Mad about Bill

Finally it was the night of the Halloween Ball. Neither Alec nor Poppy had managed to find other partners (after asking Mia, Alec refused to ask another girl in fear he would be refused again). Too no one's surprise (though a lot of girls disappointment) Ollie hadn't asked anyone, so we went together. Alanna was going with Tobias of course. Every year I always put my hopes up that someone would ask me to the ball and every year I had them dashed. It was fun going with Ollie, doubly so because I knew that a lot of girls were jealous of me, but it wasn't really what I wanted.

The Hall was packed with people. Ollie and I came late with Poppy and Alec and had to wade through the masses of Hogwarts students getting ready for the dancing to start. We'd missed the traditional greeting from Dumbledore because we'd all been looking for Poppy's missing earring. Alec led Poppy over to a vacant space and a moment later the music had started.

"Do you want to go and sit down?" asked Ollie. I nodded. As a general rule we did not dance, as both of us were unable to. The Hall was decorated entirely in black and orange with numerous pumpkins dotted here and there. A few cantankerous skeletons had been erected beside the elegant black chairs with orange trimmings and large banners of orange and black were hung around the Hall.

"Lets not sit near a skeleton," said Ollie as we passed a large group of Slytherin fourth years being insulted by one of the ruder skeletons, much to the Slytherins' fury. We went and sat down in what was predominantly a Gryffindor populated area. I caught a couple of jealous looks from a few members of the Girly Giggly Club, to my delight. I suppose I'm just bitter because no one asked me to the ball.

I suddenly saw Alanna in the middle of the Hall. She looked stunning. She was wearing her light blue robes and her long wavy hair was flowing delightfully around her as she danced. I watched enviously as Tobias, a dark haired and extremely good-looking Ravenclaw twirled her gracefully around the Hall. My eyes then left them and wandered around the other students till they landed on the form of Bill Weasley. He was dancing with the blonde haired girl I had recently found out was called Helen. My eyes narrowed at the sight of her dancing so close to Bill with one hand on his shoulder and the other in his hand. I looked away in disgust and misery.

The song ended and everyone clapped. Everyone started moving either from the dance floor or to it in preparation for the next song. Alec and Poppy came over to where we sat. Poppy's cheeks were red and Alec was panting slightly but they were both smiling happily. Obviously they'd taken the dance quite actively.

"Ollie, come and dance with me please," begged Poppy, "Alec wants to ask that girl over there." She pointed to a pretty fourth year girl who I could only guess was in Hufflepuff.

"I can't dance," Ollie replied exasperated.

"I can teach you. Please?"

"What will you give me in return?" he asked cheekily. Poppy thought for a while.

"Two chocolate frogs." he raised his eyebrow. "OK, three," she said. "Now come and dance with me!"

Reluctantly Ollie heaved himself out of his chair. Alec was already positioned on the dance floor with the fourth year girl.

"Bye Niamh," said Ollie with a look of apology on his face. I waved to the two as they walked off. Here I was on my own. What a loner. I looked around to see that most of the other Gryffindors were gone. I sank lower into my chair trying to make myself inconspicuous. As the dance started, I saw Bill once again with Helen. He had both his arms around Helen's waist and hers were around his neck. He smiled as he gently held the petite frame of the girl. My eyes were green with envy. I would have given anything to be in her position, but I wasn't. I was here, sitting on my own, too tall and ugly for anyone to want to dance with me or even talk with me.

Selfish as it may seem, I couldn't help but feel slightly happier upon seeing Poppy and Ollie having a bad time too. Ollie, it would appear, had two left feet and as a consequence kept stepping on the hem of Poppy's new green robes. A spasm of anger kept crossed her face every time this happened and Ollie's face worked up into one of furious frustration.

Finally the song ended and more people went up to dance. My eyes flicked back to where Bill was and I watched, to my horror, as Helen gave Bill a tight embrace in which Bill wrapped his arms around her before she kissed him tenderly on the cheek.

