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Thanks ballad.wav for the awesome chapter image :)

           

I awoke the next morning with the remembrance of Potter’s kiss. I just couldn’t get it out of my head, or my dreams, even.

Last night, my subconscious could only think of his hands on my waist and his lips on mine. My body and my mind were traitorous against me as I enjoyed the dreams.

I hurried into the shower, trying to wash away my new and constant thoughts of Potter. I quickly changed into my uniform, brushed out my hair, and put on a tad of makeup before meeting Rose in the common room, where she was reading a book. Excuse my sarcasm, but shocker.

Rose took after her mother, Hermione. She was always studying, always reading. She made it her goal to get top marks and when exams came around, she went bonkers. Despite Rose’s endless studying, I loved her. She was my best friend. She was sweet and managed to be honest without hurting people’s feelings. Rose also really cared about what was going on in the lives of people she loved. Albeit, she was a little nosey, but everybody has their faults. All in all, I couldn’t ask for better, nor would I want to.

“Hey, Al,” greeted Rose teasingly. I narrowed my eyes and glared at her, but she just smirked at me mockingly. She knows that I hate when she calls me “Al” because that is Potter’s nickname. Rose loves it because she thinks we “would make an amazing couple and we don’t hate each other, but just have sexual tension”. Her words, not mine. She would jump for joy if she learned about last night.

“Don’t even go there, Rosy-Posey,” I counteracted. She stuck her tongue out at me, but then continued to taunt me.

“Oh you know you and Al will get together eventually. Just think about it Albus and Alice. Al and Al. I just love it!” she mocked again, laughing at my pained expression.

Once she finally stopped taking the mickey out of me, we headed to the Great Hall.

Upon getting there, we plunked ourselves down on the wooden benches and began eating our breakfasts only to be interrupted by none other than Potter.

“Hello, Rosy-Posey,” he said in a sing-song voice. Then, his cheerful greetings stopped. “Longbottom”.

“Albus Severus Potter,” I replied dully. He winced and glared at me, but was interrupted by Rose smacking him on the shoulder with the back of her hand.

“You know how I hate that nickname, Al. Don’t make me use your full name,” she threatened before digging into her breakfast like a dog. It shut him up very fast. Unfortunately, he turned his unwanted attention back to me.

“Hey, Longbottom. Did you do anything fun last night?” he asked me knowingly. I mirrored his smirk.

“No, actually, yesterday was quite dull and unexciting. I could even describe it as horrible,” I said to him, putting on my best innocent face. The smile that he was smugly wearing vanished and I could almost see his large ego deflate. Too bad it would be pumped back up by the endless supply of admirers he had.

"Well, my evening wasn’t so great either,” he countered angrily.

"Yeah, well, mine sucked! It was bloody awful,” I spat back at him. I know what you’re thinking and I agree; it was a great comeback. Don’t argue with me.

Rose looked from my face to Potter’s repeatedly in a very confused fashion.

“I’m just going to go now…,” she said, looking at us like we were both nutters. “You do… whatever it is you were doing. Carry on.” She made a shooing motion with her hand.

Finally, she left the Great Hall and headed, I’m assuming, to the library. She always does, though lately she’s been skipping meals to leave and it’s entirely abnormal for Rose. I pondered this for a moment, but my thoughts were halted.

After she was gone, Potter grabbed my arm and dragged me into the corridors. (He didn’t even let me finish my food! I really wanted those waffles!) I don’t know how far we went, but he stopped pulling me when we arrived in an abandoned classroom. The desks were stacked against the walls, covered with a light layer of dust and we were standing in the middle of the room with Potter looking at me intensely.

In a flash, exactly like last night, he was snogging me. And again, all my willpower seemed to vanish into thin air and my hands flew up into his hair. We backed up against the dusty desks and started to kiss my jawbone and my neck. I had to bite my tongue to hold in a moan. To my disappointment or pleasure (depending on how you look at it) his hands didn’t remain on my hips as they did before. They slowly made their way up my shirt and were on the small of my back and he was back to attacking my lips.

This time, I couldn’t hold in the moan and I could feel his lips turn up against mine as I did.

Potter, then, stopped snogging me, which I hated and hated myself for hating. He smirked widely at me and my guaranteed disheveled appearance.

"Now, you can never say that I sucked,” he said matter-of-factly and strutted to the door of the classroom. Before leaving he turned around and looked straight at me. “And your bet, from last night, is on.” Then he left the room into the hallway full of people who had no idea what had happened right beside them.

It took me a few minutes to return my pounding heart rate back to normal and to slow my breathing down to normal. By the time I reached the Transfiguration room for class, I was about ten minutes late.

