You Are My Star

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

            December ended, along with the break, but the weather stayed cold until the end of January. It was Wednesday evening, and colder than usual. Draco, Hermione, Harry, Ron and I were up in the library trying to finish up some D.A.D.A homework. Well, Hermione and I had already finished, but helping Ron, Draco and Harry gave us an excuse to be together. Draco was having a harder time than the others.

            “It’s because he’s more used to casting dark spells than defending them.” Ron muttered at one point. Draco shot daggers at him. I stepped on Ron’s foot under the table, making him wince.

            “Geez, it’s cold.” Harry said as we made our way toward the Great Hall half an hour later.

            “I wish it was summer.” Draco said. The others nodded in agreement.

            “I like the cold.” I said, “And especially autumn. It’s not too cold. Besides,” I added a bit defensively at the looks the others were giving me, “It’s easier to warm up than it is to cool down.” They laughed.

            “No, really,” I insisted, “Look, when it’s hot all you want to do is jump in a nice cold pool. But you can’t do that whenever you want to. If it’s late at night, or you’re at camp or at summer school, you can’t go jump into that big cold pool. But, if it’s cold, all you need is a blanket and you can snuggle up wherever you want and warm up.” I concluded.

            As we entered the Great Hall, Harry pulled me aside.

            “There’s something we need to show you.” He whispered in my ear, and stuffed a balled up piece of parchment in my hand, “Don’t open it until you’re alone.” He gave me a meaningful look, then went back to the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione.

            “What was that about?” Draco asked as I sat down next to him. I shrugged and bit into a piece of chicken. He stared at me for a few seconds, shrugged, then dug into his own dinner. An hour later Pansy and I were alone in the common room, talking about our favorite teachers.

            “Well Professor Flitwick is nice and all, but he’s just so short.” Pansy said. I snorted.

            “What does his height have to do with anything? He’s a good teacher.” I argued.

            “Well, it just makes me want to make a joke about it, and I keep thinking about funny things to say during class. I can’t focus.” She said defensively. I shook my head.

            “It wouldn’t be a problem at all if you had better work ethics.” I chided her. She looked outraged.

            “My work ethics are perfectly fine!” She said. I snorted at that.

            “Pansy, you wait until the second to last day to do any of your work.” I said, barely managing to keep the annoyance out of my voice, “And then you have a freak attack and guilt someone else to help you.”

            “Did Pansy guilt someone into helping her again?” Draco said as he entered the common room and took a seat next to us. I laughed, and we began talking. A few minutes later, Goyle and Crabbe joined us. They didn’t add much to the conversation, but I enjoyed their company anyways.

            “I don’t guilt people!” She insisted, “I convince them!” We all laughed at that. The evening went by quickly and I settled into bed. I didn’t think I would fall asleep so quickly, but as soon as my eyes closed, I was asleep. And I began to dream.