A/N: Can I just say that I just realized that every chapter title has differed from the one before it? It keeps changing! Sometimes I mention the name of the chapter, sometimes I don't, sometimes I don't put anything at all! That is very unintentional, by the way. I'm going to try to keep it the same from now on. I'm a retard, I know I know.

I dedicate this chapter to blanimal, for giving me very real critique and I'm very thankful for that. I also dedicate this chapter to emme019, a fellow HP and HG fan, who motivated me to start writing this chapter. Go check out her stories! Thank you guys for all of your support!

This chapter is named after a Florence + the Machine song. Go listen to it. Love that lady!

Chapter 26 - Seven Devils

"James, why are you doing this?"

His arms were crossed as he strode down the corridors blankly. His eyes were narrowed and his lips were thin, and I really just wanted to punch him right them and there. "Because it was stupid."

"No, it wasn't," I countered snidely, my tone contradicting my words. "Just admit it. You kissed me!"

"And you kissed me back!" he retorted, as if that was where the problem was. He kissed me first; isn't that a sign or something that he wanted me to kiss him back?

I wrinkled my nose. "Is that a problem?"

"Yeah, it is! I can think of a million reasons why that's a problem, Rosalie," he snapped.

I didn't want to ask the question bubbling in my throat. But before I knew it, it had crept out of my mouth and broke the tension and silence that had grown between us.

"And what are those reasons?" I inquired testily, eyebrows raised, almost challenging him.

James stopped. Looking at me with deep brown eyes, he said, "Well, for starters, we used to be enemies. We used to hate each other. We're rivals, we're opponents, we're opposites, and you are a cold-hearted Slytherin, and I am a Gryffindor! Are those reasons good enough for you?"

My fists were balled and my palms were starting to sweat. "Well, if you want to be that way, Potter."

He flinched visibly at the use of his last name, but he turned up his nose at me. "Whatever, Flint."

My fist collided with his chest, and I refrained from screaming out in pain. His chest was fucking hard, for Merlin's sake. The only satisfaction I got out of it was my punch seemed to hurt him, too, so I kept hushed.

So many emotions flickered over his face: hurt, anger, surprise, and multiple others. But he settled for a cold, hard expression and it left me feeling less proud of myself.

Not being able to bear him, I turned on my heel, and left him alone.

Rule Number One of Prefect rounds is to never separate from your partner. But I couldn't bring myself to be anywhere near him. I despised him and his cowardly character.

I also felt slightly hurt that he refused to acknowledge our... well, you know. I mean, he was the first person I felt anything towards outside of Matthias, and it felt pretty damn good.

But I understood. In a sick, twisted way, I understood. He'd come around, or at least I hoped.

My throat felt raw and my head was starting to pound, but I would not cry. I would not cry over someone as silly as James Potter.

I looked down at the sheet of paper, absolutely appalled. My eyes were the size of dinner plates as recognition set in. But I had never seen one on my work before. It turned my insides out and made me feel like bugs were crawling all over my skin. The sensation was despicable.

"Professor Binns," I said to the ghostly professor, approaching him as soon as every other student had left the classroom. "I think you've made a mistake. You gave me a D on my essay."

He looked to me with pallid, scrutinizing eyes. His voice was slow, low, and hallow, and he drawled every syllable. "No, Miss Flint, I didn't make a mistake."

"But I've never gotten a D before," I said, not letting the reality set in. I kept thinking that if maybe I argued a little more, he would realize that he'd made a mistake.

"Well, now you have." He gave me a petty smirk.

I took a deep breath. "I don't understand."

"Miss Flint," he said, now slightly annoyed. "You failed your essay. Flunked. It was horrid; I considered feeding it to Hagrid's new pet. It doesn't mind eating garbage."

Ignoring his terrible insults, I continued, "How? I've never failed before!"

"Well, you've spent so much time changing your fate and all," Professor Binns huffed dramatically, his voice hinted with sarcasm. "That you haven't saved much time for studying, have you?"

Clenching my jaw, I asked him seriously, "What can I do about my grade?"

"Nothing but exceed at the rest of the term's assignments," he responded. "Wouldn't want to tarnish those golden grades of yours, would we?"

With a terribly unhappy grimace, I walked out of the classroom without another word. My insides, which had previously been turned inside out, had now completely turned to mush. With a clenched jaw and angry, balled fists, I turned towards the Slytherin dormitories, bumping someone's shoulder in the process. I didn't even turn to apologize as I continued on my path.

