Found AIAOY 4

Rebecca had a long scroll of parchment in front of her that was as mostly empty as it had been when she had first sat down to work on her Potions essay.  Sitting with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the Great Hall in one of the study blocks, she was entirely without inspiration.

There were only two weeks left of term and the Yule Ball was only a few days after that.  The professors, sensing the hopes of their students for an easy end of term, answered without words.  Using the O.W.Ls they would all be taking at the end of the next year, homework was given in higher and higher quantities.

Harry had already gotten a good start on his essay, though his attention kept being pulled behind him time and time again.  After he'd turned to look at Cho for the third time, Cho's friend nudged and whispered to her, telling Cho of the attention she was attracting.

Harry smiled, the pumpkin juice in his mouth falling out and dribbling down the front of him.  Rebecca held out a napkin towards him without looking up from her textbook as Cho told her friends not to laugh at him.

"She's done it again!"  Hermione snapped from behind her copy of the Daily Prophet, slamming the paper onto the tabletop before elaborating.  "Listen to this!  'Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to be developing a taste for famous wizards."

Ron had a grin ready on his face the second Hermione started to read from the paper, ready to laugh at the ridiculousness conjured up now.  But as she began, his smile failed.

"Her latest prey, sources report, is none other than the Bulgarian bonbon Viktor Krum.  No word yet on how Harry Potter's taking this latest emotional blow.  And,'"  Hermione's voice lost its mocking quality, trailing away.  "Oh..."  She folded the paper and put it down.

"What?"  Harry asked.

Hermione glanced at Rebecca's downturned head still pointed at the text for inspiration and answered pointedly.  "Nothing."

Rebecca heard the odd tone and look up, privately thankful something had happened to keep her from the blasted essay.  "What is it?"

Hermione moved the paper so that it was on the bench next to her.  "I said it's nothing."

"And I say you're lying."  Rebecca said plainly, her head falling back towards her word.  "All that woman writes is lies.  If it's about me, I don't care."

Hermione raised her eyebrows and looked up and down the table, clearly happy to look anywhere but at Rebecca.  Rebecca was thoroughly intrigued.

"Alright, now I'm curious.  What's she cooked up now?"  She reached for the copy in front of Ron who stopped her worried.

"Are you sure you want to see it?"  Ron gestured to Hermione.  "Look, if she says it's not a good idea then..."

Rebecca shook open the paper and flipped the the section set aside for the Tournament's coverage.  "Ah."  Rebecca nodded her head slowly, reading exactly what Hermione didn't want her to.  "Where...is...Lavender?"  Rebecca's voice was slow and cautiously level, a sure indicator of the anger rising inside of her.

Hermione shook her head panicked, "No, Rebecca don't do-She's not listening to me."

Rebecca stood up and looked over the Gryffindor tables slowly, looking for the girl.

Harry picked up the paper Hermione's paper from the bench and skimmed the article quickly.  "Harry's sister is also sent spiraling after the moving on of Miss Granger.  A Miss Brown, also a fourth year student, reports that Granger and Potter two had a romantic fling previously.  From the mouth of the witness, 'Oh yeah, they're definitely a thing.  I even heard them talking about starting a lesbian colony once!"

"Rebecca-"  Harry tried, his voice falling on deaf ears.

Rebecca found Lavender down near the exit and stepped over the bench, holding the paper she had so tightly it crumpled.  Eyes around the hall followed Rebecca as she went to Lavender, Lavender's eyes widening at the look on her face.  Rebecca swung one leg onto the bench so she was straddling it and smoothed the paper out in front of Lavender, tapping the article.

"What's this?"  Rebecca demanded.

"Looks like the Prophet-"  Lavender tried.

"What're you doing in it?  Saying something like that?"  Rebecca clarified, growing even angrier.

"I was asked a question, I answered it."  Lavender answered weakly, offering up an equally weak shrug as if it excused her actions.

"You answered it falsely!"  Rebecca exclaimed.  "Hermione and I are friends, and that is all that we have ever been.  You used this as an insult!"

Lavender looked to the other girls at the table, finding no support.  They had all warned her against saying that, not only because they knew it would find its way to the ears of Rebecca but also because it was such a low blow.

"I am...calm now."  Rebecca managed, her voice tight.  "But if I ever hear you trying to use gay as an insult, as slander like you have here, you will find me far less reasonable."  Rebecca stood up, pausing her exit to lean towards Lavender's ear.  "And love?  Even if I were interested in girls, I wouldn't be able to stomach the idea of you."  Her voice dripped in malice, the insult the final blow of the interaction.

