The girl looked at me and placed one of her tiny white hands in mine. I looked up.
"Why don't you tell me about it," she offered. I nodded.
"You know as well as I do how much Quidditch means to both him and myself. But this year is different. Its like I'm seeing him in an all new light. I want to tell him how I feel but..."
"But what?" the girl asked. She peered up into my face and smiled. "The only thing holding you back is you," she added. She and her companions were wise fish. They always gave me advice, like this. But after they said their few major pact words, they'd vanish until the next visit.
I looked at the little girl again and she was gone, a silver fish amongst the rest, completely mistakable now. I sighed and stood, looking around. From the edge of the gardens, the streams trickling over made me feel at peace and the soft evening sounds were soothing.
But I had to get back to the common room. The girls and I were going out for a Hogsmeade weekend tomorrow.
I was so excited. It was a Hogsmeade weekend and Katie, Alicia, Angelina and I were ready for some time out. Luckily no dementors were on the grounds that morning. They just depleted any joy or cheer from the entire castle.
When we got outside I shivered, grateful for my brillinat idea of wearing my cardigan from my mother. Dementors had been here recently. The ground was covered in a thick frost. Everything was frozen over. I heard rumors that they were going to lock the gates at night, but I had no faith in rumors.
"Ferin let's go! McGonagal is taking the forms as we speak!" Alicia informed us as we ran to the front courtyard. Katie, Angelina and I ran towards her and halted when we got to Professor McGonagal. She looked at the slips of parchment, nodded and waved us along. We headed towards the bridge and the other students making their way to the village.
"Do you think Oliver will be there today?" Katie asked Angelina right in front of me. Angelina beamed.
"I dunno. Maybe. There's a good possibility. Ferin, what do you think?" she asked. I glared at all them and then smiled, laughing.
"Gosh, I hope so," I giggled.
From up ahead, I heard Ferin and her friends talking and laughing, but about what I didn't know. I wanted to go up and talk to her so badly, but I resisted the impulse and waited. Fred, George, and Lee Jordan came sauntering up to me and cuffed me on the shoulder.
"Stop gawking and ask her to be your girlfriend already!" Lee snorted. He apparently knew the whole story from the twins. I laughed and sighed.
"You reckon she'd feel the same?" I asked.
"If she's got a brain she does! Katie said that..." Fred started, but Lee and George glared at him.
"That what? Katie said what?" I demanded. Fred bit his lip nervously.
"Nothing. We were sworn to secrecy," George intervened, elbowing his identical in the ribs. I glared at them.
"Not cool, mate," I aimed at Fred. Fred shrugged and jammed his hands in his pockets, striding along side us.
When we got to the village, I went straight to Honeydukes to see if there were still the candies Ferin had her eye on. I had come in with her last year at the end of the year and she had gravitated to a display of boxes of foreign chocolates, all shaped like roses. I was in luck.
They were still there. Tucked in a box of twelve, there were the chocolate roses that looked exactly like roses in a red satin box. I grabbed a box that was near the back, and headed to the front of the shop. I handed two galleons and one knut and walked out of the shop.
I saw Katie with Ferin, Angelina and Alicia walking towards the Three Broomsticks. I flagged Katie over and she came running.
"What's up?" she asked. I showed her the box of chocolate roses and Katie's face cracked into a sappy romantic smile.
"Oh Oliver, she'll love them. She's been raving about them since she first saw them," Katie crooned. She put her hand on the box and smiled. "Write a note, don't sign it and I'll put them on her bed, okay?"
I beamed and swooped to peck her on the cheek. She beamed too, returned the gesture and skipped off to join her friends at the Three Broomsticks.
"Where were you, missy?" I asked Katie as she slid into the booth next to Alicia.
"Catching up for a minute with a friend, why?" Katie replied, smiling innocently. I had learned over the years not to trust Katie's innocent' smiles.
"You were with a guy!" Angelina exclaimed. Katie looked at her and scoffed.
"Well I never! You guys don't trust me, do you?" she asked, nearly laughing. I shook my head as did Angelina and Alicia in turn.
"I can't believe you guys!" she added, taking a swig of butterbeer. I rested my chin on the heels of my hands and stared dreamily out the window. Oliver was standing outside, chatting with Fred, George, and Lee, laughing every now and then. I sighed happily and turned back to my friends who I discovered were all staring at me, the biggest, most phony grins on their faces.
"What?" I asked, completely bewildered.
"Ferin's in love," Angelina cooed. Alicia and Katie laughed and nodded, clearly on Angelina's side of the argument.
"I am not! Only in my head I am. He doesn't even know how I feel about him..." I said, my voice trailing off. I rolled the bottle of butterbeer in front of me between my hands and stared at it emptily.
That night, back in the dormitory, I found a box of the chocolate roses I'd always wanted sitting on my bed. Next to them was a piece of parchment, folded in half. I opened the note and blushed, biting my lip.
"I had a feeling you wanted these. Enjoy them. With love, yours forever." I read the note over and over, trying to make out the handwriting, but it was damn near impossible. I plopped down on my bed and placed the box of chocolates in my lap and smiled.
I decided that I was going to have one every month, to savor the sweetness and thoughtfulness of my admirer. I opened the box and smiled at the sweet scent of the foreign candies, but I knew that it wasn't going to happen. The smell was tantalizing enough to sway me into taking one.
I popped one in my mouth and immediately smiled, making happy sounds and chewing slowly. They were the best candies I'd ever had. I closed the box up and put it in my night side table drawer.
Walking out of the dormitory, I headed back down stairs where there was only one person there.
Oliver Wood was sitting in a squashy armchair by the fire.