Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling's not mine...yadaydayda

Okay kidd-os, so this is pretty much my first real fanfic...as in it's not a oneshot :) So be open

minded, please, I'd love you forevah! Ha-ha, thanks.

I wish I had a boyfriend. Normally I don't think about it all that much and it doesn't bug me, but times like this really make me want one. Sorry, maybe I should explain myself.

It's the 22nd day of December, it's snowing outside, there's a fire going, and mistletoe everywhere. Not to mention people using it. I sighed into my hot chocolate mug as I watched my very best friend in the whole world snog his stupid 3rd year Ravenclaw girlfriend. George Weasley had managed to sneak Lisa Turpin, his latest love interest of one week, into our common room to have his merry little way with her. Not that I'm not used to it, mind you. George is just about that biggest player I know; he's already gone through about eight girlfriends this school year and it's only December. The average girlfriend of George's lasts about a week and a half, two if she's blonde. Being George's best friend for so many years has given me the expertise of being able to predict, down to the day, sometimes the hour if I'm lucky, just how long his partners-in-lust will last, and this Lisa didn't have much time left according to the Alicia-Clock. George liked his girls best short and blonde, and Little Miss Turpin here was tall as can be with long, black hair. Plus she wore perfume, which I knew George hated.

But it wasn't this particular couple that made me wish for amore. The real cause of my desire came from watching Fred Weasley interact with Katie Bell. The couple was sitting on one end of the long couch in front of the fire. Katie was curled up on Fred's lap, dozing off every now and then as he played with the ends of her short dark brown hair and held idle conversation with her when she was awake enough to murmur back a reply. I loved watching them together. Though it had only been a month since the day Katie and Fred had amazed us all by walking into Transfiguration hand-in-hand, it was already clear the two were made for each other. Even Professor McGonagoll had gotten a slight smile on her face when she saw the pretty little dark haired girl who had stolen the heart of one of Hogwart's biggest pranksters together with her boyfriend for the first time. Although the two could be a bit like gunpowder and a match when you put them together (for Katie was just as loud and mischievous as Fred), to watch them together, interacting on purely a romantic level was heart-warming. "Amazing how two people so loud and carefee can be so quiet when they're together," George had commented to me once.

Yet as happy as I was for them, I couldn't help feeling that I'd been abandoned. Katie and I had been best friends since our 2nd year (after she'd decided I wasn't too serious and I'd learned to enjoy her raucous, free-spirited ways) and now I was left feeling as though Fred had taken her from me. Wood had already stolen Angie...

My other best friend Angelina Johnson was taking turns with her boyfriend and our quidditch captain Oliver Wood in giving each other backrubs. Both were chattering away excitedly about quidditch and who was bound to make playoffs this year. Never could you find another couple so alike in both temperament and interests. A lot of people think Katie and Fred are just the same, but Katie is so sweet and kind, and it balances out how prone Fred is to lashing out irrationally at people. No, Oliver and Angie were definitely two of the same kind. Both were crazy about quidditch, good students, athletic, had a tendency to get annoyed with the twins easily, and both used the phrase "Katie, shut up!" quite a bit. They rarely fought or left each other's side.

And so, sitting here with the happy couples hasn't exactly raised my self esteem. Here I am, Alicia "I've had a grand total of one boyfriend in my entire life" Spinnet, sitting in the middle of "Angie and Ollie", "Fred and Katie", and "George the Player". Sadly, my one boyfriend existed in 2nd year, and even more sadly, it was George. Yeah, me and George dated. Longest he's ever had a girlfriend, too; 9 whole months! Summer came, George's family was gone all holiday, and by the time we got to see each other again, it was just too awkward. Since then, he's never had a girlfriend fro longer than 3 weeks and I've never had another boyfriend. I growled into the mug I was holding.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

I was interrupted from sulking by an angry squeal coming from none other than Lisa Turpin. Katie and Fred both shot up. Angelina and Oliver quit the quidditch buzz. I raised my eyebrows slightly and sat up a bit. So the show had begun.

"What do you mean you don't like my new scarf?" she accused, looking daggers up at George. He shrugged his shoulders non-chalantly. "Just think you look better in other colors is all," he said.

I laughed inwardly at Lisa's ugly purple scarf. George hated purple, that was another thing. I swelled with a stupid kind of pride as I looked down at my own white cashmere sweater and long blonde hair.

