Hi again!

Well, here's chapter 5! Enjoy! :)

Courtney's POV

I woke up quite early that Saturday. It was the first weekend us third graders were going to Hogsmeade, and I was really excited about it, and spending the whole day with my friends.

Oh, whatever. Yes, I was willing to spend my whole day with Noah.

It's not like I never spent time with him. In fact, we were deskmates or partners in half of my lessons, but still, we never really got to talk. That one would be a perfect day, I tell you.

I had everything perfectly planned. First of all, we would pass by Dominic Maestro's, where luckily we could find Trent (this one is for Gwen!). After a possible conversation with Trent, we would go over to Spintwitches and buy our Quidditch clothes. Then we would go to Tomes and Scrolls, since we all loved reading, and then we would go to Honeydukes. After all our shopping, we would go to either The Hog's Head or The Three Broomsticks and have lunch.

I personally would have liked visiting Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop with Noah. I mean, it would have been sooooo romantic! But no, I couldn't. At least not yet. I hoped we could get to go together some day soon, though.

Gwen and I dressed in our regular clothes. I was glad I could finally wear them. When we met the boys downstairs, I was somewhat stranged by their clothes. After all, I'd got used to them wearing the school uniform.

"Ready?" Noah asked.

I nodded.

We went to the school gates, where Argus Filch waited for us.

"Permissions?" Filch asked.

We handed each of our four permissions signed by our parents. Then, he opened the gate and let us through. We followed the path to the village, which was about fifteen minutes away by foot. The trees' leaves were orange by that early October date, and the flowers were still flowering.

"This place is beautiful," I commented.

"It is," Noah agreed.

"Springing this beautiful colors," Cody mused "Yet calm and peaceful."

We arrived to the busy Hogsmeade town, where we could already see some of our classmates wandering around.

"Let's go to Spintwitches," I suggested.

"Oh, isn't that next to Dominic Maestro's?" Gwen asked happily.

"Yeah," I answered, winking my eye at her.

Wait, was Cody glaring at me?

We went to Spintwitches, and curiously enough Trent wasn't around Dominic Maestro's, which seemed to make Cody surprisingly happier. Without doing anything at all for Gwen, we came into Spinwitches, where we were buying our Ravenclaw Quidditch clothes. I went to the attendant.

"Please, could we have four Ravenclaw Quidditch outfits?" I asked.

"Why, sure," the girl, who was around her early twenties, answered.

She got her wand and inchanted four outfits to come to us. After we tried them, we found out they fitted us perfectly. We payed them and then went outside.

"Where should we go now?" Noah asked.

"Maybe Tomes and Scrolls?" I suggested.

"Sure, I ran out of books last week," Cody said.

We headed to the booksellers, where we spent a good hour, looking for interesting books to read. I finally chose Merlin's Apprentice, while Cody chose Twins in Alma Aleron, a book based in twin brothers attending the American wizard school called Alma Aleron. Noah chose The Magical Crusades, while Gwen took a sample of Stranded, a book about a wizard getting stranded in muggle London. After that, we payed them.

"I really feel like going to Honeydukes," I said.

"Let's go there!" Noah exclaimed.

On our way to Honeydukes, we passed by Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop.

"I find that shop too cheesy," Gwen commented.

"Oh yes?" Courtney asked "Well, I've always thought it would be quite romantic to go there. Maybe with the right person..."

I eyed Noah, but then quickly started walking again, realizing I could've just given myself away.

Gwen's POV

Seriously, Courtney seemed to freak out when she realized she'd looked at Noah. And both of the boys were looking away, so they didn't realize anything. But still, she was silent for the whole walk to Honeydukes, but when we finally arrived, she seemed to soften a bit.

"I want some chocolate frogs," she said "and all-flavored beans, and chocolate cauldrons, and..."

"Hey, hey, hey!" I cut her "Hold on to your heels!"

But Cody was worse than Courtney. You see, he's addicted to candies. I mean, when we came out of the sweetshop, he had a bag full with everything they sold there!

"You'll get you teeth rotten," I adviced.

"Who cares?" he asked "These candies are worth it!"

