"I wonder what I'm thinking..." I said to Hermione through the crowed chatty common room. Everyone was excited for the Hogsmeade weekend that was coming up.

Except for me.

And soon to be Harry.

"You don't know what you're-? Never mind." Hermione replied sadly.

I tuned into my thoughts and they were pretty weird.

Tralalalala!

Everyone has aids! Do do do do do! Aids aids aids aids aids.

Is this the real life? or is this just fantasy?

MUSHROOM MUSHROOM!

PEANUT BUTTER JELLY! PEANUT BUTTER JELLY!

'Dramatic instrumental music.'

"My thoughts are scary." I said to Hermione.

"Tell me one of them" she replied in a seriously uncaring tone.

"Well, I think they are all songs....and there's dramatic instrumental music too... but not music playing, like the words 'dramatic instrumental music'."

"You're seriously weird." Ron said looked at me like I was seriously weird.

His words match his expression....

Interesting...

"Interesting..." said George as he Harry and Fred were coming back from Quidditch practice.

"I was thinking that!" I said a bit too loudly.

"I know, you always get that expression on your face when you're thinking that." He said bopping me on the nose.

He. Will. Pay.

But not now cause I'm tired.

"What's happened?" Harry asked, refering to the chatter.

"First Hogsmeade weekend," said Ron, pointing at a notice that had appeared on the battered old bulletin board. "End of October. Halloween."

"Excellent," said Fred. "I need to visit Zonko's. I'm nearly out of Stink Pellets."

Harry threw himself into a chair beside Ron. I bet he was depressed about it. I hi-fived him and said: "We can be rejects together! Woo hoo!"

He smiled weakly at me.

To be honest, Harry was kind of melodramatic.

The chosen one. The boy who lived. It would give anyone a big head. He does overreact to things though.

I may be an attention seeking whore, but who wouldn't be after being tortured and locked in a room for eleven years.

I mean, I'm simultaneously someone who hates and loves attention. I'm weird because its easier than thinking about all the crap in the world that I could be depressed by.

Oh God damn it, I tuned out of the conversation.

Well, Hermione looked like she was ready to complain - how unusual - Ron looked as though he was very smart - bad look on him - and Harry looked like Harry...

Crookshanks leapt lightly onto Hermione's lap. A large, dead spider was dangling from his mouth.

"Awww! How sweet!" I said honestly. He was smarter than Soxy by all means.

Soxy, as a matter of fact, lay across the room rolling around in the dust.

I am like 2584% sure that he isn't a cat.

"Does he have to eat that in front of us?" said Ron, scowling.

"Clever Crookshanks, did you catch that all by yourself?" said Hermione.

Crookshanks, slowly chewed up the spider, his yellow eyes fixed impudently on Ron.

"But I thought you didn't like spiders, so he is doing you a favour." I said cleverly.

I'm as smart as Soxy....

"Just keep him over there, that's all," said Ron irritably. "I've got Scabbers asleep in my bag."

Hehe, no acknowledgement of my remark, must mean I hit a nerve. Fabulous.

Harry was getting out his Astronomy homework, and I thought how I should have done it earlier. I pulled out my star chart and quill and ink, slowly getting started.

"You can copy mine, if you like," said Ron, labelling his last star with a flourish and shoving the chart toward Harry and me.

"Thanks!" I said scrawling down the names. For a moment, I wondered why the writing looked so crappy. Then I remembered that it was because this was my actual writing and not one of Hermione's bewitched pens.

Shame.

I finished within a minute and my eyes flickered over to Crookshanks, who was still staring unblinkingly at Ron, flicking the end of his bushy tail. Then, without warning, he pounced.

"OY!" Ron roared, seizing his bag as Crookshanks sank four sets of claws deep inside it and began tearing ferociously. "GET OFF, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!"

Ron tried to pull the bag away from Crookshanks, but Crookshanks clung on, spitting and slashing.

