Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. :(
Okay guys, part eight! And I'm uploading today because it's my birthday! Well, the ending of it at least. Finally fifteen, though I do feel kind of old. :P
Anyways, so thanks once again for the reviews, and for subscribing, I'd list all the people except I have to go like in a few seconds, so yeah.
Thanks for the review and rates! You are all awesome :)
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Ron was laughing. And he wasn't lightly laughing. He was laughing so much it looked like he'd faint and fall off his broom.
Annabelle groaned annoyingly. "Shut up," she muttered, holding on to her broom tightly.
She hasn't been in the air for five minutes and she's already managed to almost fall off and hit an innocent first year with a quaffle.
Ron was at the goal posts, now developing a slight color of red. Annabelle chose to ignore him and hung in the air absent-mindedly, waiting for Ron to stop. When he did, he looked like he's lost all sense of air.
"You know, you laugh at stupid things," Annabelle told him.
"So you're calling yourself stupid?" he teased, flying closer to him.
Annabelle shot him a look. "I'm joking," he smiled.
Annabelle sighed. "Look, I need to get some practice in. So go regain your spot at the hoops or whatever and I'm going to start throwing the quaffle at you."
"I'd be more scared if the quaffle hit you then if it did to me."
Annabelle, annoyed now, threw the quaffle she had in her arms at him, but missed by a long shot.
Ron just grinned, and flew back into his position.
"Why are you practicing this anyways?" he yelled from the top, as Annabelle lowered her broom to pick up the quaffle. She hid it safely in between her arms and flew back up.
"Because I don't want to look like an idiot," she said.
Ron was going to say something to this, but judging by the look on Annabelle's face, he decided not to.
Forty five minutes and two bruises later, Ron and Annabelle flew down. Annabelle was happy while Ron was walking grudgingly. Near the end of their practice, Annabelle managed to hit Ron in the head with the quaffle when he wasn't looking. He got angry and demanded to know what her problem was, and she told him it was for his laughing. He tried to push her off her broom, missed, and fell off his own instead. That resulted in two bruises.
They were going their separate ways now, and Ron was muttering darkly.
"Right. See you tomorrow Ron!" Annabelle said, as she approached the girl's change room. She flashed him a big smile.
Ron grunted once, and left.
Annabelle was really glad that Ron was helping her with Quidditch. In a way, she thought she improved a bit today because unlike at tryouts, she managed to get two goals in the goal posts!
She took a shower in the empty room, and changed in some jeans and a T-shirt. She was about to walk out of the door, when she noticed her reflection in the mirror.
She stopped for a second, and retracted her steps. Closely, she looked at the mirror. Annabelle saw a girl with blond golden hair just tumbling down beneath her shoulders, curling slightly. A girl with such electrifying blue eyes, it made your own water. A girl with pale skin, but the one thing she focused the most on was her smile. It was years since she saw herself smile like this before – she was so different she could mistake herself for someone else. For once in her life, she was happy.
- - - -
It's been two weeks and Annabelle's magic was not improving. She was inside her charms class, attempting to levitate a feather beside Flitwick, who was watching her intently. She was trying hard not to show him that she had no idea what she was doing, but by the annoyance in his eyes she knew she was failing. After ten more minutes of doing nothing but wasting time, Flitwick gave up.
"Bloody – I don't understand. Why can't you simply produce a levitating charm?" he asked, straining his voice to make it sound calm. Annabelle knew the answer, but she decided not to say it out loud.
"I'm sorry Professor, I really wish I could get the hang of it," Annabelle said apologetically, looking down on the floor. She was in sixth year and she couldn't produce a single levitating charm.
"No, no, Annabelle," Flitwick said, shaking his head. "What you need is extra practice. Come to my classroom on Thursday nights and we'll see how you do."
The entire class suddenly burst in laughter and Flitwick, small as he was, was having trouble to quiet them down.
"Quiet class!" he squeaked, among all the other loud voices. Annabelle took this as her cue to leave. She redeemed her spot in between Seamus and Dean. The only reason to why she was sitting with them was because they were the only Gryffindors in the classroom. The rest of the class consisted of mainly Hufflepuffs, a few Ravenclaws, and no Slytherins.
"Magic isn't at the greatest yet, is it?" Seamus asked gently. Annabelle shook her head sadly.
"Awe, don't worry Anna," Dean said, using the nickname Annabelle gave for him. She felt the corner of her lips move up at that. "It's bound to get better. It's only been two weeks, this stuff takes time."
Flitwick was now passing out worksheets to be completed for homework by Friday.
"Yeah, I know," Annabelle said, more to herself than to Dean or Seamus. "I just wish I could do some magic already."
Seamus smiled understandingly for Annabelle's sake, who attempted to smile back.
