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

18.

October 2034

ELLA

Halloween was coming up on Tuesday which meant that Saturday was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year. Choir was canceled to allow everyone to visit the village and Ella was a little sad about it. She had missed on Tuesday after all since she'd gone home with her mum.

Still, she loved Hogsmeade at this time of year. The stacks of pumpkins and the scarecrows, little enchanted bats and dancing skeletons — it was all so festive. She, Iris, and Kyrie poked around all the shops, Ella trying to find something for her dad's birthday which was coming up very soon. They spent too much pocket money on candy at Honeydukes, and then managed to find a table at the Three Broomsticks where they ordered a butterbeer a piece and sat down to warm up a little. It had started spitting rain outside and Ella was chilled straight through. It had been an exceptionally rainy fall.

She'd barely finished her first sip when someone came weaving over their way from a nearby table.

"Hey," said Logan, squeezing onto the bench next to her.

"Oh," said Ella, surprised. "Hi." They'd never really talked outside choir. She only had one class with the Slytherins this year and that was a History of Magic, but since all Professor Binns did was lecture at them, it wasn't as though they really had a chance to chat.

"Where were you on Tuesday?"

"Home," Ella said, too startled by this whole conversation to think of an excuse. "I just— my mum let me come home for the night. I had kind of a bad day."

"Oh," said Logan. "Sorry. That sucks." He paused, but didn't push her for more details, which she appreciated. "Well, I have to say, it wasn't very fun without you. Libby asked me like seven hundred questions, and I'm not as patient as you are."

Ella smiled a little. "I thought she was starting to get the hang of things."

"I think you're just a better teacher than I am. Maybe it's in your blood. Anyway, I wanted to ask if you were going to audition for the solo on Tuesday."

"No," said Ella at once. "I could never."

"Well, I think you should. Don't you think she should?" He looked at Iris and Kyrie for confirmation, but they'd never really heard Ella sing on her own before and since they were in a different section, it wasn't like they even got to listen to her as part of the group like Logan did.

"Yeah," said Iris, frowning. "Definitely."

"I think you should," said Logan again. "I'm telling you, you'd get it."

"Well then that's all the more reason not to," said Ella with a frown. She'd been completely serious, but Logan just laughed.

"You're funny," he said. Then he stood up. "Anyway, sorry you had a bad day the other day. That sucks. But seriously. Think about it."

"Right," said Ella, so perplexed by this whole exchange that she couldn't think of a better response.

"See you later," he said, and he smiled at all three of them and then wove his way back to his own friends.

"What on earth was that about?" asked Kyrie.

Ella shrugged. "Nothing. He just sits next to me in choir, that's all."

"He totally has a crush on you."

"No he doesn't," said Ella, but she glanced over at him anyway, and her heart started to beat a little faster than was comfortable. "We just talk sometimes. He's friendly. He's just like that."