"Harry, just eat the damn toast and stop acting like a three-year-old!" I snapped and shoved the toast into the boy's mouth. He had been refusing to eat for the past twenty minutes and I was driving me up the wall. I had tried the soft, caring tone but like a switch was flipped when he refused for the umpteenth time, I stood up and yelled at him. And it felt good. My shout had drawn the attention of most of the people in the Great Hall but I paid no mind to them as I continued to shove food down Harry's throat. Figuratively, of course.
"C'mon Wil, give the boy a break. It's his first game!" The twins chimed from my right. I waved them off.
"Yes, and that means he needs all the strength he can get," I stated, prompting Harry to gulp down some pumpkin juice. "There, all done. Wasn't so hard, now was it?"
"It is when I can't breathe nor swallow." Harry croaked, massaging his neck. I scoffed and stood up from the table, stuffing a strawberry into my mouth.
"Baby," I muttered over the fruit. "C'mon, it's nearly eleven." I patted Harry on the back and led the way out of the Great Hall and to the Quidditch pitch. We entered the locker rooms and everyone suited up. Oliver walked up to me with a determined smile. I smiled back encouragingly.
"Now, Willow, I know that you're only a reserve seeker and will not be playing, but I want you suited up and on the sidelines to show support, got it?" He instructed handing me my uniform. I took the robes and tossed them over my shoulder.
"Aye Aye, Captain!" I saluted him and bumped him with my hip as I walked off to the girl's stalls. I dressed down and pulled my hair up into a ponytail, pinning my fringe back with hair pins. As soon as everyone was ready we gathered around Oliver who began giving his speech. The twins teased him, letting Harry in on the joke.
"We know Oliver's speech by heart," Fred leaned over to Harry.
"We were on the team last year." George finished with a laugh. I rolled my eyes.
"At least he has passion," I whispered to them, listening to what Oliver was saying. They snickered loudly to the point Oliver snapped in the middle of his speech.
"Shut up, you two!" He huffed and continued. "This is the best team Gryffindor's had in years. We're going to win. I know it." He glared at us threateningly, his gaze softening as it passed over me. I think Oliver has a soft spot for me because I'm probably the only one on the team who takes him seriously and he knows it. I smiled as he finished his speech and led the way to the Pitch.
"Harry, if you need to tap out, I'm here," I assured him. His lips split in a shaky grin and he joined the others. I wished them luck and made my way to the reserves' benches. My Nimbus 2000 was propped up against the bench. Hopefully, I wouldn't need to use it.
Madam Hooch stepped onto the field and said a few words, sending a pointed a Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch Captain. Hooch blew her whistle and everyone shot up into the air and the game began. I watched with baited breath as Angelina took hold of the Quaffle. She passes it to Alicia who zips off with a Slytherin Chaser right on her tail. He snatches it from her and chucks it to Marcus. I pounded the bench I sat on with my fist.
Marcus threw the Quaffle with all his strength at one of the three goal posts, nearly making it in until Oliver popped out of nowhere and blocked the shot. I screamed and jumped out of my seat along with the other Gryffindors, chanting Wood's name. He smirked at Marcus after putting the ball back in play, his gaze then turned to me and he sent me a wink. Against my will, my face flushed and I plopped back down into my seat. What the hell was that?
After the ball was put back into play it started a back and forth game. Slytherin would take the Quaffle then Gryffindor would swipe it back, on and on it went. Angelina had the Quaffle, dodging the bludgers sent her way from the Slytherin beaters, Fred popped in and sent it back their way. Angie was fast approaching the goal posts, she aimed and shot the ball straight into a post.
"GRYFFINDOR SCORES!" Lee's voice booms from the intercom as he commentated.
"Yes! YES!" I fist pumped and yelled out to Angie. "Go, Angie! Slay 'em!" She zoomed by and slapped her hand against mine. My gazed flickered over to Harry who had been hovering over everyone since the beginning of the game, searching for the snitch to come by. I ran my eyes over the pitch, a flash of gold buzzing right by Adrian Pucey's, a Slytherin chaser, ear. Harry and Terrence Higgs both saw the golden ball and shot after it, neck and neck.
"Go! Go! C'mon, Harry!" I cheered as the green-eyed boy pulled ahead of the Slytherin Seeker. He was closing in when BAM! Marcus Flint blocked harry from the snitch, sending him of course, swerving madly.
