Stuck in between

Charlotte’s POV

The time seemed to go by fast and before I could comprehend what was going on in the school, the leaves turned to all shades of red, orange, and yellow. The spooky season was almost there, and everyone was talking about how they’d spent this speedily approaching holiday. I haven’t had the time to think about it that much, while the teachers put on us a good amount of work even if it was the start of the year. We still needed a lot to learn, so I didn’t blame them, but the weekends seemed to go by fast.

Friday, finally I’ll have some time to do my homework, I should probably head to the library, I will need some books for references. I decided and did what I had in mind. Book for potions lay before me with a parchment and quill. The library was quiet, the only sound being the wind and rain outside of a window. Nice and cozy weather for autumn, I sighted, how nice it would be to be in my common room next to the fireplace, chatting with my friends. But I also knew that doing my homework now would give me a whole free weekend. So, first work then I can have some fun. On a clue, I saw Lizz coming right to me. “Hi, Honey, are you going to do your homework too?” I asked softly. “Yeah, I guess Sevy gave us the same?” She states rather than asks, so I repeat what the potion master said to us. "Homework: twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making, to be handed in on Tuesday, I believe?” “Yup, the same.” Lizzie rumbles. “I really like potions, but moonstone? Really?” She whines like a baby. “Oh, common! Could be worse, this one can actually be useful!” I oppose. “Useful? You plan on making a love potion for someone?” At her question I just raise my eyebrows as I stare at her across the table, she is now occupied with me.

“Why? You need it?” I joke around and before she can answer, my question is answered by someone else. “Of course, our Slytherin needs it, otherwise nobody would want to even befriend her,” Fred snickers now standing behind Lizz. Her body gets a little tense when he puts his arm on her shoulder. George is not far behind, placing himself right next to his twin. Their hair is now the usual red colour. “Good to see you back in red,” was my hi to them. “Don’t start on that,” Fred growls at me, which earns him an elbow in the ribs from his brother. “Wasn’t that bad, we still made it look good on us,” jokes more mildly George back. “Yeah, as I would make a Gryffindor tie look on me,” Lizzie rolls her eyes. “Would you like to try?” Fred gets his head near her ear to say this, and she stands up abruptly. “What? You mean yours?” She scoffs at that, but I could see the red painting her cheeks and her hands trembling a little. Huh. Interesting. “The banter is good, but that’s not what we came for,” reminds George to his brother. “What do you mean by that?” I look at him. He looks at me a little sheepishly and then he and his twin pull out their wands and point them at me and Lizzie. “Sorry for this,” was the last thing I heard George say before he and Fred chanted a spell. My head and the rear start to itch. When my hands go to these areas, I could feel something fluffy. Then I look at Lizzie, I scream a little. “Lizzie! Y-you have ears! And tail?” After saying this, one of my hands brings a grey tail to my front. “And I do too! Huh, I can feel the touch on it?” I was getting more and more confused. “Hey! Get off me!” Screams Fred, but when I look up again I catch George staring at me, his cheeks dusted with a tint of pink, but what stopped me from asking, why is he looking at me that way, is one hell of a sight.

Lizzie, who now sported black cat ears and tail, was… rubbing her head into Fred's robes. “You’ve made us into the cat girls?” I ask and I get an answer from laughing George at his brother’s bad luck. “Yeah, but I think Fred’s made his charm stronger,” he turns his head back at me and I can’t help but blush under his unyielding gaze. “When is it supposed to go away?” I ask, nervously playing with my hands and looking at the ground. The thought of going like this anywhere made me highly self-conscious. As if he could sense my uneasiness, he hurriedly replies. “Just a few hours, don’t worry, nobody is going in here. We made sure that this is just for us to see,” he winks at me knowingly. “Sure, Fred wanted to make it last longer than that for the stunt you pulled on us, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that, so we made a compromise.” His words made me more at ease, but I couldn’t help myself and so I asked. “And was it a plan to make Lizzie this… cuddly?” I raise an eyebrow. The silence was my answer. “Well, not exactly cuddly, just to have some cat cravings and, oh, I almost forgot!” He then proceeds to grab his bag and pull out a ball of wool. “Eliz!” He exclaims and throws a ball at Fred, who catches it mid-air with one hand while the other is surprisingly scratching Lizzie's head and playing with her cat ear. “Don’t let us bother you, Fred!” I was just watching with a surprise, how they act together now.

Lizzi was almost all over him, purring endlessly and enjoying his gentle touch. I knew she was touchy but with Fred? Must be the spells doing. He sat down while holding Lizz, so she ended up in his lap placed the ball of wool on the table and she immediately started to play with it. “She’s cute,” I whispered with the affection I held for my friend. “So are you,” are the words I didn’t register as I was a little lost in my own head. “Why don’t we sit down together too? I still have homework to do,” I turn to George. He smiled and took a seat next to me. “Which subject are we doing?” He asks. “Potions, Snape wanted us to write about moonstone, its properties, usage, and so on. You’ve done it already?” “Eh, no." “Do you want parchment and quill to do it with me?” “I’d like to.” So, I bent over to my bag, which was on the ground between us, so I could take things for him. When I finally find them, I start to sit up, I notice how close he is to me. He smelled like cinnamon and oranges with a faint smell of gunpowder, probably from his pranks with his twin. As I was sitting again, I could feel his gaze on me, most likely from my stop mid-way I did after noticing his smell. “H-here you go,” I stutter when I hand him quickly those things. “So, do you know something about moonstone?” I change the subject and together we do the homework in about 30 minutes.

