"So what's the deal between you and Bucky?"
Steve swore softly as he tried to mop up the acidic potion currently eating his sleeve. The sudden question from behind had triggered his elbow jerking which had lead to this mishap.
After batting the slop off his jumper sleeve and attempting to wipe it off the table - leading to him giving up and hoping it wouldn't make too big a hole - he turned to find Natasha practically leaning out of her seat for an answer.
"What deal? There is no deal. No deal. Zero. Nothing. Who's Bucky?" Steve babbled.
"Oh come on, Steve, don't play innocent. It's not like I, along with most of Hogwarts, haven't noticed your corridor eyesex with a certain Slytherin," she said, cocking her head to one side.
Steve eyed her up. Small and curvaceous, with short red hair and alluring green eyes, Natasha Romanoff was a very attractive Slytherin sixth year. No-one had tried anything, though, due to her uncanny ability to break people, both verbally and physically.
"Nat, leave the poor kid alone," said Clint.
Clint and Natasha were an odd pair. The traditional rivalry between their two houses, Gryffindor and Slytherin, had made their friendship and later relationship presumably rocky - but every insider knew that the two had hit it off immediately in first year, and had been joined at the hip ever since. They were both intelligent, brave, fierce, physically capable, and killer Quidditch players.
"Alright, alright," Natasha said, sitting down, throwing her hands up in mock-surrender. "But I'm betting twenty Galleons we'll find them making out in a closet by next Wednesday."
"You're on," Clint said without missing a beat.
Steve sighed and rested his chin in his hands. He was the only Hufflepuff in his year taking Potions, which meant that there were not enough Hufflepuffs for a sufficient Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff lesson, which meant that he had to take his with the Gryffindors and Slytherins.
Sneaking a look (and silently praying Natasha wouldn't see) round the classroom, his eyes came to a rest on James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes. Though he'd never admit it to anyone, particularly Natasha and Clint, he'd had a crush on the handsome Slytherin with the troublemaker smile and the untucked shirt since second year. He was pretty sure Bucky had a thing for him, too, considering all the eye contact and occasional winking (and blushing, on Steve's part).
Steve Rogers had become almost a living legend in Hogwarts. In his first and second years, he'd looked like he could've been blown over at the slightest breeze - a skinny stick who couldn't have weighed more than ninety pounds soaking wet. He'd become sort of known as the 'Hufflepuff Stick Insect'.
But when he came back for third year, it was like dropping a very large stone into a very small pond. He'd beefed up, enormously. His head, which had once been deemed slightly too large for his body, was now perfectly proportioned - and attractive, to boot. He'd suddenly become the star player for his Quidditch team, becoming the new Keeper within seconds of his tryouts.
He'd only ever slipped up badly once, in a Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin match. Natasha, the small wily Seeker, had been calling out comments about a certain other player that had gotten lost in the wind before it could reach anyone other than Steve, and distracting him. Bucky, the renowned Slytherin Chaser, had gotten six goals past him before he even really noticed. Steve had gotten a verbal beating from the team Captain straight after the match.
Review if you want me to keep this going.
MY SORTINGS:
HUFFLEPUFF - Steve (he wanted to join the army solely to protect people), Darcy
RAVENCLAW - Bruce, Jane, Betty (Liv Tyler, but still Mark Ruffalo for Bruce)
SLYTHERIN - Bucky, Natasha, Loki, Tony
GRYFFINDOR - Thor, Peggy, Clint (he went to fight a load of aliens with a team of superheroes armed with only a bow and arrow. How can that not be Gryffindor?!), Pepper