Disclaimer: Yay! My last disclaimer! I promised myself that after chapter 10, I wouldn't do disclaimers every chapter and I'll only do it when needed. So, just for old time's sake: I don't own anything except for the plot and original characters. Everything else belongs to the fabulous J.K. Rowling and her awesome publishing companies.
Chapter Ten: Exciting Mundanity
(Chapter's Song: 'Who Makes You Feel?' by Dido)
Kate and I ran down the steps, just narrowly missing being hit by a flying warthog holding a sword. We sprinted down the staircase and down another when my foot suddenly sank through the trick step and I fell down…down…down…
I woke with a jolt and felt something warm and furry around my neck. What the…? Oh, it's only Mittens. It's actually been a while since I last woke up with her curled up around my neck like a furry scarf. I gently picked her up and placed her on one of my pillows and slowly sat up, stretching and yawning. Oh man, Monday morning. Frick.
I opened my curtains and swung my legs off of my bed and then sat for a while, just watching the second hand tick closer and closer to making it 6:43 AM. I blinked a couple of times and then shrugged before reaching out and turning my alarm clock off. I might as well get ready for the day…
I padded into the bathroom as silently as I could so as not to disturb the quiet serenity of the dorm. Besides, I would be viciously murdered if I woke anyone up right now. I stood in the bathroom and stared at my reflection in the mirror. Tired green eyes, skin marked with pillow creases and traces of drool running down the side of my mouth. Oh, and let's not forget my sorry excuse of hair completely knotted and hanging limply down my shoulders. Needless to say, I'm not exactly what you would call a morning person. I shook myself and then got moving again, turning the tap on and running the hot water. After tossing yesterday's clothing into the hamper, I stepped into the only thing that would ever wake me up properly.
I dashed into the Transfiguration classroom with barely a minute to spare and slid into the last empty seat, next to James Potter and his friends. I caught Kate's eye from the opposite side of the room.
'I'm sorry,' she mouthed. I shrugged and waved my hand at her.
"Morning," said James brightly as I took my books out. "Nice hair."
I rolled my eyes. "Shut up," I grumbled. I tossed the mess of curls and straight hair (sometimes it dries half and half like that) into a high ponytail and fixed my skirt. It's amazing how even if you wake up super early, you still end up being late. I hate that. Sodding karma. Or whatever.
"Settle down, settle down," said McGonagall, walking into the room and commanding silence. "We have a lot to cover today. I have your essays to hand back to you and then we will begin discussing conjuring…"
"When did we write an essay?" I whispered to James.
He frowned and shook his head. "Sirius?"
"It was due last Thursday. Two feet on the dangers and risks of transfiguring animals into people," said Sirius.
"I honestly have no recollection of this assignment," I said, shaking my head.
"Since when were you so on top of things?" asked James, staring at Sirius with a look of wonder written all over his face.
"Evans…" said McGonagall, coming around and handing me my essay. "Oh, and I would like to speak to you after class. You too, Potter."
I took my essay from her and nodded. Nice. I got an 'O'. Oh, now I remember this thing… It took me forever to get it done. Good thing I got top marks then.
"What? Why?" spluttered James.
McGonagall just handed him his paper and walked away.
"What'd you get?" he asked, peeking over my shoulder.
I wiggled my shoulder and shoved him away. "Stop it, you nosy prat. And why are you so… perky on a Monday morning?"
"Prongsy here is like that. Gets on your nerves, he does. Way too chipper," said Sirius, lazily blowing his hair out of his face.
McGonagall walked back to the front of the classroom and began talking about the wand/wrist movements necessary to properly conjure something. Although all that I heard was "Flick your wand….wrist…shmee…"
I sighed. Oh man.
"Evans," called McGonagall, just as I was about to leave the classroom.
I turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Aye? I mean, yes, professor?"
"I asked to speak to you, remember?"
Bugger. "Right. You did say that. Is anything wrong, professor?" I said, shifting my bag higher up on my shoulder as I walked over to her desk. James looked at me weirdly and rolled his eyes, running his hand through his hair. Sexy beast.
"Nothing at all, Evans. Just wanted to tell you that the password to the Headmaster's office is 'Pumpkin Pasty'. But I also wanted to know, did you pay attention at all today?" she said, looking at me sharply.
"Yes, of course," I said smoothly, avoiding James's eye because we played hangman the entire lesson.
