New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|28| Chapter Twenty-Eight

T W E N T Y  E I G H T 

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What Locklan Jowett would want with her, Saffron had no clue. The two had barely conversed the time they had briefly met during the Summer, the day that Saffron had met Sage for the first time. But that didn't exactly give a clear reason as to why he would want to talk to her. Maybe he had a message for her from Olly, though why wouldn't he just give it to her himself? That was probably just Saffron hoping that was the case. Regardless, she greeted him with a big smile and raised her eyebrows at him curiously. Not knowing exactly what to say, she went with a generic stock-phrase that she was sure he was told all the time:

"I almost thought you were Olly, you look so similar,"

Locklan nodded his head. "I get that a lot,"

"Well, um is there anything I can help you with?" Saffron asked him, trying to put her confusion across to him as nicely as possible.

She walked down the corridor of the train a few paces in order to block them from view from her friends. Locklan had been stood quite far back in the first place, hence why they didn't see him due to Saffron being in the prime seat to view outside of the compartment. Now that she had lied to their faces, she might as well follow through on it.

"I just thought you might know where Olly is," Locklan replied nervously.

Saffron shook her head. "No, but I can help you find him if you want,"

And so, Saffron and Locklan set off through the deserted corridors of the Hogwarts Express. Very few of the students left their compartments throughout the day. Most people were catching up, reminiscing and looking forward to what was to come once they reached the castle. There was much speculation as to what this year specifically would entail. Many people were starting to join the dots, whilst some knew outright. Saffron, however, was ignorant to it all. She had too much on her mind to even give the prospect thought.

It was strange walking with Locklan because he probably had no idea about what had gradually built up inside of her towards his own brother.

By no means had it happened overnight, the more Saffron thought about it over the past few days she realised that it had been a long time coming for her to realise that she wanted him to be more than just her best Ravenclaw friend. The first sign that she knew she felt something more than just a friendship was when she got defensive about having him be on anyone else's list except for her own. Then when she saw him in Diagon Alley a few weeks ago, Lavender's words to her on the Hogwarts express about him ageing even better over the Summer proved to be accurate. But it was much more than just a physical thing, it was an emotional one that occurred inside of Saffron.

She had finally discovered boys in that way. Discovering boys could mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For instance, some girls barely acknowledged boys throughout their childhood and finally started talking to them as they got older. That, however, was not the case for Saffron, for she had certainly discovered boys before. Her younger brother Rowan had been her best friend, and four out of the five boys in her year in Gryffindor, them being Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Dean Thomas were considered to be friends of hers.

No, discovering boys meant crushes, or crush, more like. Hence, why Saffron was found to be rather eager to be escorting Locklan Jowett through the Hogwarts Express. For, crush equalled his older brother.

"I didn't actually see Olly," Saffron was telling Locklan, running her arm across the compartments to stay steady on the rickety train. She was feeling very nervous for as much as she wanted to see Olly again to see if she felt the same way she felt when she thought about him, she was nervous about the feeling going away. A part of her she hadn't felt before suddenly felt alive and she didn't want that to evaporate. She didn't think it would but the fear was still there. "But, I saw Padma earlier and I'm guessing he'll be with her,"