November Snow

t w e n t y - t w o

"Aconitum napellus." Hermione read from the book she placed on her lap.

"Also called Devil's Helmet or Wolfsbane, most kinds have the color purple, though some are either blue or yellow, very lethal to both human and animals." I said "I heard someone died smelling the flower."

"But it's useful sometimes." She said "It must be useful sometimes."

"Useful, yes, but for making poisons only." I said.

"You two are sitting here and still learning about Aconitia things?" Ron asked.

"It's Aconitum, Ron." I said.

We were sitting on the bench in the large hall, watching older students walking through the age line and placed the parchments with their names in the Goblet of Fire's burning blue flame. Hermione and I weren't as interested as the boys, but we came along anyway, bringing our herbology book.

Fred and George came in, the students cheered loudly, especially the ones of their year. Each of them held a piece of parchment which I assumed had their names on. But they were only sixteen, still one year away from the age limit.

"Thank you, thank you." George said "Well lads, we've done it."

"Cooked it up just this morning." Fred said.

They all showed us two small bottles of liquid. They were potions, by the look of it. I saw Hermione smirking.

"It's not going to work." She chimed.

They both squat down to Hermione on either side of her, smiling and joking.

"Oh yeah?" Fred said in a challenging way "And why's that, Granger?"

"You see this?" She pointed to the glowing circle around the Goblet of Fire "This is an age line. Dumbledore drew it himself."

"So?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, so?" George added.

"So, a genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by something pathetically dim-witted such as an age potion."

"That's why it's so brilliant." George said.

"Because it's pathetically dim-witted." Fred said.

They stood up and looked at each other.

"Ready, Fred?"

"Ready, George?"

They popped open the bottles and drank all the liquid inside. Then, they jumped into the age line successfully, much to Hermione's surprise, and cheered loudly along their friends. They threw the parchments in the flames and high-fived each other. Suddenly, the flame flared up in a roar and flung the twins to the other side of the room and onto the floor. When they got up, their heads and faces were covered with white hair. They started rolling and wrestling with each other on the floor in the uproar laughter of all the students in the room. Even Hermione was chuckling.

"I wish I had a twin sometimes." I said chuckling.

"And become like them?" Hermione joked "No thank you."

The room went quiet immediately when Victor Krum and his Durmstrang friends walked in. He approached the cup and put in his name, then looked over to Hermione. She smiled at him and he left the room, but some of his friends lingered back for while longer.

"You and Krum?" I whispered.

"He often stares at me." She said "And that guy's staring at you."

"Why do Durmstrang boys like to stare so much?" I groaned.

I looked up and saw the same boy who stared at me at the feast staring at me again. His stares were obvious, especially to the girls who were swooning over his 'dreamy green eyes and beautiful smirk'-quoted the Slytherin girls. I gave up on trying to ignore the intensive stare and approached him.

"Hello, gorgeous." He said with his thick accent.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Straight to the main idea then." He smirked "I see you're a beautiful girl."

"Thank you." I huffed "But I'm not flattered. If you want to speak to a girl, at least start with a proper introduction."

"Playing hard to get, I see." He said "What's your name?"

"What's yours?"

"Alexander Stywrick, but you can call me Alex." He said "May I know yours?"

"November Avery, and you cannot call me November."

"Beautiful." He said "Like you."

"Again, not flattered, not interested." I rolled my eyes.

At the corner of my eyes, I could see Malfoy walking in the room and stared at us. I could see the twins and Hermione looking at us too. Bloody hell, someone please save me from this hell of a clingy bastard.

"I think we should totally go with each other the next time you go to Hogsmeat." He said.

"Hogsmeade." I said "And no, thank you."

I felt an arm wrapped around my shoulders and a solid chest leaned on my right arm. I glanced over and caught a glimpse of the silver strands of hair. Chills ran down my spine immediately at the touch.

"There you are, November." Malfoy said cooly "Let's go, everyone's waiting."

And he dragged me out of the room. As soon as we walked far enough, his arm dropped and he stepped a step back away from me, I turned around to face him. He was smirking. That infamous smirk he gave everyone.

"I've never seen you so helpless before." He joked.

"Like I said, I'm screwed." I sighed "Thank you, by the way."

"No problem, Avery." He said.

"You called me November earlier."

"Only friends can call you that, remember? I thought he knew that too." He said "Don't think we're friends. Not yet."

"Of course not." I rolled my eyes "But we can try to be. Or at least act until it's all over. I hate that guy."

"Sure, we can." He laughed "Get some lunch. I think your friends are there too."

"Sure."

•••••

"I can't believe it." Juliette sat down in front of me when I was having lunch with Hermione.

"What? What happened?" I asked.

"You and Draco Malfoy?" She exclaimed.

"Hold on I--"

"You two hated each other, and then bam! You two are suddenly friends!"

"We're not--"

"What's wrong with him? Suddenly he just became so friendly to you."

"Jules--"

"What's going to happen if you two date?"

"Juliette Tughorn!" I exclaimed "There's nothing between me and Malfoy. We're not friends, nothing is wrong with him or me, and ew, we're not going to date each other. We agreed that I love to hate him and he hates to love me."

"Now you agreed with each other?" She asked "Merlin!"

"Stop stop stop." I said "Just stop. He just rescued me from that guy you said was hot."

"He is hot!" She protested.

"He's a douche bag, Jules. All he thinks about is dating and getting laid. A Hufflepuff is better than him."

"Now you're defending the Hufflepuffs? What is wrong with the world?"

"Nothing! Calm down or I'll call Zabini to come and watch."

"Fine, fine!" She raised her hands in surrender "But if you get laid with either of them, tell me everything."

"Jules! I'm thirteen!"