I requested that Hermione take a break from the Potions project to recover. She was going to be fine, but I didn't want her to stress about the project. I still felt awful about having her react like that.
Meanwhile, I was brainstorming what our next attempt might be. I looked at a few potions from one of my favorite books, 101 Potions Every Witch and Wizard Should Know, to give me inspiration. I wanted to do something simple, something that wouldn't be dangerous, and something that would be useful.
I came across the page of the Draught of Living Death. It was the potion that we had made the first day of class, and had stumped all of us. It was a hard potion, but it was used a lot. I knew that it was often used at St. Mungo's to help patients relax when they needed to, although it usually had a very strong effect. A small dosage would put even a large man to sleep for at least a day.
So I had what I considered a brilliant idea. If the potion was simplified and made weaker, it could be used much more often. In minor instances, it could be used to calm anxiety attacks and relax people before they started sleeping. I started to outline the new potion that night. It wouldn't be too hard to make: it had a short ingredients list and could probably be brewed in one class. I was actually proud of the idea, and hoped that Hermione would be supportive of it.
Luckily, when I presented it the idea to her during the next week's class, she seemed really happy with it. It definitely wouldn't cause any reaction like what she had when trying the last potion. "I'll test it, this time," I offered. If anything happened this time, I wanted to be the one to find out, even if she had insisted she didn't mind. She had made a full recovery.
We spent some time together that weekend getting the potion together. We wanted to be done with it early so that we could have time to play around with it. In a way, it was good that we had gotten started on it early, so that we knew the Homesickness Banisher wouldn't work. Most groups were still trying to plan their potions, which made me grateful that Hermione and I had ended up working together.
A little bit of time passed, and Hermione and I were definitely friends now. It seemed like we found each other at the perfect time. She was someone I could talk to when I didn't feel like talking to Adam, which was something that was becoming more often. I loved him, I really did, but I couldn't wait until he knew what he was doing and could stop being in such a foul mood. It was really unattractive. I had done nothing wrong, but I felt like sometimes he was taking out all his stress on me.
And I knew she was glad to find a friend in me. It seemed like she and Ron were always in the middle of some sort of fight. There was an odd dynamic in her friendships with Harry and Ron. I couldn't quite figure it out, but it intrigued me. She and Ron fought terribly, but when they weren't fighting they got along great. I highly suspected that she fancied him, but didn't want to embarrass her by asking. We weren't that good friends yet. And she seemed a little distant from Harry at the moment, but whenever he came up, she just told me he was going through a lot, whatever that meant. As our friendship progressed, I learned that he fancied Ginny Weasley, and was trying to get over Cho Chang. I wondered how Ron had taken the news that his best friend fancied his little sister, but Hermione just shrugged it off. It was a weird friendship that I didn't waste the time trying to understand. It just was. But I was the friend she needed when she couldn't talk to them.
The Hogsmeade weekend and the Quidditch match were coming up. The Hogsmeade weekend was a much needed date for Adam and I. In the castle, he was surrounded by all of his stressors at all times. I knew that if I could get him away from that for a few hours, he would be in a much better mood.
We started off in Honeydukes, where I bought a bunch of candy. I knew that he liked Cauldron Cakes, and figured that they might cheer him up when he was stressed out next. Then we went to Zonko's, where we amused ourselves with the jokes. It was so nice to see him finally smiling and laughing. I couldn't remember the last time that I had seen him grin, his dark eyes sparkling. When he smiled like that, I couldn't help but smile back at him.
We had a really nice lunch at The Three Broomsticks next. He had snagged us a booth in the back, giving us some privacy while we ate. Even though we were surrounded by our classmates, I really didn't want to have to entertain Geoff today. I just wanted some alone time with Adam.
"I've had a great time today," he told me.
"I'm so glad," I told him. "I enjoy seeing you smile."
His lips turned up even though he was staring at his Butterbeer. I grabbed his hand under the table. "I'm sorry I've been such a terrible boyfriend lately," he said. It felt great to be apologized to, because I felt like I had been suffering through this relationship the past month or so. I did love him, and I knew we would work through this rough patch. "You really deserve to be treated better than this..."
"I love you, Adam," I reminded him. I felt like he needed to be reminded of that as I could sense his confidence melting away.
"I love you too, Kat," he said. We spent a while at The Three Broomsticks, talking quietly. I snuck in a kiss whenever I could, the affection making him blush in a way that made me happy. We talked about his future, and he told me that he was applying to become an Auror just to placate his family. He had no actual intention of becoming an Auror, and knew he might get rejected, but it would buy him some time before he had to decide what he really wanted. To me, knowing that he had this possible back up option was good, even if he wasn't thrilled about it. My brother Robert had decided to become an Auror at the last possible second, as he had been similarly unsure of his future. But he had grown to love Auror training. Also, I could see that the tension that had hung over him like a black cloud the last few weeks was starting to thin out.
