Frank rushed into the classroom, red in the face and breathing heavily. It was just his luck that he would oversleep on the first day of auror training.
"Longbottom, I presume?" Mad-Eye Moody barked at the tall boy who was clutching his sides.
"Y-yes . . . S-s-irr." Frank choked the words out between taking gulps of air and tried to straighten up in the presence of his authority figure.
"Take your damn seat, boy. You'll be doing a lot more severe workouts than running, I tell ya. Better get goddamn used to it."
"Y-yes s-s-sir." Frank made his way over to the closest empty seat, next to a brunette girl who smiled at him kindly.
"Hello, I'm Alice." The girl looked over at him and whispered.
"Frank." He held out his hand and she shook it firmly.
"Nice to meet you, Frank."
"Same to you, Alice." He smiled at her, his breathing finally back to regular.
"Shut your gobs back there!" Mad-Eye bellowed from the front of the room, effectively silencing the light conversation between the boy and girl.
"Sorry, sir." Frank and Alice chorused in unison, looking at each other and smirking.
Alice's POV
You never know what you'll run into on a given day.
I was nervous out of my head on my first day of training. I had run around my assigned dorm for about an hour, trying to out my scrambled mind at ease.
"Wake up, Brandy!" I yelled to my dorm mate, the only other female recruit for my year, and continued to run about the living space. She mumbled something indecipherable and rolled over on her bed. "Get up, you oaf!"
"Lemme be, Alice."
"We have training today! Come on! We have to get going!"
"Fine." She jerked herself out from the covers, muttering curse words and shuffling around the room.
"You're welcome." I chirped at her and ran from the room. I would be early, but that wouldn't be the worst thing. Better than late, right?
People started to shuffle in and the volume in the room was steadily rising fifteen minutes after I had arrived. No one bothered to sit by me, not that I cared. Auror training wasn't for making friends with people, it was to become stronger and get prepared for a fight.
When the constant chatter halted, I looked up from my notebook. No doubt in my mind that he was the reason for the lack of conversation, I sat up straighter, feeling even more self-conscious. Mad-Eye Moody was bloody frightening.
"My name is Alastor Moody." He scanned the faces in the room with his 'special' eye and scowled. "I'm more commonly referred to as Mad-Eye, but that in no way gives you the right to call me as such. You will address me in formalities, nothing short of the word professor, or there will be retribution."
I don't know if he continued to speak, though, because my attention was drawn away and switched to the boy who had arrived in the doorway of the classroom. He was drawing in heavy breaths and was red in the face. He was tall, when he managed to stand up, and had these chocolatey brown eyes. They stood out from the pink in his cheeks and matched his dark hair nicely.
He spoke to Mad-Eye, and started to make his way over to my desk. I looked up at him and smiled. He returned the gesture and I couldn't help but think of how cute he was when he did. His eyes would glitter, his face would relax, and he would look so genuinely at ease as he did.
"Hello, I'm Alice." I whispered.
"Frank." He held out his hand to me to shake.
"Nice to meet you, Frank."
"Same to you, Alice." He smiled again, making me blush a bit. Thankfully, I was saved from further embarrassment by Moody.
"Shut your gobs back there!" Mad-Eye bellowed.
Frank and I shared a look and spoke together,"Sorry, sir."
As lessons went on that day, I couldn't help but think, 'Damn, I like this boy.'