Killian gritted his teeth as the sound of Emma's laughter drifted over for the third time. Where was Madam Pince? She'd come rushing over, snapping and squawking, if his nose whistled, but when Emma Nolan was disrupting the whole bloody library, it was fine?

He glared down at his textbook, trying to block out the noise of Neal saying something in a low voice as Emma tried and failed to stifle her giggles. The Calming Draught can be dangerous in higher concentrations, particularly when the ratio of belladonna to hellebore is greater than the ratio of Mother-wort to nightshade.

"What?" he muttered, completely confused. He flipped through the rest of the chapter, skimming for some explanation. In some cases, the hellebore can be replaced by using a concentration of .75 M Horklump juice, but the potion must be supplemented by an equal dose of rose oil. This will counteract the effects of the belladonna that would otherwise cause the drinker to lose consciousness.

He blinked at the words a few times. "What?"

"Shh!" Madam Pince said furiously. He raised his hands innocently, mouthing, Sorry. She pursed her lips disapprovingly and went back to the stack of papers in front of her. Slowly, he lowered his hands and turned back to the Potions chapter.

Nightshade is similar to belladonna in its binding behavior, but the strength is much decreased, due to the fibrousness of its binding agents that cause the concentration to be more easily diluted; whereas belladona has ionic binding agents that attract each other, the covalent binding agents of nightshade—

He slammed the book shut and shoved it angrily in his bag, pulling out his Charms book instead. He flipped through it roughly, looking for the chapter on Summoning Charms. Everyone else in the class had managed to make their cushions zoom into their hands from across the room; as usual, he had set his on fire.

"Okay," he said, propping his book open. He studied the diagram, trying to mimic the wand position. He did a few practice waves, before turning his attention to the bookshelf opposite him. Focusing on a thick red book, he pointed his wand.

"Accio Book!"

The bookshelf toppled backwards. Madam Pince's head snapped up, looking like an angry bird. Hastily, he stuffed his textbook in his bag, nearly tripping as he scrambled away, wincing as she shrieked, "JONES!"

He darted through the Charms section, then crouched behind a particularly large stack of orphan books as Madam Pince's boots thumped furiously against the floor. He swore he could see her nostrils flare, almost as though she were hunting him by scent, when she passed the Charms section. He held his breath when she paused, her beady eyes glaring around…then breathed again when she slowly walked on.

Breathing as quietly as he could, he tried to settle in a more comfortable position, removing the strap from around his neck. He didn't know how long he was going to have to hide, but as soon as a large enough group left, he'd sneak out with them. And then never go to the library again.

He glanced around, looking for potential groups when he caught sight of Belle French, sitting at a table, flanked by two Ravenclaw boys: Jefferson Hatter and Neal Cassidy. Emma was sitting across from Neal, putting her head down as she shook with laughter. Neal was apparently telling a story, judging from the way he moved his hands around. Jefferson was leaning forward, a smile growing on his face. Belle glanced up from her book, opening her mouth to say something when she caught Killian's eye.

Damn it.

The smile faded from her face, and her eyes turned cold. They shifted toward Madam Pince, then back to him. Slowly, she got up from her chair and walked over. She didn't look at him as she crossed the room, but when she stopped in the Charms section, she said out of the corner of her mouth, "Give me one good reason not to call Madam Pince."

"Because she'll mount my head on her wall?"

"Not good enough, Jones." She pretended to be looking for a book on a lower shelf. "I hope you know, I thought it was absolutely despicable the way you humiliated Ruby Lucas in front of everyone the other day."

He scoffed. "If it wasn't for me, Hunter might not have asked her at all, and she'd be miserable. She should be thanking me for guilting him into it."

Belle pulled out a book, frowning as she flipped through it. "You have a strange way of looking at things." She turned a few pages. "Why did you knock over the shelves?"

"Got bored," he said acidly. "Just felt like sic-ing a mad librarian on myself."

Her frown deepened. Killian toyed with a loose string on his sweater.

"Practicing my Summoning Charm," he muttered resignedly, feeling mortified. Belle's eyebrows rose.

"That's fourth-year material. You still can't manage a simple Summoning Charm?"

"Well, if I could, I wouldn't have knocked the bloody shelf over, would I?"

"If you can't handle Accio, how do you expect to pass your O.W.L?" she said, pulling out a different book. He shrugged.

"I don't."

For the first time, she turned her head to look at him. "What do you mean, you don't?"

He blinked a few times, surprised by the lack of hostility in her voice. "I mean, there's no way I'm going to pass Charms. Flitwick basically told me I amaze him with how bad I am."

She looked at him curiously. "You should get yourself a tutor," she said finally, standing up. "Or you're going to amaze a panel of Ministry-appointed examiners in six months." And with that, she walked away, leaving him to stare wonderingly after her.

Was that an offer to tutor him? Or was she making fun of him? Girls were even more confusing than Potions! Why couldn't they just say what they meant? Why did he have to analyze and decode every word?

His shoulder started to ache from the awkward angle it was at, but he could still hear Madam Pince's boots as they thumped threateningly in the distance. Silently, he begged for some group to decide they were hungry, so they would get up and leave.

Again, he caught Belle's eye. He frowned as she looked between him and Madam Pince: she wasn't seriously going to rat him out? She seemed to be trying to tell him something, with little movements of her hands and eyes, but he couldn't decipher it. He shook his head and mouthed, I don't understand.

She rolled her eyes, but held up a finger for him to be patient. "Madam Pince?" she said, standing up as the vulturous librarian circled toward her table. "Can you help me with something?"

"Hmm?"

"There's this book I need. It should be in the Transfiguration section, but I can't seem to find it." Belle flicked her eyes back to his and irritably jerked her head toward the exit as Madam Pince followed her to the opposite side of the library.

Thank you, he mouthed, not wasting any time in getting to his feet and walking quickly to the exit, keeping his head down. His heart felt like it was going to explode, especially when Belle said in a very audible voice, "I don't think we should look in Charms. How about Astronomy?"

Hurriedly, he pushed through a group of Hufflepuffs just entering the library, ignoring their indignant squawks, and stumbled out the door. He leaned against the wall to catch his breath, putting his hands on his knees. Madam Pince was, without a doubt, the most terrifying creature in the Wizarding World: it was astonishing she didn't have her own page in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

But even more astonishing than that was the fact the Belle had helped him escape her. Right after she told him she hated what he did to Ruby, and he admitted how he was failing Charms. If anything, he'd have thought that would've made her disapprove of him even more. But it didn't. In fact, it almost made her seem…sympathetic? Impossible, he thought, shaking his head. She hates me.

Or did she?

He adjusted the strap on his shoulder and headed for the Slytherin common room, still trying to untangle the riddles Belle left him.

HOW CUTE IS BABY HOOK, THOUGH?