"Ron, don't hurt him!" squealed Hermione; the whole common room was watching; Ron whirled the bag around, Crookshanks still clinging to it, and Scabbers came flying out of the top --

"CATCH THAT CAT!" Ron yelled as Crookshanks freed himself from the remnants of the bag, sprang over the table, and chased after the terrified Scabbers.

Soxy made a hysterical squeal noise and jumped inside my robes to hide.

He was pretty darn stupid, but at least he understood that I wasn't going to move despite the commotion.

George made a lunge for Crookshanks but missed; Scabbers streaked through twenty pairs of legs and shot beneath an old chest of drawers. Crookshanks skidded to a halt, crouched low on his bandy legs, and started making furious swipes beneath it with his front paw.

Ron and Hermione hurried over; Hermione grabbed Crookshanks around the middle and heaved him away; Ron threw himself onto his stomach and, with great difficulty, pulled Scabbers out by the tail.

"Look at him!" he said furiously to Hermione, dangling Scabbers in front of her. "He's skin and bone! You keep that cat away from him!"

"Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong!" said Hermione, her voice shaking. "All cats chase rats, Ron!"

"There's something funny about that animal!" said Ron, who was trying to persuade a frantically wiggling Scabbers back into his pocket. "It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!"

"Oh, what rubbish," said Hermione impatiently. "Crookshanks could smell him, Ron, how else d'you think --"

"That cat's got it in for Scabbers!" said Ron, ignoring the people around him, who were starting to giggle. "And Scabbers was here first, and he's ill!"

Ron marched through the common room and out of sight up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

And I thought Harry was melodramatic.

Well, he is, Ron's just on his period.

Often.

***

Ron was still in a bad mood with Hermione next day. He barely talked to her all through Herbology, even though he, Harry, Hermione and I were working together on the same Puffapod.

"How's Scabbers?" Hermione asked timidly as we stripped fat pink pods from the plants and emptied the shining beans into a wooden pail.

"He's hiding at the bottom of my bed, shaking," said Ron angrily, missing the pail and scattering beans over the greenhouse floor.

"Careful, Weasley, careful!" cried Professor Sprout as the beans burst into bloom before our very eyes.

I have come to the conclusion that I am bipolar, hyperactive, ADHD, and about a thousand other strange disorders.

Mushroom.

We joined the line outside the transfiguration classroom when there was a disturbance at the front of the line.

Lavender Brown seemed to be crying. Parvati had her arm around her and was explaining something to Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were looking very serious.

"What's the matter, Lavender?" said Hermione anxiously as we joined the group.

"She got a letter from home this morning," Parvati whispered. "It's her rabbit, Binky. He's been killed by a fox."

"Oh," said Hermione, "I'm sorry, Lavender."

"I should have known!" said Lavender tragically. "You know what day it is?"

"Er --"

"The sixteenth of October! 'That thing you're dreading, it will happen on the sixteenth of October!' Remember? She was right, she was right!"

The whole class was gathered around Lavender now. Seamus shook his head seriously. Hermione hesitated; then she said, "You -- you were dreading Binky being killed by a fox?"

"Well, not necessarily by a fox," said Lavender, looking up at Hermione with streaming eyes, "but I was obviously dreading him dying, wasn't I?"

"Oh," said Hermione. She paused again. "Was Binky an old rabbit?"

"N -- no!" sobbed Lavender. "H -- he was only a baby!" She said it.

Parvati tightened her arm around Lavender's shoulders.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! DON'T SAY IT HERMIONE!

"But then, why would you dread him dying?" said Hermione.

She said it.

Parvati glared at her.

Hopefully she won't say anything else.

"Well, look at it logically," said Hermione, turning to the rest of the group. Oh god there's no stopping her. "I mean, Binky didn't even die today, did he? Lavender just got the news today --" Lavender wailed loudly. "see and she can't have been dreading it, because it's come as a real shock --"

"Don't mind Hermione, Lavender," said Ron loudly, "she doesn't think other people's pets matter very much."