Lavender's face ignited in shame as the few around her who had heard laughed--Just as she had tried to use gossip against another, she knew it would be used against her and that all would know what Rebecca had said in hours.

Ron and Harry were cackling back at the table, far from the unamused look on Hermione's face.  "Brilliant!"  Ron said, clapping his hands slowly.  "Just brilliant!"

Hermione shook her head, tutting.  "You really must control yourself.  You're going to end up hurting someone."

Rebecca looked to her shocked.  "Hermione, you must be joking?  It's written right here for everyone to read!  There'll be people in Hogwarts, right in this bloody hall, reading what she said.  Reading how she tried to use this as an insult.  How would you feel?"

Hermione pursed her lips, seeing what Rebecca was saying and finding a new wave of pride in her at the depths of her best friend's heart.  "I stand by the prediction you're going to end up with high-blood pressure."

Rebecca sat down with a sigh, her eyes going back to her blank parchment.  "Guess it's a damned good thing she didn't hear about what Sirius had me say."

This only sent Harry and Ron back into the hysterics they had hardly escaped, Ron having been filled in on the event in question.  Tears streamed down their cheeks and their breaths came in ragged gasps, their good time only interrupted by a little voice coming from behind Ron.

"Mr Weasley?"

Ron took a breath, trying to compose himself as he wiped at his cheeks.  "Yes, Nigel?"

"Parcel!"  Nigel said happily, holding it out and stepping to the side.  The boy grinned at Harry expectantly.  

"Not now, Nigel."  Ron said, shooing the disappointed young boy away.  "Later."  Nigel walked back to his mates empty handed.  Hermione stared at Ron until he offered an explanation as to what the odd behaviour had been about.  "Told him I'd get him Harry's autograph."

Hermione's jaw dropped, utterly incapable of wrapping her head around Ron's change in attitude.

"Oh look, it's from mum!"  Ron rustled around the papers inside the package, holding up a box to Rebecca.  "This is for you and this...is for me..."  Ron's tone dropped as he pulled out a brown piece of fabric with orange ornamentation around the edges, unsure of what it was.  "She's sent me a dress!"  

"It matches your eyes!"  Harry said, failing to stifle his laughter.  "Is there a bonnet?"  Harry pulled out a smaller piece with ruffles.

Ron stood up and walked down the aisle to Ginny, holding up the garish cloth as if it pained him.  "Mum sent this, must be for you."

Ginny furrowed her brow, shaking her head.  "I'm not wearing that, it's ghastly!"

Rebecca opened up the little tin Molly had sent to her, finding homemade treats of different sorts.  "For you, sweets.  To share or not.  XO."  Rebecca focused on her essay once more, trying to force her homesickness away and failing horribly.

Ron returned to them, confused as ever.  "What're you going on about?"  He asked Hermione, who was giggling.

Rebecca folded up her parchment and closed her textbook, clearly it wasn't going to write itself and she couldn't be bothered.

"They're not for Ginny."  Hermione answered.  "Those are dress robes."

"Dress robes?"  Ron asked.  "For what?"

"For the Yule Ball, Mr Weasley."  Ron sat down and stared at the hideous robes as Professor McGonagall answered from behind him.  The professor looked at Rebecca, finding that she hadn't looked up and was absent-mindedly tapping her tin with her quill.  "Miss Potter, if you would please come with me."

Rebecca gathered her things, holding the tin under her arm as she followed their head of house out of the hall.

"Where are they off to?"  Harry asked, craning his neck to watch as they exited.  He was awash with concern.

"You've noticed she's not herself, haven't you?"  Hermione asked incredulously, as if there was no way Harry hadn't--which he agreed with entirely, he had noticed.  Harry just didn't know how to help.  "McGonagall's probably noticed as well."

Ron shook his head and shoved the dress robes back into the box they'd come in.  "Girls are so complicated."

Harry rolled his eyes as Hermione and Ron started to bicker, sensing that that was how their study block's end was going to be spent.

Down the table, Fred excused himself from Lee's ranting on the Ministry's refusal to let him announce the events and headed out the door, turning down the corridor Professor McGonagall and Rebecca had just disappeared down.

