The following morning, Emma felt someone watching her, just before she felt someone running a hand lightly down her side. She shivered. Her eyes fluttered open and found themselves looking up into a beautiful pair of indigo eyes, watching her intently, as though she would disappear at any moment.

"Good afternoon, Emma," he whispered softly, and it took her a moment to realize exactly what he had just said.

"You mean good morning," she corrected, stretching her arms sleepily. He shook his head.

"It's half past two in the afternoon," he whispered, his eyes still drinking her in hungrily.

"WHAT?" she shrieked. "You're joking. I'm halfway through Potions? Oh, man there's no way I'll make it in time. Snape's going to kill me!"

"Relax, Em," he whispered softly. "It's going to be okay."

"Snape hates me," she moaned. "There's no okay about this! How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough," he said cryptically, smiling.

"Ugh, there's really no point in my going to class, is there?" groaned Emma, rolling over sleepily, and unintentionally rolling right into Fred.

"N-not really," he muttered, and she thought she heard him inhale deeply behind her, and she certainly felt his arm wrap what she was sure was instinctively around her waist, pulling her even tighter to him.

Just as his fingers began brushing along a patch of skin that was revealed where the negligée was riding up, his curtains whipped open, and George was standing over them, smirking.

"Fancy missing dinner, too, while you're at it?"

"George," she moaned, "this idiot let me sleep all day and I missed all my classes!"

"Good job, Freddie, now she's not going to sleep with us tonight!"

"What?" Emma and Fred chorused, staring up at George.

"We all had so much fun last night we decided to do it again. I recommend you make it down to dinner, Em, because Katie's anxious to chat with you." He looked down at the pair of them and frowned. "You know, I'm a bit disappointed in you, Fred. Something that delectable in your bed for nearly an entire day and she's still got her very small amount of clothes on."

"Wow," muttered Fred. "George really has got guts, hasn't he?" muttered Fred as he rolled out of bed, searching through his trunk for his robes.

Emma stretched.

"Yeah, he's something else," she muttered with a yawn and a nod.

Fred looked up at her, his mouth open to say something else, but he froze, his eyes looking her up and down in the ensemble George and Katie had picked out. She blushed a little, then remembered what he had said the day before about her blushing, and blushed even more furiously in spite of herself.

"I know that's Katie's outfit," he said softly.

She blinked.

"How - ?"

"She wore it to the Gryffindor N.E.W.T. student Halloween party last year. It was the award winner. I'd know it anywhere. George absolutely loved it. He was one of the judges, actually.

Emma almost laughed. She wondered if Fred knew George had effectively picked it out for her. Had George been saying what Fred would like to see her in, or had he been thinking of himself all along? At any rate, it didn't matter. She wasn't sure exactly what George was expecting of Fred, but he certainly hadn't jumped her, if that was what George had had in mind.

Emma finally made it down to dinner, and Katie ushered her over.

"Oh Merlin, Em, we have so much to talk about!" squealed Katie. "I think that went really well. The way Fred looked at you…" Katie sighed. "Magical. Now, for tonight, none of us have classes before noon, so we're thinking of a full sleepover party, okay? And don't worry, I'll get you up tomorrow when I leave so you don't miss your classes again. Snape's glaring daggers over here."

Emma groaned, completely horrified that she had missed all of her classes, and even more horrified knowing she would get at least one detention from it. It didn't matter that she'd had six years of perfect attendance. Snape didn't care. Unless she had been unconscious in the hospital wing, she didn't have a good enough excuse to miss his class.

"Yeah, thanks for that. You could have taken me with you when you got up, you know," said Emma bitterly, stabbing her toast with the butter knife.

"No, I was not going there," said Katie earnestly. "I had no idea what state of undress you two might be in and I was in no mood this morning for a surprise like that. Lee was rather handsy last night." She sighed heavily. "The things I do for you two."

"Whose idea was it to do this two nights in a row?" said Emma. "I will have spent more time this term in Fred's bed than anywhere else in the castle by the time we get to breakfast tomorrow morning."

"Don't pretend to complain about it," said Angelina with a snort. "We all know you like it there."

Emma just gave her an annoyed look, but Katie laughed musically and said, "Well, Emma, dear, it was collaboration between me and George. We've decided that the more you two are around each other, the sooner Fred will get his act together. And this night has been planned more carefully, so we'll have more control over your interactions. Did he touch you last night?"

Spitting her pumpkin juice everywhere, Emma looked at her friend with shocked eyes.

"I'm sorry, did he what?"

Katie dabbed the juice off her face calmly and said, "Touch you. I'm sure you know what I mean."

"Fred is a gentleman," said Emma, wondering whether or not she should tell them about the dream he had. She decided on not.

"So's the lead singer of the Weird Sisters," said Angelina with a sigh, "but it doesn't mean he's not human."

"We get it, Angie, Yule Ball was the best night of your life," said Katie coldly. "Let's move on to the matter at hand, shall we?"

