EL FIN!

Sorry for the surprise ending, guys...and sorry it took so long to post. I wanted it to be just perfect.

If you like this when you finish, or if you like it now, I urge you to add me to your author alerts list, because you never know when I might spring my next story. It could be weeks, or it could be days (but most likely the former). It might not even be SwaC. Do this with all authors you like; don't just take for granted that they'll post stories in the same category!

Chad

"Sonny, change—the—channel!" I panted, wrestling the remote away from her. It would have been much easier, had Connie not been in the room; I was trying my hardest not to make it look too…physical, if you get me.

"Not a chance! We are watching Goblet of Fire, and there is nothing you can do about it!" she shrieked, giggling the whole way. "Wait, shh! Fred and George are about to put their names in the cup…"

I settled down between her and Tawni on the Munroes' couch, watching as two redheaded twins jumped over a glowing blue line and placed two pieces of paper into a flaming cup. Tawni let out a little giggle, and I turned to her, smiling maliciously. "Tawni Hart."

"What?" she said quickly. Aha, not too smart, she's already being defensive.

I winked and gestured to the screen, doing a double take as the Weasleys sprouted beards.

"I am perfectly entitled to…to…for Fred and George to be my favorite," she said, matter-of-factly.

"You stumbled."

"Did not."

"Shut up!" Sonny and Connie hissed simultaneously.

"Do you seriously expect me to sit through two solid hours with this?" I whispered to Sonny, jabbing my thumb towards the girl to my left.

"Calm it, Chain," came a voice from somewhere around my feet. "The twins are only in like…is it eight times?"

My palm connected with my face—ergo, "facepalm". "Seriously?"

"Hey, the Weasley twins are badass!"

"Language," groaned Connie tiredly for the fifth time since Vivi had arrived.

"Sorry, Mrs. M."

"I still don't get it," Grady stated from the floor beneath the chair in which Nico was sitting. "How does the Goblet know they're too young?"

"It's called 'magic', Grady," Nico explained yet again. "It's magically charmed to have a mind of its own…"

"But in the second book, Arthur Weasley said, and I quote, 'never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain'," Grady said, receiving surprised looks from the lot of us. "What? I'm a careful reader!"

"Uh…I know for a fact that ain't true," Nico said.

"Guys, please!" Tawni squealed. "I'm trying to watch here."

This was totally nuts. There was no way anyone was going to stay focused on the movie, which would only piss Tawni off; the conversation was mostly nerdy facts about Harry Potter; and Sonny, to my great disappointment, was too near her mother for me to do anything cute. Instead, all I could do was listen to things that went over my head as Tawni squealed next to me and my hand lay intertwined in Sonny's.

"Hey, you guys, I'm gonna go start dinner," Connie said, getting up from her spot beside Sonny.

"Aren't we calling for pizza?" Vivi asked. I saw the top of her teased white head rotating to follow Sonny's mom.

"She means for Nico and Grady," Sonny explained, craning her neck to see that her mom was fully in the kitchen before nestling up to me. "Two slices of pizza a piece isn't gonna cut it for them. They need extra food."

"Thanks for making us sound like special needs kids," Nico griped.

"Hey, be nice."

"SHHH! I'M TRYING TO WATCH!"

I rolled my eyes as Tawni, Grady, and Vivi all had a hushed argument from different standpoints, not really arguing about the same things. I smiled at Sonny, who blushed profusely, and bent my head down to connect her silky lips with mine.

"Will you to quit snogging?" Tawni snapped. Normally, I would have ignored this, but I was curious as to why she used this term in particular.

"Snogging? Really, Tawni? Really?" I shook my head in mock disappointment. "I never took you for a Potterhead."

"I don't think that's the technical term for—"

"Pottermaniac. Harryhead? Hogwartian…"

"That's not even clever! You're such a Muggle," Tawni groaned, rolling her eyes.

My hand not holding Sonny's snapped up to my mouth and I bit hard on my knuckle in a failed attempt not to laugh hysterically. Muggle? She seriously called me a Muggle. I exchanged a look with Sonny that told me she was thinking exactly the same thing.

---

"Tawni, pause it," Sonny said for the tenth time. Connie wasn't going to let us eat anything until we were all in the kitchen. "Pause it."

"But…"

"Pause it."