*******************************************

Once inside the Transfiguration classroom, Minerva sat down at her desk and pointed at the chair in front of it for Rebecca to have a seat.  "Do you have any idea why we're meeting today?"

Rebecca shook her head, sitting back in her seat.  "No, professor.  Not a one.  Have I done something wrong?"

Minerva shook her head and transfigured two of the paper son her desk into two teacups, a whistling kettle from the back room coming out and pouring itself perfectly.  "No, no.  This is an...intervention, of sorts."  Minerva slid a cup of tea to Rebecca.  "Your professors, as well as a few concerned peers, have noticed you're not acting like yourself lately: Poor marks, poor participation, poor attitude."

Rebecca showed no reaction.  "So?"

Minerva raised an eyebrow, taking a sip of her tea to steady herself.  "So?  Sewing is an action, not a response."

Rebecca was quiet a moment.  "I don't know what to say, Professor."

Minerva opened her top drawer and took out a pack of sweets, handing them to her.  "What's going on, child?"

"I don't know."  Rebecca answered honestly.  "I'm tired--so tired--but I can't sleep at night.  I have so much homework to do, but I can't seem to get any of it done.  I've been writing an essay all week and do you know what I've written?  My name."

"Are the premonitions occuring again?"  Minerva asked, immediately filled with concern.

"No, I drink the tea with the draught every night."

McGonagall nodded, placated momentarily.  "As counteractive as it might seem, have you tried to do something you enjoy?  To rest a moment?"

Rebecca lowered her head.  "Professor, I don't know what I would do if I had a break, let alone the fact that there isn't time for one."

McGonagall set her tea down with a soft clatter.  "Then, the time is made.  Tonight.  The arena from the first task has been dismantled and the pitch has been returned to its former glory.  You are forbidden from working on any school work until you get yourself together, do I make myself clear?"

Rebecca sighed and set her empty cup on the table, taking another sweet.  "Who's been worrying to you?  You said 'peers.'"  McGonagall's eyes flitted to the tuft of red hair that had been peeking in at the door, causing Rebecca to look over her shoulder and answer her own question.  "Never mind, I know who."

Minerva smiled.  "I expect you in tip-top shape for tomorrow's house meeting, understood?"

Rebecca nodded, remembering that McGonagall had called a meeting with all of the Gryffindor students Saturday afternoon.  "Rebecca?"  McGonagall called as Rebecca crossed the classroom.  "You'll find more than one broom available this evening, if desired."

Rebecca crossed the classroom and hugged McGonagall, trying to hold onto the feeling after she had let go.  "Thank you, Professor."

"Go on, then."  McGonagall sighed as the classroom door was shut behind Rebecca.  "These children..."

Rebecca eyed Fred, now moved to the opposite wall, with a slight smile.  "Eavesdropping?"

"Not quite, thick walls."  Fred knocked on the stone wall next to his head and shrugged.  "Only stalking." 

He walked beside her as they made their way back towards the Great Hall, their next and final class of the day beginning shortly.  "Well," Rebecca's hand brushed against his.  "In case the walls were too thick for you to hear, McGonagall has opened the pitch this evening.  If you're interested, that is."

"Depends."  Fred tapped his chin as if he were weighing his options.  "Is anyone else going to be there?"

"Not unless you want them to."  Rebecca answered, knowing he was playing with her.

"I'll check my schedule and get back to you on that."  Fred waited a second before throwing his hands up and laughing.  "Look at that!  Empty!"

"Did you remember the meeting tomorrow?"  Rebecca asked as they peeked into the Great Hall, finding that their friends had abandoned them both.  

"Yes, yes I did."  Fred scratched his head.  "Which meeting are you talking about?  Just so I know that you're right."

Rebecca rolled her eyes.  "The one McGonagall's called?"

"Yes, yes that meeting.  I remember."  Fred was looking at her lips instead of her eyes, distracted.  "What's it for again?"

Rebecca nudged him as they walked on, knowing he had other things on his mind.  "Not sure, all she said was that it's a house meeting.  I'll see you tonight?"  The fork in their paths had come, Fred needing to go the other way.

"Wouldn't miss it."  He answered honestly.

*******************************************

Rebecca left the common room with a bag over her shoulder as the sun began to set, telling Hermione she was to get more of the draught before bed.  Harry and Ron screaming over chess in the corner not only provided Rebecca's poor lie enough cover, but also reminded her of how thankful she was that Harry now had Ron to play with.

