"Liz! Wake up!"
Liz rolled over in her bed and groaned, trying to ignore the persistent voice of Jen, who always woke her up in the morning.
"Seriously, Liz! I have important news!" Jen continued, reaching over and shaking her friend.
"What is it?" Liz mumbled, refusing to open her eyes.
"I'm going to ask Neville out!" Jen squeaked.
That got Liz's eyes open in a flash and she stared over at Jen in shock. It took a while for her to come to the conclusion that she hadn't dreamt that and she pushed herself into a sitting position.
"Are you serious?" she asked, yawning.
"Yes!" Jen said, now bouncing up and down on the spot. "I've decided I'll catch him after breakfast and just ask him straight out."
"Wow, you should've been put in Gryffindor. You're acting really brave." Liz commented, now rubbing her eyes to try and wake up more.
"Come on Liz, hurry up and get out of bed so we can go down to breakfast." Jen said, yanking the covers off her friend. Liz squealed as she was exposed to the cold air and she pouted, folding her arms.
"You're a horrible person."
"Yeah, I know."
"Go away."
"Nope. Not until you're up. Oh, and you got a letter from your Owl Pal, too." Jen said, going over to the table at the side of the room and picking up a letter, taking it over and handing it to Liz, who was now really enthusiastic.
"I was hoping they'd reply soon!" she said happily, quickly unfolding the letter and reading what it said.
To Spark,
Just like you, I'm also interested in this system. Cool name, by the way. Is there a particular reason why you chose it for yourself?
Anyway, I don't really know what to say. But are you a girl or a guy? I'm a guy, so I was just wondering. I think you're a girl because of the name you chose, but a guy could have chosen that too, so I guess I really have no idea.
Um, you can call me... Cotton? Sorry if it's a bit lame, but I couldn't think of anything else and my pyjama's are made of cotton so... well you probably don't care. Sorry.
I hope this was a fast enough reply. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better.
Cotton.
"He's so cute!" Liz exclaimed.
"What? He sent a photo?" Jen gasped, moving over to look.
"No, but the way he talks is just cute!" Liz said, folding the letter again. "He seemed a bit nervous, actually."
"Thrilling. Hurry up and get dressed!" Jen whined, pushing Liz's uniform onto her lap. Liz laughed and rolled her eyes, picking up her clothes and going to the bathroom in order to get changed.
It wasn't long before she had finished and come back out, moving over to the table to write a reply to her Owl Pal.
"Liz!" Jen exclaimed, throwing her hands up.
"I won't be long!" Liz shot back, quickly writing something down.
Cotton,
Just so that you know, you were right in thinking I'm a girl. I'm sorry I didn't tell you in my first letter, but it just slipped my mind. I have to get down to breakfast now because my best friend is going to murder me if I don't, and then I won't have much time to reply since I've got classes. So you can choose to reply right away or wait until this afternoon, I don't mind.
Ha, interesting way of choosing a name for yourself! I chose Spark because my mum used to call me a bright spark when I was little and it just entered my mind again when I was trying to decide on a name.
If you ever want to say anything random (for example, something about your pyjama's, haha) then feel free to.
Ah, gotta go! My best friend is threatening to tear up this letter!
Spark
"It's about time!" Jen exclaimed as Liz moved over to give the letter to her owl, sending it out with the instructions of 'take it to 7, Cotton'. She hoped her owl would soon learn that '7' was also 'Cotton' and she could stop calling her Owl Pal by a number.
"Alright, Jen, let's go get your love life moving." Liz teased, following her out of the dorm and down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Sitting at the Ravenclaw table, the two friends eagerly started eating and talking about what they were going to do that day. Liz reminded Jen that she would need to send a letter to her Owl Pal soon or she would get a detention, and Jen quickly swerved the conversation to how adorable Neville looked that morning.
"Your attraction to shy boys is amusing." Liz said with a giggle.
"Shut up."
"But it is!"
"He's forgotten something!"
"What?" Liz looked over at Neville and sighed when she saw that he was holding his remembrall in his hand and frowning in confusion. "And you've forgotten your brain this morning." she mumbled.
"Do you think he needs help?"
"Concentrate on what you're going to say after breakfast." Liz reminded her.
"Eep!" Jen exclaimed.
"Yeah, 'cause he'll know you're asking him out if you say 'eep'." Liz laughed. Her eyes moved from Neville to his friends and she watched in amusement for a moment as Seamus tried to perform a spell with his wand.
It wasn't working.
It wasn't long before Harry realised what Seamus was trying to do and quickly tried to stop him, causing a lot of people around them to laugh. Seamus seemed put out that no one believed he could succeed in doing the spell right and therefore became stubborn, refusing to stop – until, of course, Hermione stepped in and firmly told him to stop being careless.
"Gryffindor looks fun." Liz said with a smile.
