Authors Note: Random chapter to keep the other storylines going. Still important though.
Disclaimer: All rights go to J.K Rowling. She's amazing.
'What was she doing here?' Cordelia wondered. In the middle of a full out crisis in all areas of life, it seemed strange to still be participating in the monthly girls get-together.
Hazel looked ready to kill.
Cordelia looked ready to sleep.
Beatrice looked slightly nervous.
Ella looked as though her birthday had come early.
"Okay, what are we doing this time?" asked Beatrice.
"Well," said Ella breathlessly, "I was thinking we could start off with the good old truth and dare. We haven't played it since the fourth year."
"Yeah, that's because we already know everything about each other and had the worst dares. It's so lame," said Hazel.
Cordelia sighed, this was going to be painful.
"Okay Ella, what's the meanest and most untrue rumour you have ever spread about someone," said Cordelia.
The game had begun. They had decided long ago that they wouldn't give the truth or dare option, otherwise it would get repetitive. Hazel would always get the sneaky dares and the rest would always pick truth. This way was more fun.
Ella thought for a minute, "Wow, good one there's so many to choose from . . . Oh, I know! Nitra Gooldagon, the one that stole my third boyfriend, Tony, well she went to her grandmothers' funeral one day during fourth-year so I told everyone that she was 'visiting' another guy so everyone thought that she was going to cheat on Tony. In the end, I got the guy . . . well, I dumped him after two weeks but I won! Ella 1, Nitra 0!"
Everyone stared at her.
"That was the most sociopathic thing I've ever heard, I completely regret ever asking it," said Cordelia in a hushed voice.
"What- no it wasn't!"
"Ella, you used her grandmother's death against her, that's really bad," said Beatrice gently.
After a few minutes, it seemed they were not getting through to her and they moved on.
Ella turned to Hazel, taking a bite out of a Cauldron Cake, "Okay Hazel, I know, you are inconspicuous and hate drawing attention to yourself, so- I want you to go to the Gryffindor common room and run around screaming 'I have lost my voice, please help me find it!'"
Hazel looked horrified, "I'm not doing that."
"Oh you will or we have permission to tell everyone your deepest secret, you know our conditions. You don't want everyone knowing your first kiss was Leon Salsbury, do you?" said Ella casually.
"You are a stone cold bitch," said Cordelia with amazement. Ella shrugged modestly.
"Okay, I'll do it," decided Hazel with a grimace. She rose and walked out the door. The girls had decided long ago it was funnier if they waited in their dormitory than watched. 1. Because it gave away to others that it was a dare if they followed, and 2. because the end result was usually hilarious.
The remaining girls were chatting about what might happen when they heard yelling downstairs and lapsed into giggles, the image in their heads was so good.
After fifteen minutes they started to get worried.
"Do you think she's died?" said Bea in a small voice.
Ella's eyes widened, "Oh my god she's jumped out of Gryffindor tower . . . I've committed MURDER!" Well, no one said Ella wasn't dramatic.
Thankfully, at that moment, Hazel came storming through the door.
"Where have you been?" demanded Cordelia. Hazel's hair was messed up, her robes were hanging off one shoulder and she looked angry as hell, "Are you okay?"
Hazel took a shaky breath, "No. I am certainly not okay, and before you ask, I went through with your stupid dare. But some people were scared by my outbreak because for some reason me screaming in their faces is terrifying. Skip to the end, I have just escaped from the hospital wing because some fourth years brought me there with the excuse that I'd . . . 'snapped'," she finished, glaring at them all as though saying, 'If you laugh I'm mounting your head on my wall.'
It was fair to say all three girls looked very constipated as they tried to keep straight faces.
Cordelia gasped, "Oh my god I needed this," and burst into raucous laughter.
Hazel watched them all rolling around on the floor and decided she had had enough.
"Alright you lot," evil grin, "It's my turn," she turned to Bea, her eyes flashing maliciously, Cordelia leant closer so to intervene if Hazel really had 'snapped', "Okay Bea, here is a dare for you, I want you to go and ask out Louis Weasley."
Beatrice went white, "No, I can't do that, I-."
Hazel smiled at her, " Come on, you've been pining for him for three years, don't you think enough is enough. Be brave Bea."
Cordelia waited with bated breath, "Okay, I'll do it," said Beatrice with determination.