Fred watched Rebecca leave and waited a few minutes, knowing it would be suspicious of they left one after the other.  Lavender slinking into the common room brought about the now-usual barrage of boos and gave Fred the opportunity to sneak to the door and exit.

"They'll be back together, I bet you."  The Fat Lady said to the portrait she'd wagered over the first task with.

"I'm not betting you anything!"  The man shouted, turning away from her rudely.  Turns out, even portraits of men were sore losers.

Fred hadn't heard anything behind him, though the Fat Lady stood on her tiptoes to make sure.  The boy was whistling contently, hopping onto the stone bannister of the last flight of stairs and sliding towards Rebecca.

"You'll fall one day."  Rebecca warned as he hopped off the end and gave her a cheeky bow.

"But not today."  Fred entwined his hand into hers, the empty corridor towards the Gryffindor quidditch room giving him the freedom to do so.  "Are you relaxing?"

Rebecca gave him a look as they entered the very room Oliver would have been lecturing them in a year before.  "I thought the walls were too thick to eavesdrop?"

Fred opened the door and surveyed the hanging brooms, opting for ignorance as his defense.  "What?"

"Thick walls."  Rebecca said again.  "You said you couldn't hear what we were talking about because the walls were-"

"What?"  Fred asked again, tossing her one of the brooms.  Rebecca went to the door that led to the pitch and grabbed the quaffle from the box as she went.  "Oh no fair, chasing?"

Rebecca smiled and backed out of the door, hopping onto her broom.  "What?"

Fred watched as she lazily flew towards the middle of the pitch, not rushing but enjoying.  Fred put his broom under him and joined her.

"Catch!"  She said, tossing the quaffle to him.  The ball thudded in his hands as he threw it back.  They occupied themselves with this for a while, Rebecca enjoying the familiarity of the exercise.  When Fred finally called for a break, his arms tingling and already sore at the different movement, Rebecca sat on the grass near the bag she'd thrown there earlier.

"Still?"  Fred asked, seeing the same parchment she'd been carrying all week.

"Still."  Rebecca grimaced.

"Let's see how far you've gotten."  Fred said, plucking out from in front of her and seeing the lack of any progress whatsoever.  "Hey, this is alright too.  Just that much more space to work with!"  He fished in her bag and pulled out a quill and inkpot, laying back on the grass and thinking about his Potion lessons from last year.  "Write something like..."

Thirty minutes later, despite McGonagall's forbiddance, Rebecca was staring at a finished essay.  "Fred!"  She shouted, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek.  

"Woah!"  Fred laughed, wrapping his arms around her.  "I only solved all of your problems!"  She peppered his face with kisses, smiling all the while.  "I think I'll help you with your homework more if this is the thanks I get!"

Rebecca laughed madly and climbed off of him, rolling the parchment back into her bag and sticking it into her bag.  She grabbed her broom and jumped back onto it, looping around lightheartedly.

"Wait!"  Fred called after her, getting to his own broom and following her.

Rebecca went to the bottoms of the posts on the side they were closest to, weaving in and out of them.  Fred flew his broom next to hers, diverging from her path to go the opposite direction thinking about how cool this must look from afar.

Until, of course, he collided with her in the middle and sent them both falling to the floor.  "I didn't think about what would happen when I did that."  Fred groaned.

Rebecca was on her side, her face contorted in silent laughter so strong it hurt.  "W-what did you think would happen?"  She gasped out.

Fred rolled towards her and put his head on his elbows, looking down at her upside down.  "Not that."  He lowered his face and pressed his lips to her forehead.  When Fred lifted his head, Rebecca smiled and closed her eyes.  He traced his hand down the side of her face, pausing at the chain around her neck.  "Still wearing this?"  Fred lifted the locket and found a picture of the Weasley children on one side and the other one of Harry.

"Always."  Rebecca answered, looking to the side as Fred rolled onto his back so their heads were next to each other.

"You're not going to mention to McGonagall that we did homework, right?"  Fred asked after a moment, finding the stars growing visible above them.

"Of course not!"  Rebecca shook her head.  "I don't want her to give me the face."

"The 'I'm-very-disappointed-in-you' face?"  Fred asked, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"Yes!"  Rebecca laughed.  "I hate that one!"

"Remember the time we tried to go past her wet?"  Fred chuckled.  "That was definitely the face."

