Chapter 2
Think out side the box
Our first week of school was a blur. Mr. Weasley hadn't been lying when he said there would be extra precautions in place around the school. We noticed the presence of auror's the moment we enter the Hogwarts gates. Our belongings were inspected and searched for any banned items before being allowed into the castle. The ministry had Auror's placed on the gates, in the castle and on the grounds to make sure no dark wizard would be able to enter.
Although many of us believed that Voldemort would not attack the castle while Dumbledore was alive. Many wizards believed Dumbledore to be the only wizard Voldemort ever feared.
Harry was right about Snape no longer taking Potions, that job had been given to Professor Slughorn, an old friend of professor Dumbledore. Harry had told us about his visit to Slughorn with Dumbledore before he had been brought to the Burrow. Unfortunately Snape hadn't just disappeared like we had hoped; he was given the Defense against the Dark Arts class. We weren't very pleased about that.
At breakfast on the first day, professor Magonagall came around and handed out our schedules. My schedule was the same as Harry and Ron and I was glad to see that I had a few classes with out Hermione. She had taken arithmancy and Muggle studies; I don't know why she chose Muggle studies after all she was Muggle born.
Our classes involved more advanced magic's this year. Magonagall had assured us that we would be tested on a weekly basis to make sure we were keeping up with the work we were being given, especially in her class. I wasn't too concerned; transfiguration was one of my better subjects.
It was our first potions lesson that caught out attention the most. Professor Slughorn had just begun our first lesson, when Harry and Ron came running through the door. The class went silent and looked at the door.
"Ah harry good to see you and I see you've brought a friend with you", Slughorn announced happily.
"Yes professor, sorry to interrupt", Harry shrugged.
"Never mind that, you and Mr. uhh…" Slughorn looked at Ron.
"Ron Weasley sir", he corrected.
"Yes you and Mr. Weasley find a seat and take out your books".
He turned back to the board when Harry interrupted again. He cleared his throat causing the professor to turn around again.
"Sorry sir, but we didn't believe we would be able to attend this class so we didn't purchase the required texts", Harry explained.
"That's fine; there are a couple of books in the cupboard in the back".
Harry and Ron walked to the cupboard and after a little wrestling sat at the table across from Neville Longbottom and i. It seemed Harry got the raw end of the deal. Ron had managed to get the decent copy of the text book, while Harry ended up with a ratty old one.
The class continued like normal. Slughorn had offered a prize for the student who managed to get the potion the closest to what it was supposed to be.
We had all expected Hermione, being the brainiac she was to be the one to get it right. I could see Seamus's potion letting off smoke when it wasn't supposed to be.
"PST Harry!" I whispered attempting to get his attention.
He heard me and looked over. Neville and I pointed at Seamus's now bubbling potion before slowly shielding ourselves under our desk. Harry grabbed Ron by the sleeve and pulled him under the table just before the potion exploded covering the room with a lilac sludge.
The four or us slowly returned to the surface of our tables and examined the damage. I let out a laugh when I saw Hermione wiping the sludge off her face.
"Mr. Finnegan, please make your way to the hospital wing while I clean this mess", Slughorn ushered Seamus out of the room.
He waved his wand and the mess disappeared. The rest of the lesson went on accident free after that.
When it came to the end of class, we were all surprised to find that Harry had produced the best potion. It was better than Hermione's, in fact in was practically perfect. We were all a little shocked at it; we weren't used to Hermione being second best at things.
It wasn't until we were dismissed from class that the questions began.
"How did you do it?" Hermione almost demanded.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked with a slight smirk.
"You know what I mean", she snapped.
"Seriously Hermione, I don't know what your talking about", he assured her.
She huffed, but didn't press the matter any further. We left her at the arithmancy class room while we went to divination. I was dying to ask how Harry had managed to beat Hermione at something that she was never beaten at.
We all sat up the back of the room; no one liked being called upon in this class.
When we finally got a free moment Ron and I cornered Harry. We were in the common room, which was empty except for a few first years. We sat in the couches around the fire place.
"Ok spill Potter", I looked him straight in the eye.
"And none of that I dunno trollop you gave Hermione", Ron added.
"Alright, alright, but she doesn't hear a word of this", he made us swear.