"FOUL!" We, Gryffindors, screeched. Hooch allowed Gryffindor a free shot. The snitch was lost once again. Once the game began again Harry's broom began jerking around, bucking him aggressively. I shot up and gripped the railing. Something was terribly wrong with Harry's broom. I saw his arms strain as he tried to turn towards Wood. But his broom was unresponsive as it bucked.
"Someone's jinxing his broom!" I whispered to myself. I scanned the faces in the crowd, looking for anyone suspicious. My blood red eyes landed on Quirrell, his eyes were fixed onto Harry and his lips barely moved as he muttered. Was it him? But my gaze as also drawn to Snape, who, like Quirrell, had unblinking eyes and was muttering something. Ah! Which one?! Quirrell looked far too calm for his usual, stuttering personality, his features stone cold.
My gaze was ripped from Snape's face as a gasp rippled through the crowd. Harry was now dangling from his broom by his fingertips. Panic surged through my body as I ran out from the reserves' box. I sprinted to the underside of the teachers' stands, crashing nearly into Hermione.
"What are you doing here?" I whispered furiously.
"Snape's jinxing Harry's broom!" She replied just as quietly. I shook my head.
"I think it's Quirrell." Snape looked far too determined and his lips moved in a hurried rush. But with how sketchy he was acting yesterday, I'm not sure. However, Quirrell looked deadly calm, too calm for a teacher witnessing his student being bucked from his broom, even Snape looked a little panicked, like the other teachers. "Ah, either way, we need to stop them!" I pulled out my wand and looked up to where I could see Quirrell's robes hanging.
"You get Snape, I got Quirrell," I instructed with a tilt of my head in the direction of the black-haired Professor. Hermione nodded. Pointing my wand up at Quirrell I whispered my spell, "Langlock." With a little flash of light, the spell hit Quirrell directly in the rear just as Hermione set Snape's robes aflame.
"Run!" I whispered. We parted ways and sprinted back to our seats just in time to see Harry remount his broom. Yay!
I looked over to the teacher's stands only to jump when I found Quirrell's unnerving gaze right on me. I made a show of tucking my wand back into my robes, returning his dead stare. It was him.
I looked back to Harry as he pelted full tilt towards the snitch, suddenly he tumbled and rolled on the ground, his hand clamped tight over his mouth. He gagged and his face was a pale green. He coughed up and a golden ball fell into his hand. The Snitch!
"I've got the Snitch!" He cheered with it above his head. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff all erupted into cheers, all happy that Slytherin lost.
I grabbed my broom and jumped off the stands and plummeted down to the ground. I felt for a few seconds, everyone who witnessed it gasping. I laughed madly and swung the wooden broomstick under me and flew safely to the ground, barely landing when I tackled Harry into a massive hug.
"You did it! Ah, I was so worried!" I swung him around with a huge smile on my face. "Way to go, baby bro!" He flushed and pulled away, hardly saying thanks before he was whisked away by everyone else. I smiled as I felt two arms lean on my shoulders on either side.
"So," Fred chimed.
"Do we get a hug like that?" George laughed.
"Sorry, boys that was a one-time thing!" I teased. They pouted, their lips poking out, eyes sad and droopy. I laughed and punched them both on the arm. "Okay, fine, maybe next game." The brightened and lifted me up onto their shoulders. I caught Oliver's eye from my new height, he was next to Harry in the middle of the crowd of Gryffindors. He smiled at me and the little wink incident came back to my mind. I had honestly forgotten already; what with Harry's broom being jinxed and Quirrell's dark gaze.
I forced a convincing smile onto my face and waved at him, giving him a double thumb up.
After changing I parted from the twins and walked with the girls of the team. We all laughed and celebrated our victory. It was nice hanging out with the three chasers, hanging out with girls. I'm always with the twins, who, let's face it, do not have a lick delicacy to them, which is fine but sometimes I enjoy the company of my female friends. We got up to the common room and commandeered a secluded corner for ourselves.
Our conversation was light and funny, appropriate for the setting but the moment more people poured into the room, we all retreated up to the third-year girls' dorm that Angie and Alicia shared with two other girls I didn't know. They were currently downstairs.
We entered the cozy room and gathered on the two third year girls' beds. I laid on my stomach next to Katie, Angie, and Alicia on the opposite bed.
"So, now that we're away from any prying eyes and ears…" Angie sent me a sly smirk. I perked my head up in panic. I knew that look. That's the look Angie gets when she is about to interrogate someone. Oh no…
"What?" I asked shyly, what could she possibly have to say?"