They laid in the grass a while, their brooms abandoned next to them, reminiscing on the highlights of their times together until it had grown much darker and they knew their relaxation was over.

"Think about it though," Fred said.  "We've got this meeting tomorrow, then one more week of classes.  Then we'll got to Hogsmeade and laugh as everyone fights over ties and dresses and then we'll go to the ball."

"And then?"  Rebecca teased, knowing what he was thinking about.

"Then?"  Fred grinned.  "I'm probably going to kiss you."

"At a certain time or is that like a never-ending kind of deal?"  Rebecca asked, shouldering her bag.

"I guess we'll have to find out."  

*******************************************

"The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament since its inception."  McGonagall walked away from where Filch was fiddling with a record player, only static leaving it.  "On Christmas Eve night, we and our guests gather in the Great Hall for a night of well-mannered frivolity."  She looked at Fred and George warily.  "Well-mannered being the keywords."

Fred smirked and whispered to Rebecca in front of him.  "Is she saying I'm ill-mannered?"

McGonagall shot him a look so that he would stop talking and continued.  "As representatives of the host school, I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot forward."  Knowing everything, as she frequently did, McGonagall stopped in front of Lavender.  "Without judgement on customs or beliefs different than our own."

Lavender looked down, publicly chastised.  It was Rebecca's turn to smirk as giggles spread around the room.

"The Yule Ball is first and foremost, a dance."  The long room McGonagall held the meeting in erupted complaints and chatter from boys and girls alike.  "Silence!"  The professor shook her head.  "The House of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizard world for nearly ten centuries--I will not have you, in the course of a single evening, besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons!"

George leaned over to Fred, "Try and say that five times fast."

"Babbline, bumbling bab-band-"  Fred shook his head, admitting defeat and joining George's chuckles.

"To dance," McGonagall looked over them all.  "Is to let the body breathe.  Inside every girl, a swan slumbers.  Inside every boy, a lordly lion."  McGonagall watched Ron lean over into Dean's ear and whisper something, drawing her attention.  "Mr Weasley?"

"Yes?"  Ron asked as Harry sat up straight next to him.  Rebecca edged her way along the side of the room, moving from where she had been in front of Fred on the boy-dominated side of the room to the cluster of girls where she stood next to Ginny and Hermione.

"Will you join me, please?"  McGonagall grabbed Ron's shoulder, as she wasn't really asking, and brought him to the middle of the room.  "Place your right hand on my waist."  

Ron looked around as the boys oohed.  "Where?"  His voice cracked.

"My waist."  Harry let out a whistle as McGonagall put Ron's hand where it was supposed to go.  "Extend your arm."  She directed ROn into the proper positioning before motioning for Filch to start the music.

Rebecca's ears were filled with the crackling of the old record being spun as it had many, many times before; A slow song filling the room.  McGonagall began to count as she and Ron began to spin around the room.  "One, two, three.  One, two, three."

Fred and George swayed in place, humming with the music as Ron and McGonagall waltzed.  "You're never going to let him forget this, are you?"  Harry asked, leaning back in his seat to talk to them.

"Never!"  They answered at the same time, grinning.

"Everybody come together!"  McGonagall said as the song restarted and she and Ron stopped.  The students met in the middle of the room, the girls and boys pairing quickly.  

Neville took to it naturally, leading Ginny around the others in an uncharacteristically confident fashion.  "Say Ginny, I know you're only third year..."  Hermione and Rebecca looked at each other with grins and wide-eyes as they listened to Neville stammer through an invitation as he whisked Ginny about the room.

Hermione had been snagged by Seamus, stupid on his part.  She took every opportunity to 'accidentally' step on his toes.  Fred raised his eyebrows at Rebecca from across the room, asking from afar if she would dance with him.  Both fortunately and unfortunately, other students grabbed them before they could get to each other: Angelina joining Fred and Dean joining Rebecca.

Rebecca found Dean to be an uncomfortable partner, his movements stiff and robotic as his attention was stuck on Seamus moving from Hermione to Eloise McConnor.  "You should ask him."  Rebecca said, taking a little more control of the dance and motioning for Dean to relax.

"I don't know-What if he's not...you know."  Dean said quietly.

"What if he is?"  Rebecca asked gently, her eyes straying towards Fred.  "You don't want to watch from the side forever, do you?"

"Hypocritical, no?"  Dean smirked as Rebecca looked away quickly.  "I won't say anything if you don't."

