A/N: first of all, a special thanks to Freebs: Thank you so very much for your kind help! Thanks to you I now have bold, italics and THREE DOTS! … … … Yippee! I really appreciated your help and I shall, from now on, love you forever! ;) Alrighty then, enough with the nonsense now… and on with the fic!
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Minutes passed slowly, seeming like a lifetime. I could feel Oliver's grasp around me, but neither of us dared to say a word. We just stood there, hearing the noises outside our compartment. After what felt like forever the lights finally went on again. Wood looked at me, concern evident in his chocolate brown eyes.
"Are you ok, Kats?" – he asked sliding his arms off my shoulder, but still holding my hand.
"Yeah." – I said breathing deeply. "And you?"
"I'm fine… what WAS that?"
"I have NO idea!"
"Come on, let's see what we can find out" – Oliver said getting up and letting go of my hand.
I followed him out of our compartment and into the isle, where we bumped into the Weasley twins.
"What the hell just happened?" – Ollie said as soon as we spotted them.
"Didn't you see it?" – George asked us.
"No, see what?" – it was my turn to ask.
"Dementors!" – came Fred's voice from behind George
"Dementors??" – Oliver said exasperated – "What the hell were DEMENTORS doing in Hogwarts Express?"
"Looking for Sirius Black! You know, the murderer who escaped Azkaban during the summer?" – George told us.
"Of course, Black! I had forgotten all about him… but why did they think they'd find him here of all places?"
"We don't know… suppose it's just precaution, the Prime Minister is very worried about Harry. Reckons Black might be after him."
"Oh my God, Harry!" – I yelled – "Is he alright?"
"Yeah, he's fine…"
"We've just been to his compartment. They told us he fainted, but he's all right now. There was some bloke there taking care of everything, giving their lot some chocolate, said it helps… apparently he scared the Dementors away."
"And who was he?" – Oliver questioned slightly suspicious, evidently concerned about his Seeker's welfare.
"We're not sure… what was his name, Fred? Luton?"
"Lupin" – George corrected – "we guess he might be our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"That's right! We have a new one this year…" – I said and chuckled remembering our last DADA teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart… good looking bloke he was, but what a buffoon! "So, how long do you think this one will last?"
"Well, according to the odds…" – Oliver started
"One year!" – we all said together, laughing.
"I'm just glad Dumbledore didn't give the position to Snape" – Fred said with a disgusted look.
"We all are, mate, we all are!" – George said as they both walked off down the aisle.
"Now we know what's going on, I guess we should change in our school robes, Ollie, I expect we'll be arriving soon!"
Oliver followed me back to our compartment, where I got my uniform and school robes inside my trunk and left again, looking for an empty changing room, leaving Oliver to change inside our cabin. When I arrived, fully changed, I found Oliver wearing only his trousers and an unbuttoned school shirt.
"Oh, sorry! I thought you'd be done already" – I said, turning to leave.
"It's all right, Kats! No need to leave, it's no big deal…" – he stated and I turned, taking another good look at him. After all, he WAS right in front of me.
"Nice abs…" – I thought and couldn't help a giggle.
"What?" – Oliver asked
"Oh, nothing!" – I answered. He eyed me suspiciously, while finishing buttoning his shirt, but I put on a fake-innocent look, so he rolled his eyes and decided to let it go.
As I took a seat, Oliver quickly put on his jumper and robes, but when it came to fixing his tie, he wasn't that efficient.
"Bleeding ties!" – he moaned – "Why don't they teach us a bloody charm to ties these things in our first year?! Now that would actually be useful!"
"Come here you clumsy!" – I said standing up – "Let me…"
Oliver came closer to me and in less than a minute his tie was properly tied.
"See, easy!" – I teased and winked at him.
"Thanks Kit-Kat!" – he said grinning and kissed my forehead fondly – "where would I be without you?" – Oliver added jokingly.
"Lost, I'm sure!" – I said smiling and poked his chest before we both sat again.
The rest of the journey went on quite smoothly, especially considering the past events. The arrival was just as messed and confused as always, there were students and animals everywhere, but it felt great being back! I couldn't help but smile when I got out of the train and got a first look of the distant castle ahead of us. A familiar, warm feeling started growing in my heart. It felt like being back home! The warmth grew even more as I spotted Hagrid, our Keeper of the Keys, his giant figure standing out from the crowd of students wandering about.
"Hagrid!! It's so nice to see you again!!" – I yelled through all the noise as we came closer to him.
"Oh, hullo, Katie! Good ter see yeh too! An' Oliver!" – Hagrid said cheerfully
"Hi, Hagrid, how are you?" – Oliver asked from behind me.
"Fine, Fine! Better than ever! How are yeh?"
"I'm good. Looking forward to quidditch season!"
"O' course…' – Hagrid said smiling.
"But what are YOU so happy about?" – I asked.