"Imagine if Neville and I start dating!" Jen said. "We'll be able to hang out with them all the time!"
"That would definitely be a conversation starter!" Liz joked, earning a hit in the arm from Jen.
"Be serious, Liz, he's the love of my life." Jen said firmly.
"Alright, I'll be serious."
"Really?"
"Not any more. The moments gone."
"Liz!" Jen whined again, folding her arms in annoyance.
"Oh come on, you know you love me."
"Of course I do, I just wish you could be a bit more sensitive about my love." Jen replied solemnly, blinking her eyes sadly.
"Stop being a drama queen and I'll consider it."
Jen smiled sweetly and nodded, going back to eating and doing her best not to act overly dramatic in any way.
"Do you want to go and sit with them?"
"You said you were going to be serious if I stopped being dramatic!" Jen squealed.
"I was being serious! If we sit with them you'll have more of a chance of being able to ask him when their group leaves the Great Hall." Liz explained. Jen was quiet for a moment as she thought about her friends suggestion and then she smiled.
"Alright, let's go."
Liz grinned and followed Jen as they made their way to the Gryffindor table, sitting down close to Neville.
"Hey!" Liz greeted them. "Is it alright if we sit here? We've really thought hard about branching out and making friends in other houses."
"That's fine!" Hermione replied, smiling at her. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Hermione Granger."
"Elizabeth Teppett, but you can call me Liz. And this is Jenna Fanelli, Jen." Liz introduced herself and Jen. "We have Defence Against the Dark Arts together." she added.
"Oh, yeah!" Hermione nodded. "You're really good at that subject."
"Thanks." Liz grinned, feeling proud of herself.
Come on, Hermione had just complemented her!
"Well, this is Neville, Seamus, Ginny, Ron, Harry and Lavender." Hermione said, indicating each person as she said their name. They all murmured hello's and then went back to eating, being silent for a few moments.
"What do you two think of the Owl Pal system?" Ginny asked curiously between mouthfuls of food.
"Bleh." Jen said instantly.
"I think it's interesting." Liz said truthfully, smiling.
"Well, Ron and Harry think it's interesting too. They've already been writing to their Owl Pals and Ron is just about addicted!" Ginny laughed.
"Oh, shut up." Ron mumbled, his face going red in embarrassment.
"Is your Owl Pal a girl or a guy?" Liz asked Ron and Harry looked up, interested.
"Girl." Ron mumbled, his face going a shade darker.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they started dating in the end!" Ginny exclaimed, reaching over to nudge Ron teasingly.
"Shut up!" Ron said, firmer than before.
"Yeah, Ginny, what about your Owl Pal? I heard it's a guy." Harry said with a grin.
"And he's charming!" Ginny nodded. "A lot better than any of you lot any way." She giggled then and she and Hermione smiled at each other.
"I haven't written to my Owl Pal yet, I don't see the point." Jen shrugged. "But Liz has pretty much been addicted as well."
"Maybe she's Ron's Owl Pal!" Ginny exclaimed shrilly, bursting into more laughter.
Liz smiled and looked down at her food, thinking about that seriously. Ron had been already sending letters to his Owl Pal, and he had also said that it was a girl. Could it be her?
"I don't think so." Ron said, shaking his head. "My Owl Pal's got black hair."
Liz tugged absently at one of her brown curls, wondering why she was relieved to know Ron wasn't her Owl Pal.
"Maybe it's Cho!" Ginny exclaimed, turning to look over her shoulder at where Cho was sitting at the Ravenclaw table.
"Cut it out, Gin," Harry laughed. "Give the poor guy a break."
"Yeah," Ron said with a nod. "Give me a break."
"Where would you like it, Won-Won?" Ginny asked, batting her eyelids at him and imitating Lavender, who scowled from where she sat.
"Don't be stupid." Ron laughed, rolling his eyes and turning back to his food.
"So Neville," Liz said. "Have you written to your Owl Pal yet?"
Neville looked up from his food and shook his head.
"I don't know what so say." he shrugged.
"That's so cute." Jen whispered and Liz trod on her foot under the table to make her shut up.
"I didn't know what to say when I sent the first letter, either, but the words sort of come when you start writing." Liz shrugged. Neville nodded thoughtfully and continued eating.
"So you sent the first letter to your Owl Pal?" Harry asked and Liz nodded.
"I figured I'd take the initiative." she grinned.
"Cool." Harry said, looking down again.
"Well come on, we'd better go or we'll be late to class." Hermione said, beginning to stand up.
"We've got ages, 'Mione!" Ron whined.
"No we don't, Ronald." Hermione said firmly, turning and heading for the door.
"Oh, Merlin." Ron sighed.
"Ronald? Your full name is Ronald?" Liz asked with a giggle.
"Oh, shut up."