He then proceeded to pull out his potions book and placed it in front of us on the table. I picked it up and examined it for myself. From the outside it just looked like a very old and used copy of the book I had, but when I opened it and looked inside I found something more. In the margins of the book and in the corners we found instructions that slightly differed from what the text read.
"I just followed what was written and the potion just worked", he explained.
"Harry this is brilliant!" Ron exclaimed.
I handed the book to Ron so he could examine it for himself. I turned to Harry and asked the question that was now playing on my mind.
"Harry, whose book is that?" I asked.
"I don't know, all it says is 'Property of the Half Blood Prince'", he shrugged.
Ron passed the book back to me and I in turn gave the book back to Harry. Harry placed the book in the bottom of his bag and leaned back in the chair. I could tell we were all thinking the same thing.
"Who do you think he is?" Ron asked breaking the silence.
Harry and I both shrugged. In our whole time at Hogwarts, we had never heard any references to anyone known as the Half blood Prince. We all had our theories, but that's all they were. We didn't mention anything Harry had shown us when we finally met up with Harry. We knew she would want him to hand it over to a teacher. She'd say because it was dangerous, I knew it would be that she didn't like the competition.
The only thing that really bothered me about our classes was our 'new' Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. We all knew Snape had been after the job for years and now that he had the position, he was making things difficult. The homework load he had given us was just an example of it. He expected us to do three essays by the end of the week.
I think we were all glad when the weekend finally arrived. I got up early on Saturday and walked down to the common room, while all the other girls in my dormitory were still sleeping. I found that I wasn't the only one who was awake. Ron was sitting at one of the tables writing what looked like a letter. I assumed it was a letter to his parents, so I didn't pry.
"Morning", I greeted him with a smile.
"Hey there", he smiled back.
I sat down across from him. He quickly put the letter away in one of his books so that I couldn't see it anymore. I watched him silently as he put his things away. I blushed furiously when he caught me watching him. His ears turned slightly pink.
"So what do you wanna do today?" I asked him.
"Not to sure yet", he replied, "I know Harry was thinking about planning the quidditch try outs soon".
"Cool", I smiled.
As if he had been summoned, Harry came walking down the stairs from the boy's dormitory. He yawned as he sat down in the empty seat next to Ron. I listened as they talked animatedly about who they thought should try out of the Gryffindor team this year. They needed two new beaters this year now that the Weasley twins had finished school and that wasn't all.
The conversation continued as we walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast. We had just sat down when Hermione came running over to us.
"Hey you didn't wait for me", she exclaimed a little flustered.
"Shorry 'ermione", Ron apologized through mouthfuls of toast.
"Yeah sorry, we were planning try outs", harry explained.
She just nodded and sat down grabbing something to eat. After breakfast we walked to professor Magonagall's office and organized a day that the boy could hold their try outs. She agreed the sooner the better, so she booked the quidditch pitch for the next two Saturdays.
Harry and Ron ran back to the common room excitedly. They were quick to put up the try out sign up sheet on the notice board for everyone to see.
While the Harry and Ron chatted to Dean Thomas and Ginny about the try outs, I figured I should probably write to my parents. I went up to the girl's dormitory and grabbed some paper and a quill, then walked back down to the tables.
I wrote to them about our first week and all our classes. I made sure to tell them how much I missed them. I missed them a lot especially my mum, we had always been really close.
When the letter was finished I stood up and walked over to where the quidditch conversation. They all stopped talking when I walked over.
"Hey do you think I might be able to borrow an owl?" I asked no one in particular.
"Sure you can borrow Pig if you like", Ron offered.
I nodded and he walked with me up to the owlery. We talked about random things like our families and what we wanted to do when we were finished our schooling. We joked about our families and how they were so different. Ron teased me about my height so I shoved him and ran ahead laughing. He chased after me laughing along with me. He finally caught me as we ran into the owlery. He grabbed me around the waist and spun me around in circles.
"Ok you win!" I cried between laughs.
He laughed out loud, but put me back on my feet. I was happy when he finally put me down, it gave me a chance to catch my breath. He let his hands linger on my waist a little longer, not that I minded.
