We all got our new class schedules the very next morning, and as expected Theia was already making a study plan to correspond with all our different subjects. After my conversation with Dez about her muggle boyfriend, I'd decided to take up Muggle Studies, almost completely on a whim. Cora seemed surprised.
"I didn't know you cared about muggles," she said, somewhat stiffly. I sometimes forgot she was muggleborn. I'd never met her parents before, and she didn't really talk about them. The most I knew about Cora's family was that they were from Bath.
"I never really noticed them before," I said and felt shame pulse through me at my confession. Apparently I'd absorbed more of my family's prejudices than I was happy about. "Sorry, Cor."
"No, I get it." She shook her head, sweeping her fingers through a lock of dark hair. She passed my schedule back and I gave her a sad smile, squeezing her fingers momentarily as our hands connected.
"You can help me with my homework," I said.
"Maybe you just need a crash course in muggles," Cora said thoughtfully. "You should come stay with me for Christmas. See how the Day family celebrates." She snickered, and I immediately started imagining what Cora would be like in the comfort and familiarity of her own home. Probably more incorrigible than usual.
"Are you really offering?" I asked, raising my eyebrows questioningly.
"Yeah, why not?" Cora shrugged, then looked at the others with shining eyes. "You guys can come too! Christmas isn't even that far away, when you think about it. We can start planning now."
"I'd love to," Britta chirped, clasping my arm and beaming at me. "It'd be the first Christmas we all spent together."
Theia and Winter gave their approval of the idea, and Cora looked to me to make the final call. "What do you think, Gem?"
"I think it's brilliant," I announced, and gasped from the force and strength of Britta's hug.
Our first class of the year was Potions, which went about how I expected it to. Theia and I were paired up, and with my friend's excessive double-checking and my flair for sneaking in bonus ingredients that weren't on the recipe, our potion turned out great. Across the room, Charlie and Cora were trying to keep the acidic mess they'd made of their potion from melting the cauldron. Served them right. They'd spent half the class talking—I'd rather not know the topic of discussion.
I couldn't help myself when we were let out of Potions class. I pushed my way forwards and fell into step beside Charlie, smirking at him.
"You're still as crap at Potions as ever," I said, delighted.
Charlie gave me a dark look, but he sighed in resignation. "Yeah, I know. I think I need a tutor or something. My mum will kill me if I screw up my O. ."
I felt bad about making fun of him, and couldn't help my sympathetic smile. "Theia might, if you ask her nicely," I suggested, but a thoughtful look crossed Charlie's face and he grinned at me.
"What about you?" he asked. I faltered mid-step, but managed to correct my stride before it became too obvious that I'd nearly tripped over my own feet.
"You want me to tutor you?" I snorted. The very idea was absurd. He knew I had no patience. He'd been my partner in Potions before, after all. Why he'd want to subject himself to more of that was beyond me.
"Why not? You're just as good as Theia-" he lowered his voice "-and she's way bossier than you are." He glanced over his shoulder at Theia. I looked over as well, and laughed when I saw her busily dictating our study schedule to Cora, who looked utterly horrified.
"Do we get any time for fun?" Cora demanded loudly.
Charlie snickered and swept his hand out in a see, what did I tell you? gesture. "Come on, Gem. I need help." He threw his arm around my shoulder and I bumped against his side. A blush spread from my cheeks to the tops of my ears. I pushed Charlie away from me, hopelessly unable to think when he was that bloody close.
"I've got other things to do," I said. "I don't have time to tutor you. Ask Theia, or someone else if you're too scared of her."
Charlie started to protest, but I hurried away down the corridor as though I was hellbent on getting to our Defense Against the Dark Arts class before anyone else. I heard him call my name behind me, but I didn't look back. If I'd thought I could manage my crush, I was severely mistaken. At this rate I'd spontaneously combust every time Charlie so much as looked at me.
Muttering curses under my breath, I marched into the usual Defense classroom, only to come to a complete stop when I saw the teacher. He had a stupid grin on his face, dopey and charming and familiar.
"Surprise," Reuben said, opening his arms wide. Whether or not he expected a hug didn't occur to me. I just flew at him and wrapped my arms around my old friend.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded, squeezing him tightly. He laughed and patted me on the back.
"I'm the new Defense Agaisnt the Dark Arts teacher," he said, with a low and steady snicker that reminded me of my first and second years, when his constant laughter kept me company through a lot of study sessions and prank-induced illnesses.
"I'm hugging the professor," I mumbled in disbelief.
"How inapprorpiate," Reuben teased. He held me out at arm's length. I hadn't seen him since he'd graduated school. We'd send letters back and forth, but seeing him in person again was different. He looked so much older; and yet the warmth in his brown eyes was still exactly the same.
"You could've told me," I said, punching him half-heartedly in the arm.
