It had been two weeks since the pink disaster incident, and we were now more than halfway through the first term of our second year at Hogwarts. The teachers were piling on the homework, as usual, so even us second years were staying up later than we should be to get it all done. The worst teacher for giving homework was professor Ashworth, who taught potions. He seemed to think that we spent all weekend lounging around doing nothing, so he kindly gave us extra homework to keep us busy. Bloody teacher. Just because he has nothing to do on weekends except mark essays and give them all Ps, Ds and Ts, doesn't mean we like writing them.
My favourite class so far this year has to be defence against the dark arts, although it is closely followed by charms and transfiguration. In DADA we have been learning about all sorts of dark and dangerous creatures, and we've just started learning about jinxes and hexes and how to deflect/repel them. Cassie, of course, has no trouble at all with any of our classes apart from Herbology. It's a bit amusing, really, to watch her wrestle with the mandrakes when trying to repot them, and when she shrieks if the Venomous tentacula's feelers get too close. She, of course, vehemently denies any such thing ever happening, wanting to uphold her brave, feisty reputation.
ooO0Ooo
It was early November, and the weather had began to get steadily colder, occasionally causing the castle to wake up to the grounds sparkling silver with a light dusting of frost. It was on such a morning that Cassie and I awoke and made our way, bleary eyed, down to breakfast, only to find that our usual spot at the Gryffindor table had been nabbed by none other than the four marauders. We stood for a moment, debating whether to kick them off our spot or find somewhere else to sit, when that beckoned us over. Confused, and slightly surprised, we walked over and took a seat. Cassie was between Alex and Sirius on one side, I was between Fred and James, directly opposite her.
"Er, so..." I began, but trailed off, not knowing what to say. Cassie saved me, by asking them,
"Why have you decided to abandon your usual seats and invade our spot instead?"
Fred looked at her. "Well, we have something that we'd like to discuss with You two, if that's okay." Without waiting for an answer, he continued "It's about Milly, in your dorm."
I don't know what I had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't that. "Milly?" I asked, baffled. "Why? Is there something wrong?"
"Yes." Alex Jordan answered. "I don't know if she's told you, but she's my cousin, and I'm a bit worried about her because she's been a bit off recently."
"No, she hasn't told us," replied Cassie, looking as confused as I felt, "And what do you mean, 'off'? I haven't noticed any difference in her..." She ended with a quizzical glance in my direction, silently asking whether I had noticed anything. I shook my head. Alex sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Who does she hang out with at breaks and lunches, or on the weekend?" James asked. I frowned, thinking. Milly would sometimes hang out with me and Cassie...but that was only when we invited her to come and join us. I had seen her in the library with Rose and Penny before, but then again, that wasn't very often either. Hmmm... Had I seen her with a group of Ravenclaws? Maybe... But still, not often enough for them to be friends...
"I don't know... she doesn't seem to be good friends with anyone, really. She jumps about, not really staying with one group. She's joined me and Cassie before, and Rose and Penny, and I've even seen her with some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs sometimes."
Alex groaned, and banged his head on the table. Sirius patted his back and asked for confirmation.
"So she doesn't seem to have any specific friends, then?"
"No, not from what we've seen." Cassie replied, frowning slightly. "It's a bit strange, really. She seems quite a nice girl."
"She is, honestly, when you get to know her," Alex said, "Her problem is that she's a bit shy at first. But once you get to know her, and she's comfortable with You, she's a feisty little pocket rocket. She helped me plan most of my pranks during than summer."
"She's a good egg, that one. She just needs some dependable friends around her so that she can come out of her shell." Fred said, with a pointed look at me and Cassie.
"Us?" I asked, slightly surprised.
"Yes." Said James, nodding. "From what I've seen of her, she'd fit in well with you two."
"So you want us to try and become her friends?" I asked, thinking through what we could do for that.
"Yes. Just, you know, ask her to hang out with you, say when you need help with homework, that sort of thing." Alex said, nodding.
"She'll eventually open up, and become more confident with you." Fred added.
"Okay, we'll try our best." Said Cassie, a determined glint in her eye.
"Thank you." Said James, sincerely. "This means a lot." And with a small smile from three of the marauders, and a yell of "Thank you Saphhie-gem and Cassie-pea!" From Sirius, they left the great hall to go to their first class.
"Sapphie-gem?" Said Cassie, raising her eyebrows.
"You can't talk," I retorted, "He called you Cassie-pea!
"I suppose." Cassie grumbled, "He needs a bit more practice thinking up nicknames. Cassie-pea, honestly!" She snorted. And with that, we picked up our bags and made our way to our first lesson: charms, with professor Flitwick.
ooO0Ooo
"You're late, girls!" Professor Flitwick squeaked when we tumbled through the door into the classroom, panting and out of breath.
"S-sorry, professor." I said, breathing hard, "Didn't...realise...the time."
"That's quite alright, Miss Evans." He said, smiling at me and Cassie. "Take a seat. I was just explaining what we were going to be doing today." He cleared his throat. "Well, as I was saying, class, today we will be practicing the Locomotion charm. Usually students do not learn this until third or even fourth year, but as many in this class are rather advanced for your age," He smiled at Rose, Cassie, the marauders and me, "I have decided that it would be okay to learn it now. The incantation is Locomotor and then the object which you are moving. For example," he raised his wand and pointed it at a chest full of cushions. "Locomotor chest!"
The chest rose a few inches off the floor, and Flitwick directed it over to the other side of the room, where it landed with a clunk on the floor. There were a few oohs and aahs. Flitwick smiled at their interest, and continued. "I will be putting you into groups," their were a few annoyed mutterings at this,"of four, as there's not enough objects to have one each to practice on."
"But, sir!"
"We'll be good!"
"Please let us choose our groups!"
"Quiet, class." Professor Flitwick squeaked, with a high pitched chuckle. "Alright, I will let you choose your groups-" There was a cheer. "If! If, you promise me that you will work as hard as you can to master this charm before the end of this lesson."
There was a chorus of "Yes professor!" And a flurry of movement as everybody stood up and got into groups. The marauders were, of course, together, and so was a group of studious Hufflepuffs (who we had charms with). Penny and Rose went with two Hufflepuff girls, shooting apologetic glances at me and Cassie, but I smiled at them, and led Cassie over to Milly, who looked surprised and slightly flattered that we had chosen to be in a group with her instead of a pair of Hufflepuff girls that were trying to catch my eye.
"Hi Milly!" Said Cassie, cheerfully, smiling at her.
"Hi." She replied shyly.
"Should be fun, eh? Moving stuff around?" Cassie asked.
"Not really," Milly replied, wrinkling her nose, "I'm not much good at charms." We laughed, and professor Flitwick came over, handing Milly a cushion.
"You are to practice with this."
"Sir, why a cushion?" Cassie asked.
"Well, I'd rather not have to send half the class to the hospital wing when they get hit by misdirected heavy objects." He said, smiling at us. "Madam Pomfrey would not be very pleased with me." We laughed, and Flitwick walked away to give out cushions to the other groups.
"We'll, here goes." I said, raising my wand. "Locomotor cushion!"