Chapter Three:

Charmed

"Schedules! Seventh year schedules!" Hermione called as she walked to the Gryffindor table. "Lavender, this is yours… no, Ron must have yours, Neville… here, Harry, this one's yours."

Harry took it from her and examined it. He wrinkled his nose. This was not the seventh year schedule that he had been hoping for. Today he had Transfiguration with The Hufflepuffs, Potions with the Slytherins, and Charms with the Ravenclaws. Ron glanced over his shoulder to look at his.

"I've got the same, 'cept I've a free period during your Potions. Sucks to be you."

"Life's got it in for me," Harry groaned.

"But you've got all classes with Hermione," he added, turning back to his cereal. "I've got a free period to mess around until she comes back to help me on my homework."

After breakfast, Ron, Hermione, and Harry headed for Transfiguration along with the other seventh years. Harry knew that Professor McGonagall would be lecturing them on the importance of their seventh year in order to pass their NEWTs… he really wasn't looking forward to it.

"Sit down, Miss Brown. Mr. Finnigan, if I see that in my sight ever again, I will have you cleaning in the kitchen with the house elves."

McGonagall took her place at the front of the classroom while Seamus scowled and stuffed something into his pocket.

"You don't need me to tell you, but this is your biggest and final year at Hogwarts. You will be taking your NEWT exams at the end of the year which will in fact determine your career path. I won't even attempt to stress the importance of your concentration and diligence that will be required this year in order to perform well during these exams. We will fine tune your mechanics this year as well as putting them to practical use. I doubt there will be a time when you will need to turn a turtle into a tea kettle."

"Then why did we learn it?" Ron asked Harry as he rolled his eyes.

"Because, Weasley, you needed to practice your mechanics before you got to the more complicated things," McGonagall said, eyeing Ron. "Now pair up. Take a crushed can. For heaven's sake, Miss Patil, it's just a crushed can. You will be transfiguring it into a pillow with the following incantation: Purgamentum Mollis! It uses just a simple jab movement—Longbottom, you're going to take someone's eye out. I said simple jab. Just about two inches forward… go with Potter…"

So Harry and Neville paired up while Hermione and Ron practiced on their own crushed can.

By the end of the class, Neville had managed to turn the can into a book, a lava lamp, a small black puppy, a wedding ring, a pink bunny slipper, and a full grown tree ("Pillow, Longbottom! Not willow! PILLOW!"). Harry was able to make his can spurt little white feathers out of the top, but Professor McGonagall was unimpressed. Hermione, on the other hand, had not only made a pillow, but graduated on to several sheets and even a quilt. They were all different colors, but McGonagall praised the fine stitch work. Only Ron and Harry were talking to her by the end.

Hermione and Harry trudged off to Potions with Snape, leaving a rather lonely Ron to practice Purgamentum Mollis on his own.

Potions was much of the same: Snape began with a similar lecture about their seventh year, giving Harry a rather nasty glare when he mentioned that only the best would do well in such a high level class. Malfoy gave him a nasty grin, but didn't dare do more since he was no longer flanked by Crabbe and Goyle; they couldn't have passed into this Potions class with the answer book in front of them.

After successfully brewing an adequate Healing VI Potion (alright, so it was teal blue as opposed to aqua blue… but it was close enough), Harry and Hermione left the dungeons before Malfoy could say something to them. Avoidance is the best defense.

They met up with Ron for lunch, but instead took their food out by the lake and enjoyed the crisp September air. The leaves were already falling and turning different shades of orange and red. The three crunched over the thin carpet of fallen leaves and sat under a large, tall tree and chatted amongst themselves, feeling as if they had never left Hogwarts at all.

"What's next?" Ron yawned as he sat up on his elbows, looking around the rather peaceful scenery.

"Charms with the—"

"—Ravenclaws," Harry said, his heart rate speeding slightly. He had been waiting for this class all day. He was going to see her again.

Last night when he was lying in bed, waiting to fall asleep, he had thought about her. What was it that made him think about her? She wasn't particularly pretty, though she had gorgeous eyes with very light, natural blonde hair. However, she seemed to tone down the beauty that she did have. She hid her eyes behind glasses, and her long hair had been pulled back. He didn't know her long enough to tell how smart she was, even though he knew that she was. He didn't know what her laugh sounded like. He didn't know whether she was funny or kind. She seemed to be rather awkward in fact.

All he knew was that he couldn't wait to see her again.

Harry rushed Ron and Hermione to the Charms room as subtlety as he could, but they still just walked as if they had all the time in the world—which they did, unless they were trying to make some sort of impression on The Girl. Which they weren't.

"Harry, are you feeling alright?" Hermione asked in a skeptical voice as he mentioned the time for the third time in five minutes. "Do you actually want to be there early for Charms?"

"Well… no…" Harry blushed and thought quickly. "I just… I've found that I rather fancy Charms and I want to make sure to get a good seat…"

"Right…" Ron said looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Well, we should go anyways. Five minutes until class."

Soon the three joined several other Gryffindors on their way to the Charms room. Harry craned his neck, trying to spot the blonde head among the brunettes, blacks, and red heads. But there were none.

"Oh, I wish that we didn't have to have Charms with the Ravenclaws…" Hermione said quietly.

"Why not? They're a nice group of people. Better than with the Slytherins," Ron said.

"Yes, but Scarlett Brooks is in Ravenclaw, and she's by far the best Charms student that Hogwarts has ever seen."