He smiled at me and walked over to where his pygmy owl was perched next to Harry's snowy owl Hedwig. Pig seemed excited to see Ron and hopped excitedly up his arm and on to his shoulder. I gave him a little scratch as Ron tied the letter to his leg. He then hopped back down Ron's arm and flew out the window.
We watched as the tiny little owl disappeared into the horizon. We watched until he had finally flown out of sight before we walked back to the common room. It was really the first time that the two of us had really spent just by ourselves and I was really enjoying it. Well that is I was enjoying it until we were interrupted by a certain nosey witch.
We had just entered the corridor heading back to the Gryffindor common room when I heard her call out.
"There you are Ron, I was looking for you", Hermione called as she ran over to us.
"I was just lending Kim Pig so she could send a letter home", he told her.
I forced a smile at her, but he just kept talking to Ron. It was like I wasn't there at all and that annoyed me a lot.
"Well I was wondering if you wanted to go over some charms notes?" she asked.
Ron looked over at me, but what could I say. I shrugged it wasn't as if we had planned to do anything anyways. He turned back to Hermione and nodded.
"Sure might as well", he shrugged.
"Great", she smiled a little too happily and ran back to the common room.
"Sorry about that", he apologized, running his hand through his hair.
"Its fine", I assured him.
He smiled at me before we both walked into the common room. I sat down with Ginny while Ron, Harry and Hermione headed out to the library to study. I sighed a little as I watched them leave through the portrait.
Ginny asked me what was wrong o I told her about the encounter in the hallway with Hermione and how she had been so excited to be studying. We both knew what the reason for that was.
It was fairly obvious that Hermione had feelings for Ron and that they had been there for quite a long time. Her feelings about were probably as obvious to me as mine were to her.
"You should have gone with them", Ginny demanded, "It's rude of her not to invite you since you're in the same class".
She didn't like her very much either. Apparently Hermione had wanted Ginny to give her information about Ron, but Ginny figured that if she really likes her brother then she could ask him herself.
"As much as I'd have loved to stick that to her, I'm just not in the moo today", I explained.
Ginny and I decided we would study together. I liked helping Ginny out and it wasn't too hard because I had done the same work the year before.
Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't come back from the library until just before dinner. We all walked down to the great hall together. Neither Ginny nor I mentioned the study session; we just let Hermione think she was winning at her little games. I was trying not to let it get to me.
The dinner conversation went back to quidditch like earlier that day. It got me thinking that maybe I should try out for the team this year. I wasn't terrible at quidditch and they did need two new chasers, which was the position I always played in our muck around games. I knew Ginny wanted to try out as well. I figured it was worth running the idea past Harry since he was the team captain after all.
"Hey Harry?" I called shyly.
"Yeah?" he looked over curiously.
"What would you think if I said I was thinking about trying out for a chasers position this year?" I asked just throwing the idea out there.
Ginny and Ron both looked up at me a little shocked. Hermione, however just rolled her eyes. Harry looked as if he was contemplating before he spoke.
"You know that might not be such a bad idea," he smiled, "after all you and Ginny make a great team".
"Cool count me in for try outs then" I smiled back.
Ron smiled widely at me as I gave Ginny a high five. I felt really good about this.
The closer try outs got, the more excited I became. The night before I could hardly sleep. I lay in my bed unable to get comfortable, it was as if I was no longer tired.
Eventually I gave up sleeping and just got up. I looked at my watch and found it was only two in the morning. I silently crept down to the common room trying my hardest not to wake the sleeping girls in my dorm, grabbing a book on my way out.
I was pleased to find that the common room was empty. I made myself comfortable on one of the couches noxt to the fire place. The remaining embers in the fire were slowly burning out. I opened my book and strted reading.
Reading was something I had always enjoyed, even as a small child. It was my way of escaping the things around me. I remembered when ever I was picked on in school I would always hide in the library reading till all the hurting went away.
I'm not sure how long I had been sitting there when I heard movement. I looked out one of the windows and noticed it was still dark. I figured it was probably someone else who couldn't sleep, because no one would be getting up for breakfast yet.
I watched the stair cases and waited for the person to appear. I think my heart skipped slightly when I saw Ron walking quietly down the stairs. He yawned kind of loudly and rubbed his eyes.
"Couldn't sleep either", I whispered.
