Wednesday night Susan showed up about fifteen minutes late.

"Sorry, Hannah needed some help getting a bewitched cauldron to stop spitting out her potions. Took us forever to deal with."

Tamblin replied with merely a "hrrrm."

She dropped her books loudly on the table.

"I don't see the point of this. I mean we should really meet together so I can help Hannah with her work."

Tamblin didn't say anything but just stared at her.

"Cascata too. I mean you do a good job of helping her but still she sometimes needs a little more now and then."

More silence.

"Really I don't know what either of them would do without me."

Tamblin got up and stood in front of Susan.

She seemed quite unnerved by his silence.

"I just think we both have to try hard to make sure they pass their finals."

Tamblin gripped her arms, not painfully, but firmly.

"Susan..."

Her eyes were wide.

"What?" her voice was almost as thin as Hannah's.

"Stop."

She blinked.

"Stop what?"

"Just stop."

"I don't understand," she admitted.

"You aren't here for Hannah's sake or Cascata's."

Her jaw tensed up.

"I'm their friend. I want them to do well."

Tamblin sighed.

"Yes, but that's not what this is about. This is about you. About you doing well."

There was a small flash of anger in her eyes then, like the first heralding lightning bolt of a storm.

"I'm doing fine," she said. Her voice was surly and resentful.

"Susan, am I better than you in Charms, and Transfiguration, and DADA?"

"What has that to do with it?"

Tamblin started to raise his voice slightly. It was difficult for him but he pushed himself to be loud.

"Am I better at Charms than you?"

"Yes," she said loudly.

"Am I better at Transfiguration than you?" Tamblin was getting louder.

"Yes," she said but her voice had lost some strength.

"Am I better at Defense Against the Dark Arts than you?" He was almost shouting.

"Yes," she said but only barely and her bottom lip was beginning to tremble.

Tamblin dropped his voice back to the usual soft volume.

"Do you know why I'm better at them than you are?"

She couldn't answer she just shook her head. When she did so a tear was cast away.

"Because you let me."

She still looked like she was on the verge of bawling but she appeared confused now too. Tamblin let go of her arms and steered her over to sit on the edge of the table. She moved like a zombie, as if she had no thought of what her body was doing. He sat next to her.

"You have the potential to be every bit as good as I am in Charms, and Transfiguration, and DADA. Why won't you let yourself?"

She was quiet for a bit.

"I don't know what you mean," she said finally.

"Why do you insist that you know what to do when you don't? Why do you show off for your friends?"

"I'm not showing off for them." She was openly crying now.

"Then what is it? I didn't know magic any better than you did when we first arrived, but I've allowed myself to learn. You seem to need to be an expert so bad it keeps you from actually learning the material. There's nobody here now but us. Nobody you need to impress, so tell me."

She didn't. But she did turn to him and put her head on his shoulder while she cried. Her body shook with sobs and she struggled to breathe in between them. Then the sobbing subsided and was replaced by a constant stream of softer tears. After a while he could discern that she was talking softly as well. Confessing whatever great weight she felt. He couldn't understand a word of it, but that wasn't the point. She was saying what she needed to regardless of whether anyone was listening.

They didn't get a single bit of studying done, but after an hour she straightened up and laughed slightly.

"Well, uh, thank you for...for the study session."

"Next time we'll get to some real studying," he said.

"You want to do this again?" She sounded incredulous.

"Well not precisely this, but I think we may have had a bit of progress. Finals are coming up and I do want to help you get good grades."

"Thanks. For everything. Sometimes it may be good to have a friend who is...sort of on the outside." She hurried to add, "I don't mean that in a bad way."

Tamblin nodded. "I know how you mean it."

She picked up her books.

"Next time be on time," he said.

"I promise," she said and smiled. Her eyes were all puffy from the extended crying, but there was genuine warmth in the smile.

After she left Tamblin finally took off his over shirt to wring it out before heading back to the Ravenclaw tower for a much-deserved rest.