Smile - Book One of the RP Saga

Lovely Disaster (19)

Madame Pompfrey had eventually turned out the Gryffindor's so Harry could get some rest but promised he could leave tonight. Fred had asked Rachel to join him for a walk, he wanted to talk about Oliver.

"So, where did you say he was again?" Rachel asked Fred, he scoffed trying to hold in a laugh.

"Drowning himself in the showers of the changing room, he's been in there for ages. He took the loss really seriously and especially when you ran off, he went mental!" He blurted out.

"Oh great, what did he say?"

"Something like 'what the hell is she doing, she's gonna make us lose!" and some other stuff... just ignore him. He's a bit obsessed with Quidditch, it's kind of unhealthy." Fred sighed.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Tomorrow is going to be awkward, I don't even know if I want to go now..." She whispered, referring to the fact they were meant to be together in Hogsmede. "We were supposed to shopping for quidditch robes, I might not even be on the team anymore."

"Of course you're still on the team and it'll be fine... besides if it gets awkward, just come find me and George, we will keep you company." Fred smiled down at me.

She agreed and the two headed back to the common room to finally change from their robes. Rachel was grateful for the warm shower and came out of the bathroom to see Hermione looking through Rachel's clothes. She rose an eyebrow.

"Don't look at me like that," Hermione said, noticing Rachel's stare, "surely you want to look nice for tomorrow?"

"Oh, Mione, I really can't be bothered. I agreed to meet with the twins if it got awkward. Which it will." Rachel groaned, flopping onto her bed. "He's annoyed at me for this game and... well like Fred said, there's a weird age gap. I don't know about all this."

"Well you can still nice." Hermione crossed her arms. "Besides, forget what Fred said. He was just being jealous."

Rachel let out another groan.

"Why don't you dress up nice for Fred then?"

Rachel paused for a moment, sitting up to look at Hermione. She was trying not to smirk at Rachel. She knew she'd won.

"Fine," Rachel climbed off her bed, "I will wear this and this and this!" She said, pulling things out of the wardrobe and holding them up.

Hermione nodded and followed Rachel out of them room. As Rachel headed downstairs, she saw Ron's younger sister, Ginny, at a desk grumbling over some work. Rachel had hardly spoke to Ginny but decided she ought to make an effort.

"Hey." Rachel smiled.

Ginny looked up, brushing her hair out of her face. "Oh hello!" She said joyfully.

"What you got there? Need some help?" Rachel asked.

"If you could help me that would be brilliant, it's just transfigurations. We're looking at Gamp's Law and I have to say something wrong about the law transfiguration of life... Like a loophole but I can't remember any of it!" She groaned, putting her head on the table.

Rachel laughed and grabbed some parchment. "Listen, I'll make some notes for you if you want. Okay, well, have you heard about the resurrection stone? Well that has the ability to bring people back, in a ghost form. Unicorn blood is also good like that because it can help you escape death but you live a half life..." Rachel carried on putting scribbles on the parchment for her.

"Thank you! Gosh, I didn't think about that." Ginny sighed leaning back in her seat, reading the notes.

"Anytime!" Rachel laughed.

Harry then entered the room. Rachel spotted him and hurriedly ran over to him, she gave him a tight squeeze.

"Harry! How are you feeling?"

"A lot better thanks, just needing some sleep and food!" He hugged back.

"Good! Now go to bed, you fell a few hundred feet and you are ill." Rachel demanded.

"Rach! Come on, I've been in bed for ages and slept! I'm not even tired." Harry grumbled.

Rachel crossed her arms and gave him a stern look.

"Oh my Merlin... fine!" He whined before going up the stairs.

Harry stopped half way before looking back round at Rachel. He poked his tongue out and she quickly returned the gesture. The chuckled at each other as Harry carried on up the stairs.

The next day, Rachel walked with Hermione and Ron to Hogsmede. Harry couldn't find a way around getting his slip signed since McGonagall had refused. Rachel shivered, it had started getting cold. The wind blew at her face making her ears and nose slightly pink.

When they arrived at Hogsmede, Rachel couldn't believe her eyes. Each building had sloping roofs, tall chimneys and ivy on its walls. Behind the glass windows, Rachel could see cosy fires and bright lights from the shops and pubs along the street.

Ron had pointed Rachel in the way of Zonkos - where she was to meet Oliver - and walked off, Hermione wished Rachel luck and followed him. Rachel could see Oliver stood to the side of the building, so she nervously walked to meet him, worried she'd be lectured about yesterday's game. As she approached the joke shop, she could see Fred and George inside looking at all the prank stuff. Fred had once told Rachel how his brother and himself dreamed of running a joke shop. Rachel agreed it suited them well.

"Hey, Oliver." Rachel meekly said as she got closer.

"Oh, didn't see you there." Oliver looked up at her. "You ready to go look for some kit?"

Rachel nodded and the two walked off. As they headed away from the joke shop, Oliver suggested they went to Honeydukes. According to every student at Hogwarts, it was the best shop ever.

Oliver grabbed some sweets as Rachel's eyes looked over the shelves. They had all sorts of sweets and chocolates, some she didn't even recognise. She walked over to the chocolate frogs, which she truly loved. From behind her, someone grabbed one, she spun to see Oliver smiling.

"I know you want one."

"You don't have to you know." Rachel awkwardly sighed, following him.

"I know but I'm going to." He paid for the items and led Rachel away from the crowds in the shop back down the street.

They soon found the quidditch supply shop, a small building that smelt of musk inside. Oliver greeted the shopkeeper and headed straight towards the back where the Gryffindors uniform was.

"Right. These should be good." Oliver pulled some quidditch robes off the rail and held it up next to her. "Just need to get the lettering sorted."

He brushed past Rachel and walked up to the counter. Oliver gestured to Rachel and asked the shopkeeper to embroider 'Potter' on the back along with the number 3. He nodded and headed to a small room behind the counter.

"I'm sorry about yesterday." Rachel kicked at the ground.

Oliver looked at her and frowned. "You mean when you went to get your brother?" He saw Rachel nod. "You don't have to apologise for that. I was annoyed at the time, of course... but I just get a little bit carried away with quidditch sometimes."

Rachel meekly smiled. "I can tell."

Oliver laughed at her. As he did so, the shopkeeper came back into view with Rachel's finished robes. Rachel paid for her clothes and the two left the store. Once they got outside, Rachel turned to Oliver.

"Thank you for this." She tucked some hair behind her ear.

"Eh, it's what captains do." Oliver shrugged with a smile. "I'll see you at practise!"

Oliver walked away, leaving Rachel in the middle of Hogsmede. She blinked several times, wondering what to do. With that, she turned in the opposite direction and attempted to find Hermione and Ron.

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