The next morning, I got up earlier than the alarm so I could go down and meet the first years. I tried to be as quiet as possible so that I wouldn't wake anyone else up. Ivan began muttering in his sleep when I accidentally shut my trunk too loud. I froze for a moment and watched him apprehensively. At times, the others could be really grumpy when they woke up, and I expected him to yell at me for waking him an hour before the alarm. However, he just rolled over and fell back to sleep. I tip-toed into the bathroom where I washed up quickly and then dressed. When I returned to the dorm, Ivan was snoring really loud. Has he always snored that loud? I wondered. It was something I'd never noticed before.

I quickly put my things away more quietly, and then left the room. I was relieved once I was in the common room, and I could make some noise. I glanced around the common room, and as always, found it odd when it was this quiet and empty. I walked over to the table that we usually tried to sit at and took a seat. I figured I could go over my notes while I waited for the first years to come down. I knew this was likely the last free moment I would have that year. By the end of the day, I would probably have at least a weeks worth of homework. I opened Potions first since it was my best class, all the while wondering how Slughorn would be as a teacher. Would he actually notice my accomplishments? He was a big man, but he'd looked friendly, so I hoped he was different from Snape.

"I expected to find you down here."

I looked up startled as I hadn't heard anyone come into the common room. It was just Tasha smiling down at me. She took a seat and sighed.

"I think I woke Gretchen, so she's probably going to be a nightmare today," Tasha told me as she began taking out her notes. "More than usual, I mean."

"I almost woke Ivan up, but he went back to sleep," I told her. "I kind of wonder if she's jealous."

"Almost all the girls were hoping for this badge," Tasha told me as she pointed at her badge. "I think only Luna didn't care. Katrina and Samaira are happy for me, but Gretchen most certainly isn't. She has the grades for it too, but I think the teachers must have realized she wouldn't have the disposition for it. Though it makes me wonder how people like Draco or Brandon got it."

"Out of his year, Draco probably does have the better grades, but I'm not sure about ours. I always thought it would be Carter. He's the most pleasant one, and his marks are decent," I said.

"Well, the Head of Houses make the decisions," Tasha said. "Perhaps Snape likes to choose the most awful people. Didn't Patrick say we wouldn't always be patrolling together? Sometimes we'd be doing patrol with other prefects too? It'd be awful to be stuck with him!"

"I just hope I'm not stuck with Olivia," I said realizing she was right.

I remembered Ralph mentioning that to me a couple of years ago. They wanted all the prefects to get along, and it was something about uniting the houses, so at times a prefect was paired with someone from another house and another year. Perhaps I'd get to patrol with Hermione or Ron though. I'd be able to find things out that mum and dad weren't telling me. I figured it'd be easier to talk to Hermione than Ron since we barely knew each other.

"Have you two even talked since second year?" Tasha asked me pushing her hair behind her ear. She picked up a quill and began looking over an essay.

"Nope, and I only will if I have to," I said. "I've had no desire to, and she hasn't changed. She got jealous of someone's sister again. I don't understand what is wrong with her. You know, it was mad in second year, but she was twelve. This just happened over the summer."

"How do you know that?" Tasha asked.

"I heard Darren and Kevin talking about last night when I went to bed," I explained. "They were talking about girls who got hot over the summer, and they mentioned her."

"Who else did they mention?" Tasha asked setting down her quill.

I grinned at her knowing why she was asking that. I was sure it was likely a topic the girls discussed as well. Usually, every year when we came back to school, the guys would discuss who had gotten hotter over the summer. Last night, it had been a bit more detailed. I'd joined in of course, though I'd grown silent when they'd mentioned Tasha. What was odd to me was that none of them had noticed her hair except Nick, obviously. How hadn't they noticed? When it came to Tasha, I noticed all the small changes, even when she changed her nail polish colour.

"Yes, they mentioned you," I laughed. "They talked about almost all the girls, even Gretchen."

"She has grown into her looks," Tasha said beaming, but I thought her smile was more about the fact that she'd been noticed, and it had nothing to do with Gretchen. "She's gotten cute, and so has Darren. Actually, he's getting quite handsome. Amazing thing puberty is, isn't it?"

