Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Harry Potter series and any of the characters. All credit goes to my hero, the wonderful J.K. Rowling! :D
Spov
When the bell rang, it seemed as if Hallie couldn't leave the room fast enough. She shoved her things in her bag and bolted for the exit, apparently deciding to wait for her friends outside in the hall.
I frowned slightly when I realized she hadn't bothered to take the rose with her. I picked it up off the table and looked at it.
"Bad luck mate." James said bracingly as we exited the classroom and made our way back to Gryffindor tower. "But if it's worth anything I thought the bit with the rose was bloody brilliant."
"Excellent wand work." Remus agreed.
I shrugged. I could have easily made the rose disappear, but instead I put it in my bag, for some reason determined to keep it. I'd thought for a moment there she was actually about to grin when I'd given it to her, but once again I was wrong. I could never seem to get a read on her, what worked with most girls never did work with Hallie. It was like whatever I expected her to do, she did the opposite and I was starting to think I'd never figure her out.
"You need to teach me how to do that, but with lilies," James mused. "Do you think that would work on Evans?"
"Nothing is going to work on Evans mate." I said rolling my eyes. "Just like nothing works on Hallie. I thought you said roses were her favorite." I said looking at Remus. He spent more time with the girls than we did, usually studying, and subsequently was much closer to all of them. But he was especially close to Hallie.
"They are. But I'm sure she'll warm up to you."
"Easy for you to say." I muttered bitterly. "She was half in love with you all last year."
Remus said nothing to this, mainly because we both knew it was true. Hallie had obviously fancied Remus last year, probably because they spent so much time together studying or in classes, but he never asked her out. While he'd said that he didn't want to get too close to a girl, mainly because of his condition, I knew the real reason he'd never consider asking her out was most likely because of me.
"I just don't think you're her favorite person mate." James said shrugging.
"Well that's her problem not mine." I said frowning.
"I don't think it is." James said amused. "In fact, it seems to be the other way round. She seems to be doing fine."
That was too true.
I remembered the first time I'd met Hallie. Well, really met her. I'd seen her in class, and around school a couple of times and thought she was cute but never really knew who she was. She'd always hung around Lily, who James had always fancied, and Alice who'd been spoken for since our third year, so I was never bothered with her. I figured it would be simpler just to ignore her good looks than over complicate our circle of friends by chasing after her.
That was of course until our fourth year.
James and I had both joined the quidditch team, James as the seeker and I as a chaser, and as was usual in quidditch, accidents happened. I'd taken a bludger to the head during one practice, and woken up in the hospital wing to see a girl with long red brown hair and deep blue eyes looking down at me. Up close I saw that she wasn't just cute, she was beautiful. It was a nice way to wake up.
I asked her what she was doing and she'd explained she wanted to be a healer when she left Hogwarts so Madam Pomfrey, the matron of the hospital wing, had agreed to let her help around the ward.
It was the first time I'd ever been alone with her, or ever really spoke to her. We talked as she tested my reflexes and memory, checking for a concussion. She was smart, funny, and sarcastic and though I would never admit it, I thought I might have met a girl cleverer than I was. Something that had never happened before.
It didn't take long for her to determine I was alright. I tried to convince her I needed to stay longer, it was the only time I wanted to keep talking to a girl, but she didn't fall for it. When I tried to ask her out, again something happened that had never before. She said no.
"Why not?"
I remembered asking in shock and the answer she gave me only confused me further.
"Because you assumed I would say yes."
I figured she was just a girl and I would get over it pretty quickly, but I didn't. Over the next few years weeks that no began to haunt me, and no matter how many girls I went out with, I kept finding myself thinking about Hallie. It didn't help that now that I'd met her, she seemed to be everywhere. In my classes, in the common room, she was like a magnet that drew my attention. I ran into her all over the castle, not to mention she was always there when I had to go to the hospital wing. Which, even by Hogwarts standards, was a lot.
I found myself making excuses to go see her, whether it was volunteering to take someone to the hospital wing after practice, or pretending to ask what the homework assignment was in our classes. Each time I did, I always ended up asking her out, and each time she said no.
It was infuriating and yet… I couldn't stop myself.
No matter how annoyed I got with her, every time she was around, it was like I'd just met her again. I constantly made an idiot of myself trying to impress her and with horror I realized I was as bad as James when Lily was around. I couldn't believe one girl could cause me to sink so low.
"Well anyways, what are you two up to now?" I asked trying to get my mind on a topic other than Hallie Benson, which was always difficult. "What classes do you have?"
"I have a free period." Remus said.
"So do I." James said.
"Excellent, me too. Now all we need to do is find Wormtail and we can start planning our next trip at the full moon. Where do you think we should go?"
The last member of our group, Peter Pettigrew, hadn't made it to N.E.W.T. level Potions. Instead he was taking Care of Magical Creatures.
"Well we did find that path in the mountains last year. We never figured out where that went." James said thoughtfully.
"As long as we avoid Hogsmead." Remus said quietly looking rather guilty. "Too many people."
"Relax Moony." I said grinning as we entered a hidden staircase that would lead us straight towards the portrait of the fat lady. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Let's think about that." He said his voice uncharacteristically bitter. "I could attack someone, we could be seen, Dumbledore could find out about us sneaking around every month, we could-"
"Calm down." I said throwing an arm around his shoulder. "Nothing's going to happen. You know we've got everything under control."
"I guess." He said smiling and looking slightly less guilty.
We exited the staircase and found ourselves right in front of the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.
"Password?" the Fat lady asked.
"Pixie wig." James said confidently. He was Head Boy so he knew all of the passwords even before Remus who was a prefect.
"Correct." She said swinging forward and we entered the common room.
"Hey! Remus!" we looked all turned to see Hallie and her friends sitting by the fire. "We're going to the library tonight to study, you want to come?"
"Sure, what time?" He responded.
She gave him a bright smile and I felt a twinge of jealousy run through me. "Six, after dinner." She replied.
"Am I invited?" I asked grinning and Alice and Lily laughed as Hallie's expression hardened.
"No." she said shortly.
"Aw come on Hallie, it could be fun."
She ignored me and went back to her conversation and I caught James staring at Lily.
"I can't believe you're still on about her." I said shaking my head.
"Of course. You're still after Hallie aren't you?" He said looking away from the girls and frowning at me. "Do you think they'll ever agree to go out with us?"
"I dunno mate, a few years ago I would have said there was no doubt, but now…"
"They might." Remus said shrugging.
"And what makes you think that?" I asked quickly. Remus knew them better than we did, and I was sure that in all the time he spent with them, he was sure to have heard at least some pieces of girl talk.
"People change, this is after all our seventh year, who knows what could happen."
"They don't seem any different." I said frowning.
"Yeah they haven't changed at all." James agreed.
Remus gave us an amused, but significant look.
"I never said I was talking about them."