Before I knew it the first few weeks had already flown by with a blur. I had spent my time exploring the castle up and down, from the towers out towards the grounds. I had also met a lot of new friends and was having fun in classes. The only thing I was struggling with was potions. No matter how hard I tried, I was unable to brew a potion to save my life.
"Bloody hell!" I yelled as I put down my quill down and decided to stop writing my essay, trying to explain on how to brew a boil cure potion.
"Frustrated?"
I looked up to see a boy sitting on one of the couches by the fire near me. I could tell he was amused as he looked down at the clutter of balled parchment on the ground surrounding me. I couldn't help but notice how attractive he was, probably in his third or forth year.
I nodded, clearly agitated, "I can't explain how to brew a boil cure potion. I can't even remember the ingredients you use to make a boil cure potion!"
I looked back down and was about to start writing again when I heard the boy get off the couch and head towards me. I did my best to avoid smiling; he was older than I… cute.
"Here let me help you," he said grabbing my book and taking a seat next to me.
"It's okay you don't have to," I insisted trying to grab the book back; he was too quick.
I watched as he turned the pages and finally paused, reading.
"It's quite simple really. You just follow the directions here," he pointed, before continuing "but make sure you write the essay in your own words. Also try to add what would happen if you added the ingredients out of order."
I looked down at the book and couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that myself. I smiled up at him. "Thanks..." I began but quickly realized I don't know his name.
"Oliver and your welcome; if you need any help just let me know... quidditch practice starts up soon, but whenever I'm free I can help."
He smiled, and I almost died inside.
'What is happening to me?' I wondered.
"Thank you," I replied before going back to my book. I hurriedly finished up my essay before heading up to bed.
The next day I woke up early and decided to go down to the common room to see if anyone was up. I saw Fred and George with an older red-head who I assumed to be their brother. The man was tall and I could tell under his robes he was well cut. I sat and watched in the shadows and as he smiled, my heart began to beat and I felt my insides melting.
"Your first crush," I heard Alicia whisper into my ear. I turned around trying to deny that I felt anything, but I could feel my cheeks turning red and I knew it would be stupid to try to deny it.
"Come on let's go down and converse," she said pulling my hand along.
"No.. no.. no, Alicia stop!" I said causing the three guys to look up.
"Why 'ello Alicia, Katie, what are you doing up so early?" George asked.
I looked away uncomfortable, still feeling the red on my cheeks. Alicia smiled knowingly and continued dragging me down the steps.
"Just seeing what you three are up to," she said simply.
"Charlie, this is Katie Bell," Fred said clueing his older brother in on who I was.
Charlie looked up momentarily, glancing from Alicia to me and nodding to acknowledge he had heard his brother before looking back down at what looked to me like a playbook.
"So Katie, how do you like Hogwarts so far?" George asked me. I don't know exactly when I'd figured out which twin was which, but it almost came naturally these days.
"It's wonderful," is all I could manage to spit out before turning away again.
I could tell Fred and George were giving Alicia a look asking what was wrong with me, but thankfully Alicia kept her mouth closed, for once.
"Well you all have fun, I'll see the three of you after breakfast for our first practice session together," Charlie said before getting up and walking back up the steps towards his room. He looked bothered by the fact we were having a conversation. After he was out of sight I breathed a sigh of relief and was able to loosen up a bit.
"Are all three of you on the house quidditch team?" I questioned.
"George and I are starting beaters, but Alicia is only on the reserve team this year," Fred answered grudgingly.
"Fred its fine, Charlie knows what's best for the team… and after Shriver and Bennet leave at the end of the year we all know ill be a starting chaser."
"Who else is on the team?" I question.
"Well, Charlie is seeker, Angelina is chaser along with Shriver and Bennet, two of Charlie's fellow seventh years, and then Wood follows up as keeper." George responded.
I thought back to last night and remembered Oliver saying he had practice starting up.
"Where does Oliver play? I asked and then regretted it realizing they had already told me he was the keeper.
"He's our keeper and bloody brilliant is he. I'm sure he'll be captain next year, which quite scares me after finding out just how obsessive he is with this sport!" Alicia said.
I could tell that she had taken a slight fancy to him with the way she spoke of him and I guessed Fred had noticed too.
