Chapter 10: Morning runs.

I stormed up to the boys' dormitory, ready to kill. My loud footsteps echoed off the stone walls. When I reached the Seventh Years' dorm, I threw open the door violently and it ricocheted off the wall. I paused for a second as the pungent smell of sweat, old socks and stale Firewhisky met my nostrils.
Luke clutched his heart in exaggerated shock at my sudden appearance, but I ignored him and marched towards Alfie. He shrank back at the look of fury on my face.

"Hey, Liv. Something wrong?" he asked feebly.

That set me off. I launched myself at him and started hitting every part of him I could reach. "YOU. COMPLETE. IDIOT!" I screamed. "What the FUCK is your problem, Alfred Collins?"

"What are you talking about?" he squeaked, holding his arms up in a pathetic attempt to defend himself.

"You know bloody well what I'm talking about!" I shrieked, still hitting him.

Alfie looked over at Luke, his eyes pleading. But Luke merely shrugged, a mixture of fear and alarm on him face.

I smirked slightly at this.

Yeah, that's right. Fear me, I'm a beast.

"It took us two hours to calm Izzy down enough to take her down to the kitchens!" I said, my beating coming to a stop.

"Err…sorry?" said Alfie, unsure.

"Oh, you're sorry!" I shrieked derisively, resuming my previous thrashing of the boy in front of me. "Well that just makes everything better, doesn't it!"

"What else can I do, Liv?" he asked, still trying to fend me off in the most pathetic way possible.

"You can go and explain yourself to her! If you think I'm just going to let you screw over one of my best friends, then you have another thing coming!"

A pair of strong arms closed around me, stopping my hands from continuing their relentless beating. It was Al, who had evidently just vacated the bathroom.

"Calm down, Liv" he said, not releasing me.

"Don't you tell me to calm down!" I screamed at him. "Do you have any idea what he did?"

I felt Al sigh against me. "I know what happened, Liv. And if you ask me, it was a long time coming."

I turned towards him, ready to start hitting him, too. But I came to a halt as my eyes rested on his chest.

His bare chest.

I'd seen Al shirtless before at Quidditch practices, but never in such close proximity. My eyes could trace every contour of his body.

And Merlin, did it look good.

I forced my eyes back up to his face and was relieved to find that he wasn't looking at me.

"She isright though, mate" he said to Alfie. "About talking to Izzy, I mean."

Alfie nodded. "I know. I'll go and find her" he said. "And thanks for getting her off me, mate" he added to Al as he crossed the room. "Bloody violent chit."

"You're just lucky I didn't send Dom up here" I said. "I guarantee you would no longer have all your vital organs if I had."

"I'm not kidding" I said when he laughed. "And I suggest you hurry up and find Izzy if you still want to be able to produce offspring."

Alfie left the room quickly, looking slightly alarmed. I was only doing him a favour. I learnt the hard way to never underestimate an extremely pissed off Dominique Weasley.

Al's hands still had a tight grip on my wrists. It was making me more that slightly uncomfortable to be in such a close proximity with him while he was shirtless. Now that Alfie had left the room and I'd gotten over my all consuming rage a bit, I was finding it difficult to concentrate on anything apart from his abs.

"Um…Al?" I said quietly. "You can let go of me now."

"What?" asked Al, jumping slightly and bringing his attention back to me. "Oh, sorry" he released me and I stepped back from him hastily.

"Is everything alright?" I asked him. "You seem kind of distracted."

Luke looked up from the magazine he had been reading. I suspect it might have been Witch Weekly.

I will never understand how that boy gets laid.

"Liv's right" he said. "You've been acting all moody since last night. I put it down to PMS, but if something else is bothering you, you should tell us."

Al threw a balled up sock at him. He caught it right in front of his face and shot Al the finger.

"Seriously though" said Luke, chucking the musty sock at Alfie's bed. "What's going on, mate?"

"I was coming back from the kitchens last night and I saw Rose. She was snogging Scorpius Malfoy" Al mumbled angrily.

Luke made a loud whooping sound. "I knew it was only a matter of time!"

Al chucked his Potions book at him.

For some reason that was completely unbeknownst to me, I woke up at the un-Merlinly hour of five thirty on Sunday morning.
The dull light attacked my eyelids and I decided any attempts to go back to sleep would be futile. I rolled out of the sanctuary that was my bed and decided I would go for a run around the Black Lake. It would sure make Quidditch practices easier with Potter's obsession with pitch sprints.

I pulled the rats' nest that was my hair on top of my head and tied it in a messy bun then pulled on my running clothes and a pair of trainers and slipped quietly out of the dormitory.

The November air was chilly when I got outside and I was thankful that I'd worn a jacket. The light was dull and grey, making the lake look slightly sinister with its icy black water lapping at the edge.

I began jogging around the edge and soon made out a figure running ahead of me. Who else wakes up at this time to go running on a Sunday? I thought.

As I started to gain on whoever it was in front of me, I could make out a shock of untidy hair that stuck up at the back. I rolled my eyes. I should have known that only Al Potter would purposely wake up at a time like this.