My jealous disposition caused me to rush out of the hall with tears issuing from my eyes and obscuring my vision. I kept trying to tell myself to stop crying - of course a wonderful person like Bill would get a girlfriend, I just wished that the girlfriend would be me. This was just a silly crush of mine, at least that's what I tried to persuade myself, but deep down I knew it was more.

I ran all the way to the Gryffindor Tower, through the deserted common room and up to the dormitory. My dreams that night were plagued with thoughts of Bill and Helen. Now I would have to give up with Bill. There was no hope and if I pursued the matter any more I would just end up having my heart broken again and again.

* * *

I shut the Care of Magical Creatures books that surrounded me; each shut with a satisfying snap. I sighed deeply, relieved to have finally finished my essay. It was three weeks after the Ball, and I had recovered slightly from the misery of seeing Bill with Helen, though I was still insanely jealous. Since that night I hadn't seen any other kisses between the two however small or any other passionate embraces, so that made me a lot happier. Poppy and Alec had returned to the Tower shortly after I had, both in bad moods, though they laughed it off the next morning. Alanna had arrived very late in the evening. She had had a wonderful time with the gorgeous Tobias and was now officially going out with him. He was actually a very nice person, though a little full of himself.

I rolled up the long Care of Magical Creatures essay Professor Kettleburn had set us and stowed it away in my bag. None of the others did Care of Magical Creatures; they all took Muggle Studies. I got up and left the library.

Winter had brought strong winds and cold weather and in every room there was a fire roaring away in the grate. The only cold places were the corridors, so I hurried down them quickly before finally reaching the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Bubotuber pus." The Fat Lady's portrait swung open and I stepped up into the common room. As soon as I saw Alec sitting there - his face hidden in his hands with Poppy's hand rubbing his back soothingly, I knew something was wrong. Ollie was sitting on Alec's other side looking slightly unsure of what to do. Poppy and Ollie looked up as I came in, both with matching faces of despair.

"What's happened?" I asked, bemused and worried. Ollie got up and led me over to the other side of the common room.

"You know how Alanna keeps a diary and has kept one every year she's been here?"

"Yes..." I replied uncertainly, apprehensive about where this was going.

"Well she still carries around the ones from her other years. Alec found her second year diary under her chair and he, um, read it." I still couldn't work out why this had reduced Alec near to tears.

"And...?"

"I don't think she liked Alec very much in the second year." I suddenly remembered now. Alanna and I hadn't been best friends with Poppy, Alec and Ollie till sometime at the end of the third year. In fact, Alanna had hated Alec in the first and second year. He had been very different then - a mixture between a spoiled brat and a bully. Time had gone by though and the death of his mother in out third year had radically changed him.

"So what exactly happened? Where's Alanna?"

"He found it when you had gone to the library and Alanna and Poppy where still having their dinner. There's this part in the diary where she writes a whole load of stuff about Alec - not very nice stuff. Anyway, Alanna and Poppy came back and Alec was furious at Alanna and showed her the things he'd read. She got really mad at him for reading her private diary, and I mean really mad. They shouted for a bit, she went upstairs, and that's where you find us now."

This was worse than I'd expected. This wasn't the sort of thing that would blow over easily. "Shit," was all I managed to say. That one word seemed to sum everything up.

"I'd better go up and see how Alanna is," I said. This would be hard - I wasn't very good at comforting people. I found Alanna sitting on her bed with a river of tears gushing from her red eyes. There was a heap of tissues sitting on one side of her and the diary in question on her other side. I surveyed the scene for a second with uncertainty about what course of action to take.

"Oh Alanna!" I said, sitting down by the diary and hugging her.

"He's s-s-so horrible!" she sobbed into my shoulder. "I h-hate him!" I gently broke apart from her.

"What did he read?" I asked cautiously, not entirely sure whether this was the right question to ask. She opened the book and found the page. I noticed that a lot of the ink had been smudged by what I could only presume were tears. I quickly read the page. My brow furrowed the more I read and my heart sank at some of the awful things she'd written. This was far deeper than anything she'd ever told me about. Ollie was right - it wasn't very nice stuff - not nice at all. I closed the book again.

"What are you going to do?" I asked. She broke down into even more tears. Wrong question.

