To Listen With Our Ears, Minds, and Hearts Chapter 4- Foolish Love (Big Bang)
-the day before the 2nd Quidditch match of the year-
"Snape? Referring?" Mizy asked, surprised. Nooni had earlier conversed with Rick in Herbology. He had brought up that Snape was going to referee the next Quidditch match.
"I know right, how weird? Hard to think of him flying on a broomstick, like an overgrown bat taking flight." Nooni said, pouring over her Transfiguration homework. "He probably wants to stop Gryffindor from winning." Mizy grinned. She wondered if the Potions professor had a secret agenda.
On the day of the Quidditch match, Mizy and Nooni left the Great Hall early to get front row seats. As other people began filling in the seats, Mizy noticed that the headmaster, Dumbledore, was present. Another surprise, the headmaster didn't always show up for the Quidditch matches. Maybe he was there to watch Harry Potter in action.
"Look, Snape looks really angry for some reason." She said, pointing to the professor, who indeed did look very angry. "I wonder why."
The teams flew off. Just a few seconds later, one of the Weasley twins had hit a Bludger toward Snape, who narrowly avoided it, and awarded Hufflepuff a penalty as punishment. Nooni tapped Mizy on the shoulder, and pointed to the tower next to them. Mizy brought her binoculars to her eyes, and watched as 2 first year Gryffindors were attempting to take on 3 first year Slytherins. Amused, she turned back to the match, just as the Gryffindor seeker go into a dive, zoom past Snape, and pull out of the dive, waving his hand, which was clenched around the Snitch. There was a deafening roar of cheers and applause; the match had barely lasted even 5 minutes, it must have broken a record! Dumbledore had climbed down to the field and seemed to be congratulating Harry, as he was patting his shoulder. Mizy and Nooni exited the stands to head back to the school, praising the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
As they sat down in the Great Hall for dinner, Mizy noticed that Quirrell was missing. (When she pointed this out to Nooni, Nooni called her a creeper, and pointed out that Snape was missing as well). Mizy, who had eaten a large lunch, decided to skip dinner to see where Quirrell was. She had noticed that Quirrell barely ate anymore, and seemed more distant from everyone. She was afraid that something was wrong with him. Nooni egged her on, saying that they might as well try and be more outgoing or waste their years at Hogwarts by being boring. They went to the first floor to his office, but he was not there. Already giving up, they decided to go outside for a stroll along the river until it was time to go in, the sun already starting to set. As they wondered pass the steps, Mizy caught sight of Snape coming out of the forest. She grabbed Nooni's arm and pulled her down behind a bush. As he strode into the castle, Mizy and Nooni ran quickly to the part of the forest where Snape came out from, curious. They ran into Harry, who quickly stuffed something out of sight.
Mizy wasted no time in asking, "Have you seen Professor Quirrell?" Harry hesitated, and then pointed back at the forest. Mizy pulled Nooni to follow her into the forest. Nooni turned around and said, "Great match, Harry!" The boy waved at her, and set off. They barely took 3 steps in when Quirrell came into sight. His head was down, and his hands moving over each other. Nooni pushed Mizy forward, and hid herself behind a tree. Quirrell looked up just in time to catch Mizy, who had tripped over a tree root. At first, he stood, shocked, as Mizy threw her arms around his neck for support, then he quickly recovered and held her at arm's length and straightened her up. She lifted her gaze and met Quirrell's.
She stared at him stupidly for a couple of seconds, her face burning. Then turned right around and walked quickly away. She turned her head back and sneaked a glance at Quirrell, who stood there , illuminated by the moonlight, looking confused. She broke into a run, and stopped when she realized there was also a set of running footsteps behind her. She turned in a daze, expecting to see Quirrell there, panting and about to proclaim his love for her, only to see it was actually Nooni.
"Are you mental?" Nooni exclaimed. "You had an opportunity right there to talk to him! But you chickened out and ran, and most importantly, left me there! Alone!"
Mizy stood there, her mouth opened in a small "o".
"I'm sorry! I just panicked! You shouldn't had pushed me!" Mizy replied, recovering from the shock. She stared the ground, now regretting her choice to have run.
"What's done is done." Nooni sighed. She patted Mizy on the shoulder, and steered her towards the castle.
They approached the castle doors, Nooni still fuming, Mizy walked along, fantasizing about what could had happened if only she didn't run. They absent-mindedly walked up the stairs when Nooni had an idea. Without warning, she grabbed Mizy and pushed her through the doors to the first floor. She continued dragging her until they were in front of Quirrell's office.
