French Affair

Chapter Two

Ina lay on the grass next to the lake. She wanted to get some sun tan and also dreamt about Oliver. In the last three weeks her crush had grown and she got on better and better with Oliver.

Suddenly a shadow fell on her and she opened her eyes. Oliver stood above her and smiled. "Wanna play Quidditch?" he asked and held a hand out.

The girl took it and brushed some grass blades of her jeans. She had changed her warm robes against muggle jeans and a grey shirt. Ina looked at Oliver from the side and noticed that he looked gorgeous in his black trousers and tight white shirt that showed his muscles.

They walked over to the broom shed and both got their Nimbus 1500. Ina and Oliver mounted their brooms and took off. Ina flew some rounds around the hoops and let the wind blow her long hair out of her face.

"Ready, Ina?" Oliver called from the other side of the pitch and Ina turned her broom towards the hoops. The Gryffindor threw the Quaffle at her and they started practicing.

Ina was not bad, she dived and rose and flew loops around the hoops. But Oliver was not bad either and soon they were both sweating and breathing hard.

"I need a break!" Oliver called and they both landed at the side of the pitch. "Phew, that was great! I love to play with you. You are really a challenge. I mean, not that our Chasers are no challenges, they're great, but you are also good, argh, please stop me!"

The brown-haired girl laughed and dropped herself on the floor. "I know what you mean. And I love to play with you too. It's great fun." She propped her up on her palms and watched Oliver from the floor.

The Seventh-Year sat down next to her and leaned against the wall of the broom shed. "Umm, Ina. I want to ask you something." Oliver looked at her and her heart skipped a beat.

"Yes Oliver?" She leaned closer and looked at him with her big brown eyes.

"Can you help me with my Herbology homework?"

"What?" Her arm gave way and she rammed her elbow in the ground. She screamed in pain and sat up again, massaging her hurt elbow.

"Yes, Alicia told me you were quite good at the subject and I need some help. So, can you help me?" Oliver looked at her from the side and smiled a charming and pleading smile.

Ina sighed and stood up. "Ok. Now, can we go back playing? You have to be fit for the match against Slytherin."

The boy stood up and soon they were back in the air, throwing the Quaffle and practicing tricks.

~~

In the Common Room, Alicia patted the girl next to her on the back. "Come on, Ina. It's not that bad," she tried to comfort Ina.

"Oh yes it is!" the girl groaned and buried her head in her arms.

"See it as a learning date!" Alicia suggested.

"No, he has to learn how to arrange a date. And that's not a date. 'Can you help me with my Herbology homework?' Oh, how very romantic!" Ina spat and threw herself on the couch next to the fire.

"But now I have to take a shower. It may be not a date, but I don't want Oliver to pass out because of my smell either," the tall girl sighed and made her way to the girl's bathroom.

"Good luck!" Alicia called. "You'll need it," she murmured and went up to her dorm.

Ina stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel round her wet hair. She slipped into comfortable black trousers and a red silk shirt with thin straps. The brown-haired girl dried her hair magically and then got her Herbology books from her room.

When she walked down the stairs, the sun had started to set and the room was dimly lit by the flames in the fireplace. Oliver sat in the couch next to the fire and his eyes sparkled in the shine of the flames.

Ina cleared her throat and the boy turned round. "Ok, let's start!" he said and clapped his hands. They sat down at one of the tables that were usually occupied with Hermione Granger's records.

"So, what don't you understand? Have you finished your essay?" Ina asked in a business-like tone and opened her books. Better finish it as quick as possible!

"No and that's my problem. I don't understand how to correctly replant Devil's Roses. Do I have to watch something important?" Oliver asked and looked confused at his parchments.

"What would you do? Imagine you have a Devil's Rose in front of you."

"I would pull it out, give it in another pot and spill earth on it," Oliver said and looked at Ina.

"Congratulations Oliver! Now, your guts will dry out and knot themselves together. What kind of funeral do you want?" Ina said and sighed.

"Was it wrong?"