"Don't play innocent!" Angie jabbed a finger at me with her eyes narrowed in mock anger. "I saw that little wink Wood gave you when he blocked Marcus' shot!" Alicia and Katie started squealing.
"WHAT!"
"I DIDN'T SEE THIS!"
"WHAT HAPPENED!"
I sighed and rolled onto my back, I knew it.
"Honestly, I don't think he meant anything by it!" I admitted; he's never showed any interest so why start now? Angie huffed and smirked.
"Yeah? Then what was with the little blush and smile you gave after the match? That didn't look like someone who though it was nothing!" My hair flamed pink and so did my face. They all laughed and teased me. I growled and flipped them off.
"So, what? I like a little male attention just as much as the next girl." I played it off, my hair returning to purple. Alicia snorted, making me raise a brow. "What have you got to laugh about, Leece? I seem to recall a certain brunette sneaking off with a boy with dreads a few days ago. And they returned pretty frazzled." I smirked at the older girl's blush.
From there the attention was drawn away from me and we switched from boys to calmer, less controversial topics.
I chewed my lip as I glared at the back of Quirrell's turban. Ever since the Quidditch match, Quirrell has been very dodgy around me. At one point, I found it necessary to whip around real fast when he was behind me and the twins in the hall, finding amusing when he flinched and stumbled backward. I covered my laugh with a sickly-sweet smile and apologized, making sure the venom in my voice could be heard by everyone around us.
It wasn't very smart getting on the bad side of the teacher of my favorite subject but I found it worth it. George and Fred had asked me what that was all about and I explained the situation to them. They didn't seem too happy about it.
So today, as we approached Christmas and snow was on the ground, George and Fred bewitched snowballs to follow the DADA teacher around and hit him in the back of the head. I found this more pleasing than I should have… We cackled as we skipped down the hallway, McGonagall had just given us all detention for the snowballs. Classes had ended for the day so we went to the common room until our detention before dinner.
"So why would Quirrell want to hurt Harry?" George wondered after a few moments of silence. I shrugged.
"Yeah, Quirrell seems a little too… you know… Maybe Hermione's right in saying it's Snape? Seems reasonable for him." Fred said, staring into the fire. I had told them both what had gone on in the match and they were just as confused as I was. I hadn't told them about what Harry and I saw that night in the staffroom and what we had come up with. All I know is that both of them needs to be watched.
The Holidays have begun and Hogwarts was looking very festive. Christmas trees occupied basically every corner and candles floated in the air and the ceiling of the Great Hall had snowflakes falling lazily down but never making it to our heads. The common room was empty when George and I returned from the kitchens, our arms filled with sweets, save for Harry, Ron, and Fred who all sat in front of the fire.
"We brought the goods!" I announced happily, laying the food I carried onto the coffee table in front of the couch, George following after me.
"Finally!" Fred dove into the food, inhaling what he could. I watched on in disgust. The golden trio took up the couch and Fred had one armchair, the only seat left was an armchair. I shared a glance with George, both of us narrowing our eyes. I shot for the chair but George pulled me by my arm, away from the seat. We wrestled for a few minutes, George had his arms around my waist holding me down to the ground. I army crawled my way towards the chair.
I wiggled my legs out of his grasp, kicking him away. Victorious, I pulled myself up onto the chair.
"I win!" I said breathlessly. George stood up shakily, breathing heavy. He supported himself by putting his hands on his thighs, hunched over.
"Y-you know… For such a small girl… Y-you're pretty str-strong…" He wheezed. I laughed with everyone as he caught his breath. "Oh, you won't be laughing for long!" George grinned as he sauntered over to me. I paled and sunk into my seat, my fingers dug into the fabric as if to keep me in my stop should he try to pull me out of the chair. He grinned and turned his back to me. He better not- he did! George began to lower himself down over me in an attempt to sit on me.
"N-no! George!" I shrieked, putting up my feet and pressing them against his lower back to keep him off of me. "Stop! I got here first!" Everyone erupted into laughter as I struggled.
"Nope!" George went dead weight against my legs, hanging there limply. Crap. He's too heavy to launch away from me and if I drop my legs he'll fall on me… But I can't just keep my legs up like this forever.
"Ugh! Fine!" The moment the words left my mouth, George was up and offering me a hand. I begrudgingly took it and let him take the seat only to plop back down onto his lap. Fred let out a whistle. I flipped him off as I shifted to put my back against the armrest and drape my legs over the other. George rests his hand in my lap and the other wound around my back, holding my close so I didn't fall off. I noticed one of Angelina's roommates glancing our way, right at me and George. Curious…
I ignored the hammering in my chest and hoped George couldn't hear it, but it seemed that his own heart wasn't doing any better. Why? Ron and Harry started a game of wizard's chess, Harry's pieces yelling at him for being such a poor player. George, Fred and I played rock, paper, scissors.