"Not tellin'! It's a secret… But don' worry, yeh'll see what it is at the feast!" – he answered with a wink – "Now, if yeh two excuse me, I've got work ter do" and with that, he left yelling "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"
"So, shall we then, milady?" – Oliver said offering his arm in a rather old fashioned manner.
"Why we shall, kind sir" – I replied pompously and took Wood's arms as we set off laughing towards the horseless carriages that would takes us to the castle.
We got into one of the carriages and inside we met Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, my fellow chasers on Gryffindor quidditch team.
"Katie, Oliver!" – Angelina said
"Hi, Angel! Hi, Liz! I haven't heard from you two in AGES! How was your summer?"
As the carriage moved towards the school grounds we chatted excitedly, filling each other in on the details of our vacations. Though Angel and Liz weren't very close mates of mine, being 5th years, we always got along very well. They were just as enthusiastic about quidditch as I was, which was rare among girls. Because of that they were also very interested in Oliver's detailed version of the match between Puddlemere and the Bombers.
"Wicked!" – Alicia exclaimed after Wood describe how perfectly the Puddlemere chasers executed a rather complex play.
Ollie continued to tell them all about the game and only stopped when we reached the school grounds. We all fell silent as we saw, standing by the gates, more Dementors. The sight of them made me shiver and I reached for Oliver's hand once again. He squeezed mine gently, yet reassuringly. After that, the conversation turned to the creepy creatures and Black's escape from Azkaban until we arrived at the castle. We ran inside as quickly as we could because of the icy rain that was falling hard from the sky. When we entered the Great Hall it was already filled with students and, though the enchanted ceiling looked rather grey and rainy, just like it was outside, the room was warm and rather welcoming with its hundreds of floating candles that, even after seven years, still amazed me.
We sat in our table, Oliver on my right, Angel and Liz across from us, with the other Gryffindors and waited for the rest of the students to arrive. After everyone was at their places, Professor McGonagall entered the hall with the same wooden stool where I sat seven years ago on my first day at Hogwarts. On the stool was the old Sorting Hat and he looked just as ragged as always. Following McGonagall was a pack of soaked and scared-looking first years. They were all anxious about the Sorting Ceremony, most of them not knowing what was going to happen and waiting for the worst. One too many times I had heard Fred and George telling fearful first years that they'd have to fight a Mountain Troll and things of the sort for the ceremony. Poor things, little did they know about their reputation: Never… NEVER trust a Weasley twin!
The sorting progressed just as usual and I cheered loudly along everyone else at my table each time a new kid was sorted into Gryffindor. After the ceremony, Professor McGonagall took away the stool and the hat as she did every year and Professor Dumbledore proceeded to his usual welcoming. He started by explaining the Dementors presence (though he didn't give much information on the reason why they were at Hogwarts), then moved on to introducing the new staff members: One of them was Professor Remus Lupin, as Fred and George had told us on the Express, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. The other, who was going to teach Care of Magical Creatures, was none other than RUBEUS HAGRID, to my great surprise. When Dumbledore announced him as being the new teacher, the Gryffindor table cheered louder than I had ever heard it do before and I clapped fiercely, until my hands began to feel numb.
"Well, I think that's everything of importance," – Dumbledore spoke again after the applause died down – "Let the feast begin!" – he added and took his sit again, just as food of all sorts began magically appearing in all the 5 tables of the Great Hall.
After eating as much as humanly possible, I began to feel a bit sleepy and decided to head to the Gryffindor Tower already. Nearly everyone was still having dessert, when I got up.
"Where are you going?" – Oliver asked casually while eating a mince pie.
"To ask Percy what the new password is… I'm going to the common room already" – I said – "Too tired" – I added through a yawn.
"Wait, I'm going with you."
"There's no need, Ollie! I DO know the way, you know… you can stay and finish your meal."
Oliver then finished dessert, putting a rather large piece of mince pie in his mouth and then standing up.
"Finished!" – he said grinning after swallowing it with some difficulty. I just rolled my eyes as he followed me towards where Percy was.
We got the password and then headed together to Gryffindor Tower, not talking much during the way. I kept yawning constantly and rested my head in Oliver's shoulder. He looked down at me and smiled. As we got to the entrance portrait hole that led to our common room, Oliver asked me:
"So, Kit-Kat, what did you think of our first day?"
"It was… eventful" – I answered sighing and then said the password, "Fortuna Major", to the Fat Lady.
"Yep… eventful, that pretty much covers it!" – Oliver agreed as we stepped into the nearly empty common room. We hugged each other good night and then proceeded to our dorms, for a much deserved and longed night of sleep.
***
A/N: Oh my… I can't believe I finished this! It was beginning to feel like I never would. It's rather long, eh?! I apologise if the story is too slow at the moment. I mean, 2 chapters and it's still their first day at school! I'm still not sure how it will go from here, but things will probably start going faster from now on. I just want to make sure I develop the characters well enough so that everyone can feel more familiarized with them and so that what comes next will seem natural. For those out there who are reading this: thank you for your time and I hope you're enjoying it! Till next chappie! ;)