I wasn't sure I agreed with that. I'd been finding the whole thing to be awkward and sometimes embarrassing. I was looking forward to when it would be done. I'd been hoping it would be done by now, but I was still going through it. The only thing I liked about it was that I noticed I was finally sprouting some hair on my face. Dad had planned to teach me that summer to shave, but he'd mentioned that he'd likely have to wait until Christmas. I sure hoped I wouldn't have a full beard by then. I wanted hair on my face, but nothing too wild.

I did have to admit; puberty was doing wonderful things when it came to girls, especially the girl across from me.

"And what about me?" I asked her.

"You already know that you look good," she told me rolling her eyes. "You don't need me stroking your ego. You'll get that enough this year as it is I imagine. Gretchen may even be there to help. The boys weren't the only ones talking about who is hot or not. And you think she's cute now."

I made a face at that. While she wasn't nearly awkward looking as she used to be, I still wasn't attracted to her. Even if I did find her good-looking, I didn't want anything to do with her. I just put up with her because I didn't have a choice. I expected once I was done Hogwarts, I would never talk to her again. At least I hoped I would never have to speak to her again.

"Not really," I said. "It was Philip actually who brought it up. Darren thinks she is still ugly, but that's probably because he dated her. I don't care what she looks like; I can't stand the-"

"Ahem!"

Both Tasha and I jumped. It sounded almost like Umbridge. There were many times the year before when she would cough or make that sound. Turning, however, we saw that it was just a couple of first-year girls. They were smiling at us.

"Er- hi," one with long black hair who I couldn't place said. "Sorry to interrupt your... um, fascinating conversation, but we don't remember the way to the Great Hall."

"But we think you're cute Barry," the other who was wearing her brown hair in pigtails said.

Both began to giggle.

For once, this didn't seem to annoy Tasha. She began to giggle as well.

"We'll just wait for the others," I said with a smile.

"Meanwhile, we can keep talking about how cute you are," the brunette said before laughing again.

"I'd rather not," I said feeling awkward.

These girls weren't that much older than Ben, and it just seemed odd. It had been uncomfortable the year before with Hilda as it was. It was still embarrassing when she did it.

"I'm sure you two have school-related questions for us," Tasha interjected. "And you can remind us of your names."

"I'm Susie," the girl with brown hair said. "And she's Margaret. So are you two dating?"

"We're just friends, and we'd rather not discuss... personal matters with you," I said quickly. "You're eleven, and I'm going to be sixteen soon."

"I'll be twelve December thirty-first. I was almost a New Years baby, you know. I was born so close to midnight!" Margaret said.

"She seems to think that is something to be proud of," Susie said. "It was the first thing she told me on the train yesterday. And it wasn't close to midnight; she was born at seven at night."

"It was five hours from midnight," Margaret said.

"Either way, we're your prefects," I said as Susie looked ready to argue back. "We're here to help you out when it comes to school. We don't need to discuss, well, personal matters with you."

"My older sister was a prefect in her day," Susie said. "She was friends with some of the younger years."

I glanced over at Tasha hoping she'd help. In a way, Susie had a point. My cousins had always tried to befriend the younger students, but I didn't want these eleven-year-old girls flirting with me. Where did they get their confidence anyway? I'd never been that confident at their age. Girls had scared me still, and I'd been so nervous about the girls I'd tried to talk to.

"We'll be happy to be friends with you, but it's best to talk about age-appropriate topics," Tasha responded. "And you're making Barry uncomfortable. He doesn't want you two flirting with him. He just doesn't want to hurt your feelings. You should be doing that with boys your own age. Now, if you need dating advice for boys around your age, you can come to me anytime."

Susie and Margaret looked at each other before looking at me.

"We're sorry," Susie said looking at me. "We didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. We know you're too old for us. We were just joking around."

"It's just, I mean, you two were talking about who is cute and who isn't before we interrupted," Margaret added. "We'll stop though. I do have questions about Ravenclaw. My sister was in Hufflepuff."

I was so relieved they changed the topic. We were still answering their questions when the rest of the first years began to show up. When they were all there, we put our books away, got up, and led them from the common room. The first years were a lot more talkative than the night before. It seemed most of them had questions. Only one girl was quiet, and she appeared to trail from the others, so I had to keep looking back to make sure she was still part of the crowd. I wondered if she was shy as she kept her head down.

"So, when will you show us the secret passages?" Susie asked.

