The rest of breakfast was eventful. Nate and Ray got into a small food fight with the hashbrowns, but it ended abruptly when someone (Probably Nate) hit Zari. Zari's expression darkened as she informed the boys that they had two options: cease and desist the food fight, or she promised obliterate them. They knew she was a woman of her word, and if they didn't lose the food fight to her, she would get them back in some other unspeakable way. Ray and Nate shuddered at the thought of what that could be, so they conceded and stopped the "hash brown massacre" as Amaya nicknamed it.

Sara laughed at her friends' antics and took plenty of photos on her phone of the food fight to send to the group chat later. She felt eyes on her, and stealthily looked around before making eye contact with a sheepish-looking Ava, who averted her eyes immediately after Sara's gaze met hers. Sara didn't break her eye contact, instead looking right at her until Ava made eye contact again. When their eyes met again, Sara cocked one eyebrow teasingly (and a little seductively, though she would later deny it when confronted by Zari and Amaya). Ava blushed furiously and discreetly flipped Sara off before pointedly looking anywhere but at Sara. Sara laughed before turning back to her friends, not missing the knowing look on Amaya, Charlie, Zari, and Gideon's faces, but choosing to ignore them for the time being.

"Hey, Captain, I was wondering if I could ask you a question about Prefect-slash-Head-Girl stuff?" Ray asked.

"Sure, what's up?"

Ray's eyes lit up with excitement and anticipation as he shared his idea.

"Okay, that actually sounds not totally lame. I'll have to check with Ava first, and then McGonagall, but I think it's doable. I'll get back to you on that."

"Awesome! Thanks Sara!"

Sara clicked her tongue as she gave her trademarked finger guns. Glancing down at her watch, she realized with a start that she had only five minutes until class, and her first period was Potions in the dungeons, a long walk from the Great Hall.

"Shit!" Sara shot up, grabbed her bag, and raced out of the Hall. She full on sprinted to the stairs, jumping over the bottom four steps on each staircase to land on the landing in order to save time. She burst into the classroom with three seconds to spare.

"Cutting it a bit close today are we, Miss Lance?"

"Sorry Sir, I lost track of time at breakfast."

"Well, you aren't technically late. Have a seat."

Sara walked over to her seat (she'd been assigned to work with Ava) and collapsed into it, mildly fatigued from the adrenaline surge of her earlier panic and from all the stairs on the way to the dungeons. Ava snickered at her, and Sara glared back.

"You could've gotten me and we could've walked here together, you know," Sara whispered once Slughorn's lecture began.

Ava waited for a lull in the lesson before replying with a sly grin. "But you seemed to be having a riveting discussion with Mr. Palmer, so I didn't want to interrupt."

Sara made a face. "Actually, if you must know, Ray had a really good idea, and wanted to clear it with me so I could clear it with you and the Headmistress before the Prefect meeting at the end of the week. So I was taking my job seriously, not that you'd ever believe that."

Ava's face registered surprise, before her expression turned somewhat… meek? "Oh."

Sara fixed her with a look. Not good enough, Sharpie.

Ava clearly understood what that look meant, and continued. "I'm sorry, I should've waited for you. It was wrong of me to assume you were goofing off this morning."

Sara nodded, accepting the apology, as Ava's tone had been genuine in her reply.

This time, it was Ava's turn to fix Sara with a look. Sara stared back, confusion evident on her freckled features. Ava sighed impatiently.

"Sooooo, what was Mr. Palmer's idea?"

"Oh! Yeah, it was really good, and not completely lame or geeky like Ray's ideas usually are," Sara started with a teasing tone. "I'll tell you when we walk to Transfiguration."

Ava nodded, and she and Sara turned back to Slughorn as he appeared with the potion they'd be studying.

Charlie and Zari had a free period right after their first class, which was Defense Against the Dark Arts with Kendra. Charlie had bristled as Kendra had chatted casually with Zari. They hadn't met before Kendra graduated, but Zari had heard stories from the Legends about Kendra, and Kendra got a letter from Sara every other week detailing their goings-on, so Kendra knew a good amount about Zari as well. They hadn't gotten a chance to talk yesterday, so they were making up for it now.

Charlie felt instantly jealous as the two women exchanged tales before class began. She hadn't felt this intensely tense since Amaya was single and Zari was fawning over her. Soon, it was time for class to begin, and Kendra began her opening remarks for the day.

"Hey, why the sour face? You look like you're about to tear Kendra's head off," Zari whispered.

"Sorry, I, ah, have a headache this morning. I'm just really tired." Charlie shrugged noncommittally as she desperately tried to relax her features.

Zari gave her a look, her features contorted into an expression of concern and compassion. Charlie practically buckled under the intensity of her caring gaze.

"What's wrong? You were tossing and turning all night, like you weren't sleeping. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just a bout of insomnia, nothing to worry your pretty head over."

