Disclaimer: Hogwarts and all the Harry Potter characters and places belong to J.K Rowling. All new characters are created by me.

I really like the idea of this fan fic so please don't copy it. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter Eight

The next morning at breakfast Greta was all over Tyler and she seemed to think that she had some all new authority that allowed her to sit next to him, run her hand up and down his arm, laugh at everything he said, feed him food with her fork. They hadn't even been going out for twenty four hours yet.

I could see that Tyler loved all the extra attention he was getting, because he needn't say two words and Greta was already agreeing with him. Sometimes, I could see that it made him a little uncomfortable especially when he caught my eye. All I gave him were amused smirks every time he looked at me and that expression was on Ben's face, Jeff's face and even Lucas's face, the only one of his friends that I thought might cut him some slack.

I exchanged looks with Alicia who even though looked rather tired, managed to be entertained. April was sitting nearby agreeing with whatever Greta said, who was agreeing with whatever Tyler said. I felt a little sorry for April but when I turned to smile at her she gave a dirty look that seemed to say, your man's taken.

Looking at my food, I was annoyed because it didn't take much to see that Tyler and I would only ever be friends. I remembered the time when Ben said that the likelihood of Tyler and I going out was as great as either of us making babies with the Giant Squid. We had both laughed, and besides, Tyler saw me as his little sister who needed protecting from the great evils in the world which took the form of boys. It didn't really help that all I really did was hang out with boys ever since my first year.

The jealous looks that girls did give me for hanging out with all these guys well surpassed the amount of times I put my hand up in class, which was a lot. And I hated it because it was totally unnecessary, and it really meant that I couldn't be friends with girls who were silly when it came to boys.

I exchanged looks with Rose about what was going on with Tyler and Greta and she smiled at me a little bit sheepishly and said, 'I understand why the spider thing was necessary now.'

I really liked Rose, she was the only girl who seemed to understand that I was only friends with Tyler and so I could talk to her with her still being friendly.

'Is she coming to Quidditch try outs?' she asked in a whisper, 'I don't think I could do it with her there.'

I smiled at her worried expression, 'well if it's still raining this afternoon like it is now, she won't want to come, her hair will get ruined.'

Rose smiled at that and she took a sip of her pumpkin juice. I looked back up at Tyler who was watching us and he asked us what we were talking about. Greta glared at us when Tyler wasn't looking for taking his attention away from her.

'Just about the weather for try outs,' I said, noticing that Rose was going a shade of pink. I don't think she liked being almost caught saying something less the friendly about someone.

'Well, rain or shine try outs are on,' said Tyler, 'in fact, the rain is better; then we can weed out the weedy people who don't like rain.'

'Exactly,' said Ben after swallowing down the last bite of his tenth piece of toast. 'If you can't play in the rain…' There was a smirk on his face.

'So, Rose,' said Tyler, a little teasingly, 'are you afraid of a bit of rain?'

'I'm more worried about my hair, I spend three hours in the morning on it, wash it with this special shampoo and conditioner and I can't go outside if it's at all windy and the rain would just make it frizz all up,' she said as seriously as she could.

I laughed because it was exactly Greta's hair routine. Tyler was smiling at Rose.

'Well, even if there's no wind, if you're on a broom it's like there is,' said Ben who was laughing at Rose.

'Oh God, I know,' she said, appearing annoyed at Ben. 'I have been on a broom, I can fly. Ask Greta about my hair and she'll tell you I don't care three ounces about it compared to what she does.'

Even though it was more of an insult towards Greta, she still liked the chance to talk about herself and to make a dirty comment about Rose.

'Well, I should watch out for your red hair Rose, do you remember last year in potions when your potion exploded and it was like you had an afro?' She said with fake interest.

'With clarity,' murmured Rose, embarrassed. I glared at Greta who just smirked at me.

'Well, I can't wait to see you fly,' Tyler told Rose hurriedly, in an effort to steer the conversation to a friendlier ground. Rose looked up at Tyler and she smiled.