"What!" shouted Ella and Cordelia, "you can't do that!"
Beatrice stared at them her face turning red, "THAT'S IT! I've had it with you two. All these years you've been trying to make me feel confident enough to go for Louis, and now you don't want me to!
You've been acting weird all year."
"No, Bea-," started Ella.
"I have actually changed from the weak little girl over the summer, but you're all too self-involved to realise anything that doesn't concern you," her voice was rising. Cordelia and Ella sat in stunned silence, this was not how they thought the evening would go. Bea had never been angry before, it was horrible. Even Hazel seemed surprised.
"Bea, what changes haven't we noticed?" asked Cordelia gently.
"I am doing what I want, I am actually raising my hand in class and I am no longer letting everyone else walk all over me," replied Beatrice, now full-on shouting, "Ella always used to get her way with everything but no more, Jasper says I should stop letting her do that, and that's where I'm going. I am going to ask out Louis Weasley and Ella will no longer ruin everything I want!"
Beatrice stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
You could have cut the silence with a knife it was so thick, each girl wallowing in her misery.
Cordelia said the only thing she could think of, "Well, Jasper just showed another side of himself. I thought I was special. I mean the sort of consideration he has-."
"Seriously Cordelia! You want to focus on yourself now! Even after we possibly just lost our best friend!" said Ella, tears streaming down her face.
"I just said anything I could think of! Of course, this sucks! But it's not all on me, I know I've been a little busy lately but it's been four weeks and you still haven't told her!"
"I'm sorry," Ella wailed, "I didn't want to ruin our friendship, I had a feeling this would be the last straw because no matter what she says, I have noticed how selfishly I've acted in the past."
"Well what a great help your realisations are now Ella, she's about to ask out your boyfriend whom you haven't informed of the situation either!"
"Stop fighting!"
They both paused to look at Hazel.
"And you!" said Ella, rounding on Hazel with a terrible look upon her face, "You knew exactly what would happen and you still did it! How could you? What sort of horrible person are you?"
"Okay, I agree with what Hazel said, we all need to calm down and re-evaluate what's happening here. Let's formulate a plan and then rip each others heads off later, right?"
Everyone breathed heavily for a moment, but none of them made a move towards the other.
"Okay, Ella, you know where Louis is so you head him off. Hide him, do whatever you have to do to keep him out of the way, lock him in broom cupboard if you have to. Hazel, you get Bea because she doesn't seem to be mad at you and you're great at lying. I will go around and make sure there are no rumours starting. Someone must have heard Bea's outburst or saw her in the common room."
Cordelia took a deep breath, "Okay team, MOVE OUT!"
They all moved from the room as though they had disapparated. Cordelia went straight to the fifth year girls' room and Hazel and Ella rushed down the stairs.
Once they were gone, Cordelia pressed her ear against the polished wood of the door and listened. A few moments later she heard something about Chelsea's new boyfriend and moved on.
Surprisingly, none of the dormitories seemed to have heard anything. Maybe the walls were thicker than she had thought.
The common room, however, was a different story. Everyone was muttering in their little groups, obviously gossiping. This was going to take some sacrifices to her pride, she had to give them something bigger to gossip about or this rumour would snowball. Think!
Okay, she had it. What was more juicy than an even-tempered angry person? Answer: A hidden romance. She looked for someone she knew and saw the corner where James and Fred were watching the scene in front of them with amusement. It was something that had to be done, she assured herself.
Cordelia waved them over from behind the doorway of the girls staircase to get their attention. After a few minutes, they wandered towards her, thankfully being as natural as possible.
"What's up?" said James when they were safely hidden in an alcove behind the bookcase, "Did something happen with you and your friends?"
Cordelia stared, "How did you know that?"
Fred laughed, "It was actually really easy. Ivers does something weird then returns looking like hell, Jordan then storms out of here angrily, now that was scary. Then Ivers comes running out again with Butterdown and they both follow. See?"
"Oh, I just didn't think you were that good at puzzles," Cordelia said, astounded.
"It might surprise you to know that we are very intelligent," replied an affronted Fred.
"What do you need, Cordelia?" asked James.