"Then would you mind telling me who patented the spell, in what year and in what country?"
"Not at all. The conjuring spell, or apparo conjuctus was patented by Dietmar Lagerhaus in what is now Germany in 3 AD. Lagerhaus is also the founder of the Summoning charm, the Levitating charm and the lesser-known toenail growth charm. He is also acknowledged for making chinchilla training popular and for founding a business off of it," I said. Damn, I am good.
"Oh. You're quite right, Miss Evans," said McGonagall, taken aback.
James stared at me with a mixed expression of confusion and admiration on his face.
"So," I said, adjusting my bag again. "Am I free to go?"
"Yes, you are dismissed. And you are to be at the Headmaster's office at 4 o'clock."
"Right. Thank you, professor," I said, and walked out of the room.
Yay! Guess who doesn't have class for another hour? I began dancing down the corridor, ignoring the strange looks from the few stragglers late to their next class. "She's chic but she's not shady, yeah / Sophisticated lady / And she makes me feel good / She's so fine," I sang, shaking my hips.
I paused in the middle of the hall and started air guitaring and shaking my head. I released my hair from its confinement and let it fall down and whip around.
"Yeah, don't you know she blows my mind / All the time / 'Cause she makes me feel good / Like a real woman should / Yeah, she's so mine."
"What are you doing?"
I stopped and flipped my hair over my head and away from my face. Ah, James. Always popping up wherever I go. "Nothing," I said innocently and began to walk towards the front doors of the school.
"Where are you going?" asked James, speeding up to catch up to me.
"Studying to be a detective, James?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "I'm heading out to the pitch. I wanted to get some fresh air before having lessons for the rest of the day because I don't think that I'll be able to handle sitting in stuffy rooms for four more hours. Too jittery."
"Right," said James. "You're okay, right? After last night, I mean."
I looked over at him and nodded. "Yeah, I'm peachy. And thanks for staying with me, that was really sweet of you."
James shrugged. "What was I supposed to do? Just leave you there? That'd be a very pricky thing to do."
I nodded again and leaned against the heavy front doors that led to the grounds. They gave way to the vision of a steel grey sky with angry clouds and a sense of heaviness in the air, the atmosphere preceding a storm. Fog kissed the grounds in tendrils of pearly white curls, leaving the grass beneath our feet slick and damp as we traversed the grounds to get to the gigantic Quidditch pitch. James and I climbed the stairs and settled ourselves into seats halfway up the height of the stadium, two lone pinpricks of color in a vast sea of grey plastic.
I sighed, closed my eyes and leaned my head back all in one motion, letting the brisk November air wash over me.
Number of days left till my meeting: 5
Cups of coffee consumed since 7 am: 4
Number of cigarettes smoked due to stress: none, since it would kill me, but I seriously considered it. Sometimes, I hate asthma. I really, honestly and truly do.
Oh wait. Shit. My eyes flew open and my entire body spazzed. I'm not kidding. My arms and legs and my neck all jerked. It's like that feeling when you're right about to fall asleep and you're dreaming/imagining going down a set of stairs, but then you miss it and you jerk awake. Like what happened to me this morning! Ha. But anyway, will my asthma not get me into the MIA? I mean, I know that they all have to go through some serious training and then there are those missions… Oh man. What am I supposed to do? I mean, what if I'm out in the field and I suddenly have an asthma attack?
Shit. I relaxed against the chair, defeated. They'll never take me now. They probably forgot to look at my medical records or something, which is why they're still interested. Cruel, stringing-along people they are.
"Lily?"
I must've jumped like two kilometers into the air. "Sweet Jesus and all things holy," I said, putting my hand up to my heart and breathing deeply. "Why do you always do that? Why?"
James cocked an eyebrow at me. "Why do you always space out? I've been trying to talk to you for the past couple of minutes."
"You have?" I said. James gave me a look that said 'don't even go there.' "Right, you have. I'm sorry, will you repeat what you said?" I rested my chin on my hand and batted my eyelashes at him.
James laughed and flicked my arm. "I asked you," he said, "if you're breathing okay and if you have your inhaler in your bag."
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I'm breathing fine and I do have my inhaler. And just for your information, I probably won't have another asthma attack for another like three months, so quit walking around on egg shells."
"Just checking to make sure," said James shrugging.
I nodded and bowed my head, scratching the exposed skin on the back of my neck.
Then ever so faintly as though afraid of being caught, a fragile harmony filled with sorrow and joy and contentedness floated through the silence.