Zari smirked. "You think I'm pretty?"

Charlie snorted and gave her friend's shoulder a playful shove.

"That didn't answer my question."

Charlie rolled her eyes and pretended to focus on the lesson. She scribbled something down on the corner of her parchment and quietly ripped it off the rest of the page, before slipping it into her pocket.

When class was over, they had a free period. Charlie had informed Zari that she intended to use the time to get herself in order for Quidditch tryouts for the Fugitives team (Charlie wasn't thrilled at some of the new prospects this year), so Zari wasn't surprised when Charlie didn't wait for her when class was over, instead giving Zari's shoulder a tap before she turned on her heel to leave.

What did surprise Zari, however, was the torn bit of parchment from before falling off her shoulder as she stood to leave. She crouched down and picked it up, unfolding it to reveal a message that said "I don't think you're pretty… I think you're gorgeous!" with a magically animated smiley face that winked and blew a kiss/heart every once and awhile. Zari blushed, hoping none of the other students who were milling about saw the parchment or her reaction. She folded the paper back up and slipped it into her robe pocket, making a mental note to thank Charlie later. She blushed again, and tried to hide her blush and shy smile from her classmates as she made her way out of the classroom.

Zari had decided that, instead of thanking Charlie, she would do something that was much more them; a retaliation, of sorts. Zari would return the gesture with something similarly saccharine and sappy. Knowing Charlie, she would likely do the same, and Zari figured that it would be a fun thing for the two Slytherin girls to do for their last year, something just them that they could remember forever.

So Zari got to work. She had gone to the Room of Requirement and asked for art supplies, and she shut herself away in there until she was finished. Admiring her handiwork, she decided that she'd slip her retaliation into Charlie's bag whenever she was distracted.

The perfect opportunity presented itself when Charlie got up to get whatever materials they would need for the day's potion. Zari made sure no one was looking before she "dropped" her quill between her and Charlie's bags, and she quickly transferred her gift from her bag into Charlie's. When she straightened, she checked once again to make sure no one saw. Everyone seemed to be oblivious of what she had done, especially Charlie, who was still retrieving supplies from the cabinets on the East wall of the classroom. Or, rather, attempting to retrieve, as even on Charlie's tip-toes she was just barely too short to reach the bottle she was aiming for. With a good-natured sigh, Zari stood and strode over to where Charlie was struggling. She, being taller by a good three inches, was able to reach it easily.

Charlie stiffened for a moment when someone's front brushed against her back, before the smell of cinnamon and vanilla invaded her nose. She knew that scent; it was her Zari.

My Zari? When did I start calling her 'my Zari'? She asked herself briefly, before she decided that she liked the idea of her Zari, and decided not to question or fight it. Instead, she snaked her arms back behind her to grab at Zari's waist, before leaning back into her.

"My hero," Charlie swooned mockingly as she tilted her head back to rest on Zari's shoulder, swiveling her head to wink at Zari, who snorted at her jest. Zari bumped her friend with her shoulder and, having obtained the powdered bat wings from the shelf, turned to return to her desk, a lopsided grin and a slight blush betraying her amusement at Charlie's antics and her anticipation of Charlie finding her "gift".

BOOM!

Charlie's face was frozen in a state of shock for a split second, before she turned to Zari and laughed, confetti and glitter swirling around her like a halo of color. Zari's thumb clicked the camera button on her phone, capturing a picture of Charlie's surprise, as well as a really good one of Charlie laughing, with her head thrown back and her eyes closed, which looked so amazing that Zari almost wanted to make it her phone lock screen.

Her other friends roared with laughter, Nate having caught the entire thing on video, which was being uploaded to the chat.

On the table in front of Charlie was a bright red paper heart card, the edges done with pink lace. The outside said "I think you're pretty, too…", and the inside of the card said "Your eyes practically glitter!" Charlie blushed at the message on the card, thinking back to her little piece of paper from earlier fondly, and shook her head to hide her flushed cheeks. Luckily, the others were too busy laughing themselves to tears to notice.

Charlie looked up and made eye contact with Zari, who gave her a wicked smirk and an exaggerated wink. Charlie scrunched up her nose in a good-natured mocking way, before returning the grin.

Oh, Z. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Ava looked over to where the Legends and Co. sat, jumping at the loud noise that seemed to reverberate through the Great Hall, before the silence was broken by an uproar of laughter from the Legends. Ava caught a glimpse of Sara, her nose scrunched up adorably as glitter and confetti showered her with shimmering colors, laughing along with her best friends.

Ava felt a pull in her chest. A pang of something… was it jealousy, at Sara's carefree nature and antics with her friends as they let loose? Or was it longing to make Sara smile and laugh with her in the same way as she did now?

As much as Ava tried to convince herself otherwise, she knew it was a little bit of jealousy, and a whole lot of longing.