"Isn't she the blonde one?" Ron asked, doing as Harry had done earlier to look for the blonde head, but again without any luck. "The one with glasses?"

"Yes," Hermione sighed. "I mean, she's a perfectly nice girl… a little shy and socially awkward, but she's still very nice. Not egotistical at all. I just—"

"Don't want anyone to compete with you, do you, Hermione?" Ron teased.

"No! Well… yes…"

"She can't be that much better than you."

"Ron, this girl is a genius. You haven't seen her at work. She was in my Ancient Runes class last year… outdid me by twenty percent!"

"How is that possible? Does she have a life?"

"She does. I believe… I've seen her at Hogsmeade several times with her friends. She was at the Yule Ball too. Went with Terry Boot, I believe."

"That was her?" Harry said, finally catching his tongue.

"Yes, she does look very pretty whenever she wants to," Hermione smiled.

"Well, where is this beautiful, blonde Charms genius?" Ron said, looking behind him as if he expected her to be right there.

"She's not here yet, obviously."

"Yes, she is," Harry said quietly. "She just walked up the stairs."

Indeed, Scarlett had arrived, though quite unnoticeable except to the three who were watching her. She carried two heavy looking books in her arms with her bag thrown over one shoulder. Her long, blonde hair was pulled back again, but the shimmer of its naturalness was evident.

"… So that's Scarlett Brooks?" Ron said flatly, obviously disappointed.

"That's her."

"She doesn't look that pretty to me."

"She was. At the Ball. Terry couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Couldn't believe that she had transformed like that overnight."

"I can't imagine that she could," Ron said, tilting his head as if to see another side of her as she opened one of her books and leaned against the wall. "She looks like a bookworm to me…"

"Sorry for the wait!" Professor Flitwick's voice called through the hall. "Pardon me, watch your foot there…"

After several minutes, the class was seated in the classroom ready for the lesson to begin. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sat in a row together like they always had. Harry was glancing around the room to see where Scarlett was sitting. She seemed to have disappeared again…

"Excuse me." A soft voice came from Harry's right. He turned and was greeted by a shy smile and a pair of blue-green eyes. "Is anyone sitting here?"

"Uh… no. No. No one's sitting there," Harry managed to stammer as he moved some of his books over.

"Can I sit here then?" Scarlett asked.

"Sure. Of course. Yeah, you can sit here."

"Thanks," she smiled. She sat down and waved to Hermione. "Hi, Hermione! How was your summer?"

"Oh, it was good," Hermione smiled back. "You?"

Scarlett shrugged. "Much of the same. I stayed with my brother for a month though. He lives in New York."

"Really? What was it like?"

"It was really interesting. Especially since he's basically a Squib."

"So you lived without magic for a month?" Ron asked amazed. "How did you survive?"

"Barely. But I got to help my brother and his girlfriend with their apartment, so it was all good."

The chit-chat lasted for several minutes. Harry wished that he could have found the words that would make her laugh, but his tongue seemed to be tied to the roof of his mouth. He couldn't say anything.

After Professor Flitwick gave the same basic speech that Snape and McGonagall had given, he divided the students into pairs, and since Harry happened to be sitting next to Scarlett, she was his partner. Their job was to bewitch the key to unlock the lock that was set in front of them.

"Obturador!" Ron said loudly from their left, waving his arms like a giant windmill.

"Ron… stop it. You're not doing it correctly."

"Well, then why don't you try?"

"I would if you would let me have a turn—"

"No! Wait! I can do it!"

Harry was trying to concentrate on the lock and key, desperate to make a good impression for Scarlett.

"Obturador!" he said, making his wand swish down and point at the key. The key stood up on the desk, wobbled for a second or two, and then fell back down.

Scarlett laughed and Harry flushed. "You're doing fine, Harry. You just might want to make your swish a little more… sudden. Here, watch."

She squared herself to the lock, paused for a moment, and then swished her wand very quickly and said, "Obturador!"

The key hopped immediately off the table, jumped into the lock, and turned it self. The lock fell to the table, unlocked.

"How did you… wow… that was really good," Harry said, staring in amazement.

It was Scarlett's turn to flush. "Charms come easily to me." There was a pause before she spoke again, turning her radiant eyes on him again. "Did I ever tell you my name?"

"What? Oh… no, I guess you didn't."

"Oh, well, I'm Scarlett. Scarlett Brooks."

"I assume you know who I am," Harry said with a sheepish grin.

"Let's pretend like I don't," she smiled gently. "Pretend that I have no idea who you are."

It was almost an odd thing to pretend, but Harry couldn't help but smile back. Actually, it really wasn't an odd thing. It was quite a wonderful thing. She was giving him a blank slate to start with.

"Well, Scarlett, my name's Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter," she repeated as if she was thinking about his name. "It has a nice ring to it."

She extended a hand to him. "It's very nice to meet you, Harry."

Harry took her hand in his. At once, he felt warmness wash over him again, just like it did on the train. All he could do was sit there and hold her hand, blinking at her like an idiot.

But at that moment he didn't care.

Because at that moment, that's all that Scarlett was doing as well.

A/N: I like this chapter. It gets the pace moving at least a little faster. Anyways, please, please, please review. I'm really getting discouraged by the fact that no one seems go be reviewing. I've gotten nearly fifty hits, but only two reviews. So PLEASE review. Thanks to those who did.

I totally just realized that all of my chapters have started with "C"… hmm…