Suddenly, gym couldn't come soon enough. Harry now sat at the Gryffindor table anxiously, instead of angstily, wanting to go crawl in bed and wait for tomorrow to come. The only problem was, he wasn't that tired and he was hungry, for he had barely consumed a whole plateful of food since the arrival of their gym teachers.

Hermione looked over at him and sighed, "Harry, you have to eat. Nobody thinks you're fat, so this anorexic thing is going way too far."

Harry gave her a look. "I'm not anorexic."

Hermione patted him on the arm, as though consoling him. "That's what everyone says, dear."

"Are you planning on becoming a shrink?" Harry inquired, tilting his head.

Hermione's jaw dropped. "What did I say 'bout bein' all up in my shiznit? Can't a girl just consol her best friend?! Gosh!" She got up and walked over to the Ravenclaw table, where she sat down next to Lindsey.

"Since when did Hermione get so many friends?" Ron asked as he stared at the back of her head. "And when did she get so emo?"

"Jenny acts emo sometimes," Harry sighed, taking a bite of his steak and ignoring the jaw dropping look he got from Ron, which was actually disgusting because he had a mouth full of food.

They talked for another twenty minutes before Ron declared he was going to bed. Harry nodded and told him he would be there in a minute just as Jenny walked past. She didn't look at him, which puzzled Harry a bit. She had been all keen on waving to him this morning, why was she acting so different now?

"ROLL CALL!" was a normal thing to be heard now. Before, the students jumped at the loudness and the randomness of it, but now it was an everyday thing. The whole earsplitting shrill of a whistle being blown was an entirely different thing, though. That was still annoying.

The students took their seats and waited patiently for the day to begin. Firstly, the teachers took roll in that unusual way. Then, they would stand at the front of the class and talk to each other for about ten minutes, not caring about what the students were doing, even if they weren't doing anything. Then, one of the teachers would make announcements…like they were doing right now.

"Ok, class, how are you today?" Professor Kvidahl said cheerfully. She really was the only full-decent teacher they had.

The room echoed with "good" and she smiled broadly at them.

"Ok, I'd just like to say that the fourth year soccer team kicked butt yesterday against Redwood!" she called, clapping. "Soccer players, stand up!"

About twelve students stood up, but nothing happened. No one said anything and no one moved or made a sound.

"What in the bloody hell is soccer?" Malfoy called.

"Watch your language, Draco," Kvidahl said sternly. "It's a muggle sport played in America that's really popular. And these guys won the game they played yesterday."

"Who's 'Redwood'?" called a third year Hufflepuff from Rechebong's class.

"It's another school, obviously. C'mon, don't any of you read?" she said, sounding like Hermione.

From across the gym, Hermione whispered, "That's what I keep asking them."

"Never mind. Other announcements…um…oh yeah. You guys, if you haven't bought your gym clothes yet then you need to buy them and have them on Monday because, starting Monday, those of you without gym clothes are going to have suit-cuts and I already see a lot of you without clothes."

Some students shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, as most of them were in their house uniforms, robes and all.

"Anyways, we will start our block sports on Monday, so I recommend wearing old shoes or shoes you don't mind getting muddy," she continued. "Also, if you want to wear a jacket or sweat pants over your gym clothes they have to be black or gray with no logos." Students groaned loudly at this, even though none of them had clothes with the Nike swish, or any other logo on the since they were magical, not muggles.

""On that note…all classes, break on two and head out to the track! Break on two, ready…break!"

The class broke and stood up in unison, going out to the track.

Harry noticed as Malfoy passed Jenny, he muttered something, making her scowl. His own brow furrowed as to figure out what he said, but he was Draco Malfoy after all.

"How many laps do you think we'll have to run?" asked Ron, making Harry tear his gaze away from her.

"Huh?" he replied obliviously.

"Harry," Ron said in a warning tone. "You're supposed to be the angsty one and I'm supposed to be the oblivious one, remember?"

"Oh yeah, sorry," replied Harry apologetically.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Honestly." He sounded a lot more like Hermione and less like Ron.

"Hey wassup homies," Hermione said, coming up behind them.

"You've been hanging around Jenny and Ashley for too long," Ron replied, rolling his eyes again.

"And your point is…?" she said.

""I don't have one, ok? Gosh! Frickin' idiot!" Ron rolled his eyes again, and again, and again. "Pickles!"

There was a pause.

"Ok, that was weird," Hermione said. "C'mon, we're, like, the last ones."

Harry shook his head as he followed his two best friends out the doors.