"Then I wouldn't have seen the funny look on your face," Reuben said. He smirked and shooed me off to my seat when the rest of the class started piling in. Most of them just saw Reuben as the new, young professor. Charlie seemed to be the only one as surprised as I was to see him. He met my eye, raising his eyebrows questioningly. I just grinned and shrugged my shoulders, settling in for Reuben's first class.
Our education in Defense Against the Dark Arts had been pretty rocky in the past. Teachers came and went so often it became pointless trying to get to know them. But I already knew Reuben. I trusted and adored him, and he was a good teacher once he really got into the lesson. I started hoping he'd be the one that stuck around.
I sat fidgeting at the table during dinner, glancing over at Reuben and waving to get his attention. He was chatting with Professor McGonagall, who didn't exactly look pleased about it.
"Bloody wanker's not paying any attention to me," I said, slumping forwards on the table in defeat.
Britta laughed and patted my back consolingly. "It's okay, Gem. He's still your friend."
"No, that's just it," I exclaimed. "He can't be my friend, because he's a professor now. And that'd just be weird. You don't see Snape and I shooting the shit like we're best buds."
Across the table, Charlie gave a snorting laugh. "His loss," he said, smirking at me. I rolled my eyes, picked up a bread roll, and angrily lobbed it at him. He caught the roll effortlessly, and looked insufferably pleased with himself as he bit into it.
"Talk to him after dinner," Winter suggested. She was standing behind Britta, braiding her fiery red hair, while Jethro watched as though a fishtail braid was some complicated technique he'd never be able to understand. Winter tried to show him how to do it, and when Jethro asked if he could give it a try, Britta blushed so deeply her cheeks were the same colour as her hair.
She sat so still and quiet as Jethro tried to take over the braid, his clumsy fingers sliding through her hair. Cora was staring at them with wide eyes, and I snickered, momentarily distracted from Reuben. That didn't mean I was still happy with him. He didn't even come to talk to me once dinner was over, apparently too enthused about being at the professor's table.
Back in the common room I sluggishly pulled myself through an evening of homework, sitting by the fire with books and parchment strewn over the coffee table in front of me. Theia had finished all of her homework, and Charlie was struggling through his own, attempting to write a Potions essay that looked like it caused him physical pain.
His face was all scrunched up, and after taking pity on him I shoved my own essay towards him with a shrug. "Just take notes," I said. "Don't copy it or Snape will know, and he'll kill us, pickle us, and put us in jars in his office."
Charlie grinned and started scrawling away on his parchment, eyes bouncing back and forth between my completed essay and his. I stretched out, feeling sore from sitting on the floor all night. My dorm mates had gone upstairs to bed already, and Jethro was asleep sprawled out on the couch.
"I'm going to call it a night," I said, screwing the cap of my ink bottle back on.
"Wait," Charlie said. He flapped his hand at me—like that would work; I just ignored him with a roll of my eyes. "No, hold on, I need help." Charlie looked at me, making his eyes go wide and watery like a sad little dog's.
"With what?" I demanded, standing up and folding my arms across my chest. "I already said I'm not going to be your tutor."
"I know," Charlie said with barely contained ire. "But I want to start the year properly, which means not shirking my homework. Just help me with my History of Magic essay, and I won't ask you again. Promise."
I sighed and threw my gaze around the common room, trying to get an idea of how late it was. It must've been past eleven; the only other people up were a couple seventh years. I was tired and wanted to fall into bed, but Charlie kept giving me his pathetic moon eyes.
"Fine!" I said, dropping back to the floor. Charlie shuffled around the coffee table to sit beside me, and we compared our essays as they currently were. Mine was nearly finished, but I refused to let Charlie copy from it when I saw that several paragraphs of his Potions homework were copied word for word from mine. Apparently being pickled didn't scare him all that much.
I stayed up for at least another hour helping Charlie with his homework, until I was yawning my words. It wasn't so bad, sitting with him and talking him through the events of the Giant Wars as he wrote his essay; in fact it was oddly enjoyable. I couldn't remember hanging out with him like this before, without the rest of our friends around—Jethro didn't count, since he was still conked out on the couch, a string of drool dangling from the corner of his mouth.
Finally Charlie set his quill down and massaged his cramping hand. "I can't do any more," he said tiredly. "I'm about to drop."
"Thank Merlin," I groaned. "The torture's over!"
"It wasn't that bad," Charlie said, shooting a jocund smirk my way as he collected his homework into a messy pile and shoved the lot into his satchel. "Imagine doing this every day, Gem. You could still be my tutor, if you really wanted to."
"Nice try." I chuckled, pushing myself upright. I helped Charlie stand when he reached a hand up for my assistance. He stood in front of me, looking both smug and tired, which was frustratingly adorable.
"Thanks anyway." Charlie shrugged as though he'd expected my response and had appropriately warded against it.
"Yeah..." I let go of his hand and clasped mine behind my back. Possibly to keep myself from touching him. "Goodnight, then." I turned away in a hurry, walked smack-bang into an armchair, and felt my face flush hotly. Charlie laughed, not unkindly, but it still annoyed me. "Shut up, Weasley."