Cordelia bit her lip, "This is going to sound really weird, so first I need you to trust me," they both nodded, "Good. Well, I'll get to the point. We can't have any rumours circulating because as much as they could become completely warped, they could come close to the truth and we can't have Beatrice finding out about Louis and Ella before Ella has a chance to tell her."
"Yeah but Butterdown is kind of selfish if you didn't realise, wouldn't it be quicker to just let Jordan find out?" said Fred.
Cordelia sighed, "Yes. It would be . . . but I can't do that to Ella. Even if she can be a bitch she is still my friend and this is the happiest I've seen her, so Ella needs to be the one to tell her."
"Alright, so I'm guessing you want us to help you create a bigger rumour so that no one remembers this one," James concluded.
"Yes! Exactly! And here it is. I need us to have a big fight so it seems like I was dating one of you and also the other behind your back," she trailed off at the end, seeing their expressions, "Or not."
"You can't ruin your reputation like that!" exclaimed Fred.
James added, "It'll make the next few days of your life a living hell, don't do this to yourself."
"I don't care, it's for my friends. If anything, it'll give me a reason to hide from everyone for the next couple of days," she looked at their skeptical expressions, "Look, I can live with rumours because I don't care what other people think, but Ella will die from embarrassment and Beatrice will crumble because she gets nervous around anyone, much less with the whole whispering about her!"
Desperate tears were starting to appear, she hated it when her friends fought, it was too much. Also, she was tired. She had been staying up late to plan with James on top of all her homework. Although this was painful, it was also informative. She learned that James' family was very close and loved to meddle in each others lives; also that James was his Grandmothers favourite (Cordelia had to swear not to tell any of his cousins in case they got too jealous and, according to James, 'kill him in a passionate rage'). But back to the present where Fred and James looked horrified at the prospect of having to comfort a crying girl.
James took a leap in the dark, "Hey, you're putting too much pressure on yourself. You're trying to fix everyone's problems but the truth is, life isn't perfect. Sometimes we have to just let things be sorted out for themselves."
Cordelia looked up at them, "So you won't help me?"
"Of course, we'll help you! This sounds immensely fun!" said Fred, rubbing his hands together.
Cordelia smiled at him, "Let's plan."
The inhabitants of Gryffindor Tower on Saturday night were having a fantastic time. So much was happening and they could only guess what could happen next. This was why they were all still discussing the issue thirty minutes after the portrait hole had closed behind Ella and Hazel. Then, almost mechanically every head turned towards the boys staircase, it seemed there was still more to come!
James Potter burst out of the doorway, his face red as a tomato. He had just reached the portrait hole when Cordelia Bode ran out after him, tears streaming down her face, everyone gasped.
"James, wait!" shouted Cordelia desperately.
James turned to face her, "How could you Cordelia? I thought we had something real."
"We did, it was just a stupid mistake," wailed Cordelia and the audience gasped yet again when they saw Fred Weasley walking out from the staircase.
"See. There he is, he was always there wasn't he. Even when you said you were just duck-hunting together!"
Cordelia prayed to the high heavens that James wouldn't get too carried away with the dramatics.
"Stop it, Potter, she loves me not you. Honeypickle, come back upstairs to show this hideous man whom you intend to be with," said Fred, Cordelia looked suitably torn.
"No! She never loved you. I am the only one she ever said yes to. Our love burns bright. Our physical love is like a thousand stars coming together!" finished James.
"Stay with the script you imbecile," Cordelia muttered out of the corner of her mouth.
Fred stepped forward, "She was only ever with you to spite you. To make you fall in love with her only to crush you like Slughorn sitting on a pumpkin."
They were having way too much fun.
"Cordelia . . . why?" moaned James, collapsing to the ground. The audience watched him fall, felt his pain.
Cordelia sobbed, "I didn't want to choose, I thought I could hide it from you."
James looked up from the floor where he had fallen dramatically, "Did you know I was intending to propose to you?"
"You were," replied Cordelia, letting out a huge stage gasp.
"Yes, I was. Because I believed we wanted a future together," James rose from the floor.
Fred lunged in front of him, "My dear, you can't. You gave up everything to be with me!"
"I know but I never loved you as I loved James. It was really just a mistake."
"Noooooooooooo!' cried Fred as he ran from the room, flapping his hands, seriously? At this point, Cordelia was crying tears of repressed laughter.
