~*Chapter Two*~

Herbology with the Hufflepuffs 

            "Oh no!" Fred cried when he looked at his schedule the next morning. "It couldn't be any worse than if we had triple potions with the Slytherins!"

            "What is it?" Angelina asked, glancing at her own schedule.

            "Herbology!" Fred wailed. "With the Hufflepuffs!"

            "They're not a bad lot, Fred," Katie remarked, glancing at the paper she held in her hand and then throwing it aside.

            "Especially that Cedric Diggory," Alicia said, dreamily looking over to the Hufflepuff table. Angelina murmured her agreement and looked at her own sheet.

            "Oh look, Fred," she said lightly, "double Potions with the Slytherins!"

            "NO!" Fred cried so loud that every head in the Great Hall turned towards them. Fred plopped his face into his arms and sobbed. George followed suit.

            "Guys, you guys!" Alicia said urgently. "McGonagall's coming!" The twins lifted their heads promptly and continued eating normally as their witch of a Transfiguration teacher strode over.

            "Mr. Weasley!" McGonagall said.

            "Yes?" Answered Fred and George.

            McGonagall waved her hand at them. "Come with me," she said. A chorus of 'Ooo's from the other end of the table were silenced abruptly with a glare as Fred and George rose from their seats and strolled out the door, looking as this was quite a funny situation. Unfortunately, Oliver Wood strode in the door at that moment, looking astonished after the twin Beaters. Then he stomped over to the Gryffindor table and slammed his hands down, without bothering to sit.

            "Where are they going?" Oliver said.

            "Sit down, Oliver," Angelina ordered. "The pancakes are going cold."

            "No," Oliver said bluntly. "I want to know where those two troublemakers are going!" Angelina shrugged and spooned one of her own pancakes onto Oliver's plate.

            "I'm full," she said. Oliver sat down and stared miserably at his plate. Then he picked up his schedule.

            "NO!" Alicia, Katie, and Angelina shouted.

            "Damn!" Oliver said, throwing down the paper. "Herbology with the Hufflepuffs!"

            "And double Potions with the Slytherins," Angelina reminded him. For a moment Oliver looked as if he was about to start sobbing also, but then Harry Potter walked over. Angelina still marveled at the fact that she was standing three feet away from The Boy Who Lived, and she was on the same Quidditch team as he was. It was mind blowing.

            "Hey, Harry," Oliver said glumly.

            "Hi, Oliver," Harry said.

            "Heard you fainted on the train yesterday," Katie said brightly, gesturing over her shoulder at the Slytherins. Angelina turned around in time to see Draco Malfoy swoon onto the table. A whole bunch of Slytherins started laughing and clapping.

            "I didn't faint," Harry said.

            "Sure you didn't," Alicia said, smirking. Harry rolled his eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me, Mr. Potter!" Alicia ordered. Harry went to sit a little further down the table, next to a very curly haired girl named Hermione Granger and a very red haired boy named Ron who was Fred and George's 'ickle Ronnikins.'

            A few minutes later the food melted from the plates. Oliver cursed under his breath. "On to Herbology!" Katie said happily, bouncing up from the table. The rest of the student in their year followed Katie out the door and onto the grounds towards the greenhouses. "Greenhouse Three, chaps," Professor Sprout called. Murmurs of disappointed spread through the crowd- they had been in Greenhouse Three last year. "May I remind you to watch out for the Venomous Tentacula? It will bite! It's teething.

            "Today we will be repotting Mandrakes, which I may say we did not do last year so get those disappointed looks off your faces and grab a pair of 'muffs," Professor Sprout said, pointing to a large pile of earmuffs. Fred and George pounced on the pile and came up with two pairs of fluffy pink ones, snapping them on their heads. Angelina grabbed a pair of blue ones as the Hufflepuffs walked in and grabbed a pair of earmuffs.

            "Okay, partner assignments," Professor Sprout said over a chorus of groans. "Yes, we are having partners. The Mandrakes proved too much for one person last year…

            "Here it is: Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet. Fred Weasley, Lee Jordan. Cedric Diggory, Angelina Johnson…" Soon the whole class was in pairs. Angelina stood next to Cedric, who already had a potted Mandrake in his hands. He smiled at Angelina.         

            "Will you get an empty pot?" he said. Angelina nodded and, almost tripping over her own feet, went and found and empty pot. Cedric put on his earmuffs and then grabbed the tuft of leaves and pulled, struggling. While he attempted to pull it out, Angelina dug around the leaves with her hands.

            "Hold on," she motioned, and then started digging around the Mandrake's head. Then, with one last pull, the Mandrake slid out of the dirt. Cedric held it over the empty pot and shoved it in, clapping his hands together to get the dirt off. Angelina went and got another Mandrake, and by the end of class they had repotted almost ten.

            "Good job, class," Professor Sprout said. "Ten Mandrakes, Angelina and Cedric! Good job. Take ten points each for your houses. See you tomorrow, class."

            "Ten points," Alicia said, clapping Angelina on the back. "Good job!"

            "Thanks," Angelina murmured. "I'll be right back." She pushed through the crowd of students and stood by Cedric, waiting for him to turn around to see if he would talk to her. In her mind, Angelina told herself that she was being a fool. Why not go up and talk to him? Angelina went over, but at the last minute her courage failed her and she just stood at the sink next to Cedric, resigned to washing her hands.

            "That was a good idea you had today, Angelina," Cedric said, drying his hands on the towel and then handing it to Angelina.

            "Oh…thanks," Angelina stammered.  Cedric smiled again.

            "Who are you playing first?" Cedric asked.

            "What?"

            "Quidditch."

            "Oh, that!" Angelina exclaimed. "I don't know, I'll have to ask Wood. Who're you playing first?"
            "I think either you or the Slytherins…or maybe Ravenclaw." Cedric said. Angelina laughed.

            "Those Mandrakes are so ugly," she said. Cedric agreed.

            "I wonder what they use them for," Cedric wondered.

            "I think they're used for some kind of antidote or whatever," Angelina said. Then she noticed that the greenhouse was nearly deserted. "Oh!" she said. "I have to go!"

            "Yeah, me too, McGonagall will kill me if I'm late for Transfiguration!" Cedric exclaimed, running out the door and up the fields towards the castle. Angelina followed him, keeping up easily.

            "Damn, I'm late for Divination," Angelina said.

            "Don't worry about that," Cedric said as they entered the castle. "She's already foreseen it."

            Angelina laughed, reluctantly stopping as they camp to a branching off of hallways. "Well," she said, "I'll see you later."

            "Yeah, good luck in your first game!" Cedric called.

            "You too, bye!" Angelina ran down the hall towards Divination, feeling the happiest she had been in a long time.