The bottom of his stool clanked loudly against the stone floor as the Gryffindor stood up and slid over into the stool next to mine. 

And then he sniffed me.

Yeah, you read that right. He got all up in my personal space and took a big, long whiff. If you're thinking something along the lines of, "Um.. what the hell?" Then welcome to the club.

Briar was flushed. Prettily. And she couldn’t keep from smiling. And fiddling with her hair.

Considering Briar normally looked about as cheerful as a Death Eater on the day the-boy-who-lived lived, I was a little terrified. There were only two plausible conclusions: either Briar had finally discovered her calling as the next Dark Lady and would soon be moving to a dark, creepy stronghold somewhere in the Himalayas to live off of protein shakes, falcon eggs, and rocks; or Finley Bishop was in town.