Mischief Managed

The next morning, I awoke at the sounds of Hermione snoring. The other three girls were already out of the room. Slowly and quietly, I got out of bed and tip-toed to the door. Going downstairs, I heard light talking in the common room. The talking sounded like Jacob, with his friend Michael.

"So how did you do it?" Michael asked eagerly.

"Easily, I just got a piece of paper and wrote -" Jacob began, and then he stopped. His eyes set on me as he quickly said, "down my birthday..."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused.

"Nothing," Jacob said rather quickly, getting up. "I gotta go, sis. C'mon Michael." Michael nodded his head at me, and the two went out of the common room.

"Well, that was weird," I said to myself, flopping down on the couch. Within moments, I saw Harry walk into the room with a yawn.

"'Morning," I smiled. He smiled back and sat down next to me, his head in his hands.

"You and Ronald make up yet?" I asked.

"Nope," he said. "You?"

"Yeah. I think so."

"Why you but not me?" Harry asked quietly.

"Dunno. It might have something to do with the fact that Fred and I got into it last night, I came in crying, and he was downright pissed," I said quietly.

"Well, maybe if I ever get the courage to talk to Ch -" he started, but stopped.

"What was that?" I asked, smirking.

"N-nothing..."

"Ch-, as in Cho?" I asked, playfully hitting his shoulder.

"N-no."

"Harry, you so like her!" I said.

"Look, don't tell anyone, okay?" Harry said.

"I won't tell anyone, I promise. I think it's cute," I smiled.

Harry sighed and looked at me. "Yeah, yeah.."

"Well, hey, you wanna go down to breakfast?" I asked.

He nodded as we got up and walked to the Great Hall. No one was really at the Gryffindor table, which was fine by me as we sat down and began putting food on our plates. Soon, Hermione walked over to us with a bright happy smile on her face.

"What's up with you...?" I asked.

"It's the Saturday before the first task, so every third year and up gets to go to Hogsmeade today," she said.

"What about Ron? Don't you want to go with him?" Harry asked.

"Well..." Hermione said quietly. "I thought we'd meet up with him at the Three Broomsticks..."

"No," Harry said.

"Oh, Harry..."

"I'll come, but I'm not meeting up with Ron."

"Fine."

"Well, let's go then," I said, getting up. The three of us made our way to Hogsmeade and went straight to the Three Broomsticks. I saw Ronald, Fred, and George sitting together at a table, talking. Since Fred and I were no longer on speaking terms, I didn't even look their way.

"They're looking over here," Harry whispered to Hermione. "Let's just go..."

"No. Ron's looking at you, Harry, because he's mad. Fred's looking at Ella, because he's mad. And George is looking at both of you because both his brothers are mad," Hermione said.

"This is stupid," I sighed.

"It's fine. Don't mind them," Hermione said briskly. "Have you guys decided what you're going to do about the first task?"

"Hermione, we don't know what the first task is yet," Harry said. Just at that moment, Hagrid walked quickly over towards our table.

"Hello Hagrid," Hermione said.

"Hello Hermione. Harry, Ella," Hagrid said back. "Look, Harry, Ella, I've got important stuff to tell yeh."

"What is it?"

"It's about the firs' task," he said quietly, bending closer to us.

"Hagrid, you are not allowed to give help!" Hermione said, looking taken aback.

"I know that, I'm just... Oh, no one follows the rules," Hagrid snapped, then looked at Harry and I once again. "Now, listen. The first task, it's dragons."

"What?" I said, my mouth dropping.

"Yeah, dragons. Now, I don't know what you have ter' do, I jus' know you haveta do somethin' 'bout 'em," he said. "But I haveta go. Make sure yeh' both prepare for 'em. Fully grown dragons can be a bit mean," Hagrid said, as he hurriedly got up and left.

"Sounds fun," I sighed, slamming my head on the table.

"Dragons? Really?" Hermione said. "Well, the only thing I know that could help is to maybe take their eyes out..."

"What." Harry and I looked at each other.

"Yes, with a spell of course. We'll get this figured out..."

"Might as well just call me dead now," I sighed.

"Ella, don't say that. We'll get this figured out. You still have a few days..."

"Well, maybe we should get back to the castle..." Harry suggested.