"Anyways, the results for my OWLS came last night," he said, already a grin forming on his lips. Annabelle heard of OWLS before – they were big examinations you had to take in your fifth year at Hogwarts. But Draco had already gotten his in the summer, so she was a little confused to why his arrived so late. Maybe different people got theirs at different times.
"And?" Dean asked, from the other side of her. He was looking at the papers Flitwick handed out in confusion.
"I didn't fail at all – not even History of Magic!" Seamus exclaimed, a bright and happy smile plastered on his face. Annabelle couldn't help but laugh, and Dean was already giving Seamus a high five.
"Congratulations!" she said, punching him playfully on the arm. His smile grew even wider.
"Thanks Anna! I'm so happy! I think we should celebrate this. Next Hogsmeade Trip, butter beer is on me guys," he said.
"When is the next Hogsmeade Trip?" Annabelle asked, as Dean passed her a whole new package of notes. She looked at it glumly.
"Next week on Saturday. So, do you want to go then, Anna?"
"Sure!"
"Boys!" Flitwick scolded. His eyes grew wide when he saw Annabelle. "And, er, girl," he coughed. Annabelle flushed and averted her eyes. "Enough of chit chat! Get to work!"
The hour passed by extremely slowly, but Annabelle managed to finish her work by the end of class. After all, her magic was bad, but that didn't mean she couldn't write or be a good worker.
Dean had to leave the class early to go to a meeting with Professor McGonogall, which left only Annabelle and Seamus alone. When the bell rang for class to end, they grabbed their books and scrambled out of the room, laughing.
Seamus held open the door for her, and she quickly stepped through it.
"So," he said, throwing his fists in his cloak pocket.
"So." Annabelle echoed.
They both laughed a little, but Annabelle was cut short when she looked up and saw Draco pass by with Crabbe and Goyle.
He looked sick.
He had these huge black bags underneath his eyes, and he looked very, very, tired.
Annabelle was going to go up to Draco, but Seamus pulled her along to a different corridor. She was going to ask Seamus what his problem was, and that she had to go talk with her sick brother. But then she forgot that Seamus didn't know she had a brother.
So she walked alongside him, plugging her ears from any of the distant words Seamus was saying. She was too concentrated on her own thoughts.
When someone poked her gently in the shoulder, Annabelle suddenly fell into fright and whipped back, hitting the person on the arm pretty hard.
Harry staggered back, shock etched on his face. He rubbed his arm, and Annabelle suddenly put her hand to her mouth.
"I'm so sorry Harry!" she cried, walking up to him and forgetting about Seamus, who was standing there, with what looked like a bit of jealousy in his eyes.
Harry's eyes started dancing while Annabelle was explaining how she did not mean to do that she asking for his forgiveness. He looked quite amused, for his part.
"It's all right. Sorry, though. Didn't know you had such violent reactions."
Annabelle laughed nervously. "Yeah. Sorry."
"No problem."
Annabelle thought angrily to herself, So much for not embarrassing myself in front of him anymore, and for avoiding him.
He was still staring at her with those mesmerizing green eyes. Annabelle didn't have to feel her cheeks – she knew they were already hot.
"Anyways," he stepped closer to the wall so the people passing by could get through. "I was wondering if you could help me with my transfiguration worksheets. Hermione's busy with some class tonight, and Ron isn't much help, in all honestly."
Annabelle smiled, and tried to ignore Seamus who was now tapping his foot impatiently.
"Er, yeah okay. Do you want to work on it at the library?"
She couldn't believe she was giving up her vow on avoiding him. But then again, he acted as if nothing happened at all. Instead, he was extremely kind and didn't mention it at all.
"Okay, see you tonight then. Seamus," he nodded in Seamus' direction and then walked away.
When Annabelle turned to walk alongside Seamus again, he barely said anything. As they were climbing up the huge staircase, she nudged him in the side.
"What's wrong, lil' man?" she said jokingly.
He cracked a smile. "Nothing, just thinking."
"About?"
"Homework."
They left it at there when they walked through the portrait door. Seamus said something quickly to Annabelle – who didn't have enough time to catch it – and ran up the boys dormitory.
She shrugged. Boys could be so stupid and confusing sometimes.
"Hey, Anna!" Ron yelled from across the common room. She turned around. "Practice tomorrow, all right?"
She nodded, and he smiled. Sometimes, she felt so happy to have a friend like Ron. She can get so much in, and she could save herself from all that humiliation. Pretend like it never happened before.
They've been putting in lots at practice, and slowly Annabelle was improving. Just yesterday Annabelle managed to score six goals out of ten. Ron was extremely impressed.
She was about to turn right back around when she noticed a girl named Lavendar come up to him. She was making him laugh and blush, and she was smiling flirtatiously herself. Ron's ears were the color of tomatoes, and Lavendar kept joking.
Annabelle quickly turned around. This wasn't any of her business, she shouldn't care.
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