November 4th, Saturday, A Week Before Quidditch Game—

Previously on Audacious Passion:

After accidentally drinking a sleeping potion at Slughorn's Halloween Party Arianna sleeps the potion off in James' dorm room. Or more specifically, in his bed...with him. In the end Arianna gets healthier and she returns to her own dorm completely mortified where her friends declare that she likes James despite already having a sweet boyfriend like Bobby Chandler.

She denies this and instead asks Olivia about her and Fred since they were last seen kissing near Slughorn's Halloween Party. Olivia says she's doing well and they're taking everything slow.

This feels like falling in love
Falling in love
We're falling in love

Yeah I've been feeling everything
From hate to love
From love to lust
From lust to truth
I guess that's how I know you

~Kiss Me, Ed Sheeran (song)

"Sign my petition!" Claire urged slapping a clipboard in front of Arianna making her jump and drop her the piece of bacon she was about to eat.

"Petition?" Arianna repeated as she took a closer look at the stained parchment. It had a couple of names on it, and at the top it said Saving the Merpeople.

"Arianna," Claire quipped impatiently, as she smoothed a lock of her blonde hair away from her face, "I thought we went over this last Sunday. Remember, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is reducing some of the lakes and ponds that merpeople can stay in?"

"Er...right," Arianna agreed hurriedly, while grabbing the quill that Claire held and quickly scrawling her name. Claire had always been an advocate for equal rights for Magical Creatures, and Arianna always helped her out with whatever protest or petition she was organizing (even when she didn't really know the cause).

"Hey!" Claire interrupted Olivia and Fred who were whispering to each other. Arianna was pretty sure that they were playing footsy under the table, but she tried not to notice that too much. "Lovebirds! Sign my petition and then you can go back to feeding each other!"

"We weren't feeding each other!" Olivia protested heatedly as a slight pink tinge took over her cheeks. She signed the petition nonetheless.

While she was signing her name, a tawny owl swooped in and dropped a letter onto Arianna's breakfast even though it was clearly addressed to Olivia Roth.

"Hey, Olivia, I think this letter is for you," Arianna said handing Olivia a letter that somehow ended up in her bacon.

Olivia's nose wrinkled, but she took the letter gingerly and opened it up quickly. As she scanned the letter the crease in her forehead became deeper and deeper.

"What? What is it?" Claire asked impatiently before grabbing Olivia's letter. As she scanned the letter Claire seemed excited. She removed a picture inside the letter and handed it to Arianna.

The picture was a beautiful light pink dress decorated with pearls near the collar. It was stunning and also Olivia's bridesmaid dress.

"Oh," Arianna noted when she returned the picture to Olivia.

"What is it?" Fred asked, turning away from the fellow Gryffindor he was talking to.

"It's...um...my mom...she's getting married in December..." Olivia explained shyly as she handed the picture to Fred.

He smiled and handed it back to her, "Cool. Do you need a date?" It was obvious that he was joking but Olivia looked relieved.

"Would you really be my date?" She asked incredulously—a slow smile taking over her face.

Fred looked surprised but quickly said, "Yeah, sure. If you want me to be."

"I'd like that."

"Alright then," Fred said smiling also, and puffing out his chest, "Looks like I need to get some dress robes..."

For a moment they just sort of smiled at each other before Olivia leaned over the table to kiss Fred full on the lips.

"Okay! We'll be going now!" Claire shouted while quickly averting her eyes in a highly disgusted manner, "C'mon Ari let's go."

Arianna shook her head while smiling slightly before getting up and following Claire out.

"Bobby...wha—what are you doing?" Arianna said, looking at her boyfriend who had a sly smile on his tan face. You could barely see the dimple in his left cheek.

"What is it a crime to snog my girlfriend?" He asked before placing a small kiss on Arianna's neck.

"No," Arianna said before moving out his reach, "but you're acting weird."

"Weird?"

"Yes," Arianna said before tightening the strings of Bobby's arm pads. After she was finished, Bobby pulled her waist closer so she was straddling on his lap before slowly kissing her jaw line.

"Bobby," Arianna objected, trying to get of his lap.

"Oh c'mon, no one's even in the locker room," Bobby whispered before kissing her on the lips. It was much different than the first awkward kiss they shared. This time it was deeper—almost hungry, as Bobby's lips moved against hers with a purposeful fervor.

"Bobby," Arianna finally pushed on his chest firmly. "What are you doing?"

He blinked slowly at her before smiling and leaning in again, "I'm snogging you."

"No stop," Arianna protested—leaning away from the now frowning boy, "You know I don't like PDA."

"Arianna, we're not even in public."

She squirmed uncomfortably, "Well I'm not—"

"Do you not want to snog me?" Bobby asked suddenly, his brown eyes narrowing.

