HI GUYS!
I am so sorry for not updating in, like, over a month or however long it's been, but I do have some very valid excuses, which I will not bore you with. Anyway here is chapter 22, which is all about Molly :D

After Tracey had left the dorm, Rose and Molly picked up the subject of boys again.

"So, what's going to happen between you and James?" Rose asked lazily, picking at the loose threads of her bed sheets. "Could you maybe figure out how you feel about him; preferably decide that you're head over heels in love with him, and then he might go back to being friends with me." She laughed at Molly's open-mouthed expression. "I'm only joking! Obviously I want you to decide for your own happiness. And James', too." She sighed. "It's kind of hard not talking to him. We used to be like siblings, and now he won't speak to me."

"You're still not talking from the time I rejected him?" Molly asked in astonishment.

"Nope."

"Shit! Well if this is all my fault, I guess I'd better talk to him."

"Don't blame yourself- I shouldn't have tried to interfere. Although James kind of out me in a tight corner... Still, it's done now. So what are you going to do?"

"I'm not sure, Rosie. What do you recommend?"

Rose nearly burst out laughing at this point. "You're asking me for advice on boys? You're meant to be the love expert, Mol!"

Molly smiled slightly, but it wasn't her usual infectious laugh. "Yes, but normally I know what I'm feeling. And right now I'm sort of split. I don't know if I like James or Nathan. Does Nathan still like you?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think he could have really liked me in the first place; we barely knew each other when he asked me out. So I suppose I'd say no, he doesn't, but I haven't really spoken to him to know."

"Well, I say you go and find out!" Molly laughed, sitting up.

"Well, I think you should! You should go and talk to both of them, and figure it out!" Rose was grinning from ear to ear at the images she had of these awkward meetings.

"But that would be so a-"

"Awkward? Since when did Molly Saunders do 'awkward'?" Molly smiled despite herself.

"Ok, fine, I will. On one condition."

"Oh great..."

"That you go and talk to Malfoy, and sort out this ridiculous problem between you."

"Very funny." A pause. "Which one?"

"The 'we-can't-know-each-other-because-our-families-don't-get-on' problem."

"Let's get this straight: you want me to go and convince Scorpius that we should ignore our families' histories, and in return you'll go and decide whether you like my cousin, or the boy who might like me?"

"Pretty much." Molly grinned.

"That's crazy."

"And we're Gryffindor's." A pause.

"Precisely what I was thinking." The girls grinned at each other simultaneously.

"Back here in an hour." Molly decided.

"An hour."

They both stood up, made themselves presentable, and left the dormitory, parting once outside the Common Room.

Molly began her search for James through the grounds, but found no-one there but that Slytherin she sat next to in Potions with his Hufflepuff girlfriend. What were their names? Flint and... Conway? No, Collins. Emily Collins. That girl who Al nearly poisoned in the first task. Molly rolled her eyes at their public displays of affection as she headed to the Quidditch pitch to see if James was there. Sure enough, there was a tall, muscular figure cloaked in red and gold heading out of the changing rooms, broomstick in hand. Molly felt butterflies in her stomach as she approached him. He had dark, messy hair and glasses forming a physical shield between the chocolate brown eyes of his and the electric blue of Molly's.

"Hi, James." Molly began, her voice bordering on nervous, which was more than slightly unusual for her.

The boy merely nodded as he walked past, not even making eye contact. Molly narrowed her eyes in suspicion; James was supposed to be crazy about her- what was he playing at? She tried again. "I was just wondering how you were doing. How's class? Any new ideas for the Quidditch team?"

"I'm fine; class is ok, and no. We're going to continue to fail as we are doing at the moment. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to practise so at least I don't embarrass myself as much as I currently am doing." James stormed past a flabbergasted Molly, mounted his broom, and flew upwards and began performing laps of the Quidditch pitch.

But Molly wasn't having that. She marched over to the broom shed, grabbed a Cleansweep and took off after him. It wasn't a very good broom, and Molly wasn't really dressed for Quidditch, but she was angry so she didn't care. She shot up into the air after James, the wind forcing her stream of jet black hair straight back as it stung her face and made her eyes water. "Get back here right now, James Potter!" She exclaimed angrily as James continued to fly away from her, his face set with a determined grimace. "What are you doing?" She yelled. "Why are you ignoring me?"

He whipped around mid-air at this last comment, glowering like Molly had never seen him before. "Don't you know, Molly? Don't you get it?"

"Well, no! I've been under the impression that you're crazy about me," James turned an impressive shade of crimson, but Molly ignored him and continued. "so the fact that you're avoiding me doesn't make any sense. Unless you're going to give me the pathetic 'we can't just be friends excuse', but I don't think that's your style."

"Sorry to disappoint, but it turns out that it is my style. If you don't want a cheesy excuse, I advise you to go back inside. Now." James turned to fly away, but Molly still wasn't finished.

"No! Explain yourself!" She flew after him angrily, swooping underneath and twisting her broom so she was back face to face with him, causing James to stop in his tracks.

"What do you want, Mol? For me to shower you in compliments?" He was angry now. Yelling, in fact. "You want me to explain why I've been avoiding you in detail? Well, it's because I have very strong feelings for you. I don't know if it's love, I mean, I'm sixteen for Merlin's sake, but I know that these feelings aren't going away any time soon. And I avoid you because of that. Because every time I see you it hurts. Because I'm reminded that you don't feel the same way about me. So how can we be 'friends' when just being around you hurts me? It's just... It's just easier for me this way." James seemed to sag and shrink slightly. "So unless you're here to tell me that you now return my feelings and we can make out right now, then I suggest you leave me be."

James turned and flew off slowly, knowing this time that Molly wouldn't follow.

