Aurora was fuming as she made her way to Herbology. "I can't believe him!" she snarled as she threw her bag down next to her seat with more force than necessary.
"By 'him' I assume you mean the wannabe pirate captain?" Ruby inquired.
"Captain Jackass just won't leave me alone!" Aurora huffed.
Ruby gave her a pitying look. "That boy never knows when enough is enough. What did he do this time?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," an all too innocent voice said behind them. Killian was just setting his things down at the table behind them.
"Jones, why don't you go sit with your own house?" Ruby snapped at him.
He gave a mock gasp. "And miss the lovely view? What do you take me for?"
"Suicidal," Aurora answered.
"What? Leave you that broken hearted? I could never."
Aurora rubbed her eyes in frustration. "I swear, one day you are going to get what you deserve for being such an ass all your life."
He grinned, "Are you going to be the one to punish me, sweetheart?"
Aurora rolled her eyes and Ruby facepalmed.
Professor Sprout cleared her throat to get the class' attention. "Good morning class."
"Good morning Professor Sprout," the class chorused a bit more energetically than in their first period.
"Now, we are going to start something new today. While Devil's Snare was briefly covered in first year, you all are now going to actually grow it. This can be a very dangerous task, which is why I've saved it for sixth years." Professor Sprout went into a long lecture about the care it requires a long with the precautions needed to make sure the Herbologist is safe while attempting.
Afterwards Aurora headed to the back where they were supposed to gather materials for their groups. Killian was unforchantly also at the back table and simply reached around her to grab the seeds. Had the guy never heard of personal space? Yeash! He was so close she figured if she simply turned around they'd end up kissing!
A blush found it's way to her cheeks as she thought about it. Her mind flashed back to their first kiss and she suddenly was really hoping for a reprise.
"Still saying no to that date?" he murmured in her ear, sending shivers up her spine.
She huffed indignantly. He was doing this on purpose! "Yes, it is still a no," she answered primly.
He took a step back to let her pass back to her table. She refused to look at him, keeping her eyes straight forward. Which she soon regretted.
If she would have been paying more attention to where she was going and less to actually avoiding him she might have seen the slick spot, damp with water and might not have tripped.
Her feet flying out from under her she barely had time to process that she was falling backwards when she crashed into something. Or rather, someone. In the blink of an eye they were both falling, a hand coming up to grab the back of her neck. It hurt, but she didn't have time to process as the had fallen back into the table with the supplies.
Aurora felt sore in several places thanks to random objects from the table crashing down on her, but all in all it didn't feel like anything serious. She blinked her eyes open to see Professor Sprout rushing over and everyone staring at her. Everyone but one person.
She turned to see who she had fallen on. Fantastic. Who did she honestly expect?
"Are you alright? We need to get you two to the infirmary so Madam Pomfrey can check you both," Professor Sprout ranted, all in one breath.
Aurora was about to say she didn't think that was necessary when she realized Killian still wasn't moving. She shook his shoulder a bit, but he was out cold. "That's probably a good idea."
Professor Sprout levitated Killian and Aurora walked beside her all the way to the hospital wing. Professor Sprout explained what had happened and Madam Pomfrey checked over Aurora quickly to make sure she really was fine like she claimed.
"It's odd, good of course, but odd. Usually someone who had a fall that bad would have a bit of neck strain, you seem fine. That's great though," Madam Pomfrey commented.
"He," she nodded toward Killian, "grabbed my neck as we were falling."
"Ah. Well that was some quick thinking on his part. You're free to go, try not to take any more spills today," Pomfrey smiled at her.
Aurora smiled back and headed out, thinking about it practically all day until finally Mulan snapped at dinner. "Okay, tell us. What are you thinking about? You've been distracted all day!"
"Killian," Aurora admitted.
"Killian?" Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Since when are you and Captain Jackass on first name terms?"
"Yeah, I thought he was supposed to leave you alone?" Belle's eyebrows scrunched as she whipped food off the corners of her mouth with a napkin.
"When has that boy ever done anything he's supposed to?"
"Point," Ruby shrugged.
"What exactly were you thinking about him?" Mulan ignored the other two.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," Aurora answered, mostly to herself.
"Obviously not if you're starting to sound like him," Ruby raised her eyebrows with a grin.
"We're not encouraging this!" Mulan glared at Ruby before turning back to Aurora, "Now what were you thinking about him?"
"Just that...I think I owe him a thank you," she admitted.
"For what? Being a human bowling pin?" Ruby asked.
"I guess she could thank him for getting hurt enough not to have to go to class all day and distract her?" Belle shrugged.
Aurora sighed. "No, that's not why. Ruby? Did he jump behind me to catch me? You saw it."
"No?" Ruby answered, but it still felt like she was hiding something to Aurora. She gave Ruby a look. Ruby sighed. "Fine. He didn't jump to catch you, but he didn't exactly jump away either. He just dropped what was in his hands and let you fall on him."
"I don't think that earned him a thank you," Mulan added.
"That's not all he did though. He grabbed my neck to protect it. Even Madam Pomfrey said I was lucky he did that or I could have gotten hurt much worse with how jerky the fall was."
"He is a jerk and you did fall on him, so I guess that counts as a jerky fall," Ruby grinned.
Belle gave her a look. "If you think the right thing is to tell him thank you, then go do it. He's still in the hospital wing last I heard," Belle advised kindly.
"I think I will," Aurora nodded. She grabbed the roll off her plate. "See you guys later," she called over her shoulder.
Madam Pomfrey let her in because, to Aurora's relief, he was awake. "How are you feeling?" Aurora asked.
"Hello, sweetheart," he smiled at her, "I've been worse."
Aurora paused, suddenly unsure what to say. He must have noticed her uncomfort because he continued, "What constitutes this lovely surprise?"
"I just wanted to say thank you. If you hadn't of helped I probably would have sustained much worse injuries," she answered with a small smile.
"Of course. A gentleman always helps a lady in need," Aurora was surprised it was sinceer, not sarcastic coming from him.
"Well either way, thank you. I'm sorry you got hurt instead though."
He shrugged, "Don't worry about it. I won't even get a scar out of it."
"You were truly gipt," she teased.
"Obviously," he teased back.
Aurora nodded a farewell and turned to leave when he called out to her. "That's it? I don't even get a makeout session of gratitude or anything? I was gipt."
She turned to look at him in amusement. "You get a study date thursday. Seven o'clock in the library. Don't be late," she warned and took off.
Aurora could have sworn she heard him mutter, "It's something," under his breath as she left.
A/N: Yay! A quicker update! I hope you liked it! Also, any Whovians out there celebrating tally mark day?
As many thanks to my reviewers as there were silence on Earth before we killed them all without knowing it!:
Vima (I am glad you read it! And I hope it lives up to your expectations because that will be happening in the next few chapters)
Bubbles of Colours (I'm glad! Thanks for reading!)
True Love's Kis5 (No you're not)
Usio-Amamiya (I'm going to assume you mean in the show? Well I hope it isn't. But I'd rather him die than something else happen that I won't say so I won't tick anyone off)
someone (I do have a plan to bring Phillip in. However that won't be for a while, sorry.)
ResidentEvilChris (You definitely win the award for longest review this story has gotten. I'm glad you like it, that was one of my favorite lines too XD! DON'T TELL ANYONE -_- I'm really happy you like Hook's characterazation because I'm honestly unsure about it sometimes :)
I wonder if any of you guys go back to read your last review to know what the heck I'm responding to...huh...Anyway! Please review and get your name on the next chapter's cool list thing! That one up there ^ You know you want to...
