I woke up early on the first day of school. I was usually the first one up in our dorm so I was used to getting ready quietly as to not wake Rory, Grace, Marie, and Chloe. Shoving my books into my bag I tiptoed out of the room before headed downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Breakfast during the week was always Clemence, Della and I's thing. It started my first year when Clemence saw me eating alone and came to eat with me. Then it just became a tradition. We ate breakfast together every weekday morning no matter what. Della and I were both in Ravenclaw so Clemence usually came to sit with us. Even Tristan wasn't allowed to eat breakfast with us. I had been okay with Tristan joining us but Clemence had insisted that it just be us girls.
Rory never ate breakfast because she liked sleeping in. She usually waltzed into every class just as it started. It was always my job to save her a seat.
Della joined me a few minutes after I got down to the Great Hall.
"You came!" I said happily, even though I had known that she would.
"Of course I did," Della said as she sat down and helped herself to a piece of toast.
"Good," I smiled.
"Hey Beasley girls," Tristan said striding towards us. He was wearing his head boy badge and a perfect smile on his face.
"Hey, Tristan!" Della greeted him excitedly. She had always loved Tristan so much. He was the older brother she had never had.
"Hey, Dell!" He grinned, "Are you excited for the first day of school?"
"I guess," She shrugged taking a bite of her toast.
"Only an I guess?" Tristan requested.
"I don't know I have Charms first…" She trailed off.
"Charms is one of the most important classes Della," I pointed out to her and she shot me a glare.
"I thought you liked Charms?" Tristan asked Della.
"It's okay..." Della said, "I'm not very good at it though, so it's not my favorite."
"Well if you ever need any help with it, I happen to be pretty good at charms and I can help you out!" Tristan suggested and my heart skipped a beat. I loved how much he would do to help Della.
"What about you Wills?" He asked turning to me, "You ready for your first day?"
"Yes, I am!" I affirmed, "I got a new quill and fresh parchment and everything."
"If there's one thing I've learned from you it's the importance of a good quill," Tristan shook his head, knowing my love for new school supplies, "Alright, my mates are waiting for you but I'll talk to you later?"
"For sure," I nodded hoping that there would be a later.
Tristan walked over to the Hufflepuff table to sit with his group of friends.
"I miss Tristan," Della said once Tristan was out of earshot.
"We can still be friends with him even if Clem isn't dating him," I told her.
"It feels different though," Della explained.
I nodded, understanding what she meant, "I know."
For the rest of breakfast, we primarily talked about Della's friend Ariel who was always causing trouble within her friend group. Della always defended her but I was not the biggest fan of Ariel.
When the owls flew into the Great Hall as they did every morning, Agatha gave a loud hoot as she dropped by a letter from Clemence. The letter said that she was about to leave for Hungary and wishing us a good first day of school. She had also included some scones that had a little bit too much salt in them but I still appreciated the gesture. I gave myself a mental note to write her back as soon as possible. I was definitely not going to mention Tristan in the note though.
Then it was time to go to class. I had Transfiguration first with the very austere Professor Carlton. Professor Carlton liked me and I was generally pretty good at Transfiguration. Rory was in the class with me. She was already being scouted for professional Quidditch however so she was basically taking whatever N.E.W.T.S she wanted to take.
I wanted to study wands though and Hogwarts didn't really have any set curriculum for wand making so Professor Flitwick had recommended a pretty basic schedule for me. I was taking Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Arithmancy.
Wand making was something that would acquire a lot of work after Hogwarts. I had been interested in it since I had seen Clemence get her wand. I was amazed by the process of the wand choosing the wizard. Wands were all unique in how and what they were made out of and every different combination of woods, cores and sizes could lead to a different result. When I had gone to Ollivander's with my Mum and my wand had chosen me I'd become obsessed and had read every book I could find on the subject.
Every time I went to Diagon Alley I visited the very elderly Mr. Ollivander who seemed half annoyed and half amused by my insistence. My goal was to become an apprentice to Ollivander and maybe even open my own wand shop one day. It was a far fetched plan but I could dream. Clemence thought I should have a backup plan but it was all I ever wanted to do.
I organized my desk while I waited for Rory to get to class, pulling out a roll of parchment, setting up my quill and ink. I was a fairly organized person and liked to get to class early to set all of my things up.