"Come on Alicia he's good not great, you've got to admit." Fred protested.
"It doesn't matter, anyways… Katie maybe you could come watch tonight after classes?" Alicia questioned.
"Sure!" I answered without thinking.
It had been awhile since I'd seen Leanne and we had made plans to meet up later today by the lake. I wanted to see how she was doing adjusting to the wizarding world. I made a mental note to get in touch with her later in the day to see if we could re-schedule.
We all went down for breakfast and I rushed through breakfast before heading to herbology. The day went by quicker then it had in a long time and soon I found myself in the last class of the day, Potions.
"Ms. Bell do you have your essay today?" I heard Snapes cold malicious voice ask from behind me. I reached into my belongings and pulled it out handing it to him. After he was finished collecting everyone's he headed back up to the front of the class.
"Let's have a quiz shall we, Ms. Bell…" he paused for dramatic effect and it worked, I could feel the pit of my stomach start to rise.
"What are the ingredients in the boil cure potion?"
I silently thanked Oliver for the help before I answered. "Dried nettles, crushed snake fangs, stewed horned slugs, and porcupine quills."
"10 points from Gryffindor for that mediocre answer," he laughed.
"You will see class that if people like Ms. Bell here forget to take the cauldron off of the fire before adding the last ingredient, your mixture would produce clouds of acid green smoke before melting your cauldrons and burning holes through your shoes. Does anyone wish for Ms. Bell to demonstrate?"
I heard the Slytherins in the back snickering and I put my head down trying not to tear up. When it was time for class to be dismissed I kept my head down, ran from the room, out of the dungeons, and into the hall leading out to the grounds before crashing into another student.
"Watch where you're going!" I heard him say before he walked out of the double doors towards the grounds.
"Hey you how'd potions go?" Oliver asked walking closely behind the other guy I'd seconds ago run into.
"Miserable…"
"Why? I basically told you the answers!" he exclaimed shocked.
"Well apparently I left out a key step or something," I replied not wanting to reminisce on the class now that it was over.
He stared at me for a second before looking at me confused. "I never did get your name did I?" he asked.
"I guess I never did tell you; I'm Katie, Katie Bell."
"Alright Katie, would you want to continue this conversation on the way out to the pitch… God forbid I'm late to practice Charlie will have my bloody head!"
I couldn't help but laugh doubting seriously whether Charlie would murder him. I walked out to the pitch with him where I was met with smiles and cheers from Alicia and Angelina.
"Go ahead and get seated Katie, we'll come get you when we're done with practice," Alicia said and I agreed.
I walked up the staircase into the stands and saw Yvette sitting down watching as well.
"Hey Yvette what are you doing here?" I asked. She smiled and waved me over to sit with her.
"My brother's on the team. Travis Shriver, he's the tall one standing there next to Bennet."
I look down and saw his tall figure standing there next to the boy I'd run into on the way out of potions.
"I told Travis I'd come to watch him play, but truly I just wanted a chance to see Charlie Weasley without him teasing me about being a first year," she said.
"You talk to Charlie Weasley?" I questioned her, not thinking I heard her right.
"Yeah, all the time; Travis and him are best mates. He came over this past break and spent a few weeks with my family," she replied cozily smiling.
'What I'd give to spend time with Charlie Weasley' I thought to myself feeling the flushed rosy color start to turn on my cheeks yet again.
We continued chatting until practice was over. Charlie, Travis, and the other seventh year, Bennet came and grabbed Yvette, and began walking back towards the castle without a second look at me.
Fred, George, Alicia, Angelina, and Oliver came and grabbed me a few minutes later.
"How was practice?" I asked trying to make conversation.
"Great our first game is in just a few weeks against Ravenclaw," Oliver said.
'Ravenclaw… Leanne!' I completely forgot to let her know I wasn't going to meet with her.
When we finally reached the castle I realized I wasn't very hungry and began walking towards the owlery to send a message to Leanne.
"Katie are you coming to eat with us?" George questioned seeing that I had taken a left while everyone else took a right towards the great hall.
"I'm not hungry you lot go ahead," I replied smiling.
I waited for the five of them to head towards the great hall before silently slipping up the stairs to the common room.