The students crowed together on the rubber track, everyone crowding onto the first three lanes. It was chilly out and the students who weren't smart enough to bring a jacket were shivering.

"Ok, you guys are going to run three laps and you have to make it in nine minutes, got it?" Professor Page said. He sounded depressed because, if it were up to him, they'd all be running two miles. "Ok, go!"

They all started running. Well, some started running, others started sprinting, still oblivious to the fact that if you sprint, you get tired faster. The smarter ones started out with a jog, like the Trio.

Soon, they separated as Hermione fell back, Ron sped up and Harry, well, stayed at the same pace. Harry really didn't like running. It was tiring, gross, and most of all, tiring. How was he supposed to ask her out when he was all sweaty and stuff?

Up about ten feet in front of him, Harry could see Draco Malfoy running behind Jenny, who couldn't see him if she wanted to. He came up next to her and muttered "Mudblood" in her ear.

"Malfoy, you're such an-" but before Jenny could respond with a full comeback, Malfoy had stuck his leg between hers, which were in mid-run, causing her to trip over his foot, and come crashing to the ground.

A resounding crack could be heard and Jenny let out a scream as she fell on the side of her ankle.

Harry saw her fall and sped up, not to Jenny but to Malfoy.

"Hey, Malfoy," he called.

He stopped and turned around to face Harry, who was now directly behind him.

"Potter, don't-" he said, but was cut off by a fist colliding with his jaw. He stumbled back and stared at a fuming Harry with a terrified look on his face.

Harry took one last look at him and ran back to Jenny, who was cowering on the ground. He bent over her and looked at her ankle, which was purple, bent at an odd angle, and swelling at a rapid pace. There was no way she could walk, or even hop on one foot all the way up to the Hospital Wing, so Harry did the only other thing he could think of. He placed one arm under her knees and other on her back as he lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the castle.

He ignored the wolf-whistles, the students staring, and the teachers yelling at him. All he cared about was the person in his arms at that moment.

"Not exactly...how I…imagined…you sweeping me off my feet," she panted.

"Yeah, well, you can't always get what you want, now can you?" Harry replied, grinning down at her.

He walked across the grounds, trying to keep his mind on why he was carrying her and not the sheer thought that he was carrying her. He was so preoccupied he didn't even notice her sleek her arms around his neck.

They were silent until they reached the double doors when Jenny said, "Thanks."

Harry smiled down at her and said, "You're worth it." She blushed crimson at his words and tried to hide it, but failed miserably.

"Does your ankle still hurt?" he asked.

"Not as much, but yeah, it does."

They were silent again. The only noise was coming from Harry's footsteps and Jenny's ragged breathing.

They turned a corner and headed up two flights of stairs onto the third floor, where Harry then turned a corner and walked down the hall until coming to the double doors that led to the Hospital Wing. Harry pushed the doors open with his body and walked the length of the room until he saw Madam Pomfrey coming towards them.

"What's this?" she said shrilly. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"Yes, but we were in gym and she fell and broke her ankle," Harry explained.

Madam Pomfrey nodded knowingly. "I knew this whole physical education thing was a bad idea. When I was in muggle school years ago, so many children had broken limbs it wasn't even funny. Now, Potter, lay Miss Wiggin down here, please." She gestured to the bed closest to them.

Harry nodded and walked over to the bed and lay Jenny down gently. He then sat in the visitor's chair next to the bed and watched as Madam Pomfrey exited the room, and came back not even a minute later with a glass full of some kind of potion.

"Now, drink this and you'll be as good as new in about a minute," she said, handing Jenny the glass.

Jenny grimaced, but downed the glass in one drink. She pulled the glass away from her mouth and pulled a face.

"Why can't you guys add, like, artificial flavorings to make them taste better?" she complained. Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes but didn't answer.

"You can leave when you can move your ankle again," she said and disappeared into her office.

Harry gaped after her. "That's not fair. If I so much as sprain my wrist she will want to keep me here for about a week."

Jenny laughed a little. She looked down at her ankle with interest and slowly began moving it in circles.

"All better, then?" asked Harry.

"Yeah," she replied and sat up sitting on the edge of her bed.

They were silent for the third time that day. Harry didn't know why this awkwardness had sprung up between them, or when for that matter. He watched her as she gazed out the window, her eyes glassy as they fixated themselves on the track.

"Jen, I know this is bad timing but, can I ask you something?" Harry said. I guess now is as good a time as ever, he thought.

Jenny looked at him concernedly. "Of course you can."

Harry took a deep breath and looked her square in the eye. "Will you go to the ball with me?"