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Chapter Two
I woke up early the next morning, the sun was only just rising above the horizon as I quietly slipped out of my bed and moved to the window. I slipped the hair elastic off the end if the braid I always slept in and pulled my fingers through my still damp hair. Even though I'd followed the Repeat step on my shampoo bottle, my hair still smelt of lake water. I glanced at my watch, it was very early. Going back to my trunk I grabbed my school uniform and slipped into the bathroom, where I proceeded to wash my hair again. Lathering the shampoo and conditioner on and rinsing it thoroughly. Once I had finished I got dressed and combed my hair out, it smelt much nicer now. Angelina was still asleep, but Alicia had pulled back her curtains and was gathering her own toiletries. When she saw me she smiled.
"Good morning, ready for your first day of classes?" She said not troubling to keep her voice down.
"Morning, yeah I guess," I replied in a hushed voice.
"Don't worry about waking Angie up," Alicia laughed, "That girl would sleep through the apocalypse!"
She entered the bathroom and closed the door, a minute later I heard the shower start to run. I made my bed, and fished my school bag out of my trunk, I was checking I had enough parchment, ink and a quill as well as debating bringing all my books, as I wasn't sure which classes I'd have, when Angelina's curtains opened. She was scowling darkly as she climbed out of bed.
"Good morning," I said warily.
"There's nothing good about mornings," she groaned in response, as she made her bed.
As she said it, Alicia exited the bathroom in a puff of steam, she smiled when she saw Angelina,
"Thank Merlin, you're up!"
Angelina glowered and entered the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. I was a little confused, but Alicia smiled brightly,
"She's not a morning person our Angie. Let's go down to breakfast, she'll be fine after a shower and a cup of tea."
"Ok, are you bringing all your books, or will you come back here after you have your timetable?" I asked the older girl.
Alicia laughed,
"I'm far too lazy to climb all those stairs, you can narrow it down pretty easily. Don't bother bringing your Astronomy or Potions things. Snape does NEWT and OWL level students on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Astronomy is during the night."
"Right, I'll have to remember that, thanks."
I took my cauldron, scales, potions kit and book out of the pile that was stacked on my bed and left my telescope and star charts in my trunk. Today was a Tuesday so according to Alicia I wouldn't have Potions. I managed to fit four of my books into my bag, which I slung over my shoulder and carried the other three, as Alicia and I left our dormitory.
We chattered happily about Quidditch as we walked down to the Great Hall, I was lucky I had Alicia to remind me if the right direction, because the castle was huge and almost deliberately misleading. I was excited to hear that both Alicia and Angelina played Chaser as well, they were both going to tryout for the Gryffindor team this season.
"There's only one free spot, but it's always good for future openings if you've got your name out there, and there's always the reserves," she said.
I nodded, and eagerly asked her what sort if broom she had. We'd moved onto the professional league when we arrived in the Great Hall. I looked around for Leanne, but she didn't appear to be there yet. The tables were considerably empty though, it was still early. Zac was there though and was sitting alone at one end of the table. I lead Alicia over, sitting down across from him.
"Hey Zac," I smiled at him, "This is Alicia Spinnet, she's one of my dorm mates."
"You're Ethan's brother, aren't you?" Alicia said with a friendly smile, holding her hand out.
"Yeah, nice to meet you you," he said quietly, shaking her offered hand.
"How's your dorm?" I asked as I buttered some toast.
He shrugged,
"Nice."
"Nice?" I rolled my eyes, "You certainly have a way with words."
"The beds are comfortable," he elaborated.
"I know right!" Alicia chimed in, "I feel like I'm lying on a cloud!"
We looked at her strangely, she just grinned and shrugged.
"Have you been at the Firewhiskey again, Alicia?" A male voice asked behind me.
"It really is too early to be snorting floo powder, Miss Spinnet," another mocking voice added.
I turned around to see two red headed boys with identical smirks on their faces. In fact they were identical, down to mischeivous glint in their brown eyes. Clearly they were twins.
"Oh sod off," Alicia grumbled.
"I get the feeling we're unwanted Gred," the one on the right said.
"It's entirely possible Forge," the other replied.
They looked at each other, grinned and sat down. Ignoring Alicia's grumbles of protest.
"You haven't seen us all summer, one train ride and you're already sick of us!" One of them exclaimed in indignation.
"Katie, Zac, meet the infamous Weasley twins, Fred and George," Alicia said without enthusiasm, "You insufferable prats, this is Katie Bell and—"
"Hey you're the girl who hit Ethan Simmons with that piece of weed!"
I was starting to worry that seven years from now, when I graduated I'd still be known as the girl who threw a piece of lake weed at Ethan Simmons.
"And you're Ethan's brother!" The other twin grinned broadly.
They each grabbed mine or Zac's hand and shook it enthusiastically.
"It's, er, nice to meet you," I said in slight confusion.
The one shaking my hand winked roguishly,
"That was a bloody good throw, Katie Bell."
"Thank you?"
"Are you interested in—"
In much the same way as he had interrupted her earlier, Alicia leapt in and said,
"Yes, she's interested in playing as a Chaser next year."
"Brilliant, hear that George? Angie and Alicia here have got themselves some competition!" The twin, I assumed was Fred, said grinning at his brother.
