Love at First Sight (Harry Potter)

Halloween

|ALEXANDRIA WEASLEY'S P.O.V|

"It's either really valuable or really dangerous," Ron was saying to Harry Potter as Hermione and I approached where they were seated at the Gryffindor table.

"What is?" I questioned, slinging my bag from my shoulder and dropping it to rest beside me on the bench.

"Good morning, Alexandria," The raven-haired 'Chosen One' greeted, the sudden acknowledgment fueling the odd glance I sent his way.

"Potter," I reached for the plate of pancakes carefully, my gaze darting between the gooey syrup and the silent boys in front of me. "Well? What is?"

They exchanged glances, but neither could say a word for the loud noise of the mail owls had flooded the hall. I was taken aback by the sight of almost twelve owls huddled together, separated in groups of six with each group lugging a thin package.

They soared over where we sat, dropping the brown-wrapped parcels onto the table and into the assortment of breakfast foods. Over the sharp screeching and rush of the wind from the owls' wings, I looked up at Harry Potter in confusion — he was the recipient for the identical package of the one now laid in my pancakes.

But he was clearly startled just as I was; until another owl, this much smaller than the last, dropped a letter on each of our parcels.

With my confusion clearly painted across my face and many people watching, I opened the letter to read with Hermione peeking from over my shoulder:

DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE. It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everyone knowing that you and Potter got them or else they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you two tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o'clock for your first training session.

Professor M. McGonagall

I smiled, re-rolling the parchment to keep it from any pairs of prying eyes (the scolding, bushy-haired girl beside me discluded).

"Excited, Alexandria?" Harry Potter questioned, his note having been shoved into my complaining brother's hands.

"Yes, to watch you fall off that broomstick," I nodded, but the boy only grinned in response to my snarky remark.

We made to leave the Hall quickly, Ron and his mate included, yet were stopped by Draco Malfoy and his two idiotic goons. The blonde Slytherin seized the package from Harry's hands, feeling it with blatant envy.

"That's a broomstick," Malfoy said, throwing it back to Harry harshly, spite on his face. "You'll be in for it this time, Potter, first years aren't allowed them. Hide that broom, Alexandria, we wouldn't want that pretty face expelled from Hogwarts, now would we?"

"Pardon me?" I blanched, tucking away my parcel from the male's cold, grey stare.

"It's not any old broomstick," Ron blurted, my blue eyes widening at his worsening outburst, "it's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty?" He grinned at Potter, who was watching the scene with a sickening and yet mischievous smile. "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."

"What would you know about it, Weasley, you couldn't afford half the handle," Malfoy snapped back, ignoring the harsh glare I threw his way. "I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."