*This chapter is my shortest so far. I could've gone on for about three more pages worth but I don't want to because I'm lazy. It'll be up soon though.*

Chapter 4 - Snape's Book of Bewilderment

The next day, Ada avoided Fred and George's conversations as best she could so she wouldn't be distracted in her classes. For once, Ada actually wanted to pay attention. She thought that since Oliver knew, all the teachers should. Oliver said himself that the teachers never tell him anything because they're not used to him being one of them. Although Ada paid little to no attention to Professor Trelawny in Divinity like she was planning to, she did notice that Trelawny never made eye contact with her. She rarely did anyway, so Ada dismissed her behaviour as normalcy. Ada mainly goofed off with Emily, Fred and George in their back seats. Emily and her accepted a Jelly Slug from Fred and George, absentmindedly. For the rest of the class time, all four of them were hyper.

Quidditch History was no different than usual. Oliver refused to speak to Ada but it could've been because of their arguments. The lesson was about Eunis Murray who petitioned for a faster Snitch because he thought it was too easy.

"Who can tell me when Murray died and team he was on?" Oliver asked his class. Ada waved her hand in the air, carelessly. He looked at her for a moment and quickly reverted his eyes to the Hufflepuff boy, Brad.

"Yes. Brad."

"1945? " Oliver nodded at Brad's answer. "And...he was on the Ballycastle Bats."

Ada gave a little chuckle.

"Close," Oliver said, "Ballycastle Bats are the second best team in the league but Murray was on the Montrose Magpies. They're the best team in the league and if you need any information on them, feel free to ask A --" Oliver paused and looked at Ada. "Feel free to ask me outside of class."

Ada slouched in disappointment. Now he's pretending I don't exist. She thought. Fred looked at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. He smiled at her, pitifully. Oliver was just about to start the next section when the chimes rang.

"I'll see you in Charms. I have to talk to Oliver," Ada told Fred and George. They nodded and walked out.

Oliver was arranging his desk. Ada slowly approached him.

"Hi," she said nervously. He looked up from his desk.

"Hey," he answered. Ada thought about asking him what was on his mind but she didn't want him to think like she was intruding. She didn't want another argument again.

"Erm...I was thinking about talking with the team about starting practise in about two, three weeks. Will you help us train?"

"Sure. Sure. That's great. That'd be nice. Yeah..." He continued to arrange his desk while Ada spoke. She searched for something to say.

"I'm...er...I'm sorry about that last argument. I shouldn't have run off. I should've talked it out with you," she said finally.

"Let's try not to get into another argument, aye?" He looked up and locked his gaze onto Ada's eyes. There was a long and awkward silence. Ada only stared back into his deep and thoughtful brown eyes. She blinked and looked away, then nodded.

"So, how are your classes?"

"Good. Even the Slytherins treat me with respect. Not much, but it's there. I'm having fun. I'll be holding Quidditch position tryouts soon. All the teams need some spots filled except for Gryffindor." Ada noticed his voice was a little more upbeat.

"Fantastic. Can I be a judge?"

"Nope. Students can't judge. Believe me you, if students could, you'd be my first choice."

Ada smiled appreciatively. Oliver offered to walk her to her Advanced Charms class. They talked about Quidditch the whole way there. When they appeared in front of the classroom door, a little more quickly than Ada had hoped, she was the first to speak.

"So. Here's my class. I'll see you later, Oliver. Thank you for walking me to class." Ada turned and began to walk through the doorway. Oliver grabbed her wrist firmly but gently. Ada looked at him.

"Er...um...I'll uh...yeah. Have a good class. Bye," he stuttered, unsure of himself. Ada smiled and went into her class.

Dammit. Everytime. Why does she make you so cowardly? Just work up the nerve... Oliver thought to himself as he walked away.

***

At lunch, Ada wasted no time to inform Emily on her and Oliver's recovery.

"That's great! Now you won't miss classes. Now I won't be alone in them," she smiled.

"Yeah, sorry about that. You told me to stay in the common room that one time though," Ada laughed.

"That one time. How many classes have you missed? Yeah...That's what I thought."

Throughout lunch, Ada laughed about the normal things with Emily, Fred, and George. It was wonderful for things to be back to normal. Ada would glance up at the teachers' table and Oliver would make some sort of face or mouth things to her that made her laugh. There was more happiness in her smiles and laughter than there had been. Before long, lunch had come to a close.

"Ancient Runes is next. Oh, how the excitement overwhelms me. Look at how I jump with joy," George said, blankly.

"Oh, posh. Like we have ever listened in that stupid class. That's actually one of our best classes. Some runes are written on stones. Stones can fly across rooms with the proper spell," Fred commented.

"Yeah. And hit teachers in the head," reminded Ada.

The Hufflepuffs had stiffly occupied the first rows while the Gryffindors practically laid down in the back rows. There was no doubt that Ada was in Gryffindor. She took her seat in the furthest desk and lazily got out her book although she knew she wouldn't use it.