"Guess what Rohan told me?" Rory questioned as she slid into the seat next to me a minute before class started. This was always how Rory started a sentence when Rory had gossip. Rory was one of the most informed people in the school. I almost never knew any gossip and left it up to Rory to tell me everything.
"What?" I wondered.
"Holly and James broke up!" She whispered to me, "For real this time!"
"What?" I said my eyes widening in surprise.
"Isn't that great news!" She squealed.
"Why would that be good news?" I asked her curiously.
"Because Ravenclaw and Gryffindor are the best teams this year and if Potter is mending a broken heart he will be distracted and won't be able to block my quaffles!" She explained as if it were the most logical thing in the world. When it came to Quidditch, Rory was pretty cut throat.
"Well, in that case, it is very good news!" I laughed but I felt bad. I remembered the way he had looked at her on the Hogsmeade train platform and the hold she had on him. I wondered if he was okay and if she thought it was worth it. I couldn't even get one boy to love me, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have two boys love me.
"She broke up with him," Rory announced, still whispering though, "Can you believe it? According to Rohan she met some guy over the summer, he works at Potage's."
"The cauldron store?" I said, "What was Holly doing in a cauldron store?"
"Who cares?" Rory shrugged, "I bet you she was cheating on James the whole summer though!"
"That's awful," I frowned. There was definitely something in the air because even though Holly and James had been very off again on again, they had been a Hogwarts institution, like Tristan and Clemence. It was breakup season.
Just then Professor Carlton walked in signaling it was time to stop talking.
I saw James later. He was with his cousin Fred Weasley II and his friends Billy Peterson, and Rohan. That was his main group. I probably wasn't supposed to know about the breakup so I tried to keep my face neutral as I passed him. He looked alright but I still couldn't help but feel bad for him.
School had officially begun and I was beginning to get into a daily routine.
Della and I were still doing breakfast every morning and Clemence had sent us three letters so far. It sounded like she was having a great time in Hungary and had already made a few friends in her program. She was struggling with the language a little bit but other than that it seemed to be going perfectly.
Della and I were still doing breakfast every morning and Clemence had sent us three letters so far. It sounded like she was having a great time in Hungary and had already made a few friends in her program. She was struggling with the language a little bit but other than that it seemed to be going perfectly.
Sixth year was already shaping up to be a lot harder than fifth year. I had always gotten pretty above average grades but this year I wanted to shine and get all outstandings. Rory was only in Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts with me so in Potions, Arithmancy and Charms I kind of kept to myself. I had managed to stay on top of everything so hard and was really and truly enjoying all of my classes. While they were very difficult they were also incredibly fascinating and with N.E.W.T.S we were able to go more in depth with studying than we ever had before.
Rory and I were currently in Defense Against the Dark Arts.
It was Professor Lupin's first year and he was shaping up to be an excellent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. It was strange to think of Teddy Lupin as a professor as he'd only graduated from Hogwarts a few years ago. Everyone knew both of his parents had died in the Battle of Hogwarts and he was close with the entire Weasley and Potter clan as Harry Potter was his godfather and was now engaged to Victoire Weasley. All of the girls in the class had a crush on him as he was the youngest professor and he was a Metamorphmagus who could change his appearance at will which he sometimes did at the end of class.
I'd been taking notes about nonverbal spells, which we were currently learning about and were going to practice next class, when Rory passed me a note saying So what are you going to do about the whole Tristan thing?
I don't know… I wrote back.
Well, you still like him right? She questioned.
Yes, of course, I do. I think I might love him. He's perfect. But I don't feel like I can do anything about it. He loves Clemence. I replied.
Just go up and tell him how you feel She wrote back.
You know I'm not going to do that!
Why not?
It's too soon I lamely explained.
I suppose you are right...
Then Professor Lupin started talking about something that he said would be on our upcoming paper so I started taking real notes again.
Walking down the hall after class, Rory and I made plans to do our homework by the lake. Usually, I worked exclusively in the library but it was still so nice outside and I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to summer yet. She had a meeting with the other Quidditch captains about practice schedules but she agreed to meet me there.
On my way down to the lake, I saw Tristan. He was coming up from Care of Magical Creatures, which along with herbology was his favorite class. He waved and strode up to me when he saw me.
"Wills!" He greeted me.
"Hey Tristan," I smiled tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear.
"Beautiful day right?" He said gesturing around. Tristan was pretty outdoorsy.
