Love at First Sight (Harry Potter)

The Unexpected Task

|ALEXANDRIA WEASLEY'S P.O.V.|

"Potter! Weasley! Will you pay attention?"

Professor McGonagall had quite the irritated look on her face where she stood at the front of our Transfiguration classroom, beside the edge of her dark wooden desk. Her lips were now pressed into a thin line, her hands planted firmly above her thin hips over the thick material of her fitted emerald robes.

I sat in the second row from the front, in the most middle section, beside Hermione. My elbow propped onto our table and my chin rested in the palm of my hand, my fingers were gripping my chin lightly as I turned my head to look behind us. Harry and Ron sat together in the far, back left corner of the room.

Both had their arms strewn over their tabletop with their noses pressed against the wood. Their backs and the tops of their long hair were all that I could see — trembling on account of their silent laughter, which was increasingly becoming audible after McGonagall's open acknowledgement of them. I could hear Ron, snorting and scuffling, in little bursts.

Harry sat up, his back pressing against the spine of his chair. He brushed his dark hair out of his flushed face, pure amusement on his handsome features as he stared down at my brother still leant below him. Harry pressed his knuckle against his white teeth, swallowing deeply to curb his own chuckles as his emerald eyes danced over the back of Ron's robes. Ron's fingertips gripped harshly onto the desk now, turning his entire hand a colourless white.

It was the end of the lesson. We had finished our work; the guinea fowl that we had been changing into guinea pigs had already been shut away in a large cage on Professor McGonagall's desk, we had copied down our homework from the blackboard, and the bell was due to ring at any moment. Harry and Ron, as it so appeared, had been having a sword fight with a couple of Fred and George's fake wands, which changed into idiotic items at the wave of them.

I tilted my head slightly, glancing beneath their desk. Having been dropped from Ron's hand to now rest on the floor was a tin parrot. And, on Harry's thighs, was a rubber haddock.

As though realizing that someone had spotted them, Harry's hand suddenly hovered over the top of the haddock to shield it from view. My eyes flickered back up to their faces, just in time to watch as Ron stretched up to his full height: his lips were parted, face incredibly red, and eyes glistening from joy. He turned his head to Harry, whose chest was heaving as he tried not to laugh. Ron reached out and gave a great shove to Harry's shoulder, which only made Harry lean over slightly to the right atop his chair.

"Now that Potter and Weasley have been kind enough to act their age," said Professor McGonagall, having paused her dismissal of us to wait for them to cease their antics. Harry and Ron swiped their hands over their excitable facial expressions. Harry was nodding at her, in attempt to prove that he was listening now. However, Ron snorted again, to which Harry gave another great choke of laughter.

Hermione let out an annoyed scoff from beside me. I turned my head again to look at her. She was also just now moving to face front once again, seeming to be rather miffed by their disruption. Catching my eye, she said in a harsh whisper, "Ron can never act his age — hasn't Professor McGonagall realized that now?"

I lifted my shoulder slightly in return, my chin sliding over my palm, but she was not looking at me anymore. She had already returned her full attention to Professor McGonagall, who was slowly allowing the set glare to fall from her eyes as she glanced away from Ron and Harry to once again address our class as a whole.

"I have something to say to you all.

"The Yule Ball is approaching — a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above — although you may invite a younger student if you wish —"