My head shot up and I silenced James who had just been about to speak. I put my finger to my lips and listened quietly to make sure that I hadn't imagined it. A tinkling cadence filled the air as the notes bounced off one another and cascaded like a waterfall.
"Listen," I whispered, closing my eyes. "Do you hear that?"
James was silent. Then, "What am I listening for?"
"Sssh," I whispered. "Listen with your soul, not your ears."
I opened my eyes and watched James's brow furrow in concentration. In the distance, the flute played an eerie chromatic scale and then followed it with a melodious arpeggio.
"What was that?" asked James.
"You just heard the centaurs' music for the first time in your life," I smiled.
"Good job today, Lily. Excellent use of old material," said Professor Flitwick as I walked out the door.
"Thanks, professor!" I called back.
I stepped into the hallway the same time that all of the doors on this floor opened, signaling the end of the school day. Students flooded the corridor and began milling around, heading to their respective common rooms. Around me, my peers discussed plans of having Exploding Snap tournaments or visiting their friends from other Houses.
I sighed and redid my ponytail. It'll be a while before I can kick back and relax. I have a Prefect meeting for the next hour, then a meeting with Professor Dumbledore after that. Oh, and let's not forget the three hours of homework that will be waiting for me when I get back to my dorm. Ah, the joys of being a 6th year Prefect.
"Hey," said Remus, sidling up next to me.
"Oh, hey," I said, smiling. "Ready for the meeting?"
Remus shrugged. "I suppose. Do you know if we're discussing anything in particular today? I'm really not in the mood for it."
I shook my head. "No clue. Hopefully, no one will have much to say and we'll be able to leave early. And I know exactly what you mean. The only thing that I want to do right now is take a nap and just get away from it all. Did you know that in the course of one day I managed to accumulate like 10 hours of work? I have an essay due in two subjects, a practical test in another, and a Potions project due by the end of the week?"
"Amnesty should be alerted," said Remus, grinning at me.
I rolled my eyes and shoved his shoulder. "Shut up."
We pushed the door open and walked into one of the classrooms that is occasionally set aside for Prefect meetings. An eclectic group of people sat around on tables or chairs, waiting for the meeting to start.
"Hey Lil," said a Hufflepuff prefect named Tessa. She played with the ends of her blonde hair as she sat balanced on the back two legs of her chair.
"Hullo Tess," I said tiredly and dropped my bag on the floor.
Remus sank into a chair next to me and I rested my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes.
"We're not talking about much today, yeah?" asked Remus.
"No, don't think so. Nothing's coming up, so it'll probably just be stuff like new patrol schedules, the date of the next Hogsmeade weekend and stuff like that," said Tessa.
I zoned out for a bit, occasionally listening to Remus and Tessa's conversation about fluff plants or something like that. Yeah, don't ask me. I've no idea.
"Okay guys, let's get started," said Claire, the Head Girl. She sat on the teacher's table in the front of the room and casually swung her legs back and forth. "Nate's sick, so he won't be able to make it today."
I frowned. I didn't know that he was sick. He was perfectly fine this morning when I saw him at breakfast.
"Anyway, we don't have much to do today. The same patrol schedules as last week apply, so just make sure that you know when your shift is. The next Hogsmeade weekend isn't until the week before we leave for Christmas hols, so we don't need to worry about that for a while."
Tessa shot Remus and I a look and I grinned at her.
"In the meantime," continued Claire, "does anyone have anything that they would like to discuss? Yeah, Arnold, what's up?"
We all turned and looked at Greg Arnold, a Slytherin Prefect. "I was just wondering, can we maybe schedule a week or a day or something where we can be out of uniform? We can have each day be themed or something, like pajama day, then House color day or something like that. A couple of people have brought up the idea and I think that since there's nothing really exciting going on, we could use it to bring up morale, what with the shitty weather and all."
Claire tilted her head to the side and nodded. "Yeah, alright. That seems like a good idea to me. All in favor?"
Everyone raised their hands.
"Alright, then. I'll bring it up with Dumbledore when I meet with him tomorrow. Once we get the go ahead, we can discuss other possible themes. Burbank?"
"On the subject of raising morale, could we do Secret Santas or Secret Valentines when the days come, or both? Everyone likes the excitement of wondering who their person is and getting stuff, so it's really a win-win situation," said Tessa.
