Chapter 11 :

"I get the point Wendy now will you please SHUT UP!" snapped Christine that morning at breakfast, trying to ignore the whispers and fingers pointing in her direction.

Wendy and Ginny were practically rhapsodizing the whole affair to her that morning again and again.

"Your head was kinda like, tucked under his chin and his hand was around your waist. His hair was sort of…Entwined in your fingers and your hands were around his torso and you guys had some sort of peaceful expression on your faces," Hermione muttered in a low voice across the table.

Ignoring them, she quickly ate her toast, downed a cup of milk, swung her bag over her shoulder, and stormed out of the hall, looking extremely angry. As it was a lovely cool Saturday, she took her books down to the lake under the magnificent mahogany tree, spread them on the lush green grass, and began to study and revise. She attempted a complex charm, set by Professor Flitwick for homework which involved conjuring a pufferfish.

Pointing her wand at the dark murky water, she followed the instructions of the book.

1. Focus object/living thing in your mind and concentrate on it for a minute or so (depending on your magical abilities)

2. Point wand at desired place, imagining the object/living thing in the place or area of desire.

3. Flick wand upwards and say "Oppugno" firmly. (ehh…people, I don't like making up spells so I just took one from the sixth book although it isn't really meant for this "pufferfish" purpose. Please try to understand. Thanks :D )

Christine frowned in concentration, following the directions of the book. She flicked her wand upwards and said the spell, only to find that no pufferfish was conjured. Instead, she found a brown balloon with grey needles sticking out of it. Tightening her grip on her wand, she repeated the process, only to find that thick, stubby needle-like objects appeared in the water which floated downwards to the base of the lake.

Repeating the spell again and again but to no avail, at her sixth attempt she got up trembling with anger and frustration, she yelled "OPPUGNO!". Instead of the spell working, the wand shot an invisible force into the water which sent the dirty water shooting in her direction, soaking her to the bone. Taking a few deep breaths and closing her eyes, she decided to have one more go.

(Still sopping wet)she said the spell with much force, concentrating to a point where her head hurt. She finally saw some results after a few seconds, seeing a pufferfish materialize in the murky water. Then she suddenly saw Cedric's(who was standing next to her) reflection in the water. Shocked and half startled, she lost her concentration. Her pufferfish deflated and turned into a brown tinted glass.

Turning towards him, angry and determined to vent all her anger on him, she yelled "OI! I HAD THAT COMING ON UNTIL YOU CAME! BE A GENTLEMAN AND LEAVE.ME.ALONE! YOU-"

"Silencio!"

Christine opened her mouth, determined to scream louder at him, only to find her voice gone. Looking incredulously, she mouthed (in a screaming sort of way) to Cedric to lift the charm off her. Instead of doing so, he placed a firm hand over her mouth, saying :

"I will only lift the Charm off you until you have heard whatever I have to say," he said in a very much controlled voice, "What happened this morning was a total accident, I had no intentions nor designs on you," On seeing Christine's startled look, he pressed on " But it would really help, if you were nicer to…well, me. I haven't done anything to offend you, your always in such a bad mood and you tend to always vent it on me,"

Christine looked scandalized and pointed it at her throat, screaming the counter-spell in her mind, trying to lift the charm but to no avail. She pushed Cedric hard and indicated that if he didn't lift the Charms she'd claw him. Cedric refused, asking her to listen to him. Refusing to do so, she drew a parchment from her bag, pointed her wand at it causing the words "PRETTY BOY FREAK" to appear in black ink across the parchment. She stuck in forcefully on his head, gathered her books and headed back to her dormitory.

She found Hermione later and signaled to her to lift the Charm. When she got her voice back, pondered on Cedric's words for a long time…Thinking about the possibilities if she started to be nice towards everybody…Including him…

BORING.BORING.BORING.

She walked into the Great Hall for dinner that night, ignoring Cedric to the fullest extent, ate a quick meal, with his words still ringing in her head. After dinner, she made a quick exit, ignoring Ann's venomous ways of getting at her (eg, spreading vicious rumours and gossiping about her). When Christine walked pass Ann outside the hall, Ann pointed her wand at Christine's feet, causing a jelly like substance to spurt out, causing Christine to fall, slamming her arm on the table. A loud roar of laughter erupted from the Ravenclaw and Slytherin table in the Great Hall where the commotion was perfectly visable, as she scrambled to get up, only to slip and fall again. The commotion was spotted by the prefects and Ginny who quickly rushed forward to help. On standing up, Christine looked at Ann with a crazed look glazed in her eyes.

"Looks like you were too thick to succeed in a slipping hex! Instead you used ordinary goo, well, let me TEACH YOU !" Christine shouted at Ann (who was standing up, laughing at her ), pointing her wand at her and hexing her.

Although Ann slipped and fell hard on her back but recovered quickly, standing up with much difficulty. Both wands were drawn and were pointing at each other. A large crowd of students gathered around them chanting the word "catfight". Hate was the only emotion both Ann and Christine felt for each other at that moment.

"Expelliarmus!" Ann screamed.

"PROTEGO" Christine yelled, whose spell had caused Ann to double over and hold her side in pain.

Ann recovered quickly, but instead of sending another spell at Christine, she flung her wand down and lunged at Christine. Both girls were on the floor, trying to claw/punch/slap each other. Prefects rushed forward to restrain them, pulling them apart with much difficulty.

Cedric and Amanda Denzles restrained Christine (who was sporting a bloody lip and a cut neck) by her shoulders while two other prefects restrained Ann (who had red, bloody streaks down her neck and a bruise on her face).

The teachers rushed to the scene giving Christine and Ann five detentions apiece and a hundred points off each house.

"Mister Diggory, you are to escort Miss Lin back to her dormitory, and Miss Denzles Miss Hawkins," Professor Mcgonagoll said in an angry tone, "I will be writing to your families tonight, and I want both of you to keep OUT of trouble, you hear me Miss Lin?" she said, signaling to Christine whose chest was heaving and had a look at hate pasted on her face.

Casting another disgusted look at Ann, she headed back to her dormitory with Cedric by her. The awkward silence passed between Cedric and her. Not being able to stand it anymore, she blurted out-

"I… I was thinking about what you said this afternoon…And I did a lot of self-examination…" she choked out, swallowing her pride, "I thought…Maybe I could try being nicer…" she said, avoiding his gaze.

"Well…If it helps, maybe we can start over," he said, giving a warm smile, he held out a hand and said "Hi, Cedric Diggory, Hufflepuff,"

She attempted a small smile, saying uncertainly,"Hello…Christine Lin Zhao Ling…Gryffindor…Pleasure to meet you,"

"So is it Christine or Zhao Ling?" Cedric said, grinning.

Hey you all, please tell me what you think of this chapter. I may delete it cos I have other great ideas too. Please tell me if…

1 . The story is moving too quickly, with Christine starting to like Cedric

2 . My attempt to make Christine not so Mary-Sue'ish is successful (by giving her difficulty with her Charms Homework)

And under the reccomendation of one of the reviewers…Jin sumthing…I took that harry potter litmus test thing for mary sues. And I got 18 while a REAL mary-sue would have gotten 84?

And Christine will open all her birthday gifts in the next chapter. If she doesn't, please remind me. Hhahahah.