She was the most talkative out of all of them. She certainly was a confident little thing.

"Once you lot know this way better," Tasha said. "It's best to know the most direct way. You don't want to get lost. Perhaps you'll even find some on your own. We did. Maybe this weekend I can show you the first one I found."

"There's no maybe about it!" Susie responded excitedly.

Tasha grinned over at me. Susie continued to dominate the conversation until we reached the Great Hall. We led them over to the Ravenclaw table.

"This is where we leave you," I told them once I noticed the fifth years in the middle of the table. "We're going to join our year. Remember to ask one of us for help at any time. Professor Flitwick will be handing out your timetables soon."

"Talk to you lot later," Tasha added.

I think Susie and Margaret looked a little put out that we were leaving them, but the other first years didn't seem to care. They all began taking seats. Tasha and I headed over to the fifth years. While I wanted to be friendly the way my cousins were, I was hoping they wouldn't follow us around too much. I also hoped the one little girl would talk more to her peers. When I looked back, it was to see she was just staring down at the table while the others spoke.

"One of them might be shy," I told Tasha once we were out of their earshot. "We might have to look out for her. We don't want more Luna's."

"Luna hasn't exactly been shy, but I know what you mean. It would be awful to be here with no friends. We'll keep an eye on her, and if she is still on her own at the end of the week, I'll talk to her. It might be better for an older girl to help her," Tasha said. "Luna might have found a friend if our prefects had been more helpful, although I have always tried to befriend her."

"She seems to be opening up to you, and the Gryffindors more," I said.

We took seats with the others just as Professor Flitwick came around with our new timetables. After he handed them out, I began filling my plate.

"Thanks for waking me up," Gretchen snapped at Tasha once he was gone. "Thanks to you, I am going to be tired on the first day, and we get loads of homework. Couldn't wait to snog Barry in secret or something?"

"Don't start," Philip responded. "Can you ever go a whole day without being a bitch? They got up early so they could lead the first years down. Now shut up."

Gretchen glared at him, but for once she listened. Perhaps none of them would have minded if I'd accidentally woken them after all. I was glad when the chatter changed to our classes. We had Slughorn first thing, so we were going to be able to see what kind of teacher he was. We wouldn't have Snape until the next day, which I was relieved about. While I knew he'd be a better teacher than Umbridge, I wasn't looking forward to him commenting on how I was such a show-off.

"Wonder what Slughorn will be like," Katrina said. "They must have been hard up for teachers again. I mean, I've heard Dumbledore hasn't wanted to give Snape the Defense position, and yet he pulled Slughorn out of retirement so Snape could be the Defense teacher. Odd, isn't it?"

"As long as we don't have Umbridge back, I don't care if it's Filch teaching it," Philip said. "Slughorn isn't bad though. I remember dad talking about him. He's always been fat."

"That's not nice," Tasha said.

"Well, he is fat," Darren said. "Looks like his robes barely fit."

They weren't wrong. I didn't say anything because it seemed to be the wrong thing for a prefect to say, but it appeared his robes couldn't contain his vast body. Likely, my parents had him as well, but I couldn't remember them mentioning him. I'd have to ask them later. I just ate breakfast while Tasha argued that it was still a vulgar thing to say. Philip and Darren just winked at her before finishing up their own breakfast. Nick was beside me and laughing.

"Immaturity," Tasha muttered and began eating.

When we arrived in the Potion's classroom, we decided to take seats close to the front. Slughorn wasn't there yet. I was just taking my notes out when he entered the class. He went to the front as everyone was taking their seats.

"Welcome fifth years!" He said enthusiastically. "As you know, I am Professor Slughorn. Before we begin any potion making today, I would like to advise you about your OWLs-"

And then he turned to the blackboard. He had to stand back a bit because his belly was so huge. I tried not to laugh knowing it would annoy Tasha. Beside me, Nick was hiding his mouth behind his hands as he began to snigger. I tried my hardest to focus on the words he was writing as he spoke about our OWLs. I wondered if he'd ever erased the blackboard with his belly by accident. I leaned over to whisper this to Nick who snorted loudly.

"Everything okay?" Slughorn asked as he turned to look at us.

He was grinning, so he must not have been to upset. Nick was wiping tears from his eyes as he did so.

"Not at all sir," Nick responded as he tried to contain his laughter.

