Epilogue

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Dylan muttered, taking in our safety spot in the Great Hall. Because as soon as this worked – and it would – we were going to need to hide. Or run. And I'm not too fond of running.

"I think it's going to work," Daniella said confidently. She was the one who suggested we hide near the Ravenclaw table, crouching underneath it. Apparently there were a lot of late-night study sessions, so no one really woke up this early in the morning. Except James, hopefully. For Quidditch practice. "He's going to walk in, drink the juice, and…"

"There's no possible way this could fail." I was lying, and Daniella could tell. She squeezed my hand. "Seriously, though, he's going to kill us. James is in love with his hair. He says it's a bird magnet."

"I've noticed. He has a stupid habit of running his hands through his hair."

"It's really annoying. I don't know how you snogged him."

"Please don't remind me that horrifying experience."

"Al, quit being jealous," Dylan snapped, turning to us. "This was your idea."

"Yeah, for revenge," I retorted, going back to watching the door. I suddenly perked up. "Look, here he comes!"

We fell silent as James entered the Great Hall, looking haughty in his Quidditch Robes. I decided a little while after Daniella and I started dating that I really didn't want to forgive James for interfering. Since I could've gone on a date with Daniella and figured it all out on my own.

My older bastard of a brother was going down.

And the thing about James is that he has an incredibly obvious weak point: his hair. He thinks that his hair makes him Merlin, which automatically makes him Merlin's gift to girls. I wanted him to realize that he's an idiot and couldn't get every girl he wanted. Or snog them for fun.

Daniella was pretty quick to agree with me.

I had the best girlfriend ever.

My eyes followed James as he swaggered into the hall, muddy and sweaty from practice, laughing and joking with the rest of the team. He sat down at his usual spot – a spot he named his, and for some reason, people listened to him – and started piling food on his plate. I waited until he poured his pumpkin juice in his goblet and took a long swing. He put it down, smacking his lips.

Then, promptly, all of his hair fell off.

A hush went over the Gryffindor table as they realized they were suddenly looking at James' shiny bald head. His black hair pooled in his hands, at his feet, in his plate… everywhere. He didn't move, frozen limbs and mouthing wordlessly at his beloved hair.

Then suddenly, his shiny head snapped up, searching around the Great Hall with angry eyes.

"I think he's caught on," Daniella whispered, grinning excitedly.

"I think we'd better run!" Dylan suddenly shouted, crawling out from underneath the table. I looked back to James, and he was right; James was striding towards us with an evil, probably fatal look in his eyes.

Shit.

I hate running.

I dove underneath the bench and scrambled to run after Dylan, pulling Daniella with me. I heard James the Cue Ball shouting at us as we ran through the corridors and up random stairs. Soon, we lost Dylan, who'd taken some turn and vanished.

But James was still hot on our heels.

I think we finally lost him when we got lost, taking so many twists and turns that I hadn't a clue to where we were anymore. James' shouting was somewhere in the distance, so just in case, we ran into an empty classroom and shut the door behind us. Daniella locked it using some fancy-looking spell. Ravenclaw.

"I think he's gone," she said after a moment of pressing her ear against the door. "I can't hear him."

"Sure," I panted heavily. "I – think – we –"

"Aw, did someone not have their coffee this morning?" she teased, wrapping her arms around the back of my neck.

"Excuse me for not being an athlete," I grumbled, my heart finally slowing. Sort of. It didn't really slow that much around Daniella.

"Whatever," she said cheerfully, almost giddily. "Did you see his face?"

"Yeah," I answered, grinning. "That's the end of his obsession with his hair. Maybe he'll act like a human being by the time his hair grows back."

She laughed and brought her forehead to mine. "Just another obsession, huh?"

"Maybe for him."

"So what about me?"

"You're more of an addiction," I admitted.

Daniella laughed again. "Like coffee?"

I nodded and kissed her gently, smiling. "Sweeter."