Dear Mum and Dad,

    Finally I can call you that normally! Hogwarts has been great. Harry and I have been getting along well as with Hermione and up until now Ron.

    I made the house Quidditch team! I'm the new Chaser. Alicia Spinnet is in the hospital wing and I'm filling in for her. Hopefully, I may take her spot permanently. I don't want to be selfish but I really enjoy playing.

    The only problem is that Ron is mad at me for taking "his" spot. You see, I was trying out for Keeper and at the end when I didn't make that, the captain, Katie Bell, wanted to see me at Chaser. Ron didn't know and he went into a jealousy fit.

    Oh, well. I'm having a great time otherwise. I'll see you at Christmas.

                                                                        Love,

                                                                             Aidan

            Once Aidan was satisfied that his letter wasn't too whiny, he sent it off with a school barn owl. He was still fuming over his row with Ron. How could one kid be so jealous in one lifetime? He really enjoyed playing Quidditch, but he wondered if it was worth fighting with his friends.

            He stared after the owl that flew out the Owlery window for a while until it was just a prick in the distance. The day was beautiful. The sun was shining brightly and there was a crisp feeling in the autumn air. The grounds looked exceptionally gorgeous. After he felt he had cooled down enough to go back to the common room, he left. He decided that he should go to the library to pick up a book for his Herbology paper and rerouted.

            Once in the library, he found a few books that looked as though they may help him and sat down. He was the only one at his table and was busy poring over his notes when a very pretty blonde girl sat down across from him.

            He looked up and was surprised to see the girl just sitting there calmly studying. She didn't look up at him at all until he spoke. "Hello? Do I know you?"

            She looked up and gazed at him with brilliant blue eyes. "Oh, hello. I'm Leigh Madeira. I'm in Ravenclaw," she said sweetly, raising her hand in greeting. Aidan shook it and continued.

            "Oh, I'm Aidan O'Reilly, from Gryffindor." The girl giggled.

            "Well, of course I know who you are. You're the transfer student. Everyone's been talking about you."

            Aidan nearly choked. "They… they have?" Would Ron possibly go and blurt out his secret to the whole school?

            "Of course! You didn't know? You have to be the best new Chaser in school, and a damn good wizard to put!"

            Aidan breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, that. I thought it was something else."

            "Hey, I was thinking. There's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up on Halloween. Would you like to come with me?" Aidan stood stock still, staring at the Leigh. She giggled once more. "Well?"

            "I, um… well… sure," he finally said. "You don't mind if my friends join us, do you?"

            "Oh, of course not. Who are they?"

            "Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron and Ginny Weasley."

            "Oh, sure. Of course I don't mind. We can meet in the entrance hall."

            "Cool. Well, I have to get back to my common room. I'll see you at Halloween."

            "Hopefully before," she murmured beautifully. Aidan smiled and made his way back up to Gryffindor Tower.

~*~*~*~*~*~

            "Ron! What were you thinking!?" Harry nearly yelled when he was told of Ron's fight with Aidan. "You know damn well that he didn't know he was going to be called for Chaser! You can't go around beating up on him because he landed a spot that you wanted. I'm sure even if there were Chaser tryouts he would have won those too!"

            Ron sat on his bed with his head in his hands. "Harry, I never get any attention. I really wanted to be on the team."

            "That doesn't mean you crap out on our friend! He's just getting used to this world, he needs our support. I'm sure he would be behind you one-hundred percent if you made the team." Just then Aidan came in with the smile that hadn't faded from the library. However, when he spotted Ron sitting on the other side of the room, he frowned. "Hey, Aidan."

            "Hey, Harry. We're going to Hogsmeade together, right? All five of us?"

            "Yea, I think so. What about you Ron?" Harry gave Ron a piercing stare reminiscent to Hermione's.

            "Yea, I think so."

            "Why?" Harry asked.

            Aidan smiled. "I think I've got a date."

            "Really? With who? Is she in Gryffindor?"

            "No, her name is Leigh Madeira, she's in Ravenclaw."

            "That pretty blonde girl!? Wow! When did you talk to her?" Ron rolled his eyes and left. Harry glared after him.

            "We met in the library just now. She just came up and sat down at the table I was studying at. She said that everyone's been talking about me. Did Katie tell everyone I was the new Chaser?"

            "Well, I'm not sure who told everyone about you being the new Chaser, but don't you suppose that she may be after you because of your instant popularity?"

            Aidan frowned then pondered the question. "I'm not sure. Maybe I should talk to her."

            "Maybe you should. I hope it works out, though."

            "Thanks, Harry. What's wrong with Ron? Is he mad at you now?"

            "I think now that I've yelled at him about chewing you out. It pisses me off sometimes how jealous he is."

            "Yeah, me too. It's almost as if being Chaser isn't worth it."

            "Don't even think about quitting, O'Reilly. Once he sees you fly, he'll change his mind. Trust me, after the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament last year, he changed back to normal. He's got a lot to deal with at home, you know."

            "Yea, I guess. I just don't want him to get mad at everyone because of me."

            "Don't worry. Let's go down to the common room. It's almost time for lunch."

