ALBUS POV

Quinton is in love with Lilly.

It's so obvious that I'm inwardly kicking myself for not realizing it earlier! Right now (dinner) he's just staring at her with an expression (sorry for the bad analogy) that was similar to melting…something.

I'm kind of wondering why.

I'll get back to you on that.

LILLY POV

I really wish he'd stop staring at me like that. He looks like a freaky kind of fish. "Quinton. Quinton! QUINTON!!!!" He started, looking around franticly. "What? What happened? Ouch!!" he yelped spilling hot soup down his front. He hurriedly grabbed a napkin and started to wipe up his mess.

I sighed. Looking at Julia who was stifling giggles, I saw Albus farther down the table roaring with laughter that didn't quite reach his eyes.

I wonder if he knows what's going on with Quinton.

I got up, excused myself from the conversation and walked down to where Albus sat pondering over an unknown subject.

"Whatchya doin' Albus?"

"Thinking."

"About what?"

"Quinton's problem." He looked up at me with an amused face. "You really can't figure it out can you?" I looked at my shoes intently, and shook my head.

"Ha ha!" He chuckled. "Lilly, he's fallen head over heels for you, poor fellow. Tell me, does he blink when you're around?"

I smacked him hard as he stared to laugh again.

Quinton likes me?

QUINTON POV

Dang that soup was hot! I fumbled for a napkin as I felt my ears go red. I must have been staring again. I sighed. Then I had an idea. It was sketchy, but it was there.

After dinner I excused myself from the table and went up to the long scarred staff table at the front of the Hall. Looking up and down the table I saw only Professor McGonagall and Flitwick, who was still alive, believe it or not. As neither of them was the one I wanted to see, I continued down the aisle between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables, making my way out into the foyer.

Running all the way, I proceeded to the D.A.D.A room. I'm not really sure why I went there, Professor Dermot was surely in the staff lounge chatting with the other professors, maybe Neville?

But as I went in I saw her sitting at her low table surrounded by books.

She glanced up from her work to see who was entering her classroom. "Good evening Sahara-Nassir. You've come to ask me something?"

"Uh, erm… actually I don't really know why I came here. I just followed my gut. Maybe my gut smelled your coffee," I mumbled as she sipped it.

"As it happens I already know what you would like to ask, even though you yourself don't. I haven't the slightest idea how I know, but I do."

Zaria stopped again to sip at her coffee.

Suddenly she said "Zaria Naimah Dermot. That is my name. It has a meaning that seems like a sentence. Rose living a soft enjoyable life free of envy. As a child I didn't know why my mother named me this for my life wasn't soft, nor was I free of envy. When I was twelve, about your age, she told me that it wasn't my given name, but my spiritual one. My birth name is Janis Lynn Forst. I hadn't the slightest idea," she said smiling softly "Why my mother had given me such an awful name! I had been brought up in a world of everything having a meaning, and to have a meaningless name made me feel…detached. I had nothing to live for with out a meaning to fulfill. So I kept my spiritual name and my given name was lost forever in the fabrics of time. Now I understand my name. My mother explained it to me. She said 'Rose for inner beauty. Naimah because I believe that one day you shall have something that gives you pleasure, and you shall help all others, never to envy them for everyone has problems.' My mother is a wise person. She taught me most everything I know. You have never had parents and yet have still felt love, hope, and friendship." Zaria stopped again, but I knew she was not finished.

As suspected, she looked up from her now cold coffee and said, "Sahara-Nassir, do you know why I gave you that name?"

"Well," I stammered, "You said that I was always with Lilly like a protector."

Smiling she nodded. "Yes. But that isn't your real name. That is what you wish to find isn't it?"

"Professor, I really don't know. You're the adult."

"But I don't know you're mind. I can't decide for you. Think Quinton. Why did you come? Dig for it."

She went back to swirling her cold coffee. I thought hard for a while and decided, why not? I've nothing better to do. "All right Professor I'd like to know my name. My 'true' name."

"It shall sound a little odd, but bear with me. Kadin Amal Utt. It also has a very long meaning. Friend, companion, bright, clean, pure; hope, wish, dream, wise and kind. A complicated meaning, but I think you can figure it out, don't you?" Professor Dermot set her mug down and gathered her books. I was about to thank her and leave but something was nagging me. "Professor?" I turned from the doorway.

"Yes, Kadin?" She used my name. "Um, how did you know what my 'real' name was?"

"Easy." Zaria turned in a swirl of orange and gold.

"I looked into your eyes."