The only downside to the Holidays was that the girls' dorm was empty besides some seventh year I never talk to. So, I had sleepovers with the twins and Ron and Harry in the third-year boys' dorm. We had to keep it a secret that I was up there with them because Percy would have a fit! But on Christmas Eve I slept in my own bed, knowing that my presents would be delivered there. I can't wait!
Ah! Christmas! I jumped out of my bed and gathered my pile of presents and booked it over to the boys' dorms. Depositing my presents on an empty bed, I then launched myself onto Fred's bed and bounced over onto George's, effectively waking both of them up. I bounced on George's bed, trying not to break his legs.
"A-ah! Eno-enough!" George bounced awkwardly on his bed, his arms flailing as he tried to stop himself from bouncing. I didn't stop and cackled at his flapping. Fred laughed along with me and George shouted profanities at us both. I guess he had enough for he moved his leg and tripped me. I yelped as I went down. A pair of arms wrapped around me and held me down. George was spooning me.
My face flushed when I made eye contact with Fred who was trying to pull himself together only to dissolve back into a fit of roaring laughter at the sight of my flushed and panicked face.
"George! Let me go!" I pulled at his arms, trying to free myself. He grunted and shook his head, mumbling that sounded like 'too tired'. I groaned and reached out to Fred, mouthing 'help'. Fred seemed to consider it for a moment before grinning and standing up and grabbing my hands and pulling. George's arms constricted around me and they began a game of tug of war.
"AH! Let me goooooo!" I screeched in pain. I missed the evil glint in George's eye, but I didn't miss Fred's panicked one. Before Fred could let go of me, George opened his arms, letting Fred pull me right out of the bed and we landed in a crumpled heap on the floor. Groaning, I pushed myself off of Fred and sat down on Lee's unoccupied bed as he had gone home.
"Okay now that we are up, let's open presents!" I pulled the first gift towards myself. We sat down a began our savage tearing of paper. First was Molly's traditional jumper, mine matched Gred's and Forge's blue jumpers but mine had a yellow 'W' on it. I pulled it over my black tank top, it was much bigger than it needed to be, but that's because I like oversized jumpers. Mine could fit the twins.
Next was the twins' gift of a new sketchbook and pencils. I had given them handmade leather bracelets that had their initials carved in them, I had my own matching one. Angelina had gotten me a new pair of Quidditch goggles and Alicia had gotten me Quidditch gloves. Katie sent me a large, gray knitted blanket she made with her mom. And Lee gave me a bracelet with wooden beads.
I noticed one last gift in a small red wrapped box. I pulled the golden ribbon off, deciding to keep it because it was pretty. The lid was pulled off to reveal a gorgeous teardrop black opal with a metal lace holding to the chain. I delicately pulled it out from the box. The twins stopped and looked over to me and my mysterious gift.
"Who's that from, Wil?" Fred asked. George was oddly silent. I shrugged and lifted the card that was in the box.
Willow,
I hope one day you can see me the same way I see you
And that is as someone I would like to have by my side
~ Yours
"Hmm, it only says 'Yours'… I don't recognize the handwriting." I looked up to Fred who had a sly grin on his face.
"Ooo! Willow has a secret admirer!" He sang, smacking George on the arm who had a forced grin on his lips. I stuck my tongue out at them and latched the opal around my neck. It was so pretty! I wonder who gave it to me? I shrugged and collected my newly opened gifts and led the two downstairs where Ron and Harry were.
I pulled Harry into a big hug, wishing him a Merry Christmas. I saw that he had opened his gift from me.
"Do you like it?" I asked, hefting the huge quilt into my arms. The patterns moved and had different sections on it that I thought he would find important to him.
One box had him zooming on his broom with the Golden Snitch just within reach of his outreached hand. The second box had a wand on it that was firing a Patronus that was a stag. I knew that was his dad's Patronus, learning it from one of my Dad's old journals. The third box had him and all his friends, smiling and waving. Pictured were him, Ron, Hermione, Me, and Fred and George, and finally Hagrid behind everyone. The final box had a scene of him and his parents, the two stood behind him with their hands on his shoulders.