The day was coming to a close and Ada hadn't noticed any difference with any of the teachers. Potions had started out the same. The quiet atmosphere made the class even more boring and Ada even more miserable. Everything was going as it usually did until Snape asked a question and Ada answered it correctly. He awarded Gryffindor ten points. TEN POINTS! Ada thought. She stared at Fred and George in shock and disbelief. The Slytherins all gave each other the same baffled look. After class, Snape had asked Ada to talk with him in his office. He walked into his office, ominously, and quickly sat down. He motioned to a chair meaning for Ada to sit. She obeyed.

"Awarding house points to Gryffindor will not become a trend so don't get to enthusiastic," he said straight away, "I called you in here to give you something. See that book?" He pointed to a rickety and worn out table in the corner. It had three legs and exquisitely detailed carvings. Ada gathered that it was once a deep cherry wood colour. It was now a pale cherry colour. It's varnish was chipping away. Atop it, sat a rather thick book.

"Take it and leave," Snape commanded.

Ada stood and walked to the crooked table. She examined the book with high interest. It was grotesque looking. It was made out of some sort of lightly tanned skin. The binding was dark brown with many indentions from years of wear. Two small and bony claws held it closed tightly. Ada reluctantly felt the skin-like cover. It was rough to the touch. There was no title to be found on the outside. She suspected she could open it later.

"Take it and leave, Alucinor," Snape repeated.

Ada grabbed the book and shoved it in her bag. She quickly took her leave and joined Fred and George in the hallway. She told them about the book and they had agreed to open it together after classes.

Throughout all of Ada's Transfiguration class, she felt so anxious to open the mysterious book. She told Emily about it and if Ada hadn't kept her eye on the book the whole time, Emily would've opened it herself out of curiosity.

"Why would Snape, of all teachers give you, of all students, a book like that?" Emily asked when they had a little free time.

"I have no idea. He's a Hogwarts teacher and Dumbledore trusts him completely so I really don't think he's plotting my demise or anything like that. Besides, he's too smart for that. He'd be linked to it too easily," answered Ada.

After class, the four decided to go to the girls' bathroom on the second floor corridor. They used it for many of their pranks. They knew about it before Harry, Ron, and Hermione used it to crack the secret of the Chamber of Secrets. They slowly walked in.

"Myrtle?" Ada called, "Is it okay if we're in here?"

Moaning Myrtle popped her head out from her stall. "Of course. I'm not important. I'm not even here. I might as well not be. Feel free to barge in to my bathroom and ignore me."

Ada, Emily, Fred, and George rolled their eyes. They dealt with Moaning Myrtle more than enough to know that she was offended by everything someone said. She took everything much too personally. Ada plopped on the floor and took the book out of her bag. The other three joined her. She laid it in her lap.

"Go on, then. Open it," urged George.

Ada stared at the book with great uncertain.

"I don't know. It's kind of creepy and intimidating. Should I open it?"

"Of course you should. Snape didn't give it to you as a gift to display upon your coffee table. Open it," Fred answered.

Ada slowly placed her hand on the top claw that was holding the book closed. Her hand twitched at how cold the metal was although her bag was rather warm. She closed her eyes tightly and flipped it back. The book jolted around in her lap.

"Hold it down!" she yelled. Fred and Emily held it tightly.

Ada flipped back the bottom claw and the book flung out of Emily and Fred's grasp. It landed near the furthest stall, face up and open. The four of them looked nervously at one another. Emily nudged Ada's arm. Ada hesitated but stood and made her way to the book. She knelt down beside it and looked at it oddly.

"Erm...there's nothing here. The pages are completely blank. There are pages numbers though," she said, flipping to the back to see how many pages there were. "It opened to the exact middle pages."

Emily, Fred and George stood and walked to Ada.

"Weird," Emily said, staring at the book. She looked at Fred.

"Yep," he said.

"Well, who'd want to read that? There's no words or pictures? What a worthless book..." George said, jokingly.

"It has to have some sort of significance. Snape wouldn't have given it to you otherwise," Emily told Ada after rolling her eyes at George.

They spent another hour or so brainstorming the meaning of the book. Before dinner, the split up in the library, hoping to find something that could help. Emily scanned through 'Mysterious Books and How to Crack the Code' while Fred read 'The Big Confusing Book of Big Confusing Books'. George was in the Charmed Books section and Ada researched various potion books. If it came from Snape, there was a great possibility it was something to do with potions. As all four of them researched the book, the same thought went through their heads. McGonogall and Wood were talking about Ada that night. The conversation Ada had overheard passed through her brain many times before dinner. She didn't know what they were talking about or what to expect. She knew she was involved in something, involuntarily. She didn't have the faintest idea what she was getting into. How was she supposed to look for something if she didn't know what she was looking for? What significance does this book hold and what were they talking about that night? Why were the book's pages blank? How is Snape entangled in this? Why me? Her last question to herself rang in her head. Why me? She asked herself again. Why me?