"What? No! It's just that—"

"Just what Arianna? I can count on one hand all the times I've kissed you," Bobby replied annoyed.

"So? Is snogging so important to you?" Arianna asked, her own voice growing louder.

"No, but I mean, we never even snog. It's like you're not even my girlfriend. You're just a friend—practically a sister," Bobby said, tightening his hold on Arianna's waist.

"Well I'm sorry if I don't like getting jumped—"

"Oh c'mon Arianna, you know it wasn't like that."

By this time both of them were standing up and facing each other.

"Well it felt like that. I mean, what is going on with you anyways? You're acting weird," Arianna replied, crossing her arms and scrutinizing the brown haired boy that stood in front of her.

"Nothing's wrong with me! Merlin, I try to kiss my girlfriend, and instead I get yelled at?"

That made Arianna soften just a bit, "I'm just not comfortable yet, okay?"

"I know," Bobby said, smiling a bit as he approached Arianna, "That's why I'm trying to make this more comfortable for the both of us."

Before she knew it Bobby's lips were on hers against, and that feeling of wrongness crept on her.

"Bobby!" Arianna pushed him away.

He looked slightly hurt when suddenly his gaze moved to something above her head.

"Oh...er...Hey Captain," Bobby greeted sheepishly.

Arianna spun around to see James standing behind them—an indescribably expression on his face.

She felt her own eyes widen—the blood rushing to her cheeks.

Without looking back at Bobby she grabbed her Beater's bat, and scampered away from the two of them—ignoring Bobby's calls.

She went to her own side of the locker rooms—tying her own pads before James instructed them to begin practice.

As she grabbed her broom and started to head out onto the pitch she noticed Bobby trying to catch her gaze but she ignored him.

"Hey," James said from beside her, his voice low as they strode towards the empty Quidditch Pitch.

Arianna silently nodded at him—not taking her green eyes off the pitch.

"Look..." James began—running a hand through his messy black hair, "I saw what happened back there so if you need anything...or you know, need someone to beat him up for you..."

Arianna's eyes seemed to narrow even more at this and she turned swiftly to James.

"James, stop. Just leave me alone for once. Can you do that?"

She mounted her broom and took off into the air—not even bothering to watch his reaction.

For the rest of the practice she worked hard, and didn't talk to a lot of people besides Fred. Slowly, with each swing of her beater's bat it seemed to ease her high-strung nerves and calm her down. It was therapeutic and the light drizzle that started almost helped her despite her chattering teeth.

They called it an early night when sheets of rain started to pound the pitch—soaking everyone and everything in sight. It was so hard to see the bludgers let alone the snitch that they decided it would be better to go inside before someone got injured.

"G'night Ari," Lily said, as she pulled on a jumper over her petite body.

Arianna smiled, "I'll see you later."

"Yeah...and...I know it's not any of my business, but my brother was just trying to help," Lily commented before ducking her head and walking out of the locker room without another word.

Arianna watched her go before pulling her own sweater over her head—shaking the wet strands of her hair off her cheeks. In her locker she noticed a pair of neatly folded clothes that she had left at the top so she wouldn't forget.

Groaning inaudibly, she grabbed them and slammed her locker shut before trekking over to the boy's side of the locker room.

Before she could get anywhere though she bumped into something hard.

"Oops—"

"Sorry about that..."

"James," Arianna said surprised when she stepped away from the stranger. He seemed frazzled, and his hair was still slightly damp from the rain outside. Her focus was directed to a raindrop that slowly slid down the contours of his face before dropping onto the ground.

"Um—" she mentally shook her head, and held her hand out, "These are yours."

"Oh, than—"

"Arianna!" Bobby suddenly said, jogging up to them with a relieved smile on his face. "There you are, I thought I'd have missed you..."

"Wha-what are these?" he continued—his hand flipping over the sleeve of James' folded shirt so it fell open.

"They're my clothes," James answered calmly.

The silence after his words seemed to stretch on for decades as if time itself had frozen for a moment. Then finally Bobby stared at Arianna uncomprehendingly.

"Your clothes?"

Arianna wasn't looking at either of them by now. She was instead inspecting her shoes with great interest.

Didn't she know that this was going to happen? She should have just told Bobby the truth in the first place. But no, she didn't and something horrible was going to happen now.

"Why would Arianna have your clothes?" Bobby asked, but she could still feel his heated gaze on her.

"Well she—"

"I, um, accidentally drank a sleeping potion after the Halloween Party," Arianna finally piped up. She still wasn't looking at either of their eye. Instead she chose to talk to their chests. "James let me sleep it off in his dorm and I changed out of my dress because it was uncomfortable."

"And where exactly did you sleep it off?"

Arianna winced before answering, "In his bed..." When she finally looked at Bobby he wasn't angry like she expected. Instead it seemed like he was physically hurt by her words. James was just staring at the clothes in his hand.