"It's h-h-his fault, he shouldn't h-have read it! I w-won't apologise till he d-d-does." She reached for another tissue and continued to cry. I knew not to ask any more.

"Let's just wait till morning," I said over doing my attempt to be cheery.

* * *

However morning came; and evening; and the next morning after that, and still to no avail. Every morning Alanna would dash to breakfast before anyone else in the whole tower was awake and Alec would stay for as long as possible in his dormitory. In the evening Alanna would go straight up to the dormitory and stay there. When they did see each other or have lessons together things became very awkward. Either they would just ignore each other entirely or they'd be shooting insults at each other left, right and centre. It tore the whole of our group apart - Alanna would turn her temper to me if I so much as said 'hello' to Alec and Alec hated Poppy and Ollie to fraternise with Alanna. Ollie, Poppy and I were stuck in the middle of things with equally as much misery as Alec and Alanna. Initially we didn't think it would last, but it did. Our daily routines were turned upside down too. I learnt early on not to go and talk to Alanna in our dormitory in the evenings because all she ever did was rave about how much she hated Alec, and vice versa. Even if they were still arguing, you'd think after several days they might start to think about other things. Instead I took refuge in the library, often accompanied by Ollie or Poppy.

It was four days after the discovery of Alanna's diary. Alec, unlike Alanna, didn't spend all day dwelling on the argument and concentrated on other things, such as homework. Alanna had had points taken from Gryffindor for incomplete, appalling or total lack of homework. I, on the other hand, had spent so much time in the library recently that I was now totally up to date with homework and there was no work left for me to do.

Upon entering the common room I saw a huge transformation to how it had looked yesterday. A huge banner hung across the room with the words 'Ultimate Chess Tournament Show-Down' flashing in large multicoloured letters. More than half of the armchairs and couches had been moved to form a large circle around many smaller tables, each with two chairs and a chess set. Behind the ring or armchairs were more tables, but these held mountains of food. As decoration, someone had bewitched an abundance of colourful muggle balloons to dance around the ceiling. Nearly all of Gryffindor house was sitting in the armchairs surrounding the chess tables. However, I saw Alec, Poppy and Ollie in the corner where we always sat.

"What's going on?" I asked them.

"It's the Ultimate Chess Tournament Show-Down," Alec replied dully.

"Well I never would have guessed," I replied sarcastically. "Is it just a chess tournament?"

"Some seventh years organised it all. Anyone can join, but we've got a muggle studies essay in for tomorrow," Ollie said. "Go and join if you don't have anything to do. It looks fun."

It certainly did look fun, especially as I saw Bill among some of his friends asking people if they wanted to join the tournament. I walked cautiously up to where Reuben was standing with a piece of parchment in his hand writing down the name of each person that volunteered to join.

"Umm, what exactly is this tournament?" I asked.

"Oh," he said suddenly noticing my presence, "please join! It'll be so much fun and we just need four more people. It's just a chess tournament really. Will you join?" He looked at me pleadingly. Luckily for him, I'd already made my mind up as soon as I saw Bill.

"OK."

"Thank you so much! Alright then; Niamh Conn-o-lly," he said writing my name down on the parchment. "You can just sit down and wait. We'll begin in a minute."

I went and sat down next to Mia Cornwall. Bill was in the process of trying to persuade three second years to join the tournament. I assumed from the fact that the three went and sat in armchairs in the ring and Bill went and wrote on Reuben's parchment that he had managed to convince them. Sure enough, the parchment had been cut so that there were countless slips of paper, each with a name on it. These were chucked into Reuben's hat.

"OK then everyone, the tournament is about to begin!" boomed Reuben's voice. This commanded a silence among everyone sitting in the ring of chairs. "I would just like to thank you all for joining the tournament and I hope you all have fun!" There was a bit of cheering and clapping at this simple introduction, but Reuben quickly silenced everyone and went on. "Bill here," he said motioning to Bill who gave a little wave, "is going to pick your names and who you are going to play against from out of a hat. Oh and if anyone asks, he was doing his Head Boy duties tonight!" Bill and Reuben grinned at this before Reuben carried on. "Just to say to the person who draws against me - I only learnt to play chess last week, so be nice!" There was a bit of scattered laughter at this. "OK, here goes. Bill will you kindly do the honour."

