I don’t think I’ve felt this way before in my life. When I see him I am at loss for words. I feel a blush creeping into my cheeks every time he glances my way. I could get lost in his forever blue eyes that shine like clear pools of water. Whenever the image of him pops into my mind, I become distracted and my stomach ties into a knot. Ahhh…I feel like a foolish schoolgirl…scratch that, I’ve become a foolish schoolgirl…not that I’m at all pleased by knowing this.
I walked into Transfiguration class on a cloud, feeling oh-so blissfully unaware. I took my seat next to Harry and got lost in thought as I took out my book.
“What’s wrong with you?” Ron said staring at me funny.
“What are you talking about?”
“Looks as if you’ve had a dreadfully strong Cheering Charm cast on you,” Harry observed.
“Do I now?”
Harry nodded.
“So that’s what Finnigan gave you? A shiny gold…trinket?” Ron said with a raised eyebrow.
“His name is Seamus, Ron. Not Finnigan,” I said irritably.
Harry observed me with a curious look in his bright green eyes. “Hmmm…”
“What?” I questioned.
“Nothing.”
“When has it ever been nothing?”
“Never.”
“So, what then?”
“Never mind, forget it.”
I shrugged.
“So would that make you two together now, or something?” Ron said as Professor McGonagall walked in.
I shrugged again. “Shhh, class is starting.”
“Fine,” Ron said thickly. Harry looked at me questioningly then averted his stare away.
Professor was telling us about the origin of a famous incantation when I felt a sharp jab in my back. I turned around and glanced at Lavender, who sat directly behind me. She looked heavily concentrated on Professor McGonagall. A note was slipped into the back of my chair. I took it out and glanced again at Lavender who gave the slightest nod. I turned around and unfolded the parchment.
So what happened with Seamus? “ L
I sighed and got out my quill…this is what the rest of the note looked like:
Lavender, we can’t pass notes in class “ Hermione
Parvati and I do it all the time; it’s no big deal “ L
I’m trying to listen to Professor McGonagall. She hinted that this might come up on the exams. Besides, she will catch us “ Hermione
I decided not to even pass the note back to her. Instead I stuck it in the center of one of my books, and did not turn around later to look at her. I wonder why she cares? Never mind, she’s nosy about everything in the subject of who’s with who in the boyfriend and girlfriend category. I guess I can’t really blame her.
Later, at lunch, I was talking with Harry and Ron about the DA meeting that was taking place that night. It was planned to meet everyone in front of the Room of Requirement at about 6:30 and we would go over what we had been learning since last year. The prospect was really quite exciting, I mean, being able to have the club without restriction. My stomach rumbled loudly. The enchanted plates of food on the table were taken away, so I leaned over the table and grabbed Harry’s sandwich to take a bite of it.
“What are you doing?!”
“Nothing.”
“You took my sandwich!”
“Thanks for pointing that out, Harry. You’re quite the clever one.”
“But I’ve bitten it…don’t you care about germs?”
“Not really.”
I felt two strong hands rest on my shoulders, and I turned around to see Seamus beaming down at me.
“Hello lovely,” he said. I blushed.
“You really think I’m lovely?” Ron said grinning and striking a pose.
“You big…fat…git…” I hissed, glaring at him.
Ron leaned over and whispered something to Harry, and Harry snorted in his pumpkin juice. Seamus ignored Ron.
“Hey, Seamus. How are you doing?”
“So the DA is on for tonight?”
“Yes, 6:30 in front of the Room of Requirement. Like always,” I said.
“All right.” He put his hand over mine, which happened to be on the table. Harry and Ron both shared a curious look and Harry cocked an eyebrow. “Would you fancy a walk outside?”
I looked at Harry and Ron and stared blankly with my mouth slightly open.
“Go on,” Harry said.
“Sure,” I replied, rising from my seat with Seamus still holding my hand. I didn’t look back at Harry and Ron when we left the Great Hall.
As we walked out onto the Hogwarts grounds, a refreshing autumn breeze blew across, and the sun partly hid behind a thin cloud. My fingers were entwined with his, and all felt right in the world. Just thinking back on it sends shivers down my spine. Conversation drifted, and Seamus was telling me how much he missed his family. I ignored all of the envious glares from Seamus’s admirers and just breathed in the afternoon. Luckily, this afternoon was free of lessons and I could stay out with Seamus until dusk if I wanted to. Sadly, I had planning with Harry for the lesson, and I had to bid farewell to Seamus at around 5:00. He gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek, and as I walked up to the Gryffindor common room, I couldn’t help but think, this lesson better be worth planning. I hate to admit it, but right then, I would have much rather stayed with Seamus than go back up to the Hogwarts castle.
“Glad to see you were able to join us,” Ron said coolly as I entered through the portrait hole.
