Chapter 3 ~ All Eyes On Me
"Whenever I sang my songs/On the stage, on my own/Whenever I said my words/I'd be wishing they would be heard/Then I saw you smiling at me/Was it real or just my fantasy/You'd always be there in the corner, of this tiny little bar/My last night here with you/Same old songs just once more/You're last night here with me?/Maybe yes, maybe no/I kinda liked it your way/How you shyly placed your eyes on me/Did you ever know – that I had mine on you?"
- "Eyes On Me" by Faye Wong
"You're doing a fantastic job at being Head Girl, Hermione," Ron said sarcastically the next morning. "Getting us lost on the way to the common room, forgetting the password, staying up very late talking to Harry, waking up late. You should've lost about 20 house points by now!"
"Oh, put a sock in it," Hermione replied crankily. It was true, she had stayed up a bit too late, but she had reasons. "I've had a lot on my mind. Like what this school year is going to be like, what kind of homework will have."
"Well, then – why don't you wake up and make that dream a reality?" Ron asked, helping himself to some bacon.
"Lay off, Ron," Harry said grumpily. He didn't want a big argument to take place on the first morning back.
"Sorry," Ron apologized, chewing his bacon eagerly. At that moment, Professor McGonagull came around, passing out their timetables for the week. Ron groaned. "We've got History of Magic first. It didn't matter if you slept in anyway, Hermione; we all sleep through History of Magic."
History of Magic was taught by Professor Binns, the only ghost teacher at Hogwarts. He was very boring, and droned on and on about dates and people that had an effect on our lives. About twice in each class Harry could afford to copy down a date or person, but most of the class was spent sleeping. As the minutes passed by, Harry lazily took out his timetable. He had Care of Magical Creatures next – he was eager what Hagrid would be teaching them of now. During the past years he had taught them about imps, which are similar to the pixies, but cannot fly. He also taught them about Jobberknoll, which is a tiny blue bird. He dragged on about Hippocampus, which resembles a fleshy, pinkish mushroom. And never stopped talking about the Clabbert, a tree-dwelling creature that resembles a monkey and a frog. Everyone was anticipating something frightening in their 7th year, and they found out only too soon.
As the Gryffindors and Slytherins made their way across the grounds to Hagrid's Hut, they buzzed about what the class would be about. Some predicted it would be about dragons, some said it would be boring and would probably be on Flobberworms again. None of them guessed that it would be:
"Yeh, that there's a snidget," Hagrid told them. It was completely round, with a very long, thin beak and glistening, jewel-like eyes. It strongly resembled the golden snitch used in Quidditch. "It's very fast, an' very rare. Used to be used while playin' Quidditch, but yeh'll fin' that out in your next class. Were gon' see what it does when it's turned loose."
"But, Professor Hagrid," Hermione said, raising her hand. "Won't it just fly away from us all?"
"Clever question there, Hermione," Hagrid replied, tapping the cage the snidget was in. "I put a magic field aroun' here, so that the snidget won't escape. We'll see its actions, an' see how hard it is to feed one or catch one."
The class turned out to be surprisingly interesting. As Hagrid let loose the snidget, Malfoy bragged on about hunting snidgets with his father in the woods behind his manor, claiming to catch one every day.
"You should be arrested then, Malfoy," Harry told him, while looking around frantically for the snidget, which was incredibly fast. "The snidget is a protected species, and you cannot kill it or use it in Quidditch games. And owing to the fact that it's very rare and very low in numbers, I doubt you'd be able to even find one."
Malfoy spat on the ground but Hagrid told Harry cheerfully, "I'm glad yeh know yeh're stuff. 10 points for Gryffindor."
"That's wicked, Harry," Hermione complimented, noticing a yellow blob behind Ron's ear. "You studied!"
"Not really," Harry explained. "I know that due to the fact that I've read "Quidditch Through the Ages" a thousand times."
"Hey, Granger," Malfoy called to Hermione near the end of class. "Why didn't you know that fact about snidgets like Potter did? I thought you were smarter than that."
"I did know-"
"No, no, no," Malfoy interrupted. "I know why. You know you're already smarter than everybody else, so you decided to give poor old Potter a try. Oops! I made a mistake. Aren't you the poor old one Weasley?"
