Wizard Love!

Idina was woken from a peaceful sleep by the sound of a rising bell. She clambered from the soft warmth of her four poster bed and pulled on her robes, still unable to believe that she was here at last. Then, in a knot with her fellow Gryffindor girls, she left the Common Room and went into the Great Hall for breakfast.

Her eyes sought out Blake and immediately spotted him hunched in with the other Slytherins. His head was bowed, but she had a feeling he wore a grave expression on his face as she passed by.

Helena was sitting already at the Hufflepuff table, and the second Idina sat down in a seat, she spun about to talk to her. “Ooh, I can’t wait for Charms!” she said, without even greeting Idina with a “Good morning” first. “It was my dad’s favourite subject; along with Herbology, of course! I hear that Professor Longbottom really knows his stuff for that!”

“He’s one of my mum’s friends, you know,” said Lysander from the Ravenclaw table, in the same dream-struck voice as before. “They fought Death Eaters in the Ministry of Magic together; with Harry Potter and the others.”

James Potter, who had overheard this exchange, beamed proudly. “That’s right. My parents and my uncle and aunt say that your mum’s one of the nicest people they’ve ever met; though Aunt Hermione says she can be a little eccentric.”

Lysander shrugged and began to spread marmalade on his cornflakes, absently. “I can’t think what you mean by that.”

Idina giggled and turned to James. “Is it true you’re related to the Weasley family?”

“Yep!” James straightened up, proudly.

“My dad says he never had a fiercer pair of beaters than the Weasley twins,” Idina replied. This served to make James look even more proud.

“I wish I was a second year already,” sighed Helena. “Then I could try out for the Quiddich team!”

“What would you play?” Idina asked her.

“Mm...maybe Chaser, or possibly a Beater. I don’t know really. It just looks like fun.”

Idina got on with eating her breakfast, wishing there was some way that Blake could join in their conversation. He looked rather lonely on the Slytherin table, stuck in between Ivan and a pale second year with white blonde hair and a sneery expression on his face.

“Scorpius Malfoy,” said James.

“Sorry?” Idina looked up at him.

“That blonde Slytherin boy, in case you’re wondering. Try not to get on the wrong side of him. He and my dad had an enmity for all their years in Hogwarts. His dad was Seeker for Slytherin team for about five years.”

Idina vaguely remembered her father once telling her about a match in his sixth year where Harry Potter and the Slytherin Seeker Draco Malfoy had been neck and neck to get the Snitch whilst Harry was being chased by a rogue Bludger. “Did...his dad become a Death Eater or something?” she said, slowly, trying to remember what she had been told about the Battle of Hogwarts.

“Yeah, for a while.”

James didn’t expand on this explanation and Idina didn’t ask him to.

When they were done with breakfast, the first years made their way into Greenhouse 1 at the back of the school. As they filed in, Idina touched Blake’s arm. “Hi, you ok? You look worried.”

Blake threw a glance over his shoulder. “Look, no offence, but I don’t know whether we should...you know, be talking.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m a Slytherin and you’re a Gryffindor.”

“So?” Idina laughed. “Oh, come on! We were friends before we were even Sorted!”

Blake looked at her, in surprise. “Were we?”

“Yes. Well, I thought we were.”

Blake shuffled his feet, awkwardly. “I’ve never really had a friend before.”

Before Idina could respond, a tall, slightly chubby and somewhat dishevelled looking man hurried into the room. Idina had seen him at breakfast and knew now that this must be none other than Professor Longbottom.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” he gabbled, placing down a pile of gardening gloves on a table. “Not a good start to a new term, being late, eh?” He smiled at the students. “I’m Professor Longbottom; welcome to Herbology. Now I’m assuming you’ve all read One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi over the summer?” Everyone nodded and he grinned, broadly. “Fantastic. So, everyone grab a table and a plant pot and we’ll begin.”

The lesson consisted of teaching the students about recognising the various herbs and fungi that grew around Hogwarts, and Idina was overjoyed to learn that their homework would include actually going out into the grounds and studying them for themselves. That would be a great opportunity to explore.

They moved from Herbology into Transfiguration, which was taught by Professor Conchrose. Like her predecessor, Minervan McGonagall, Professor Conchrose was strict but fair with her students and though Idina felt a little intimidated by her, she also felt that she would be a good person to run to in an emergency and was glad that she was head of Gryffindor House.

Following Transfiguration was Potions, headed by Horace Slughorn. Idina wasn’t sure, initially, what to make of him. He was a Slytherin, but you wouldn’t have thought it upon first meeting him. He was pleasant enough and took great care ensuring that the students knew exactly what they were doing in his class, yet he seemed to favour some over others. This didn’t bother her, but a few of the other Slytherins looked disappointed when he didn’t pick them out for special greeting. Nevertheless they worked hard and he seemed very impressed by their efforts.

