Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(20) Getting To Know You

Her sudden outburst had been the talk of the whole Ravenclaw house a few days after the match. Florence was thankful enough that they didn't put her into detention, or suspend her from playing, but she was more nervous due to the fact that they had written to her mum. She didn't exactly know how she would react, considering that she's never been in to any trouble.

Florence hoped that Miss Mimsy would help her mum calm down.

But she hadn't, unfortunately, the Price family owl dropping a howler on the table the next day during breakfast proved this, Florence's face burned as the letter screamed at her for the obscene language and unacceptable behavior she had shown and that she did not raise her to be such a violent person. Florence refused to go down and eat breakfast three days straight after that.

January had faded and February greeted them with much more to do and a load of homework. The teachers were being extra hard on them, their seat works and activities getting more difficult as well. Nicolai, Florence and Alexander could barely talk after dinner, as they had their own work load to get rid of, sitting at the common room with their noses buried in to different books.

Nicolai was getting bad at Potions, and seemed to become Snape's new favorite person to pick on. She had managed to get him to remove fifteen house points during one period, for asking Florence for help and as well as for getting the measurements wrong.

Cho Chang was released from the hospital wing after a week. Everyone in the team took turns in visiting Cho. They all wished her well, and sometimes they would bring her some sweets from their personal stash. The seeker laughed as Duncan and Stretton reenacted Florence's sudden outburst after the match, Florence scowling at them from her seat

Somewhere in the middle of the day was her Transfiguration class, Florence still deciding to sit at the back even if she had her Protean to contact him. A smile dawned on her face as she saw a new sentence scratched onto the surface of her desk.

'Doesn't mean we have to stop this, right? This desk is where it all began.'

Florence snorted,

'Don't be too melodramatic there. We've been talking only for a few months.'

She instinctively reached for her Protean, cursing herself as Nicolai was able to spot it in her grip. Florence had completely forgotten that she hasn't told them about it yet. Nicolai's face pulled into a frown, "Oh so you're only telling me about this now?"

"What—I—what do you mean?" she sputtered. Nicolai sighed, "I know that's a Protean, Flo. I saw you use it once. You don't have to lie about it... But why didn't you tell Xander and I?"

"I just forgot, is all. I mean, I definitely thought about it once, but then I had completely forgotten with the recent things that has happened...Quidditch and stuff. But I swear I was going to tell you."

Nicolai raised a brow at her, "You're sure?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't hide anything big from you, you know."

She smiled, "Alright. You could go and talk to him... I guess."

Florence offered her friend a warm smile in return, whipping out her wand and altering the words that were engraved on the surface from her previous conversation with him.

'Fancy a chat? Saw your message on the desk....'

He replied almost immediately,

'Definitely, History of Magic is boring.'