"It's amazing, Willow! Thank you so much!" He said while pulling me into another hug. This time it was a tight hug as if he didn't want to let go. This must have been a very important gift to him. I'm glad that I could give him something that he will have for years to come and have something that will bring him comfort in more ways than one.
"It's probably the best gift I've ever gotten, and also one of the first…" He mumbled. My heart broke for my god-brother. Those muggles that he lives with are the worst people…
"I wish my Dad were here… So, we could all live together as a family…" I held him at arm's length. But pain flared in my chest, everyone will probably try to convince Harry that my Dad is responsible for his parents' deaths…
"That would be nice. Anything's better than the Dursley's…" Oh if only you knew…
"Maybe one day, Harry." I smiled sadly. One day. When I prove that he is innocent.
The rest of Christmas went by swimmingly, Harry looked mystified by the wizard tradition for Christmas, like the wizard crackers. I placed the ginger cat ears that I had gotten from one onto George's head and another pair, that was a deep purple that matched my hair, was placed on my own head. We grinned cheekily as Fred aimed my camera at us. We snuck some pictures of Dumbledore with his flowery bonnet, he caught us after a few pictures and actually posed for a few.
We all laughed as the Professors seemed to get slightly more red and giggly as the feast went on, only Snape and Binns, for obvious reasons, looked like they were not intoxicated. And it was only noon!
After the feast, everyone filed outside and we broke out into a huge snowball fight. I managed to sneak up on Ron and with the help of Fred, I shoved snow down his pants and shirt. Fred and I had to lean on each other as we nearly fell over from laughing so much. We were all out there for quite some time and we were soaked to the bone by the time were trudged inside. I parted with the boys to take a quick shower and change out of my soaked clothing into a warmer outfit.
I pulled a black jumper from my drawer, looking over it quickly. This one had belonged to George at one point, but I had stolen it last winter and never gave it back. I slipped it on and it stopped just above my mid-thigh. I grabbed some blue shorts that barely poked out from the bottom of the shorts and pulled on some thigh-high black and blue stockings. I fiddled with my locket and the mysterious black opal necklace as I skipped down the stairs, taking two at a time.
The boys were all there on the couches looking uber comfy. I squished in between Fred and George and watched Harry and Ron play chess, Percy trying to help (sabotage) Harry win.
Dinner was quick and everyone was filled to the brim with food, George had to give me piggy back ride as I was too sleepy to walk. He dumped me unceremoniously onto an armchair and proceeded to help Fred steal Percy's prefect badge. At one point, they tossed to me, which I barely caught. Percy paced over to me and held out his hand for me to place it in, but rather than to that, I stuffed it down my shirt. Smirking lazily at his face. He would never dare. He pouted silently in the corner until I decided that I was going to bed.
I stood from my seat and gave everyone a hug, the badge miraculously staying in my shirt. I finally made my way over to Percy and pulled the badge out and pinned it to his shirt. I chuckled and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Love ya, Perce." I felt him return the hug awkwardly, grumbling to himself. I said a final goodnight and walked up the stairs to my bed.
Twins
"So, Harry." George addressed the green-eyed boy. "What'd Willow give you for Christmas?" He had seen the little seen between the two this morning and saw the fabric in Willow's arms, not seeing what it had been.
"Oh, she made me a quilt." He held up the thick blanket, showing off the meaningful patterns. All the Weasleys' eyes widened and eyebrows rose to their hairlines.
"Huh, never knew she could do something like that!" Fred sounded amazed by his best friend's talent. George and Ron nodded in agreement.
"Ah, but then again, this is Willow we're talking about! The girl could probably bring someone back to life if she tried!" Ron laughed. The boys all laughed and agreed with that notion.
Harry looked around at the people around him and thought about the girl who could very well be the only real family he had left. He felt extremely lucky for all that he has received. And to think, just a few months ago, all Harry though there was for him was to be stuck with the Dursley's until adulthood. But now he had a family and friends who were there for him.
A/N: Woah! 2 chapters in the same week!? I felt particularly motivated this week and the words just flowed! I also thought it would be nice to post this chapter since this Sunday (July 31st, 2016) is my birthday! Yes, it's true! I share a birthday with the Chosen One! Bow down! I'm finally going to be 17! Yay, I'm the dancing queen! Young and sweet only 17! Haha! Anyway, thank you, everyone, who reviewed and special thanks to ClearasDarkness for your lovely review! And to Sakura Lisel, all will be explained in later chapters as to why Willow does not 'share' the fame with Harry and does not talk much about that night! I hope you stick along long enough for it to be explained!
Remember to politely review and favorite and follow! Until next time!