"Beth, Beth, Beth!"

It wasn't hard for Jessica to spot one of her best friends. Bethany Faye was a fiery redhead, one who was difficult to miss. She was on her way to the Great Hall, just reaching the bottom of the steps when she had heard her name being called. She spun around, acknowledging Jessica as the girl continued to repeatedly call her out in a panic, much to the former's confusion.

"Jess," Bethany said slowly. "What's gotten into you?"

"This." Jessica held out the Slytherin scarf from Alista, showing it to Bethany as if it explained everything.

"What? I don't get it."

"Oliver Wood caught me sitting in the bleachers before his practice."

Bethany looked even more confused and said, "So? You watch the team practice with some of our house mates sometimes, too. What's the problem if you were alone?"

"He thought I was a Slytherin."

"Why would he — oh."

"Yeah, oh. And you know whose fault this is? Alista's."

"I heard my name!" someone sing-songed from behind the two Gryffindor girls. Jessica fumed, turning around to come face to face with the third member of their trio. "What's happening, my lovelies?"

"Guess who thought I was a Slytherin spy?"

Alista frowned. "Salazar said what?"

Jessica, who rarely ever got angry, sighed in frustration. "Look, I obviously have nothing against Slytherins, but some people still do. I was wearing this when I was at the pitch earlier. I didn't realize the Gryffindor Team had practice and that Wood would be there early."

"I'm not following. How does my scarf does even connect to —"

"Basically," Bethany interrupted. "Jessica was wearing your Slytherin scarf when Oliver Wood spotted her right before training. He automatically assumed she's a Slytherin spy because, as you know, your house is good at stealing the Quidditch Pitch every single day to make sure they win the cup again."

Ignoring that backhanded insult, Alista asked, "But doesn't he know who you are, anyway?"

"You know how daft that Quidditch-obsessed boy can be," Jessica mumbled. Sure, she loved Quidditch, but Oliver Wood was on a whole other level when it came to obsessing over a sport. "He didn't realize it until he looked at my face because apparently, he only noticed the silver and green colors I was wearing."

"Sorry, Jess," Alista said sheepishly. "I didn't think that would happen."

"I know," sighed Jessica. "It's not your fault."

"Did he apologize, though?" Bethany inquired. Jessica shook her head at that.

"I left before he could, but I doubt he would. I think the boy's got too much pride to do that."

"Knowing you, you probably ran out of there," Bethany said thoughtfully.

"I didn't run —"

"You are the type of person who doesn't like fights and confrontations," Alista added.

"Hey!" Jessica said defensively. Bethany patted her friend's shoulder.

"It's true, Jess," she said simply. "It's not really a bad thing, so don't get your wand in a knot."

"Yeah, don't worry, Jess. On the bright side, you're also only Gryffindor I know whose bravery isn't stupid."

It was Bethany's turn to exclaim, "Hey! Are you saying I'm stupidly brave?"

"Yes," Alista replied without missing a beat. "Jessica is the type who seems pretty quiet and shy, but she really isn't — her sarcasm and sense of humor comes out to people she gets close to. Then there's me, your resident socializer —"

"— and flirt," Bethany side-commented, making Jessica laugh under her breath.

"And you, Bethany," Alista continued. "People get intimidated by you because your filter disappears the moment you or the people you care about are insulted even just a bit."

Bethany opened her mouth to retaliate but paused. Eventually, she nodded in agreement and said, "Huh, you're actually right. That was spot-on."

"Whoa, wait," Jessica stopped her friends, waving her hands in front of them. "When did this become some analysis of our personalities? I thought we were just talking about my incident in the pitch with Wood."

The girls finished their conversation and headed to the Great Hall for dinner. By the time the hall was almost entirely packed and there were plates and goblets of food and drinks that lined the long tables, the Gryffindor Quidditch Team had only just finished their practice. Jessica saw the Weasley twins walk in first, followed by Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell, and then Oliver Wood. She didn't pay attention to who came after them because she ducked her head, wanting to avoid any awkward interactions with the fifth year captain.

Just as Jessica was taking her last bite of food, two hands made its way to her shoulders, one on each side.

"Well, if it isn't —"

"— Jessica Hawthorne."

"What do you want?" she said, biting into the slice of steak and briefly glancing up at the third year Weasley twins.

"Aw, don't tell me you're scared of us, too," George — Jessica assumed — teased her.

"Why would I be scared of you boys?"

"Well, it did look like our little Ollie gave you a fright back there," Fred said, glancing at his team captain a few seats away who was thankfully too busy eating to notice.

