EIGHT

"SEVEN TIMES! THAT'S IT? You guys have to be kidding me!" Alex yelled, throwing his hands in the air, as they walked back to the gryffindor tower, after Talia had walked off to the library

"I was expecting a lot more than that." Roxy nodded her head.

"You guys are always the ones telling us not to fight, and now you're telling us you wanted to fight more?" Annalise said in disbelief, shaking her head.

"Well not more," Alex emphasized. "But I was hoping to make some gold, you know?" He grumbled.

"So who won the bet?" She asked.

"No one." Roxy replied. "Since none of us guessed the right amount, no one gets anything."

Alex made a face. "The one time we bet on it, you two decide to suck it up! So unfair."

"I'm sorry if our lack of bickering isn't benefiting you Alex." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh please!" James scoffed. "The one time! You and Asher bet on how many times Wood would call me an idiot yesterday in potions!" He grumbled.

"It was 17 by the way!" Asher added.

"Annalise has a very foul mouth when you irritate her while she's doing something in class. I know from personal experience." Alex chuckled.

"Remember when she told me she'd fuck up my face if I didn't get out of her way when I wouldn't let her enter the common room." James laughed joining Alex.

"And the time she called me a big headed baboon because I accidentally threw an orange at her head." Alex was now laughing so hard he was wheezing.

"You shouldn't have thrown the orange in my direction in the first place!" Annalise retorted. "And I did fuck up James' face. His eye was bruised for a week." They were still laughing, and she ignored them. "The point is, we needed to at least kind of get along for the sake of the quidditch team."

"And I think that's great!" Roxy exclaimed happily. "To be honest, I was worried, very worried."

Annalise frowned at her best friend. "What! You told me you had faith in us."

Roxy grimaced. "I might have decided that honesty was not the best policy for you both. But on the bright side, I'm not so worried anymore!" She smiled at them although James and Annalise both returned it with a glare.

"Rose and Kaden were quite worried too, but they seem more confident in you two now that tryouts was a success!" Roxy continued.

"It was a success." Annalise nodded in agreement. "Lily and Cal are great additions to the team."

"I only wish everyone hasn't thrown such a fuss when I told them who had got the positions." James grumbled. "It took forever to get everyone to stop yelling at tell them to get off the damn field so we could go back to our dorms and shower.

Alex raised his eyebrow in confusion. Annalise sighed. "Alex do you ever understand anything?"

"Nope." He smiled cheerfully.

"Everyone was mad because they were saying Lily and Cal only made the team because they were our siblings." She exclaimed.

Alex's smile turned into a frown. "What? Actually?"

"Did you not notice the whole commotion on the field!" James looked at him incredulously.

"No?" Alex said as if it was a question.

"Adam Mclaggen, started it by saying they didn't deserve the spot and everyone started joining him." James explained.

"But they deserve it! They're the best players on that field!" Alex yelled angrily.

"I know, that's what I told him!" James said. "And I might have also said a couple of not so nice things, so just hope he doesn't snitch on me to Professor Longbottom." James laughed nervously.

Annalise and Roxy snorted remembering exactly what James had said to Mclaggen on the field.

"Anyway it's comeback season." James said confidently. "Maybe you won't be as much of a let down as I thought you would be Wood!" He turned to her and grinned.

She glared at him as they walked up the stairs. But her face suddenly brightened when she saw William waiting at the top of the stairs.

"I'll see you later," She said to Roxy, before splitting off from the group and walking up towards William.

"Hey." He smiled brightly with his gorgeous smile that always made Annalise swoon. "Sorry I didn't find you earlier this week." He apologized, and she could tell he felt bad about it. "I've just been so busy and everything and I told myself I'd find you and soon as classes are over this week."

"It's fine." She smiled back. "I've been busy too. The workload has almost doubled this year." She said explaining to him how much homework she had. He was in his seventh year, so they obviously didn't have any classes together.

He smiled at her again, leaning down as he pressed his lips to hers. She kissed him slowly, feeling his soft lips against hers. It had been a while she'd felt like this with him, and it was something she really needed after the long week. She kissed him for a while her body pressed against his. They heard footsteps and broke apart, realizing that they were standing right on the staircase, in perfect view of everyone. She felt her cheeks go red as William once again smiled down at her.

"Damn I missed you." He whispered in her ear, his warm breath making her heart beat only faster.

"I missed you too." She smiled back. "I missed this. I missed us."

He grabbed her hand. "You want to take that long overdue walk?" He asked her.

"Of course." She grinned happily as they walked down the staircase his hand gripping hers tightly. She felt happier than she had been all week and her stomach was filled with butterflies, making her feel as if she was living in a dream. That's the way William made her feel. She felt as if she was a happier person when she was with him.

They took a right turning walking down the fifth floor corridor which was almost empty of students. It was nice and private enough for them to catch up and talk without being overheard by other nosy eavesdropping students.

"I was so worried." Annalise blurted out.

"Why?" He asked her, a look of concern in his eyes.

"You were acting so strange and distant at Diagon Alley." She explained to him. "And then you didn't come to find me during the feast." She paused, looking up at him. She couldn't read his eyes, but he was listening attentively waiting for her to continue. "I know they seem super small and unimportant, but I was just so scared that you- well that you no longer-" She struggled to get out.

"Loved you?" William finished.

"Yeah." She admitted, not meeting him in the eye.

