CHAPTER 3

A Rainy Day

Annie:

The next morning was rainy. I dragged myself out of bed and got ready. Catherine soon joined me and we walked down to the Great Hall together. Something in the back of my mind told me that something weird was going on. Like déjà vu or something. I sat at the end of the Ravenclaw table and Juliett sat at the end of the Hufflepuff table so we could talk.

"Hi." She said brightly. "Annie, Catherine…this is Matthew."

"Hi, Matthew." We shook hands and there was silence for a minute.

"Uh, Angelina?" I spun around to see Mark standing there. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA! Wait a slippery second! I recalled my dream the night before. I began to feel dizzy.

"Hey, Annie. You all right?" asked Juliett. I didn't say anything. I finally made some semi-normal friends and I was not about to lose them by telling them I had predicted the future.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I turned my attention to Mark. "Um, hiya. You can call me Annie, or Anna if you want."

"Okay. Hi, Anna. I'm Mark…Mark Longbottom."

"Hello, Mark. Would you like to sit with us?" asked Catherine.

"-but aren't we s'posed to sit at our own house tables?"

"Oh, they don't mind," said James who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He seemed to be trying to be communicating something with Mark. There were a few meaningful glances exchanged.

"Okay…sure. I'll sit down. Thank you." He sat next me, and all of us talked for awhile. Eventually Mark became more and more comfortable with us, laughing at Fred's jokes and sometimes telling his own puns, his hazel eyes lighting up as he tried not to laugh. I found that I really like being with these people. Mark, at least for now, would be a very good friend. And that's all I needed.

Catherine:

It was raining when I woke up. Something was bothering me. The conversation that I had overheard the night before rang in my ears. Who was the girl Longbottom was going to ask? It was six in the morning, and the only one awake besides me was Annie. I walked over to her as she was putting her books into her bag for the day.

"Hey." I said groggily.

"Hello." She said brightly. "At least someone woke up." I let out a half-hearted laugh, and returned to my bedside so I could get dressed and ready for the day. I slipped on my uniform and brushed my hair. I put one shoe on and quickly snaked my arm under my bed until I found the other.

"Hey. You ready yet?" Annie asked a tad impatient but still politely.

"Almost," I said scooping up my books and running over to her. "Now I am."

"Cool beans." She said. "Let's go." We linked arms and sang very loudly and off-pitch, follow the yellow brick road all the way down to the Great Hall. We did this despite the annoyed comments of awakened portraits.

Juliett Barone sat at the end of the Hufflepuff table. And we scampered on over to meet her. Soon after we started talking, a boy with brown hair and hazel eyes appeared. I could tell he was a Gryffindor because of his red and gold tie.

"Uh…hi, Angelina." He said nervously. I immediately recognized the voice and smirked. So it was Annie that Mark seemed to have a crush on. Good for her.

When it was time for are morning classes I leapt up from the table and made my way over to the moving staircases. I bobbed and weaved through masses of students traveling to their classrooms. Finally most of the hall was clear and I could breathe again. It had only been a few seconds when Fred Weasley shouted "Watch out!" But I wasn't quick enough and BAM! I fell to the floor, dazed. Fred fell on top of me and … well; he wasn't exactly a scrawny kid. He quickly got up though.

"Holy shit!" he shouted. "I'm so sorry, Catherine! I was only trying to get to Defense Against The Dark Arts…and, I uh…" he stammered a few times, but all that really registered was my name.

"Let's get you to the infirmary. James!" he yelled. And sure enough James came running down the hall towards us.

"What happened?" He asked in a nervous tone.

"I-well I…it's a long story." Said Fred, sounding kind of scared. Then he did something that surprised me beyond my wits. He scooped me up as if I weighed no more than a paper weight, and started walking down the hall with James quickly following. I know it was a stupid way to get knocked out when you're a wizard, but it's not liked I planned this.

"Uhhhhh…head hurts." I managed to throw out.

"Its gunna be okay." Whispered Fred surprisingly close to my ear. We had reached the infirmary and Fred placed me down on a cot. There weren't any nurses around which sort of freaked me out.