"There's three chasers on a Quidditch team idiot," Alicia rolled her eyes.
Fred shot her an irritated look,
"You're confident."
Alicia flipped her hair over her shoulder, but otherwise ignored him.
"We'e trying out for the team too," George told me seriously.
"Beaters," Fred agreed.
"That's cool," I smiled, "When are the tryouts?"
The twins simultaneously rolled their eyes,
"Not sure yet, but I bet you anything they'll be held at some ungodly hour of the morning!"
"Charlie's always been a bit barmy."
"Charlie? Is he the captain?" I asked in confusion.
Alicia answered,
"Yes, and he's the best seeker Gryffindor's had in years!"
Fred and George scoffed,
"He's our brother!"
"So he's guaranteed to be a prat then?" I laughed.
"If he's related to you, he's probably actually dead awful at Quidditch!" Alicia said joining in my teasing.
"Ugly too," Angelina said sitting down beside Alicia.
"No fair!" George cried pointing at me, "It's two against three now!"
"Unless," Fred said turning to Zac, "You're on our side, right Simmons?"
"He's a bloke, course he's on our side!" George agreed.
"Nope, he's my friend," I smiled, "He's on our side!"
"He's a boy Katie Bell," Fred said patronizing.
"I knew him first!" I insisted.
"Barely!" George scoffed.
"Zac!" I cried, turning to him with a pout, "You're on my side, right!"
"Simmons!" Fred and George cried together.
Zac shifted uncomfortably, looking from me to the twins,
"Sorry," he muttered to the Weasleys, "Katie scares me more. She might try to drown me again or throw weed at me," he cracked a smile.
I gave him a hard look, deciding whether to be mad or not. He grinned at me, and I sighed, before turning to the Weasleys triumphantly.
"Told you so!"
"You're a traitor to your gender!" George cried dramatically.
"Although we'll let you off because Katie's not the only scary bird around here. Angelina's a nightmare in the mornings!"
"Sitting right here!" the black haired witch protested, throwing Fred a dirty look.
"Drink your tea, Angie," Alicia said, pushing a steaming cup towards her friend, before Fred could rile her up anymore.
I went back to back to my breakfast, I had finished my toast and was swallowing the last of my pumpkin juice when Fred and George stood and hurried over to talk to a burly red head seventh year who had just sat down at the Gryfindor table.
"We'll find out when trials are!" George called over his shoulder.
"That's Charlie," Alicia explained for mine and Zac's benefit.
I nodded watching the exchange, then over their flaming heads, I caught sight of a darker one, entering the Hall.
"I'm just going to go talk to Leanne," I said, standing up, "Want to come?" I asked Zac.
He nodded and stood up.
"Those twins are something else," I commented as we made our way over to the Hufflepuff table where Leanne and Kieran had just sat down.
"Yeah, they'd be scary to face in Quidditch."
I nodded in agreement, the twins seemed to know exactly what the other was going to do or say. I glanced over at Zac, he had dark brown hair and pale skin, his facial structure was angular and aristocratic with it's sharp cheekbones and long nose. His jaw was defined even at eleven and his dark blue eyes were framed by long lashes, that girl's everywhere would kill for. As if he saw me looking his mouth tilted up slightly. I decided I liked Zac, I mean obviously I'd liked him yesterday since I'd considered us friends last night, but there was something about him. He was quietly confident and didn't feel the need to fill in the silence with useless chatter. He was refreshing, saying what he felt needed to be said and not a word more, he was funny and he hadn't hated me or thought I was weird after everything that had happened yesterday. I felt comfortable around him, like I'd already known him for a long time.
We sat down across from Leanne and Kieran, who both smiled widely when they saw us.
"Hey Katie! Hi Zac!" Leanne said with her usual cheerfulness.
I smirked as I saw Zac blink twice in quick succession, he seemed to have forgotten, or more likely suppressed the memory of, how bubbly Leanne was.
"Hello," I said, "How's Hufflepuff?"
"Oh it's great Katie!" Leanne said, before launching off into a spiel about how nice everyone was, how 'cute' the common room's cushions were and how she was excited for Herbology, which her Head of House, Professor Sprout, who was apparently, 'really sweet', taught.
I caught Kieran's eye and he smiled ruefully, even I, who was used to Leanne's random outbursts of happiness and quick topic leaps had trouble keeping up and she started talking about how pretty her roommates hair was.
"Sounds great, Leanne," I interrupted when she paused for breath, "And how about you Kieran, do you like it as much as Leanne?"
"Oh yes, as she said, everyone's very nice," he grinned, "And what about Gryffindor, I hear you're up in one of the towers?"
Leanne paled slightly,
"Oh, I'm glad our Common Room's in the basement."
I smiled,
"It's great, everyone there's really nice too, they're all a little crazy!"
"Just like you then?" Leanne asked.
We laughed before Kieran turned to Zac,
"What about you Zac, are your roommates nice?"
He shrugged,
"The bed's are comfortable."
Leanne and Kieran didn't understand why that set me off into a fit of slightly exasperated giggles.
"Miss Bell, Mr Simmons," a stern voice said from behind us, "Students are encouraged to sit at their own house tables."
We turned guiltily to see Professor McGonagall standing behind us, her mouth pressed into a thin line.
