CHAPTER TWO

Waking up on a Saturday morning made Hermione grin like a fool.

That is, until a certain Spinnet burst her bubble. "Hello Hermione. Ready for our training day?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Training?"

"You're playing the biggest jerk in Hogwarts; the biggest heartbreaker on campus, Hermione. Do you think he'd let you in that easily?" Hermione grew silent at Alicia's words. She knew her friend had a point.

With reluctance, she nodded. "I suppose you're right."

Alicia grinned like the Chesire Cat. "Let's go. We're off to find our first practice dummy."

The two Gryffindor girls arrived at the Great Hall, which was full of students having their breakfast. The older girl skimmed the crowd before her eyes landed on her prey.

"Come on." Alicia said to the girl standing beside her as they walked over to the Gryffindor table, which was right beside the Ravenclaw table.

When they sat down, Alicia gestured her head to the boy sitting parallel to them. Hermione recognized the dirty blonde hair belonged to Finn Phelps, a Ravenclaw who was in the same year level as Alicia was.

"Okay Hermione," Alicia said in a hushed tone. "There are four basic steps when wanting to snag a boy.

"One: Grab his attention. Find something to use to let his attention focus on you. Once his attention in on you, you've succeeded. You have a window of opportunity to take him

"Two: Start a conversation. Make it interesting, and by interesting, I mean about him. Never talk about yourself. It'll make him think that you only needed his attention to boast your achievements to him. It's honestly unattractive and completely irritating.

"Three: Initiate the flirting—if it didn't already start. Twirl your hair, bite your lip, make eye contact—anything to make it seem like you're totally invested in him.

"Four: Make an excuse to leave. Remember the term that Muggles use? Playing hard to get? Do exactly that. Don't make yourself easily accessible. If he goes after you, that's perfect. Mission success.

"After that, it's a simple game of cat and mouse." Alicia shrugged.

Hermione furrowed her brows in confusion, trying to absorb all the things that she just said.

Eventually, Alicia caught on to Hermione's expression, and stood up. "Watch."

She walked away, near the door of the Great Hall and made her way back to Hermione. But instead of walking as confidently as she did before, she tripped and landed on the ground with a thud.

Immediately, Finn's head snapped to Alicia on the floor. He got up and walked over to her. "Are you okay?"

Alicia gulped and nodded with fake innocence in her smile. "Yes, thank you."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

She nodded again. "Really, I—" Hermione heard her groan in pain. "Alright I may have been lying."

Finn gave her the 'I-told-you-so' look and helped her sit down beside him.

As Hermione watched her 'mentor' breeze through talking to Finn. With almost every sentence, Alicia counted the steps in her hand, letting Hermione see.

Their conversation finally ended and Alicia walked back to the Great Hall's doors, nudging Hermione discreetly to come and follow her.

"Did you see that?" Alicia asked with a small giggle.

The younger brunette smiled. "Brilliant plan to snag his attention." Her smiled waned, and Alicia noticed. "But I don't know if I could do as well as you did."

"Just have faith Hermione. Now come on. It's your turn now."

"Alright, who are we trying this on?"

"Try? Oh no, this is the real deal, Hermione." Alicia smirked wickedly. "Let's go and find Draco Malfoy, shall we?"

Author's Note: This wasn't one of my favourite chapters. And sorry it came soooo late! But it's relatively long, so… Writer's block is the worst.

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