"Well, your little 'Ollie' is a tad bit unnerving when he's mad," Jessica explained. "But I wasn't necessarily scared by him."

"Hold on," Fred said in realization, eyeing the blonde girl clad in Slytherin robes who happened to be in their table. Alista sometimes sat with Jessica and Bethany during meals — that is, except during feasts, other special occasions, or simply if she decided to catch up with her own housemates. "Is this the girl who gave you that scarf and caused all the trouble?"

"For your information, my name is Alista," she replied confidently. "And well, yes."

The Weasley twins burst out in laughter.

"If it makes you feel any better," said George once the laughter died down. "Oliver feels quite bad about what he did."

"Yeah," Fred backed him up. "I've never seen him look so ashamed of doing something in the name of Quidditch."

The twins took that as their cue to leave and find their own seats, leaving the three girls to finish their meals.

"Well then, he'd better apologize to you soon," said Bethany.

"He doesn't really have to... I mean, it was an honest mistake," Jessica said slowly. Although Oliver technically should apologize for lashing out on her that quickly, he just genuinely thought that she was someone who could have potentially spied on the Gryffindors. It was partially her fault, too — she was being careless, and though he may have overreacted a little, he was only looking after his own team.

"You're too nice," Bethany rolled her eyes.

"I need to be nice to balance out the evil you two bring to this trio."

Bethany and Alista scoffed at her words but didn't even deny it. After Jessica took one last sip of her pumpkin juice, she pushed herself off of the table.

"Homework already?" Alista guessed. Jessica smiled sheepishly. "You'd still get an O in anything you do even if you did it on the day itself."

"You know you can't stop her," Bethany said knowingly. "I'll see you in the common room in a while, Jess."

"Bye, Jess! Sweet dreams, don't let little Ollie bite," Alista whispered the last bit.

Jessica scoffed at that last comment before heading out of the Great Hall. She left in a hurry, making sure that Fred and George wouldn't pester her again and that she did not make eye contact with Oliver Wood. She successfully slipped past them and exited the hall along with a few other students.

As the sound of chatter coming from the Great Hall faded in the background, Jessica suspected that she was being followed down the corridor. It was similar to that feeling of just knowing that someone's eyes are on you, or that there's a presence nearby. Her friends weren't the type of people to do that, so they surely weren't the ones following her.

When she began walking up the second set of stairs, she calmly said, "It's kind of obvious that you're stalking me."

The person behind her cleared his throat. Then, to her surprise, instead of hearing Fred and George speak, a Scottish voice said, "Sorry, lass. I was thinking of the best way to approach you."

"Wood?" Jessica turned around to find him jogging up the stairs to catch up with her.

"Hawthorne."

"I actually thought Fred and George were the ones following me," she admitted.

"Oh." There was a brief pause. Jessica raised her eyebrows questioningly as Oliver shifted his feet repeatedly.

"Did you need something?"

"Oh, um, yes. I wanted to apologize for my actions at the pitch earlier. I was really on edge because the Slytherins have been snatching our practices for some time now and I didn't realize it was you because all I paid attention to was —"

"— the scarf," Jessica finished for him, chuckling. "I kind of figured that out."

He smiled sheepishly, bringing a hand to the back of his neck as a nervous gesture.

"Yeah, but I still overreacted."

"It's fine. Quidditch is important to you, so don't feel so guilty, Wood. You look like a puppy who's just been kicked," Jessica reassured lightly. "Besides, it was kind of my mistake, too. I love Quidditch so I wanted to go to the pitch, and I didn't know that you guys would be —"

"You do?" Oliver's face lit up. It was good to hear that she enjoyed the sport. He was curious as to whether she was just a big fan or if she could actually play. He was already thinking ahead, wanting to have reserves for his team and a solid set of members for next school year.

"Well, yeah. Anyway, don't worry about earlier. It was nothing."

"Thanks, Hawthorne," Oliver smiled in relief.

Eventually, Jessica continued on her way to the Gryffindor tower while Oliver returned to the Great Hall to finish his dinner. Back in her dorm, she spent the next few minutes completing her History of Magic homework. It was only a little while later when Bethany walked in, followed by two of their other roommates — Kaitlin Yoshioka (most students couldn't pronounce her last name and resorted to calling her "Yoshi" for short), and Margaux MacMillan.

While Kaitlin and Margaux only stopped by to get their things before going back down to the common room, Bethany flopped onto her four poster bed before glancing at Jessica.

"Did you actually get any homework done?" she asked.

"Of course. I could've done more, but Wood talked to me on the way here."