"I'm sorry Professor, we were just talking to our friends, we didn't realise it was causing a problem," I said trying to keep my tone polite. I mean it's not like we were causing trouble or anything!
She surveyed me over her spectacles, then almost smiled,
"No, you're not causing a problem Miss Bell, as long as you are discreet and do not do it all the time, I suppose I can allow it."
"Thank you Professor!" I beamed.
"Your timetables," she said, handing Zac and I each a piece of parchment, before sweeping away.
I looked at mine, curiously, I had four classes each day, with a break between the first and second and Lunch after the second. Today, Tuesday, I had Charms first, followed by History of Magic, then Transfiguration and Herbology after lunch.
I peered over Zac's shoulder to look at his timetable,
"Ours is the same," I informed him happily.
He grinned and looked across at Leanne and Kieran, who had just been given their own timetables by a dumpy witch I assumed was Professor Sprout.
"Ours are the same too," Kieran announced after comparing his to Leanne's.
I reached over and grabbed Leanne's looking at it then at mine. They matched.
"It looks like all first years have the same classes," I said, handing it back to Leanne.
"That's awesome," she beamed.
I nodded, smiling back, I was glad that even though we were in different houses, I'd still get to see my best friend. I opened my mouth to say something along those lines, but stopped when a pair of girls came and sat down.
"Oh there you are Leanne, we were worried when we saw you weren't in your bed," one of them said.
"Oh I agreed to meet Kieran in the Common Room last night so we could go down to breakfast together. I'm sorry I worried you," Leanne replied.
"Why are they sitting here?" the second girl with long blonde hair asked, giving me a disdainful look, I noticed her eyes lingered on my practical ponytail and skirt which wasn't about three sizes too small for me as hers was. I was surprised to see she was wearing a lot of makeup. I didn't even own makeup!
"These are my friends Katie Bell and Zac Simmons," Leanne began, "Guys this is Tamsin," she pointed to the blonde, "and Ella. They're my room mates."
"It's nice to meet you," Zac said quietly when I didn't immediately respond.
Tamsin's lip curled,
"You were the ones who fell in the lake."
I glanced at Leanne who's eyes widened beseechingly, and her cheeks coloured. I sent her a questioning look.
"Er, yes," Zac muttered, glancing at me, then at Leanne.
"We thought a swim with the Giant Squid would be a memorable start to our time at Hogwarts," I said with fake cheerfulness.
Tamsin, who I realised was the girl called before me in the Sorting, shot me a disgusted look and turned to talk to Leanne and Ella, who'd been talking to Kieran.
After a few minutes of Zac and I being completely shut out of the conversation, I began gazing around the hall. I smiled as I saw the Weasley twins still talking to their brother Charlie, who was looking distinctly disgruntled. I spotted Zac's brother and Oliver Wood, the Quidditch fanatic I'd spoken to the night before, sitting at the Gryffindor table, both of them were shoveling food into their mouths.
"Let's go," I murmured quietly to Zac, as Tamsin and Ella let out a particularly high pitched set of giggles.
"No argument there," Zac muttered back. Together he and I swung our bags over our shoulders and began to walk towards the exit of the hall. The tables were beginning to empty again, a sure sign that class would be starting soon.
"Katie, Zac, wait up!" Someone yelled.
We turned to see Alicia and Angelina hurrying towards us. We paused, allowing them to catch up.
"What do you have first?" Alicia asked.
"Charms."
The two girls smiled,
"We've got Defense, the Charms corridor is on the same floor, we'll take you there to make sure you don't get lost," Angelina said.
"Thank Merlin for that," I exclaimed in relief.
Zac murmured a quick thanks to them as well. As they lead us up the Grand Staircase, the two girls began telling us about Professor Flitwick the Charms professor.
"He's really nice, he hardly ever growls," Alicia said.
"Yeah and he's unbiased too, not like Snape," Angelina agreed.
"So Charms, Defense against the Dark Arts and the Library are all on the Third floor. The quickest way to get to the third floor corridor is through this door off the Grand Staircase," Alicia said, leading us through to a corridor.
"The Defense classroom is just down there," Angelina said, pointing to the left, "And the Charms corridor is down here."
We followed them around a corner, and up a small set of stairs to where another corridor met ours at a 'T' intersection.
"That's the Library," Alicia said, pointing to the left, where we could just see the entrance, "And here's the Charms classroom."
We came to a stop outside a closed door that looked exactly the same as every other door we'd passed. It would have taken us forever to find it by ourselves.
"Thank you so much!" I cried, grinning at the two older girls.
"No worries, do you think you can get back to the Great Hall for break?" Alicia asked.
I glanced at Zac, before nodding,
"We should be able too."
"We'll meet you there and we can point you in the right direction for your next class too."
"You two are amazing, thanks!"
"Yeah, we never would've found this without help," Zac agreed.
"We're happy to help,"Angelina assured us, "See you later."
The bell rang just as the two girls ducked back around the corner to the third floor corridor.
A few minutes later, a group of Ravenclaw's arrived with a Ravenclaw prefect who had obviously shown them the way. When Professor Flitwick arrived he was being followed by two Slytherin girls I recognised from the Sorting. The two girls had smug expressions on their faces, and I was a little impressed, I never would've thought to follow the teacher!