Hermione, Harry, and Ron, turned furiously red.
"Well, that's all right Granger," Malfoy continued, sneering. "I like you better when you're beautiful and stupid rather than your old bushy-haired, buck-teeth, know-it-all self." And with that he walked away to the Quidditch pitch, his bodyguard Goyle and Crabbe right behind him.
"Class dismissed!" Hagrid said, heading back into his hut. The rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins made their way to the Quidditch pitch, for their first Broomstick Practice.
"You'll pay for those words, Malfoy!" Ron called. He turned to Hermione and Harry. "Ooh, he makes me so furious. I wish we could beat him up. Make him leave us alone. I'll-" he made a violent swish in the air, punched the air, and kicked. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I don't like him either," Hermione agreed. "But violence isn't the way to solve anything. We just have to tell him off, quickly."
"And how exactly do we do that, quickly?" Harry asked, as they walked across the grounds.
"I don't know," Hermione said. "Let's just go to Broomstick Practice…ah! It's Oliver!"
"That's Professor Wood, Hermione," Ron corrected.
Oliver (or Professor Wood) stood next to a large box (which contained broomsticks and Quidditch supplies). He was wearing a long cloak embroidered with golden snitches, but was not wearing a wizards hat.
"All right, now," he called, gesturing them in. "We all know how to play Quidditch, I presume. But for all those who play on their houses' teams, you know you can only play one position. In these next few classes, we'll be going over the roles of other players, and seeing what it's like to be in their position. This week, we'll be talking about seekers." He looked towards Draco and Harry. "You both are seekers, right?"
"And captains," Malfoy added with a grin.
"And captains," Oliver repeated. "Would you both like to demonstrate what a seeker does, since your both so experienced?"
Harry looked towards Malfoy. Harry knew he could defeat him; he had done so in the previous year, when Gryffindor took the Quidditch cup for the 1st time since the Slytherins defeat in the 3rd year (the Gryffindors took the cup from the Ravenclaws in year 5, and the Slytherins in year 6). Harry nodded. Malfoy turned to Harry. Harry was good, but to Malfoy, he seemed like nothing. "I'll defeat him," Malfoy thought, "if it's the last thing I do!" He nodded as well.
"All right then, boys," Oliver continued, "here are your broomsticks. Their Firebolts." Oliver passed the broomsticks to Harry and Malfoy. Harry loved Firebolts – he previously owned one before getting it upgraded to a Firebolt 450. Malfoy looked down at his broomstick in disgust. "Why can't you supply us with Firebolt 450s, or Twisters?" he asked.
"They're just as good, Draco," Oliver assured him. "I'll let the snitch go, and you'll both chase after it. Afterwards we'll all practice. Snitches are very swift and are a light colour, so they're also very hard to see," Oliver told the class. "You have to have a very keen eye to be able to see it."
He opened up the large box beside him. Contained inside were bludgers, golf balls, baseballs, beachballs, quaffles, and broomsticks. He opened up a compartment which contained the snitch. It buzzed around wildly, but Oliver held it tight in his palm. "Ready, boys?" Oliver asked. Both Harry and Draco nodded, eyeing each other carefully. "All right," Oliver continued. He let go of the snitch. "Go!"
Harry leaped up into the air. It was an incredible feeling, being in the Quidditch pitch, against Malfoy to search for the snitch. He felt like he was playing an official game – but there were no bludgers, quaffles, chasers, keepers, or beaters. He looked around for the snitch and figured his best bet was to rise higher to look around the pitch. From below he heard cheers from Hermione, Ron, and Neville. He also heard hisses and boos from the Slytherins.
Malfoy flew high, doing flips to get the students' attention. He figured he'd just follow Harry around and block him whenever he came close to the snitch, and then Harry, annoyed, would give up. He heard cries from and shouts from several Slytherins, and boos and hisses from the Gryffindors. He looked towards Harry, who was now high in the sky, looking around the pitch for the snitch. Malfoy flew higher too.
Hermione watched from below, looking at Harry, Draco, and then at Oliver. He was an amazing professor (or at least that was Hermione's thoughts). She thought it was very intelligent of him to give everybody a shot at different Quidditch positions. She looked up at Harry again, who was searching everywhere.
