CHAPTER 3

She showed me the piece of paper and we just stared at it for a few minutes. I didn't want to be on the topic of music all night, but it interested her and it somewhat interested me so I tried my best to hold on to the subject.

"Er…could you play it one more time?"

She shrugged and played the piece, humming occasionally here and there saying things like, 'I wanted to add that part here' or 'I was thinking of repeating this part somewhere else in the song'. When she was finished, I complimented her and asked her for the sheet of paper. She gave it to me and sat back on her seat, resting the guitar on her lap. I took the pencil that was lying by her and corrected some notes and changed some too. She looked curiously at the piece of paper but I shielded it from her view.

"No peeking," I said jokingly.

She giggled and looked at me with a huge smile on her face. She played it again with my corrections and stated that she liked that better. I then showed off some of the songs I knew on the guitar, and then the whole compartment was plunged into semi-darkness. I got up and turned on the hanging lamp in the middle of the ceiling and sat back down next to Katrina. But she wasn't there anymore. She had put her guitar back in her suitcase and was now heaving it back into the cubby. Turning around to look at me, she clapped her hands together and let out a sigh.

"So, what do you want to do now? Oh!"

She looked out the window and clapped her hands to her mouth. Her round, dark eyes filled with excitement as she stared out the window. She stood close to the window and I got up and stood beside her, my hands in my pocket.

"Oh, look Sirius! It's beautiful!"

I couldn't disagree with her there. The velvet black night sky was sparkling with stars and there were only a few clouds in the sky, which were covering the moon. Katrina unlatched the window and pushed it open. The cool night air filled the compartment and completely relaxed me. The dark green grass was bathing in the starlight and was rippling because of the occasional wind whooshing through the air. Katrina rested her hands on the windowsill and stuck her head halfway out the window. She laughed as the wind flipped her hair out behind her.

She brought her head back in, her hair now wildly in her face. I laughed and pushed her hair out of her face. Then came one of the most awkward silences I've ever had to endure in my life. I had my hands on her shoulders and she had her hands on my arms. I bent closer to her and noticed that the compartment was gradually filling up with moonlight. I didn't care and moved closer to her face. She looked uncertainly in my eyes and hesitated. Then she turned away from my face and looked out the window, blushing furiously. I sighed and let go of her shoulders.

The whole compartment was swimming in the pale moonlight. I stared up at the full moon, gleaming in the black sky. There was a shuffle behind me; I turned to Katrina. But she wasn't looking peacefully out the window anymore. Her face looked suddenly scared and her eyes looked alarmed. I began to ask why but Katrina just pointed out the window at the moon, mouth open. I looked out at the sky, out at the full moon again.

Then it hit me, full moon.