"Get together, and don't come back until you've made out!" Nooni whispered. She quickly ran off, turning only to wave good-bye to Mizy. She stood there dumbly, feeling like she should just abandon all hope and run off. But this was her last year, last year to do something worthwhile. It'd be okay if he rejected her, nothing bad. Mustering up all her courage and wiping her sweaty hands on her robes, she knocked on the door.
No response. She knocked again. Nothing. She knocked again, making up her mind that if there was no answer, she'd just leave and that'd be her excuse for Nooni. To her dismay (and pleasure), a distant, "come in" came. She took a deep breath and turned the doorknob, and pushed the door in. She walked intothe dimly lit room.
"Professor?" She called.
"I'm h-here." Quirrell responded, stepping into the room from another room. "How m-may I help y-you?" He said, walking towards her.
"I just wanted to see how you're doing." Mizy said, hoping anything she said did not make things awkward. He stood in front of her, watching her closely. There was something off about him, but she couldn't put her finger on it. A few uncomfortable seconds passed, and both of them opened their mouths at the same time in an attempt to break the silence.
"Oh, sorry, you go ahead." Mizy said, blushing.
"N-no, you speak f-first." Quirrell stuttered. Mizy's eyes wandered in an attempt to distract herself. It was now or never.
"I like you." She blurted before she could change her mind.
"Oh, er, I, admire you too?" Quirrell responded, unsure of what to say and completely missing the point.
"No, I mean I like like you, as in…strong feelings." Mizy elaborated.
"Oh. That like." Quirrell said softly. He stared at her in disbelief, his eyes scanning her face for anything that would prove that she was lying. Mizy bit her lip, fearing his response.
"I'm sorry." She said quietly. Quirrell leaned closer to her.
"Did someone tell you to come and play up to me?" He asked, his eyes boring into hers. It took her a couple of seconds to realize that his stutter was absent.
"Wha- N-no." She stammered out. "I've…I've had a crush on you since my first year, when you were the Muggle Studies teacher, then you took that one year off, and now you're back. I'd thought that my feelings would go away, but they, er, still there." She said, rather rapidly. As she said this, the image of how Quirrell looked before leaving swam into her mind; his curly light brown hair, pale blue eyes, big ears-
"Is this a prank?" Quirrell said, interrupting her thoughts. She was a little hurt, how could he just assume that her infatuation for him was a prank?
"It's not a prank! I really like you!" She felt extremely intimidated by him now. He seemed really off and here she was, at his peril. A few more uncomfortable seconds passed by.
"Y-yes, I'm t-terribly sorry. J-just thought it m-might have been a p-prank…" He drifted off, his stutter back. Mizy felt a wave of pity for him; he must have been teased quite a lot. She awkwardly patted him on the shoulder.
"Professor." She began. "I don't expect you to accept my feelings, or return them." She smiled weakly. "I'll just go now." She turned to leave.
"Wait." Quirrell called. Mizy's heart skipped a beat, and she turned around to face him. "Maybe…you c-can help m-me."
"Er, sure, what do you need help with?" Mizy asked, the question making her feel as if she was just casually asking a teacher a question in class.
Quirrell opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, someone knocked at the door, and without waiting for a "come in" thrust the door open. Mizy watched, her cheeks burning, as Snape walked in. He looked at Mizy, sneered, and walked over the Quirrell.
"I believe we have some business to discuss, Quirinus." Snape said, his mouth barely moving. Quirrell nodded, and nervously ushered Mizy out of the room, saying, "Y-yes, Severus. Ms. Y-Yaru, if y-you would be so k-kind." Mizy left the room, and looked back to see Quirrell, who looked terrified, close the door. Mizy stood, bewildered, and headed up to the common room. When she entered the common room, Nooni, who was seated at a chair in a corner of the room with homework spread out, got up and demanded Mizy for details. They walked over back to the chair, and Mizy excitedly explained what had happened, and mentioned Snape.
"What a cockblocker." Nooni said, sighing. "But maybe, you'll get another chance!" Mizy laughed. "When pigs fly!"
As Mizy layed in bed, she thought of what was going to happen now. Will she and Quirrell be embarrassed to see each other? How will their classes be? They were, after all, a student and a teacher, respectively. Mizy felt a sense of self pitying; the only male she could get was a teacher. But that teacher was a good person. Wait, what was she thinking? It probably was all just her wishful thinking. But casting that thought aside, she smiled to herself, turned in bed, and fell asleep.