They finished the Potions lesson (complete with Blaise getting patted on the back), leaving Theodore considerably grouchier than when he entered the classroom.

'Cheer up, Theo…' Blaise said. 'Just because Slughorn… overlooked you doesn't mean that you're terrible or something… I mean, look at Weasley!'

----------------------------

Suddenly, Ronald Weasley stopped in his tracks.

'Come on, Ron, what's the matter?' Potter asked.

'Umm… don't worry, it's nothing…' Then Weasley scratched behind his right ear.

----------------------------

'Yeah, well, no need to compare…' Theodore muttered. 'Aaargh! It's so annoying!'

'At least that was our last lesson… and in two days, it's gonna be Saturday.'

Suddenly, Theodore heard Granger's voice echoing in his head, 'Tell Zabini that… Slughorn's office… Saturday, ten in the morning, pronto… ten in the morning, pronto… morning, pronto…'

'But you're invited to Slughorn's office,' Theodore commented. 'That means you're gonna be doing something.'

'Look, man, the little get-together isn't that great. And it's an invitation, as a Zabini, I am able to reject them without damaging people's feelings…'

Theodore lifted his eyebrow.

'Quit doing that! Okay, maybe not with girls, anyway, but it's not my fault… Alright, so maybe it is my fault! What can you do about it, huh? Just because I–'

'I get the picture, Blaise.'

'Uh… good, then. Excellent…' Blaise said. 'Wait, you're not angry at me or anything, are you? Because I didn't ask my mother to be famous and all…'

'Look, Blaise, I know it's not your fault, so quit all this Slughorn talk…'

Blaise scratched the back of his neck, 'Uh… okay then… fine…'

'So…' Blaise started, 'how are things going lately?'

'Absolutely fine…' Theodore said sarcastically, but Blaise had a surprised look on his face. 'I was being sarcastic.'

'I know what you mean, Theo, but usually, you don't actually… like, say it?'

'I didn't say "My day was crap"…'

'Yeah, but you meant "absolutely crap" when you said "Absolutely fine", because you usually shrug when I ask things like that.'

'Do you actually remember that kind of stuff?' Theodore said, impressed.

Blaise thought for a minute, before saying, 'Actually, yeah, I do. So can you stop being grouchy and all now?'

Theodore laughed. 'Alright then, Blaise, let's just go to the common room now.'

At times like these, Theodore was glad he had Blaise around. He was a loyal friend after all.

But on the other hand…

----------------------------

(Saturday, 8:00, Slytherin Common Room)

'Pleeeease, Theo! I'll pay you back somehow!' Blaise begged. 'I'll even kneel before you! Come on, Theo! What about my… recreational purposes?'

'I am not doing your Ancient Runes homework just because of a date!'

'Please? Just do 75 of it, then.'

'50'

'What?! How about 70?'

'No way, man, 55,' Theodore offered.

'Be charitable, Theo, 60! Last time you did seventy percent!' Blaise bargained.

'But you had a good reason for not doing it! Fifty-five.'

'B-but–'

'Deal or no deal…'

'You can't do this to me! I thought we were friends!'

'Don't use the whole friendship thing against me…' Theodore replied coolly.

'Just increase it to sixty, and it's a deal.'

'What about I increase it to fifty-seven, and you help me do my Charms work?'

'Whatever… deal! You nasty tough bargainer…'

'Because you complied earlier than usual Blaise, I'll increase the amount I'll do!' Blaise beamed. 'To fifty-seven point five,' Theodore added. Blaise scoffed.

'No fair, Theo, I'm desperate here… You know I'll eventually agree… Well, I'm going now… Bye!'

Okay… now, for the actual runes work… Theodore thought warily.

----------------------------

After pure boredom in the Common Room, Theodore decided to go to the library and research more on Ancient Runes to increase his marks. The usual people were there- random Ravenclaws, a few troubled Hufflepuffs (including MacMillan), and of course, Granger. Except this time, she wasn't with her two friends.

He looked outside the window. Quidditch training. No wonder.

The library was unusually full (Theodore wondered whether all of these people were troubled helping out their friends with Ancient Runes assignments, too), and the only seat available was across Granger.

Boy, am I lucky or what? Theodore thought sarcastically. But he didn't want Madam Pince to notice he was standing up doing nothing. She doesn't like it when people mess up the library scenery.

'Uh… hi?' he greeted nervously.

Without looking up from her work, she mumbled, 'Hello'.

Theodore shuffled nervously to the seat, and took out his empty parchment. Then he glanced at Granger's tiny writing, which covered up at least four times as much space on her parchment compared to necessary.

Theodore felt uncomfortable. Was Granger staring at his Ancient Runes notes? Well, so what if his work wasn't as tidy as hers? Is she mocking him?

She's driving him nuts for no reason.

Uh… wait, so this one's ansuz… right… So translated, it'll be… "Avoid… good health? Or harmony? Wait… inspiration? Enthusiasm? Truth? Power of words? Wait a minute… Theodore thought. That doesn't make any sense!

As if reading his mind, Granger commented, 'In case you're wondering, ansuz is Reversed, so it's actually "manipulation from others", considering the topic we're doing. At first I thought it might be "grandiloquence", but it doesn't make sense… so-'

'Okay… thanks…' Theodore then scribbled it down.

Merlin… I'm so confused… Wait, is this pointy-thingy tiwaz or laguz? I can't believe I forgot to write these ones down… Or maybe Grishoff didn't mention them at all? Maybe we learnt it last year?

'Umm… Nott?'

'Uhh… yeah?'

'Sorry for… you know, being critical and stuff. I mean, it's not like I don't make mistakes like that, I mean, once, I accidentally put too much armadillo bile in my Hiccoughing Potion, and then-'

'Don't worry about that, I know I'm terrible at Potions.'

'Why did you do the subject, then?'

'Blaise.'

'Zabini? How did you two become friends?'

'…' Blaise was right. She is nosy… Theodore thought.

'I mean, he's just another one of those prejudiced Slytherins, and you're… different.'

Theodore looked up. 'Me? Different?'

'Well, yeah, I mean, you don't go all "pure-blood" against Gryffindors and all…' Granger continued. 'Not saying it's a bad thing… It's actually a good thing!'

'Marvelous,' Theodore commented.

'Okay… Hey, why do you have two parchments ready? You only need one…'

'Uhh… Blaise?'

'Are you doing it for Zabini?!'

'No… I'm just doing 57.5 percent of it.'

'But you're doing it for him. That's wrong.'

'What's that, then?' Theodore said, noticing parchments poking out from under an Ancient Runes book.

'Oh… this? Umm… Harry and Ron's Astronomy assignments I'm… looking through…'

'In other words, correcting,' Theodore said.

'No! I'm just… Well, yeah, I guess I am… But I'm not doing it for them…'

'Okay… let's just say that the 57.5 percent of the work I'm doing is taking notes for him… happy?'

'What's Zabini doing now, then?'

'Recreational purposes.'

'Dating?'

'No… uhh… yeah, dating.'

'He should take a break from doing that you know. It's not nice to break the hearts of ten girls in a week.'

'He doesn't do that!' Theodore defended.

Hermione looked up, impressed.

'He only broke three last week!'

'Same thing, he's still being a womanizer… Which, mind you, is a very Zabini-like quality of him.'

'Considering that he's a Zabini, it makes perfect sense.'

'Yeah, but it's still not a good quality.'

'Ah… Miss Granger!'

'Uhh… hello, Professor.'

Oh, great. Just the person I wanted to see… Theodore thought. Slughorn…