"But the…Yule ball…"

Her eyes were fully on the screen and she clutched the remote with both hands to her chest. Her mouth moved in sync to everything the characters were saying. I happened to be just out of her view, and so I shifted myself to be directly behind her. As I crept up towards her, I nodded meaningfully to Vivi, who I felt was most capable for the job. I made a few vague motions, and she poised herself to spring.

Before Tawni knew what was going on, I leapt forward, grabbing both her arms and pulling them backwards. She let out a yelp of pain and Vivi sprang for the remote, which Tawni was now holding in one hand that had managed to wriggle out of my grasp. Vivi jumped several times, groping aimlessly, and then she reared up and took a flying leap (an astounding feat, as her pants looked to tight for her to even walk properly in). A painful thud told us Vivi had collided with the wall, and the "Yes!" subsequent to the weak "ow" told us our efforts had been successful. The screen stopped, freezing in place an image of Emma Watson descending a flight of stairs in a vibrant pink dress.

"Chad—let—go of me!"

I released Tawni with much apology and we went in to get our pizza slices. Sonny giggled silently as she walked in alongside me.

Sonny

The kitchen and living room were each a successful mess of pizza sauce and decorative pillows. A couple of smudged Coco Moco Coco lip marks defiled the TV screen as well as the DVD case beside it. Tawni's hair lie in tangled disarray due to the numerous peltings of the receiving ends of pillows, accounting for each time she had spoken a line aloud before a character had said it. Nico and Grady lie strewn wearily over the displaced cushions, bruise-colored after a tussle with Vivi, from which she had emerged unscathed on account of the fact that neither boy had wanted to hit a girl—that strong. My mom had gone to bed, mostly from the exasperation of watching the demolition of her home occur before her very eyes.

Chad held his head up with his fist, elbow on the armrest, yawning while I used his legs as a pillow. "Oh!" he suddenly exclaimed in a raspy voice. "I completely forgot…Sonny, I have to leave, like, right now. If I hurry, I should still be able to get enough sleep…"

Now checking his watch, he motioned for me to lift my head and crossed over to the door. I stumbled after him, clutching a sleeping ankle as my shoulder collided with the wall beside him. I let out a short cry.

"Careful, Sonny!" Chad warned, holding his hands out protectively as I teetered, leaning into his arms and regaining my balance.

"I'll go with you to your car," I offered, glancing at a half-awake Tawni chatting quietly with Vivi. "Hey, I'll be right back, guys."

They nodded dismissively, continuing their tired conversation, and I followed Chad out the door and down the stairs, arriving shortly at his car.

"Get in, Sonny," he said, himself sliding in behind the wheel. "Just for a moment or two. It's cold out here."

"Okay." I opened the passenger's door with seemingly far more strength than I would have used earlier, allowing my weary limbs to collapse on the leather interior. "I still can't believe everything worked out alright!"

"Yeah," agreed Chad distractedly. He turned to look at me, and his face appeared upside-down, as I was simply lying across the seat with my face to the ceiling. He looked serious, so I sat erect and waited. He parted his lips, only slightly, and surprised me with a comfortable kiss rather than saying something important.

He pulled away at last, and though I was reluctant to desist, I let the hands that were holding him drop to my sides. "Sonny?" he whispered breathlessly.

"Yeah, Chad?"

"I'm…I'm moving back into the house soon. The one we had the party at, you know?" He rubbed the back of his neck and clutched the wheel, still looking at me. "I was wondering…if you'd move in with me."

I would have jumped at this chance days ago. I'd had nowhere to stay, banished from everyone who loved me. Now, with the ability to give this more thought, I realized how many kinds of dangerous it had been for me to stay with Chad. Vivi's picture and Tawni's many had proved so.

He was so nice, though, and patient, and knew when to stop. We'd practically verbalized the autobiographies of our lives to each other. There was no way anything damaging could happen!

But how was I sure?

I realized that the whole time I mulled this over, my mouth had been hanging open. I quickly set my lower jaw back into its appropriate place, continuing to stare at Chad, wide eyed. I could do nothing but gasp.

I was gasping at how stupid I had been. I was gasping at how easy everything had gone between us, at how mature Chad and I had been, at how little thought I had given to my previous situation.

And I was gasping at how foolish my decision was now.

Mischief managed.

Don't complain about the ending, whatever you do! I did this on purpose. Finish the story yourself, in your mind, on paper...anything. I'm taking a page out of the book of a teacher of mine and saying that, if you're not thinking about the movie hours after you leave the theater, the story didn't do its job. :)