yours. 1)If you don't invite Monroe or her friends then they are going to go to McGonagall about it. 2)You have no way of inviting all those people without getting caught.

Alright fine. I will invite Monroe and her little troll followers. But I'm not happy about it… If they ruin the party I'm coming after you. As for inviting people, I have that covered.

I'm not sure I like where you're going with this…

You have to admit, it sounds like it will be fun though. So it's decided then? I'm inviting all of Gryffindor, all of Hufflepuff, and all of Ravenclaw? And Al?

Sounds like quite a guest list.

You are going to come right?

I don't know…

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaseeeee?

Only if you agree to never do that again.

Agreed! I'm going to have to get Freddie in on this...

What time will it be at?

You have to wait for your invite just like everyone else.

Prat.

I lift my quill to respond but get interrupted by Professor Patil shouting at us. "Mister Raghnall! Miss Brighton! Do I need to separate you two?"

Ariana and I snicker and I respond. "No Professor. Ariana says she will behave now. I'm very sorry for her lack of control."

She kicks me under the table and sighs. "I'm very sorry Professor. It won't happen again."

After that, class flies by. As we leave the classroom, I grab Ariana's arm with a grin. "Let's go give out those invitations."

She laughs and shakes her head. "Landen, I have class. You are going to have to do this without me."

I push out my bottom lip and attempt to pout. She rolls her eyes and pushes me playfully. "I have to go to class. But I better get an invite!"

I shrug my shoulders and smirk. "I'll see if I can put in a good word with the host for you."

She flips me off and walks away. I roll my eyes with a grin and turn to go find Freddie. It doesn't take me long to find him. "OI! FREDDIE!"

He jogs over to me with a grin. "Morning Landen! What sorts of mischief can I help you with today?"

I grin mischievously. "How do you feel about throwing a party?"

(Break)

I stand at the entrance to the room of requirements and admire mine and Freddie's handiwork with a grin. The music is blasting and there are students dancing all around. There are lights flashing and streaming throughout the room. There is a long table with food and nonalcoholic drinks on it. On the wall opposite it, there is a table with butterbeers and firewhiskeys on it. The table with the alcohol has a charm on it so that nobody can have more than one firewhiskey, just so that we don't have loads of pissed students stumbling around the castle.

Monroe and James walk up to the door holding hands. "Can we get in?"

I laugh loudly and roll my eyes. "Well that was fast, Potter…"

Monroe giggles and kisses him. "Can we get in or not Landen?"

I scoff at them and nod. "Sadly, Ariana insists that I say yes. So go knock yourselves out."

Monroe giggles again and pulls James into the room. I roll my eyes and grimace. I look back down the corridor and see Ariana coming toward me with Al. My grimace turns to a grin as she twirls in a circle in front of me, her red dress splaying out as she does. "What do you think?"

I nod approvingly. "Very nice. That outfit screams 'I just stumbled upon this party and now I'm here strictly to supervise.'"

She smirks and twirls again. "That's what I was going for!"

I look over to Al and my grimace returns. "Did you see the crazy couple is back together again?"

He shakes his head and frowns. "Ugh yes. I honestly thought he was heading in the right direction, then he goes and does something like this…"

Ariana smacks us both on the arm. "This is a party! Let's not spend it talking about how daft James is! Now let's go party! Oh, I mean 'supervise'…"

Al and I laugh and we all walk in. I wrap my arm around Ariana and the three of us wander through the party to find Freddie. After about ten minutes of looking for Freddie, Al abandons us when he sees a pretty Ravenclaw who is standing by the food table shyly.

Ariana and I take this as an opportunity to sit down, but not before we make a stop to the table with the alcohol. Ariana is hesitant to take a bottle of firewhiskey at first, but after she sees Monroe and James snogging in the corner, she snatches a bottle off the table and takes a swig of it.

Ari's POV

The firewhiskey burns as it runs down my throat, but leaves a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach. I link arms with Landen and we walk over to a couch that sits against one of the walls. We take a seat and he puts his arm around my shoulder as he takes a drink of his firewhiskey. I take another drink and look around. There are hundreds of students here, most of which are dancing. A few are sitting on couches talking or snogging. Al is leaning against the wall talking to a Ravenclaw he met last year. I smile as he and the girl walk out and begin dancing.

I look over at Landen and take another drink. "Where's Freddie?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "I'm not too sure. He was here when the party started. I think I see him… I'm going to go check on him."

I nod as he gets up and walks away. I take a deep breath and take another swig of my drink and wince as it goes down my throat. I close my eyes and take another deep breath, losing myself in thought. My thoughts are interrupted by someone plopping down next to me. "You know, this is a party. No sleeping allowed."

I shake my head and open my eyes. "Why oh why do you insist on bothering me Rylan?"

He takes a large gulp from the bottle of firewhiskey and grins at me. "How about we go dance?" He sloppily leans his face close to mine and whispers "I can make all your troubles disappear. Just one dance and your whole world could change." I lean away from him and grimace. His breath smells strongly of alcohol. He flashes me a crooked smile and grabs my arm, giving it a hard tug. I really don't want to dance with him, but I'm not in the mood to deal with a drunk jerk so I finish off my drink and follow him out into the middle of the room.

I can feel the effects of the firewhiskey as soon as I get up off the couch. I hold out my free hand to try and balance myself as I am drug behind a tripping and stumbling Rylan. I decide that as soon as I get the chance, I'm going to get away from this lightweight. I don't trust him at all when he's sober, let alone when he's drunk. He releases my arm as he trips over himself yet again, and I realize this is my chance to get away.

I duck down and slowly back away from Rylan, who is holding himself up by grabbing onto a chair and another person. I make my way back to the couch I was on before and try to sit, but I am stopped by someone gripping my arm. I turn around to see who is holding my arm so tight and gasp.

"I just wanted to let you know I'm back. And I plan on picking up where we left off."

Oho! Who could this mystery person be? Why is James back with Monroe? Where has Freddie gotten off to? So many questions! :P

As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I would absolutely love to know what you thought about the chapter!

Thanks yall! :)

-Tx