The Hogwarts Diaries

Charlotte's Diary

The fire crackles in the common room. I hear the patter of the gently falling snow outside. All other sounds are oblivious. I hear them, but don't comprehend their meaning.

I stare at a wall, lost in thought. About what? Nothing, really. I do that sometimes.

"Char, you okay?" asks Neville. I almost forgot that he was there. He calls me spacy a lot. I blink back into reality, stunned at first.

"Wha- oh, yeah," I say, sighing, and running my fingers through my dirty blonde hair. He knows something's up, though. That's the problem about Neville. He can read me like a book.

"What happened?" he inquires, looking at me with concerned eyes. I smile and shake my head, it really is nothing, and I wish it didn't look like something was wrong.

"It was a few days ago, but I still feel bad about it," I say, shrugging, and putting off having to asnwer.

"Does this question have an answer?" he asks jokingly. Gosh, I'm bad at explaining things.

"I mean, I was- uh, somewhere-" I don't want to tell him this happened in a girls' toilet. That's kind of awkward. "- and I said some quite rude things about the Skrewts."

Neville nods patiently, taking in my every word. When it comes to the Skrewts, we don't mess around.

The Skrewts are what we nicknamed the Slytherin crew. It's strictly between Neville and I, and no one has figured it out yet. It's awesome, we can talk about them anywhere and no one knows.

"Don't dwell on it, Char," says Neville, smiling. "They're real jerks. Whatever you said, I'm sure was completely necessary."

"Thanks, Nev," I say, patting his shoulder appreciatively. I still will dwell on it, but having Neville makes me feel much better.

"Are you all packed yet?" asks Neville quietly, looking around nervously.

I sigh. I don't know why he has to be so embarrassed about me going to his house for Christmas. We have done it ever since third year.

"Not yet," I say, grimacing innocently.

"You procrastinator!" he says with wide eyes. "The Hogwarts Express leaves tomorrow morning!"

"Sorry, sorry," I say, rolling my eyes. "I'll go pack now."

"Good," says Neville. "Hey did you hear about Ron and Harry?"

"No," I say, hoping strongly that I'm not blushing. "Hermione has not said anything. In fact, I haven't seen them at all today. What happened?"

"It was last night," says Neville, frowning and scrunching his eyebrows in thought, "Harry went kind of mental, like he was having a spasm or something. He screamed and well- he was taken to Dumbledore's office along with Ron."

"Oh my gosh," I gasp, and put a hand to my mouth.

"I mean they'll be okay, won't they?" says Neville, but I cannot do anything to reassure him. I pause, and begin to say something, but change my mind.

I shrug helplessly and hurry up to the girls dormitories, collapsing on my bed.

Ron. Just hearing the name almost makes me faint.

I know, lovesick idiot, eh?

The worst thing about having a crush on Ron Weasley is that so does one of my best friends. Lavender Brown. Sometimes I want to kill her.

She and Neville are probably the only ones who do not know about said crush.

Maybe it's the way he smiles when I catch his eye. Maybe it's the way he makes me laugh. Maybe it's because he is insanely attractive. Maybe it's how he stands up for Neville and I when prats like Draco bully us.