If I May Be So Bold (A Harry Potter Universe Fanfiction)

11.

September 2034

ELLA

Ella was starting to think that Professor Levert had it in for her. Not only had she been paired up with Henry Parker for their first unit, the nature of the spell meant that she was literally forced to talk to him.

They were meant to be practicing silencing charms on each other, so Professor Levert had given them a stack of talking prompts. One person was supposed to answer the question on the card in detail while the other attempted to silence them in the middle of their answer.

So far, Ella had successfully silenced Henry three times, and he'd only gotten her once, which meant that she was stuck rambling on and on about what her favorite holiday was and why while he tried over and over again.

"Okay, you're doing the wand movement wrong," Ella said finally, interrupting herself. "It's not going to work if you flick it up like that. It's a—"

But the word 'circle' never made it out, because Henry had just silenced her.

And he was grinning from ear to ear.

"I know what it is," he said. "I just like listening to you talk."

Ella couldn't even retort if she'd wanted to, because he hadn't performed the countercharm yet, but that was just fine with her, because she didn't know what she was supposed to say to that.

And her cheeks were getting hot all over again. That was a charm that really would have been useful — an anti-blushing spell. Next time she was in the library she was going to find out if there was one and put it straight to use.

Henry performed the countercharm, still grinning to himself all pleased, and then he grabbed a card from their stack.

"What was the best part of your summer break?" he read, and something about the look in his eyes made Ella start to squirm. "Well, let's see. I went to the beach this one time, and there was—"

"Silencio," she said quickly, but it didn't take. She must have done something wrong, or her focus was off, because Henry couldn't have been about to say what she thought he was about to say.

"-- this girl there who told me all about these birds she likes," Henry continued getting more smug by the second.

"Silencio," Ella tried again, but Henry went on.

"And we went for a walk and then I—"

"Silencio."

Third time's the charm was a figure of speech for a reason apparently, because the spell took, but it didn't stop her from reading Henry'd lips as they formed the words "got her to kiss me."

"Well done, Miss Mason," said Professor Levert, passing by. "Do you know what you did differently that time?"

"Focused," said Ella, even though what she really meant was "panicked."

"Well, certainly. And your wand movement was just a pinch narrower. A tight circle really does do the trick with these charms. Go ahead and let him speak again then."

So Ella was forced to look back at Henry and reverse the charm.

He just smiled and pushed the stack of cards towards her, looking pretty pleased with himself.

—-

"So," said Iris when they'd sat down in the great hall for lunch. "How was charms?"

She looked ready to burst, she was smiling so big.

"So awkward," said Ella miserably. "I swear he was doing everything he could to make me blush."

"Oh my god, he totally likes you," said Kyrie.

But Ella wasn't sure if it was really that simple. Sometimes it seemed like he might, and sometimes it seemed like he just wanted to see if she liked him.

She didn't know the answer to that question yet, either. Only that when they made eye contact, she felt wobbly, and when he smiled at her, she started sweating all over. But was that liking someone? Or was that just what happened when someone made you nervous?

"What does it feel like when you talk to Alec?" Ella asked quietly, looking at Kyrie. Alec was a Hufflepuff boy in the year above them that Kyrie had had a crush on for at least the last two years. They were friendly with each other sometimes, but nothing had ever come of it.

"What do you mean?"

"Like is it a good feeling or do you just feel sick?"

Kyrie glanced down the table to where a group of the sixth years were sitting, Alec among them. "Both," she said. "Definitely sick, but like... in a way that's addicting. Like you want to throw up and also maybe faint, but you never want to stop feeling that way."

If that was what liking someone was like, Ella didn't think she wanted any part of it.

She would so much rather have forgotten about boys entirely and just focused on school and choir and her friends.

Unfortunately, she thought she may have caught a little bit of that bug Kyrie had described, because when she looked up and saw Henry Parker watching her from the Ravenclaw table, her heart started beating very fast. He smiled.

Ella looked away quickly.

Whoever decided to make O.W.L. year synonymous with the year stuff like this started happening must have been a cruel person. Hadn't they realized fifth years were fifteen years old?

She'd never even given boys a second-thought last year. All the sudden, it was all she could think about.

What was most confusing of all was that any time she interacted with Henry, she was left feeling self-conscious and anxious, and yet, she kept accidentally hoping she would get to talk to him again. She dreaded those conversations as much as she craved them.