"Yeah, and we could do it a bunch of ways. Like it could be within each House, or within years, or within years within each House, or inter-House, or by gender, or," I started.
"Lily, shut up," said Remus, his eyes twinkling.
I shrugged and used him as my pillow again.
"Evans has a point," said Claire. "Okay, let's vote. All in favor of having a secret something?" Everyone raised their hands except for three people. "Majority rules, there's going to be gift giving. All in favor of doing both?" The room was almost split, except that the option of having both won by just one vote. "Okay, excellent. Sorry to the opposing party. Anyway, I know that now we should vote on stuff like how we're going to have it organized and who's going to do it, but to be honest, I really don't feel like doing anything else today because I have a shitload of work calling my name. So unless anyone has anything else that they'd like to add, you're free to go."
Everyone shiftily looked around, praying that no one would raise their hands.
"Brilliant. See you around, same time next week. I'll let the next location be known. Oh, and whoever took down the minutes, make sure to give a copy to someone from each House to put on their bulletin boards."
"You want to take it?" asked Remus, holding the parchment out to me.
I wrinkled my nose. "Nah, it's okay. You can have it. Consider it as an advance from your Secret Santa."
"Aw, shucks. Thanks, Lil," said Remus sarcastically. "Anyway, what are you up to now? I'm feeling a hot chocolate from the kitchens. Care to join me?"
"I'd love to, but I actually have to go and meet with Dumbledore. I'll catch you later though, okay?"
"Yeah, sure," said Remus. He hoisted his bag over his shoulder and we parted ways.
One of the things that I love about Remus is how he doesn't feel the need to always question everything that I do. There are some people, ahem, James Potter, who always needs to know why you're doing this, what's motivating you and all of this stuff and I just start to feel so stifled.
Anyway, I wonder what Dumbledore's going to tell me. Apart from the obvious, of course. He'll definitely tell me like what time the meeting is, how I'm supposed to get there, hopefully what we'll be talking about. Oh well. At least I'm not nervous…
…oh who am I kidding? I may not be nervous now, but come Saturday, I'll be a fucking jittery mess. It's always like that, especially with tests and exams and stuff. I won't be stressed at all (okay, maybe a little) during the days leading up to the damn things, but then practically right before they start handing out the test/exam, I start panicking. Like majorly. But then I start, and it's all cool again.
Wow, I just realized that I am possibly one of the weirdest people. Ever.
I stopped in front of the statue of the gargoyle that protects Dumbledore's office and stared at it for a while. "You're a scary asshole, aren't you, you little bugger?" I muttered at it. I quickly rummaged through my bag for a mint or a stick of gum or something to rid myself of the horrible taste in my mouth and then stood up straight.
"Pumpkin Pasty," I said to the gargoyle. It obediently sprang aside and I could've sworn it gave me the evil eye as I passed.
I looked up and traced the path of the moving staircase with my eyes. "Here goes nothing," I muttered to myself.
I raised my hand and knocked on the highly polished door leading to Dumbledore's office.
No answer.
I tentatively knocked again and waited, but no sound came. I gently pressed my ear up against the door and listened for any signs of movement, but heard nothing. I shrugged to myself. I guess I can just wait inside.
I cautiously opened the door, peaked my head in and then followed with the rest of my body.
Dumbledore's spacious office was warm and inviting, with a fire crackling merrily in the grate. His desk was uncluttered and perfectly organized, with a single red feather placed in the middle of it. I dropped my bag down by one of the chairs facing his desk and looked around, taking in the timelessness of the office.
Portraits of headmasters and headmistresses past scaled the walls, some of them sleeping quietly and others talking amongst themselves. A few even waved at me and offered me a seat or one of those fabulous biscuits that I can find in that tin over by the window.
I ventured over to the towering bookshelves and looked at the various items on display. Groups of silver objects sat on spindly stools, quietly whirring and occasionally giving off puffs of magenta or burgundy smoke. A couple of them began to spin faster when I brought my hand near and then suddenly stopped when I decided to keep to myself.
I turned away from the trinkets and focused my attention on the phoenix standing on its perch by the Headmaster's desk. Fully-grown and roughly the size of a swan, its scarlet and gold plumage gave it an air of majesty and grace.
"You're a beautiful little thing," I whispered, stroking its head. It looked up at me with intelligent eyes and rested its head against my hand while I petted its crest. "The feather on the desk is yours, isn't it?"