I ignored Ron’s comment and spent the next hour with Harry listing all of the hexes, curses, and charms we had learned the year before. When we were finally done, I folded up the parchment and stuck it in the pocket of my robes, along with my wand. Harry, Ron, and I went downstairs to the area of the Room of Requirement where a few people were all ready waiting. About five minutes after 6:30, it had appeared that everyone who was going to join this year was assembled in front of us. I saw everyone from last year, of course, but to my disgust and subtle surprise, Malfoy and his cronies, along with Pug-face Parkinson and Malfoy’s fan club of girls had shown up. Very suspicious. But maybe it was one step closer for inter-school unification that we really need nowadays. It turned out that Alicia Spinnet had to pull Harry aside for a word about the Gryffindor’s quidditch practice, so he left me to tend with the group. I cleared my throat and waited for everyone’s attention.
“I am ecstatic at the number of people that showed up today,” I started off by saying. “Hopefully we can have a very productive year and learn many new things.” I ignored the malicious whispers coming from the area around Malfoy. Not surprising.
I turned my back to the crowd and closed my eyes. I paced in front of the door and thought, ‘What I need is somewhere we can practice the Defense Against the Dark Arts comfortably so we can defend ourselves and this school in the Final Battle.’ I thought this over and over again, and by my third pace, a great dark cherry wood door with a shiny gold knob appeared. I twisted it, and walked in with the group following behind. A fireplace crackled in a corner giving the room a friendly atmosphere. A few bookshelves lined the walls, filled with thick volumes I had yet to pour through. Another corner was filled with items recognizable from ‘Professor Moody’s’ office: a few sneakoscopes and a large foe glass, to name a couple. A few paintings hung in slightly tarnished gold frames against the deep, red wine color of the walls. The room was pleasantly warm, and smelled faintly of cinnamon.
I stood in front of the group once again and said, “We are going to pair off for a start and we will go over the charms and hexes Harry we learned last year just to refresh our memories. Those of you new to the group will hopefully catch on to what we are doing, so be sure to pair off with one of the students from last year if possible.”
With that said, the group immediately separated into several groups of two. Ginny had the misfortune of being Malfoy’s partner, because Ron and Neville paired together, and Crabbe and Goyle did as well. Neither Malfoy nor Ginny was pleased, to say the least. I felt bad for her and gave her a sympathetic look.
“Okay, start of with the Disarming Charm,” I instructed.
I giggled as a furious Ginny Weasley sent Malfoy’s wand hurtling towards the wall. She’s definitely inherited the temper from her mother. I walked over, watching other pairs practice. Seamus winked at me from where he was practicing with Dean, and his wand flew from his hand as Dean disarmed him. My heart fluttered a bit, but sadly I also had other students to attend to, so I continued surveying the other pairs. Shouts of ‘expelliarmus!’ filled the room, and as I walked past Parvati and Lavender, Lavender pulled me aside to say something to me as Parvati went to retrieve the wand she had just lost.
“So how’s it going with Seamus?”
“It’s fine.”
“Well, I don’t want this to sound cryptic or anything, but I would just watch out Hermione.”
“What?”
“You know, try not to get your heart broken or anything.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lavender gave a small sigh. “Just try not to, okay?”
I then left to watch the groups at the opposite side of the room again. Who did she think she was, anyways? Harry came back in the room again. He gave me a thankful smile, and took over the spot of ‘teacher’ allowing me to pour through the books on the shelves for some useful things we can associate for the club. I grabbed a few random ones and plopped down on the cozy tan carpet and leaned against a few velvet pillows that were lying around. Over my book, I could see Ginny, very aggravated, trying to help Malfoy with his Patronus, the charm that Harry had switched to next. As Malfoy hopelessly wiggled his wand, Ginny groaned loudly and feigned hitting her head against a wall. After about fifteen bleak and unsuccessful bellows of ‘expecto patronum,’ Ginny went over there, held Malfoy’s arm and demonstrated the precise way to flick his wand. He made a disgusted face at the prospect of a Weasley touching his arm, as he made clear to all of us after the lesson. She also told him correct pronunciation and places of stress in the incantation. When I looked over my book every so often, I could see him quickly gain progress, getting his first wisp of silver, and by the end of the meeting, producing a great silver dragon. Ginny was pleased, as she should be, and Malfoy was quite smug, as he always is. They got quite chatty, which they might have not realized, but after the lesson I planned to remind her that Malfoy was scum.
On the other hand, I had found a number of spells that could prove useful for meetings in the future. The books were really quite interesting, but of course, that’s not surprising coming from me. As my eyes drifted over to where Lavender was, I remembered what she had said to me earlier that night. What in the world did she mean? I hope she wasn’t planning to break us apart, that little wretch. Since when did she lookout for me? That’s what I have Harry and Ron for, thanks. But come to think of it, maybe those stares I had gotten outside were not jealous ones, as I had interpreted, but maybe they were of something…else? I think I’m seeing things through what the muggles call ‘rose-colored glasses’ something or other, and maybe lately I may have been a little too blissfully unaware on my part.
-H. Granger