Even those in her immediate proximity noticed Merula was in an unusually good mood the following morning. Whenever she was in a visibly positive spirit, it was typically a result of her academic success or her triumphing over her rival, but today, not that she would even consider telling anyone this, she was excited to see him again. Not necessarily because she was going to be talking and spending time with him for, hopefully, several hours, that was the difficult part, but because she would get yet another opportunity to cement her superiority over him. Come to think of it, whenever she was out and about handling her daily business and she just so happened to envision spending an extended period of time alone with him, she would feel her cheeks flush and a garrison of butterflies would suddenly take over her stomach. (She spent a good portion of their time together hiding her blushing face from his scrutiny, anyway) Most curious of all, the words "study-date" repeatedly jumped to the forefront of her brain in bright green, neon letters. Any rational observer knew it was most certainly not a date, and that she didn't even consider him remotely date-able. Regardless, she made sure to wait until around the time they spoke the other day until she went to the hall; Merula didn't want to give the impression she was actually looking forward to their study-date or anything like that, although she did enjoy sneaking up on him.

"Hey, geek," She tapped him on the shoulder with her index finger. "Ready to go?"

He turned around to face her, brandishing his usual sweet smile. "Hey, Merula!" She looked him over. "Yes, I am ready to go."

In favor of Hogwarts' robes, he had on casual clothing. She had to admit it, he didn't look half-bad. The baggy robes served him far better and gave Merula a better outline of his toned frame.

"Well, look at you, all dressed up," She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Who are you all dressed up for, big guy?"

"For you." He casually replied.

Once again, she grimaced and felt her face turn beat red. Every time she felt like giving him a compliment, he did something to make her regret her benevolence.

"For...for me?" She asked for no reason in particular. "Well, you look really stupid. That's not what I would wear, but if it's what you want to wear, I'm not gonna stop you."


Unfortunately for Merula, she felt their brief time together would soon come to a close, as her partner was clearly well-acclimated with the material for their potions class. She genuinely wondered why on Earth he solicited her assistance in studying if he was already so prepared for the exam, not that she would object to helping him.

"I mean, that's everything I have," She dispassionately noted as she preemptively put her things away. "No reason to stay here."

He looked similarly disappointed. Merula wanted desperately to believe he was using these study-sessions as an excuse to see her, and that added some minor credence to that hope. "I have an idea," Just like that, he brightened up. "Wanna come to Hogsmeade with me?"

As was so often the case, Merula found herself stymied by the object of her desire. She sat ramrod stiff in her chair, her tongue felt like it was a resident of the basement of Threave Castle, and any attempt at coherent thought was impossible because he just asked her to spend time with him at Hogsmeade. With her heart threatening to tear itself from her chest in the name of self-preservation, she at last spoke:

"I...I can't. I...uh, already have plans."

Anyone even tangentially familiar with Merula would know that was a lie. As expected, he looked genuinely surprised by her answer, his eyes were wide and his mouth was partially agape. Perhaps for the first time ever, she felt genuinely upset for spurring him.

"Some of the Sltyherin girls and I were going to-" She began

"Don't worry about it," He interrupted her. "I'm glad to hear you're doing stuff with them."

Of course, he had to go and make it even harder by being his charming, sweet self.

"Because I'm not going to just hang out with you like that," She hastily attempted to salvage what remained of their relationship. "You're not getting a date with me so easily." She threw her hands over her mouth out of sheer terror. Less a slip of the tongue and more a descent into a deep, dark hole full of sharp objects. He was greatly pleased to hear it.

"Alright then," He knowingly said. "What do I have to do in order to get a-"

"Don't say it!" She reflexively shouted, earning her a few glares from nearby students. "I'll only consider going to Hogsmeade with you if you do well on the Potions test." Merula whispered.

That smug oaf was grinning like the chesire cat of archetype. "What constitutes doing well?"

"I'll decide on that." Merula said before whipping around and departing as fast as her feet would allow.


"Once again, these two demonstrate what can be achieved with even a modicum of effort," Snape intoned to the class as he returned their exams. "You could all learn something from them."

As she predicted, Merula and her partner got the highest marks in the class. She used her peripheral vision to try and determine how well he did. On the one hand, he wanted him to succeed so he could stay at Hogwarts and so she'd have a legitimate excuse to accept his offer to go out to Hogsmeade, but she didn't want him to usurp her as the top student in the school.

"Does this constitute doing well?" The fool slid the parchment over as the rest of the class scurried away in defeat. Unsurprising as a sunrise, she bested him by a tissue-thin margin.

