Chapter II
"My lord, am I glad to get out of there!" Ceri exclaimed loudly. We had been at Hogwarts for a week, and she was back to normal. In a manner of speaking. "Binns just goes on and on, and on, and on, and..."
I put my hand over her mouth.
"I get the point, Ceri."
She grinned and snapped at my hand. I was about to say something when a group of little second years ran past and one bumped into me, knocking the books out of my hands. I yelled at him but he didn't turn around. The echoing bell sounded for the next class, and Ceri hesitated.
"Go, it's not worth Snape getting mad."
She walked away as I got on my knees, picking up ink-splattered books and cursing under my breath. I reached for a book but another hand picked it up and held it out to me. I looked at it, then up the arm to the face into deep brown eyes.
"Thank you." I said, taking the book. He knelt down with me and helped me pick up my books.
"You should get a bag. It's not good to carry all these around." He said, standing and taking the books I held from me.
"I know, I just forgot it today." I reached my arms for my books, but he started walking. I followed my books.
"You're Kara Tyne." He said it as a statement.
"Yes."
"Fifth year."
"Yes."
"I'm Oliver Wood."
"I know." I noticed he was walking in the direction of my next class.
"Aren't you on Ravenclaw's Quidditch team?"
"I used to be. Not any more."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
We came to the door of my class and I looked at him.
"Thank you. You'd better get to your class."
He looked at me strangely. "We're both in this class."
I stared at him blankly. "Oh."
He laughed softly and handed me my books, opening the door. I walked to my seat and the cat on the desk regarded us both coolly. I set my books down as the cat leapt from the desk and transformed into Professor McGonagall.
"Why are you late?"
"I'm sorry, Professor, I dropped my books."
"Wood?"
"I stopped to help her pick them up."
She looked back at me. I nodded.
"Very well. Only because of Wood's gentlemanly conduct are you excused. But never again." She snapped, looking at us over her glasses.
"Thank you Professor." I murmured, sitting down.
"Take out your books and begin reading Chapters twenty-three through twenty- five. I want three feet of notes. If you don't get them done by the end of class, it's homework."
The rest of the class groaned, but I sharpened a quill and opened my book, resigning myself to the task. After twenty minutes of writing, I had a foot of parchment, and my hand was cramping up. I leaned back in my seat and stretched a little, popping my neck and cracking my knuckles. The sounds seemed to echo in the silent room, but there were other cracks as people found my idea to be a good one. I ran a hand through my hair and was suddenly aware of eyes on me. I hesitated before looking around, but glanced back to my right. Wood was staring at me. I tore off a piece of parchment and wrote a small note on it, crumpling it up as I coughed, and tossed it back to him. He read it and I saw his cheeks slightly tinged with pink. I giggled to myself. I hadn't thought he'd blush.
"Tyne, write." McGonagall snapped. I picked my quill up and wrote hastily. I heard Wood doing the same.
"Malfoy, I believe Miss Tyne needs assistance." Snape's sneer cut through the low chatter in the dungeon. I felt my cheeks grow hot as Draco walked over to me.
"Need some help, Ravenclaw?" he smiled at me. I nodded and kept my eyes on my cauldron.
"When did you put in the dragon claws?"
I spoke softly.
"What? I didn't hear. Speak louder."
"After the Niffler whiskers."
"There's your problem. You put them in before, or else it bubbles over like this."
I nodded as he pulled out his wand and cleared my cauldron.
"Let's just start over, shall we?"
I nodded and was silent as he directed me.
"No, don't cut them like that. You can't hack at them like a hunk of meat." He said, coming to my side of the table, standing behind me and putting his hands over mine on the knife and the pickled Hippogriff talons. I tensed as his chest pressed into my back.
"You have to cut them gently, or else the pieces will be uneven and the potion won't turn out right." His hands guided mine smoothly and the pieces were almost exact.
"Now you do it." He said, stepping away and going to the other side of the table. I calmed my trembling hands and tried to cut as he had.
"Good. You're doing well." He smiled at me warmly. I tried to smile back, but I saw the venomous face of Oliver Wood over his shoulder.
"Thank you." He saw me looking over him and glanced around.
"Don't bother about him. He's just jealous of me." He grinned.
"Why?"
"One, we beat him in the Quidditch match last week. Two, he wants to be the one over here talking to a beautiful girl."
I felt the blush rising into my cheeks.
"What position to do you play on the team?" I asked, surprised at my boldness with him.
"I'm Seeker, but I'm also Captain of the Slytherin team."
I nodded, still keeping my eyes on the table.
"Have you seen us play before?"
I shook my head.
"You should come watch us play. Come watch us bloody up Hufflepuff on Friday. It'll be entertaining."
"I might." He started to say something, but was cut off by Snape.
"I'm going to test your potions now. Remember, this is a powerful paralyzing potion. Too powerful, and it kills. Not enough, and it causes the recipient excruciating pain."
Some of the Slytherins chuckled and grinned. They were a cruel lot. Snape went around to the tables, dropping a drop of each potion onto a huge brown cricket. Some of them ceased to move and were obviously dead, others froze in mid-jump, and others twitched horribly. Obviously in pain. I held my breath as Snape came to my table and dipped the vial into my opaque grey potion. He held it to a torch and looked at it for a moment.
"Good color, Miss Tyne." He murmured. He released a cricket and dripped some potion on it before it left the table. It started to jump, but froze five inches from the tabletop, and dropped back to the table, rolling on its back.
"Excellent, excellent. Full marks." He said softly, glancing at Malfoy. I let out a long breath as Snape stepped away. Malfoy smiled at me and I looked gratefully back.
"You're good at potions. You really are."
"No I'm not. I get too nervous around Snape." I said as I cleaned up my work area.
"Just say to hell with Snape. He tries to intimidate you to see how you work under pressure."
"Well that's easy for you to say. He's your Head of House. And you're a prefect." He laughed.
"It's called brown-nosing. Try it sometime." He ran his fingers over the hair on my shoulder and walked away. I felt my legs trying to give out, but they wouldn't. Dammit! Why did I have to go all stupid around him? He was so handsome, and so nice. I didn't see why people didn't like him. He was a gentleman. I was absorbed in my thoughts and didn't notice Oliver Wood walking toward me. The bell rang and I slung my bag over my head.
"I see you got something to carry your books."
I looked up, startled.
"Oh, yes. I won't be dropping them anymore." I smiled.
"Damn. Then I can't carry them for you."
I laughed as we walked out the dungeon door.
"I wouldn't let you anyway. I'm too independent. Talk to you later." I called as I went to meet Ceri.