"So, as I was saying, your OWLs are one of the most important examinations you'll ever take. I'll do my best this year-" Slughorn was saying and turned back to the blackboard.

I knew if it had been Snape, we'd have lost at least ten points from Ravenclaw. Slughorn, however, seemed amused by it. He continued writing on the blackboard. He was making a list of potions that we should be able to brew by the time we would sit our OWLs.

"We'll make some potions you've already made later this year," Slughorn told us. "Just to refresh it in your minds. Now, if you'll pull out your Intermediate Potion Making books, you'll turn to page one hundred and seven. You'll find the Aging Potion which is what we'll be brewing today. We'll test it next class, and if you've made it properly, we should be able to age you. If not, I'll have the antidote ready. You should have most of the ingredients to brew this but if not, I have it up here in the store cupboard, and I have some wine and prune juice up here."

"Hoofer!" Philip called from the back of the classroom causing the others to start laughing, including the girls.

I wanted to turn around and send the tickling spell at him. I couldn't believe he actually called me out in class.

"Hoofer?" Slughorn asked as he gazed around the classroom. His eyes fell on me after a few moments. "You'll be Richard Hoofer's boy, aren't you? I expect you are an excellent potion maker as well. Your father used to volunteer in my classes with the younger years."

"Yes sir," I responded.

"I always like your father as well as your mother. Got him some connections at the Ministry, and I see you've made prefect this year," he continued, and then he clapped his huge hands together. "Now let's get started, and I'll take the rest of roll call."

As he moved on, I turned in my seat to look at Philip who just gave me the thumbs up.

"Well, this should be easy for you," Nick said as I turned back around in my seat. "Maybe you'll finally be a favourite in this class."

I was delighted that this was our first potion, and unlike with Snape, I did want to impress Slughorn. It wasn't only because he seemed to expect me to do well. I couldn't explain it, except maybe because Nick had a point. I did want a teacher to recognize my abilities and not criticize me. Slughorn didn't seem to be that type. Already two students had been disruptive, and he hadn't care. There was no way Philip could have yelled my last name in Snape's class. Snape likely would have blamed me for Philip's outburst, and had put me in detention along with taking away fifty points or something.

"This looks hard," Tasha said as she went over it. "You brewed this two years ago?"

"It's not hard," I assured her.

Eagerly, I began working on the potion, only this time I was allowed to make it. I was glad I didn't have to make it in the loos that day. Around me, everyone was pulling out ingredients and whispering together. I looked over at Brandon Harper who seemed as determined as me. He wasn't even talking to Carter, who he usually spoke to during class. He was another brilliant potions maker, and part of that made me wonder if that's why Snape made him prefect. He and I had been competing since the first year, but I'd always been the better one.

"Whoever makes the best potion today will receive one of Honey Dukes finest chocolate bars," Slughorn called after he was finishing the roll call.

That seemed to make people even more excited. At another table, Gretchen and Samaira began cramming ingredients into their cauldrons though they hadn't even heated the wine and prune juice yet. I shook my head and got up to get the proper amount of each liquid. Tasha and Nick seemed to want to follow my lead, because they got up to follow me.

I tried to ignore them as the class went on. Someone had most definitely made the potion wrong as all I could smell was something foul. I couldn't even explain it, but it was making my nose hurt.

"By this point, your potion should be a milky white colour," Slughorn called out close to the end, as he began peering into cauldrons.

Beside me, Tasha's potion was the right colour but it was the wrong consistency while Nick's was lilac, but it was the right consistency. I expected he hadn't boiled it slowly. Slughorn peered into Gretchen's cauldron and then backed up coughing loudly. I wondered if she was the one making the smell.

"You didn't put in the wine and prune juice first," he said backing away.

"Well, it wasn't explained properly!" Gretchen snapped.

"My dear, it's the first line in the book," Slughorn responded. "Just put what you've made into your vial and hand it in. Now, Miss Khatri, it seems you've copied your friend. In this class, it should be our own work."

"Sir, she copied me," Samaira said quickly as Gretchen glared at her.

"That may be, but from now, please just focus on your own work, both of you," Slughorn answered and then moved on.

He came to our table next.