'Well thank God Matilda's not the one on a broom,' said Ben and the whole table laughed except Rose who just smiled.

'Yes I do remember Flying Lessons in our first year,' said Tyler with a smirk. 'I can still see you hanging from your broom by your hands as it went up and up-'

'Shut up,' I said, but I was laughing.

He was laughing too, 'and up and up and up, until you crashed and grabbed the branch of that tree and had to climb down the tree.'

'I seem to remember you showing off your skills. 'Watch me! Watch this!' was all that you could say,' I told him.

'Well I was very good,' said Tyler, taking a bite of his toast, a little embarrassed. He didn't really like it when I caught him when he was showing off. I smirked and Greta said, 'I remember you were very very good,' she told him sweetly.

We went off to our morning classes, which were all the compulsory ones that Greta was in. She had her arm linked with Tyler's and she pulled him forward so that she and him were walking a little bit ahead of me, Ben and Lucas. We all exchanged looks with each other and the only one who still thought it was mildly funny was Ben. Whenever Tyler turned around to look at us Ben mimed signs of encouragement that I really wished I hadn't seen and then Lucas would just smile at the situation and I would shrug at Tyler if he happened to catch my eye. The rest of the people in the corridor noticed this and took part in the encouraging, but often rude gestures, and the only person who didn't realise what was going on was Greta. After a while of this I had to admit that I was smiling, laughing at Greta's obliviousness and Tyler's sheepish grin.

During double potions I was asked by Professor Slughorn to send a message to the head to say that he needed a replacement of spare cauldrons because the last one had just melted through. It wasn't Rose, who was thankful for that fact but Greta still gave her a rude comment about it. I was at his desk when he asked me and I said, 'can't it wait till break or something, when you're all in the staffroom together?' I asked, wanting to get back to my potion that needed constant stirring for ten minutes.

Professor Slughorn shook his head repeatedly. 'Oh no, I need someone she won't yell at, which is why I'm not sending one of my own house,' he said. 'The headmistress is under a lot of pressure from the parents and she doesn't want me harassing her about melted cauldrons,' he said, nodding. 'So I'm afraid you'll need to do it because she won't listen to me.'

'But sir, what about my potion?' I asked sweetly.

He didn't care about that. 'Get that Quidditch boy your friends with to stir it,' he said with a wave of his hand. I sighed, annoyed and went to ask Tyler if he could do that but Greta had commanded his full attention. Lucas, my next choice was focussing so intently on his potion that I didn't dare break his concentration.

I didn't want to ask Ben, but Rose said that she'd probably ruin mine, which was true. So Ben was my only choice. He was laughing away and chatting up girls and he was surprised when I came to him for help.

'What do you want, Matilda?' Ben asked, 'wouldn't have thought that you would need any help.' He snickered and I wondered why I had even tried to fancy him. Then I remembered that he looked rather nice.

'Enough with the joking around Ben, I need to deliver a message, and I need you to stir my potion,' I said, tired of all of this.

'I'm sorry,' he said with fake politeness, 'I'm busy; you'll have to ask your boyfriend Henry.'

I glared at him and I couldn't believe that I had to resort to Henry Burton, who seemed very pleased that he got the task at hand. I stomped off to McGonagall's classroom and hoped that she wasn't teaching.

Her classroom was a long way from the Dungeons and so I wandered for a rather long time. At least I didn't have my bag full of all my heavy books weighing me down. I arrived at her classroom and thought that I should maybe knock on the door. After a few moments Professor McGonagall said in a faint but mildly annoyed voice to come in.

At the empty classroom, Hunter was there with her and I hesitated. McGonagall was sitting at her desk looking tired and Hunter was standing before her with his eyes on me. I gave him a small smile and then after a few seconds he smiled back but then turned to face McGonagall.

'Mr Andrews, we'll discuss this later, I know that your head of house isn't exactly the most helpful, he enjoys making students work for things, but I can't let you change the members of your Quidditch team based on something that you have no proof of, especially since you already held try outs. He's a talented player, so maybe you should just grin and bear it,' said McGonagall, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration.

