MAN, y'all are fast. And you all had such strong reactions to the finale! Me too, man. Me. Too. My head is still caught up in a whirlwind of feels that I might never return from, but it's a slow recovery. I'll be okay EVENTUALLY!

Okay, as promised, here's the next chapter for you. Two chapters in ONE DAY?! Granted, last chapter was a filler chapter (although it'll be significant later, I promise) but y'all are super lucky that my brain is so filled with mush that I can't see that I might end up regretting this later, but it's alright. If it makes you all happy, then I'm happy :) A/N will be posted tomorrow with the next chapter so we can get right to this chapter, WHICH has the return of a character that some of you might be happy about ;) so enjoy, and REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!


Emily slammed her locker shut as she straightened the hem on her Quidditch practice robes and pulled her socks up to her knees. Spencer wanted her to kick ass tomorrow; might as well get a head start tonight.

She walked over to the mirror hanging on the wall, and used it to study her ponytail, tugging on it ever so slightly so that it wasn't so lopsided. The minute she tugged it, though, it somehow became even more lopsided. Frustrated, she tried tugging it in the other direction; same result. She repeated this process until she was stopped by the sound of laughter behind her.

"Look at you," Paige giggled lightly as she leaned against one of the lockers. "It's adorable how you actually think you could look anything less than perfect right now."

Emily felt the color creep to her cheeks. "I just don't want my hair to fall out of its ponytail during practice."

"Well isn't that ironic," Paige said deeply as she propped herself off of the wall and walked over to Emily, close enough to wrap her arms around her shoulders. "You don't want your hair to fall out, yet that's exactly what I want to happen."

"Really, now?" Emily said teasingly as she returned the favor, wrapping her arms around Paige's waist. "And why would that be?"

Paige smiled deviously as she raised her hand to Emily's head, slowly and carefully sliding the hair tie out of Emily's hair so that her long, dark, thick hair fell gracefully onto her shoulders like a majestic lion's mane. "So I can do this," Paige whispered sexily as she brought her lips to Emily's while running her hands through Emily's mane of hair. Emily immediately relaxed and fell into Paige's passionate embrace, kissing her like the world was going to end tomorrow - which, knowing everything going on in the school at the moment, wasn't too far of a stretch. Just as the kiss was deepening, the girls were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat behind them.

Paige and Emily broke apart, groaning, even though they were used to this by now; while most people by now were accepting of them, each girl knew that deep down majority of the school was still uncomfortable with their PDA. Granted, most people were uncomfortable with PDA of ANY sort, but especially when they saw girls kissing girls. Paige and Emily tried to ignore them all, but they still couldn't hide the annoyance in their stances when they turned to face a familiar pair of forest green eyes.

Lily Potter tugged uncomfortably at the collar of her robe. "Umm, Albright wants us all outside."

"Got it," Paige said irritably. It was no secret that Paige didn't like Lily; Emily wasn't her biggest fan either, but Paige was a lot more upfront about it. She had stolen her girlfriend's position on the team, and for all Paige knew it was on purpose. Lily noticed the tension in the air, so she curtly nodded her head and scurried out of the locker room. Emily turned to Paige.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," she said sternly.

"Why not?" Paige retorted. "Em, she stole Seeker from you!"

"It wasn't her fault, okay?"

"How do you know?" Paige challenged, taking her arms off of Emily's shoulders to put them on her hips. "How do you know she didn't plan for the Snitch to explode like that while you were still holding it?"

"I just do, okay?" Emily answered sharply, her tone indicating that Paige should simply drop it. Truthfully, she didn't know if Lily was behind it or not, but the other girls had said that it probably wasn't her, and she believed them. She trusted the girls with her life, so she trusted their judgement just as much.

However, Paige could tell right away that something was off about Emily. She had kept in mind that Emily's heart had not been with it when it came to Quidditch practices ever since it was Potter who got to tear up the field in search for the Golden Snitch in place of Emily, who was stuck guarding the goal posts. She would give anything just to see her girlfriend smile again; she had a gorgeous smile after all.

But smiles or no smiles, there was still something going on with Emily, and Paige got the vibe that it went beyond Seeker.

"Emily, what's wrong?" Paige finally asked, making Emily jerk her head up in surprise.

"Nothing..." Emily said slowly, warily. "Why do you ask?"

"You just haven't been yourself lately," Paige said with a shrug as she started walking toward the locker room exit, Emily in tow.

"Paige, I'm fine," Emily assure as she entwined her fingers with Paige's. "The stress of the school year is just hitting me hard, just as it's hitting everyone else just as hard."

"Yeah, I guess," Paige muttered, still unsure. They walked out into the field, where everyone was in their Quidditch robes, either polishing their brooms or stretching or getting in position.

Paige turned to Emily one last time. "That doesn't mean I'll let it slide that I don't get to see your bright shining face every day," she said compassionately.

At this, Emily let out a laugh. "I'm sure you'll survive."