Ron jumped a little when he heard me; it seemed he wasn't aware that I was there at all.
"Yeah I'm nervous I guess", he replied finally sitting down beside me.
"Nervous about what?" I asked.
I placed my bookmark into the section of the book I was up to and placed the book down on the table closest to me.
"I'm nervous about try outs", he explained, "I'm scared their going to find a better keeper".
"Don't be silly, you're an amazing keeper", I assured him.
"I'm not that great", he blushed.
"Are you kidding, some of your saves have been unbelievable".
I poked him playfully until he smiled. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and hugged me slightly.
"Sounds like you're my biggest fan" he chuckled.
"You know it", I laughed along with him.
I'm not sure when, but sometime between then and morning the two of us dozed off. We were awoken by an excited harry just before breakfast.
I opened my eyes and found myself snuggled into Ron's chest, as he held me there with his arms wrapped around me. I sat up and blushed like crazy. Ron was woken by my sudden movements.
The three of us walked down to breakfast together, the only person talking was Harry curiously asking about what had happened the night before. Both of us denying anything and blushing more. I knew Ron was still nervous because he kept running his hand through his hair.
We were half way through eating when the mail arrived. Two letters dropped onto the plate in front of me. I opened the first one to find a letter from my family.
Dear kimmy,
It is so good to hear that things are going well. I'm so sorry that I wasn't there to say goodbye to you when you left.
Dad and I both miss you like crazy sweetie.
We both can't wait for your next letter; it's hard not having you here when we want to say things to you.
Hope you're having fun
Say hi to Harry and Ron for us!
Love mum and dad
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
I smiled reading the letter from my mum. It made me miss her so much more. Ron and Harry both read the letter over my shoulders.
"In case you two weren't aware, my mum says Hi", I laughed.
The two of them sat back down and laughed as well. I put the letter in my pocket and turned to the second one sitting in front of me. I was curious about who this one was from, since no one else really wrote to me other than my parents.
I turned the envelope over and unsealed it before taking out the letter and reading.
Dear Kim
I really like you a lot
But I'm scared you won't feel the same
Signed ….
I re read the letter over and over again, trying to figure out if this was some sort of joke. I looked around the filling great hall looking for anyone acting strangely, but found nothing.
I could feel my eyebrows scrunching together. Harry and Ron both looked at me oddly so I passed them the letter. I watched as they both read the strange letter.
"Looks like you have a secret admirer", Harry smirked.
"I do not", I huffed snatching the letter back off him.
Ron sat silently, although he stiffened slightly about it. I knew harry wasn't going to let this go. Maybe I picked on him a little about Cho and I guessed it was his turn to get a little pay back on me.
I stuffed that letter into my pocket with the other one and finished off my breakfast. Once we had eaten the three of us headed for the quidditch pitch. When we got there we found a good group of eager gryffindor's ready to try out for the team.
Harry didn't waste any time, he put us straight into it.
We started with the beaters; after all we needed two new ones. Once they were settled Harry moved on to the chasers. Ginny and I put on show some of the plays we would do when playing in the Weasley yard.
Harry was impressed enough to pick us both. I was over the moon. I hadn't actually thought I would get on the team.
Last off was the keeper tryout and there were only two candidates. Ron's only competition was Cormack Mclaggen, who was an arrogant git if you asked me. Cormack had been strutting around the common room all morning telling everyone how he was going to be the next Gryffindor keeper. He was more than cocky about it, it was overly annoying.
Ginny and I hung around to cheer on Ron. He looked so nervous; it was almost like he was going to be sick. I knew he had it in him to pull this off, I just wished he'd give himself some credit.
Ginny and I weren't the only ones watching. I could see Hermione in the stands watching along with Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. Lavender kept whispering to Parvati and got overly excited when Ron saved a goal.
I was right though. At the end of the day No one was better suited for the position than Ron, so of course he was picked. Mc laggen didn't take it too well, but that was too bad.
You could feel the relief flooding off him. It was looking to be a pretty strong team this year. We wanted to win the quidditch cup this year, we were determined.
It was exciting now that we had our team; it meant that next week instead of holding another trial we could get straight into practicing. After all we did have Slytherin in the first match and they always gave us a fight, mainly because they played the dirtiest.