Chapter 6

A/N: Please R&R! I am starting to make my chapters a little longer, so maybe you'll read and review more. This chapter has some romance-like things in it, so read! By the way, thank you far all who reviewed and gave me advice for chp. 5.

Harry was sitting in the common room with Ron that night. It was quiet, dark, and the only sound was the fire cracking. Harry watched as the flames twisted and curled into smoke puffs, which floated peacefully up the long slim chimney. Ron flicked through his potions book, and it added a sound of paper being rubbed together in the room. Besides that, it was quiet.

Violet, Sunny, and Klaus had gone off with Hermione and Ginny on a tour of the school. Harry wondered if they would ever get back. It had already been an hour or so. Though, the more Harry thought about, the more he remembered it was a really big school, and would probably take a while to get around. But the more he thought about that, the more he thought, Why am I worrying and wondering? Harry couldn't put his finger on it, but for some reason, he did want them to come back…

Harry's thought wondered for an hour or so in the silence, until Ron finally spoke up.

"Do you know who's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts? I don't remember anyone saying anything about it." Ron said, closing his potions book and reluctantly setting it on the table. "And have you seen that book? Have you seen how complicated those potions are? I don't know how we'll survive the bloody class. Not with Slughorn teaching, anyway."

"First of all, no, I don't know who's teaching the class. Second, yes, I have seen the book, and the potions aren't that hard. And third and foremost, I don't know how we'll survive Slughorn, either." Harry said, still staring intently at the fire, which was dying down. Ron stretched.

"Yeah, it's going to be tough on us this year, mate." Ron said. He and Harry smiled. Suddenly, they could hear laughter outside the portrait hole. Harry looked up from the fire.

Hermione, Ginny, Violet and Sunny came walking in, laughing. Klaus dragged in behind them and slumped up to the boys' dormitory with only two words. "Ugh, girls."

"I'm with him, I'm B-E-A-T." And Ron followed Klaus up the stairs. Violet sat down on the couch next to Harry. Hermione sat next to Violet, and Ginny sat next to Hermione.

"How was your night, Harry?" Ginny asked, smiling.

"OK, I suppose. If staring at a fire for two hours is considered 'doing anything', then I had a great time." Harry answered dully, turning back to the fire. The girl giggled.

"Come now, Harry!" Hermione said. "You can't say that is all you did for two hours?"

"You're right; I remember talking to Ron for half a minute." Harry said again dully, not even cracking a grin when the girls laughed.

"Well, we had an excellent time; this school is humongous, and it was great!" Violet said. When Harry heard her voice, he for some reason snapped back to reality.

"What did you do?" He asked.

"Well, first we went to Professor Dumbledore's office, and he gave us some of those snapping liquorish candies." Ginny said.

"Then we went around to all the classes…" Hermione said. They paused.

"And met the new teacher." Violet whispered. Harry's head flicked up, staring at Violet.

"WHAT! Who was it!" Harry cried, jumping to his feet.

"Her name was Sofia Faux." Violet continued, "And she was, no offense, kind of crazy."

"Talked to much." Ginny said.

"Just blabbed on and on about nothing!" Hermione complained.

"And she had the most horrible, shrill, cackled laughter ever." Violet said.

"Great. Just what we need; another freak to go along with Slughorn." Harry said.

"Yeah… I'm going to bed." Hermione said, standing and starting to walk off.

"Me too." Ginny said. "You coming, Violet?"

"Yeah, in a minute." She answered. Ginny shrugged and walked off. Harry felt severely uncomfortable as he and Violet sat there alone. She spoke very suddenly. "Thank you." She said.

"For what?" Harry asked looking at her.

"For, you know… everything. You know, the whole 'save our butts' thing." She said. "And for the whole, 'hide us in a magical place so that Count Olaf can't find us and destroy, kidnap or steal from us' thing." She smiled as Harry laughed a little. Harry did the same.

"No problem." He said. His smile faded a little. "Too bad you're in just a little, tiny bit more danger here." He said sympathetically. Violet smiled.

"Yeah, well… you can't escape the dangers of life." She said. Harry smiled again. "I think, I'm just going to head up to bead now." She said. Harry nodded. Violet stood up and walked over to Harry. Harry looked at her nervously, why is she just looking at me like that? He wondered to himself. She grabbed his hand and again said, "Thank you." Before letting go and walking off.

When Violet was gone, Harry seemed to actually breathe for the first time. He suddenly heard sniggering in the background. He whipped around, only to see Ron standing behind him.

"Harry's in love, Harry's in love…" Ron was chanting, spinning in circles and laughing as Harry glared at him.

"AM NOT!" Harry said frustrated. Ron laughed harder and fell to the floor with a thud. Harry rubbed his temples. "Ron, she- she's only 14." Harry said, trying not to yell at Ron. Ron snorted loudly, then stood up.

"So? That's only- err- three years difference, it's not that bad!" Ron said, falling backward again and cackling on with laughter. He continued chanting, "Harry's in love, Harry's in love…". Blushing madly, Harry stood and walked off into the dormitory. He plopped down in his bed and shoved a pillow on top of his head. I do not like her, I do not like her… Harry kept thinking. Too bad he wasn't really sure. Was Ron right; were 14 year olds OK to like? Harry had trouble determining his thoughts as the rambling of Ron continued in his head. "Harry's in love, Harry's in love…" And Ron cackling with laughter, rolling on the floor. "Harry's in love, Harry's in love…"

A/N: Thanks again for all who reviewed. I hope you like this chapter, and there'll be much more action soon. Thanks, and happy holiday's to all!