"What do you mean Galloway got into a fight with our stand-in keeper?" I hollered angrily, arms hanging by my sides with balled fists. They had been balled so many times that week that my nails had actually indented the flesh on my hands.

"We mean," Corrin Vandevort commented snidely. "That both Galloway and the stand-in are in the infirmary with multiple injuries, and we need a new keeper by tomorrow." Her blonde hair was framing her face, sticking to the back of her neck from the humidity outside. Her eyes were as thin as slits as she stared at me with hostility.

About to make a retort, I was interrupted when Roland added, "We did try to tell you, but you were too busy doing stuff with your boyfriend."

"I don't have a boyfriend," I snapped, my face contorted with absolute rage.

"Oops, sorry, I meant Potter."

Frustrated, I brought a hand to my head, blocking out the light from my vision. I had an awful migraine. First James, then my school work, now this. I didn't think I could handle anymore. I was sinking in what felt like a deep pool of molasses.

"Well, what are we going to do about it?" Corrin asked snarkily from her chair, her feet hanging over one of the arms. Her silky hair was tied in a ponytail, and her judging eyes were piercing through me as I found an answer.

Giving her a cold glare, I said, "I need to find another keeper by the match tomorrow."

"Potter's got his own game to play," she remarked.

"I'm not going to ask bloody Potter! Shut your fat, ugly trap, would you?"

She pointed at me. "That's the anger we need to win the House Cup, Captain. Not this lovey dovey attitude you've had for the past month." Then, she shoved past me as she left our meeting, bumping our shoulders on purpose.

I did nothing to respond to her, but instead I stood with my mouth agape. My skin felt like it was blistering. I was irate.

Everybody nodded in approval before leaving, following Corrin's footsteps. This angered me further. The only one who remained behind was Albus. He gave me a sympathetic look.

"You're a good captain, Rose," he said. "But you need to get your head out of the clouds."

And then, I was left alone, totally and utterly frustrated.

Sitting in the booth across from Kate and Jared, I glared out the window unhappily. I had agreed to go with them to Hogsmeade in the naive hope that it would distract me from life But, instead, my problems decided to tag along for the ride, too, and I was just bringing the new couple down with me. I brought my mug of butterbeer to my lips and chugged a couple sips before slamming it back down.

"Someone's in a bad mood," Jared pointed out, signing for Kate. One of his arms were draped around her shoulders, and a permanent blush resided on Kate's high cheek bones.

She signed something back to him, and he continued for her.

"Kate's worried about you," he said as manly as possible, his voice gruff, trying to hide the obvious sentiment that clung to the words, no matter who said them.

With a sigh, I said with enunciated words, "I apologize. Life sucks. It's got nothing to do with you, Kate, or Jared."

Kate nodded, her ponytail bouncing behind her head. She reached forward and clasped her mug, taking a sip. "Is something wrong with you and Louis?" she signed, after placing her mug down, much most gentle than I had been.

I almost spewed my next sip of butterbeer out of my mouth at her statement. Louis Weasley. The one who actually took me to the ball. I hadn't spoken with him since that night, after lying to him about feeling ill and returning to my dormitory. I should have felt a lot more guilty, because Louis didn't deserve to be disrespected like that.

Now, the feeling of horrible guilt set at the bottom of my stomach, and bubbled in my throat. I felt raw and hot at the thought of Louis Weasley.

They noticed my alarm. "What did you do?" Jared asked instantly.

Kate gave him a look.

"I am a horrid, horrid leech," I told them both, cursing myself for being utterly stupid.

As Potions class was adjourned, I swiftly got out of my seat and packed up my things. I had no interest in sticking around to see what else would fall apart in my life.

I hurried out of the room and separated myself from other students. I wanted to be alone. I didn't want friends, or team mates, or anyone else getting near me. I wanted solitude, to be absolutely alone, and until now I didn't realized how hard it was to come by.

With the Quidditch pitch occupied by the Hufflepuff team, and Hagrid grooming one of his orphaned animals by the lake, I retreated to the room of Requirements. Glancing over my shoulder to ensure that nobody was in the area, I found my way into the room where everyone has hidden something.

I found it quite fascinating, truth be told. Sometimes I would search through all of the things, piled from years of stowing and hiding. There wasn't nearly as many things as it did before the war, though it did have things that were decades old. I heard from another student that during the Second Wizarding War, everything in the Room of Requirements was destroyed by a fire, caused by a Slytherin boy trying to kill Harry Potter. It gave the Goyles a bad rep for a while, their father being best friends with the one held responsible.