'I'm sorry, Professor. For the moment I'll put up with it, but I will not pretend to be happy about it,' he said.

Professor McGonagall nodded and then she waved her hand for him to leave the room. I moved out of the way to let Hunter pass, and smelt what must have been his aftershave or something like it again. He seemed a little angry and frustrated, and he didn't smile at me again, but he nodded as he went past, but didn't look at me at all.

'Miss Greystone?' asked Professor McGonagall.

I was still looking at where Hunter had disappeared again and I jumped having been brought back to reality. I wandered over to her, and she sighed at me when she saw I had a look of curiosity on my face.

'Hello, Professor,' I said.

'I'm not telling you anything, Matilda, so please don't ask,' she said.

She rarely used our first names.

'I wasn't going to,' I told her quickly.

'Even though it's in your eyes,' she noted. 'What do you want? Shouldn't you be in class?'

'Professor Slughorn sent me,' I mumbled, 'about replacing the spare cauldrons; the last one has melted through.'

'And so he sent you, did he?' McGonagall's face showed no emotion.

I nodded. 'Should I go back then, tell him you'll get on to it soon?'

'Sit down Miss Greystone.'

I gulped and sat at the chair in front of her desk. Her hair was pulled back into its usual bun, and her expression was one of tiredness and irritation. The emerald green robes had a brooch she changed every day but today it was the same as the day before. It gave the impression she had been working all night.

'As headmistress, I need to take interest in each of my students and then especially as head of house,' she said. 'And you're here, so I might as well take an interest in your studies.'

I gave her a small smile. 'Have you taken an interest in anyone else?'

She gave me a hard look. I reckoned that she just needed a break from all of her work and was using me as a distraction from it.

'Professor?' I asked.

'Yes, Miss Greystone?'

'Did you want to be headmistress, or just head of house?' I asked her.

'Well since Professor Snape, no one wanted to take the job. Hogwarts is a lot more independent from the Ministry nowadays, and it's taken a lot to fix the property and find suitable teachers that aren't frightened. I'm afraid the only people who aren't afraid of everything that Voldemort was is the generation who didn't have to live with it. I only feared for the safety of other people, not of him and I recognised that this school needed a leader who wouldn't cower in fear, to teach its students to be strong. Unfortunately, I seem to be the only person who possesses those qualities, and even though I prefer teaching and helping students, I am forced to sign a piece of paper ordering new cauldrons when I just don't have the time.'

'Too bad the Ministry put a ban on time-turners,' I said.

'I think the students that come out the strongest are the ones that have had something terrible happen to them, they have to be strong from an early age, you might understand,' she said.

'Sorry, Professor?'

She looked at me, 'your mother was not a very talented witch, Matilda. She never quite got the hang of it, and she hated it, preferred to take the social route instead of the academic one.' I had frozen, and hoped she wouldn't realise that this was the first I had heard of any of this. 'I suspect that's why she married that handsome Muggle. I've heard that she'll have nothing to do with magic anymore now that Voldemort's supporters killed your father. I'm surprised she had the sense to send you to this school.'

I let the piece of hair that I often tucked behind my ear fall over my face. I didn't want her to see my reaction because I was paralysed with shock and with sadness. I had had no idea about the circumstances of my father's death, I had no idea at all and I just wanted to cry. How could my mother keep all of this from me? I was starting to hate her a little bit at a time. It started when I was in the attic, and then when McGonagall mentioned her during class, and then again now. No wonder why I couldn't normally connect on any level with her. I was away from home all the time, was only able to write letters to her whenever I went to Hogsmeade because there was a shop for Muggle postage, and then she was keeping such a big part of herself from me and I was keeping a big part of myself from her. We were lying to each other and if she found out I knew that she would hate me for it too.