"Good morning class," Professor Flitwick squeaked, he was very small as Angelina had warned and balding, but he smiled warmly at us as he flicked his wand at the door and let us file in and find our seats. The desks were in rows of two, Zac and I sat down at one in the second row from the front.
He had just made his way to the front of the class, when the door banged open and Kieran, Leanne, two Hufflepuff boys and the two girls we'd met at breakfast came hurrying in. All looking worried, except for Tamsin, who glided in, inspecting her nails, not seeming to care that she was late.
Kieran apologised profusely, but Professor Fliwick just chuckled,
"Take your seats, you're not the last ones here."
Leanne glanced at me, and sent me a confused look, as she sat down next to Kieran, I quirked my lips in a half smile before turning back to Flitwick. The door banged open again and four Slytherin boys entered the room. Professor Flitwick greeted them in a similar way to the Hufflepuffs and began to take the roll.
"Here," I answered when he called my name.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather be swimming with the Giant Squid?" One of the Slytherin girls sniggered, she had pretty silvery blonde hair, which she flipped imperiously as she spoke. I think her name was Viola Richmonds if I remembered correctly from last night.
"He had a previous engagement," I replied with a stiff smile. Seriously I bet twenty years from now I'll still be known as the girl who fell in the lake on her first day of school and then threw a bit of lake weed at a fourth year.
"I imagine that happens to you a lot," the Slytherin said with false sympathy.
My eyes narrowed as I realised she had just straight up insulted me, I opened my mouth to reply scathingly, with a totally wicked come-back, when the classroom door opened for the last time and McLaggen and Benjamin came sprinting in.
"Get lost did we McLaggen?" I asked innocently instead.
He scoffed, but didn't reply as Professor Flitwick was happily welcoming them and asking them to sit down. As Flitwick began the roll again, I felt eyes boring into my head. I turned to Richmond and gave her a sarcastic wave. She flipped her hair and looked away.
"How is it, that in the short time you've been here, you've managed to tick at least three people off?" Zac asked quietly, sending a glare at Viola when he caught her glancing at us.
"What can I say?" I murmured back, "Apparently people are jealous of our stylish entrance into Hogwarts."
Zac snorted loudly, drawing odd looks from the people around us.
xxxXxxx
When the bell rang Zac and I made our way back to the steps that lead to the third floor corridor then continued along it until we came to the doorway off the Grand Staircase. It took us a few goes to get the staircases into a pattern that would get us to the ground floor, but eventually we made it to the Entrance Hall, where Alicia and Angelina were waiting for us. After break they lead us through a labyrinth of corridors on the first floor, to the History of Magic classroom.
"If you go along this corridor then turn right at the painting of the bearded man holding the book, you should find your way back to the Grand Staircase," Alicia said with a smile.
"Thank you!" Zac and I exclaimed as the two girls hurried off to their next class.
History of Magic turned out to be the most boring class in the world, it was the only subject taught be a ghost, so Zac and I had figured it was bound to be interesting. Angelina and Alicia had warned us that the most interesting thing, Professor Binns ever did, was arrive through the blackboard. I'd secretly thought they were exaggerating when they told us half the class ended up asleep.
After lunch Zac and I were the first to arrive at Transfiguration, with the help of Alicia and Angelina of course, who hurried off to Herbology after giving us a few directions on how to get to the Greenhouses for our next lesson. Professor McGonagall began her lesson as soon as the bell had rung, and I had a feeling she wouldn't be as kind to late comers as Flitwick had been. I was glad to see that Kieran and Leanne had made it in time, but slightly disappointed that Tamsin Applebee had obviously accompanied them. I did however get to smile gleefully when Viola Richmond and her friend got a stern, disapproving look when they barged into the room only seconds before the bell had rung.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said, her eyes sweeping the classroom, "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. Consider yourselves warned."
After she transfigured her desk into a pig and back again we were all very impressed,
"Excellent," I heard Zac murmur, fiddling with his wand eagerly.
But to his, and the rest of our disappointment, we soon realised we wouldn't be attempting animal and furniture transfiguration for several years. After copying very long complicated notes from the board, that made very little sense to me, but had Zac looking more excited than I'd yet seen him, McGonagall handed everyone a matchstick and invited us to change it into a needle. I prodded my matchstick with my wand and said,
"Permuto."
Nothing appeared to have changed, I gave the matchstick a hard look and prodded it harder, saying the incantation a bit more firmly. I scowled at the matchstick when it didn't become a needle as it was supposed to. Snatching up my parchment I read over the complicated notes we had made.
"...The idea of transfiguring an object into another, comes under the 'Transformation' branch of Transfiguration. In order to do this we must rearrange the subject's structure on a molecule level, in correlation with that of the intended product," I murmured quietly. I glared at my matchstick and then at my parchment, "Well what the bloody hell does that mean?" I said slightly louder.
I looked around the class moodily, somewhat heartened to see my classmates all wore varying looks of confusion, annoyance and disdain.
"Permuto!" I said loudly, jabbing the offensive matchstick violently with my wand.
"Try saying it more, peer-MUTE-o," Zac suggested, his voice slightly amused.
I looked at him, then down at his matchstick, to my irritation it was silver and pointy, and not a matchstick.