"No, Columbus was wrong when he thought he had discovered India while it was America. You are dead!" Ina stated and looked at him. "Ok, I'll explain it to you.

"You know, Devil's Roses have stings at their roots and in them is a very dangerous poison. But there's a trick to beware you of suffering a painful death. There's a little knot under the bloom. You have to press it, while pulling it out of the earth.

"You understand?" the Gryffindor girl asked and pointed at the picture in her Herbology book. Oliver nodded and scribbled notes on his parchments.

They continued studying until the Common Room was empty. Oliver yawned and turned Ina's attention on him. "You have to go to bed now, Oliver. It's late and you have Quidditch practice tomorrow morning," the girl said softly and brushed some hair out of her eyes.

"You're right Ina. As always," Oliver said grinning. He got up and kissed her softly on the cheek. "G'night," he mumbled and dragged himself up the stairs.

Ina touched her cheek where she still could feel Oliver's lips. "Good night."

~~

"Morning sleeping beauty," Angelina greeted Ina the next morning at the Gryffindor table. "You look tired. Haven't slept much? What did you do that was so exhausting?"

The girl next to her grinned and poured her a cup of coffee. "Thanks, Al," the Ina murmured and drowned the cup in one gulp. "What?" she asked the excited girl next to her.

"We didn't do anything. Besides the chaining up at the wall, the whip and the hot wax," Ina said and took a piece of toast. Alicia's mouth was open and watched Ina astonished.

"Al, did you really believe that? I just helped him with Herbology and it wasn't exciting at all. You look like a cow in a thunderstorm. Close your mouth Liz, that's not very attractive."

Ina giggled and smeared butter on her toast. Alicia saw that nothing had happened or at least Ina didn't want to talk about it, so she went back to her breakfast and just threw from time to time a sideways glance at her best friend.

"Morning girls."

"Morning Oliver," came the usual response and Alicia looked at Oliver and Ina, but nothing betrayed that there had something happened between them last night. She sighed and was also a little bit disappointed.

Alicia watched the two through the whole breakfast and noticed some smiles and winks and her eyes widened when Oliver brushed a strand of Ina's hair out of her eyes.

When breakfast was over the group went to Greenhouse Seven. "I hope our late-night session helped Oliver," said Ina when they took their usual places. "I wouldn't be delighted if I had wasted the hours of my precious sleep for nothing!"

But they survived the Herbology lessons and two hours later, Alicia, Ina and Oliver sat in the library, working for their exams.

"Oh god, how am I going to keep all this stuff on my mind?" Ina moaned and dropped her quill. "I need a break, or otherwise I'll break down. What about you?"

Alicia shut her book and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Great idea, Ina. Any more potion ingredients and I'm going to freak out. Beetle eyes, flobberworms, spider legs, frog innards, that's disgusting! Why can't we make a potion with roses, lilies and other beautiful smelling flowers?"

"Can you imagine Snape in a rose robe and saying in a soft voice 'Now my dear children, throw the rose petals in your cauldron and wait until it has a nice purple color. But don't take too much I don't want you to lose points.'"

Alicia fell of the chair laughing and Oliver pretended to vomit over his Charms books. "Ok, after we trained our laughing muscles, what do we do now?" Ina asked and looked at her classmates.

"Swimming?" Alicia suggested. "Quidditch!" Oliver called and the girls stared at him. "What? You can never get enough Quidditch!"

"Despite the fact that playing Quidditch in the hot summer sun sounds really tempting, I agree with Al that we down to the lake. Let's go!" Ina stood up and grabbed her books.

"Does nobody love me?" asked Oliver and made his puppy eyes. "Aw, we do love you Oliver, but we love swimming more!" Alicia said and patted his head.

"Yeah, Oliver! We'll go playing Quidditch with you soon. Maybe. Or later. Or next year, whatever." Ina grinned and lay an arm round his shoulders. "The last one in the Common Room is a Blast-Ended Skrewt!" she called and they started running down the hallway.