"Where could it be?" Harry muttered, who was flying around wildly. He noticed Malfoy closely behind, noticed Ron and Hermione cheering for him way down below, and – that's when he spotted it. The golden snitch was flying right above Hermione's head. She obviously didn't seem to realise that, and just stood there. Harry, however, dove down, his speed increasing. Draco followed him, wondering where the snitch was.
Harry sped down, eager to get past Draco, who was quickly following. He headed towards Hermione, who was both shocked and worried. She looked around wildly, trying to find out what was the matter. "What's going on?" Hermione cried to Ron, who was standing beside her.
"The snitch!" Ron exclaimed, looking above Hermione's head, where the snitch was flying to and fro. "It's above your head!"
"What? Where?" Hermione questioned, about to swing her arms over her head in attempt to get the snitch. Everyone turned their heads towards her. All eyes were on her as Harry dove down, almost striking her in the head, but narrowly missing.
"Right here!" Harry exclaimed, hopping off his broomstick traditionally next to Hermione, the snitch clasped tightly in his hand. Malfoy landed next to him, scowling furiously.
"Great job, Harry!" Oliver exclaimed, running up to Harry. "Brilliant! 10 points to Gryffindor. All right class lets practice."
They spent the rest of the class in pairs, up high on broomsticks, throwing golf balls that had a spell on them so that they would swerve and turn. Hermione was paired up with Ron, and Harry spent the remains of the class talking with Oliver.
"So, how have you been, Harry?" Oliver asked, throwing a quaffle up in the air and catching it repeatedly.
"Not too bad," Harry said. "I've been concentrating a lot on Quidditch, but the N.E.W.Ts are coming up, so I've got to focus on that as well. Plus, I'm seeing Cho now, and although we don't get to see each other quite as often as we'd like, we owl each other every week. I spent most of my holidays with her. And also, Voldemort is still running loose, although I thought I got rid of him for good way back in year 6…" Harry stopped speaking, looking lost in his thoughts.
"Yeah, I know how you feel, Harry," Oliver told him, dropping the quaffle on the ground accidentally. "Year 7 was the toughest for me. I was really happy about winning the Quidditch Cup (finally), but I had lots of other things on my mind as well. I'm glad we actually got to finish the season. I thought Professor McGonagull would cancel it like she did in Year 6, when you were in year 2, Harry…but she didn't. I thought maybe you'd get an accident like in the first year you were here, but you didn't. I also had N.E.W.Ts on my mind as well…oh well – better make the best of it, eh, Harry? Try to divide your time. Make Quidditch practices about 3 times a week – on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, that's the best – and then afterwards, write an owl to Cho…then do your homework, y'know? Well, class is almost over. See you later, Harry. Class dismissed!"
Hermione hopped off her broomstick, wondering what Oliver and Harry were chatting about. It looked extremely important. "Maybe they were talking about me!" she thought hopefully.
Ron looked towards her, and saw her beaming. He looked at her, confused. "What's the matter with you? You look too…happy."
"So what?" Hermione snapped, walking back into the great hall. "Shouldn't I be happy?"
"Yeah…I guess…" Ron replied, shrugging. "It's just strange – I haven't seen you so happy since Madam Pomfrey "accidentally" shrunk your teeth!"
"I've been happy loads of times," Hermione argued, shaking her head. "You just haven't been there all the times I was happy."
Harry came up from behind, interrupting them. "I wonder what's going to be for lunch, today," Harry wondered, putting his arms around Hermione in a friendly way. "I'm starving!"
Hermione and Ron glanced at each other. Harry looked at both of them in concern. "All right," Harry sighed, "what's going on?"
"Nothing," Hermione lied. She put on a smile. "Wasn't that Broomstick lesson great? I never knew how hard it was to follow and catch a snitch. You did a great job!"
"Yeah, and you should've seen the look on Malfoy's face when you caught the snitch!" Ron added.
"Maybe Malfoy will shut up about his great Quidditch skills now," Harry said, walking through the entrance hall with his friends.
"Great job, Potter!" Dean Thomas complimented as they reached the Gryffindor table.
"Yeah – that was brilliant!" Neville added.