"Seems you didn't put in enough of the crushed tortoiseshell Miss Fadden," he said as he peered into Tasha's cauldron. "But excellent work. Now Mr. Hoofer, let's see if you're a chip off the old block," Slughorn said as he peered into my cauldron. He beamed at me and then clapped his hands. "Excellent, excellent! It's near perfect, in fact, I'd say it is. I imagine if we tried some of this, it would work exactly the way it should! I don't believe there would be any side effects." He moved onto Nick's cauldron next. "Great work Mr. Lawrence! You didn't boil the prune and wine long enough, but I'd say this might work still."

He moved from our desk onto Brandon's and Carter's next. I watched holding my breath hoping that he hadn't made it as well.

"Nice start Mr. Harper but not nearly as good as Mr. Hoofer's."

I let my breath out. It wasn't so much the chocolate bar I wanted, and I did want it, I just wanted to beat him in this class as well. I quickly put my potion in a vial as Slughorn continued checking everyone's cauldron. I liked Slughorn already, and it was only one class. I did not miss Snape at all, and I was relieved I had a teacher who cared for my work for once in this class.

"Well, it was an excellent attempt by all of you," Slughorn said making his way to the front of the class. "But our winner is Barry Hoofer! The rest of you can label your vials and bring them up. We'll test them next class, and don't worry if yours isn't done properly. I have the antidote-" beside me, Nick snorted again. "It shouldn't poison any of you," he added with a smile at Nick, "but this potion can have some nasty side-effects if not brewed properly. Once you're done, clean up. I look forward to seeing you all next class. We won't have any homework today, but don't get used to this as it will be assigned next class. You're in OWL year, so don't take it for granted!"

Once we left the class, I went straight over to Philip who was arguing about something with Gretchen.

"Glad you felt the need to call me out in class," I told him.

I had my wand concealed in my robe sleeve. Philip turned to look me with a smirk.

"Oh come on mate, he'd probably be impressed if I told him," he said. "He'd probably-"

But he didn't say whatever it was that he was about to say because he was suddenly doubled over in giggles.

"Dirty pool mate and you're a prefect!" He choked out.

I took the spell off and shrugged.

"Yes, well, I didn't see anything," I told him and began walking away.

"Can't put me in detention if I retaliate!" Philip called after me.

"Barry, you need to be careful about that," Tasha said as she and Nick caught up with me. "Harper was watching you, and I'm sure he's angry that you beat him today."

"He'd need to prove it, and Philip won't say anything," I responded with a shrug. "It's not as if I'm going to hex anyone in the corridors Tasha. Neither Ralph or Chester ever-"

"But you're not your cousins Barry," she interrupted.

I didn't respond. For the first time in memory, she was annoying me. I knew she meant well, and I knew I had to show an excellent example to others, but all I did was put my friend under the tickling jinx. We hadn't been dueling in the halls, and in my opinion, I hadn't done anything wrong. All I'd done was tickle him for calling me out in Potion's class. Tasha could be right about a lot of things, but at times she could be too much. This was one of those times, and I believed she was going too far by telling me that I wasn't Chester, Ralph or even Garth. I didn't need someone lecturing me all the time.

"Tasha, all he did was put the tickling jinx on Philip," Nick said. "You both said you weren't going to get overly strict. Isn't this one of those times?"

"Personally, I don't care if he does," Tasha replied. "But Harper will. All I'm saying is to be careful because it can be seen as horseplay and horseplay in the corridors isn't allowed. I just don't want to see him lose his badge."

I still didn't say anything to her. I was still feeling annoyed even if she meant well.

The rest of our teachers weren't as considerate Slughorn. By the end of the day, we had more homework than we'd had the first week of classes last year. McGonagall had assigned the most out of everyone. I supposed it meant she was feeling better at least. She'd lost her limp at any rate. I wasn't sure how I was going to manage all of this on top of patrol which we had that night. By that point, my annoyance with Tasha was gone.

She seemed rather quiet that night while we walked together through the corridors. I wondered if she was upset with me instead. For the first time since meeting her, I wasn't sure what to say, so I remained quiet while we walked together.

"I think I'll do the last of patrol alone," Tasha said after a while. "I'll see you back in the common room."

As I said sure, she turned and walked off quickly. I figured she must have been upset, but I wasn't going to chase her at the moment. I just turned in the opposite direction and peeked into secret passages I knew of as I went. We were supposed to be looking out for random snoggers who usually frequented the hidden passages. There were many different places in the castle where one could hide to do so. As I peeked behind a tapestry, I wondered what it would be like to take Tasha in there during one our patrols.