The phoenix released a soft and somber note in response and then fluffed its feathers importantly.
"I guess I better sit down then, hm? Professor Dumbledore is likely to be back any moment," I said to it.
I adjusted my uniform and made sure that my hemline's straight, my tie knotted neatly and my Prefect badge pinned prominently on my sweater. Once I was satisfied, I sat down neatly in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk and immediately sank several inches amidst the vast amounts of chintz.
"Oh dear," I said, feeling like a little girl again. Whenever mum used to take Petunia and I to go and visit my grandmother in her apartment, I would always feel infinitely smaller whenever I sat down on one of her couches. The cushions always shifted under my weight, sending a mountain of throw pillows cascading down, creating a silk and chintz haven around me.
"Oh," I said softly at the sudden weight on my lap. The phoenix had flown down and perched itself on my knee, looking at me with its dark and mysterious eyes.
"Fawkes seems to like you, Lily," said Dumbledore, strolling into his office. His voice floated to my ears as if carried on a breeze, not alarming me in the least.
"Hello, Professor. Is that its name? He's beautiful," I said, and stroked Fawkes's back. "I've only been here a few minutes. We were let out of the Prefect meeting early, so I chose to come here to discuss this coming Saturday," I said, getting right to business.
"Indeed," said Dumbledore. "Would you like a cup of tea? I've discovered this excellent horseradish tea. It's really quite extraordinary. No? Alright then. So tell me, Lily. What do you know thus far about the Ministry Intelligence Agency?"
"Oh," I said, taken aback. Dumbledore steepled his fingers and looked at me quizzically.
"Well," I said, clearing my throat. "I know that they have agents of all levels. They have officers for things like paperwork and collecting information. Then there are other agents with more… power, I suppose, and they do the fieldwork. Among those are the specialists, like specialists in Charms or Transfiguration or explosives, etc etc. Agents also go undercover for varying amounts of time and seriousness, I guess, and, er…" I looked up at Dumbledore, smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that that's all that I know. I mean, I'm sure that I probably know tons more, but at the moment, that's all that comes to me."
"Well, Lily. For an organization that prides itself so much on being discreet and well-guarded, you seem to know quite a bit," said Dumbledore. "Biscuit, my dear?" he asked, holding out the tin that a previous headmaster had pointed out to me.
"No thank you."
"Right. Well, let me give you the details. You are to be at my office on Saturday afternoon at four o'clock and will arrive at the Agency's headquarters by portkey, which will go into effect at precisely 4:15. As such, I highly advise you to be on time," said Dumbledore.
I nodded. "Wait, at the Agency's headquarters? So it's not at the Ministry?"
"I'm afraid not, Lily, although their offices are in London. I am sure that you will be familiar of the place when we arrive. I have also been told to inform you that you will undergo several examinations, for example a complete physical, a stress test, your skills in linguistics, critical thinking and other examinations that fall along those categories. I would like to remind you that you are not bound to this invitation," said Dumbledore, his blue eyes surveying me through his half-moon spectacles.
"Right," I said quietly, and looked down at my hands folded in my lap. So I guess that I better lay off the bowl for a while, huh? Bloody shame. I'm sure that it would've helped me enormously. Oh dear lord. I need to detox this week… Anyway, on top of that, I'll probably be tested physically and mentally and possibly even emotionally. Fabulous.
A thought suddenly occurred to me and I looked up. "Professor?"
"Yes?"
"If I'll be doing all of these things, around what time will we get back to the castle? And what will my excuse be?"
"Ah. Very fine questions. I am not certain with what time you shall return, although I am entertaining the notion that you will encounter several ways to deal with time on Saturday, Miss Evans. As for your alibi, you are to tell your friends that you will be meeting with a representative from the Ministry of Magic in the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade regarding your future as a Ministry employee."
I nodded. "Okay. Meeting with the Ministry, not sure what time I'll get back… Got it," I quietly repeated to myself. "Oh Professor, just one last thing. This is probably a really silly question and really stupid-"
"There is no such thing as a stupid question, my dear," said Dumbledore kindly.
I smiled. "Right. Well, I was just wondering… What should I wear? I mean, I know that it's trivial and all of me to ask, but I just want to give the right impression. So, do you know…?"
Dumbledore smiled and his blue eyes twinkled behind his glasses. "A perfectly legitimate question, Lily. I suggest that you wear something that you would wear when you, say, have lunch with your grandmother at that Muggle museum that I do enjoy so much. What is it called now? Dear me, I can't seem to remember…"
"The Victoria and Albert?" I suggested, thinking of my best friend's mum back home.