"How did you do that?" I exclaimed.
He shrugged,
"Transfiguration makes sense, it's logical."
"You sound like a Ravenclaw," I said.
He smiled slightly,
"You sound jealous!"
I scoffed, turning back to my matchstick, I'd show him! Ok Bell, you are rearranging the molecule structure of the matchstick and turning it into a needle. And even though you have no idea what molecule structure is you are going to force the damn matchstick into a needle! After giving myself that inspiring pep talk, I stared determinedly at my matchstick, imagining it, liquifying and flowing into the shape of a needle.
"peer-MUTE-o," I growled. I was not taking no for an answer!
To my utter surprise but satisfaction my matchstick turned into a needle. I dropped my wand and stared at in complete astonishment. Then I grinned,
"I did it!" I said in wonder, then turned to Zac, and repeated myself, "I did it!"
He laughed at my happiness, and patted my shoulder. I threw my arms around him, squeezing him tightly for a second,
"We did it Zac!" I crowed in jubilation.
He disentangled himself, blushing profusely, but I was too happy to care. Professor McGonagall appeared at my side, probably to see what the fuss was about. When she saw two perfectly transfigured needles she gave Zac and I a rare tight lipped smile,
"Ten points, each to Gryffindor for superb transfiguration," she said with a hint of pride.
I thanked her happily, and turned to beam at Zac, who was unable to contain a smile of his own. So far, I had to say, life at Hogwarts was pretty good! My mood didn't even dim when McGonagall set us a pile of complicated theory based homework.
xxxXxxx
I enthusiastically recounted my day to Angelina and Alicia that night as we ate dinner,
"Zac did it so fast! I couldn't believe he had managed to do it, and I didn't want him to get a big head or anything, so I just forced the matchstick to become a needle, and it listened!"
"If looks could kill, I can guarantee that the matchstick would've been dead," Zac said to the two girls who were listening with almost proud smiles on their faces, "You definitely scared it into transformation," he said to me.
"Where as you, were just brilliant enough to get it to do it willingly," I laughed.
He smiled,
"As I said, Transfiguration just makes sense to me. Herbology on the other hand..."
"Oh I completely agree with you there!" Alicia said.
"Plants are boring!" Angelina agreed.
Someone came and sat down next to me, as I finished off my dinner, I turned to see Oliver Wood smiling down at me. Ethan sat down on Zac's other side.
"So how was your first day of school ickle Zac?" his brother cooed in a baby voice.
Zac rolled his eyes and didn't answer, so Ethan turned to me,
"What about you Bell? Throw any weed at anyone today?"
I sighed quietly, but couldn't stop the smile that broke through,
"No, don't worry I reserve that treatment for especially prattish big brothers."
"Aw, don't I feel special!"
He turned back to his brother and began pestering him about all sorts of things in the irritating way I imagined all siblings did. Of course I wouldn't know seeing as I was an only child. A wistful sigh escaped my lips as I watched Zac's annoyed glare, that wasn't quite as angry as it appeared, deepen as Ethan began poking him in the stomach.
"You ok, Bell?"
I'd almost forgotten he was there, but as soon as he spoke my eyes snapped to him. Oliver Wood had a demanding sort of presence, and once I became aware of him again, I couldn't ignore him.
"Of course," I managed to say in a politely confused sort of tone.
Those chocolate brown eyes scrutinized me for a moment and I knew he didn't believe me, but he let it go, changing the subject by asking me how I liked Hogwarts. I responded with much more enthusiasm and we chattered away, with Angelina and Alicia chiming in every now and again, until Ethan tired of harassing his younger brother and stood to leave.
"See you, Katie," Oliver said with a smile, "Bye guys," he added to the others before following his friend away.
I heard Alicia sigh contently, her eyes following him and gave her a pointed look. She blushed and looked away, making Angie giggle.
That night, as we were climbing into bed I said casually,
"Everyone here's so nice, it's great to finally have people to talk about Quidditch with, Leanne never liked it much," I paused before adding, "That Oliver Wood really knows his stuff."
I watched Alicia intently from behind a curtain of hair and was rewarded by seeing her cheeks redden slightly. I wasn't the only one that noticed either, a wicked smile appeared on Angelina's face.
"He's quite good-looking too don't you think?"
Even though she wasn't aiming the question at me, I nodded absently in agreement. Alicia blushed even harder and refused to comment, sending the pair of us off into giggles.
xxxXxxx
The first week of classes passed quickly and before I knew it, the weekend had arrived, bringing with it a sense of relief. I had a mountain of homework already that I'd been putting off all week. That was why Saturday morning found Zac and I sitting in the library, a pile of textbooks surrounding us. McGonagall had us practising our matchstick to needle transformations and to my disappointment I had not managed to replicate my success. She also had us writing an essay on the fundamental theory behind transfiguration. Something that continued to bamboozle me. Still, I knew that if I put enough effort, determination and concentration into the spell I could do it! Snape, who was every bit as nasty as Alicia and Angelina had warned, had assigned us an essay researching the ingredients used to make the Wiggenweld potion, their properties, origins and other uses. For Charms we'd been set an essay on the origins of the Levitation Charm and in Herbology we had to give a explanation on how to identify Wormwood and then write an essay on its magical uses. I quickly grew tired of trying to wrap my mind around Transfiguration so moved on to finish my Potions essay.