“That was fast! I didn’t know you knew that much about it,” I exclaim with a hint of surprise in my voice which he just answered. “Well, me and Fred like to experiment… one of them was a love potion, so-“ “You’ve tried making Amortentia?” I cut him with panic in my voice. “Ehm, we might have,” he smiles sheepishly at me. “How did it smell like?” I ask in awe. “I didn’t say, we’ve done it correctly,” he snickers. “But I think it would smell to me a dark chocolate and maybe berries?” He says pensively. “What do you think it would smell like to you?” George asks me with his head tilted in interest. “Hmmm… Levander? Oranges, fire?” I shoot what comes to my mind first. “Honestly, I’m not sure, but I’ll get to know next year,” I shrugged. “Maybe our guesses won’t be that far from true, I hope,” he sighs with hope-laced words. “Why, do you somehow know, what that might mean? Because I just said what came to my mind,” I stare at him intently. “As you said, we will see,” he smiles and then asks out of the blue. “How did you meet Eliz anyway?” So, I go down my memory lane and describe to him how I met her on the train, and how she boldly came into my life. “Sound kind of the same way as we got to know her,” he smiles. “She was just as energetic even then, also more hot-headed than she is now,” he reminisced. “We met her on the grounds near the Black Lake. She was sitting there with a book in her lap and a wand in her hand. She was making her origami swan floating in the air. We were just going there to sit with the other Gryffindors, but something made Fred stop. He just stared at her, even though we learned levitation in the first year, this was the beginning of our second. I think he wanted to talk to her, but then he noticed, she had a green robe. Our family isn’t really a fan of that house, but even so, I still pretend to not know, why he did, what he did,” he sighs. “What did he do?” I ask eagerly to know, how my close friend met these pranksters. “He got out his wand, and with Incendio he burned her swan in the air. She looked at us with fright and anger and then started shouting at him. In anger she knocked him on the ground with Flipendo,” he starts laughing. “Somehow they both manage not to hurt each other, but the prank war started there,” he explains. “Their war continues that long?” My surprise at that was obvious. “That makes it three whole years!” “Well, yeah, but their war turns more easy-going with time, as you could notice, there’s no violence in there, so I’m glad,” he smiles.

“You’ve also said your family isn’t on good terms with Slytherin, may I ask why?” I bit my lip in the hope, that he would tell me more about himself, and his family. “Well… we’ve had way too many encounters with Lucius Malfoy, then the thing with Ginny last year… and don’t let me start about the little shit Draco. Also, our house has a rivalry with Slytherin, you know, house points, quidditch,” he shrugged. “Well yeah,” I smile. “How many siblings do you have, by the way? Four?” I tilt my head. “No, actually there are 7 of us. The oldest Bill and Charlie are already out of Hogwarts,” he chuckles. “Oh, I didn’t know that. Tell me more, please,” I pleaded which he does as requested with a gentle smile on his face. We talked for what felt like hours, getting to know each other from our families to our favourite food and also, and we exchanged some advice from quidditch as we played the same position.

But then my sharp cat ears picked up on some footsteps coming right to our section of the library. “Someone’s coming, didn’t you tell us that you’ve made sure no one was coming in here?” I asked, my voice laced with a fear of being found still in my cat-like appearance. George acts fast at my warning. “Fred! Hide Eliz, quickly!” He yell-whispers at his twin, then grabs my hand to hide me too. We stop a few bookshelves from our spot. My back is pressed against the shelve and my front is blocked by George’s chest. We are both breathing a little faster from our escape. “It should be fine here, it looks like someone needed some book from our spot at the reference section,” then he looks down at me and registers the position we are in right now. We stare at each other. He starts to blush a little and I’m more than confused at his reaction. But then again, the footsteps are getting nearer and nearer. “Fuck, I’m really sorry,” he says at the realization, that the person coming is going to see me in this state. I had to think fast, so I did what I had to. I bring him closer to me. The person comes around sees us and goes. “Oh, sorry guys, didn’t mean to disturb your snogging session, I’ll come later I guess,” the person mumbles and goes quickly away. I just pull myself from his neck and place my feet securely back on the ground. “I should be the one saying sorry,” I say remorsefully for using him as my shield as I play with my hands, not looking him in the face. "If you wanted to do this, you could've just asked,” he says cheekily, grabbing my chin so I would look him in the eyes. I do so, but with a blush, I feel as if I was set ablaze. “Are you all right, Kitten?” he asks worriedly, as his eyes scan my face. “Y-yeah, I’m fine. But what did you just call me?” I ask with eyes so wide just as my hanging mouth. “Kitten?” He asks more than says, but then continues, “You have a tail now, and ears. Also, you're short. So, yeah, you look like a kitten,” he justifies, and I see something flash in his eyes, but it's gone just as quick as it came. “Ah, okay,” is my only response, and then I push him away and I flee from the section. I could not see Eliz and neither Fred, so I grabbed my things and rushed outside, to my own dorm. What did I think he would say? That he thinks I’m adorable or what? I scream at myself in my mind. Hopefully, he’s not gonna think anything bad about me, that I literally ran away from him.