*＊✿❀Chapter 9 ❀✿＊* Any warm weather that had arrived occasionally, had now left them completely. It was now November and it would freeze every night and snow at least twice a week. Nora despised cold weather very deeply. Not only had the cold made her feel depressed, but also Quidditch. Nora refused to attend any matches no matter how much Dakota begged her to tag along with her and Laveda, Nora couldn't stand the fact that she would have to sit on the sidelines and only watch, not be able to help the team, and, apparently, Harry Potter was the best Seeker Gryffindor had ever seen since Charlie Weasley. Not to mention the fact that Malfoy had become unbearable due to the fact Gryffindor crushed all their opponents, he would say things like, "All luck Potter's playing on," and "Once I join the team I'll be the best Seeker Slytherin's seen...." And this nearly made Nora blow, but thankfully, Jeremy shut him right up with the Silenting Charm until they were at the Great Hall to lead the first years there for the last time, seeing as they all had a good lay of the land now. Later that day, Jeremy and Nora were told to lead Malfoy to Filch's office for a detention, plus fifty points were deducted from Slytherin, though for what, Nora and Jeremy never knew. Filch hobbled out of his office with a grimly wicked grin on his face, illuminated by the lamp held in his hand, Mrs. Norris purring at his ankles. "Leave him with me and go straight back to your dorm's." Filch said slickly, which gave Nora an unpleasant shiver, though she was equally happy to see the petrified look on Malfoy's face. As the pair of them walked away and turned the corner, they heard another set of footsteps approaching from the opposite end on the corridor. Jeremy pulled Nora around the corner to see who was the source. Hermione Granger and Harry Potter hurriedly walked down the hall to Filch before he led Malfoy, Granger, and Potter out of sight. "Odd, isn't it?" Nora asked the next morning at breakfast. "What?" Jeremy asked through a mouthful of potatoes. "That the three of them had detention together. I mean, I'm not surprised about Malfoy," She said with a nasty glance at him, "But Granger I know is a professor's pet and would never do anything to get in trouble, and I don't know about Harry Potter though." "Aren't you friends with a couple Gryffindors?" Jeremy asked, as though it were obvious what she had to do next. "Yeah, Dakota and Della Peters, Della's a Prefect. I'll ask them later."
As the students filed out, Nora stayed behind to try and spot Della or even Dakota out of the midst of the mob, which wasn't an easy task given Nora's unfortunate short height. "Della!" Nora called, finally spotting her talking to a tall, shaggy-haired boy who looked a little older than her. Della waved him goodbye before heading over to Nora. "What is it?" She asked. "I wanted to ask you something-but first, who was that?" "Oh, that's Walter White, and he wanted me to actually ask-" "Never mind that now, I wanted to know if Harry Potter is poorly behaved." Nora asked hurriedly. "What-? Well, he's lost some house points, but I wouldn't say he's awful." Nora thought this over, now that Harry Potter was here, everything seemed to change; There's a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Snape was now intimidating him which was quite odd because he never seemed to do that to any other professors. Nora hated change, but she accepted the fact it must happen. "Anyway....Walter wanted to know if you and Calvin Conner are together." Nora was pulled from her thoughts so fast at this. "What? Who told you that?" "Dakota said you guys were like....You know...." Nora raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "....Together." "We are not! Sorry if we gave off that impression, but I'm holding off for now, just....Too busy for a relationship." But this was mostly a lie, not the bit about she and Calvin being not together, that was true, but she wasn't just busy. She was scared. Nora was always afraid she wouldn't be able to live up to anyone's expectations, she had confided in Dakota about this a year ago, Dakota told her, "If anyone you get with makes you feel like you have to 'live up to expectations', then they're not the one. Someone who loves you truly will accept you the way you are." This had made Nora feel better, but still, she felt like Calvin wasn't the one for her. "I'm sorry for snapping, it's just I don't feel like Calvin is the one for me. In short, no, we aren't together." "Oh, okay! Between you and me, I'm pretty sure that Walter is mad for him." Nora smiled, Walter seemed nice, and Calvin deserved someone as good as him. Later, Nora had made it to Astronomy a bit earlier than she thought she would, but ended up having enough time to sit on a nearby bench and watch the full moon hover over the castle. Though, she didn't realize the bench wasn't vacant, there sat a third year Slytherin girl whom Nora had never met. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll just go-" "No, it's perfectly fine, you can sit." Said the girl with a soft smile that matched her aura perfectly. "Thank you, I'm just waiting for my class to start." Nora smiled. "So am I, except, mine's in two hours, I like to get here early." The girl said with a dreamy gaze out the castle's glass-less windows. "I'm Ophelia by the way." She said. "Oh, that's a pretty name, I'm Nora." And the two girls chatted for a bit about what was going on in the castle before Nora saw the rest of her class heading up the stairs to the top of the tower, which she then bade Ophelia farewell.