"Yeah, I'm about to go meet Rory by the lake to do our homework. You can join if you want!" I invited him even though I knew Rory wouldn't be super happy if he said yes. Rory and Tristan were not super fond of each other. They didn't have much in common. Rory understood how important he was to me though so she kept quiet for the most part.
"I wish I could," He sighed, "I have Herbology, unfortunately."
"You love Herbology!" I pointed out.
"Yeah but I'd rather hang out by the lake with you than in the green house with Professor Longbottom," He informed me before adding, "By the way, you wouldn't happen to have your potions notes with you, would you? Professor Slughorn told me that your year was going over Living Death and I need it for N.E.W.T.S." He was in his second year of N.E.W.T.S
"Oh yeah I do," I nodded digging through my bag which was uncharacteristically messy, "Here!" I said handing him a bunch of notes from potions the other day.
"Thanks. I'll get these back to you as soon as possible!" Tristan promised, "Enjoy the lake. Don't fall in, alright? I won't be there to drag you out this time."
"It happened one time!" I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore the way my heart was beating. I had fallen in my third year and Tristan had immediately jumped in after me and saved me.
Suddenly he blushed a little bit, "I'm so glad we are still friends Wills. I don't know what I would do without you," He said looking at me. I felt it all, every moment, every moment we'd ever shared. He gave me a quick hug and one last smile before turning to make his way back up to the castle.
I continued on to the lake. I had a Defence Against the Dark Arts paper to write so I began looking for my notes which I had taken in class. I knew I had put them in my bag but I couldn't find them anywhere. I must have accidentally given them to Tristan along with my Potions notes. I didn't worry about it for a while, I would just ask him for the Defence Against the Dark Arts notes at dinner. I laid back on my blanket and shut my eyes enjoying the sunshine.
However, my eyes shot open suddenly when I realized that those were the notes that Rory and I had been writing on earlier in class.
The notes that stated that I "might love" Tristan.
Oh Merlin.
No.
No.
No.
This wasn't happening. This was all some horrible nightmare. Tristan was going to look through my notes and find out that I liked him. Scratch that. He'd find out that "I think I might love him." I felt faint thinking about it.
I ran back up to the castle not bothering to wait for Rory. I'd explain everything to her later. I ran like the wind. I couldn't think of a time when I had run so hard or so fast. I ran so hard that a couple of times I had to stop because I felt like I was going to throw up and then I remembered what the note said and I kept running.
I was almost to flustered to answer the question at Ravenclaw tower but luckily a fourth-year boy was able to answer it and I sprinted up to my dorm to quickly searched my room to see if I had somehow left the notes behind but I couldn't find them.
"Hey! I thought we were going to meet by the lake?" I heard Rory say behind me, back from her captain's meeting, "I was just about to head down to the lake!"
I immediately pounced on her, "Rory! Do you have my Defence Against the Dark Arts notes?" I said frantically.
"No? Why?" She said, looking at me like I was crazy.
"Can you check?" I demanded.
"Sure…." She said going through her book bag slowly to see if she had my notes "What's going on Wills?" She finally asked.
"I think I gave Tristan my Defence Against the Dark Arts notes!" I explained, talking very quickly pacing back and forth.
"So?" She questioned, still not seeing the problem.
"Do you remember what we were writing on those notes?" I asked her, she didn't remember so I elaborated, "I wrote that I liked him, maybe loved him remember?"
"Shit!" She groaned, "Oh no Wills! I don't have them!" She grimaced as she flipped to the end of her notes. It was quiet for a minute and then she innocently asked, "Well it might not be such a bad thing right? At least he knows how you feel now!"
"No, it is a really bad thing!" I shook my head, "I didn't want him to find out like this! He and Clem only broke up a few weeks ago!"
"Well maybe he lost the notes or maybe he hasn't read them yet!" Rory said, saying anything to keep me from falling apart.
"Maybe…" I trailed off wanting to cry.
I skipped dinner that night not wanting to face Tristan. I knew I would have to at some point but I wasn't ready. I couldn't.
"He asked where you were," Rory mentioned as she came back from dinner. She had made me a little plate of food and had included a large slice of chocolate cake. Grace, Marie, and Chloe had all shot me very concerned looks but hadn't asked what was wrong which I was grateful for.
I bit my lip, nodding but not saying anything. My stomach churned and somehow I knew that he had read the notes and now Tristan knew how I really felt about him.
