Chapter One: Hopelessly Devoted
Winnie was excited. Class was over for the weekend, she had already finished her homework, and the Christmas holidays were getting nearer and nearer. Terry had invited her to go out on the grounds with him to hang out.
Winnie Childs was a Gryffindor girl in her 7th year. She had strawberry blonde, shoulder-length, straight hair, and grey eyes. Her side bangs swept across her forehead, barely keeping her right eye uncovered. She was a beautiful, yet shy girl. She didn't have many friends, but she was fine with that. She was happy with life exactly the way it was. Well, except for two problems.
The first problem was a tall Gryffindor boy with soft, brown eyes, and dark brown, curly hair. His name was Terrence Young. They had been best friends ever since their first year. Winnie had selected a bad compartment to sit in on the Hogwarts Express. She had ended up sitting with a group of first years who in a few hours time had all been sorted into the Slytherin house. They had given her a hard time for nearly a half hour because she was a muggle born witch. Winnie was almost in tears when Terry came to the rescue. He then invited her to sit with him and his older second year friends. They had talked and laughed the whole way to Hogwarts, and were instantly great friends.
The problem was that sometime and somehow over the past 6 years, Winnie had fallen in love with him, and she had fallen hard. There were moments in time where she thought that he might have the same feelings in return, but they never lasted. In their fifth year, everyone seamed to think their was an interest both ways, and if there was, Winnie had never been able to tell.
None of that seamed to matter now. Winnie could tell by watching her best friend that he had an interest elsewhere. He liked a girl named Charlotte Blackwell, and whenever she was around Terry, Charlotte flirted like crazy, and Winnie was forgotten about. Winnie didn't like Charlotte, and she hated how Charlotte absorbed all of Terry's attention. If only her best friend wasn't a boy! It would make things so much easier.
After Winnie had gotten all of her snow gear on, she ran outside her dorm, down the stairs, and out of the Gryffindor common room. As she was running down a hall on her way outside, she ran straight into someone, and fell over.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly getting up, without even noticing who she was talking to. She put her hand out to help the other person up but then stopped as she realized who it was.
The Slytherin girl lying on the floor was Winnie's second problem. Her name was Cheryl Whitworth. She was also a seventh year, and had been one of Winnie's enemies since that first day on the Hogwarts Express. She was one of the people that made fun of her for being muggle born.
Whitworth got up quickly and snapped at Winnie. "Watch where you're going, you stupid mudblood! Better yet, leave the school alone, and go back to where you came from!" Venom dripped from every word. It seamed Whitworth was in an extra bad mood today. She only saved the word "mudblood" for special occasions.
"Me?" Winnie asked, in mock humor. "Why don't we take a vote with the school, and let them decide who should pack their bags and leave first? But then again, we both know it would be you, so why not save the school the effort, and go get your bags right now?" She started to turn around and leave, her good mood had suddenly turned into a grumpy mood.
"Don't you think you're so clever?" Whitworth snarled. "Too bad really. I think my time would have been much better spent in a different school. Dumbledore has ruined this place. I should have transferred to Durmstrang years ago!"
"Then why didn't you? It would be a good riddance!" Winnie asked, but she didn't wait for the answer. She took off down the hall again, and heard Whitworth calling after her, "You'd better watch your back, Childs!"
When she finally got outside, Terry was waiting near the guidditch field.
"What kept you?" he asked.
"I ran into Whitworth. I'd keep away from her today. She's PMSing worse than usual," Winnie replied, exhausted from the encounter.
"Did she have anything interesting to say?" Terry asked.
Winnie gave Terry a funny look. "Just the usual. Oh, and I think she said something about Dumbledore destroying this place too!"
Terry smiled at her. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I got Donoghue into trouble today in potions. I set off some fireworks, and using my amazing skills, I framed him, and Snape had no choice but to give him detention!" he laughed. Jeff Donoghue was Cheryl Whitworth's boyfriend, another Slytherin from that memorable day on the train.
Winnie laughed. "How do you do it?" she asked, smiling at him.
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," he responded, as if revealing a secret, making Winnie laugh again. She loved the time she spent alone with him. She didn't get much of this kind of time anymore. Charlotte was around too much.
"Maybe that's why Whitworth was so bad. Her boyfriend got detention because of a Gryffindor!" she smiled at him again, before slowly looking around, and absorbing in her surroundings. "So, what are we gonna do?" she asked.
"I was hoping you'd ask," Terry said with a mischievous smile, as he took a snowball from behind his back and threw it at her. Winnie screamed and tried to duck, but she was too late. It hit her straight in the back.
"You're gonna get it!" she laughed back, quickly building a snowball of her own. Pretty soon, snowballs were flying back and forth.
"Hey Terry!" Winnie heard a voice say. The two of them stopped what they were doing, and looked in the direction that they heard the voice. They saw two girls standing a few feet away. Winnie groaned as she recognized them. The one who spoke was Charlotte. She had long, straight, almost black hair, and very light brown eyes. Her best friend Jane Palmer was standing close to her. Jane had grey eyes and very bright, layered, blonde hair that came just past her shoulders. "Can we join you guys?" Charlotte asked.
All Winnie was thinking to say was, "No! No you cannot join us! It's just me and Terry time!" but she didn't make the habbit of saying what was in her head, and she kept quiet.
Terry was smiling. "Of course you can," he said. He went over to talk to Charlotte. Winnie impatiently sat down as Jane made her way over to Winnie to talk.
"You don't mind if I join you over here do you?" Jane asked Winnie. Winnie shrugged, and started making another snowball, getting ready for the next round. "Thanks. It's just that I feel like a third wheel over there. You know what I mean?" Winnie shrugged again.
To change the subject, Winnie said, "Hey, do you want to help me build snowballs? We might be able to catch them off guard!"
Jane gave Winnie a mischievous smile, "Sounds like a plan." They started talking, and building snowballs. Then Winnie said, "Oh, by the way, tell Terry thanks for inviting us to hang with you guys. Charlotte has been studying too much. We both needed a break." This was the first time that Winnie had realized that the two girls hadn't barged in on their game without permission. They barged in WITH permission. Terry's permission. Winnie couldn't take it anymore. She had expected to have hours with Terry all to herself, but Terry forgot about her again! She took one of her snowballs, and threw it at Terry's neck. At feeling the impact, he swore loudly, as Charlotte started laughing.
"I don't feel well," Winnie resigned herself. "I'm going to go inside!" She didn't even wait for an answer before taking off.
She heard Terry yell from behind her, "Okay, talk to you tomorrow!"
Winnie went straight up to her dorm, and read to distract herself from the frustration and sadness she was feeling. A few hours later she stopped, and went to bed early. She cried herself to sleep that night.
"I can't let him do this to me," she said to herself. "Something needs to change!"