I could have punched everyone.

Ron for being a douche. Hermione for hating divination so much that she was snappy at everyone. Pavarti for glaring at Hermione. Lavender for crying and irritating me. And Harry for just...Existing.

I'm practically the worlds worst best friend.

Professor McGonagall opened the classroom door at that moment, which was perhaps lucky; Hermione and Ron were looking daggers at each other.

How you even look daggers at people is unknown.

The bell rang and I made to skip off away from everyone and stop being so pissy

"One moment, please!" Professor McGonagall called. "As you're all in my House, you should hand Hogsmeade permission forms to me before Halloween. No form, no visiting the village, so don't forget!"

Neville put up his hand.

"Please, Professor, I -- I think I've lost --"

"Your grandmother sent yours to me directly, Longbottom," said Professor McGonagall. "She seemed to think it was safer. Well, that's all, you may leave."

"Ask her now," Ron hissed at Harry.

"Huh?" I said. Ohh, this must have been the conversation I missed last night.

"Oh. but --" Hermione began.

"Go for it, Harry," said Ron stubbornly.

Harry waited for the rest of the class to disappear, then headed nervously for Professor McGonagall's desk.

"Yes, Potter?" Harry took a deep breath.

"Professor, my aunt and uncle -- er -- forgot to sign my form," he said.

Professor McGonagall looked over her square spectacles at him but didn't say anything.

"So -- er -- d'you think it would be all right mean, will It be okay if I -- if I go to Hogsmeade?"

Professor McGonagall looked down and began shuffling papers on her desk.

"I'm afraid not, Potter," she said. "You heard what I said. No form, no visiting the village. That's the rule."

"But -- Professor, my aunt and uncle -- you know, they're Muggles, they don't really understand about -- about Hogwarts forms and stuff," Harry said, while Ron egged him on with vigorous nods. "If you said I could go --"

"But I don't say so," said McGonagall. "The form clearly states that the parent or guardian must give permission. I'm sorry, Potter, but that's my final word. You had better hurry, or you'll be late for your next lesson."

"Professor," I piped in.

"Yes Willow?" she said in a kind of go-away-I-don't-want-to-talk-to-you way.

"It's also about Hogsmeade-"

"No form, no attending. You need it to be signed by a parent or guardian-"

"But that's my point..." I said lowering my voice so only she could hear. "I don't really have one."

"It's too late now, I'm sorry. I'll ask the headmaster about it next time perhaps." She looked at me, with an odd expression on her face. Was it pity?

***

Harry was more or less depressed about the whole thing. I was too, but I felt as though I had to do the whole 'I don't care about it' kind of thing.

"It's alright Harry." I paused before busting out in song. "YOU ARE NOT ALONE! I AM HERE WITH YOU! AND THOUGH YOU'RE FAR AWAY! I AM HERE TO STAY!"

"You always make me smile Wil." Harry said resting his head on my shoulder. (In a friend way.) "I know you're upset too." He added softly.

"Yeah, but why frown when you can smile?" I added in a toothy grin and everything. I'm pretty awesome if I say so myself.

Percy had what were possibly the least helpful words of comfort.

"They make a fuss about Hogsmeade, but I assure you, it's not all it's cracked up to be," he said seriously. "All right, the sweetshop's rather good, and Zonko's Joke Shop's frankly dangerous, and yes, the Shrieking Shack's always worth a visit, but really, apart from that, you're not missing anything."

I exchanged a look with Harry and we both smiled about how reassuring Percy was.

"There's always the feast," said Ron, in an effort to cheer us up. "You know, the Halloween feast, in the evening."

And Ron cheered me up by food.

Gosh.

"Yeah," said Harry gloomily, "great."

"Think positive!" I said doing an amazing job at pretending to be thrilled. "Maybe there will be another Mountain Troll."

We all laughed at that, because it was one of the best things we had ever done.

"Good thing I sulked in that bathroom." Hermione said with a grin.