"Maybe," Paige said with a shrug and a mischievous side glance. "Doesn't mean those clowns out there will. We need you to be on top of your game for tomorrow!"

"MCCULLERS!" MacKenzie screamed. "Center! Now!"

"Coming!" Paige screamed back, but not before delivering a well timed peck on Emily's cheek as she ran off to center field.

"Alright, we're gonna start our warm up with a scrimmage," MacKenzie commanded. "I want Coogan and McCullers in position on that side of the field, Potter over here, and..."

His eyes landed on Emily, who froze under his gaze. He narrowed his eyes. "Fields, how about you sit this one out? Try to study everyone else for right now, that way you can be on top of things tomorrow."

Emily stood erect, but couldn't help the wave of disappointment that spread over her. "Okay," she said, wilting as she went over to the benches.

For the next 20 minutes, she watched the game unfold. Paige was doing great, and Emily made sure to cheer her on every now and then, but she couldn't seem to get into it. Quidditch just didn't seem to mean much to her anymore. She knew she was being a sour sport, thinking poorly of Quidditch just because someone got the position she wanted over her, but she couldn't help it; she was unhappy.

"Hope the big jock doesn't care if I smoke a little weed!"

Emily froze, her blood cooling to negative temperatures as the cogs turned in her head, analyzing the voice she had just heard. Was that...

Emily whipped around, and her thoughts were confirmed when her eyes landed on a dark, petite girl with shoulder-length curly hair. Maya.

"Oh my god," Emily squealed as she instinctively skipped around the bench to engulf Maya in a long, much-needed hug. "What are you doing back here?"

"Oh don't you know, sweet Em?" Maya said coyly as she pulled away. "I'm coming back!"

Emily's jaw dropped to the floor. "No way!"

"Yes way!" Maya said excitedly. "And of course I had to come back in style."

Emily nodded her head, clearly impressed. She had to hand it to Maya; she sure knew how to work a neon pink tank top and a pair of plaid denim shorts, even if that wasn't even close to meeting the guidelines for Hogwarts dress code.

Emily took Maya's hand and brought her over to the bench, ignoring the conspicuous stares from her teammates. "So, how come they let you back?"

"Well apparently kiddies around this school are dropping like flies," Maya said tentatively, yet with the famous hint of sass in her voice. "So they said there was a spot for me! If I behaved of course."

"Dropping like flies?" Emily asked with a nervous laugh. "That happened, like, twice."

"Well, apparently McGonagills thinks there's more to the story," Maya said passively, smirking to herself over the clever nickname and not realizing the intense connotation behind her words. "So, what'd I miss?"

Emily looked out into the playing field, and just as she suspected, Paige was keeping a careful eye on the two of them. She didn't look angry, she just looked... hurt.

Emily could feel her heart sink. She loved Paige, but she also missed Maya. Maya was her first love, after all, and she had left so abruptly that Emily had found it hard to push those feelings away. But she knew she had to set the record straight for Maya before anything happened.

Slowly, Emily slid her hand out of Maya's. "So much has happened, Maya. And a lot that you wouldn't even believe."

"Such as?" Maya inquired, cocking her left eyebrow upward with ease and suspicion.

"I have a girlfriend," Emily blurted out, and Maya froze. Suddenly, her entire demeanor changed.

"Oh."

"Maya, I'm sorry," Emily whispered. "But... all of a sudden you were just gone, and I had to eventually tell myself that you weren't coming back."

"But I did come back," Maya said coldly.

"Yeah, years later!" Emily exclaimed.

Maya bowed her head. "I always thought you were the one girl who would wait for me."

"It was too painful to hold onto those feelings. I had to move on."

"Yeah, well, looks like that's what I'm gonna have to do right now," Maya spat as she rose from the bench. Emily's heart skipped a beat. "Where are you going?"

"To the Hufflepuff Basement to see if they gave away my old dorm," Maya said sharply, glaring at Emily with dark chocolate eyes filled with hurt. "Guess I'll have to get used to people throwing memories of me away."

"Maya, I never said that I've forgotten the good times," Emily pleaded. "I never said that I didn't want to be friends with you. You're back now, can't we just have that?"

"No, we can't," Maya said simply before storming off. Emily just stared after her, confused and hurt. What just happened?

"Emily?" Paige called. "Are you okay down there?"

Emily shot her head up, in a slight daze, looking up toward Paige, hovering over her on her Nimbus 2000. Once she got herself together, she gave Paige an affirmative head nod and a thumbs up. "Yep! Everything's fine!"

How wrong she was.


Side Note: Maya's back bitches! And Paige is catching onto something... Also, anyone catch a reference? Always be on the look out for those pesky little guys; I try to have at least one in almost every chapter so it's like a scavenger hunt for you all! Be sure to review your faces off (which you're all so unbelievably good at) so you can get the next chapter tomorrow! And I think you'll like the next chapter tomorrow ;) granted, it'll feel like pouring salt on fresh wounds, but you'll still probably like it (I hope D:).