"I just don't understand," Rachel Berry sighed. She and Hermione Granger were sitting out on the grounds and getting many weird stares. It wasn't common that a Gryffindor and Slytherin would be in each other's company outside of class, much less as friends. Hermione looked up at Rachel from her DADA essay and put her quill down.

"What do you mean?"

"How can Finn be so oblivious? He thinks Quinn is better for him than I am. Both you and I and everyone else know that's so wrong…" she trailed off and sighed theatrically. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Well, we both know boys are just going to be like that. There's nothing we can do," she said with a little shrug. Rachel raised her eyebrows.

"And you only say that because you're having trouble with Ron. I know Finn will come around," Rachel tossed her hair as Hermione returned to the essay, without a comment, blushing.

000

"Dude, what the hell is that?" Finn asked, chuckling a bit to himself as Ron and Harry approached. Ron looked down at the far too large gold necklace dangling by his tie, as Harry stifled a laugh, his hand over his mouth.

"You guys need to shut up," Ron said his voice low and annoyed, like he didn't really want Finn and Harry to hear what he was saying. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Lavender gave him the necklace for Christmas," Harry explained to Finn, raising his eyebrows and speaking with a significant tone that made Ron glower.

Finn chuckled again. "I'm telling you bro, you have got to dump her. I know about crazy girlfriends and bro, you need to get rid of that girl."

"You and Rachel actually kind of worked," Harry pointed out fairly. Ron looked up at Finn desperately.

"You don't understand. Rachel was ten times saner than Lavender," he said. Finn shrugged, knowing it to be true.

"Speak of the devil," Harry muttered as Lavender ran over and threw her arms around Ron's neck, with a squeal of 'Won Won!'.

She dragged a confused and miserable looking Ron away. Harry made an apologetic face and Finn winked, still chuckling a bit.

"Sometimes I think you're lucky, you know. You've never had a girlfriend," Finn said to Harry.

Harry shrugged. He didn't really know whether he really was lucky about that or not. He certainly didn't feel like it. He watched Ginny Weasley walk past, pushing that Artie Abrams around in his wheelchair.

Suddenly, someone came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around and saw Blaine Anderson standing there. Harry smiled politely. He didn't really know Blaine terribly well, but he was in Gryffindor and he always saw him around.

"This is for you," Blaine said, holding out a scroll of parchment. Before Harry took it, he knew it would be the date for his and Dumbledore's next meeting. He opened it and to his surprise, found Dumbledore had invited Harry up to his office right then. He said goodbye to Finn and Blaine before rushing off.

Blaine stared rather dreamily after Harry, sighing softly. He wasn't exactly hiding it and Finn noticed.

"Dude, you have got to get over Harry. You know he likes girls," he said, still smiling a bit. Blaine looked up at him.

"I know, but there's just something about him…" he stared.

Finn didn't want to go deep into that conversation, so he just patted Blaine on the shoulder and said, "Come on, we'll be late for Charms."

000

"Britt, I know you can get it if you try again. Come on, do it again. Luna, show her." Santana said, a bit impatiently.

They were in the Room of Requirement long after hours, trying to teach Brittany how to perform a patronus. Luna waved her wand and said "Expecto Patronum!" in that sweet little voice of hers. A silvery hare erupted from the end of her wand and hopped eagerly around the room, before evaporating. Brittany stared at it with a mix of jealousy and annoyance before she turned to Santana.

"Show me yours again." she demanded. Luna didn't seem to mind that Brittany was especially fond of Santana's patronus. She just stared politely. Santana sighed and waved her wand.

"Expecto Patronum!" she said, and a gleaming silver panther exploded out of the end of her wand. It opened its mouth as if it was roaring and then prowled around the room, occasionally running and pouncing onto nothing before it evaporated in a poof of silver vapour. Brittany smiled and clapped her hands. Luna smiled when she saw Brittany was smiling.

"Come on Britt. Do it." Santana said. She really believed that Brittany could perform a patronus charm if she would just concentrate.

"Yes, I know you can. Harry Potter learned how in his third year," Luna said encouragingly. Brittany put on a little pouty face.

"I'm not as smart as Harry Potter," she muttered. Santana let out a groan of exasperation.

"Yes, you are." she and Luna said at the same time, although Luna still sounded perfectly happy and Santana sounded extremely annoyed. Either way, Brittany seemed to perk up slightly. She took her wand out of her pocket and looked at it with a mix of affection and worry. Brittany didn't think she could do the charm as well as her friends, if at all. She was grateful that Santana and Luna were staying up late and risking detention to help her learn because she wanted to learn how to perform a patronus more than anything. She had never encountered a dementor, but she thought the charm was gorgeous and wanted to perform it more than anything.

Brittany closed her eyes and thought about Santana and Luna and how much they loved her. She thought about Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey, helping her out of her several magical accidents and she thought about Quidditch and then cried "Expecto Patronum!"

A few wisps of silvery vapour leaked from her wand before a silver duck burst from it and glided happily around the room. The three girls stared at it in shock before Santana started to laugh with glee. Brittany stared at her duck like she didn't know what to think, though she was certainly pleased with herself. Luna smiled and said "Well done!"

Brittany went and pulled the both of them into a huge hug.

000

Draco looked up from his potion again. He knew he was getting extremely distracted, and he knew Snape wouldn't hesitate to mark him down on his work. But, unlike last year, that didn't matter anymore. He had already hurt Katie Bell with that necklace and he didn't want to mess up again. But whatever part of his mind wasn't occupied with his new work was occupied with her.

Draco had never felt the way he did for her. It was crazy and he felt so vulnerable all the time, thinking about her when he should be doing more important things. He would accept nearly anything as a valid way to distract himself from her. The new flood of emotion taking over his brain was as scary as hell and he just wanted to be Draco Malfoy, not the guy who follows her around, dedicating his life to her and doing whatever she wants. But most of all, he didn't want to like it the way he thought he might.

She tucked a strand of her short, blonde hair behind her ear and looked up at the ingredients list again, looking perfectly calm in a dungeon of people silently losing their minds trying to accurately make a potion.

How on Earth did she do it?

She always seemed to calm, composed and in control. Whatever she was doing, she was just the boss. She owned everything around her. It was obvious she thought a lot of herself. On top of everything, she was a pure-blood. What more could Draco ever want? Certainly, no one else in the classroom could compare to her. Draco finally looked back down at his potion, which belched a cloud of foul smelling purple gas at him. He clenched his eyes shut and waited for embarrassment to set in.

"Mr. Malfoy."

Snape's low, dangerous voice filled the dungeon. Anyone who wasn't looking at him before had their eyes on him now, including her. His pale face flushed. It was rare that Snape ever confronted a Slytherin about their potion.

"It seems you let your potion brew a bit too long," Snape said. He just sounded angry, not like he was enjoying tormenting Malfoy like he did with the Gryffindor's.

"Yes, professor," Draco said angrily.

"Maybe, if you could take your eyes off Miss Fabray for more than a minute, you would have a more satisfactory result," he said, raising an eyebrow. A few people stifled chuckles. Quinn's expression didn't change at all, but a steady blush creeped up her face. She turned her face back to her probably perfect potion.

Draco finally got the nerve to look around at his classmates. No one seemed to care anymore, except Finn Hudson and Noah Puckerman who were staring at him. Hudson merely looked confused and annoyed, but Puck looked like he wanted to force-feed Draco his ill-prepared potion.