"Bloody brilliant!" Ron told Neville; they sat down to eat lunch, which included toast, eggs, waffles, pastries, and a goblet of milk.
All through lunch the compliments continued. Harry sat there, saying his share of "thanks", but not bragging. Hermione admired that about him – she didn't like people who boasted and bragged (like Malfoy), but other things soon popped into her head. Her head rose to the table where all the professors sat. She noticed Oliver chatted politely to Professor Flitwick, the charms teacher, and smiled. Oliver was so kind and gentle, yet dedicated to his line of work. She admired that about him as well.
"Yoo-hoo!" Ron cried, waving a hand in front of her face. "Earth to Hermione! Hello? We've got class in 10 minutes. Let's go!"
Hermione shook her head and blinked several times. "Sorry," she apologized. She took her eyes off of Oliver; she didn't know what had gotten into her. "I'm not supposed to fall for boys," Hermione reminded herself in her thoughts. "I'm supposed to study, aren't I? I'm supposed to make this the best year of my life in Hogwarts!"
"Ah," another nasty voice said in her head. "But there's always time for boys isn't there? Boys will make this year surprisingly better, I assure you."
"No, no, no," her conscience interrupted. "But Oliver is a professor, not a student. It would've been appropriate 5 years ago, but he's a professor now…it's not right."
"But," the nasty voice continued, "He's only a professor for this year, supplying for Madam Hooch. I'm sure he and you wouldn't mind hooking up…it would be great."
"HERMIONE!" Ron bellowed, standing up. "ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?"
"Yes, Ron, I'm sorry," Hermione repeated. "Lunch was delicious, wasn't it? What class do we have next?"
Harry cocked an eyebrow, and looked at her. "Um…" he answered, glancing down at his timetable. "We have Transfiguration next."
"And then we have DOUBLE Potions," Ron groaned beside her. "Transfiguration is one thing, but Potions – I'm going to be miserable this afternoon."
"Well, look on the bright side," Harry told him. "Tomorrow – first thing – we've got Defence Against the Dark Arts!"
Ron smiled, but his frown quickly appeared. "But then afterwards, we've got Divination!" Ron moaned.
"Thank God I got rid of that!" Hermione said. "I have Arithmacy at that time."
"Harry? Ron? Hermione?" a voice said behind them. They all jumped and turned around. Oliver stood behind them, grinning. "You kids are going to be late for class. Better head to…" he looked over Harry's shoulder and looked at the timetable, "…Transfiguration. 7th year Transfiguration is the best!" he assured them. "I think you're going to enjoy it. Now – chop, chop! See you later."
"Thanks, Oliver!" Harry called. He winced guiltily. "I mean, Professor Wood!"
Oliver chuckled. "Oliver's fine, okay?" he told the trio. "We used to be friends – I don't want that to change. See you all later."
Hermione's heart skipped a beat. "Oliver's fine…" she thought, standing up with Ron and Harry. "Oliver's fine…" She opened her eyes and found Ron and Harry staring at her.
"What's gotten into you?"! Ron exclaimed.
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" Hermione snapped. "Come on, then – let's go to Transfiguration!"
"Something's gotten into you all right," Harry argued. "You're too giggly…never mind, I know what's going on."
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, what?" Ron repeated.
"You're just excited because Transfiguration is next!" Harry said. "That's your favourite class, isn't it?" Harry continued. "Well, next to Arithmacy that is."
Hermione sighed and nodded. "Yep, that's it!" she told them. "Well, not really," she added in her thoughts.
"Let's hope that's it," Ron said. "But it's still strange…"
"Why?" Hermione inquired.
"Well," Ron replied, "Who's ever seen a student getting giggly over a class?"
****************************************************************************
Hey! Here's Chapter 3 – finished! I know it's a bit strange – Hermione's thoughts are taking over, I guess, and Ron doesn't like it. Thanks to all the reviewers, and I'll try to have Chapter 4 posted up soon!
Draco's Girl – Sorry that it takes me so long – I've got to wait for the muse to descend down upon me before I write. I'm sure it's a bit difficult for you to, though! I'll try to have Chapter 4 finished sooner!
Juvenus – Thanks for the compliment! I love Oliver and I love writing fics about him…sigh…who doesn't?