"You didn't tell me that," Bobby finally said, stepping away from Arianna like she was a grenade about to explode.

"I was going to...but I thought that you would—"

"That I would what? That I would be angry? Arianna, you know you should have just told me the truth. I would have eventually understood. You didn't have to lie to me..." Bobby said quietly, his deep brown eyes hardening.

"Bobby," Arianna started as she stepped closer.

Bobby held up his hand before continuing, "You know why I tried to kiss you today? It was because I was starting to wonder if you actually wanted to kiss me. I'm still not sure if you do..."

"Bobby—"

"Do you, Arianna?" Bobby asked, his brown eyes staring intensely into her own green ones. When she remained silent, his eyebrows raised. "Did you ever even like me as more than a friend?"

She didn't say a word. She just bit her lip.

Bobby was starting to look incredulous, "Were you leading me on this whole time?"

Arianna's gaze snapped up to his and she blinked, "Bobby—"

"You know what? Just forget it Arianna..." Bobby finally said. He sounded tired and exhausted, and it showed in the way his shoulders slumped forward as he exited the locker room.

Arianna watched him as he left—wanting to cry but not because they were over. She felt like crying because she knew that he was right, and she was a terrible person for that. How could she do that to someone as sweet as Bobby? He deserved someone better than her.

Someone honest and someone that wanted to kiss him back.

He didn't deserve that... the words replayed like a broken recorder in her head as she quickly swiped at the tears that streaked down her cheeks.

She felt dirty like the muddy shoes she wore, and she felt horrible.

How could she be so selfish?

"Hey," James said softly. Oh Merlin, how embarrassing; he had to witness all of that.

"It's not your fault."

Arianna scoffed, "What do you mean? Of course it is. It's all my fault."

"No it isn't. It's not your fault for not being able to love or even like someone," James said tenderly as he turned to Arianna and tipped her chin up. The pad of his thumb rubbed away the tears that were still left on her cheeks.

"Well, it feels like it is. I feel terrible...just so horrible," Arianna said, finally looking at James' eyes. They were a deep brown like Bobby's but somehow completely different. Maybe it was the way that James was looking at her at the moment. "What do you care anyways?"

James frowned as she said that, "How can you say that Piff? Of course I care."

"Well you shouldn't."

"But I do. And Piff...you're not a horrible person, James reassured, his brown eyes darting from her own eyes to her lips. She could feel him stepping closer; so close that she could feel his warm breath on her cheeks and even smell that vague musky odor that was just so James.

"I feel like one," Arianna replied—never breaking her gaze from James.

"You're not. You're a...you're a wonderful person," James finally breathed, his gaze straying down to her lips before looking back at her green eyes. Then ever so slowly the finger that was tilting her chin up started to pull her towards him.

He was giving her plenty of time to pull away, but for some reason she just kept her gaze locked with his. He was a magnet and there was some kind of indescribable pull between them.

And, as her eyes fluttered close his lips were on hers. It was much different than any other time that Bobby had kissed her. It was as if James was testing the waters—moving slowly against her lips as if he wanted to prolong the moment for as long as he could before diving straight in. And then he pulled her closer and kissed her passionately.

Arianna bought her hands up to rest on his chest—but instead of pushing him away like she did with Bobby she instead fisted her chest in his shirt and pulled him closer to her so she could compensate for her height. He was her anchor, and she was holding on for as long as she could.

His lips moved sensuously against hers, his tongue running lightly against her bottom lip before they both pulled away for oxygen.

They were both panting slightly as they looked into each others eyes once more. She could see that James' deep brown eyes were dilated.

Slowly, almost hesitantly as if she didn't want to quite let go yet, Arianna released her hands from James' shirt and he removed his hand that was tangled in her hair.

"Um...I should go," Arianna mumbled—tucking a stray lock behind her ear.

James nodded, his eyes still quite wide and his hair messy (did she cause that?).

"Right."

"Goodnight James."

"Goodnight Arianna."

A/N: Well this chapter was long overdue and I apologize sincerely for that. I also apologize for the short-ish length but I really wanted to end the chapter at this point so that's what you get XD

I have a lot of people to thank so here we go...A HUGE THANKS TO:
PhoenixLullaby3 for actually PM-ing me and telling me to update! I really needed that so thank you!
DreamingDementor for also urging me to update!
PenguinBuddy for all her help (Psst! you should all check out her James II/OC story too!).
OfficialScrollKeeperfor without her the wonderful character, Arianna, would not exist.

Oh and the lovely Ed Sheeran for his beautiful voice which really helped this chapter move along. :D

Review Challenge: Favorite childhood T.V show? What's your favorite thing to bake/cook? Guess what house I got into for Pottermore :P

OH, and thank you to all of YOU who keep on favoriting, reviewing, and just being really lovely people. :)
Pickles