A silence filled the room as Bill read out name after name.

Please let me play Bill I though desperately and crossed my fingers. Finally Bill read out my name,

"Connolly, Niamh will play..." he dipped his hand back into the hat. Please be Bill, Please be Bill, "Goldman, Reuben!" I felt a jolt of disappointment, but laughed with everyone else as I remembered what Reuben had said about only learning chess last week.

"What's so funny?" Reuben asked smiling. "I'm gonna flatten you Niamh, so you'd better watch out!"

"Oh yeah, you'd better watch because Reuben will thrash you like you've never been thrashed before," said Bill sarcastically and smiled at me. I smiled back, suddenly happy again.

Finally all the names had been read out. "If you get a bit peckish then eat some of the food," shouted Reuben over the clamour of everyone finding the person they were to play. I couldn't think where the food had come from, but dismissed this from my mind, as it wasn't important at the moment. I noticed that only a fraction of those sitting in the armchairs surrounding the chess games were actually participating in the tournament. Reuben was signalling me over to a table which was, delightfully, right next to where Bill was playing a very lucky fourth year girl.

"Ready for this Connolly?" he asked in his best attempt at intimidating me.

"I'm ready, Goldman," I said, smiling at his narrowed eyes.

The game was over in an incredibly quick time and before anyone else had even started to get into their games. Needless to say, I won.

"It was luck," Reuben insisted as he discarded the slip of paper that had his name on it and put the one with my name on it into his hat.

"It was skill," I persisted. Bill looked up from where he sat.

"That was a great piece of thrashing you did there, Reuben," he said laughing.

"It was a lucky win!" Reuben replied stubbornly.

"Lucky my arse!" Bill said grinning. I laughed.

"Sssh!" came a hiss. Bill caught my eye and grinned before realising it was his turn to move in his game of chess.

After a considerably longer span of time there was only one match left between two third year girls. Bill had won his match, which meant he was through to the next round with me, to my glee.

After the third year girls had finally finished their game, the names were once again picked out of the hat. Most of those who had been rejected had left or were hanging around the food leaving a much smaller group of people. This time round my name was the first to be picked out the hat.

"Connolly, Niamh will play..." Please be Bill; please be Bill, "Martin, Helen." Again, I was hit with a wave of disappointment, doubly so because I was playing Helen, my absolute enemy, though she didn't know this. She smiled across at me and I forced myself to smile back at her sickly pretty face. We waited until everyone's names had been called out before sitting ourselves down by the fire, far away from Bill unfortunately.

"Hi," said Helen in a friendly way. I refused to be tricked into thinking she was nice.

"Hi," I said bluntly. However she didn't seem to notice my lack of enthusiasm.

"I'm not very good at chess by the way, so you'll probably beat me."

I nodded and made myself smile again.

"I don't ever really play chess except for with my boyfriend." I froze with anger. So she and Bill were really going out with each other. I felt a jealous pang in my heart and anger soaring through my blood.

"Your boyfriend?" I repeated coldly.

"Yes," she carried on, apparently oblivious to my resentment, "except he's in Hufflepuff so I can't even play much with him. He's really good though."

The effect of those few words on me was incredible. It was as if suddenly a massive weight had been lifted off my heart and any depression I had once harboured had suddenly vanished. So she wasn't going out with Bill! I wanted to hug her! I had a sudden urge to jump up and dance around but managed to restrain myself from doing so. Instead I just smiled joyfully. Everything in the world was fine!

When we eventually started the chess match, I realised she wasn't nearly as bad as she had said she was. For many moments during the game I thought I'd had it and would lose. She was almost as good as Ollie, and he was amazing. I knew I had met my match (Ollie was too good to be my match).

The minutes went by slowly and with much tension as pawn, rook, knight and horse were discarded one by one. I soon became aware that the number of people watching us was increasing as the games ended. Still we were engrossed in this nerve-wracking game, unsure of who would win. Every move I tried was countered by the sharp wit and logic of my opponent and equally at every move she made I knew how her mind was working and opposed her plan.

