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

31.

January 2035

ELLA

Ella had seen Logan in passing several times since they'd returned — a quick hello on the train, a smile here and there in the halls between classes — but they hadn't actually spoken yet. Ella was finding it more and more difficult to admit to herself how much she was looking forward to the first choir rehearsal that evening.

When she got there, however, Logan wasn't there, and his seat remained empty through the entire rehearsal. It had been hard enough to play it cool on the way there. Hiding her disappointment from her friends was somehow even more difficult.

Ella didn't figure out why he'd been missing until the next day. During defense against the dark arts, her dad asked her to run to the hospital wing and get a potion from Aunt Raigan that he'd meant to pick up earlier that morning. Just something precautionary, because they were doing a practical lesson and there were nearly always a few minor injuries.

"Oh," her Aunt Raigan said the moment Ella walked in. "I'll grab it. Give me just a second."

So Ella stood and waited and while she did, she scanned the rest of the hospital wing, surprised to find Logan lying in one of the cots about halfway down the ward.

He gave her a weak smile and sat up on his elbows.

"What happened?" she asked, heading over to him.

"Nothing too serious," he said. "I wouldn't get too close, though. I seem to have acquired a mild case of spattergroit. I'll be stuck in here a few days, but she says we caught it early enough it won't turn into anything terrible."

He held up his arm, showed her the purplish bubble on one of his fingers. "Just one nasty pustule. I just thought it was a blister. Came in to get some cream for it. But she recognized it right away."

"Oh gosh," Ella said. "I'm sorry. Do you feel okay?"

He shrugged. "I've felt worse. I'm just stuck here until she's sure I'm not contagious."

"Well, do you need notes or anything? We only have the one class together, but I could make a copy of mine if you want. For any class really. I'd guess we're all on the same page."

"That'd be great actually. Probably be the best notes I've ever had for history of magic."

Ella laughed a little. "I'll try to live up to the expectations."

Then her aunt reappeared and handed Ella a potion. "Took me a minute to find where I'd put it," she said.

"That's okay," said Ella. "Thanks."

Then she turned back to Logan and said, "Hope you feel better."

He smiled a little. "Yeah. Me too."

Ella had never been so excited to take notes in her life.

—-

For the rest of that week, Ella took her most detailed, diligent, beautifully organized in her very best handwriting. She was usually a good notetaker anyway, but never had she taken such great pleasure in completely, yet succinctly summarizing everything the teacher relayed. She sectioned bits of with headers and bullet points, drew diagrams when necessary, color coded vocabulary, and starred things that were likely to come up on the O.W.L.s.

In fact, Ella was actually glad O.W.L.'s were coming around, because it gave her a convenient excuse for why she had suddenly taken such a devoted interest in her notes. When Iris pointed it out, she just said, "We've only got a few months left before our exams. I don't want to forget anything," and no one could argue with her.