Hermione, Harry, and Ron came in, and I waved to Hermione. I knew that she was probably busy with them, so we wouldn't talk, but I still wanted to acknowledge her.
"Who did you wave to?" Adam asked. He didn't want to turn around and look, because that would look awkward.
"Hermione Granger," I told him. "We're working together on a project for Potions, and I really like her."
He shrugged. "She's friends with Harry Potter," he said, looking unhappy.
"So...?" I asked. I was a little confused about how this was a bad thing. I was neutral on my opinion of Harry, thinking him a bit overrated, but not a bad bloke.
"He's my rival in Quidditch!" Adam informed me, like I should have known that. "He's a really good Seeker, and when we play Gryffindor in the spring, I'm going to have a lot of competition!"
I just nodded. "I'm sure you will do really well," I told him. I gave him a reassuring smile, knowing that was what he needed right now.
We spent the rest of the day walking around Hogsmeade. In the afternoon, thick clouds rolled in and snow began to fall from the sky. It was early for snow, but not unheard of. We perused the small shops, and he bought me a bracelet I really liked, that had a small silver charm with my initials.
"I hope it doesn't snow for the Quidditch game next week," he said, as we walked back to the castle. The snow wasn't heavy, but it came down enough that it melted on our skin.
"Me too," I said, for purely selfish reasons. I hated sitting in the stands when it was cold.
Fortunately, the next Saturday it didn't snow. Unfortunately, the next Saturday, it was freezing. I had on one of Adam's travelling cloaks as I sat in the stands, but the chill still cut me. Hopefully the game would be quick. Hufflepuff was playing Ravenclaw today. Ravenclaw was the only team that was definitely worse than us, so I just prayed that Adam would find the Snitch quickly to end the match, and do it without getting hurt. He had dislocated his shoulder last year, and I hated worrying about him like that.
I cheered him on the best I could, as it felt like my mouth had turned into ice. Hufflepuff was definitely embarrassing Ravenclaw, though, with the goals they were scoring. Adam had done a lot with the Hufflepuff team, and the whole school looked on, impressed. I was so proud of him. It was seventy to ten, half an hour into the game. Adam hovered over us, his eyes scanning the field for the Snitch. It seemed like forever before he finally located it, floating down near the grass, trying to hide.
He dove for it before the Ravenclaw Seeker even had the time to follow Adam's line of sight to where the Snitch was. I was so happy when it was announced that he had captured it, because it meant I was that much closer to getting to go inside. Hannah Abbott, who was sitting next to me, turned to me.
"That was a really great game!" she said, grinning. "I can't believe we won by such a huge margin!"
I just grinned. I watched as the Hufflepuffs gathered in a clump on the field, celebrating their victory. This was a fantastic way to start off their season.
~.~
Twenty minutes later, I was waiting outside the Hufflepuff locker room for him to come out. It seemed like every member of the team left before he did. Finally, he came out. I threw myself at him, both to congratulate him and because he was warm from the showers.
"Come inside," he said, quietly, pulling me in.
"I don't think we should," I told him. I wanted to get back to the Common Room. Everyone would be waiting for him to join the party that was inevitably taking place in the Common Room. Plus there would be a fire going and warm pumpkin juice. "Let's just go in-"
He shut me up with a kiss, and pulled me inside by the travelling cloak I wore. "We're the only ones here, its okay," he coaxed me. He was very passionate as we snogged, and I didn't feel like putting up much of a fight. It was the most affection I had received from him in far too long. I was intoxicated by the hormones he caused to surge through my body.
"We should really get going," I told him, as he pulled the cloak off my shoulders. "They'll send someone to look for us and I really don't want to be found like this."
He nodded. "Fine," he said. He wasn't as cold as I was because he had a hot shower. We went up to the castle quickly, trying to make up for the time we had lost. I was happy to get some spiced cider and sit by the fire. I sat in front of him, my back leaning against his armchair as he discussed the match with some of his fellow teammates. I didn't really understand all of their technical jargon, but they all seemed happy with him, which made me happy in response. I was proud of him.
"Alex Sturgeon was at the game," one of the fifth year boys chimed in. Everyone knew that he was a top Quidditch recruiter, and it was a good sign that he was there.
But Adam wasn't going to give them the appearance of more confidence than was necessary. "We'll see," he said, trying to remain humble. There was a good chance that Alex wasn't there for him anyways. But secretly, I hoped he was there for Adam, because it would mean that he had a chance at following his passion of Quidditch.
All I could do was hope.
Author's Note: Here's Chapter four! I'm really excited. I've had some feedback that the story is off to a slow start- I know it may seem like that. I'm really setting up the story for later. The parts I think you're probably looking for are going to happen in the late teens-early twenties chapters (think Chapters 17 on). I don't think I've said it before, but this story will be an "epic" and probably will clock in around thirty five chapters, so really it's just beginning! Has anyone considered writing a chapter of my beta's story? Please let me know! Thanks to potter-reading-coastie for being a generally awesome person and fantastic beta :) Let me know what you think :)