Getting Back To Normal

The next morning was almost as exciting as the last night. All of the students were running around the common rooms, greeting each other, and preparing their books. They were getting dressed, or going back to sleep, but just for 5 more minutes Most of the students were in the Great Hall, eating their breakfasts.

Katie walked into the Hall, late as usual. She immediately looked for her friends from other houses. She spotted Kim listening to Hermoine go on about some advanced potions that she had learned over the summer. Harry and Ron didn't look very interested either. Also, at the Gryffindor table was Seamus, Katie's twin brother. They didn't look much like each other, but they had the exact same accent. Sitting next to Seamus, was Neville, who was Jenny's cousin. Katie spotted her, again, sitting with Draco Malfoy and his friends. Draco and Jenny seemed to be in their own little conversation, leaving the others out of it. Katie then looked at the Hufflepuff table. She saw Michelle sitting, looking like she was in some sort of trance. Or was she just staring at something. She tried to see what Michelle was looking at. She should have known. It was Harry. Katie thought Harry was a nice guy and all, but he just wasn't her type. She was looking for someone different. She made it to the Ravenclaw table, and sat down with Jake, One of the 6th years in her house. They began talking about how exciting Ancient Runes was. Everyone enjoyed their meals, and then it was time for class to start.

Jenny walked into her Charms class, and looked for somewhere to sit. The class was almost full of people. She saw Draco, but he was already sitting next to Crabbe.

Then, she heard a voice call, "Jenny! Over here!" It was Katie. Jenny was relieved to have one of her good friends in this class. Especially her smartest one. Jenny took a seat next to Katie, and they talked until Professor Flitwick called attention to the front of the classroom.

"Ahem. Have we got everyone?" he began. "Right then. Ok class, today we are going to be creating fire. Now, this will be useful if you are ever stranded and are in need of heat and wood. But I remind you; you must follow my directions carefully, and not take advantage of this charm. It can be very dangerous. Now, I want you to all take the fireproof plates that I have set out, and put a few pieces of wood in it. We'll start out simple, and eventually work up to starting fire without anything to keep it going." Katie was very concentrated, Jenny noticed. She always looked like she was trying so hard, almost as if she was coming up with an idea that was different from the Professors.

Flitwick finished giving the directions, and set the class off to try the charm on their own. Shouts of "embersiempre!" pierced through he classroom. Not many students got it on their first tries. Jenny yelled the spell, several times, but all that came out of her wand was very small sparks.

"Katie, you try." She passed the plate over to Katie. Katie looked at the plate. The spell did seem hard. All of a sudden, Neville had set fire to Dean's cloaks! Everyone's attention was directed towards the fire, so Katie took out the lighter that she had bought while on vacation in London the past summer. She lit the lighter, and put it next to the wood. It set on fire. Katie yelled "embersiempre!" All of the class turned to look back at her, and her achievement.

"Bravo, Miss Finnigan!" said Professor Flitwick between applauding. He then realized that the fire hadn't been put out completely, so he shouted the counter charm to spray water on it, and mend the robes.

Katie had impressed the class, yet again. Yes, Katie Finnigan, the brightest Hogwart's student of her year, maybe even her generation. All of these amazing things that she did. Were they really that impressive? No one had actually seen her do any of the great things she was known for. In her second year, the class was instructed to turn a snake into a hairpin. A student (probably Neville again) had lost control of his snake, and distracted the class. Katie just took a pin out of her hair, and set the snake free outside the class door. The previous year, in Defence Against The Dark Arts, she always narrowly escaped ever having to demonstrate things in front of the class. The only time she had to do something was when she had to defeat a hinkypunk. She yelled out a made up spell, and all that came out of her wand was smoke. When the class got too foggy, she just beat the creature up, until it passed out. Once the smoke cleared, the entire class thought that Katie was a hero. She didn't feel like one, because she was the only one who knew her secret.

There wasn't anyone who knew that Katie was a squib, and she hoped that there was no one who had actually caught on yet. She had been so successful throughout her years, and her parents were so proud of her. They were one of the few pure blood families left. What would they have thought if their only daughter had no magical powers at all? It would crush them. And what if the other students found out? They would feel pretty bad if a squib had done so much better. It would probably even send Hermoine into insanity. She could never bring herself to telling anyone.

Lunchtime had come, and Katie entered the Great Hall. She immediately spotted Kim at the Gryffindor table. She was sitting with Harry, Ron, and the Weasley twins. She walked over to the table and said, "Hey guys. What's up?" Everyone looked up from their conversation, except for Fred and George. They seemed to be quarrelling over something.

"Nothing much," said Kim. "We're just listening to these two bicker over music." Ron and Harry shook their heads at the pair.

"I see. What kind of music?" Katie asked.

"Well," began Ron. "Fred is really into punk rock music, and George prefers jazz music. They are arguing over which genre is the best. I personally don't like either of them."

"Shut up," said Fred, and he went back to his argument. Katie had no idea that George had such good taste in music. She never really got a chance to get to know him. Katie also realized something - George was kind of cute. Even though he was a twin, George stood out. Why had she never realized this attraction before?

