I felt a tap on my shoulder.
“Do you have an extra quill I could borrow?” Harry Potter asked me after I turned around. We were just starting a quiz in Transfiguration class and he was all out of things to write with. Typical boy. I dug around in my bag and soon retrieved a black feathered quill, just like we were supposed to have. I handed it to him. “Thanks,” he said.
“Do you need ink?” I whispered to him as Professor McGonagall handed out the tests to the back row.
He shook his head, showed me his full bottle, and smiled.
“I just thought I had quills, but I guess I didn’t.”
I grinned, turned around again, and got back to the quiz. It was quite easy compared to our History of Magic test I had just taken the day before, and I breezed through it.
Before I knew it, I was walking into the Great Hall for lunch with my friends. I noticed Harry and his friend Ron sitting a few seats away from me, but neither of them paid any attention to me. I observed.
The sunshine coming in through the windows caught Ron’s brilliantly red hair at perfect angles, making it shine and seem as if it were on fire. It was a complete mess, although smooth, and curled in all the right places. A tingly, queasy kind of feeling started to grow in my stomach as I watched him. I had known him for almost seven years, yet I never looked at him this way.
Then, all of a sudden, as if he knew I watching him, his eyes flicked onto mine, making me jump. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t look away. At first, he frowned, but then he smiled. I smiled back and looked back down at my plate. I wasn’t even paying attention to the conversation my friends were having.
I stole another glance at Ron, but he was done looking at me. He was now quietly speaking with Harry. What were they talking about? Me? Yes it was” Ron peeked at me again. He was looking pretty serious and didn’t smile. Harry turned his eyes toward me, too, and I could feel my face grow hot. I looked away and tried to get caught up in the girl’s conversation, but hardly following. I couldn’t tell if Ron was still watching me, but I did my best to look cool.
We all soon finished our lunch and headed outside for Care of Magical Creatures Class. Hagrid had told us a few days earlier that he was going to surprise us today. Unfortunately, he also said that it would be a long wait and he might not show up for at least twenty minutes. But that gave everyone plenty of time to talk about the dance coming up. Just like Muggles had “Homecoming” dances, Hogwarts held a Christmas dance for the sixth and seventh. Everybody would wear fancy robes and such. The main topics of every conversation was who was the mystery band that was going to play, who was wearing what, and which boy was going with which girl.
I didn’t have a date” yet. I was the only one of my friends to not have one and I wanted one badly.
As I was standing with my friends, I dared to steal another glance at Ron, who was just a few feet away from me, along with Harry. They looked deep in conversation, and Hermione, their best friend, looked as if she wanted nothing to do with it. In fact, she scowled as she listened to them, but when Ron and Harry looked at her, she gave them an obviously false smile and acted as if she agreed with whatever they were talking about. It was quite interesting to watch.
Hagrid's surprise was nifflers, little creatures who were intrigued with shiny objects. Just like in our fourth year, we were each given a niffler, and whomever’s niffler found the most gold that Hagrid had buried, won. Last time Ron won, and I had a fleeting feeling of hope that I would see him win again. Unfortunately, Dean Thomas won, although I was still happy for him, considering he was also my friend.
Since that was the last class of the day, everybody headed back up to their dormitories and either bummed around for the rest of the day or did their homework. I chose to go to the library and start on my Defense Against the Dark Arts paper on grindylows.
As I was searching the shelves, five books already in my arms, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a hairy red thing floating around by the table where I was sitting. I turned my head around ever so slightly to see Ron walking over to the bookshelves that were behind me. I smiled quietly to myself, an excited feeling rising in my stomach.
I found another book on grindylows and decided six books were enough for now. I went over to my table, plopped the books down, and sat in the chair. I took out a roll of parchment and started to write on the paper, opening the first book that was on the pile, entitled The Mysteries of Grindylows. It was quite an interesting read at first, but I instantly forgot about it when I felt yet another tap on my shoulder. It was Ron.
“Could I use one of your books? I think you took the last ones,” he said, smiling.
I grinned sheepishly and handed him half the books.
He looked hesitantly at me, but then asked, “Could I sit there?” He nodded to the seat across from me since his hands were now full.
“Sure.”
He dumped the books on the table again and sat in the chair.
“Have you found anything on them yet?” he asked quite loudly, making Madame Pomfrey give him a sharp Shh!
I giggled when Ron rolled his eyes after she turned away. “No, not really,” I said.
A minute of silence followed as I pretended to be interested in what I was doing. I wasn’t even paying attention to what I was reading and I turned the same page five times back and forth.
“So are you going to the dance?” Ron said suddenly, making butterflies form in my stomach.
“Yeah... Are you?”
“Yeah.”
Another minute of silence.
“So… are you going with anybody?” he asked, staring at one spot on his parchment and not moving his quill. My heart started to beat very quickly, and I was sure that he would be able to hear it.
“Well, my friends for now, although they all have dates and won’t want to hang out with me that night,” I replied, hoping I didn’t sound too obvious.
“Would you like to go with me then?” he mumbled, his ears turning extremely red.
My stomach sucked in with excitement and my heart started beating really fast. “I’d love to,” I nodded, smiling.
He looked up. “Really?”
“Yeah!”
“Well,” he whispered, almost gazing into my eyes. I smiled and he suddenly realized what he was doing. “Um, I really should be going. See you later.”
He got up hastily, thanked me for the books, and ran out the library with a broad grin on his face.