What About Quidditch?

All I Want

>>This chapter is dedicated to MythiCam for her absolutely beautiful cover!

It took all I could do to keep myself awake during potions on Wednesday. The last few weeks had been hell on earth. The tension between me and James was palpable, although I didn't know what had changed. I spent my days both trying to ignore him and be by his side at every moment. My nights were spent alone with my stuffed monkey in bed, barely sleeping because my thoughts were filled with the idiot, dark-haired boy who was destined to make or break my year.

In the meantime, classes continued full speed ahead, as all the professors tried to cram a last bit of knowledge into our already overstuffed brains before term ended. Which is how I found myself here, practically holding my eyelids open because I had spent the last nights working on a transfiguration essay and daydreaming about James.

Something very hard jabbed me in the elbow, and I turned to glare at Dom.

"Shhhh. Hailey, look!" She gestured towards the open doorway, where to my confusion, a single paper airplane hovered. It spun back and forth for a minute, and then almost like it was making up its mind, it darted into the classroom and landed right in the middle of my cauldron.

"Ahhhh! Professer! Look...,"But my last words were drowned out as it, and my cauldron, exploded into a chaotic mess of green glitter. A booming voice shook the dungeons as what seemed like a Howler proclaimed its message to the entire class.

"HAILEY ALLISON WOOD, YOU ARE HEARBY SUMMONED TO THE GREAT HALL! BRING NOTHING BUT YOUR BROOMSTICK WITH YOU. FAIR WARNING, IF YOU REFUSE TO COME, WE HAVE A DUNGBOMB PELTER ALREADY IN PLACE. WE WILL SEE YOU IN FIVE MINUTES."

I glanced at Dom, but she just shrugged and went back to fiddling with her hair. Another day in the life of a Weasley. Professer Plumtarch looked stricken, his mouth hanging open and a trail of glitter in his beard.

"Never in all my years," he murmured, not quite sure what to do. "Wood, where do you think you're going?"

I skidded to a halt halfway down the corridor. "I have to go! The message! And I really don't want to be pelted with dungbombs. Please don't give me detention!"

I ran as fast as I could up to my dormitory, grabbing my broom and then climbing on and flying the rest of the way to the Great Hall. Once I reached it, I eyed the closed doors with suspicion. What, and more of the fact, who, was waiting for me behind the doors?

But I couldn't have been more surprised, when opened, the Great Hall revealed no people. Instead there were thousands and thousands of mugs of pumpkin juice, lining the house tables on either side. The same great voice called from overhead

"YOUR NEXT TASK IS TO FIND THE HIDDEN MESSAGE AT THE BOTTOM OF ONE OF THESE JUGS OF PUMPKIN JUICE."

What the heck was going on? I smelled something that was either Fred or James, or perhaps Uncle George running a joke test. There was no way I was drinking all of these jugs.

"Accio message!" I cried, giving a quick flick of my wand, and a dripping, orange piece of paper flew out of one of the jugs on the Ravenclaw table.

The message was quite simple a clear. "Fly to the Quidditch Pitch."

Was I going to follow these instructions sent by a random stranger who could be a mass murderer/deranged clown?

What the hell. I climbed onto my broom.

Another five minutes later, I was at the Quidditch pitch, which was not looking so green as much as red and pink. Three gazillion roses covered the entire ground, and the air was full of muggle balloons, enchanted to become throbbing pink hearts that emitted bubbles.

And in the middle of it, with his face as red as the six-foot bear he was holding, was Fred.

"Hailey, there's been something I've wanted to say to you for a very long time," he began, muttering with his face flushed.

"Fred..." I said, very, very confused.

"It's just, you've been such an amazing friend. I've always hoped we could be more. Your smile, your hair, you're just so beautiful in every way."

"Fred, please..."

"I have to say this, Hailey, I have to. So, after all this time, I was wondering; will you be..."

"My girlfriend?"

I looked up at the sky to see where these last words had come from, and there he was. James Sirius Potter, in all his stupid glory, on top of his broomstick, riding torward me. He landed, the biggest smirk on earth plastered over his face.

"So..." he teased, "how about it?"

"OW!" He yelped as I pummeled him upside the head. "Yikes! Hailey! That's precious cargo!"

"You....stupid...idiot..." I said, pausing to knock him on the head with my broom between each word.

"Ow, and ow, and still hurting here Hailey. Is that a yes or a no?"

"YES!" I cried, finally dropping my broom and giving him a hug. He smelled really nice, like shampoo and mint and good memories.

He laughed and hugged me back. "That was quite a painful yes. You could have just said it, and left out the beating me to death part. I did work my butt off to pull off this thing."

I groaned. "Which was really stupid of you, anyways. What kind of girl do you think I am? I don't exactly go home and eat my Nutella while wearing bunny slippers."

"What's Nutella?" he asked, pulling me a bit closer.

"Never you mind. You just didn't have to do all this for me," I said, quite happy if I never again left his arms.

"Why not?"

"Stupid James. All I really want is you."