"Ah, yes, that's the one. It was on the tip of my tongue. In any case, unless you have any other questions that you would like to ask me, I dare say that you are free to traverse the castle, as I know you are fond of doing." Dumbledore slightly raised his eyebrows at me and drew his face into a politely quizzical facial expression.
"I believe that that's it," I said, smiling at my headmaster. Fawkes flew off of my knee and landed on its perch, allowing me to stand and gather my things. "Well, have a good afternoon, Professor."
"And you as well, Lily. Feel free to stop by if you have any other concerns over any matter."
"I will. Thank you, Professor," I said, and left his office.
"Oh shit. What's this week's password again?" I mumbled, searching through my bag for the slip of parchment that the four common rooms' passwords are written on. Ah, here it is. "Raspberries are razzy," I said, and rolled my eyes at the Ravenclaw prefects' idiocy. The passwords are always a bit more… colorful when the 5th year Prefects are involved. The large statue slid to the side, revealing a hole that three people could walk through, shoulder-to-shoulder.
I stepped inside and looked around the mostly blue hued room for a certain blond boy.
"Lily! What are you doing here?" asked Julia, a fifth year Ravenclaw prefect.
"Oh, hi Julia," I said. Speak of the devil… "Have you seen Nate recently or know where he is?"
"Yeah. He's napping over on that couch by the windows. Anyway, I have to go but I'll see you later," said Julia.
"Alright. Thanks!" I said, and she bounced out of the common room, her blonde ponytail swinging as she went.
I ignored the looks that some of the younger Ravenclaws gave me and said hello to a couple of the older ones as I crossed the room to get to my boyfriend. As Julia said, he lay sprawled out on a couch buried under several blankets. I knelt down by his side and brushed his hair away from his face. "You poor thing," I said quietly and kissed his forehead.
I stood up to leave, satisfied with my decision of dropping by and checking in on him. I'll just leave the food that I picked up for him on my way over on the table and leave a note and I guess I'll just see him…later. I hastily scribbled a note and attached it to the plate with a Sticking Charm.
"Lily?" said Nate's voice.
"Hey love," I said, turning around and sitting on the edge of the couch.
"What are you doing here?" he asked sleepily. He sat up and ran his hands through his hair, which totally reminded me of James.
"Claire told us in the meeting today that you were sick, so I thought that I'd stop by and make sure that you're okay. I also brought you some food from the kitchens on my way over," I said, patting his knee.
Nate grinned and kissed me on the cheek. "I'm okay. Just a stomach bug. I must've eaten something dodgy at breakfast. I think that I might be better though, judging by the fact that I haven't thrown up in two hours."
I wrinkled my nose and swatted his arm. "You didn't tell me that you went bulimic! I would've bought you like a portable toilet bowl or something."
Nate rolled his eyes. "Anyway, have I told you that you're the best girlfriend ever? Just look at that. You brought me some turtle cheesecake, a brioche, a couple of cookies and a brownie. You're incredible!"
I grinned. "I try," I said, and leaned back against the couch as he began to tuck in.
"How long can you stay?" he asked, looking at me over his shoulder.
"I don't know. Maybe another like ten minutes?" I said, looking through a bunch of hair for split ends. "I haven't started any of my homework yet."
"What've you got? I can help you, if you like," said Nate. "Cheesecake?"
"Yes please," I said, and obediently opened my mouth when he brought the fork closer. He gently wiped the corner of my mouth with his fingers and I completely melted. I stared at him dreamily, admiring the way the room's candles reflected in his wavy hair.
"So what do you say?"
"Hmm?"
"About your homework, love," said Nate.
"Oh right. Yeah, I'd like that," I said. "I have to write an essay for Defense on the heightened effects that midnight has on magic, an essay on the importance of memory charms, yet another Potions project and a couple of review questions for Transfiguration," I said, ticking the assignments off on my fingers.
"Oh, that's not too bad, is it?" said Nate, smiling. "Let's take a look, then," he said.
We both leaned back against the couch and I took my books out, enjoying the excitement that Nate brought to my would-have-been mundane day.
…
Who makes you feel the way that I make you feel
Who loves you and knows you the way I do
Who touches you and holds you quite like I do
Who makes you feel like I make you feel?
…