"Okay," Hermione said, getting up. Once again, we walked past Ronald, Fred, and George without saying a word and made our way back to the castle.

"Do you guys want to look at possible spells for the dragons then?" Hermione asked.

"I will later... I think I'm going to take a nap," I said.

"Me too," Harry said, yawning.

"Well, I'm not doing it by myself. Afterall, this isn't between life and death for me," Hermione said angrily.

I sighed and walked away from the two. Heading straight up the stairs slowly, I heard someone crying. It was very soft and quiet, but still hearable. I turned the corner and heard it was coming from three rooms down from mine. I knocked quietly, and the crying stopped. The door slowly opened and I walked in, assuming that meant I was allowed to enter.

It was Angelina Johnson.

"Angelina, what's wrong...?" I asked.

"Him," she choked out, eyes filled with tears still.

"Who?"

"F-Fred!" she cried.

"Weasley?"

"Yes!"

"What did he do...?" I asked cautiously.

"I - I really like him. And I - I went to go talk to him about it b - because I knew you two h - had taken a b - break or whatever, and h - he wouldn't give me the t - time of day!" she said.

"What d'you mean..?"

"I tried to kiss him and a - as soon as our lips met, h - he pulled away.."

"You tried to kiss him!? Angelina, just because we got into a fight doesn't mean we're not still together..." I said, trying to keep my anger inside.

"You guys aren't together. Not officially. You act like it. That's the thing. He's probably doing that with ten others girls, too," she snapped.

"He wouldn't do that."

"Wouldn't he?" she said back.

"Ang, I gotta go. I have better things to do," I said cold-heartedly and walked away quickly.

He wouldn't do that to me. Afterall, he didn't kiss Angelina, now did he? Or maybe he just knew that I would find out. There was only one way to know for sure, I thought to myself. I heard footsteps behind me - it was Angelina.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

"Coming down to the common room. I think Fred's down there now with George, Alicia, Katie, Lee, and a few others," she said.

Perfect, I thought to myself, smiling.

I walked into the room and the group of them looked over at me. They were all smiling, except for Fred, who was just looking at me with sad eyes. I looked back at Angelina, who walked even faster and sat right next to Fred. She scooted really close to him, as he sat there scratching the back of his head, looking awkward.

"Hey Fred," she said quietly with a smile, whipping her hair behind her shoulders.

"Hey.." Fred said back.

Angelina then put her head down on Fred's shoulder, looked at me, and shot me a smile.

"Really?" I said out loud.

"What ever is the matter?" Angelina said, putting on a fake voice.

"Oh you know," I said to her.

Just then, she got up looking angry. Fred got up, too. He knew my anger and he knew if she got me angry enough, I'd punch the shit out of her.

"Ella, shhh, calm," he said, walking towards me.

"Freddy, don't let her hurt me..." Angelina pouted.

"Oh, shut the fuck up," I said to her.

"Or what?"

Just then, I walked towards her quickly. Fred quickly stepped in the way and put his hands on my shoulder.

"Calm down, Ella... Just calm down," he said quietly and soothingly.

I looked at him for a moment; he looked at me. I saw Angelina staring, mouth wide open and the other group looking at us, too. And just then, I found the perfect moment for my plan to see if Fred still did truly have feelings for me. As we stared into each others eyes, I went right in and kissed him full on the lips. At first, he was taken aback, but then he relaxed more and kissed back. Our tongues rubbed together and our lips pressed together even more. I placed my hands through his hair, as he placed his on my lower back. His tongue felt its way around my mouth as our bodies came together so close it was impossible to come in between us. And after a moment, I pulled away and smiled. He was smiling, too. I quickly kissed him again and walked towards Angelina.

"Yeah, I bet he does that to ten other girls," I smiled. Then, I walked out of the common room, still smiling widely.

Just then, Harry ran up to me quickly. He was smiling.

"What's up?" I asked, amused.

"I just figured out how to get past the dragon," he said.

"How?"

"Flying!"

"Harry, I can't fly a broom near as well as you..." I said.

"Well, it's what I'm doing," he said.

"Glad you've got it figured out."

"Well, now that means Hermione and I can help you find something! C'mon, let's head to the library. Hermione's there now, looking up other spells. Then, 'til the first task, we can practice a ton," Harry said.

"Fine, let's go..." I said.

And with that, the two of us made our way to the library together.