I had finished everything but my Herbology and Transfiguration essays when Alicia and Angelina joined us after lunch. They'd been out flying, because the Gryffindor Quidditch trials were taking place the next day. I was trying to rephrase the bit in my textbook about molecule structure in a way that sounded like I knew what I was on about, when Zac threw down his quill with a satisfied sigh. He peered over my shoulder and corrected a spelling mistake, then frowned,
"Katie, you might want to read over what you've written," he suggested carefully.
"What've I done?" I groaned.
"It's just...I'm not sure you understand the concept exactly..." Zac trailed off when he noticed my murderous look. He pushed his essay into my hands, and told me to read it, and 'not try and kill me with your eyes'.
To my slight surprise, it made much more sense with the way he explained it, McGonagall uses big words and the textbook uses even bigger ones. Turns out the 'molecule structure' simply means the make-up of an object. So Transfiguration is basically changing the way one object is made up to form another, by rearranging its particles. No molecule structure involved! Zac pointed out that my explanation was in fact a definition of those two dreaded words and I responded by offering to permanently rearrange his molecule structure.
xxxXxxx
The atmosphere was tense when I woke up the next morning. Both Alicia and Angelina were already awake and dressing in silence. Merlin I hoped their friendship wouldn't suffer if one made the team. There was only one chaser spot open, the other two taken by Malcolm Wood and Cecilia Gardner, another seventh year. The three of us made our way down to the Great Hall without speaking, there Angelina fell on the food like she'd been starved for a week and Alicia stared at her full plate, her face a sickly pale green.
"You've got to eat something," I murmured to her, "Or at least drink."
At my prompting, she managed a piece of toast and a few glasses of pumpkin juice, before we left for the pitch, I was eager to see the Quidditch pitch, because I'd not yet been and also excited to see my friends and classmates fly and play the game I'd fallen in love with. I wished the girls and the Weasley twins who'd come to trial for the two open beater spots, good luck, before going to sit in the stands. About twenty minutes later, Ethan and Zac came and sat down with me. Ethan to watch Oliver and Zac to keep me company and see how the two girls and the twins went. Fred and George had taken a liking to Zac and he'd landed his first detention for being involved in one of their pranks.
The trials went rather well I thought, Charlie Weasley, seemed an adept Captain and he had two fellow seventh years with experience on the team to help him. Angelina flew brilliantly, she was by far better than any others who tried out except for Alicia, who was her equal in accuracy, but not as fast, or nimble in the air as Angie. When Angelina performed a barrel roll to dodge a bludger and managed to sneak a goal past Oliver who'd been on his toes all day, Charlie called time. He said he'd have the team posted on the noticeboard by dinner. Fred and George were more subdued than I'd ever seen as we trooped back up to the castle for lunch. They whispered to each other a bit, but did not speak to anyone else. Alicia seemed quite downtrodden and I suspected she knew Angelina had done better than her, the dark haired girl in question was giving off a strong 'don't touch me' vibe and did not speak either. Zac, never the most talkative at best, was also quiet. Ethan had decided to wait for Oliver, so that left me to try and diffuse the nervous, stressful atmosphere they were all creating. After I made a few remarks about how they'd all flown brilliantly, and about the weather, to no avail I gave up. Lunch was also eaten in silence. After a while I spotted Leanne and Kieran at the Hufflepuff table, thankfully free of their housemates. I excused myself and was quickly followed by Zac, the four of us spent the next hour chatting happily, until Tamsin Applebee and the other Hufflepuffs arrived.
Zac and I retreated to the Gryffindor Common Room, where my two roommates were attempting to finish History of Magic homework. They spent most of the time glancing at the boys staircase where I assumed Charlie had disappeared. Zac challenged me to a game of Wizard Chess to pass the time, I was hopeless and he was nearing his fourth victory when Alicia and Angelina simultaneously sprung to their feet and practically teleported to the noticeboard where Charlie was pinning something. I stood and made my way over, to where a small crowd had formed. As I suspected Angelina had been named the third starting chaser, while Alicia had been made the reserve. Fred and George Weasley were the new beaters also.
"Congratulations Angie!" I said, giving her a hug, "That's awesome!"
She beamed at me, in a dazed sort of way, as if it hadn't quite sunk in yet. I turned to Alicia, who was staring at the board a slightly disappointed look on her face.
"Congratulations Alicia!" I said, hugging her too, "Making the reserves is really good for a second year and Malcolm and Cecilia are leaving this year, so you're practically guaranteed a spot on the starting team next year!"
She nodded, before turning to Angelina and giving her friend a huge hug. A pair of red heads popped up beside me, each sporting a huge grin.
"Congratulations!" I exclaimed for the third time, their smiles only got wider.
"Thanks Katie Bell," The one I assumed was Fred said. George wasn't so pretentious as to call me by my full name.