"Whenever I sang my songs/On the stage, on my own/Whenever I said my words/I'd be wishing they would be heard/Then I saw you smiling at me/Was it real or just my fantasy/You'd always be there in the corner, of this tiny little bar/My last night here with you/Same old songs just once more/You're last night here with me?/Maybe yes, maybe no/I kinda liked it your way/How you shyly placed your eyes on me/Did you ever know – that I had mine on you?"
- "Eyes On Me" by Faye Wong
"You're doing a fantastic job at being Head Girl, Hermione," Ron said sarcastically the next morning. "Getting us lost on the way to the common room, forgetting the password, staying up very late talking to Harry, waking up late. You should've lost about 20 house points by now!"
"Oh, put a sock in it," Hermione replied crankily. It was true, she had stayed up a bit too late, but she had reasons. "I've had a lot on my mind. Like what this school year is going to be like, what kind of homework will have."
"Well, then – why don't you wake up and make that dream a reality?" Ron asked, helping himself to some bacon.
"Lay off, Ron," Harry said grumpily. He didn't want a big argument to take place on the first morning back.
"Sorry," Ron apologized, chewing his bacon eagerly. At that moment, Professor McGonagull came around, passing out their timetables for the week. Ron groaned. "We've got History of Magic first. It didn't matter if you slept in anyway, Hermione; we all sleep through History of Magic."
History of Magic was taught by Professor Binns, the only ghost teacher at Hogwarts. He was very boring, and droned on and on about dates and people that had an effect on our lives. About twice in each class Harry could afford to copy down a date or person, but most of the class was spent sleeping. As the minutes passed by, Harry lazily took out his timetable. He had Care of Magical Creatures next – he was eager what Hagrid would be teaching them of now. During the past years he had taught them about imps, which are similar to the pixies, but cannot fly. He also taught them about Jobberknoll, which is a tiny blue bird. He dragged on about Hippocampus, which resembles a fleshy, pinkish mushroom. And never stopped talking about the Clabbert, a tree-dwelling creature that resembles a monkey and a frog. Everyone was anticipating something frightening in their 7th year, and they found out only too soon.
As the Gryffindors and Slytherins made their way across the grounds to Hagrid's Hut, they buzzed about what the class would be about. Some predicted it would be about dragons, some said it would be boring and would probably be on Flobberworms again. None of them guessed that it would be:
"Yeh, that there's a snidget," Hagrid told them. It was completely round, with a very long, thin beak and glistening, jewel-like eyes. It strongly resembled the golden snitch used in Quidditch. "It's very fast, an' very rare. Used to be used while playin' Quidditch, but yeh'll fin' that out in your next class. Were gon' see what it does when it's turned loose."
"But, Professor Hagrid," Hermione said, raising her hand. "Won't it just fly away from us all?"
"Clever question there, Hermione," Hagrid replied, tapping the cage the snidget was in. "I put a magic field aroun' here, so that the snidget won't escape. We'll see its actions, an' see how hard it is to feed one or catch one."
The class turned out to be surprisingly interesting. As Hagrid let loose the snidget, Malfoy bragged on about hunting snidgets with his father in the woods behind his manor, claiming to catch one every day.
"You should be arrested then, Malfoy," Harry told him, while looking around frantically for the snidget, which was incredibly fast. "The snidget is a protected species, and you cannot kill it or use it in Quidditch games. And owing to the fact that it's very rare and very low in numbers, I doubt you'd be able to even find one."
Malfoy spat on the ground but Hagrid told Harry cheerfully, "I'm glad yeh know yeh're stuff. 10 points for Gryffindor."
"That's wicked, Harry," Hermione complimented, noticing a yellow blob behind Ron's ear. "You studied!"
"Not really," Harry explained. "I know that due to the fact that I've read "Quidditch Through the Ages" a thousand times."
"Hey, Granger," Malfoy called to Hermione near the end of class. "Why didn't you know that fact about snidgets like Potter did? I thought you were smarter than that."
"I did know-"
"No, no, no," Malfoy interrupted. "I know why. You know you're already smarter than everybody else, so you decided to give poor old Potter a try. Oops! I made a mistake. Aren't you the poor old one Weasley?"