Rebecca gave Dean a sad smile, wishing he hadn't sounded so scared when he proposed their silence.  "I never would have said anything anyway."

"Switch!"  McGonagall called, clapping her hands so Filch paused the music.  The students began to rearrange and, before Rebecca had gone more than a few steps, one of the sixth year Gryffindor students swooped in and took Dean's spot as her partner.

"Hey there," The boy said with a grin.  "Jonas."  Before Rebecca could introduce herself or say anything, really, he laid a hand on her waist firmly and took her hand so that they were in position to start as the music began again.  "So, Rebecca," He pulled her closer against him.  "This ball.  Mental, right?"

"Mental."  Rebecca echoed, pushing him away so that there was distance between their bodies.  

"Well, I was thinking."  Rebecca wondered if this boy had ever done a day's worth of thinking in his life.  "What if you got to go with me?  Wouldn't be mental after that."

Rebecca looked up at him, repeating 'got to go with him' in her head.  "I already have a date."

Jonas' smile fell, a sneer crawling up from beneath.  "What a waste of time."  Rebecca pulled her hand from his and grabbed his sleeve between two fingers to remove his hand from her waist, relieved that McGonagall called for them to switch again.  

"No mate," Rebecca scoffed.  "I get the feeling you're the only waste here."  She turned and walked away, leaving him to scope out the other girls as Rebecca found where Harry was in the room.  Neville was nearby, partnerless.  Rebecca took his hand and smiled, accepting his offer of a dance happily.

Neville really excelled and, especially after the dance she'd just had, Rebecca enjoyed the third dance the most.  After that round, McGonagall called for the end of what was required and left the music running for those who wanted additional practise.

Harry, off to the side, was scowling.  "What's wrong?"  Rebecca asked, still smiling from Neville.

"How do you know when to step?"  Harry asked, convinced he had to be deficient for everyone else to be doing so well while he'd stepped on the toes of each and every one of his partners.

"Listen to the music and stop thinking so hard."  Rebecca said, raising her hands and clapping them softly with the beat.  "It's just with the music."  She began to step around as if she had a partner, counting the beat out plainly.

Harry nodded and stepped with the music, hearing what he couldn't before.  

"Bravo!"  Rebecca said, a girl stepping forward and asking Harry for a dance.  Watching for a few minutes longer, taking the dances she was offered, Rebecca found that no matter what happened, she and Fred were always at opposite ends of the room.

*******************************************

"This is mad!"  Ron hissed, complaining in the Great Hall days later.  "At this rate, we'll be the only ones in our year without dates!"  The beginning of the week had passed and they were back in a study block again.  "I mean, really.  There's one bloody week until this thing!"

Snape walked past and shoved Ron's head down towards his work.

"Well, us and Neville."  Ron added, muttering to Harry.

Rebecca scoffed, hearing him.  "Neville's got a date, moron."

Ron groaned loudly, making sure Snape wasn't turning back around.  "Now I'm really depressed."

Hermione and Rebecca looked at each other before rolling their eyes and turning back to their final assignments.  

George slid a paper down the table to Harry and Ron, having heard their conversation.  "Get a move on or all the good ones will have gone."

Rebecca raised an eyebrow at the statement, though Ron asked her question for her.  "Who're you going with?"  He whispered to George.

George took another piece of paper and balled it up, tossing it at Angelina.  It bounced off her head, causing her to turn around slowly.  "What?"  She mouthed, interrupted from her conversation.

George pointed to her.  "Do you want..."  He made to fingers walk across his hand.  "To go..."  He put his hands up and danced in his seat a moment.  "To the ball..."  He pointed at himself and smirked.  "With me?"

"The ball?"  Angelina repeated with a smile.  "Yeah, sure."

George winked at Ron.  "See?  Easy."

Ron took a deep breath and turned in his seat, facing Hermione who was continuing to work.  "Hermione,"  Rebecca put her quill down, sensing that whatever Ron was building up to say would not end well.  "You're a girl."

Harry looked to Rebecca worried, feeling the same.

"Well spotted."  Hermione responded sharply.  She put her quill to rest on her inkpot, looking at Ron.  

"Come with one of u-"  Snape smacked the back of his head with a book as he passed them again, finding them still off-topic.  "It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone."  Ron continued quietly.  "For a girl, it's just sad."

Rebecca and Harry winced.