It was only when I noticed that we really were the last ones playing and that everyone else was crowding round that I noticed my chance. Excitedly but still trying to keep a straight face, I ordered my rook into the appropriate position. Helen hadn't noticed. This was it! I told my queen where to go, the one spot that would ensure me victory. I watched with agitated joy as she glided across the board and landed in front of Helen's king.

"Checkmate," I said.

There was loud applause and a bit of cheering at this, probably because everyone was so glad we had finally finished our game. I went to shake hands with Helen, but instead she pulled me into a hug to my surprise.

"That was a very tense game. You play well!" she said.

"Thanks. You don't play too badly yourself!" I replied as we pulled out of the hug. How could I have ever hated her?

I calculated that this next round must be the semi-finals as only four of us were left in - James Benson, Charlie Weasley, Bill Weasley (to my obvious joy) and me. I was so glad I had entered the tournament even if it was getting late and I would be shattered tomorrow. I looked over to where Alec, Poppy and Ollie were and saw they were still doing their homework. I was thankful not to be in their places at this moment.

The four names were put into Reuben's hat once more. Bill gave them a shake before finally picking out a name.

"Weasley, Bill - oh me?" he said in mock astonishment, "playing..." I held my breath as he picked out a second slip, please be me; please be me, "playing Connolly, Niamh!" I took a sharp intake of breath which fortunately nobody heard. Yes! I thought delightedly. Bill smiled warmly at me, a warmth that melted my heart.

"Therefore Charlie, you will play James," he informed his brother.

"Wow, that was a good piece of Auror work!" said Charlie grinning.

All the other tables had been removed so that only two tables remained. Bill motioned me over to one.

"Hi there," he said and beamed at me, "do you want to be black or white?"

"Oh, I don't mind," I stuttered. "You can choose."

"Oh no really! As the lady, you must choose!"

He's such a charmer! I thought happily.

"Alright then I'll be..." I couldn't quite decide. "Black! No white! No -"

"How about I put one piece in each hand and you pick?"

"OK," I said feeling sheepish. Why could I not just have picked a single colour?

He took a pawn of each colour and put them behind his back; both struggling in his mighty hands. He swapped the pieces where I couldn't see and returned them hidden in his fists.

"Pick one," he said. After much deliberation I went for his left hand. He opened it revealing a black pawn thrashing about violently. "Black it is then! Here you go." He handed me the pawn - an action in which our hands brushed each other. When I had put the pawn back in its place, I looked up at Bill. He was already watching me, waiting for me to be ready. For a second I just stared transfixed into his enchanting eyes. That second was like a lifetime of bliss. I wanted to carry on looking into his beautiful eyes, but I knew it would be awkward if I looked for too long. Instead, I quickly tore away and examined my pieces.

I guess my downfall in that game was that I spent too long glancing slyly at Bill during his moves and not enough time looking at the actual board. I wouldn't have won anyway, but perhaps had I concentrated a bit more I wouldn't have lost do dismally. The game was over in record time, almost as fast as I had beaten Reuben, which was embarrassing.

"Well that was a...um...quick game!" said Bill grinning.

"Don't rub it in! I just don't know what happened," I lied. "I'm not normally as bad as that!"

"Hmm, I'm sure," said Bill sarcastically.

I couldn't think of a reply and so just smiled stupidly and cursed myself for not thinking fast enough. My heart was pounding incredibly fast at this point in time.

"No, I'm only joking. You played really well against Helen, and I know she's really hard to beat." I could feel my cheeks going bright red at this moment. Bill put his hand out to shake. Trembling slightly from excitement, I shook it. For a second I was actually shaking Bill Weasley's hand; my hand was in the firm grip of his - touching his hand.

"You played well Niamh," said Bill, obviously trying to smother a laugh.

"I could have beaten you!" I said, trying to keep the conversation going for as long as possible. Normally with people I don't know very well, I can hardly string two words together, but Bill, he's different.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah!"

"Well then I'll play you again some time and we'll see." He said with a laugh.

