4th October

Both Lupin and McGonagall have kept an annoyingly close eye on me over the past few weeks. As they had promised, they hadn't told anyone, but now they have come to terms with it, they are glad that have gotten to know me better. I didn't get any special treatment or anything, I think it was just because they care and it is nice to have someone I can talk to if something is worrying me.

Ron and Hermione were fighting like cat and mouse (rat, really, but you catch my drift). Crookshanks, being a cat, had a fascination with trying to catch/ kill Scabbers, and naturally Ron is fearful for his pet's life. Hermione doesn't really care because as far as she is concerned Scabbers is a 'smelly old shoe brush' and Ron ought to take better care of him. Ron said that Crookshanks looked like he ran into a wall, then got struck by lightning, which unfortunately didn't end all the misery. Hermione didn't talk to him for days after that. Harry and I decided between the two of us that we were going to play impartial, which so far was treating us well. I didn't have a particular fondness for either of the two animals.

Harry was lucky that he could escape their nattering when he had Quidditch practice three nights a week. At times such as those, Ginny and I had catch-up time or I took myself off to sit in the library alone. Ginny told me privately one evening that she was going to counselling sessions with Professor McGonagall about the events of the Chamber of Secrets last year. She is still suffering and I hoped that by talking to me, she would feel more at ease.

One evening when Harry was at practice, I asked the Ron and Hermione if they would so kindly place their animals in their respective rooms so that the three of us could sit together. We managed to complete our star chats for Astronomy and discuss our Charms essay in harmony. That was until 8pm when Professor McGonagall came into the Common Room to put up the dates for the first Hogsmede trip of the year. Harry hadn't managed to get his form signed and we were all completely gutted for him. This resulted in yet another argument as Harry returned. Hermione said that we would bring him something nice back. Ron suggested he used his cloak to sneak along with us. Hermione told Ron off, Ron defended himself and BOOM, argument. I took Harry off to the side and said, "I'll stay behind with you."

"You can't do that for me, I'll be okay, I was thinking of going to see Professor Lupin anyway to ask him a few things."

"You mean why he stopped you from fighting the Boggart Dementor?"

He looked up at me in surprise, "How did you know?"

"I'm your best friend, Harry, I've seen how it's been niggling away at you. I'll be honest with you, it's probably because of my Boggart rather than yours."

"Yeah, I wanted to ask, but did know how… What was that all about?" he lowered his eyebrows in concern.

I smiled at him, "It's just my worst nightmare I had as a kid."

"Ah…" he said, "the things you wish you forgot, eh?"

It's seems though he had similar dreams as I agreed, "Yes, very much so."

Ron and Hermione still hadn't stopped bickering until Harry and I split them up to go to bed.

16th October

For the past few days, all it has done is rain. Last night was particularly horrible as the hail battered our dorm window from about 4am onwards, how I know this is because I couldn't sleep a wink. At 6am I got up, washed and dressed and sat in the Common Room with a book in front of the fire. An hour or so later, Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia, Katie, Oliver and Harry made their appearances, saying hello, but hurrying down to get started in their early morning practice session. The amount of time they have spent practicing; they truly deserve to lift the House Cup this year!

At half 7 I thought I could hear footsteps coming down the stairs from the boys' dorms, but no one showed. What I did notice however were Harry's goggles that he wore when the weather was particularly bad lying on the floor at the portrait entrance. I'm sure he couldn't see a thing in that rain. I did the decent thing that only a friend would do. I borrowed Hermione's welly boots, put on my raincoat, grabbed the goggles and made a run for it down to the sheds at the other side of the school grounds.

I knocked at the door to the changing rooms, completely soaking wet from the torrential rain that had gradually gotten worse the longer I was outside. Oliver opened the door and quickly invited me in.

My teeth chattered together, "I- I- br-ought these for H-Harry, h-he dropped them i-in the c-common room!"

"Kathryn! You'll catch your death out there! Let me get you a towel!" he brought me into the room where everyone was gathered and grabbed a towel from his bag. I took off the (blooming useless) coat, which revealed a soaking wet skin tight t-shirt. Oliver's eyes widened as he wrapped me in his towel, and placed his arms around me too, rubbing my back and hugging me tight so that I would stop shivering. The sensation was euphoric. I rested my head on his shoulder and smiled.

Angelina and Alicia both cleared their throats. That signaled for Oliver to pull away, he looked at me and bit his lip before addressing his team mates.

"So where were we?" he gave himself a shake.

Katie giggled, "You two were having a moment."

"Or two, quite comfortably, I'd say." Alicia added.

I was so glad that I had the towel right up covering my cheeks because they went bright red. I couldn't look at anyone and so thought the floor was the next best option.

"Did you really come all the way down here just to see me?" Oliver said, playing along, lifting my chin.

"Of course." I spoke through the layer of towel over my lower face, "because that was exactly my intention when I got to the door."

"Oh Oliver! Look at me, I'm soaking wet." Angelina said in a high-pitched voice, fanning her face, mocking me.

He winked at me, just like he always did, "That was the line."

I felt slightly less mortified. Playing with sarcasm was usually my ticket out of awkward situations, "Well, I'm here now, what are your next two wishes, lover boy?" I dropped the towel, revealing the still soaked, skin-tight clothes and tried to fight laughter. The other six people in the room were in stitches.

Oliver's cheeks were pink and he bit his lip again, "I will take up those two wishes later."

I grabbed the towel and hung it up and handed Harry his goggles, "See you, then." I opened the door to the rain, about to make a run for it up the hill back to school.