We all laughed, knowing Cody's little vice.

"Could we go-" Courtney started.

"May I choose now?" Noah interrupted.

Courtney blushed.

"Sure," she muttered.

"I would like to go The Three Broomsticks?" he asked "It's almost three o'clock already!"

"Now I know why I was feeling so hungry," I laughed.

The Three Broomsticks was quite calm, being it a Hogwarts-visiting day.

"Rosmerta, we've got late eaters!" a young man cried.

"It's a bit late for lunch, isn't it?" the owner of a pub scolded us. Then she raised an eyebrow "At Madam Puddifoot's for a double-date?"

We all blushed, probably Cody the most. When I turned to him, he was burning in a blush.

"Not really," Courtney mused "We were just shopping."

"Oh. Sorry then," Rosmerta smirked "Table for four, right?"

We sat in a little table, which had four little seats. It was so shrunk down my arm brushed against Cody's, who was sitting by me. I could see Courtney was quite happy to be this close to Noah.

"What are you taking?" Rosmerta asked.

"I will take a chicken leg," Noah said.

"I will take some pork," I said.

"Um...ribs, please," Cody said.

"I will take chicken leg too," Courtney ended.

"Drinking?"

We all ordered butterbeer. I had never tried it before, although my dad told me it had no alcohol and it actually tasted better than regular beer.

"I like this place," Courtney commented, "We've missed a lot during all these years we've never been here."

"It was against the school rules," Cody retorted.

"Yeah, as if we care much about the school rules," Noah laughed "I don't know if you've noticed, but during the last two year's we've broken around fifty school rules and have lived to recall it."

"True," I agreed "Surprisingly enough, we haven't broken any rule this year."

"Yet," Courtney smirked. Then, she elbowed Noah "Mister here seems to be a radar for trouble."

"Me?" Noah faked a surprise tone.

We all laughed, but we were interrupted by Rosmerta carrying our meals.

"Lunch is served!" she exclaimed.

"This pork is awesome," I stated, "But not as half as good as the butterbeer!"

"Totally," Courtney agreed "It's delicious!"

"I personally find it too buttery," Noah said sarcastically.

I looked at Cody, who chewed his BBQ ribs thoughtfully. He hadn't talked much since we'd sat down. I think he was shocked about Rosmerta's comment about the double-date. Was it so bad to suggest he was dating someone? It'd been a little joke, and that was all.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Yeah...sure," he said dismissively, but then started eating again.

Cody's POV

I wasn't really eager to conversation after what Rosmerta had said. Yeah, it would have actually been awesome for me to be there in a double date with Gwen, but I was not. We were four friends eating in a pub, nothing else. I thought about Trent, and how he made her suffer so much. He certainly wasn't worth of her time.

But were I? I wasn't sure. I was a regular thirteen-year-old, and I wasn't much of a sportsman. I didn't play any instruments. I didn't have the best grades in the our whole grade, but they were fairly good. I wasn't any more special than Trent. Who would choose me instead of him?

I finished my BBQ ribs and my butterbeer without saying anything at all, and I was also silent while we headed back to the school, around half past four. When we arrived to the school, we went to the common room.

"Should we go to the lake?" Courtney asked.

"I've got to finish my History of Magic essay," I mused.

"We'll stay here, then," Gwen said.

"I'm finishing it in my room."

I went upstairs without saying another word. I got my textbook, ink, feather and papyrus, and started writing about the First Great War silently. A moment later, I could hear the door opening. Great, it was Noah.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Nothing," I muttered.

"Have we done something?" he insisted.

"No..."

My friend hesitated for a second, then snapped his fingers.

"I know! It's because of Gwen, right?"

I sighed and nodded.

"Man, it's no big deal. She'll ultimately get tired of Trent."

"Yeah, but you don't understand it," I protested "Courtney doesn't like anyone. Gwen does. It's easier to make a girl like you when she's not crushing on someone else."

"I know. But you can't quit, Cody. You're so much better than Trent!"

"Thanks, dude," I left my books on the bed "I think I'm joining the lake trip."

I high fived Noah, and then we ran downstairs to meet the girls.