Alicia made a huge effort to be happy for Angie and the twins, but I knew she was still disappointed, which was only to be expected. Alicia was a brilliant flyer, but Angelina had natural talent, the sort of talent I desperately hoped I had.
xxxXxxx
When the notice appeared on our noticeboard the next evening announcing the beginning of Flying lessons, I was filled with mixed emotions, on the one hand I was exuberant to finally fly a broom for real, but on the other I was terrified it would all have been for naught and I'd be terrible. All week, the first years traded stories about their skill on a broom. McLaggen tried to tell me he'd flown through a tornado and when he'd played Quidditch with his cousin, who was a reserve Chaser on the Tornadoes (go figure) he'd saved all his attempted goals. I'd rolled my eyes and ignored him, but was rather put out to hear Tamsin Applebbe, had been flying a broom since she was six and had personally met Gwenog Jones and Wilda Griffiths, my two favourite players on the Harpies. It was her particularly loud boasting during Herbology on Tuesday that made me suck up my pride and ask Angelina and Alicia for some pointers.
"Ok, I'm going to hand you my broom, Katie, and I want you to mount it as you would if you were going to kick off," Angelina said authoritatively.
I reverently took her treasured broomstick from her and straddled it as she'd asked. Alicia and Angelina walked around me, and I shifted self-consciously from foot to foot as they silently evaluated me.
Both of them smiled finally,
"Your grip's almost perfect," Angie said appreciatively, "If you just tuck your elbows in, which is much easier to do in the air, you'll be perfect."
"Yeah, your posture and everything is great too," Alicia agreed, "Most people sit too far up the broom, or they sit up too straight. It's important to have strong stomach muscles to play Quidditch, you need them to keep the most balanced position and to stop your back from hurting. Crouching over a wooden stick is not easy on your lower back, let me tell you!" she groaned, massaging her own back.
"You're a natural at this Katie," Angelina said encouragingly, "If you keep your elbows tucked, and your stomach muscles tensed, you'll be brilliant."
When Zac and I arrived for our Flying class, which was with the Hufflepuffs, joy oh joyous joy, I was feeling marginally better about the whole thing. Leanne however looked ready to throw up. Being the awesome best friend I am, I convinced her we wouldn't be going any higher than we did on her parents brooms, which was probably a lie seeing as theirs went about a metre off the ground at best. When Madam Hooch, our flying instructor, arrived, she ordered us to stand beside one of the brooms that had been lain out on the grass for us. I'd heard Alicia and Angelina complain about how slow the school brooms were, but right now, a broom was a broom and all I wanted to do was grab it off the ground, mount it and kick off.
"Finally, I though Bell was going to wet herself with excitement," I heard Applebee say in a carrying voice to Ella, the only other first year Hufflepuff girl, besides Leanne as they moved to stand beside a broom. I sent a challenging look at her, but otherwise ignored her comment.
"Stick your wand hand over the broom and say 'Up!'" Madam Hooch commanded.
"UP!" We all shouted.
To my surprise and delight, the broom jumped to my hand at once, mine was one of the three that did. Zac's had jumped half-heartedly, Leanne's hadn't moved at all. Unfortunately Applebee and McLaggen's were the other two that rose. Both of them were practically oozing smugness.
"Up," Zac said firmly, his broom jumping to his hand, on his second attempt.
Madam Hooch then instructed us to mount the broom, and in the same fashion as Alicia and Angelina had the night before she critiqued us, correcting everybody on something, until she came to me. I had followed Angelina's advice and kept my elbows tucked in and my stomach tense. Madam Hooch prodded my stomach lightly with her finger, she smiled at me.
"Ten points to Gryffindor, Miss..."
"Bell," I supplied, unable to stop the grin from sliding onto my face.
She peered at my face, as if she was looking for something, then smiled in a proud way,
"Ah yes, Katherine isn't it? Caroline's daughter?"
I could only nod, surprised that she knew my mother. They were about the same age I realised.
"I was your mother's Quidditch Captain," she told me quietly, "Caroline could've gone on to play professionally if she'd wanted. She was a brilliant player and I can see you've inherited her natural gift for it," she gave me one last smile, before addressing the class, "See how Miss Bell is gripping the handle? That's how you should all be holding it, not in the death grip most of you are. And see how she has her elbows tucked in," she said to Tamsin, who was opposite me, "You need to keep yours in and tense your stomach muscles too!"
Tamsin sent me a look that could only be described as murderous, I smirked at her in response. Take that Applebee!
"Loosen your grip!" Madam Hooch barked at Leanne, who's knuckles were white with strain.
"Sorry ma'am," she murmured, bit did little to unclench her fingers.
"Now when I blow my whistle I want you to kick of hard from the ground, hover for a few moments, by keeping your broom steady, then lean forward slightly, to come back down," Madam Hooch said after she had finished correcting everyone, "On my whistle, three, two, one," she blew her whistle shrilly. I followed her instructions, a bubble of happiness causing a wide smile to spread across my face as I pushed off, rose a few feet in the air and paused long enough to feel the slight breeze toy with the loose bits of hair that had escaped my ponytail, and to glance around to where my classmates were doing the same with varying levels of success. I leant forward and slowly sank to the ground after about ten seconds. Zac landed next to me, without too much difficulty, but opposite him Kieran stumbled. On my other side, Leanne had risen perhaps half a metre from the ground, and held that position for barely a second before landing again. Applebee had pulled it off without a hitch, but Madam Hooch had yelled at her to keep her elbows tucked in.