As much as I wanted to continue to deny it, I knew I no longer could. I fancied my best friend, and I probably had for a while. I was sure people had seen something on my end because they kept making comments. Gretchen had mentioned it just that morning. All I could hope was that it would go away. I knew Tasha wasn't interested back, and there was no way I was going to ruin our friendship. I needed to start dating again. That was likely the only way to get to the end of seventh year without going mad. Once we didn't see each other every day, it would probably be easier. Perhaps I would live at home for a year before moving out. Mum and dad had already said I could, and that way I could avoid our plans to get a flat together.

I was thinking about this as I turned a corridor and walked straight into someone.

"Well if it isn't little Barry," I heard as I backed up.

I'd walked straight into Lance. I wasn't sure how he could call me 'little' as I was taller than him now. I remembered thinking he was so tall two years previous, but now I was a few inches taller.

"Though it looks as if someone has put a stretching charm on you," he continued. "You're all skinny and gangly looking."

"Yes well," I said looking away.

"So how's it going, mate?" Lance asked. "I wasn't surprised to see that you were made prefect."

"Tasha told me you were staring at me yesterday," I responded as I began walking again.

"Well, it was more like the two of you," he said. "You should do something about Tasha soon. I always regretted that I took too long with Glenda. It was seeing her with you when it really hit me. I'd hate to see you go through the same."

"I doubt you care that much," I responded. "You were always jealous when I was with Glenda."

I wondered why he was even talking to me about all this. Of all the things to talk about, this was the last thing I wanted to talk about. There was a reason for why I wasn't doing anything about Tasha. My feelings for her would go away eventually.

"So were you," Lance told me. "And you will be if she meets someone she really likes."

"Obviously you know that Glenda didn't like me that much," I pointed out.

"No, she certainly did. She didn't love you, but she did like you. When you first got together, you were all she would talk about, and it was so damn frustrating. I never disliked you. However, I just could see how you reacted when John and Tasha started to hang out. It did annoy me, but I also knew you wouldn't hurt Glenda. Out of all the blokes she dated, you were one of the best," Lance answered. "Look, you don't have to take my advice, but I could see it on the train between the two of you still."

I finally started to laugh.

"You could see it between us on the train?" I asked. "Right."

"You'd be amazed at what you can see in people's body language," Lance said with a shrug. "Weasley and Granger were the same way."

"Perhaps you should start a prefects dating service," I muttered rolling my eyes.

"Maybe I should," Lance said. "Look, I can sense the hostility from you for whatever reason. I've never disliked you, and I'm just trying to help you. You're not still upset about Glenda and me, are you?"

"No," I said. "It's not you. I'm just tired of everyone bringing up the fact that Tasha and I are meant to be together. We're not even sixteen yet. Just because it worked with you and Glenda now, it doesn't mean it will forever either. I'm glad you two are happy, but it doesn't mean you'll be married you know. We're teenagers."

"You have a point," Lance responded. "But wouldn't it be worth it to find out? Even if we break up as soon as we're done Hogwarts, I'll be glad I had the last two years with her."

"Even if it ruins your friendship?" I asked. "Because that's what you are risking, and it's what I'll risk if I act on it with Tasha."

"It won't ruin ours," Lance said.

"You're quite confident about that, but breakups can be messy," I said. "Look, as long as you don't go around telling everyone, I'll admit it to you. I've been coming to that realization myself lately. I fancy her, but I care too much about her to ruin our friendship. I can't imagine her not being in my life, and because of that, I can't tell her how I feel. It will go away eventually. I just need to start dating again. I haven't since Glenda, but that's because these days you don't know who you can or can't trust anymore."

"Take my advice or leave it, Barry, but what you just said means you probably should tell her," Lance told me. "Look, your my girlfriend's ex, and normally I should hate you because of that. I hate her previous boyfriends, and I never talk to them. Yet, I have no ill feelings toward you, and I want to advise you."

"And I appreciate the gesture," I admitted. "I just think you're wrong on this. Not everyone is you and Glenda or Ron and Hermione."

Lance sighed but just nodded. I was relieved that he didn't press the issue. We continued walking together through the corridors, and I wondered why he was out here in the first place. As we turned a corner, I finally asked him.

