Cupid [Harry Potter FanFic]

t h r e e; it's magic

Nirvana Henry had seen much entrancing sights in her life. She's seen people fall in love again and again, she spent hours watching rainbows and countless other sights that she can never describe.

But none was more magical or entrancing than the first days at Hogwarts.

The whole evening she couldn't stop smiling, and she patted the seat next to her as Harry, soon followed by Ron, got sorted into Gryffindor. She wasn't even sad when the first years started to talk about their families and all she could say was "beat me, no idea. Been living in an orphanage since I remember myself."

She tried wiping off the smile, she really did. But the way the stars seemed to shine above her, the way the food popped and disappeared off the table, how crazy Dumbledore seemed to be.

She couldn't stop.

The next days weren't any better. The grin could be contained for most parts of the days, but when it came down to the night, she would giggle while taking a shower and jump happily into and out of it.

Nirvana sighed happily, eager for the first weekend in Hogwarts to officially start. The classes were interesting, and she was quite relieved to find out that it'll be quite a while before they start practicing magic- she hoped she would find out by then whether she was a witch or not- but despite how much of fun she had during the week she was happy to have some time off.

She found herself at all times with either Ron, Harry, Dean or Seamus (though they seemed to be often together, as all first years had the same classes together and besides essays there was nothing much to do), and the weekend would be a great time to talk to the girls, finish the wooden sculpture from the train ride and rest.

She went to her room straight after Potions (that was possibly the one lesson she couldn't say she enjoyed- not completely) and agreed to meet Harry and Ron at the Great Hall soon later, as Ron and Nirvana decided to accompany Harry to Hagrid, the Gamekeeper.

"Oh, hey," Hermione's voice said, awkwardly.

"Hi," Nirvana smiled. "How's Hogwarts so far?" she asked, attempting to be nice.

"Engrossing," Hermione sighed. "The classes are--" she paused, "sorry, I was about to start blabbering again."

"No, that's okay," Nirvana smiled. "Talk freely 'round me- that's cool."

"Oh," Hermione paused for a moment before a bubble of words escaped her quickly, Nirvana struggling to understand everything, but the way her eyes shone and the way she waved her hands made it clear she had only good thing to sputter out in an amazing speed.

"So you're enjoying Hogwarts," Nirvana said with a crooked smile as Hermione took a huge breath.

"Quite the understatement," she replied with a similar smile, before a frown decorated her face. "But-uh- I don't think the rest of the students like me very much."

"Nonsense," Nirvana waved off, before her mouth formed an O. "I forgot-- Ron and Harry are waiting for me at the great hall!" she smacked her forehead, muttering "stupid." Nirvana jumped on her feet for a moment, "sorry 'Mione, I gotta go."

"Okay, see you later," Hermione smiled, waving to her as she raced out of the room. 

Ron was getting impatient when Nirvana finally got there, and as she apologized he waved her off, "let's just go already," he sighed.

"Shouldn't we eat lunch before?"

"We probably should," Harry concluded. "Not something big though," he decided, making the two nod and to start walking towards the tables.

Fred and George, Ron's older twin brothers, were already there, eating and passing a notebook between each other, grinning as they read whichever sentence the other wrote before. 

"Hey Fred, George," Ron greeted, mostly out of politeness. 

"Hey Ron," they said, half- minding their brother. The two looked up after a moment, "hey Harry," George continued, turning to Nirvana. He looked at her with a puzzled look, before smiling and offering a hand to shake. "I'm George, that's Fred."

"Hi," she smiled, shaking George's hand. Fred merely nodded at her with a smile, writing for almost two minutes before passing the notebook back to George, who started reading with eyebrows furrowed before a smile spread over his lips. By the time he finished reading he was howling with laughter.

"Right?" Fred asked.

"You've got it, man," George assured, chuckling lightly before calming down.

Ron's snack was nothing like Nirvana's snack, or even Harry's. He ate two whole plates before Nirvana reminded him that they're only eating a snack. Ron looked at her puzzled.

"This is a snack," he assured, mouth full of chicken. 

Nirvana pinched the bridge of her noise, "Jesus."

At five to three, the trio made their way down to Hagrid's house. Harry knocked three times before they could hear a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks.

 Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang -- back. "

Hagrid's big, hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open. "Hang on, " he said. "Back, Fang. " He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boar-hound. 

There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it. 

"Make yerselves at home, " said Hagrid, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears. 

Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he seemed.

"This is Nirvana," Harry noted, gesturing at the blonde girl that now crouched next to Fang's big body. "And that's Ron, " Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate. 

"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest. " Nirvana giggled at that.

The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first -lessons (Nirvana said she wasn't hungry, but eventually ate half a piece, smiling reassuringly at Hagrid and telling him it was great. She gave the rest to Fang when he wasn't looking).

 Fang rested his head on Harry's knee and drooled all over his robes. Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Fitch "that old git. ""An' as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang sometime. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her -- Fitch puts her up to it. "

Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron, told Harry not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students. 

"But he seemed to really hate me. "

"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?"

 "How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron after a while. "I liked him a lot -- great with animals."

While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cozy. Nirvana, that sat next to him, read the title before deciding it didn't interest her enough. GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN.

"Hagrid!" said Harry, making Nirvana jump in fright. "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"

Hagrid grunted something before offering more of the rock cakes.

Nirvana looked over at Harry, before turning back to Hagrid. He didn't meet their eyes and tried changing the subject, and made no effort to hide the fact it was suspicious, but just refused to talk about it.

"Mind if I make some more tea?" Nirvana asked, standing up.