“Well, Mrs. Longbottom, how nice of you to join us,” said Professor McGonagall, who still taught Transfiguration, even though she was also the Headmistress, because she seemed to love teaching. I must say I’m glad she did because even though she is a strict teacher, she’s fair and great at what she does. Plus, though she’ll deny it if you ask her, she gives the Gryffindor house a little more leeway because she used to be the head of it.

“You will join Mr. Filch tonight right after dinner for detention. Take your seat by Ms. Weasley,” she said, pointing to a seat in the front row of the classroom, where a red-headed Rose sat, studiously taking notes.

I nodded slightly and then I went to go sit down by Rose, only to see Potter smirking at me as I walked down the aisle between the desks. He obviously enjoyed knowing the reason that I was late, I’m sure. That bloody prat.



The rest of my day was uneventful and I was glad to be sitting down for dinner, even if it meant that detention was afterwards.

“Ugh,” I grumbled. “You’re cousin is the absolute worst, Rose. He is such a prat.” She rolled her eyes at me. I bet you can guess that she’s heard this a few times before. Okay, maybe a little more than a few times. Okay, I say it every single day.

“What did he do this time?” she asked, knowing exactly which cousin I meant and sounding tired of hearing all of my complaints about Potter, I’m sure.

“He just made me late in Transfiguration today by—, “ I hesitated as Lily, Al’s little sister plopped down next to me. I couldn’t tell them, at least, not right now. I didn’t want anybody else to find out by overhearing me. I could imagine the hype about it. Albus Potter and Alice Longbottom become the modern day Lily and James. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to shudder or scoff at the idea.

“—nothing,” I finished lamely. Smooth move, Alice. I thought. Rose looked at me quizzically, one of her eyebrows going up, but Lily remained oblivious to our conversation.

“Anything you want to tell me, Allie?” she asked, looking slightly suspicious of me.

“Tell you what?” questioned Lily, suddenly interested in our conversation. Like Rose, Lily was slightly nosey, too. She was smart and wicked funny and thought she cared about her family and friends, she just wanted to know what we were talking about because of her overwhelming curiosity and pure entertainment.

“I’ll talk to you about it later, Rose. I don’t feel like saying anything about it right now.” Rose raised her eyebrows.

“You’re telling me you don’t want to complain about Al? Are you okay?” she said in mock shock, putting her hand up to my forehead. We three giggled a little bit. “Well, if you’re sure you’re okay. I’ve got to go to the library.”

I looked at her with disbelief. Rose was trying to skip another meal to go to the library? This was coming from the same girl that ate food like it was the last thing she would get. My best friend chowed down.

“I know you like to get good marks, Rose, but you love food, too. Are you sure you are okay? You’ve never missed a meal as long as I’ve known you.” Rose hesitated and Lily looked surprised at her apparent loss of appetite.

“Look, Alice, Lily, you cannot tell anybody, especially the rest of my family. You know how they can get, particularly the guys,” she said pleadingly.

“Of course not. I won’t tell a soul, Rose, you know that,” I assured her.

“Absolutely,” Lily agreed, holding out her pinky. “Pinky promise, Rosey. I completely understand how you feel.” Rose took it and looked at us gratefully.

“I’m meeting somebody at the library. I really like him, Allie. I’ll tell you more about it later tonight, but I have to go. He’s waiting for me and I don’t want to be late,” she said with a smile on her face and bolted out of the Great Hall without even finishing her dinner and leaving me to wonder about her mysterious, new boyfriend.

After she left, I decided it might be time to go to detention. Simply smashing. I thought. Note my spectacular use of sarcasm.

With a wave to Lily, who had moved to sit by her favorite cousin and best friend, Hugo, when I told her I had to leave, I left the Great Hall.

I walked down the corridor to Filch’s office thinking about what my punishment might be. They were never too bad, but I really hated cleaning things without magic.

Once I finally got there, he told me to hurry on to the trophy room and help out one of the other “delinquents”, as he called it, clean the trophies and the case without the use of magic. To my disappointment, he took my wand for the time being and I went on my way. I always hope he forgets to grab it, but he never does.

When I got to the trophy room, I walked in without seeing who was to be cleaning with me. How stupid of me.

"Hey, Longbottom,” said the most annoying voice in the world. I could almost see the typical trademark smirk and I heard his arrogant snicker. “Long time, no see.”

I spun around quickly to face the mocking voice.

”Go get stuffed, Potter!” I spat at him.

This was going to be the single longest detention of my entire life. No exaggeration.