'You know,' said Professor McGonagall, unaware of what she had stirred in me. 'I remember when that flock of owls attacked her. Ronan Derby cast a charm on her that made them all flock to her; I gave him a detention scrubbing the mud off the floors a day that Filch was sick. The weather was horrible outside and we had just had a Quidditch game so everyone was traipsing in mud.'

I was silent, still not knowing what to say. I wanted to know what McGonagall would say when she figured out that I had stretched the truth about the owls to cover the fact that I hadn't told my mother that I was going to Hogwarts.

'So how are your studies going?' She asked me.

'I tend to overdo the spells a lot,' I said quietly.

'I wouldn't be embarrassed about it, you just need to control your emotions, and that will help you control the magic that you give each spell.'

I looked up at her. That was the best bit of advice I had ever gotten from anyone about doing spells, teachers often thought that I didn't need any help when I felt like I really did.

'I heard about your Cheering Charm in Charm's class,' she told me.

'Tyler couldn't stop laughing until Madam Pomfrey gave him a potion that made him fall asleep. By the morning, it had worn off. He missed all his classes that day, and then he didn't have to do an essay about the Hungarian witch who tricked Muggles into trying to-'

'Tame a dragon. Yes, apparently that caused a bit of mayhem and a reason why dragon breeding in Britain is illegal. Well, you better head off to class,' said McGonagall.

I stood up and looked at her without smiling. I didn't think I'd ever be in the mood to smile for a while now. She was looking down at her desk and so she didn't see how close I was to tears. I left, closed the door behind me and planned to go as slowly as I could to Potions class so that I didn't look like a nervous wreck, threatening to break down.

'Matilda?' said a voice.

My eyes flicked up to the person who said my name. Hunter. He was leaning against the stone wall, hands in his pockets next to an empty painting. I wanted to touch him, I wanted him to hold me and tell me everything would be alright even though I barely knew him.

'What's wrong?' he asked.

'Nothing,' I said a little bit too quickly, and shutting the door so that McGonagall couldn't hear anything. He looked sympathetic because it was so obvious that something was wrong. 'Did you hear any of that?' I asked him.

'Your conversation with McGonagall?' he asked me.

I nodded.

'Not a word.'

I wasn't sure if I had exactly wanted him to hear it or not. If he had heard it, it would need explaining as to why it had made me upset and I wasn't sure if I was ready to let anyone know. I had hidden it for years and to just suddenly come out with it seemed quite daunting.

'So how come you're not in class?' I asked.

'I have study break.'

'How come you're not studying?'

Hunter smiled. 'I'm trying to persuade McGonagall to let me kick someone off the Slytherin team, you heard that much.'

'Are you going to say who?' I asked him. He was looking at me curiously and I was positive it wasn't at what I said but at my whole manner. I felt sad, dull, frustrated and maybe it came across to him that I didn't actually care very much even though I was asking.

'No. But aren't you friends with Martins?' he asked me.

I nodded. 'So?'

'He's Quidditch captain too, it wouldn't be good for him to know that there's already something wrong with our team; it might give him an edge,' he said without smiling.

'God, sometimes I hate Quidditch,' I muttered, and then with a very direct look, I said, 'I won't tell him a thing, and I won't tell you a thing about our team.'

'Fair enough,' he said, although now he was smiling.

'I still want Gryffindor to win,' I said. 'Or, I still want you to lose.'

'Funny how you can say the same thing two different ways and each comes across so differently,' Hunter said. 'Come on, I'll walk you back to your class. Where are you headed?'

'To the Dungeons, my potions probably ruined by now, I had to get Henry Burton to look after it,' I sighed, and I would've been more annoyed but that was the least of my problems now.

'Isn't that the guy who's asked you out every Hogsmeade trip?' He asked.

I nodded, 'how do you know about that?'

I looked over to see him just shrug like it didn't really matter at all. We made our way down to the staircase and I was about to head down when he gently grabbed my arm and with a small grin he said, 'don't go that way, I know a short cut.'