He grabbed her chin and tilted her head up until her eyes met his striking blue ones. "I could never ever, in a million years stop loving you Annalise." He said softly, leaning down to kiss her once again. Annalise let out a dreamy little sigh when they pulled apart and couldn't stop the huge smile that was spreading on her face. William just returned it with his dashing grin, and they continued walking down the hallway.

"So tell me what's been going with you?" William asked her. "We haven't caught up all week." He said, frowning.

And who's fault is that, Annalise thought bitterly. She was surprised where that negative thought had suddenly come from interrupting her flow of happy ones. But, no words came out and she maintained the smile on her face.

"Nothing much. Classes have been a pain in the ass, but when are they not." She chuckled. "Slughorn's driving us crazy with his potions essays and-"

"I meant what's going on you not your classes. Like with quidditch?" He asked, interrupting her quickly, attempting to bring up quidditch in a sly manner, which obviously had not worked.

Annalise frowned at the mention of quidditch. Things never ended well when they talked about quidditch. William was captain of the Ravenclaw team and was quite competitive about the sport. She was competitive too, but she still managed to have a polite conversation with other houses. William on the other hand was too competitive, and found a way to sneakily insult the gryffindor quidditch team whenever she talked about it. She tried hard not to bring it up which was very difficult when her life revolved around her love of quidditch.

They had gotten in a huge fight last year when William had grabbed a Ravenclaw beater's bat and swung the bludger right at James, knocking him off his broom unconscious. He had to spend the next couple of days in the infirmary as Madam Pomfrey tended to his cracked skull and severe concussion. William had gotten a penalty of course as it was forbidden to touch, kick, pass, throw or use in any way the ball of another position. Without one of their star chasers (and their already horrible seeker) the team fell apart. Gryffindor was crushed by Ravenclaw who had won the quidditch cup last year.

He had come up to her after the match raving about their win after she had stormed away angrily from the crowd. She had went off on him, telling him he had no place as a chaser to strike that bludger at James. He got angry saying "You don't even like Potter anyway," defended his illegal play by saying "It's quidditch. Stuff happens," and even had the audacity to say she was being an unsupportive girlfriend. She flipped him off and stormed away. Two days later, they had made up, and Annalise tried not to talk about quidditch then, even though William would always bring it up.

She snapped back into reality, the memory of last year's quidditch cup dissappearing from her mind. "And congratulations on captain!" William grinned at her, looking down at her badge pinned on her robes.

"What?" She said, confused after she had been day dreaming. "Oh! Yeah Thanks."

"Ravenclaw's got the cup in the bag this year!" William boasted proudly. "We have tryouts tomorrow, but we didn't have anyone graduate last year so it's the smae old champion tema! It pays off not having to train some newcomer and see how they fit into the team! None of the other teams stand a chance!"

"That's great." Annalise said through gritted teeth, trying not to get irritated or say something back. "Me and James just held tryouts today."

Wlliam froze. "What do you mean you and James?" He scowled as he said the name. Just like Annalise, William had an immense hatred for James Potter, but she had a feeling his was much for intense than hers.

She looked at him confused. "Meaning me and Potter held trials today for our team."

"I though you were captain! Why is he helping you?" William said, a slightly angry tone to his voice, but Annalise could easily tell.

"Because he's captain too!" She sighed. "I though word would have spread by now."

"B-but that's impossible!" William spluttered. "There's never been two captains!"

"Well Mcgonagall decided that there could be this year." She sighed, tapping her foot, irritated at the fact she had to once again explain this story.

The look on William's face was only growing anger.

"Is there an issue with that?" She asked, trying her hardest not to snap at him.

"I just don't want my girlfriend spending a lot of time around him." He muttered angrily.

"What do you mean?" Annalise challenged, now getting angry.

"Now that your co-captains, I'm sure you'll spend most of your evenings with him."

"Yes, with him and the quidditch team. Because we're captains." She retorted.

"I don't like it." William replied.

"I never asked if you liked it. It doesn't matter. You don't have a right to dictate who I choose to spend my time with. You really have to stop letting your hatred of Potter get in the way of your judgement." She snapped back angrily.

"Defending Potter now are we?" He sneered.

"I'm not defending him. I don't like him anymore than you do. I'm calling you out for being an ignorant asshole." She yelled, anger seething inside of her.

He paused before getting his next words out. She doubted if he had even listened to what she had said. "Well I'm not going to just stand by while an asshole like him is all over my girlfriend!"

"He's not all over me! Incase you've forgotten he hates me as much as I hate him." She was shouting at this point.

"But-"

"No! I'll spend as much time with Potter as I please. You have no place telling me what to do with my time and who I choose to spend it with when your off with your friends doing wherever you please!" She yelled angrily.

"Annalise-" He started, an apologetic look now on his face. She could tell her was sorry, but she didn't care.

"Just shut up!" She snapped as she turned around and stormed away furiously, leaving William standing in the hallway yelling her name. But she didn't turn make. She marched all the way to the Gryffindor Tower, stomping her feet in rage as she walked. She was cursing him under her breathe calling him every word that came to mind.

She brushed past two younger girls through the portrait hole and into the common room. She glanced at Roxy, Talia san the three boys who were all sprawled out on the couches.

She marches past them seething with rage, not wanting to talk to anyone.

"Annalise!" Roxy called from behind her. "Ready to go to dinner?"

"Not hungry!" She yelled back as she was already up the stairs.

And whatever Roxy said next she couldn't hear because she had slammed the door to the dormitory shut and threw herself on her bed, pure, hot rage flowing through her veins.