Blair's first lesson the next day was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. They would be learning to change living animals into detailed vases. So Blair brought her cat to the Great Hall at breakfast so that she wouldn't have to go back to her dormitory and risk being late. Others in her year had done the same, making the hall littered with owls, toads and cats. Lee had even brought his pet tarantula that had ventured into the plate of toast and bacon at the Gryffindor table.
"Control that thing, will you?!" Alicia Spinnet could be heard shrieking.
"He does what he wants!" Lee fought and stroked it's hairy back affectionately.
The black cat sat up on the Ravenclaw table calmly while Blair ate her toast and scrambled eggs. She took reserved pride in having such a well trained pet and momentarily wished people would admire his good behaviour. He would occasionally sniff at the plate of bacon but only took the pieces offered to him by his owner.
"You must have Transfiguration today huh?" George Weasley appeared as he sat down in the bench opposite Blair. The girl merely looked up at him and bit her lip to stop the insult rolling off her tongue. She had an inkling that the boy would pull the same trick he did yesterday and sit at her table for breakfast, and her suspicions were raised when she noticed his twin had entered the hall earlier without him.
"What's his name?" he questioned with a nod to the cat.
Blair remained silent and scooped some egg on to her fork to feed to her pet. He happily munched on the food and accepted the pat that George gave to his back. He stood up from his sitting position and arched his back towards George's hand, padding across the table to sit in front of the boy. George grinned and continued to groom the cat, unaware of the glare he was receiving from Blair.
"You don't have to be grumpy all the time you know?" George said when he noticed Blair's unfriendly look. "I'm just asking a question."
"Jasper," she hissed quietly and George's grin grew.
"Cute," he replied and scratched at Jasper's back.
"Why are you sitting here?" she asked under her breath, flickering her eyes around her to check if anyone was listening to their conversation.
"You looked lonely," he shrugged. "Plus, I wanted to start getting to know you better now that I know you do talk."
"I'm sure you're missed at your own table," Blair nodded her head towards the place over George's shoulder, making him turn and look at the Gryffindor table.
Fred was staring at him expectantly and mouthed something to him from across the hall. It was obvious that he was asking why he was sitting at a different table for the second time and George wasn't in the mood to explain himself again. He shot him a knowing look and turned back to face Blair, only to find her spot empty and her cat gone from in front of him.
"I'll see you in the double then!" George called out when he spotted Blair's scurrying figure leaving the hall. She cringed at his loud voice and hurriedly left towards Professor McGonagall's class, knowing that people had turned to look at her because of George's loud calling.
In the small space of ten minutes, Blair had spoken more than she had ever done at Hogwarts. The only times she had talked was during the practical exams in her fifth year, muttering spells in order to pass her classes. There were times where she would practice spells in her dormitory and attempt them in class, but she was so overlooked that no one would ever take any notice. Most of her teachers didn't mind that she didn't raise her hand in class because her grades were more or less flawless. But George had been able to get her speak after only a day of knowing him.
She had Transfiguration and was thankful that another Ravenclaw had taken the space next to her. Fred and Jordan had the same scheduled class but sat far from her, to which wasn't any different. The Ravenclaw next to her didn't speak either so the lesson was relieving to say the least. But Blair thought of her next class which would be Defence Against the Dark Arts. Not only was it a double, but it would mean she would have Professor Moody for the first time and most likely have George sitting next to her again.
Dropping Jasper back at her dormitory, Blair made her way towards the spiral staircase that lead up to Professor Moody's classroom. To say she was nervous was an understatement. The man didn't seem to recognise her at all when in the Great Hall at meal times, but that didn't mean he knew her name yet. She was sure that when he read out the role, he would see the name 'Rosier' and make his enlarged eye zero in on her with a smug look.
He had been the one to kill her father during the first Wizarding war. She had heard stories of her father, Evan Rosier, fighting against Aurors until his death. He was meant to be arrested, but chose to serve You Know Who to the very end. And like many other You Know Who's followers, he was killed by the notorious Auror Alastor (Mad-eye) Moody. But Blair's father was known for taking a part of Moody's nose with him to the grave, which explained why the man's face was so jumbled and hideous.
Walking into the classroom immediately brought a weight on to Blair's shoulders as she spotted the hunched over man standing at the front of the class. He stood with his walking stick in his hands and looking over the few students who were already seated and waiting for the class to begin. Blair gulped as his large eye ran over her when she stepped inside and she felt exposed. She knew that his eye was only used for looking past enchantments but she couldn't help feeling like she was standing stark-naked.
"Trouble choosing a seat, Miss Rosier?" the man's voice was vicious and had a slight Scottish twang to it. But it was the lack of interest and undertone that wasn't sarcasm, that made Blair confused.
Feeling the various stares coming from the students already sitting as they looked over their shoulders, she rushed to the seat furthest away from the front and lowered her head bashfully. The staring students looked away from her from the loss of interest and talked among themselves to wait for the class to start. Professor Moody even turned his magical eye back towards the door to interrogate the next poor student that walked in.