"We'll see," I said, rejoicing silently at his offer. We both got up and watched Charlie play James. Bill had unfortunately gone over to rejoin his friends leaving me among a group of fourth years. The chess game didn't last much longer than ours surprisingly. Funnily enough, the victor turned out to be Charlie.

"Oh I can't play him!" Bill insisted.

However he did. Now there was only one table left and the pressure was immense. Even those who had not bothered to watch the first part of the tournament now gathered round to watch as the two brothers battled it out. The idea of going to bed despite it being extremely late was almost laughable. With every move everyone held their breaths and every time a piece got knocked off the board the audience would respond with boos or cheers. I thought it would never end. Much as I loved to be able to watch Bill for ages without being obvious about my feelings, I could feel my eyelids drooping and every now and then I emitted a loud yawn. The clock ticked slowly and little by little the hands went round until finally,

"Checkmate, sucker!"

Charlie had won. A loud cheering erupted from us, the spectators; so loud I was sure we must have woken up Professor McGonagall, let alone the small minority of Gryffindors that had actually gone to sleep. Both Weasleys received an abundance of pats on the backs and hugs and in Charlie's case (though thankfully not Bill's case) a kiss from his girlfriend. I 'conveniently' found myself near Bill again.

"You played well!" I said and smiled at him. Luckily I was losing the bashfulness I usually displayed around him.

"Thanks," he said returning the smile. A large crowd of people pushed him along and away from me. "Goodnight!" he yelled back to me over his shoulder. I waved and took a last look at his back before ascending up to our dormitory. My happiness was dented only from remembering that Alanna and Alec were still in a huge fight and Alanna wouldn't really want to hear of my happiness in the morning. But I was so happy! I knew my dreams that night would be full of Bill, wonderful, handsome, funny Bill. I loved him so much and he didn't even know it!

* * *

My happiness didn't last long though. Barely a week later I found myself experiencing one of the worst days I had had that year. Professor McGonagall had given us a six-foot long essay on animal transformation to be completed by next week; Professor Kettleburn had given me extra homework for accidentally burning my essay on Lethifolds; I had got the bottom mark in a Potions test; Zara Hudson, a fifth year Gryffindor, had finally found out I'd lost her copy of 'Sharp fangs: A study of dangerous creatures' and threatened to hex me if I didn't produce a copy by next week and on top of all that Alanna had started to turn on me for still being Alec's friend.

I walked along the corridor with a scowl upon my face wondering what horror awaited me in Herbology. I was on my own again as Alanna had decided to storm off out of the classroom right as the lesson ended while I was still packing my bag. I tried not to care but I did, and thinking about it made my blood boil more than ever.

I shoved a first year out of the way as I proceeded down the corridor oblivious to everything except my rage. It was only when I noticed Harriet walking up the corridor towards me that I forgot my fury and actually became nervous. I would be lying if I didn't say she intimidated me, especially now I was alone and without headstrong Alanna. I felt very vulnerable. As she passed her eyes locked with mine. A cold stare was exchanged. It seemed neither of us wanted to break the gaze, but as her shoulder knocked against mine with more force than I though was necessary I knew I would have to look away or follow her eyes over my shoulder. I turned and stared resolutely at the end of the corridor keeping my chin up. Just when I thought the danger had passed I heard a mutter from behind me:

"Diffindo!" There was a ripping noise and the contents of my bag came cluttering onto the floor. My inkpots smashed spilling emerald green ink all over my books and parchment. I saw to my dismay that my Herbology homework was covered in ink making it unreadable. A large pile of heavy books had fallen on my favourite quill, which had caused the nib to break. The corridor went silent. Even in my absolute anger I still noticed how similar it all was to when Harriet had tripped me over. It was even the same corridor! But this time I wasn't taking any nonsense. Without thinking I took my wand out of my robes and pointed it at Harriet's retreating back. Hatred and rage drove me on. I opened my mouth to speak the spell but a shout from behind me stopped me.