Angelina shrugged and smirked, obviously nonverbally gloating that she hadn't been sprayed with pumpkin juice. Katie pretended fairly convincingly not to notice this attempt at nonverbal gloating, and would have seemed to truly have not noticed at all, if it hadn't been that she missed when attempting to kick Angelina in the shin and hit Emma instead, who howled in pain just as Fred and George sat on either side of Katie, who blushed, embarrassed at having missed.

"You're bloody lucky you play Quidditch with your hands and not your feet, Katie," groaned Emma, "because Gryffindor would lose every time if it was the other way around."

"Poorly aimed kick?" said Fred with a wink. "Now, now, Katie, who were you trying to kick?"

"It's none of your business," said Katie coldly, "and if I hadn't hit your precious Emma by mistake, you wouldn't even care, you'd just be laughing."

There was a tense silence for a moment, as Emma held her breath, George and Angelina exchanged a worried look, and Fred just looked confused. The game was up. Katie had all but told Fred about her crush on him, and now nothing would be the same. He wouldn't want to share a bed with her, and he probably wouldn't want to be seen with her. It was tragic.

But Fred didn't do anything which would indicate disgust, horror, or even awkwardness. He simply shrugged and said, "Well, what can I say? Miss Norwick is a frail and wondrous flower that we must protect. It's our duty as Gryffindor men to defend."

Emma frowned. She wasn't lacking in bravery, and her only conclusion as a first year as to why she hadn't been Sorted into Gryffindor, like all of her friends, was because she was completely abject to the entire concept of chivalry. She might be female, but as far as Emma was concerned, she didn't need a man defending her honor. After all, she did quite well on her own. Still, when Fred said such things, it was so very difficult to be upset with him for it.

"Anyway, Em," said Katie, picking absently at the peas on her plate, "try and be a half hour earlier tonight, since we're doing games and stuff, too. I want us to have enough girl time beforehand."

"What does girl time involve, exactly?" said George through a mouthful of roast potatoes.

"You know how absolutely luscious Emma looked last night?" said Katie with a wink, looking right at a blushing Fred.

"Do I ever," said George with a grin after swallowing hard.

"That's what girl time involves. We get ready to give you boys a show. And you have to admit, Emma was hot."

"Smoking," said George with a wink at Fred.

"Absolutely steamy," quipped Angelina.

It was then that Emma realized they had planned this, in some form. Emma wasn't the only one uncomfortable with the direction of conversation. Fred looked incredibly awkward as well. However, the conversation ender was not one Emma was happy about, as Alicia Spinnet sat down next to Fred and smiled with one of those Katie-Bell-patented smiles that just oozed flirtation. Emma bit her lip and picked at her own food.

"Hey, Alicia," said Angelina. "I've been meaning to ask you about that move you used in practice this morning. What's it called?"

"Oh, I'm not sure," said Alicia in a sickeningly sweet voice. "It's just something Freddie taught me last fall."

Was it even legal to bat your eyelashes that viciously? It certainly couldn't be healthy. Perhaps that was why the girl didn't notice that the mood had darkened considerably with her presence: she was blind due to over-fluttering of the eyelashes. Emma silently prayed it wasn't contagious, because she never, ever wanted to look that obviously desperate, and she was rather fond of her eyesight.

"Have you decided what you're going to do for the first Hogsmeade weekend, Freddie?" she sighed.

Fred blinked. Emma blinked. The whole table probably blinked simultaneously.

"Um," muttered Fred awkwardly, "not really, it's in October."

"I don't have plans yet either," she pressed on, undaunted by the fact that her friends were all regarding her as though she was one Gobstone short of a set. Maybe she was. "Maybe we could do something together!"

"Uh," said Fred stupidly, clearly not happy at all with that idea. It was written plainly all over his face.

"Oh, gosh, look at the time!" said Katie earnestly. "Freddie, you and I have some business to attend to before we get caught up in the festivities. You promised to help me with Charms, remember?"

"Right," said Fred with a firm nod. "Absolutely, Katie, let's go do your Charms."

Alicia looked incredibly disappointed as Fred and Katie rushed out of the Great Hall. She turned to the remaining three and pouted as Lee came out of nowhere and took Katie's recently vacated spot.

"Hello, ladies. And George," he added with a smirk. "Why the long face, Alicia?"

"It's Freddie," she sighed. "I think I've figured out why he hasn't asked me out yet."

They all stared at her for a moment. Emma wondered if Alicia was smarter than she had given her credit for. Had she finally realized that he wasn't interested?

"Why's that?" said Lee, piling potatoes onto his plate as if potatoes were going out of fashion.

"He's obviously sleeping with Katie."

Emma spit her pumpkin juice all over Alicia, her eyes wide with horror as her friends stifled their snickering. Alicia blinked up at her with shock and embarrassment painted all over her face. Being the gentlemanly Gryffindor he was, George cleaned off Alicia's face, though he nearly lost his struggle not to laugh.

"And what on earth makes you think that?" said Angelina, carefully examining a plate of cookies before her.

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" said Alicia with a sigh, as though talking to a five year old. "I mean, she's always trying to keep me away from him, she runs off with him while the rest of us are doing something else, and a little bit before dinner I heard her quizzing him on his favorite types of fabric and styles of panties. They have to be sleeping together." She lowered her voice and leaned in slightly, looking around as though making sure no one else was listening. "I mean, I love her to death, but she is a bit of a slag."

