[i want to hold your hand - the beatles]
[spellbook]
One minute has passed since an enormous bell clanged throughout the halls of Hogwarts, signaling the beginning of the class, and Terry Boot has not yet occupied his seat.
Padma would mention this to Su and Lisa, but she doesn't think they'd understand. They probably haven't even noticed that Terry's gone. He doesn't really command attention, truthfully. Nor are his lanky features particularly attractive. But Padma, well… Padma's got it bad.
She has only known him for a small number of months – what is it now, five? – and now, at the beginning of semester number two, she is completely and entirely obsessed with the way Terry laces his dress shoes and the way he smiles slightly when he answers a question correctly and the way he runs his hands through his scalp when he's anxious. She's old enough to have a boyfriend, right? Her neighbor, John, always owls her about his new girlfriend, and John's only three months older.
So Padma dreams and dreams and dreams about the day that Terry Boot will reach over sometime at the end of class as she's retiring her spellbook to her bag, catch her attention, and simply grab her free hand with his.