"He did?" Bethany said interestedly, sitting up. "What happened? What did he say?"

"Well," Jessica started, setting down her things. "He actually followed me for a few minutes before I called him out."

"He followed you?"

"Yeah. He said he didn't know how to approach me."

"Well, it isn't like it would be easy for him to apologize for something Quidditch-related," Bethany chuckled. Jessica nodded in agreement.

"That's true. He did sound like he felt bad, but he also looked like he was having a hard time."

"That must've been a sight to see. Still, he's still pretty cute."

"Here we go again," Jessica said with a roll of her eyes.

"In my defense, it's usually Alista who brings up the topic of boys and setting you up with someone," Bethany pointed out.

"Well, she's beginning to rub off on you."

"Seriously, Jess. I'm just saying he's cute."

"I know, but —"

"See! So what's the problem?"

"He only thinks about Quidditch."

"You love Quidditch, too," Bethany said. "You should really tryout for the team. That way, you'd get to spend even more time with him."

"First of all, I don't have any intentions of flirting with Wood," Jessica waved her off. "And besides, I'm not that good in Quidditch."

"But you always play with your cousin — I'm sure you're better than you say."

"It's only for fun."

Bethany sighed, knowing she was getting nowhere. "Well, if you don't want to date Wood, then who is your type?"

"I don't really know, but Roger Davies is quite attractive. I think Alista's going for him, though."

"Alista goes for anyone that's attractive. She'll get over Davies in a while then look for someone else to ogle at," Bethany said pointedly.

"Didn't she like Terrence Higgs last week?"

Bethany shook her head. "No, it was probably someone else. She rarely goes for boys in her own house — you know her, she doesn't want to stick to Slytherin boys."

"I wonder if she'll ever stick to one guy at all."

"That's not happening any time soon," Bethany laughed. "You, on the other hand, can do that."

"Stick to one guy?" Jessica asked to which the redhead nodded at. "As if. I've had crushes, but actually being with someone? I'm not looking for that right now — we've got our classes to worry about."

"Relax with the academics, Jess. You're starting to sound like Percy Weasley."

"We have O.W.L.s next year," Jessica reminded her friend.

"Next year, Jess. Come on, don't tell me you're not looking for a little romance this year. We're fourth years now — it's basically the year it all begins."

"Nope," Jessica said, popping the 'p.' "I, a girl with not much of a social life because she focuses too much on school, am not expecting any romance this year."

★ ★ ★

It was a bright and breezy afternoon — the perfect weather to relax outside, but of course, the students had classes to tackle first. Jessica, Bethany, and Alista were going down to the dungeons for their last class of the day: Potions. It was the subject that Gryffindors and Slytherins shared every Thursday before they were free. While the three girls chatted and stared wistfully out the windows to look at the clear sky, the sound of heels clacking on the stone floor caught their attention. To their left, they spotted Professor McGonagall with a small, green-eyed boy walking down the corridor briskly.

"That's Harry Potter," Alista muttered. Of course, everybody knew him. Even if he was a Gryffindor as well, Jessica had yet to formally meet him since the year had just begun.

"What do you think happened?" Jessica said curiously.

"Flying lessons?" Bethany tried.

"But why's he here and with McGonagall?" Madam Hooch was nowhere in sight, and flying lessons were obviously held outside. Madam Pomfrey wasn't here either, so he couldn't be injured — this wasn't even the way to the Hospital Wing. It just looked so strange to see him holding a broomstick as he followed McGonagall.

"He kinda looks scared," Alista noted as they watched the pair come to a stop in front of the Charms classroom. After McGonagall knocked a few times, Professor Flitwick stuck his face out of the classroom door. And then, Jessica heard McGonagall politely ask to borrow Wood.

"Oliver Wood?" Alista repeated. "Why are they asking for him?"

"It has something to do with Quidditch," Jessica said, convinced.

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know. It's not like Wood gives special lessons on how to ride a broom."

"He can teach me how to ride his broom."

"Alista!" Jessica gasped. Realizing she had been louder than expected, she harshly tugged Alista and hurried down the corridor, away from McGonagall's sight. "You're disgusting."

She grinned innocently. "What? I want to learn."

"Of course you do," Bethany scoffed.

Going back to the topic, Alista looked over her shoulder to the spot where they had previously been watching McGonagall and Harry Potter.

"Oh, Salazar, we didn't get to hear what they were going to talk about," she said disappointedly. Jessica sighed, knowing that they probably shouldn't have been eavesdropping in the first place.

"I guess we're just gonna have to wait and see what Harry Potter has done this time."