"Wait a sec!" he shouted impatiently after me, "I want you to help me with something. Before you interrupted…" (he winked) "… we were having a team discussion that you could help resolve."

"Hit me with it."

"Is that one of your wishes?" Harry uttered then followed it with a fake cough. I smiled over at Harry and then looked to Oliver who shook his head.

"We were discussing Formation Looping which is-"

"I know what it is, Oliver!"

He showed me his board of tactics and acted out the roles passionately with an explanation, "Well, in relation to Slytherin, do you think our lovely chasers," he singled out the three girls who pretended to be embarrassed, "would be better at a parallel attack: to the side of the Slytherin chasers or have one person fly above and the other two below?"

I genuinely thought about it, taking Oliver's seat as Captain, grabbing his quill and a blank piece of parchment to make my own doodles, everyone looked over my shoulder, "Parallel from the side sort of makes sense-"

"I TOLD YOU!" Oliver butted in.

"Excuse me." I shot a look at Oliver, "Button it, Mister, I haven't finished, so don't get so cocky."

"OOOOH." Came the voices of the rest of the team.

Alicia added, "No one would dare speak like that in front of Wood."

"Ah, well. I'm not on the team for him to boot me off. All I'm simply an innocent bystander in a 'discussion' and all I was really doing was bringing Harry his goggles."

Oliver sighed, knowing that I had won, he gave a small bow and curtsey at the same time, "Carry on, Miss Pink."

"Well, as attacking parallel from the side is a good move, it is so predictable and to win the competition, you have to be the best! So I say confuse them from below, distracting them whilst swooping in from above. You need to knock the guy about, he may be bigger than you, but you are far faster and far more agile. Do what you have to do, legally of course, set his broom off course, when he gets a knock from below causing him to flail or falter, the above chaser will swoop in for the steal. The possibilities are endless!" I sat for a few more minutes, describing possible tactics hoping it made sense.

The team mates sat there flabbergasted, mouths open and dumbfounded, that I, who seemingly knew nothing about Quidditch had just given some pretty good advice. "You're hired."

"Pardon?"

"You can help me with tactics and-"

"No, no, no. No. I like my bed far too much to be up at the crack of dawn, no offence." I made that one clear.

"Well, can you do evenings?" he was really trying.

I raised my eyebrows, "Are you wanting to spend more time with me, Oliver?"

"Is he using up his third wish already?" Angelina sniggered.

"We're clearly getting nowhere with these people here." Oliver sighed, "Lets pack up, the rain seems to have died off."

"Oh, we want to stay." The girls laughed amongst themselves.

"We're out of here." That was the only thing both Fred and George had said since I entered the room over an hour before. They had just walked out.

"Let's get some breakfast, eh?"

Oliver packed up his things slowly, his head was in a different place. I grabbed his towel from the hook and folded it for him. "Let's meet up, later, just you and me." He said quickly.

We were in a castle filled with teachers, pupils, ghosts, where could we be truly alone? I nodded at him, "Where do you think?"

"Meet me in the left corridor of the Seventh Floor… 8pm?"

"I'll be there."

I saw him leave the Common Room at 7.50pm. He didn't look at me; it was so casual the way he walked. Angelina caught me staring and gave me a cheeky smile. I shook my head and looked down on my charms essay. What am I doing? I questioned myself. He's 17. I reminded myself, trying to remember the word I was half way through writing. Swish, that was it. He's gorgeous though. I looked down at my watch. And he wants to meet up with me. It was 7.55pm. "I'm away for a walk, I've a bit of a sore head…" I couldn't tell them where I was going or I'd never get to escape. Out the portrait door I went before any questions could have been asked.

I walked with haste in the corridor, fighting my inner being. He's going to let me down gently. I had to swerve to avoid a group of sixth year girls. He'll say it was just a bit of fun. I climbed up the moving staircases. Why on earth would he be interested, after all? Look at me. I looked down at my outfit and straightened my blouse as I walked along the seventh floor corridor.

"You look beautiful." He said, "Stop fretting." Oliver stepped out of the darkness and smiled at me. He looked up and down the corridor, "I want you to do something for me. Imagine a place where the two of us can have a bit of space to relax and be ourselves. Got a picture?"

"Yeah, why?" I asked, but he took my hand and we paced back and forth in front of a blank bit of wall. A door appeared in the wall and Oliver opened the door for me to enter first. Such a gentleman.

Stepping into this newly formed room, the first thing I saw was a very comfy looking sofa then a coffee table with cups of tea and a few sweet treats with some calm music playing in the background.

"Perfect" Oliver said, taking a seat and signaling for me to join him.

"So…" I said.

"So…" He replied, "I was wondering…"

"Yeah?"

Oliver looked straight into my eyes, "Would you like to go to Hogsmede with me?"

I nodded happily at him, "I'd love to! I've never been before."

"I'd be honored to give you the grand tour!" he took my hand.

"Oliver?"

"Hmmm?"

"Do you think the age gap between us is too big?"

"No! I don't see you as a third year. When you walked into the Great Hall last month, you had changed. You look so much more mature than the other girls in your year. I like you, Kathryn. You're different, you're out there and you're a laugh and I hope you like me, too. I don't care what anyone says, if you're happy enough to ignore them too?"

"I'm willing to see if us works." I adjusted my position on the seat and crossed my legs, facing him.

"Yeah, I am. Let's see how it goes." He leaned forward and placed a light kiss on my lips.