"Shit…okay. Where does it hurt?" Fred asked.

"The back of me head and- OW!" Fred had touched my arm, feeling for broken bones. A sharp piercing pain shot through it.

"Sorry, but it's definitely a broken bone."

"Can you fix it?"

"Yeah but you've gotta stay really still." He said. Then my vision went fuzzy from the pain. I couldn't really hear what he was saying either. Soon the pain went away and my vision clicked into focus again. I looked down at my arm and for all I knew it was as good as new. I still had a headache, but I decided that I could live with that.

We sprinted down the halls knowing that we were already super late for class. Suddenly we stopped to take a breath. Fred doubled over, gasping for air. "Are…you sure…you'll be okay?" He asked in between breaths. I giggled a little.

"I'm fine. Are you sure you're going to be okay?" I asked.

"Oh me? Psshh. Please…I'll be fine."

"Thank you for-erm-carrying me to the infirmary." I added quietly. I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and he blushed a little.

"All in a day's work madam." He humorously bowed. I curtsied and then I jogged off to class. That's how it ended…just like that. I smiled.

Juliett:

I woke up and looked outside. Rain. I smiled to myself. I love rain.

I dragged myself and slapped on my uniform. I pulled my white blouse over my head and dug through my suitcase for my stockings. When I was dressed I slid on my purple flats and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I sighed looking at my appearance. I saw a short girl with wavy blonde hair and plain brown eyes. How ordinary.

My footsteps echoed down the hall as I scurried to breakfast. Annie, Catherine, Matthew, Mark, Fred, James and I sat together for breakfast. The bunch of us had a good laugh.

My schedule was quite pleasing. My first class was Charms. As I walked into the room, I was surprised at how full it was. I looked desperately for a seat. There only two empty seats I could find. One of the two was next to a group of very catty looking girls, the other, next to Matthew. It should be pretty clear that I chose the latter.

"Hey, Matthew." I said occupying the seat next to him.

"Oh hey, Juliett!" I grinned at his warm welcome.

Just as I sat down class began. A short body introduced herself as Professor Chanel. Since it was the first day back, she spent almost all of class telling the expectations and rules of her class. She was just explaining what were going to be doing that year when I turned to Matthew, who had been folding a piece of parchment.

"Whatcha making?" I asked curiously.

"A bird." He said making the last fold, delicately. He slid the paper bird over to me.

I smiled, "Thanks."

Annie:

After breakfast, Professors Winter (Ravenclaw), Longbottom (Gryffindor), Sprout (Hufflepuff), and Nott (Slytherin) passed out schedules.

"And what subjects will you be taking, Miss Austen?" asked Professor Winter.

"Uhhhh… Divination and Care of Magical Creatures." I said. Winter handed me a schedule and moved onto Catherine. I turned to Mark, whose father was talking to him. He had picked the same subjects as me. I looked at my schedule. I had Transfiguration then Care of Magical Creatures.

I walked towards the Transfiguration classroom by myself wondering where Catherine was. Finally I took my seat just as class was about to begin. Winter started talking about expectations and the year ahead of us when Catherine snuck into the classroom and plopped herself in the seat next to mine. Either professor Winter either was to involved in her lecture and didn't notice Catherine come in or just saw that she was a Ravenclaw and decided to look the other way.

Our first assignment was to turn a porcupine into a pincushion. By our seventh attempt we both mastered the spell with time to spare. So we talked.

"So you, uhh…kinda like Fred?" I asked. Was this too personal?

"Well, yeah…I s'pose I do." She said. "And what about you?"

"I dunno, seems a bit early for me, I think. I don't need a boyfriend. I just need friends." I said carefully.

"Time for your next class!" Professor Winter said briskly. We packed our bags and headed off to our very first Care of Magical Creatures class.

Sorry this section is soo short, and it took me so long to put up. I have had so many other things going on. Anyway in the next chapter, things might just heat up between Fred and Catherine. Also Hogwarts has a surprise for the students.