"Yeah?" Lisa yelled angrily, "Well I think you look better without a girlfriend!"

And with that she stalked out of the common room. George stared after her for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Tough luck, mate," Fred said, grinning.

"Yeah," Katie joined in laughing, "She seemed like a real winner, that girl."

"Yeah, Kates? Well, I wouldn't be talking seeing as how you're with my brother," George replied, unhesitating as he flopped down on the loveseat next to me.

Katie looked at Fred and shrugged. "Maybe, but I think I kind of like him," she said and layed her head against his chest. Fred half-smiled and kissed heron the top of her head as he pulled her closer toward him.

"Disgusting, isn't it Allie?" George asked me seriously as he set his feet in my lap.

"Oh, very," I said loudly, "I think I may hurl." I pushed George's feet off my lap.

We looked in their direction, but to no one's surprise they were too busy whispering in each other's ears and laughing to hear the rest of the world. George replaced his feet. I moved them off again.

"So, another one gone then, eh cowboy?" I asked playfully, as I blocked another attempt to use me as a foot stool.

"I want a foot rub, Allie!" he whined, then straightened his face. "Oh, you mean Lisa? Meh. I've had better. And how close did you come on that one, Allie?"

He asked this last part with a twinkle in his eyes. George knew about my predictions regarding the length of his relationships.

"Came within the hour," I replied casually, swiveling to place my own feet on his lap. To my complete surprise and satisfaction, George sat up and started to massage my feet. Now that's what I call service.

"Nice," he said, "Although you might want to consider actually getting a boyfriend? That way you wouldn't have to play that silly little game you do. And you know, I did notice how much Marcus Flint seemed to enjoy that short little skirt you wore on Friday."

He grinned at me as I groaned and chucked a pillow at him. He dodged it easily and sighed with much exaggeration.

"Fine, Allie. Be difficult. It's all right, though. Flint won't get back from Holiday for a while yet, and so until then, just you and me, hot stuff."

George clamped an arm around me and grinned mischievously.

"And seeing as how I'm now single…" he grinned even wider as he leaned in closer to me and kissed me on the lips with all the fire and passion he seemed to be able to gather.

"I'll be seeing you later, Allie. Night all." And with a little flick of the wrist in goodbye, he headed off to bed.

I just stretched out on the couch and sighed. George did that all the time, but somehow I still wasn't used to it. Sometimes in between girlfriends or sometimes even when he had them, we'd pass in the hall and he'd grab me and pull me into the broom closet and we'd snog for a bit. He'd always grin and say, "Best friend duties for being so cute, Allie" and I'd smile back, but he never knew the truth. How much I hated the insincerity of it. How it stole a little piece of me every time he did it. How truly and deeply I loved him.

I sighed again, and my four remaining friends exchanged sympathetic glances.

"Oh Al," Katie sighed moved over to me. She tucked a strand of my blonde hair behind my ear and for once I didn't protest. "I'm so sorry. I know how that hurts you. George just needs to grow up is all."

"Actually, Katie's right, 'Leesh," joined in Angelina. "George has got feeling for you, it's so obvious. Isn't that right, Fred?"

The redhead nodded. "He's my brother, Alicia. Believe me, I can tell that you're definitely not just a friend. Give it time. He'll snap out of it."

"Yeah, right," I muttered. "That'll be the same day Katie walks through a room without breaking anything."

"Hey!" Katie cried, "That's not fair! Although I have been meaning to tell you, Al, about that little china teapot your aunt gave you? Well—"

"KATIE, SHUT UP!" Angelina and Oliver shouted simultaneously.

Katie opened her mouth to protest, but Fred placed his arm firmly around his girlfriend's shoulders and she fell still.

"The point is," he continued, "George is just not emotionally mature enough to accept something that involved. He's afraid of you, Al. He doesn't understand the feelings he has for you that are more than friends, but also something different than his usual snog-heads. Look, if you're patient, I know I can talk to him and we can work something out and then you'll—"

"Forget it, Fred," I snapped. "I give up. I'm doomed to live this pathetic life of never getting what I want and I'm sick of it. And I don't care! Did you hear me? I don't care anymore! I give up!"

I stomped up the stairs, keeping my back to them all so no one could see me crying.