The Wizard’s Love Spell

Another week went by, even faster than the last. They were already at the end of September. Time truly flew. The only truly dreadful thing that week had been that the potion they were brewing in Potions class was quite complex and had to be done with utter care and detail (otherwise the results could be, well, quite disastrous)... it had stressed Isabella out a bit at times. And with Quidditch practice, all of her studying with Potter and the fact the teachers were starting to give them more homework, it all just made her dead tired at the end of the day. She would usually head straight to bed afterwards, and was quick to fall asleep.

When Saturday finally came around, Isabella actually looked forward to sleeping in. But unfortunately she couldn't because they were supposed report to the court yard by 9. They were to visit Hogsmeade today.

Isabella g.r.o.a.n.e.d. It was 7:30. She shoved her face in the pillow mostly hoping that time would stop and she could just keep sleeping. But Mira came along.

"Wake up sleepy head!" Mira lightly smacked Isabella with her own pillow.

"But I want to sleep..." Isabella said, peeking put from under her blanket. At that moment Mira opened the curtains and the sun's bright light filled the room.

"Ughhhhhh.... fine I'll get up..." this was perhaps one of the only times Isabella wished she could sleep til noon. No doubt Michelle would be in a bad mood because she'd have to get up earlier than her usual time.

"Let's go let's go let's goooo" Mira rushed her all morning.

At 8:30 they were already at the courtyard. Adam was already there along with some other Ravenclaws. There weren't that many people there, it seemed many students were looking to sleep in. At 8:50, the courtyard filled up with third years.

At 9:00, Professor Bletchley and other teachers arrived.

"Alright then, third years, if you did not get your permission slip signed then you are not going. I assume you know that. I have a list here... so I'll know if you sneak out. And if for some reason you do choose to sneak out, fifty points will be taken. Now let's go." Professor Bletchley then started leading the students to Hogsmeade.

The walk to Hogsmeade was longer than Isabella had expected. She'd seen Hogsmeade when she'd been flying with Charlie but now that she was down on the ground, actually walking there, she felt the trip was much longer. On their way down to the village, she saw Michelle who looked dead tired. She clearly looked like she would rather be sleeping at the moment.

It was a small village, filled with rustic cottages and shops here and there.

"We'll be heading back to the castle at noon." And with that Professor Bletchley sent them off. Isabella caught a glance of Michelle and someone else, who seemed to be Samuel, walking down together in close proximity to a place called "the Three Broomsticks".

Mira dragged Isabella down to a small shop (it said "Honeyduke's") before she could see anything else. Isabella glanced through the window. It was a sweet shop.

Inside, there were all kinds of candies and sweets. Nougat, some coconut ice, honey colored toffees, hundreds of different chocolates all neatly alined on the colorful shelves. On one side they had Every Flavor Beans and Fizzing Whizzbees (which were sort of like levitating balls of sherbet). Isabella was most curious about the section labeled 'Special Effects' sweets. There were Drooble's Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with blue-coloured bubbles wouldn't pop for days), the strange, Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps, Ice Mice, peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!') , fragile sugar-spun quills and exploding bonbons. Isabella desperately wanted to try it all.

Mira lead her all around the small shop showing her which were the best sweets, and which were better to stay away from.

After they finished shopping at Honeyduke's they headed off to Zonko's, the Joke shop. Adam was there, his hands full with Stink pellets and Hiccough Sweets.

"I'm so going to get Cal this year...." he muttered.

"They prank each other all year, and the first to surrender at the end of the year wins, or sometimes we get to decide who pulled the better pranks." Mira explained to Isabella. "Last year, Adam surrendered mid year when Cal started to stick some random rubber bugs in his books. They'd jump out at Adam, honestly it was hilarious. Adam gave up because he couldn't find a way to get Cal back for it."

"That'll certainly be interesting to watch." Isabella replied.

"Yep."

They followed Adam out of Zonko's and they found their way to the Three Broomsticks. It was a small inn and pub. Mira ordered them some butter beers. As they looked for a table, Isabella noticed that over in a corner, Michelle and Samuel sat together. Once again quite close. She wondered what exactly their relationship was.

Mira then came back with the drinks, that snapped Isabella out of her thoughts. She had never had any sort of drink like this before, found the drink surprisingly good. It was a sort of less sickly butterscotch flavor. The pub was cozy, Isabella thought it must be nice to be here during winter. Snow falling outside, drinking a butterbeer, perhaps a book at hand or having a small chat with a friend. This was perhaps one of the few things she looked forward to doing in winter.

The three stayed there til noon, mostly just talking. Isabella had two butterbeers during that time.

Professor Bletchley told them that they'd have certain weekends on which they were allowed to go back to Hogsmeade. Isabella looked forward to that.

On the way up to the common room, she ran into Nick.

"Bella!"

She turned to look at him.

"If you're not busy, you should come with me to see Charlie... he really likes you."

"Oh yeah, I'll go. Just let me go put this away..." she gestured towards the Honeyduke's bag. He nodded. She ran up to the dormitory and just flung the bag on her bed. Just as she was about to head out to meet Nick, Mira stopped her.

"Hey so what'd you think of Hogsmeade?" Mira asked. Isabella responded that she looked forward to go again. Mira continued to talk to her for a while before Isabella managed to slip away.

She walked down to the Forbidden Forest with Nick, who asked her what the hold up hd been. She explained to him about Mira. They talked until they reached Charlie, then Isabella had turned all her attention to the Hippogriff. Petting him and stroking his soft feathers. Charlie lied down and Isabella sat next to him. She laid her head on Charlie and ended up falling asleep. Nick had sat down by a nearby tree, with a sketchbook in his l.a.p.

Nick woke her up about an hour before dinner. Isabella was sort of sad to be leaving Charlie, but she was starving and food was calling her.