"I won't be going along!"  Hermione grabbed her parchment and rolled it quickly.  "Believe it or not, someone's asked me!"  Hermione stood up and walked to where Snape stood at the front of the hall, handing him her scroll.  "And I said yes!"  Hermione finished, grabbing her bag and leaving them without another word."

Rebecca shook her head at how Ron ignored how deeply he'd just offended Hermione.

"Look, we've just got to grit our teeth and do it."  Ron said, attracting Snape's attention.

Harry realised that he hadn't known Hermione had had a date either.  "Say Rebecca, who's her date?"

Rebecca shrugged.  "I've no idea."

"Well, do you have a date yet?"  Ron demanded.

Harry looked away, remembering what he'd seen the night he'd lingered at the top of the stairs before the portrait hole.

"Bugger off."  Rebecca answered, rolling her parchment up and watching with a smile as Snape grabbed both Ron's and Harry's heads and clunking them together before pushing them back to their unfinished work.  Rebecca, for once, actually agreed with something the Potions professor had done and held her work out for him to take.

Snape unrolled the assignment and sighed.  "You have a misspelling in your first sentence."

Rebecca lost the glimmer of not-hate she had found for Snape and left the Great Hall.

*******************************************

Hermione and Rebecca were sitting near the fire in the common room, fighting off the chill seeping in from the ancient windows as Rebecca sighed again.  She had had her letter back to Molly ready for days but with the snow having blanketed the castle so heavily, she'd been putting off the walk.

"Ask Fred."  Hermione said, unable to enjoy her book with the sighing.  "He'd do it in a heartbeat."

"Do what?"  Harry asked, finally joining them after finishing his work.

"I have to send an owl but it's so far."  Rebecca whinged.

"And cold."  Harry agreed, squeezing beside her in the chair meant for one.  "I can run it up there."  He plucked the letter off her lap, finding her arms wrapped around his neck.

"Thank you!"  Rebecca laughed.  "It's so bloody cold out there.  I thought we were in Scotland, not Svalbard!"

"Svalbard?"  Harry repeated, not understanding.

"An island near the North Pole."  Rebecca shrugged.  "Been brushing up on my geography."

Harry looked at her strangely before leaving the common room as quickly as he'd entered it, finding it chill but not unbearably so.  He took the stairs slowly, still thinking over his lack of a date when he came face to face with the one person he couldn't keep out of his thoughts lately.  "Cho!"  He breathed, shocked.

"Harry!"  They bounced back and forth, both trying to get out of the others way.  Cho finally grabbed his arm and put him to the left, putting herself on the other side so she could exit.  "Watch yourself on the stairs," She warned, turning to leave.  "It's a bit icy at the top."

Harry's heart fluttered, her voice affecting him as it always did.  "Thank you."  He turned back to the owls and found a courage in him that would fade if he paused for even a second.  "Cho?"

"Yes?"  She said, smiling as she turned back to him.

"Um...Well, I just wondered if you-I just wondered if maybe you wanted to go to the ball with me?"  His words quickened towards the end, his nerves catching up with him.

Cho winced, not the reaction Harry had been hoping for.  "Oh erm, I'm sorry Harry.  Somebody's already asked me and...well, I said I'll go with him."

Harry's heart sank like a stone.  "Okay, yeah.  Great!"  He tried to sound enthusiastic for her while he absolutely beat himself over the head internally for putting off asking for so long.

"Harry?"  Cho called, causing him to look back to her once more.  "I really am--sorry."  Cho nodded her head and left, actually that time.

Harry sent off the owl and went back to the common room, laying on a couch with a pillow between his arms as he watched the fire burn.  Rebecca had moved from her chair by the fire and was now sitting at the back with Fred and George on either side of her.

"Packing issue, solved.  Products, made."  She looked to the two of them happily.  "Now it's just delivery!"

Fred sighed.  "Easier said than done, unfortunately.  We've got twenty-six boxes that need to get to the different common rooms."

George looked out the window, an idea coming to him slowly but surely.  "I've got it!"

Rebecca turned around at the clamour taking place at the portrait hole, Ron being led in by Ginny and a few other girls.  Rebecca was up and with in a moment, shooing Harry off the couch as Ginny directed Ron to have a seat.

"It's alright, it doesn't matter."  Ginny said, patting Ron's shoulder before turning to Hermione with the laughter that threatened to spill out.