James turned to her, "Now my love, we can express our passion."
They both looked at each other, "Let's go celebrate!" she cried nervously, and dragged him up the boys staircase to where Fred had ran.
"I'm sorry, that was way too much," she said as she shut the door behind her.
"Don't say that," exclaimed Fred, "That was amazing!"
"Oh Merlin," said Cordelia, "You're never going to let this go."
James looked at her and grinned, "Never."
Cordelia moved towards him, "You will never speak of this again. It was to help my friends, nothing more. I would appreciate it if we could move on."
"Ahh, what would be the fun in that. Now I can tell everyone that we're to be married," said James, looking happy.
"Yay," said Cordelia, deadpanned.
"Hey, it was your idea. For our honeymoon, I was thinking maybe . . . France or Fiji," James was actually wiggling with excitement.
"Do you know what people do on honeymoons, you little innocent kittens?" dropped Fred casually.
James smiled, "Our love is pure. You wouldn't know anything about that."
Fred rubbed his chin as though recalling a memory, "Oh I don't think you want your love with Cordelia to be pure."
Cordelia flushed. "Now why would you say that?" she said in a warning tone.
"Well, if you could only hear him when he's sleeping. The things I've heard would make any respectable persons-."
Fred stopped talking when James lunged and tackled him to the floor. Cordelia rolled her eyes at the boys antics, walking out of the room.
She successfully snuck back into her dormitory where she found all of her friends waiting for her.
Awkward silence.
"Hey . . . when did you all get back?"
Ella sat up, "About two minutes ago, what in Merlins name did you do? The common room is in chaos."
Cordelia grabbed her pyjamas, at the bathroom door, she turned around and said, "Well, nobody is going to remember your exploits of the night that's for sure."
Breakfast was horrible. James hadn't been lying when he'd talked about her life being miserable. Everyone seemed to know and kept saying everything in carrying whisper so that she'd hear. But Cordelia held her head high and went to the library for the whole day. It was quite peaceful.
By Monday morning, the students of Hogwarts had decided that Fred was a matyr so, by their conclusions, Cordelia was evil. The only good part of her day was when Beatrice smiled at Jasper when he passed her the manure. Argh! They would be great together.
History of Magic was torture. James kept jumping every time she spoke, as though afraid she was going to curse him. Oh, how cute of him to be scared of her. It really was a picturesque moment.
But now, the castle was empty and Henry, Cordelia's new favourite person was doing the patrols with her. No drama here.
What was going on?! and why did she always jinx herself?
It was, as one might call, a trainwreck.
Cordelia knelt down next to the crying girl, Henry had gone ahead towards the shouting they had heard.
"Rose," Cordelia said in a soft voice, "Rose you need to tell me what happened."
Rose curled up even more and continued sobbing.
Cordelia sighed, "Okay, let me take a wild guess. You and Scorpius were together while James and friends were participating in their shenanigans. One thing led to another and now there's a fight."
Rose sat up, hiccoughing, "You're right. My cousins always ruin everything!"
"Okay calm down, we're going to figure this out but remember what I told you, okay."
Rose glared at her, "It was because of you I started this in the first place! Why couldn't I let it be."
Cordelia placed a consoling hand on her arm, "Because I knew it was making you unhappy and you knew that too. You really like him, don't you?"
"Yes, I really like him. Cordelia, I . . . I think . . . I think I love him," she finished, her tear stricken face breaking into a smile.
Now, Cordelia felt bad about this but she did it, no taking it back. She laughed. It wasn't because of Rose, but it was just the idea of love. Cordelia didn't believe you could feel such a strong emotion as love before you had even graduated school. With everything in the world yet to be explored, there was just no room to fall in love, why waste your time? She didn't understand that love trumped all other feelings.
Rose punched her in the arm, "Hey! It's true."
"Okay, I'm sorry, I just . . . never mind. I believe you. Now, Rose, I am obligated to give you a detention for being out past curfew, I'm not going to however if you get back to your dorm as quickly as possible."
Rose nodded and got up from her pathetic position upon the ground. Cordelia watched her go, hopefully, one of her friends would take care of her.
She hurried down the stairs, swearing as she realised they had moved. This meant she had to backtrack and go through two hidden doors and one back staircase to get to the trophy room where it seemed the action was centred.
