a/n: apologies for being about a week late. thanks for sticking around :)

The commotion from the choosing of the champions came and went and soon there was a lull. After the weighing of the wands and the story about the four champions in the Daily Prophet, life all but returned to normal at Hogwarts for everyone else as the first task wasn't set until late November. Until then, classes continued as usual and Des went back to her daily routine. Oddly enough, Thomas seemed to buy the excuse that Des was "nearing her time of the month" and just seemed grateful that they were speaking normally again. It was a relief to Des too who, after her talk with Anya and Gemma, started to notice more and more things that she liked about Thomas like the way he smiled when she caught his eye in the Great Hall, the way his curly, brown hair sometimes flopped over into his eyes when he was studying too hard.

Des had disclosed these discoveries to Anya and Gemma only to be met with squeals of delight and while she did find it mildly annoying, she couldn't help but remember that the two of them were the one that made her more aware of her feelings. She didn't have much time to think or act on them but they were there. NEWTs didn't give her much time to act on it as all her free time was spent with the work their professors gave them in preparation for their exams. Snape was really coming down hard on them for their NEWTs and it was distressing a majority of the seventh years so much that a seventh year Hufflepuff began selling vials of the Draught of Peace for students who had gotten too panicked.

It was one of those stressful days where the workload was crazy and Des was sitting in the Great Hall slouched over her Potions textbook trying to memorize the order of ingredients from a, seemingly impossible, potion. It wasn't her favorite way to spend a Saturday but if she was going to pass her NEWTs with at least an Acceptable score. It wasn't just Snape loading them up with work, however, as all their professors were trying to prepare them for their exams and, after she decided to give up on memorizing this potion, she had to begin working on her studies for Ancient Runes, as well as translating an entire two feet of parchment.

Des groaned in defeat and slammed her Potions textbook shut just as Thomas dropped his heavy schoolbag on the table, the noise simultaneous.

"Rough day?" he asked, taking in her appearance. She had to look crazy. Her hair was a mess from running her hands through it so many times, the dark circles under her eyes more exaggerated than they had ever been due to lack of sleep in favor of studying. There was no way she didn't look absolutely out of her mind.

"I feel like I've been here forever just staring at the same page," Des said, putting her head down in the table, "I'm not absorbing anything."

"You picked an odd place to study, considering this is where meals are held."

She heard the sound of the platters in the center of the table filling with food and knew that it was time for another meal, meaning that she would have spent half of the entire day there, since she had arrived at lunch. It was an odd place to study but Madam Pince absolutely loathed eating in the library and Des knew that studying in the Great Hall would save her time.

"I didn't want to have to walk from the library back down here," Des groaned, picking her head back up. She looked around and heard the shuffle of people entering the Great Hall in time for dinner. Thomas put some beef stew in a bowl and slid it over to her.

"Maybe it's time for a break then?" he asked as he began getting his own dinner. Des looked from him to the bowl he offered her and picked up a spoon, realizing that, though she had come at arrived at lunch, she hadn't eaten much all day and this would be her first actual meal and began to eat ravenously, Thomas chuckling as he watched her. "Imagine, if I hadn't come and you sat here and starved to death over a Potions book."

Des scoffed through her full mouth and swallowed her food, shaking her head at him.

"I would not," she said, taking another bite, "Anya or Gemma would have come and found me and force fed me something. But thank you… for reminding me to eat."

This was nice. It was a side of Thomas that not everyone got to see. He wasn't the type to go around and actively harass people but he also was not this kind to just anyone. It almost made Des wonder how she hadn't seen it before and just how many other people noticed it before she did.

She spent the rest of dinner talking with Thomas and looking through her Ancient Runes book as she finished her meal, only to have Thomas tease her about studying some more. In her defense, she never said that she would stop studying while she ate. The hall began to clear and the two of them took this as their cue to leave as well, Thomas helping Des pack up her things.

"Merlin, Des, did you bring every one of your books with you?" Thomas asked, hoisting a stack of her textbooks up as he prepared to help her down to the dungeons.

"Maybe I did," Des said, shrugging, "I thought I would be able to study everything. I've got a lot of homework you know."

"And you spent all of it on trying to memorize a potion?"

"An incredibly difficult potion, for your information."

The two of them continued this banter as they left the Great Hall and made their way through the entrance hall and down to the dungeons. Des knew that her friendship with Thomas was something different from Anya and Gemma. Whereas she had known Anya and Gemma since the night they were sorted, seeing as they shared a dorm, she didn't get to know Thomas until closer to the end of their first year when they were paired with each other for a potion and they butt heads. A lot of their friendship was playful arguing after that, as it seemed to be what the two of them did best. Now that Des was potentially seeing him in a different light, a light that was much different from being just friends, she was wondering just what could have happened had she noticed earlier. The thought of him giving up also crossed her mind and may have even scared her slightly. She didn't want to finally admit that she felt the same only to have him tell her that he had decided to move on, thinking she was uninterested.

The two of them reached the Slytherin common room and entered, Des offering to carry her own things up to her dorm before Thomas stopped her.

"I wanted to ask you something really quickly, if that was okay?"

"I suppose..." Des was confused, standing with her books in her arms and her lower lip wedged between her teeth as her heart suddenly jumped into her throat. She was nervous about what he was going to ask her, that much was clear. It looked as if he might have been nervous as well.

"The first Hogsmeade weekend for the year is coming up," he started. The beat of her heart quickened, almost as if she already knew what he was going to ask.

"Yes, I know this."

"I wondered if you'd like to go with me... maybe get a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks?"

"Oh... yeah, I can ask Gemma and Anya if they'd like to -"

"Not with them," Thomas said, "just... just you."

Des stood, a little shocked at what he had asked. She saw his brow furrow and figured she was taking too long to respond or perhaps he was confused as to why she was standing and staring at him with her mouth agape. It took her a while to get the words coming but, sure enough, she found them.

"I would like that," she said simply, trying not to sound too enthusiastic about it, should she come on too strong and ruin it.

"Really?" he asked, sounding almost as shocked as she felt that she had answered yes. He caught himself and cleared his throat, trying to maintain a casual air. "I mean... great. I'll meet you at the Great Hall at four o'clock... on Saturday."

"Four o'clock on Saturday," Des confirmed before bidding him goodnight and turning around to rush up to her dorm and tell Gemma and Anya what just happened.

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