As Molly descended, she realised that she finally understood James, which was good, but that now there was even more pressure on her to decide between the two boys, which was bad. She knew that there was nothing to gain from falling for Nathan: he wouldn't return her feelings, and it would upset James even more, yet she felt her pulse racing as she approached the library. She pushed open the heavy oak door, which creaked slightly causing the heads of all the students in the library to whip around towards her. Sure enough, Nathan was sat at one of the tables, his head buried in a book. Hearing the door open, he glanced up and spotted Molly; smiled slightly and turned back to his book. He clearly had no idea that Molly was here to see him, but she pulled out the chair opposite him, ignoring the irritated faces of the other students as the squeaking chair penetrated the silence, and sat down.

"Hiya, Nathan." Molly attempted a whisper, but whispering was not really her area of expertise. Yet again the other pupils glared, and a few even shushed her. Molly just rolled her eyes, but Nathan was looking a bit embarrassed. Still, he was well-brought up, so continued to be polite.

"Hello, Molly. How can I help you?" He mumbled, her voice barely audible, so Molly had to rely on her ability to lip-read.

Oh. So he wants a direct conversation. Erm... Right. Do I have a question to ask him? Molly wondered. No, not really. "You can't really, I just wanted to chat."

"Oh... right." Nathan said, looking thoroughly uncomfortable, being made to choose between manners and schoolwork. "What about?"

Let's face it: he doesn't want to be dragged away from his work for me. Molly thought. But what about for Rose? "About Rose. You and Rose, specifically."

Nathan blushed dramatically, partly due to yet more people hushing them, but probably at the mention of a certain red-headed Gryffindor, Molly thought slightly sadly. "There is no 'me and Rose'." He informed Molly. "I went out with her for half a date, but she was too taken with Scorpius Malfoy to give a toss about me."

"Will you two please take this pathetic discussion about your love lives elsewhere?" Exclaimed a Ravenclaw 6th year from the corner. "I expected better of you, Williams!" The girl added, nodding furiously at Nathan.

"Sorry, Elizabeth." Nathan murmured; his face beetroot red. The other students shoot their heads in disgust and returned to their books. Molly discovered she found this embarrassment of Nathan's endearing, yet irritating at the same time. Curse you, indecisiveness! She thought to herself jokingly, as Nathan turned to look at her, is face clearly showing that he was not going to get himself in any more trouble from his peers. He gestured towards the door, his eyes questioning, and Molly nodded in response. Slowly the two of them rose from their seats, trying their best not to squeak the chairs against the floor, and tiptoed out of the library.

"Sorry about that," Molly apologised once they had inched the door to a close and were stood in the corridor outside. "I didn't realise how... erm... studious they would be."

Nathan ran a hand through his caramel hair, sighing: "Yeah, most people don't. But what was it you wanted to ask about Rose, because... well, I really don't want to be rude, but I have a lot of work to do, and I can't afford to get behind again." He looked at the ground and bit his lip, clearly hating himself for being less than the perfect gentleman.

"I was just wondering how you felt about Rose."

"Why?"

"Because she's my best friend! Plus, I'm a nosy sod."

Nathan smiled slightly at that. "Well, I feel a bit uncomfortable telling you, then." He saw Molly's offended expression and back tracked quickly. "Not because I don't trust you, Mol! Because you're very close to Rose, so anything positive I say about her will make you all protective, and anything negative would make you hate me."

Molly considered this. "I promise not to. Rose is her own woman; it's not up to me to protect her from boys. And I doubt you're going to say anything negative about her, anyway." She accompanied this last sentence with a joking grin, hoping that he would brush the comment off and deny any feelings for Rose. Unfortunately for Molly, he did not.

Nathan gave an awkward, sideways grin. "You're right about that one- I'm not going to say anything bad. How could I?" Molly felt her heart sink slightly, but not as much as it did when he asked her out, she noted. "I asked her out because she's pretty and funny and kind and brave. And smart! How many girls do you know who tick all those boxes?" He asked Molly rhetorically. She didn't reply, just nodded for him to continue. "I knew her vaguely before the contest; we'd been in classes together, but she had never really noticed me. Anyway, I braved it and asked her out. She said yes, as you'll know. But on our date she got a bit distracted by Scorpius Malfoy making out with a Slytherin girl. You know Katie Thompson? Her. So I asked Rose what was wrong, and she explained, eventually, that she didn't have any feelings for me, and none would appear anytime soon, as a Slytherin bastard who uses her has stolen her heart. Not in so many words, but that was the gist of it. So we agreed not to see each other again, but I still have feelings for her, I think. Well, I'd say that this ridiculous blush I get every time I see her, slash someone mentions her, slash I talk about her, is evidence enough. Add that to the feeling of jealousy that envelopes me when I see her with other boys, then yes, I'd say that I still liked her." He saw Molly's expression, and misinterpreted the hurt for surprise at his outburst. "Sorry." He blushed again. "I got a bit carried away. You won't tell her this, will you? I mean, she knows I like her, but I don't want to creep her out or whatever."

Molly shook her head. "No, I... I'm just going to... I've got to run." She turned around and sped off down the corridor, sprinting into the fresh air of the grounds to clear her mind.

Thank you for reading! I'm going away on a trip with school for a few days, so I won't even be able to start writing chapter 23 until I get back, which will be on Wednesday- sorry!
Also, I'd like to thank a guest reader who goes by various versions of the name 'Dragon' for the emails I have received from you, as they are the reason I actually got round to finishing this chapter ;) But don't worry, I promise to finish this fic, even if the gaps between chapters can be long. Exams and stuff suck.
Anyway, feel free to review (and favourite/follow me/the story if you haven't already) which means please do because it makes me really happy ;)

Thanks again,
Lucy x