"What happened to you?"  Harry demanded, upset that his pouting had been disrupted.

"He just asked Fleur out."  That was it, the phrase that forced Ginny to fall into pieces.

Hermione knelt in front of Ron, biting back a grin of her own.  He looked fine, at least.

"What did she say?"  Rebecca asked, curious.

"No, of course."  Hermione answered, though she hadn't been there.  The answer was obvious to her.  Hermione clasped a hand to her mouth as Ron shook his head.  "She said yes?"  

Ron began to talk, leading up to the answer they were waiting for.  "Don't be silly.  There she was, walking by.  You know how I like it when they walk."  Rebecca made a face at the detail she really didn't need to know.  "I couldn't help it, it just sort of slipped out."

"Actually," Ginny corrected.  "He sort of screamed it at her.  It was a but frightening."  Ginny laughed harder on the floor where she'd taken to, holding her stomach as she couldn't stop.

Ron took a pillow off the couch and threw it at her.  

"What'd you do then?"  Harry asked.

"What else could I do?"  Ron put his head into his hands.  "I ran!  I'm not cut out for this, Harry.  I don't-"

"Hi, Harry."  Padma and Parvati said in unison as they came down the stairs from the girls' dormitories.

"I've always liked looking at them from behind, I didn't expect the front to be so terrifying."  Rebecca reached over and covered Ron's mouth.

"Please Ron," She begged.  "Stop talking."

"She's never going to forgive me."  Ron groaned, pulling himself away from Rebecca's hands.  "Not ever."

Harry turned and ran after the two girls that had been eyeing him so directly.  "Hey!"  Harry called, stepping out with them into the hallway outside of the common room.  When he returned a few minutes later, he was proud to announce to them all that he'd secured he and Ron dates.

Rebecca shook her head and went to the bottom of the boys' staircase, Fred and George having disappeared up them while Ron's issues were dealt with.  Rebecca climbed them, watching as Hermione pulled Ginny up off the floor and brushed her off.  Turning into the hall of doors, Rebecca made her way down to the one that she spent so much time in and knocked on the frame.

No answer came.  "Hello?"  Rebecca asked, peering in.

Inside, Fred lay on his bed with his hand resting over his eyes, his stomach rising and falling steadily.  The shower ran ahead, George nowhere to be seen.  "Fallen asleep waiting for the shower, been there!"  

Rebecca took the opportunity and climbed into his bed with him, letting her head rest against his chest.  As she'd seen, his breathing was slow and steady--his heartbeats the same way.  Rebecca put her arm around him and smiled.

Fred stirred slightly at the joining of a presence in his bed, not expecting her at all.  "RJ?"  He asked, seeing the top of her head.  "Everything alright?"

She looked up with a little smile, kissing him gently before answering.  "Perfect.  You?"

"Well, I've been better."  Rebecca sat up and kissed him again, a little longer tha before.

"Now?"

Fred sat up and turned so that he was leaning over her, moving his arm so that it was under her head and he was above.  "I don't know..."  He kissed her from above, pausing only when he had to.  

Rebecca kept her eyes closed, a smile growing across her face.  "And how about now?"  She asked again.

Fred nodded, lowering himself down and laughing into Rebecca's neck.  "Yeah, that'd be perfect."

The water shut off in the shower, sending Rebecca and Fred sprawling apart from their perfect.  "Good night!"  Rebecca whispered, stepping out into the hall and closing the door to the outside just as George stepped out of the bathroom in his pajamas.

"Who're you talking to?"  He asked confused when he didn't see Lee with Fred, but Fred alone.

"No one?"  Fred sat up and grabbed his pajamas, moving to the bathroom.  "Are you hearing things, Georgie?  Need to go to the Hospital Wing?"

George grinned and laid back in his bed, gesturing down himself.  "And risk changing anything about all of this?  No chance!" 

Fred laughed as he closed the bathroom door.

*******************************************

"So you really won't tell me who you're going with?"  Rebecca asked again, she and Hermione tired from the day and in bed before Ginny had even come up from the common room.

"Are you telling me who you're going with?"  Hermione countered, reaching up and turning her lamp off.

"No."

"Then..."  Hermione grinned into the darkness.  "No."

Ironically, if either girl had given voice to their guess, they both would have been correct.  But, as they were both incredibly stubborn, they said nothing and went to bed laughing about--as Rebecca had coined the incident--Ron's 'fleur'-ting.

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