~*~*~*~*~*~

            Aidan was making regular meetings in the library with Leigh. He hadn't brought up the subject of his popularity yet, but was waiting until Hogsmeade, just in case she felt she needed to scream at him. Ron was still mad at him, but he was smart enough not to tell Hermione for fear that she would blow up at him like Harry did. Hermione didn't notice that he wasn't talking to Harry and Aidan anyways, as Ron usually kept her busy in a corner of the common room.

            Harry was kept spending more and more time with Ginny, though they were still at the talking stage. Their conversations kept them up late at night to when the fires had nearly gone out. Harry liked it this way. He could really get to know his girlfriend.

            Ginny had to be the most gorgeous girl in Gryffindor, to Harry at least. Her long, wavy hair seemed to become shinier everyday and her big brown eyes bored into Harry as though she was staring into his very soul. She knew all his secrets. To Harry, there was no one more perfect.

            Finally, Halloween came and the impromptu group of six met in the entrance hall where Filch was tallying off the names of the students who could visit Hogsmeade. They made their way across the grounds, each couple holding hands. Leigh was giggling at whatever Aidan was whispering to her, Ginny was held to Harry's side by a muscular arm and Hermione had wrapped her arm around Ron's waist who in turn hugged her shoulder. The grounds were chilly and each person was wearing a cloak.

            When they got to the village, they first visited the sweetshop, Honeydukes. Harry replenished his sweets stash, as did Ron. Aidan bought a Sugar Quill to suck on during History of Magic.

            After visiting Zonko's and the Shrieking Shack, they decided to head to the Three Broomsticks for a pick-me-up. Aidan volunteered to get the drinks while the others sat down at a table near the back window.

            "Ron, what's been wrong with you?" Hermione asked. "You've been really quiet all day."

            Harry looked at Ron who gave him a split-second glare. "Oh, I'm just tired. I stayed up late last night."

            "I've been having a great time with you guys today," Leigh said.  "My Ravenclaw friends are usually really boring. You guys are a lot better."

            "Thanks, Leigh. We've been having a great time with you, too," Hermione answered.

            Aidan then reappeared with six butterbeers. Madame Rosmerta had to help him, though. He sat down next to Leigh and said, "So, have we found anything to talk about?"

            "Leigh was just saying what a great time she was having with us," Harry said. Ron then stood up.

            "It's getting stuffy in here. Could you step outside with me, 'Mione?"

            "But, Ron…" Hermione began.

            "Please?"

            "Okay. Where do you guys want to meet?"

            "Let's meet at the entrance to the village at four, okay?" Ginny said.

            "Sounds good, we'll see you." Harry said. Ron didn't respond.

            After the door closed and the bell tinkled, Leigh spoke. "What's wrong with your friend, Ron? He seems a little far off."

            "He's a little jealous," Aidan answered. "He wanted to be the Chaser for Gryffindor."

            "Oh, that's too bad. He seems really nice."

            "Well, he is, most of the time," Harry replied.

            "Speak for yourself!" Ginny exclaimed. She then smiled a Weasley smile.

            Harry laughed. "You just don't stop, do you?"

            "Hey, it's my sole duty as the girl in my family to make fun of my brothers, especially the ones closest ones in age!"

            "I wish I was the youngest in my family," Leigh said.      

            "Oh, do you have siblings?" Aidan asked.

            "Yeah, and they're all younger than me. I have two brothers and two sisters. My sisters are twins, they're in second year. My brothers are five and six. Big pests, trust me."

            "I can," Ginny said. "They're pests even when they're older than you."

            Leigh laughed. "What it must be like to be a Weasley!"

            "Too exciting."

            "Do you have any siblings, Aidan?" Leigh asked.

            "No, I was adopted."

            "Oh, I didn't mean to…"          

            "No, I like these parents better. My biological parents weren't parents."

            "Oh, I see."      

            The rest of the day was nice. The wind that was causing the chill died down and Harry and Ginny decided that they needed to visit the Shrieking Shack again for some unbeknownst reason [A/N:: half-wink, if you get that either…], which left Aidan and Leigh alone. Aidan really enjoyed spending his time with Leigh. He really reconsidered asking her about his popularity. She was nice. She didn't seem like the kind of girl to date a guy just to get attention. She was real.

            The two sat on bench outside of a slow shop on the edge of town. Aidan put his arm around her and asked her the question that had been burning in his mind for a while. "Why do you like me?" he whispered.

            Leigh looked surprised. He looked up at him with her magnificent blue eyes and answered. "I'd been watching you in the library for a long time before I actually went and talked to you. You were cute and you worked hard on your homework. When I did finally get the courage to talk to you, you were so sweet. Now that I've gotten to know you, I see that my suspicions were correct. You're smart, sweet and attractive. When I heard you were the new Chaser for Gryffindor, I knew you had to be perfect. You're athletic as well. I knew I wanted to be with you."

            "It took a pretty girl like yourself a whole month to talk to me!?"

            "Yes. Now, why do you like me?"

            "You're sweet and smart, and extremely beautiful!" he said nuzzling her.

            "That was all I needed! You're great, Aidan. I don't know what would have happened if you never came here."

            Neither do I, he thought. Neither do I.