Placing all of my things by the door, I took a seat in a dusty old chair. I crossed my legs and just sat there for a while. I tried to still my breathing, and be utterly silent.

You know those moments where you just sit there, and think about nothing, and you bask in the glory of your mind being unoccupied?

Me neither.

I had trouble clearing my mind, and reigning in my thoughts. You'd think that, it'd being my head and all, I'd have a say in what crossed through my mind. Instead, it kept settling on one issue after another, and finally I gave in.

With the finals coming up, I had to start thinking of some game strategies for winning the House Cup. I had been failing my team by not dwelling on the finals enough. I had been occupied with other things.

And by other things, I meant James and the Potters.

I was flunking History of Magic. I had never flunked anything before. But I had been busy with a few things.

James.

I'd been neglecting Louis, the only brave enough to talk to me after being disowned, ever since the ball, but it was because I didn't want to tell him the truth.

About James.

In a spur of anger, I took up an old picture frame and threw it at the opposing wall. The glass shattered and spilled on the floor, and the frame snapped in half. Frustration took over me and I felt like screaming until my throat was raw.

Why did my life suddenly revolve around stupid, fucking James Potter? I sounded like such a girl, with all my problems surrounded with excuses. It was totally pathetic. But James this, but James that.

Was I really being such an airhead? An absolute twat?

Closing my eyes for a moment, I rubbed my temples.

It was time to put James on hold. Because my entire world didn't revolve around him. He didn't even like me, for Melin's sake. In fact, he bloody hated me at the moment!

I brought myself to the floor, leaning up against the cold stone wall. Things needed to be sorted out. Priorities needed to be straightened. I despised myself for sinking so low into the hole. I had just been digging my own grave the entire time, just slowly sinking.

What had I expected, anyway? That everything would just magically get better if James and I kissed? It had felt like that, before. But now, I was stuck. It was pretty much like trying to nail water to a tree.

Shutting my eyes quickly, I realized that my head hurt really badly. I tried to take my mind off of it and just sit there for a while.

It felt good, to be alone. Away from everybody, even the people I enjoyed. It was like I was a totally different person, when I was by myself. Knowing that nobody was watching my every move lifted a burden from my back, and it was magnificent.

I stood up quickly, and brushed off my hands hastily. I gathered my things and left the Room of Requirements with a new mind set. Not everything had to be about James, did it? No. I had a life, bloody hell. I was like a twelve year old with a silly crush.

The hallways were empty when I exited the room. With a deep breath, I composed myself and started down the hallways.

There was only one thing I wanted at that very moment, more than anything. I craved it with all of my being.

Waffles.

"Hello, Polly," I said as gently as I could. But honestly, I wasn't in the mood to be gentle.

"Miss Flint! It has been months since Polly last saw the miss!" the house elf squeaked in a tiny voice. Her giant eyes watched me apprehensively, and I had a feeling that she knew I was unhappy about something. "What can Polly do for you?"

"Would you whip me up a waffle?"

"Of course, miss."

"Thanks, Polly."

So, I sat on the counter with a lagging expression, chewing my most favorite food in the world. But, for some reason, it didn't fill the emptiness like it always had.

I was reminded of the night, so many months ago, when I retreated to the kitchens for a waffle, and I ran into James. Literally. A smile stretched onto my face, but only so briefly. It disappeared only moments later, because I also realized that this time, he wasn't going to come for me.

Shaking the thoughts away, I remembered what it was like, back then. I had been having some sort of having a mid life crisis, only at the age of sixteen. Lost, confused, abused, and alone, I had been searching for something, anything, to grab a hold of. I had been sinking.

Now, I felt like I had returned to that very night. I was cast off of the family tree, unloved by my own flesh and blood. I had made James my opponent, again. I was failing to stay afloat.

A pity party didn't seem logical, not in the least bit. But, as I continued to make the analysis of my life, it was like picking away at my wall with a pick axe. Each time it collided, it chipped off a little bit of rock. Each blow made me weaker.

I stuffed a huge, syrupy bite of waffle into my mouth. Gods, what was the point of me?

A/N: Oh hey, look, another lengthy author's note. Sorry for that.

I'm not going to lie guys, I've been feeling a little bit uninspired lately. I feel like I've just hit the biggest writing block ever, and I have no idea where to go next.

I'm not going to stop this story, or even put it onto hiatus. But I would like you to write, just in a review, what you would like to see happen next in this story. That's not cheating, is it? I would really appreciate it. I love seeing what you guys have to think, so please go ahead and do it!

And I am dying to comments and criticism. Please, never ever hold back. Much love!