Now Blair was very suspicious. He had no idea who she was even when knowing her last name. If he did, he was brilliant at not showing it. But Blair somehow knew that he wasn't hiding that particular fact. She concluded that he knew her name from looking at the class role and seeing that all the Ravenclaws in the class had already taken their seats, leaving her to be last. It was only three more Gryffindors who needed to arrive before the class could start, and Blair was pulled roughly out of her thoughts by the entrance of the said students.
Fred, George and Lee walked through the door while laughing about something they had been discussing. But their laughs stopped immediately when they caught sight of the near full class and Professor Moody standing at the front patiently.
"Thanks for dropping in boys," Moody half joked and motioned to the last three spots available. "I hope you don't mind sitting down?"
Fred and Lee rushed to the last free table and left George to take the last seat next to Blair, putting her into an even more uncomfortable state. She coiled further away towards the far side of the table when the sleeve of his robe brushed against her arm before turning to the front to listen to the man she was now suspicious about.
"Right, we'll get straight into it then," Moody announced and dived into the three Unforgivable curses.
After a rather horrible demonstration of the three curses, Professor Moody got the class to write down some things from the blackboard. The class struggled to stay focused after having to watch a spider be controlled, tortured and killed by all three curses. Blair's hand shook while she wrote with her black quill and had to write her lines slowly in order to keep her words straight and readable. She couldn't believe that Professor Dumbledore had allowed such curses to be done in a classroom. She concluded that finding staff must have been a struggle this year after having multiple teachers resign (or die or completely forget who they are).
While writing another line of famous cases of using the Cruciatus curse, she caught the movement of parchment in the corner of her eye. She turned her head slightly and saw part of the George's textbook page peaking out from under his elbow. In black ink, she read the words:
R u ok?
Blair was surprised to find that George had noticed her shaking hand and turned to see that he was looking at her with furrowed eyebrows. He wanted to ask her verbally but was afraid that Professor Moody would tell them both off for talking. He resorted to writing his question and bit his lip when he saw Blair looking at him, only to see her look away without a response and turn back to her writing.
He frowned and pulled the corner of his textbook from under his elbow, ripping the piece of parchment and revealing the blank corner behind it. He took his quill and drew a simplistic picture of a cat, adding whiskers and cat ears to its beady eyes and triangular nose. He then drew an arrow before writing 'Jasper' and slipped it back under his elbow.
Blair looked to the corner once again and found the urge to laugh out loud. The picture was adorable and it hit the place in her heart that not only loved cats, but hit the place that jumped from the sudden kindness from George. Her lips pulled up into a small smile and she bit her tongue to stop herself from laughing, letting her hair fall in front of her face to hide her blushing cheeks. But she wasn't quick enough to hide it from George and his own lips pulled into a wide grin.
He never thought he would be able to make Blair Rosier smile. And he found himself wanting to make her laugh after seeing her so shaken from the curses performed by Professor Moody. The sight of her smile was enough for him and he felt an odd sensation sprout from his chest. His cheeks grew warm and he stared at the way her eyes disappeared from the stretch of her lips. He preferred this expression over her usual deep frown, and took notice in the fact that his heart had accelerated like it never had before.
---
"You really made Rosier laugh?" Lee questioned as they made their way down the spiral staircase.
"It wasn't a laugh as such. She definitely smiled though," George proudly mentioned, still giddy from the experience.
"Are we really going to ignore the fact that Moody did all three Unforgivable curses?" Fred pipped up.
"Come on, Fred. George's finally getting some action!" Lee fought back.
"I'm not getting any 'action'!" George glared at Lee and tried his best to stop the warm sensation flying up to his cheeks again.
"Are you... Are you blushing?" Fred pointed to his brother's cheeks and George turned his head away with his long hair now covering his face. "Oh Merlin, you are!"
"Shut up!"
"Look, Rosier's there! Go talk to her! Tell her how you feel!" Fred cried as he grinned and pointed to Blair who was a few steps in front of them.
"I don't feel anything!" George fought and punched Fred's arm, glancing nervously towards Blair who thankfully hadn't turned around at the mention of her name.
"I'm not gonna lie Georgie, I never thought you'd go after someone like her," Fred continued. "But maybe this is the time to start thinking about lady friends. Mum's always going on about it since Bill and Charlie's never mentioned any. And we know that Percy's got no chance."
"And she is a Chaser. Maybe she's right for you after all," Lee shrugged.
George had completely forgotten that Blair was indeed on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. He vaguely remembered hitting bludgers towards a royal blue jersey that had the number three and displayed the name Rosier. But it wasn't until Lee mentioned it that he remembered she was a mighty good Chaser. Most of Ravenclaws wins had been because of her. George thought about the games they had played against Ravenclaw in the past years and suddenly became even more interested in Blair.
But he definitely didn't like her in the way Fred was suggesting, right?