This time, Angelina's pumpkin juice went spraying, right into George's face, who laughed good-naturedly and wiped his own face off, while shaking his head.

"You're way off base, Alicia," said George with a sympathetic air. "Firstly, if my twin was sleeping with someone, I'd know. Secondly, if Fred was sleeping with someone, our whole dorm would know. Thirdly, they go off and do other things because he's the only one good enough to tutor her out of her abysmal Charms hole she dug for herself. Fourthly, Katie asks everybody questions like that. She's asked me several times about lingerie and even sex toys, but we're certainly not sleeping together, nor have we ever. And fifthly, Katie's a virgin, not a slag."

Alicia blinked.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Sure about what?" said Emma airily. "He just presented five points."

"I'm sure about all of them, Alicia, as are all of us here," said George comfortingly.

And with that, Alicia sniffed loudly and sulked off out of the Great Hall. As soon as she was gone, Tien rushed over from the Ravenclaw table with a frown on her face and sat down next to George.

"Where were you today?" she hissed. "Did you spend all day in that boy's bed?"

Emma nodded numbly. Admitting such things to Tien was dangerous business.

"How was the sex?"

"There was no sex," hissed Emma, eyes wide with embarrassment.

"Snogging?"

Emma shook her head, looking down at her peas.

"Please don't tell me you spent all day sleeping?"

Without looking up, Emma merely shrugged. They boys sniggered and Angelina giggled.

"Well," said George thoughtfully, "we've got to step up your game and get you two snogging soon, before my idiot twin gives Alicia a pity date. Once a girl like that gets her claws in you, it's tough to get them out again." Lee and Tien nodded solemnly.

"I know a spell," said Tien with a sly grin.

"I'm not using that spell that forces everyone to say what they think about the person," moaned Emma. "I don't want to hear all about how flat-chested I am from Katie, or a long monologue about how Fred still sees me as an anxious first year waiting to be Sorted."

"Wait, you have a spell that does that?" said George eagerly, looking at Tien as though he might kiss her, and probably considering doing just that. "You have to teach me, we could make some awesome joke products with that!"

Tien smirked and said, "Only if I get seventy percent of the profits. There's a potion, too, and it's a little different, makes it specific to two people. A lot of Chinese people use them to make proposals less painful."

George looked just about ready to kiss her this time.

"Twenty-five."

"Sixty."

"Thirty."

"Fifty."

"Forty."

"Forty-two and a half."

George blinked.

"Deal," he sighed. "You drive a hard bargain, Miss Vo. So do you have any of this potion on hand that we could slip dear Emma and my foolish twin brother?"

Emma groaned.

"Well, I have some, and I was going to use it to enhance a lunch-time roasting session of Cho Chang, but I suppose helping out my only friend is a decent cause. They better be shagging like bunnies by the end of the month, though, or you are going to have to brew me a whole cauldron full on your own time."

"Not a problem," said George with a devilish grin, shaking her hand. "I've only got three classes, I've got all the time in the world! Besides, Miss Vo, I think you and I could be very beneficial to each other. I'm not saying the word 'friends' yet, because I feel as though we're not quite there, but partners in crime has certain potential, and a lovely ring to it, don't you agree?"

Emma groaned again. It was as though her worst nightmare was coming true. She had just lost all control of her love life to three of the four most devious people in the school. Ah, well, at least there were no Dungbombs in this plan.

George followed Tien and Emma back to Ravenclaw Tower, where they made a small switch, George slipping her a few Galleons and Tien slipping him what Emma was sure was two vials of potion, and Tien whispered in his ear what were probably instructions for use. It was going to be a long, long night.

George led Emma back to Gryffindor Tower, with her things this time, in case Emma overslept again. He took her bag up to his dormitory and she headed straight to Katie's room, where Angelina and Katie were already getting ready.

"Emma!" squealed Katie. "I think we've made progress. I asked Fred some questions I think will help with the outfit choice for the night, and I mentioned your outfit from last night and he turned pink instantly. The boy's clearly smitten."

Angelina giggled and tossed a sexy, pale pink negligée at Emma, with a pair of lacy black underwear and pointed at a sheer white dressing gown. With a sigh, Emma changed, allowed Katie to straighten her hair and Angelina to dab lip gloss on her lips. When Katie declared her prepared, they headed over to the boys' dormitory. Lee opened the door, ushered them in, and handed Emma a drink instantly. She looked across the room to see George and Fred drinking firewhisky. George's wink said it all. Emma looked down at her firewhisky and saw that the top was off. They were being drugged. Essentially.

With a resigned sigh, she took a long drink of the burning amber liquid and stepped into the room, taking off the dressing gown after Katie and Angelina took of theirs. As soon as it hit the floor, Fred gasped, dropped the bottle he had been drinking out of and whispered, "Emma, I love you."

The whole room froze.

A/N: Hehehe, cliffhanger. I know, I'm horrible. Shout-out to stardiamond94 who says she likes this story! If you review, you might get to see your user name in an author's note too! Big dreams, I know. What should happen? Let me know what you think Emma should do!