I quickened my pace to catch up with him. I was only a few metres behind when he heard my laboured breathing and turned around.

"Oh, hey Liv" he greeted, giving me a crooked smile. "What are you doing up at this time? I usually don't see you up before noon."

"Bloody sunlight" I said, falling into pace with him.

We ran in silence then, making it another four laps before we decided to stop.

"Breakfast doesn't start for another hour and a half" said Al, glancing at his watch. "Should we go inside and wait?"

"You can" I said, sitting on the ground. "I like it out here."

I expected him to go back in, but instead, he threw himself onto the ground next to me.

"Alfie came back looking pretty happy last night. He was smiling like a git and when I asked him what happened he just patted my head and told me not to worry" he said.

"Really?" I asked, laughing. "I was already asleep when Izzy got back, but I'm assuming it went well because there was no screaming."

Al chuckled. "It's about time those two stop trying to deny they fancy the pants off each other. I remember last year I had to sit through a two hour lecture on the colour of her eyes, just because Izzy kissed him on the cheek after we won the Quidditch cup."

"I remember" I groaned. "I was there. He couldn't decide if they were bluish-grey or greyish-blue."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say he was bent" said Al, shaking his head.

I smacked him on the arm. "Shut up. Alfie's not gay. Just because he doesn't keep notches on his headboard like most guys..."

"Hey, I don't keep notches on my headboard" said Al indignantly.

"Yeah, but that's because the only thing you tap is the snooze button on your alarm" I shot at him.

"Oh, you're going to pay for that, Mclair" he yelled, getting up.

Before I had time to react, he'd thrown me over his shoulder and was running towards the lake

"NO!" I screamed in his ear. "DON'T YOU DARE, ALBUS POTTER! DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!"

I could feel his body vibrating with laughter as he kept running.

"DON'T YOU DARE, YOU FUCKING PRICK! ALBUS! STOP! PLEASE, PUT ME DOWN!" I continued screaming.

"Put you down, did you say?" he asked. "My pleasure."

And with that, he hauled me off his back and dumped me in the lake. I spluttered my whole body was submerged in icy water. It was even colder that I though it would be.

I gave a strong kick and my head broke the surface, my hair plastered to my face having come out of its elastic.

Al stood on the edge roaring with laughter. "You should see your face!" he managed to choke out after about a minute.

"It isn't funny Potter!" I screamed at him, probably looking quite deranged. I didn't care though. This bitch was going to pay.

My clothes stuck to my body as I stormed over to where Potter was still laughing. The smile wiped off his face when he saw my expression though.

"Don't even think about it, Mclair" he warned, slowly backing away.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" I said, smiling sweetly as I advanced.

Al looked behind him and I took this small lapse in concentration as a chance to attack. I sprinted at him and had him in a headlock before he could even look forwards again.

I began dragging him towards the lake with all my might. I guess the five years of karate I did when I was younger must have paid off, because with one final shove, Potter was waist high in water.

I laughed madly at the look of outrage on his face.

"Fuck, it's cold!" he yelled, though he looked amused. "You bitch, Mclair!"

"You got me first, Potter!" I sang.

"You deserved it!" he yelled back. "You were making a joke about my masculinity!"

"What masculinity?" I snorted.

Al splashed water in my face.

"You asked for it now!" I screamed and ran towards him, the freezing water burning my skin.

I kicked water in his direction, but I missed and he swam towards me. I lunged at him before he could get any closer and forced his head under the water.

He burst out of the water, spluttering, and ran a hand through his now sopping hair. It stood up as though he had just stuck his finger in a power socket.

We both looked a bit worse for wear, though Al would still be put on a billboard for Calvin Klein, no questions asked. I probably looked like a drowned weasel.

Al was glaring daggers at me and I turned and swam away as fast as I could.

"You get back here right now, Mclair!" Potter yelled as I reached the shore.

"You'll have to catch me!" I yelled back and I heard his heavy footsteps behind me.

He caught me around the waist and threw me over his shoulder for the second time that morning.

"Put me down, Al!" I shrieked.

"Not a chance!" he said. "Not until you take back what you said about my masculinity!"

"Never!" I cried.

"Then I'll just have to make you, won't I?" he said mischievously and he dumped me on the ground.

"Al, what are you doing?" I asked as he loomed over me.

Then his intention became clear.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Too bad for you I'm not ticklish...DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" I screamed as his hand came into contact with my side and I fell into a fit of laughter.

I wrestled him off me and dashed towards the castle.

"Get back here Liv! Take back what you said!" Al called, running after me.

And we sprinted, sopping wet and shivering but still laughing madly, back into the castle.

A/N: -_- I'm so sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I was so stuck on what to write and then I got really busy with school and stuff. I'm sorry.
I had such a bad case of writer's block that I sat there staring at a blank page for about an hour before I came up with this. I'm sorry for it's absolute crapness, but I haven't edited it because writing this chapter pissed me off so much
I'll definitely try for faster updates in the future!
Please review, they make my day 3

Love, Ellie.