When the students eventually got a break from lessons, Idina decided that this would be a good time to send Aeschylus to her parents to let them know that she was in Gryffindor. Helena too expressed a desire to send an owl home, although she would have to borrow one of the school owls since she didn’t own one herself, just a cat, and so the pair of them made their way up to the Owlery.

“What’s your cat called?” Idina asked.

“Pomander,” replied Helena. “He’s grey and very fluffy. I always wanted a cat but my mum was always worried about them scratching up the furniture, but when I got into Hogwarts, she said I could have one as long as I teach it to behave at home.”

Idina nodded, thoughtfully. Helena was more of a talker than a listener, but she decided that she liked her. She was bubbly and confident and the kind of friend you’d want, really. And, as far as she knew, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs had no qualms about hanging out together.

“Can I ask you something?” she said, presently, tying her letter to Aeschylus’ leg.

“Yeah, what?” Helena asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

“Do you think it’s odd...hypothetically speaking, if a Gryffindor and a Slytherin were friends?”

Helena went off in a peel of laughter. “I doubt any Slytherin would want to be friends with anyone other than another Slytherin! My dad says they can be quite prejudice!”

“Oh,” was all Idina said to that.

Their last lesson of the day was Charms and Idina couldn’t blame Helena for being excited about it, it did turn out to be rather fun in the end. Professor Patil was a nice young woman, very patient with her students, and very encouraging too.

All in all, Idina reflected, as she sat down to dinner later that evening, it had been quite a good day all round, really. Well, except for the fact that Blake seemed to now be avoiding her. Shooting a glance over at the Slytherin table, she watched Ivan cuff him around the back of the head and laugh, causing a few of the other Slytherin boys to join in. She wondered if that was it, as Blake shuffled further up the table away from his brother, was it because he feared Ivan’s reaction if he was seen befriending a Gryffindor? If that was it, then she supposed she couldn’t blame him with a bully like that for a brother.

Even as she was thinking this, something landed in her lap. Glancing down she saw that it was a folded scrap of parchment. Looking around for who had thrown it, and not finding them, she set down her knife and fork and quietly unfolded it in her lap. The handwriting was small and spidery, as if it had been written in great haste, but she was able to make it out.

“Can we talk? Maybe meet in the library after dinner? Please? Blake”

Idina glanced up, over at the Slytherin table, where he was sitting. He caught her eyes, flashed her a brief smile of desperation and pleading, and then went back to his dinner.

“How come you keep looking over at the Slytherin table?” asked James, who was watching her.

Idina thought quickly. “Just checking they’re not about to start throwing stuff at us.”

James laughed. “I doubt they’d do that with the teachers around.”

Idina went back to her dinner, thinking this all through. So Blake did want to talk to her? Or was he going to tell her to stay away from him? No, that couldn’t be it, not if the look on his face when she had met his eye was anything to go by.

So, after dinner, she made her way to the library, alone. Helena, thankfully, wanted to go back to the Common Room, and Idina said that she’d meet her there later, using Potions homework as an excuse to go to the library.

When she got there, Blake was nowhere to be seen. She sighed. “If this is all some kind of Slytherin trick,” she decided, “then there are going to be some very sorry Slytherins floating in the Black Lake by the end of the week.”

Someone grabbed her hand, and she jumped, violently, pulling away with a startled cry.

“Shh!” Madam Pince hissed as she passed by with a stack of books in her arms.

“Sorry,” Idina whispered, and then she felt herself grabbed again and dragged behind the bookshelf. Startled, she looked up at Blake.

“What the Forbidden Forest are you doing?” she hissed, wrenching her hand free of his.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you jump.” Blake looked genuinely apologetic. “I just didn’t want any of the Slytherins to see us together.”

Idina folded her arms. “So what do you want?”

Blake looked awkward. He shuffled his feet a little. “I’d like us to be friends.”

“O-K.”

Blake sighed and looked up at her. “Yeah. I like you. And also I never said thanks for standing up for me on the train yesterday, so thanks.”

Idina looked at him. He looked so vulnerable that she couldn’t help forgiving him for ignoring her for the rest of the day. She smiled. “Well, you’re welcome. But won’t you get into trouble with Ivan if you’re friends with me?”

“Not if we keep it secret.” Blake gave her a mischievous look. “Until he leaves Hogwarts.”

“And just how are we going to manage that?” Idina ran a hand through her hair. “I mean, we could sneak around behind our friends backs, I suppose, but it wouldn’t be easy.”

“We could pretend we don’t like each other so they don’t get suspicious,” Blake agreed.

“You seriously think we can pull it off.”

“We won’t know unless we try, and I’m game if you are.” Blake held out a hand to her.

“I’m game,” replied Idina, shaking his hand.