Hermione, Harry, and Ron, turned furiously red.
"Well, that's all right Granger," Malfoy continued, sneering. "I like you better when you're beautiful and stupid rather than your old bushy-haired, buck-teeth, know-it-all self." And with that he walked away to the Quidditch pitch, his bodyguard Goyle and Crabbe right behind him.
"Class dismissed!" Hagrid said, heading back into his hut. The rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins made their way to the Quidditch pitch, for their first Broomstick Practice.
"You'll pay for those words, Malfoy!" Ron called. He turned to Hermione and Harry. "Ooh, he makes me so furious. I wish we could beat him up. Make him leave us alone. I'll-" he made a violent swish in the air, punched the air, and kicked. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I don't like him either," Hermione agreed. "But violence isn't the way to solve anything. We just have to tell him off, quickly."
"And how exactly do we do that, quickly?" Harry asked, as they walked across the grounds.
"I don't know," Hermione said. "Let's just go to Broomstick Practice…ah! It's Oliver!"
"That's Professor Wood, Hermione," Ron corrected.
Oliver (or Professor Wood) stood next to a large box (which contained broomsticks and Quidditch supplies). He was wearing a long cloak embroidered with golden snitches, but was not wearing a wizards hat.
"All right, now," he called, gesturing them in. "We all know how to play Quidditch, I presume. But for all those who play on their houses' teams, you know you can only play one position. In these next few classes, we'll be going over the roles of other players, and seeing what it's like to be in their position. This week, we'll be talking about seekers." He looked towards Draco and Harry. "You both are seekers, right?"
"And captains," Malfoy added with a grin.
"And captains," Oliver repeated. "Would you both like to demonstrate what a seeker does, since your both so experienced?"
Harry looked towards Malfoy. Harry knew he could defeat him; he had done so in the previous year, when Gryffindor took the Quidditch cup for the 1st time since the Slytherins defeat in the 3rd year (the Gryffindors took the cup from the Ravenclaws in year 5, and the Slytherins in year 6). Harry nodded. Malfoy turned to Harry. Harry was good, but to Malfoy, he seemed like nothing. "I'll defeat him," Malfoy thought, "if it's the last thing I do!" He nodded as well.
"All right then, boys," Oliver continued, "here are your broomsticks. Their Firebolts." Oliver passed the broomsticks to Harry and Malfoy. Harry loved Firebolts – he previously owned one before getting it upgraded to a Firebolt 450. Malfoy looked down at his broomstick in disgust. "Why can't you supply us with Firebolt 450s, or Twisters?" he asked.
"They're just as good, Draco," Oliver assured him. "I'll let the snitch go, and you'll both chase after it. Afterwards we'll all practice. Snitches are very swift and are a light colour, so they're also very hard to see," Oliver told the class. "You have to have a very keen eye to be able to see it."
He opened up the large box beside him. Contained inside were bludgers, golf balls, baseballs, beachballs, quaffles, and broomsticks. He opened up a compartment which contained the snitch. It buzzed around wildly, but Oliver held it tight in his palm. "Ready, boys?" Oliver asked. Both Harry and Draco nodded, eyeing each other carefully. "All right," Oliver continued. He let go of the snitch. "Go!"
Harry leaped up into the air. It was an incredible feeling, being in the Quidditch pitch, against Malfoy to search for the snitch. He felt like he was playing an official game – but there were no bludgers, quaffles, chasers, keepers, or beaters. He looked around for the snitch and figured his best bet was to rise higher to look around the pitch. From below he heard cheers from Hermione, Ron, and Neville. He also heard hisses and boos from the Slytherins.
Malfoy flew high, doing flips to get the students' attention. He figured he'd just follow Harry around and block him whenever he came close to the snitch, and then Harry, annoyed, would give up. He heard cries from and shouts from several Slytherins, and boos and hisses from the Gryffindors. He looked towards Harry, who was now high in the sky, looking around the pitch for the snitch. Malfoy flew higher too.
Hermione watched from below, looking at Harry, Draco, and then at Oliver. He was an amazing professor (or at least that was Hermione's thoughts). She thought it was very intelligent of him to give everybody a shot at different Quidditch positions. She looked up at Harry again, who was searching everywhere.
