Written for: The Weekly Minor Character Challange.
Character: Lisa Turpin
The ancient house of brains and wit saw the coming and going of thousands of students from the day it was established. But there was one particular student, amongst many others, who, perhaps, did not deserve to be so overlooked.
Neither by her teachers, nor her love interest of six years.
Lisa Turpin was never what you would call the 'perfect girl'. She didn't have glossy hair, long legs, or an acne-free face, but rather thick glasses, self-cleaning braces and many, many freckles. Everywhere. But what she did possess, unbeknownst to many, was an intensely shrewd brain. When Horace Slughorn brewed one of the most complex and dangerous potions of all times and decided to leave it out in the open, she instantly knew how easy it would be to sneak in during dinner time when everyone was at the Great Hall, enjoying their treacle tarts, and nick several bottles of the slowly simmering solution.
Amortentia.
And so she did, hiding the bottles inside of her bunny socks somewhere deep within her wooden trunk and decided not to take them out until an opportunity presented itself.
However, the expected opportunity emerged much earlier than she could ever wish for, to Lisa's great dismay, when the most handsome boy of their year in her opinion approached her one random afternoon in December.
"Hi!" Anthony Goldstein exclaimed with a warm tone, to the only person in the common room so there was no mistaking who was being addressed. His voice caressed Lisa's ears. She couldn't believe the moment was actually happening, as it felt too good to be true. "You're Lisa, right?"
"Y – yes. That's right." she murmured shakily, hoping he was oblivious to her over-excitement.
And to Lisa's relief, he seemed to be. "I was wondering if you could help me with this History of Magic homework Professor Binns assigned last week? I missed the lecture as I was, um, ill at the time, so I have no clue regarding the Soap Blizzard of 1378 excluding what I remember from our first year, which is not much."
Lisa had to try really hard to hold her tongue, as she knew all too well he was nowhere near the hospital wing last week Monday, but too hangover from the fire-whiskey that he had sneaked in with Terry and Michael as flu medication. Nevertheless, she smiled and nodded enthusiastically.
"I'd love to! I mean… I'd be honoured to help out a student in need. Plus I haven't done it myself yet, either, so this could help me get it out of the way as well."
"Wicked!" Anthony gave her a heart-melting smirk, and Lisa literally felt her legs turn to jelly. "Right, so, how about this evening, after dinner? Meet me in the library?"
"Sure, no problem." she said in what she intended to be a nonchalant tone, and yet her insides were performing the victory dances of the ancient hill-people.
"Great. See you there!" And with that, he gave her a small wink and went out through the door of the common room.
Even though she had not moved one inch, Lisa found herself panting with a racing heart, glued to the armchair she was sitting in. Had that really happened? Had she fallen asleep in the chair and crossed the line between reality and sweet dreams, or was reality finally better than her dreams for once? All she knew was that, she was intoxicated with the idea of gazing into his bright green eyes and stroking his beach blond hair with her fingers in about 6 hours' time.
Lisa got up hastily and made her way to the wooden trunk in her dorm-room, in an attempt to find her most favourite bunny socks.