"Same reason you're out here," he answered. "Patrolling. I can't stand our perfect though, so we normally don't patrol together. I always thought it should have been Anita or Katie Bell, but it was Shawna of all people."

He made a face when he said the name. I had no idea who she was so I didn't respond. The only one I did know besides Anita was Katie Bell, but that was only because she was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Lance continued a story about how annoying Shawna was. I barely listened since I didn't really care. My mind was on Tasha instead. I wished so much that he was right, but I knew it was too much of a risk, so I wasn't going to do anything. I was going to try and find a girl I could trust and start dating again.

"Why aren't you patrolling with Tasha then? You two are assigned to patrol together."

"We're kind of fighting," I said, and I explained what had happened earlier that day.

"Probably thinks you're still angry with her," Lance said. "Girls can be sensitive like that."

"I'll talk to her later," I mumbled.

Lance nodded.

"Well, I'm headed to the owlery, so I'll talk to you later. Good luck on your OWLs. If you're up to it, the four of us should study together," he said.

I just murmured 'sure' and continued on. I appreciated the advice, but I still wasn't sure if I liked the bloke. I hadn't forgotten how he'd used Anita. He'd known she fancied him, and he'd taken advantage of that.

For the rest of the week, the homework piled on so much that by Friday, I felt we weren't even going to sleep that year. How did the teachers think this would help us pass our OWLs? They were marking us differently as well, just as my parents told me they would. The passing grades were A for Acceptable, E for Exceeds Expectations, and O for Outstanding. The failing grades were T for Troll, (if you can believe it) D for Dreadful and P for Poor. I'd found this out after Snape had passed our essays back. He'd given me a D on my essay about werewolves, but I believed he wasn't marking fairly. The rest of my classes I was averaging A's so far except Potions which I was awarded an O.

We'd tested our potions in the next class. Nick's and Tasha's potions had aged them, but Nick's made him a lot older than it should have right away. He looked forty instead of seventeen or eighteen, as it should have. We were supposed to age at least two years. Tasha's made her age appropriately at first, but then it kept working. She continued to mature until she was about thirty. I didn't tell anyone, but I thought she looked gorgeous at thirty. Everyone else had funny side effects as well, such as Gretchen's who worked like a stretching charm for some reason. She continued to grow tall until Slughorn stepped in. Philip's made him blow up like a balloon oddly enough. Luna's worked, but it only worked for a few moments before she turned back to fifteen. Harper's was the only one that was close. It lasted just a half hour.

Seeing many of my classmate's results made me realize just how amazing it was that I brewed it correctly two years ago. Slughorn told me I should do something with Potions when I was older, but I wasn't so sure about that. I couldn't imagine myself sitting in some lab brewing potions all day, and I never wanted to be a teacher. He mentioned a Healer as they needed to know how to make good potions, but I couldn't see myself doing that either. I couldn't imagine being around sick people all day, and what if you lost someone? They also had very long hours.

We were to write a three-foot-long essay after that class about the aging potion and how it worked, and why ours did or didn't work. I understood it well enough that I was given good marks. I just wished I could say the same thing about the rest of my classes. I was having a hard time accepting the fact that I was mainly getting A's in classes when I'd always been given good marks.

"I get it with Snape," I complained Friday night after dinner. "But with Flitwick or Sprout?"

"I'm getting mainly P's," Nick said. "Be happy with your A's."

"But how can our marks drop so much just from last year?" Tasha asked. "I've always had good grades, and I got a D in Arithmancy! I swear Hagrid is the only one marking fairly."

Our fight had been long forgotten. We'd woken up Tuesday getting along the same as always, and we hadn't mentioned it all week. Instead, the three of us became each other's support system after we were given the first of our new grades. I felt Tasha brought up a good point. While I wasn't top of Charms, I'd always been given decent grades in it. Flitwick had handed me back an essay graded as P, and he'd told me that my spellwork needed more work.

"Maybe it's to motivate us to work harder," Nick muttered. "Well, guess what? I'm listening! I'll work harder, though I don't know how they expect us to put in so much effort when they've given us a year's worth of homework. I think we should take up Lance's or Hermione's offer for help. They've done this."

"I think you're right," I said as I put my face in my hands.

How were we going to survive this year?