"Where could it be?" Harry muttered, who was flying around wildly. He noticed Malfoy closely behind, noticed Ron and Hermione cheering for him way down below, and – that's when he spotted it. The golden snitch was flying right above Hermione's head. She obviously didn't seem to realise that, and just stood there. Harry, however, dove down, his speed increasing. Draco followed him, wondering where the snitch was.
Harry sped down, eager to get past Draco, who was quickly following. He headed towards Hermione, who was both shocked and worried. She looked around wildly, trying to find out what was the matter. "What's going on?" Hermione cried to Ron, who was standing beside her.
"The snitch!" Ron exclaimed, looking above Hermione's head, where the snitch was flying to and fro. "It's above your head!"
"What? Where?" Hermione questioned, about to swing her arms over her head in attempt to get the snitch. Everyone turned their heads towards her. All eyes were on her as Harry dove down, almost striking her in the head, but narrowly missing.
"Right here!" Harry exclaimed, hopping off his broomstick traditionally next to Hermione, the snitch clasped tightly in his hand. Malfoy landed next to him, scowling furiously.
"Great job, Harry!" Oliver exclaimed, running up to Harry. "Brilliant! 10 points to Gryffindor. All right class lets practice."
They spent the rest of the class in pairs, up high on broomsticks, throwing golf balls that had a spell on them so that they would swerve and turn. Hermione was paired up with Ron, and Harry spent the remains of the class talking with Oliver.
"So, how have you been, Harry?" Oliver asked, throwing a quaffle up in the air and catching it repeatedly.
"Not too bad," Harry said. "I've been concentrating a lot on Quidditch, but the N.E.W.Ts are coming up, so I've got to focus on that as well. Plus, I'm seeing Cho now, and although we don't get to see each other quite as often as we'd like, we owl each other every week. I spent most of my holidays with her. And also, Voldemort is still running loose, although I thought I got rid of him for good way back in year 6…" Harry stopped speaking, looking lost in his thoughts.
"Yeah, I know how you feel, Harry," Oliver told him, dropping the quaffle on the ground accidentally. "Year 7 was the toughest for me. I was really happy about winning the Quidditch Cup (finally), but I had lots of other things on my mind as well. I'm glad we actually got to finish the season. I thought Professor McGonagull would cancel it like she did in Year 6, when you were in year 2, Harry…but she didn't. I thought maybe you'd get an accident like in the first year you were here, but you didn't. I also had N.E.W.Ts on my mind as well…oh well – better make the best of it, eh, Harry? Try to divide your time. Make Quidditch practices about 3 times a week – on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, that's the best – and then afterwards, write an owl to Cho…then do your homework, y'know? Well, class is almost over. See you later, Harry. Class dismissed!"
Hermione hopped off her broomstick, wondering what Oliver and Harry were chatting about. It looked extremely important. "Maybe they were talking about me!" she thought hopefully.
Ron looked towards her, and saw her beaming. He looked at her, confused. "What's the matter with you? You look too…happy."
"So what?" Hermione snapped, walking back into the great hall. "Shouldn't I be happy?"
"Yeah…I guess…" Ron replied, shrugging. "It's just strange – I haven't seen you so happy since Madam Pomfrey "accidentally" shrunk your teeth!"
"I've been happy loads of times," Hermione argued, shaking her head. "You just haven't been there all the times I was happy."
Harry came up from behind, interrupting them. "I wonder what's going to be for lunch, today," Harry wondered, putting his arms around Hermione in a friendly way. "I'm starving!"
Hermione and Ron glanced at each other. Harry looked at both of them in concern. "All right," Harry sighed, "what's going on?"
"Nothing," Hermione lied. She put on a smile. "Wasn't that Broomstick lesson great? I never knew how hard it was to follow and catch a snitch. You did a great job!"
"Yeah, and you should've seen the look on Malfoy's face when you caught the snitch!" Ron added.
"Maybe Malfoy will shut up about his great Quidditch skills now," Harry said, walking through the entrance hall with his friends.
"Great job, Potter!" Dean Thomas complimented as they reached the Gryffindor table.
"Yeah – that was brilliant!" Neville added.
