The Difference in Reality [A Harry Potter Fanfiction]

Year 2: Chapter 4

"Willow! Willow! Wake up! Come on, wake up!"

Willow yelped as she tumbled onto the floor. "I'm awake! What happened? Are you in trouble? Did Malfoy do something stupid again?"

"Shhh!" Ginny put a finger to her lips. "Don't wake up your roommates!"

Willow glanced at the sleeping girls around the room. Fay was mumbling in her sleep, Lavender was face-down on her pillow, Mia was drooling from the corner of her mouth, Parvati and Sally were snoring loudly, and Hermione was peacefully smiling, deep in a dream. Pointing to the door, Ginny tiptoed out of the dorm. Willow nodded and quickly threw on a t-shirt and shorts. She had discovered that the professors didn't mind how they dressed on the weekends, so long as it was appropriate. Willow didn't care for the long wizarding robes; it made her feel a little too powerful, aside from how hot they were (she overheated easily).

Ginny was bouncing up and down on her toes when Willow found her in the common room.

"Where are we going?" Willow whispered, glancing at her watch. It was getting close to seven. "And since when are you early riser? I know you like mornings, Ginny, but I've never known you to get up this early."

"I saw Harry heading out with his quidditch gear!" she quietly squealed. "I think they're going to have an early practice this morning, and I'd love to see Harry in action! Colin might be up, too, because I think I saw him following Harry, and- I'm just so excited!."

Willow smiled. "Harry's going to kill me for saying this, but I'm liking the Harry Potter Fan Club so far. I'll take you to the quidditch pitch, then, if you so desire."

"Yes, please! Ooh, and can you show me your broom?" Ginny asked, rambling on and on. "George said you got one as a gift over the summer! Is it a Nimbus 2000? Ooh, maybe a 2001! That would be so cool! I'm dying to see it! Did you get to fly over the summer? Are you even better than last year? George said you're a fine flyer, that's for sure-"

Willow's cheeks reddened. "I'll grab it real quick. You go ahead, I'll meet you in the corridor."

She raced to her dorm, grabbed her broomstick, splashed her face with water, and found Ginny waiting for her outside the portrait hole. She didn't know why compliments made her so embarrassed. Most of the time, it wasn't that bad, but for some reason this round of praise was driving her crazy. What was wrong with her? She needed a good fly to get this out of her system.

"Wow!" Ginny gasped when she reappeared. "Let me see that! Wait, nevermind, I'd rather see you demonstrate! I can hardly wait to see you fly on it! Let's go, let's go!"

Willow laughed, her voice echoing through the corridors as Ginny sprinted towards the quidditch pitch. She really had to pull on her sleeves to steer her in the right direction. They burst into a courtyard, then raced each other to the pitch. Ginny was much faster than her over a short distance, but Willow was sure she could beat her any day in a mile-long competition.

"I win!" Ginny proclaimed proudly, stopping in front of the stands.

"Sure, you win for now, but wait until the rematch!"

Ascending to the top of the Gryffindor quidditch stands, they found Colin waiting for them. He was bouncing on his toes with boundless energy. After rambling for a good while about how cool he thought quidditch sounded, he settled down and they stared out at the pitch, admiring how peaceful it looked without anyone on it. Ginny became entranced before long. Only the occasional snap of Colin's camera broke the soft silence. Then, acting on an idea without even pausing to think, Willow gripped her broom tight in her hand, backed up several paces, sprinted right in between where Colin and Ginny where leaning on the railing and jumped.