Leaning back into the plushness of the train's seat, I heaved a sigh of relief as the train jolted back into motion. The train had stopped for a good thirty minutes, or so it felt, and nothing like that had ever happened in my previous five rides to the school. It had been a bit unsettling to say the least. Angelina Johnson, one of my closest friends, had leaned closer to the window and just began to look for the source of the trouble when the power went out. All she managed to whisper was, "There's something out there..." before the compartment lapsed into silence. Hence my relief when the lights came back on and the train began moving.
Honestly, I was scared out of my wits. Not that I would ever admit that to Lina or Christine Richards, the other girl in the compartment with us. Some Gryffindor I am, scared to death just because the train stopped. Well, I guess there was something out there so that could be a reasonable purpose for my being frightened. But still, I'm a bloody lion! I'm supposed to be brave for Merlin's sake. Oh well, now was not the time to question the Sorting Hat's decision.
"What the bloody hell was that all about?" ranted Angelina in her usual blunt manner. To which Christine retorted, "Well Lina, if we knew, Katie wouldn't be freaking out like she is at the moment... well, that or she might be freaking out more."
I threw my book bag at her in protest, then added "I am not freaking out!"
"Oh calm down Katie," Lina told me, "all of us were freaking out...and watch when you throw things, you're stronger than you think." This made me pass a worried glance at Christine, who at the moment was tenderly rubbing her arm I had hit with my book bag. Perhaps I should be careful when I threw things. I suppose I just don't pay attention to stuff like that. But with my years of quidditch training I did have good aim and a strong arm. Note to self: unless aiming to harm, be sure to throw gently.
"Anyway," Lina said falsely cheerful; it was evident she was trying to get what just happened out of all of our minds. "I never got to finish asking, not before that...whatever that was…. How was everyone's summer?"
I rushed to talk before Christine could. She's a sweet girl and fun to be around, but once she starts talking, she doesn't stop. "Mine was quite enjoyable, actually. I spent part of the summer in France with my brother and his fiancée. Saw some awesome quidditch matches of course...you should have seen the Arrows take on Puddlemere! It was a great game... since Ian is on the team he got me seats in the top box. Absolutely amazing, but you'll never guess who I had the unfortunate luck to run into..."
Before I could continue (I guess I talked a lot too at times, but honest to Merlin I'm not as bad as Christine) both Lina and Christine said in unison "Oliver Wood."
My startled expression must have been very apparent for Lina answered my unasked question. "Honestly Kate, its all you ever talk about. Oliver this, Oliver that. You would think you were in love with the guy, not hate his guts."
"It is not all I ever talk about! I talk about other things too.... like…like quidditch and such!" Oh I was upset now. "And besides! It's not my fault he's an insufferable prick who spreads nasty rumors about people! And if I do talk about him, it's not in a good way."
"Well Katie I seem to remember a time when you didn't feel that way... as I recall you were head over heels in love with the boy..."
Ouch Lina, Ouch. Way to be a best friend.
I immediately took to defending myself. "I plead temporary insanity... not that I was ever quite as bad as you make me out to be. I may have had a tiny crush on him but it was nothing big! And that was before I found out what a bigheaded rumor-spreading jerk he is." I could feel my cheeks starting to turn rosy like they always did when I got passionate about something. Damn my fair skin.
"Katie you know that's not true!! You used to obsess over him! You'd make sure you looked okay just to go down into the common room, and if you got down there and he wasn't around you got depressed. Just admit it..." Now Christine was joining in. Merlin, what great friends I have.
"She has a point Katie. You used to go all googly eyed over him at practice. Always had to do your best to impress him..." Lina added. I could have yelled about a million things at Lina just then. Some of them were quite evil actually… something along the lines of 'You're just jealous because I've always had more talent than you!' I was that angry. Angry enough to severely hurt my best friend's feelings. I don't like people pointing out my shortcomings, in case you can't tell. However, I decided there was no reason trying to talk to the two of them if they were going to be like this. So I folded my arms over my chest, leaned back again, and stared out the window.
"And now we're stuck with Moody Katie, great" Christine added under her breath, not realizing that in the limited space of the train compartment and the silence that had settled over us, I would be able to hear her. Suddenly I didn't feel too bad about hitting her with my bag. I shot her my signature Katie-Bell-Death-Glare then turned back to the window.
About an hour and a quarter later the train pulled into Hogsmeade station. The three of us hurried out of our compartment and managed to snag a coach together. I was still a little hurt by their comments but in the silence that had occupied the train with us, I had been forced to think about them. Part of it was true… I had had a crush on Oliver Wood. But as I mentioned probably a billion times in my argument with Christine and Angelina, that was before I found out that he wasn't above spreading nasty rumors. And the rumor sure had been nasty. By the end of last year I had finally gotten rid of it for the most part. I think. I hope. I'm sure some people still remember but I think everyone knows it's not true now. Once again, I think. I hope. After all, I did hit some Slytherin kid in the jaw for teasing me about it. The two months of detention had well been worth stopping those bloody snakes from talking about it and spreading the rumor more.
And the fact that I –may- have had a crush on him in the past was pointless. I despise him with a passion now. Honestly, I don't know what I ever saw in the boy. In my opinion, he has no redeeming qualities about him whatsoever. Maybe his talent on the quidditch field, but that is definitely not enough to make me like him, not even the tiniest bit. As far as I'm concerned, he can go play in traffic. The world would not be lacking anything. As a matter of fact, we'd all probably be a lot better off without him around. One less jerk of male to deal with would be a relief.
It was bad enough he and I were in the same house, but to make matters worse he just happened to be the captain of the quidditch team. Which I'm on. Makes practices interesting at least. Well, interesting for the rest of the team. We've had too many rows during practice to count. I was so angry at him one time, I threw the quaffle extra hard while practicing goals and it just so happened to hit him square in the face and break his nose. The great thing was I couldn't get detention for that. I just claimed it to be an accident. I think Lina knew it wasn't. Oliver might have as well. That just goes to show just how much I dislike, no –hate- him.
After the brief ride up to the castle we joined the throng of students squeezing their way in through the doors and to the main hall. It was about half-way full and Angelina, Christine and I hurried to sit down at the Gryffindor table. I was especially careful in where we sat; I didn't want to be stuck sitting near Wood. I definitely did not need to spend dinner hearing him brag about his latest 'conquests' to his equally as unintelligent friends. Nor did I want to deal with watching his fan club swooning all over the place. Something like that is sickening enough to make a girl lose her appetite. Luckily, however, I didn't even see him in the hall when I entered.
We'd only been sitting for a moment when Kevin McGee, a fellow sixth year, took a seat next to Christine. "Did you hear what all the fuss was about on the train?" He didn't wait for us to answer, just continued talking. "It was dementors from Azkaban. They came on board to search for Sirius Black." The mere thought of dementors sent chills down my spine. I'd never seen one, but being pure-blooded I most definitely knew what they were. I also knew what was going on with Sirius Black. It seemed to be the only topic of discussion among my family this summer. I was sick and tired of hearing about it.
Just as I was about to tell Kevin that, I realized he had turned to tell other people about the incident. Saved me the breath at least. I wasn't really in the mood much to talk at all. The argument with my friends had put me in a bad mood. I was ready for the feast to start and to get up to Gryffindor Tower.