Mesedj Sebayet wandered through the Great Hall on her way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest to gather some herbs for her latest potion and managed to bump into the only other student there, a tall black-haired Gryffindor boy.

"Oh, sorry. Are you ok?" he asked, looking up.

Mesedj raised an eyebrow. She wasn't used to Gryffindors being anywhere near friendly to a Slytherin, much less her. "I'm fine. And…thank you for your concern," she added grudgingly.

The boy smiled. "No problem."

"So... I have to ask. Why are you being so nice to me? I'm a Slytherin. You're a Gryffindor." Mesedj crossed her arms.

"So...you're a person aren't you?" he asked, eyes shining.

Mesedj shrugged, a little surprised they had gotten this far in conversation. "Most Gryffindors don't seem to think so... especially not when they find out my favorite areas of study are Divination, Dark Arts, and Potions."

"Well, most Slytherins don't give me the time of day...so yeah, I guess there is something special about you," he laughed.

Mesedj laughed in spite of herself. "I haven't given you the time of day yet, have I?"

"Well, you haven't told me to go die or walked away yet...so yes you have," the boy corrected, grinning at her.

Mesedj, still laughing, barely managed to say, "Go die, then," before her voice was choked by a fresh wave of laughter. There was something about him that just lightened her mood, but she didn't know what it was.

"Now that's something new, a Slytherin laughing around me...it's nice," he said, still smiling at her.

Mesedj stopped laughing abruptly, running one hand through her dark hair. "I haven't laughed this much since my parents died," she confessed. "Not around anyone, not even Bellatrix."

"I'm sorry about your parents," the boy said seriously, "but don't worry. Laughing: it's nice for you, you should do it more often," he said smiling at her.

Mesedj blushed slightly. What are you doing? He's a Gryffindor. What if you have to kill him later? a small sensible voice in her head reminded her. She growled softly at it. "Um... I'm going to have to go...ah... I never caught your name."

"I'm Gryffin...and you are?" he asked, grinning.

"Mesedj Sebayet," she replied, smiling as well. "Have you ever been into the Forbidden Forest?" she added on a whim, the sensible part of her screaming that she was a complete idiot.

"Well...no I haven't. Isn't it off limits?" Gryffin asked.

Mesedj blushed. "Well... it's not really in the forest, more like right outside it..."

"Oh, ok. Do you need some help?" Gryffin asked, smiling.

Mesedj knew it was extremely obvious. She also knew she didn't really care. "If you want to," she said, twisting her hair around one finger.

"Sure," Gryffin said, grinning.

She smiled and picked up her basket from where it had fallen when she ran into him. "Let's go, then."

Gryffin smiled. "Ok. Here, let me get that," he said, taking the basket from her.

Mesedj, surprised, let him take it. "Thank you." Did he ever stop smiling? she wondered. It was a nice change, though, from Bella and Lucius.

"No problem," Gryffin told her.

"So... how come I haven't seen you around? You look like you'd be in seventh year or something..." Mesedj's arm felt strangely light without the basket, but at the same time she didn't really mind.

"I don't know," Gryffin answered after some thought.

She shrugged, heading towards the door. "I guess it's just since I don't make much effort to notice Gryffindors...even so, you'd think I'd notice you since Gryffindors and Slytherins have so many classes together. I mean, whose idea was that? It's stupid! Things are ten times more likely to explode than if it was Gryffindor and Ravenclaw or something like that."

"Yeah, I guess. I don't really see anything wrong with it...I mean we are all people...so what if you're in a different house. Does that really matter? I only care about whom the person is, not what house they are in. If you think about things that way you miss out on meeting a lot of great people," Gryffin told Mesedj.

Mesedj pondered this for a moment, feeling that something there made fairly good sense, but brushed it away quickly. "Most people here don't seem to think that way," she said, reaching the front door and pulling it open.

"I do," Gryffin said, being completely serious.

All was quiet in the Gryffindor common room. Quiet, that is, until Sirius Black ran into the Gryffindor Common Room, yelling at the top of his lungs. "Mud fight! Outside! Every person for their own! Come, come!"

"Huh?" a few people asked, looking up from their various homework assignments.

"Check it out on Hogwarts Grounds!" Sirius chattered excitedly, dashing out the portrait hole.

"What's this about a mud fight?" Michael Jordan asked, coming downstairs from his dorm.

Kingsley Shacklebolt launched himself down the stairs, following in the footsteps of his best friend. "Bet we could blame it on Potter!" he laughed hysterically. Getting James in trouble was Michael and Kingsley's way of life. "Or we could always bother McGonagall and see if Dear Old Dumbles will fire her." McGonagall would never be forgiven for blaming Kingsley and Michael for that food fight a week ago.

Caradoc Dearborn wandered in, yawning. "What's all the yelling about down here?" he asked, looking around to find the source of the noise.

"I think we should go bother McGoogles," Michael said, ignoring Caradoc and throwing himself into an armchair. "Or get some food. I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry. Can't we do something fun?" Kingsley asked. "Hey, Doc, we're just goofing off." Doc was the most relaxed of the friends and probably the best behaved. How had Kingsley become Head Boy instead of him?

"Aren't you always?" Caradoc asked, laughing slightly and sitting down in an armchair near Michael.

"Kingy, I think Doc needs to get a lesson in having fun. You up for it?" Michael tossed his dreadlocks back behind his head and settled deeper into the chair.

Caradoc raised an eyebrow at Michael. "What are you planning now?" he asked skeptically.

Michael smiled sweetly. "Nothing, dear friend," he said, turning his chair around to face Kingsley.

Caradoc turned Michael's chair back around. "Whenever you say that, something ends up... exploding or something," he groaned, rolling his eyes.

Kingsley laughed, remembering their last adventure; Michael had ended up burning most of his dreads to a crisp. "Doc is right, you know. How 'bout we head down to Hogsmeade?"

Caradoc nodded. "That sounds less dangerous. Let's go."

Michael pouted, turning his face into that of a sulky child's. "But...But.."

Caradoc rolled his eyes again. "Michael, they've got food in Hogsmeade."

Michael perked up, grinning once more. "Let's go, then!" he shouted, and left the Common Room, Caradoc and Kingsley jogging to keep up with him.