"Bloody brilliant!" Ron told Neville; they sat down to eat lunch, which included toast, eggs, waffles, pastries, and a goblet of milk.
All through lunch the compliments continued. Harry sat there, saying his share of "thanks", but not bragging. Hermione admired that about him – she didn't like people who boasted and bragged (like Malfoy), but other things soon popped into her head. Her head rose to the table where all the professors sat. She noticed Oliver chatted politely to Professor Flitwick, the charms teacher, and smiled. Oliver was so kind and gentle, yet dedicated to his line of work. She admired that about him as well.
"Yoo-hoo!" Ron cried, waving a hand in front of her face. "Earth to Hermione! Hello? We've got class in 10 minutes. Let's go!"
Hermione shook her head and blinked several times. "Sorry," she apologized. She took her eyes off of Oliver; she didn't know what had gotten into her. "I'm not supposed to fall for boys," Hermione reminded herself in her thoughts. "I'm supposed to study, aren't I? I'm supposed to make this the best year of my life in Hogwarts!"
"Ah," another nasty voice said in her head. "But there's always time for boys isn't there? Boys will make this year surprisingly better, I assure you."
"No, no, no," her conscience interrupted. "But Oliver is a professor, not a student. It would've been appropriate 5 years ago, but he's a professor now…it's not right."
"But," the nasty voice continued, "He's only a professor for this year, supplying for Madam Hooch. I'm sure he and you wouldn't mind hooking up…it would be great."
"HERMIONE!" Ron bellowed, standing up. "ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?"
"Yes, Ron, I'm sorry," Hermione repeated. "Lunch was delicious, wasn't it? What class do we have next?"
Harry cocked an eyebrow, and looked at her. "Um…" he answered, glancing down at his timetable. "We have Transfiguration next."
"And then we have DOUBLE Potions," Ron groaned beside her. "Transfiguration is one thing, but Potions – I'm going to be miserable this afternoon."
"Well, look on the bright side," Harry told him. "Tomorrow – first thing – we've got Defence Against the Dark Arts!"
Ron smiled, but his frown quickly appeared. "But then afterwards, we've got Divination!" Ron moaned.
"Thank God I got rid of that!" Hermione said. "I have Arithmacy at that time."
"Harry? Ron? Hermione?" a voice said behind them. They all jumped and turned around. Oliver stood behind them, grinning. "You kids are going to be late for class. Better head to…" he looked over Harry's shoulder and looked at the timetable, "…Transfiguration. 7th year Transfiguration is the best!" he assured them. "I think you're going to enjoy it. Now – chop, chop! See you later."
"Thanks, Oliver!" Harry called. He winced guiltily. "I mean, Professor Wood!"
Oliver chuckled. "Oliver's fine, okay?" he told the trio. "We used to be friends – I don't want that to change. See you all later."
Hermione's heart skipped a beat. "Oliver's fine…" she thought, standing up with Ron and Harry. "Oliver's fine…" She opened her eyes and found Ron and Harry staring at her.
"What's gotten into you?"! Ron exclaimed.
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" Hermione snapped. "Come on, then – let's go to Transfiguration!"
"Something's gotten into you all right," Harry argued. "You're too giggly…never mind, I know what's going on."
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, what?" Ron repeated.
"You're just excited because Transfiguration is next!" Harry said. "That's your favourite class, isn't it?" Harry continued. "Well, next to Arithmacy that is."
Hermione sighed and nodded. "Yep, that's it!" she told them. "Well, not really," she added in her thoughts.
"Let's hope that's it," Ron said. "But it's still strange…"
"Why?" Hermione inquired.
"Well," Ron replied, "Who's ever seen a student getting giggly over a class?"
****************************************************************************
Hey! Here's Chapter 3 – finished! I know it's a bit strange – Hermione's thoughts are taking over, I guess, and Ron doesn't like it. Thanks to all the reviewers, and I'll try to have Chapter 4 posted up soon!
Draco's Girl – Sorry that it takes me so long – I've got to wait for the muse to descend down upon me before I write. I'm sure it's a bit difficult for you to, though! I'll try to have Chapter 4 finished sooner!
Juvenus – Thanks for the compliment! I love Oliver and I love writing fics about him…sigh…who doesn't?