"I suppose it could be called that, yes," She handed him her exam. "You still couldn't beat me, but I'll let you pay for our trip to compensate." Protocol dictated the guy was supposed to pay for the date, and she didn't want to pay regardless.

He shrugged. "It's a collective bill, so I'll pay your share."

Her eyes popped open at the statement. "W-what do you mean?"

"Oh," He looked similarly struck. "Uh, I didn't think you would accept if it was just us, so I figured you could come along with a bunch of people, so it's gonna be me, you, Rowan, Ben, and Penny."

Merula considered the proposition for a moment, a vague sense of disappointment slowly germinating in her stomach. Not that she disliked the idea of spending time with friends, but she also spent the past few days thinking about almost nothing but the prospect of being in a casual setting with her crush. He made no indication that he actually wanted to go on a...date, but she concluded he was, for whatever reason, too shy to ask her outright. Perhaps her judgment was flawed in some respect.

"Uh...sounds great," It was a genuine compliment, as she was excited by the idea that the rest of them accepted her presence, not that she would ever tell him that, or anything. "Loser."

He gave her a tiny, shy smile at her acceptance. "Great. Let me grab by jacket and we'll meet them there."


Just before the two reached their destination, Merula noticed through a window in the Great Hall that a noticeable amount of snow began to descend from on high. It was far from a precipitous downpour, but it was enough to make Merula grateful she brought with her a jacket and pair of gloves. Before they made the exit onto the grounds proper, she noted that her companion didn't have or simply forgot to bring his.

"Why aren't you wearing gloves?" She asked. "Have you taken a look outside in the past fifteen minutes?"

He briefly examined his hands. "Oh," He noted. "Whoops."

Merula gave a hefty sigh of resignation. "I'm going to despise this far more than you will, I promise." She said as she delicately took his hand with hers. There was no skin contact, so it was just like when she was carefully holding something disgusting in one of her classes.

"Your hand is very warm." He remarked, gently squeezing her in response.

"We can walk together like this, but don't get any ideas. I just don't want your hand to freeze off or something, that would be gross."

"If you say so." He smiled.


His plan had gone...mostly well, he concluded as he laid himself down to rest in his house's boarding room. It took a moderate deal of convincing and defense of Merula's finer traits to get the others to accept her joining them at their outing at Hogsmeade, but his faith in her was validated. She was clearly apprehensive about going and spent the majority of her time in silence even after his repeated attempts to bring the Slytherin girl into the conversation. When they were at last forced to depart to their respective houses, she made a final, acerbic comment about how they should all feel honored that she deigned to be seen with them, but was clearly trying to hide her smile. Merula obviously wasn't one to express her feelings with reckless abandon, but he interpreted that as her saying 'thanks for inviting me'.

And yet, he couldn't help but a feel a touch of disappointment when he reviewed the night's events. It was far from a bad evening, it was actually pretty fantastic by his standards, but there was something about their final exchange in the library that remained with him. Merula seemed to anticipate that he was going to ask her on a date, and was clearly dissatisfied when he revealed it was a group outing. Not that he was uninterested in the idea of dating her. In fact, he found it pretty appealing. Despite her repeated insistence that they were eternal rivals destined to destroy one another, he liked her quite a bit. She was incredibly intelligent, funny, and clearly wanted a stable group of friends. He really liked her hair, too, even if it was consistently somewhat of a mess; the small patch of light brown was like a sprinkling of cinnamon on something already sweet.

He couldn't deny he carried something of a flame for the girl, but there was no way he would ever follow through with asking her out. Never, in his most hallucinatory fever dream, would he ever even consider asking Merula out on a date.

There was some evidence suggesting that she enjoyed his company far more than she cared to admit. For one thing, before they became genuine friends, she would constantly peek around corners and suits of armor to get a good look at him. When he pressed her on it, she nervously waved him away and accused him of being obsessed with her greatness, but she very clearly wanted to get to know him. Merula also insisted on partnering up with him in every group project possible. As one of the top students in the school, the professors were happy to oblige despite his meager protests. According to Penny, blushing was also a sign that you liked someone, and Merula's cheeks lit up so often when they were together it could be easily confused for a Christmas tree.

Whenever hope built up internally, it was always quickly quashed by fear before it could fully mature. It was true that he was far too nervous and fearful of rejection, but he also genuinely appreciated her friendship. If the truth were to pour out like an oil spill, it was possible he would lose her friendship.

After the night, however, he knew there was something between them beyond friendship. He knew he would scrounge together the courage to ask her out, however long it took.