As she got in sight of the door, Albus rushed out, "Cordelia, thank Merlin, I think James is going to kill Scorpius."
Cordelia hurried her pace, "Isn't anyone stopping him?"
"Well, Lily tried to but unfortunately, James knows about her snogging Jake Cadeely and so he won't listen to her. I think Fred is leaning towards helping us but Hugo is fully on James' side."
"Merlin, how many family members do you have, slash, how many will I have to put in detention?" Cordelia said before opening the door.
James and Hugo both had their wands pointed at Scorpius Malfoy. Henry was in the line of fire while Fred and Lily were off to the side, she was clicking her tongue impatiently.
"SO YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY, HUH?" Wow, angry James was loud.
"Guys, calm down," Henry began rather pointlessly.
Hugo, whom Cordelia had never really interacted with, raised his wand higher, "I will not calm down until this snake stops touching my sister!"
"Oh shut up Hugo," said Lily, "Neither of you has the balls to do anything more than shout."
James replied, not taking his eyes off Scorpius, "Go back to bed Lily, you have no idea what's happening here."
Lily seemed to inflate, drawing in the energy around her, "What, because I'm a weak little girl? I'm obviously too naive to understand important things. I also should be obsessed with pink, frilly things."
Fred spotted Cordelia and winked, seemingly unconcerned.
"Lily you know I don't think of you like that- SIT BACK DOWN BETRAYER!" he said the last part to Scorpius in case you were wondering.
Cordelia decided to make her entrance.
"Alright, everyone be quiet," and when everyone continued squabbling she said, "SHUT IT!"
Everyone in the trophy room turned to look at her, Scorpius took the distraction to rise from the ground.
"You all need to start listening instead of yelling. It's getting repetitive."
"It's none of your business, Bode," said James, "This is a family matter."
Cordelia raised her eyebrows, "I understand that Potter, but it does become my problem when you are here, after curfew, threatening to murder an innocent fifth year."
James' face scrunched up in disgust, "He's no innocent. He was touching my cousin!"
"And I'm sure Rose was completely fine with it! It's not for you to decide who she likes, girls make their own choices," said Cordelia.
"Yeah, but I never expected to see her with this snake."
Cordelia's anger flared up again, "Detention Potter. You are out of bed after hours and have your wand out."
James stepped forward, "That's not fair."
"Oh, what's not fair about it James. You think you can always get your way but, guess what, you can't. I'm not changing my mind," Cordelia despised him at that moment, why did he think that he could have power over other people?
"Bode, like I said before, this is none of your business, no one needs you here, always meddling and making everyone's life miserable, go and study or something."
Cordelia was shocked into silence. That was low.
"Eurgh, shut up. James, stop talking you're ruining everything," Lily walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder, he seemed to relax slightly, "You can't control our lives."
James turned to Scorpius and apologised to him grudgingly, "Sorry. But if catch you with your hands on my-."
"Bupupupupup," said Lily, effectively stopping James' rant.
A few minutes later and everyone had either been issued a detention or a free pass, James turned to Cordelia. He took one look at her stony face and turned green.
"Cordelia, I-"
"No James. I don't want to hear your excuses."
"No, I-"
"I think I'll leave," she said loudly, turning away, "I trust you all to find your way back to your common rooms, after all . . . I don't want my presence to be a damper on the good mood."
As the door slammed behind her, Lily and Albus punched their older brother in each arm.
"Hey! What was that for," said James indignantly.
"Hmmm, let me think," Lily scratched chin sarcastically, "Oh, I know! It's for going back to square one with the love of your life."
James frowned at her, "Come on, it wasn't that bad, she'll be fine in the morning. And who said anything about love?"
"I don't think she will, mate, Cordelia is really insecure about that stuff you said," said Henry while repairing a broken cabinet with his wand.
Albus agreed, "James, you have been talking about her constantly all year, I mean an annoying amount, and you finally got through to her then you went and decided to be a first class jerk."
James whitened, "Is it really that bad?"
"Yes," said four voices, including Scorpius.
"NO ONE ASKED YOU, MR. WANDERING HANDS."
Authors Note: Hmmm, I haven't decided whether I like it or not. The next chapter will be better though. It will feature the necklace retrievement plan, and a hint of romance.