Without you, I feel broken,
Like I'm half of a whole.

P I P E R

Thankfully, by the time we reached the owlery we were both back into our old pattern of talking. I could almost forget my moments of weakness... Almost.

But some thoughts, once they're there, you just can't un think them. Me thinking Albus was hot was one of those thoughts.

That night, I lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Is Albus hot? I thought. And, more importantly, why do I think that?

I rolled over, unable to calm my racing thoughts. There just wasn't a spot on the pillow that was cool.

Eventually, I threw back the blankets on my bed and tiptoed past Rose, careful not to make any noise. I couldn't think in the dormitory. I felt like Rose was secretly awake and doing that best friend thing where she knew exactly what I was thinking about.

When I reached the common room, I was surprised to see that there was someone in there. It was almost five in the morning.

Then I saw the distinctive Potter hair- all rumpled up and pointing in all the wrong directions- and considered bolting for the stairs.

Too late, Piper.

'Hey,' I said softly. 'Why are you up so late?'

He turned around in his chair and groaned. 'Potions essay for tommorow I forgot about. Why are you up? Don't tell me you forgot to do it too.'

I smiled. 'Nope. I did it two weeks ago.'

Albus blinked at me. 'Wow. Thanks, Pipes, you're making me re-think my entire life. Why are you awake at five o'clock then, if there isn't any last-minute homework?'

'I couldn't sleep,' I said, watching the flickering flames in the fireplace cast dancing shadows over his cheekbones. 'Too much on my mind, I guess.'

'Want to talk about it?' Albus asked.

I rubbed my temples and debated answering him. Technically, he wouldn't even know who I was talking about.. All I had to do was change some minor details. 'You've got your potions essay,' I reminded him.

Albus looked down at the parchment on the table, and then back at me. 'I'm almost done anyway, Pipes. What's bothering you?'

I decided to start by making things up. 'One of my friends in the human world, one of my mum's old friend's daughters, sent me a letter the other day,' I explained. 'Except she didn't address it to me. I think she gave it to my dad or something to send to me, and he also sent another one by the same owl. Anyway, she sent me a letter and it wasn't for me, full of different- private- stuff.'

That sounded nothing like the Albus and Rose thing, whilst still sounding similar enough that he could still give me good advice (hopefully, if he didn't see right through my blatant lie).

'Basically, it was to somebody else saying some things about somebody else- unnamed- but I don't know if she was talking about me or not.' I sighed. 'That sounds so stupid, doesn't it, when I put it like that? I'm worried if she's saying stuff about me to other people.'

If that situation actually happened, I'd brush it off and talk to the person about it. But the situation hasn't actually happened, and I wanted Albus' advice on what to do about my Albus problem.

'Just talk about it,' he advised. 'If you're unsure, just say hey, this letter was delivered to me, and I accidentally read it. I'm really sorry. And see if she says anything about who it's about, I guess.'

I bit my lip. 'Thanks, Albus. You're great, you know that?'

He smiled at me gratefully. 'You're awesome too, Pipes. You can talk to me about anything, you know? Anything at all.'

Hated that chapter, oh well.

xxx Jade