A warm, familiar smell caressed my nostrils as I slowly woke up again.
"Well rested?" asks an equally familiar voice.
Confused, I wondered where I was.
Everything around me was colored in a soft, warm red. Not just the tapestries, cushions, or the fire in the fireplace. The hair I saw at first glance was also in a beautiful shade of red.
Apparently I was in the Gryffindor common room.
"Garreth, what time is it?" I croaked. My throat was so dry it felt like I hadn't had a drink in days.
"It's 8:30pm and you missed dinner" he replied with a grin and handed me a glass of pumpkin juice.
I drank it down in one gulp, cleared my throat and thanked him with a nod.
My stomach growled. I snorted annoyed. Why didn't anyone wake me?
I rubbed my eyes and stretched to regain full consciousness.
"Caelie, I brought you food. I can't risk you starving. How am I supposed to explain this to my aunt?" he said laughing and handed me a plate full of delicacies. "If you need more, let me know. The house-elves will surely have some left."
I took a bite of a piece of bread and thought about what else I had to do. Did I still have homework? Apparently I fell asleep while doing this one. I spotted the issue of History of Magic next to me and rolled my eyes. I was not finished yet. But that would have to wait.
Because Garreth sat next to me on the big sofa in front of the fireplace and kept shaking his legs. We'd been friends long enough for me to know exactly what that meant. He had messed something up.
I finished my meal and as soon as I swallowed my last bite, Garreth asked me to follow him.
We walked up the stairs toward the boys' dormitories. In his dormitory, he quickly closed the door behind us after we entered. I sat down on the edge of his bed and already knew what was about to happen.
"Caelie, look what I managed to snag." He took a bundle of brightly colored feathers from his chest. "Fwooperfeathers. From Sharp's stash. Went into his pantry before dinner and-" I cut him off. It was exactly what I suspected. "Please. Not again, Garreth. You know exactly what happens. Your aunt can't always protect you."
He tilted his head and smiled slightly. "How is Sharp supposed to know it was me? Don't worry so much. I waited until he left, grabbed my feathers and quickly ran to the great hall.".
I tried to believe him that nothing would go wrong, but the number of times he's successfully stolen an ingredient for his brews over the past few years can be counted on one hand.
He noticed my continued worried look and ruffled my hair with a smile.
I returned his soft smile and looked at him. His kind, green eyes have taken my worries away so many times. And they did it this time too.
We had known each other since the first year of school and since then we have also spent the summer holidays together, since my godmother lived very close to his parents' house. It was now the sixth year and we continued to spend a lot of time together, although not as much as we used to because we rarely have the same subjects.
Sometimes I really missed him during the day, even though, we saw each other every evening.
We lingered in that moment. He crouched in front of me, I sat on his bed and we just looked at each other. A pleasant tingling in my stomach spread, now that I looked at him so intensely. He's changed a lot in the last few years, I thought. In the first grade I was a head taller than him. Now he's a lot taller than me. He is slim but not skinny. His red-blonde locks frame his freckled face perfectly. He really has grown into a beautiful young man. As I took one look at his smiling mouth and beautiful lips, the tingling took over. I blushed and broke eye contact. Was I about to kiss him? I've been noticing this tingling more and more in the last months.
I shook off my inner monologue and refocused on the action.
"I still have my History of Magic assignment to finish." I said a little embarrassed. He raised an eyebrow, got up, opened the door and we headed back to the common room until it was time to go to sleep.
The next day dawned and I was awakened by loud scolding. Natty was arguing with Nellie and they were now loudly raising the issue in front of Cressida. I tried not to listen, but apparently the point was that they both fell in love with the same Ravenclaw student.
I ignored Natty and Nellie, gave Cressida a pitying look, and went to the bathroom and got ready for the day. Then I headed towards the common room, where Garreth was waiting for me, as he did almost every morning. I looked at him and felt my face warm up. And there it was again. That tingling in my stomach.
He smiled broadly at me and walked me to breakfast.
Today we had different subjects again. For me Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic and Astronomy, for him Muggle Studies, Transfiguration and Arithmancy. So we said goodbye to each other and went to our classrooms. I was actually more disappointed than usual that we only saw each other for lunch, but I was already looking forward to being around him again.
When I reached the tower, I walked up the spiral staircase with my books in my arms. Halfway up the stairs a student ran down the stairs and pushed me over, causing us both to fall down the stairs and me dropping my books.
I was ready to give a lecture when I suddenly heard a very friendly and calm voice. "Oh god, I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" I said yes, annoyed, looked at the student and recognized who it was. It was Ominis Gaunt. The only blind boy in our school. I barely knew him, he was a Slytherin in my year, but other than sharing a few subjects since the start of the sixth year, we didn't have much to do with each other.
My anger immediately gave way to enormous shame. I almost yelled at a blind boy for not seeing me.
"I'm really sorry but I'm searching for someone," he murmured. "Can I help you find it?" I asked immediately, but he quickly shook his head and hurried further down the stairs.
So I gathered my books and went to the classroom.
Professor Hecat emerged from the back room and greeted the class. She glanced around the class and asked if anyone had seen Mr. Sallow. Everyone denied this. Was it he that Ominis was looking for? He is also a Slytherin from our year. And because their common room was in the dungeons of the castle, it was quite odd that Ominis walked from the direction of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom before so early in the morning.
The lesson was very theoretical, which gave me a lot of time to think about Garreth. Why am I thinking about him so much? We've known each other for so long. Where did that feeling come from?
Next up was History of Magic starring Professor Binns. When I entered the room, I saw Ominis already sitting in his place. While he seemed friendly and calm this morning, he now seemed distraught and depressed. "Ominis, I'm sorry about this morning. Were you able to find the person you were looking for?" I asked him. He just nodded and bowed his head. His eyes looked slightly red, he probably didn't want to be seen like that. I respected this and sat down in my regular seat.
After the absolutely dull lesson with Professor Binns ended, Ominis immediately stormed out of the room. I felt sorry for him. Something bad must have happened.
Now it was time for lunch. So I went excited to the great hall where Garreth and Natty were already waiting for me. "Caelie, would you like to try my latest creation?" Garreth asked directly. I rolled my eyes but agreed because he looks always so sweet when someone liked his magical drinks. Unfortunately, these had strange side effects such as temporary discoloration of the hair, or swelling of the tip of the nose or little toe sometimes. But after Natty agreed, he poured us a portion each.
It tasted good. Really good. Pleasantly fruity with a fine, sour note. So I complimented him, which made his beautiful green eyes shine even more brightly than before. He laughed and said: "Brilliant!"
I looked around. Neither Ominis nor the missing Sebastian Sallow sat at the Slytherin table.
At the end of the lunch break, I made my way to the astronomy tower alone, since Garreth and Natty had to go the other way. Suddenly I had the feeling that my legs could no longer carry me. I shook them out, took a deep breath and kept walking. I got dizzy on a flight of stairs and again my legs wouldn't carry me anymore. I was trying to hold on when I blacked out and fell backwards.