I was startled at his touch and even though he let go as soon as he had my attention I still felt where his hand had been. I looked at his hands and saw that they were rather big and then my eyes crept up to his arms where he had rolled up his sleeve, his robes hanging over his arm. His arms were lightly tanned, it looked completely natural, it looked sun kissed and I could see the muscles that were so obviously there even though they were usually hidden by his cloak.

I swallowed, and fought back the desire to run my hand over his arm and tried to look at him without being distracted by his grey eyes. For some reason I couldn't think, but I managed to get across what I wanted.

'No offence, but I kind of want to go the long way, not the short way,' I told him.

Hunter smiled, and he peered over the edge of the great staircase. 'Like spending time with me, then?' he asked playfully.

I gave a small smile, 'Better you than Henry Burton.'

The corner of his mouth went up further, 'better me than McGonagall?'

'Actually,' I said, moving down the staircase, him behind me. 'I want to ask her some things that I'm just burning to know, so maybe not.'

He was beside me now, and our arms were almost touching. I breathed in that woody scent, the smell of Christmas trees, which was him. 'Is that what you were talking about with her?'

'Kind of, but she doesn't know anything so I'd have to be clever about it.' This was the closest I had ever got to admitting that I had some kind of secret.

'Matilda?' he asked.

We stopped just at the bottom of the staircase. Hunter looked intently in my eyes that I felt weak in the stomach. 'Is it something that someone else should know?' He asked.

'That might help,' I said.

'I know what you're thinking,' he said.

'What?'

'That it might not help too.'

I stared at him for a moment at an obvious loss for words, so I just carried on to Potions. I still had another period to go as well as the last twenty minutes of this one but I knew that if Henry had ruined my potion I wouldn't be doing anything for the rest of my time there and that I'd have nothing to distract me.

Hunter walked behind me and I knew he was watching me. It made the hairs of my neck stand on end knowing that and I wondered what he thought about me, why he even talked to me. I seriously wanted to know, I had made it clear that I wasn't going to talk to him about Quidditch and after that he said that he'd walk me to my class.

There was silence, except for the noises our feet made against the floor, in some areas it was soft because of the carpet but then as soon as we went past the Entrance hall the sounds of our footsteps echoed around the walls because apart from the two of us, it was just so empty.

About two corridors away from the classroom, I turned around suddenly, and Hunter came to an abrupt stop with his face inches away from mine. He looked a bit startled, but then he soon composed himself but he couldn't seem to bring himself to smile. I was quite tall and my head came up to his nose, but with him looking down and me looking up at him at his grey eyes, it was closer than was comfortable. But I didn't want to go away, I wanted to go closer. I looked down, not embarrassed, I had too much on my plate to fit embarrassed too.

Once I was away from the spell of his eyes I could think a bit clearer and we both stepped back so that there was about five feet between us.

'What did you want to say?' he asked.

'I wanted to know why you're talking to me,' I said. I didn't try to hide it with any fluff like others might.

'I just wanted to,' Hunter said simply. 'Don't you want me to?'

'I don't know. It just makes everything complicated,' I said.

'Being friends with me?' He didn't hide that fact that he didn't like what I was saying and I respected him for that. I liked honesty even though my whole life was a lie. Everything was easier when you just told the truth.

'Is it because I'm in Slytherin?' he asked, 'or more than that, because I'm the captain of the Quidditch team and your best friend is captain for Gryffindor? Or because I know that you're hiding something from your teachers and probably your friends?'

'No, it's not because you're in Slytherin, I don't care about that. But the other reasons are right on the dot.' I said. He seemed surprised that I admitted that.

'Let's figure things out later,' Hunter said with a sigh. 'At the moment you're-'

'Yeah, I'm in a bit of a mood.'

He had to smile. 'I'll say hi to you when it's only you, is that okay?'

I nodded, and turned to head off to class feeling a little bit better. How could he have made me feel a little bit better? I paused before I opened the classroom door, resting my forehead against the wood. There was another reason on top of the ones that he mentioned, that made things so complicated. I fancied him a bit too much.