I grinned down at the broom, the wooden handle felt so familiar in my hand. The urge to push off from the ground and zoom high into the sky grew even larger as Madam Hooch told us that if we felt comfortable we could fly around a tree about fifty metres away and come back.
"Do not rise more than five metres off the ground!" she ordered.
I didn't need more invitation than that. I pushed off hard and instinctively crouched lower across the broom, as I shot forward, I mentally urged the broom to go faster. A bubble of laughter escaped my throat as I felt the wind on my face, it was everything I had imagined and more, for the first time in my life I felt like I belonged. I'd found something that was beautifully, wonderfully, naturally, easy. I didn't need to be taught this, I just knew. The broom was like an extension of my body, I wanted to do higher so I instinctively lifted the handle, I wanted to go even faster so I leant forward further. The fierce joy I felt was all consuming and I couldn't stop beaming as I rounded the tree, sharply and shot back, going as fast as I could. I was free, I felt like I could do anything I wanted, I felt invincible. When I reached the spot where Madam Hooch was standing, I pulled the handle back and came to a screeching stop, (well if their were any brakes to screech, it would've been a screeching stop), and reluctantly landed back on the ground.
"That was really something, Miss Bell," Madam Hooch said, the proud smile back on her face, "Take another five points for Gryffindor."
I beamed at her as I thanked her, still high from the adrenaline. I'd been the fastest by miles, Applebee and McLaggen didn't land for another twenty seconds, some of the rest of the class, taking several minutes longer than me.
xxxXxxx
My good mood lasted for the rest of the week and through the weekend. Not even double Potions on Friday afternoon could bring me down from Cloud Nine. I wrote a whole three pages to Dad, bursting with news about our Flying Lesson. There was absolutely nothing on earth, in the magical or muggle worlds that could even begin to compare to the euphoria I felt when flying. None of my troubles mattered, all of my baggage, all my worries faded away. It was just the wind in my hair, my heart thumping and the size of my nerve.
For the next few weeks I went down to the Quidditch pitch with Alicia and Angelina whenever we could find the time. We practised everything, throwing the quaffle to each other, shooting goals, rolls and maneuvers in the air that we could use to dodge bludgers. Angelina even had us hanging upside down, by only our legs to build up our stomach muscles. Soon the three of us had even began practising our own plays, and even started going for runs. Well I did, nothing could keep Angie from her sleep, and Alicia confided that she had no desire to run more than she had to, she occasionally joined me in my morning jog around the lake, but preferred to sleep in, leaving me to go by myself, which I didn't mind too much, Hogwarts was always peaceful that early in the morning. I was on one such run, when I spotted another figure running too, they were on the other side of the lake and running slightly faster than me so I didn't catch up, but when I jogged back to the castle and saw Oliver Wood drenched in sweat, and stretching his muscles I realised it must've been him.
"Hi Oliver," I said breathily, coming to a stop and trying to catch my breath.
He looked up in surprise, but smiled when he saw me,
"Katie Bell, have you been running too?"
I nodded,
"Yeah, most mornings I run around the lake."
"And here I thought I was the only one crazy enough to get up this early for exercise," he laughed, "I normally run around the Quidditch stadium, but I fancied a change of scenery today."
"The lake's always beautiful at this time of the day," I said as I stretched out my calf muscles.
"Quieter too."
I laughed, nodding my agreement,
"So you run, for Quidditch?" I guessed.
"Of course, there's more to the game than just sitting on a broom after all," he smiled.
"Exactly."
We shared a smile and began walking back to the Gryffindor common room in companionable silence, until Wood took it upon himself to break it.
"I've seen you out there practising," I saw him glance at me, "With Angelina and Alicia. You're good Katie, really good. Better than Angie even."
I blushed, shaking my head,
"Angelina looks like she was born to play Quidditch," I laughed.
"Aye," he conceded, "But when you fly, you look like you're dancing. It looks like the broom is a part of you. You seem to glide through the air, and you full off those moves like they'e nothing."
I could feel my cheeks, they were practically glowing hot now,
"Thanks Oliver. Flying, it just feels...right," I smiled unconsciously, before turning to look at him, anxiously, "Does that sound weird?"
"Not at all," he said with a reassuring smile, "I know exactly what you mean."
"Anyone else would think I'm crazy," I laughed.
He joined in,
"Well then Katie, we'll just have to be crazy together. Quidditch obsessed, crazies, who willingly give up their sleep for the greater good of their sport."
I gave the password to the Fat Lady and together we entered the Common Room.
"You know Katie," he said, pausing to look at me, "Maybe we can run together sometime? To mix it up a bit, I don't know about you, but I get bored running the same route everyday."
I felt my stomach flutter oddly and my cheeks heat up again. For a moment I was tongue-tied, but forced myself to nod,
"Yeah, I'd like that."
He grinned at me and I smiled back, before waving a hand and climbing the girls' staircase so I could go have a shower. As I washed my hair, the ghost of a smile crossed my face, as I registered that Oliver Wood just got me. You know, Alicia did have a point, he really was quite good looking.
Thanks for reading! And an extra special thank you to AvrilFrings for your wonderful review! Just so everyone knows, daily updates will most likely not be a regular occurrence, these chapters take HOURS to write! You're just lucky I'm on holiday!
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