"Sorry," Charlie said. I could practically hear the smirk in his voice, but I didn't look back at him. "You're kind of cute, you know?"
I pulled a face, incredulous, and was almost certain he was going to call me ugly just to round out the moment. When I glanced over my shoulder, I just saw him grinning, watching me. "I'm not cute," I mumbled. "I'm feisty."
"Yeah, that too. Are you going or not?" Charlie asked.
"You don't want to call me pretty, while you're at it?" I said snarkily, but there was something strange happening. I wanted him to say it, to call me cute again, even if it had been said in jest. It made me feel... really good.
"I wouldn't go that far," Charlie retorted, but the way he was looking at me made my cheeks burn so red I thought I might burst into flames.
I scurried off to the dormitory without a second glance back, but by the time I reached the second step a huge grin had split my face in two. I threw myself onto my bed, and buried my face into my pillow to smother the burst of excitement within me. My thoughts were running a mile a minute at this point, but I eventually managed to calm myself enough to sleep, though my dreams were confusing.
In the morning, Cora woke me up by climbing into my bed and pinching my nose shut. I snorted and slapped her hands away. I still had a hazy dream image of holding hands with the giant squid from the lake—holding tentacles, technically—and that was hard to shake.
"Oh, you're awake," Cora said with faux innocence, smirking at me as I acclimated to consciousness. "You're going to miss breakfast if you don't get up now. When did you even get to bed last night?"
"Late," I groaned, rubbing sleep from my eyes. "I was... studying."
"Our O.W.L's aren't for months," Cora pointed out. "You don't have to study for ages."
"I like to get ahead," I said, pushing Cora off my bed with my foot. She got to her feet, straightened her pajama top, and casually flicked back her sleep-mussed hair.
"Be dressed in ten minutes. The girls are already down in the Great Hall, waiting for us."
I nodded, but didn't quite feel like getting out of bed. I curled up on my side, tucking my arm under my pillow. I don't know how long I lay there, letting my mind wander, but when Cora came back she, without warning, pulled my pillow from beneath my head and smacked me in the face with it.
"What did I tell you?!" she demanded as I flailed away from her next attack. "I'm going downstairs, so hurry up."
Cora marched out of the dorm and I relished the privacy for about five minutes as I got dressed and ready for class. Charlie waved me over when he saw me coming down the stairs—Cora had left already, with my other dorm mates. The redhead was hanging around with the rest of the Quidditch team, who all seemed locked in furious debate.
"Can we study again tonight?" Charlie asked when I sidled up beside him.
"Are you serious?" I stared at his face with a wan look, dreading the thought of another long night. Part of me didn't mind it so much, but I didn't want to make a habit out of helping Charlie.
"Yeah, of course I am! We had fun, right? I called you cute, you didn't rip my head off. We can do it again," Charlie said cheekily. He was pushing it just a little bit.
I cut a worried look at the Quidditch team, but they weren't paying any attention to Charlie and I. "I'll think about it," I barked. "I'm going down for breakfast. I slept late because of you."
Charlie apparently didn't care about my plight, and I didn't get any pity from him, so I hurried to catch up with Cora and the others in the Great Hall. I dropped down beside Winter, who was busily combing her long hair into a semblance of neatness. Something about her caught my eye, and I smirked.
"Are you wearing lipstick?" I asked.
Winter's blue eyes widened a little, and her candy floss pink lips turned up into a sheepish smile. "Is it noticeable?" she asked. "Joanna gave it to me."
"It looks... nice," I said with a shrug. I didn't know much about make-up. Joanna Masters was one of Winter's older friends; I dimly realised she was a seventh year now.
"Here." Winter went fishing through her bookbag and brought out a sleek silver tube, handing it to me. "You try it on."
I took it gingerly and looked it over, dubious as to whether I could apply it properly. Winter smiled at me and made a vague sweeping gesture by her mouth. I sighed and picked up a spoon to use as a mirror, putting the lipstick on very sparingly. Winter took a small mirror compact from her bag and showed me my reflection; it looked better in a real mirror.
"It's weird," I said with a laugh. I was about to rub it off with the back of my hand when Winter shook her head and held her hands up to stop me.
"No, it suits you! Leave it on," she pleaded. "It'll wear off on its own, anyway. I wonder if there's a spell that can make lipstick last longer." Winter drifted off into her own thoughts after that, and didn't emerge until after breakfast when Reuben came jogging down the table towards us.
"You've got ten minutes until class starts," he told me with a huge grin. "Let's go for a walk."
I jumped up without hesitation and took the arm he offered me. "I was starting to think you'd forgotten about me," I said petulantly as Reuben led me into the courtyards. There were only a few people milling about before classes and only one or two gave Reuben and I passing regard.
"I would never," Reuben exclaimed. "Want to hang out after dinner? I've got my own fancy teacher's quarters. It's not a bad gig, this professor thing. I might stick around."
I smiled at him, wondering if it was actually up to him.