"Well, I'm really hungry, so I'm gonna go eat my lunch now." She started to walk to her table, when she heard George speak.

"Talk to you later!" he said. Katie almost tripped over her shoelaces. She made it to the table without any major damage. Justin then came down and sat next to her. They talked about the potions homework, until it was time for afternoon classes.

The afternoon wasn't very exciting. But the again, she DID have history and astrology. History consisted of listening to stories about things that happened hundreds of years ago. Katie was bummed, because she didn't have any of her friends in that class. Astrology was the same. She had a bunch of Slytherins in that class, and she had no desire to talk to any of them.

The rest of the week went by really slowly, and the homework piled up really fast. By Friday, she had about 4 parchment rolls worth of just potions work! Luckily, all of her homework was written assignments. Most of the classes that Katie took required as little actual magic doing as possible. Potions, History, Arithmetic, Ancient Runes were just some of the subjects that she took.

Once it was finally Friday night, Katie decided that she wanted to have some fun. She would do her homework on Saturday. She set off down the corridor, in search of one of her friends. First, she found Michelle, standing outside the Fat Lady portrait.

"Michelle!" she said. "How come you're outside of here?"

Michelle replied, "I'm waiting for Kim. Then we're going to go pick up Jenny. And on the way, I was going to pick you up too. We're gonna go take turns using Kim's broomstick."

"Sounds fun. Is it just the four of us?" Katie hoped Michelle would say no.

"Yes," said Michelle. "Why? Is there anyone that you would like to join us?" She seemed interested in Katie's comment.

"N..No. Who else would I want to come? It's not like a have a crush on anyone right now. I have to focus on my studies. I'm not like you and your love for Harry Potter." Katie said the Harry Potter part extra loud. Michelle shot Katie a dirty look. Kim emerged from the portrait with her broomstick, as well as Harry potter and George Weasley.

"Hey guys. I hope you don't mind these ones coming with us tonight. Harry and George both have extra brooms. And poor George is lonely tonight," she said in a mocking tone.

"Aww, why is he lonely?" asked Michelle in a concerned tone.

"Because," said George. "Fred went out on a date with some girl in Hufflepuff." Katie thought he looked so cute when he was sad. She just wanted to go over and hug him. She decided not to, as he would probably be creeped out by it. The group set off towards the dungeons, where Jenny was waiting. She was probably getting impatient, because they were late leaving.

When they picked up Jenny, they all headed outside for some well-needed fresh air. Everyone took turns riding Kim and George's broomstick. No one really got to use Harry's, because him and Michelle kept going for rides together and flirting. Katie wondered why she couldn't do the same thing with George. She wished that Jenny would hurry up and finish on his broom, so she could have a try.

It finally came for Katie to ride on the broom. "Do you know how to ride one of these well?" Katie wanted to fall over.

All she could get out was, "no."

"Alright, I'll show you then. Here, get on the broom." he said as he picked her up and placed her is the right position. He then climbed on the broom as well, and the shot off of the ground. Katie loved the feeling of being so high, and the fact that she was with George made it even better.

Back on the ground, Jenny was waiting alone. Everyone else was on a broom, except for her. She was watching all of her friends on their broomsticks. Michelle and Harry were so cute together! Katie and George looked pretty close too. That was odd. Jenny had no idea that there was something going on between those two. She would wait until later to ask her. Jenny then continued watching the sunset, until she saw Draco walk by. He was with that pansy ass Pansy. Well, he wasn't actually with her. She just looked like she was following him, and he didn't seem too interested. Draco walked by and winked at Jenny. Jenny smiled back at him, and she shot a dirty look at Pansy, who looked shocked at Draco's action. Jenny laughed to herself, and went back to waiting for her friend to come back. Kim arrived on the ground first, then Katie and George. Jenny had lost sight of Michelle and Harry, but no one bothered to look for them. The remaining members of the group decided to go back to the castle, since it was getting dark outside. George and Kim had quidditch practice in the morning, so they needed a lot of rest.

While they were walking, Jenny and Katie walked slowly behind the rest of the group.

"So, I see you and George had a good time tonight." Jenny said.

"What do you mean by that?" Katie was scared. Jenny knew something.

"I mean, did he ask you out up there? You guys looked so into each other tonight! Even Kim noticed! Don't tell me that there wasn't anything there, because we all saw it." Katie's face went from slightly pasty, to full out ghostly. She was beginning to resemble Peeves.

"Can we not discuss this while he's so close?" she said in a quiet voice.

"Fine," said Jenny. "We will discuss your love matters tomorrow. Honestly, I think you should tap that! He's a cool guy." Katie was happy when she heard this.

The rest of the walk mainly consisted of everyone making fun of each other, but then they finally separated when Professor Snape threatened to take off points if they didn't get to the dorms by the time he counted to ten. The group said their good nights, and left their separate ways.

Katie fell asleep right away, thinking about the perfect night she just had.