"Tarantallegra!" Harriet was stopped in her tracks and all of a sudden her feet began to jerk about uncontrollably in a dancing motion. I spun round to see who had uttered the spell and, to my utmost surprise, I saw Bill Weasley standing with his wand still pointing at Harriet. His ears had gone the same colour as his vibrant red hair and a look of deep regret was spreading over his face. Everyone in the corridor stood staring at him with the same look of astonishment on their faces. Bill Weasley? The Head Boy? He looked just as appalled at his actions as everyone else was. I was both bewildered and impressed and, like everyone else, couldn't take my eyes off him. The only one not staring at Bill was himself. He was still looking at Harriet, apparently unable to tear his eyes away from the terrible deed he had committed.

"Weasley! Connolly!" came a bellow from further down the corridor. The dozens of eyes that had been focused on Bill turned to see Snape pacing down the corridor with immense speed. As he passed Harriet he idly muttered the counter spell and carried on till he reached where Bill and I stood no more than two feet apart. My heart dropped to my stomach and my brain froze as I realised I still had my wand out.

"I'll take twenty points from you Connolly and forty from you Weasley! No make that fifty, as you are Head Boy."

"But she broke Niamh's bag and all her stuff is ruined!" Bill said heatedly.

"That is no excuse for the preposterous behaviour you have both displayed -"

"Niamh didn't do anything!" exclaimed Bill.

"If you continue to interrupt me Weasley, I will take a lot more points from Gryffindor. Believe me, I have no qualms about doing such a thing," Snape said, a sneer playing upon his lips. Bill went quiet once more. "Now clear this mess up and then, Weasley, I want you to report to the Headmaster's office in regards to your failed duty as Head Boy and your atrocious behaviour." Snape turned around to face the onlookers. A single glare as he swooped back down the corridor told them to all be on their way to their next classes.

I didn't care about the points being taken off me. Instead I was swamped with guilt. Bill was in a lot of trouble and it was all my fault. I bent down to try to rescue some of my parchment from the spreading pool of ink. Bill was using his wand to try to dry up the green ink. His hand was shaking and he kept his eyes down.

"I'm so sorry," I said. I had never felt so guilty in my life.

"Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault." We were both silent for a time while Bill continued to dry up the ink then used another spell to repair the bag. I stuffed my books and parchment into the bag and slung it hurriedly over my shoulder as we both stood up.

"Thank you, for everything," I said hoping it didn't sound to cheesy.

"That's OK."

"I'm sorry to have got you into so much trouble. I feel so guilty." Somehow at this moment it felt easier just to look at Bill's feet rather than into his eyes.

"Don't feel guilty. It was entirely my choice to use magic; I was just so...angry! Those Slytherins really get away with murder. What's your next lesson?"

"Umm...Herbology."

"Well you'd better run because the greenhouses are a long way away. I've got to see Dumbledore now..."

"Good luck, and thanks again."

"See you round."

"Bye."

I wanted to kick myself. I wanted to scream and shout and cry all at once. Not only had I had the worst day in the history of the world, but I'd also ruined Bill. Despite all that he'd said, I still blamed myself. It was all my fault. I prayed Bill would not be in too much trouble as I half walked, half ran to Herbology.

I entered the common room that evening solemnly and expecting the worst. My eyes raked around until they fell on the now very familiar figure of Bill. He was talking to his friends as usual. I didn't really want to ask how it went when he was surrounded by all the seventh years. Why couldn't he just be on his own once in a while? However I felt it was my duty to ask him what Dumbledore had to say.

"Umm, Bill...how was it?" His conversation with his friends stopped at once.

"How was what?" he asked as he looked up at me, "Oh! Dumbledore! It was fine! I just got quite a heavy lecture but that was it. He put it down to the famous Weasley temper. Apparently my dad had it too..." He paused in thought for a moment then quickly snapped back to reality again and smiled warmly at me.

"That's brilliant!" I said enthusiastically, perhaps overly so.

"Dumbledore's a good man," added Reuben.

"Yeah," said Bill. "Well anyway, thanks for being so concerned." Unable to think of a response, I just smiled.

"Bye," I said and turned away from Bill and the seventh years.

"Bye!" Bill said. He instantly returned back to the conversation he was having with his fellow seventh years. I was so glad everything had worked out and I could once again be virtually guilt free.