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Cress

Cress frantically scribbled notes onto a blank sheet of paper, occasionally shooting a glance at one of the many textbooks scattered all around her.

So maybe it hadn't been a good idea to take on all those bonus assignments, even if they were an amazing way of raising her grade. And it wasn't like it was necessary, when she was excelling at all her other classes. But keeping busy helped take her mind off, well, everything. The werewolves, Professor Mira, Professor Park, especially Professor Park.

On more than one occasion, Cress has caught the smug teacher eyeing her and her friends with confusion, and every time she saw that look Cress felt her throat close up with fear. She hadn't done the charm properly. He knew there was something going on with their group, but he didn't know what. Sooner or later, he was going to report back to Levana and they would restore his memory and he would tell them that about what Cress and her friends were planning and then-an involuntary shudder ran down Cress's spine. She didn't want to think about what would happen then.

"Homework?"
Cress looked up and smiled at the tan girl seating herself down in the chair next to hers. "Yeah, I took a lot of bonus assignments to raise my grade."

Cinder smirked. "You do realise that you're the smartest student in the school, right? This is just a waste of time."

"Yes, well, better safe than sorry right?"

"I guess, but you'd be safe with or without bonus assignments."

"If you say so."

Cinder chuckled and pulled one of the many sheets of paper toward her. "You're doing bonus History of Magic as well? Seriously?"

"Well, it is an important subject." Cress tried.

"Cress, in this school, it's literally nothing but saying how great the lunars are."
Cress shifted awkwardly in her chair. "Well, they did stop the Gellert Grindelwald's reign of terror."

"That was Albus Dumbledore Cress. He was a human."

"Really? I could have sworn he was lunar."

Cinder shot her an odd look. "Why did you think that?"

Cress shrugged. "It's all I've been taught my whole life. What else was I supposed to believe?"

"I hear that." Cinder sighed.

Tilting her head to one side, Cress regarded her friend worriedly. "Um, Cinder? Are you alright?"

The other girl offered a small smile. "I'm fine."
Cress frowned slightly, not quite convinced.

"Cress, I really am fine. It's just been a weird couple of days, that's all."

"Anything you want to talk about?"

Cinder shook her head. "Not really. Hey, have you seen Thorne anywhere?"

Cress blinked. Where had that come from?

"No, I haven't. Why do you ask?"

Cinder waved her hand nonchalantly. "Apparently he's been really clumsy in Potions class lately because of his latest punishment. Professor Erland wants me to help him out."

Cress felt her eyes widen with shock. Cinder must have been talking about Thorne's punishment for making Sybil go bald. What did Levana do to him? What could she have done that would have made Thorne become clumsy? Was it permanent? Did he… did he blame Cress for his punishment? He did pull that prank for her after all. Strange, less than ten minutes ago Cress's heart would have warmed at the thought. Now, it just filled her with dread. She had to make it up to him! But how? What could she possible do to-oh!

"I can go help him if you want!" Cress said eagerly.

Cinder raised an eyebrow. "You do realise that that would mean hanging out with Thorne pretty much all day, every day, right? At least until whatever the school did to him wears off?"

"I can do it!" Cress insisted, "Just let me clear up all of this stuff first and then I'll go find him."

"All right," Cinder sighed, "but don't say I didn't warn you."

Cress jogged lightly through the hallways, peering into every empty classroom she passed. It was seriously unlikely that he'd be in any of them, given that Thorne was hardly the scholarly type and he probably wouldn't be engineering any pranks while whatever Levana did to him was in effect, but it's better to be sure, rightt? And it did turn out sort-of well in the end, when Cress left a classroom she'd just checked and accidentally hit Thorne in the face with the door.

"Sorry!" She squeaked, "Are you hurt?"

Thorne blinked blearily. "Cress? Is that you?"

She blinked. Who else would she be? "Um… yes?"

He grinned. "Oh, hey! What were you just apologising for?"

"I accidentally hit you with a door."

"Oh, so that's what that was? Don't worry about it, no harm done."

Cress narrowed her eyes and scrutinised Thorne's face. Was it just her, or did his smile look a bit strained? And why was he looking at her shoulder? There wasn't anything on her shirt, was ther?

Tentatively, she reached up a hand and waved it in front of Thorne's face. He didn't eve blink.

"Are you alright, Captain?" Cress asked.

He frowned. "I thought we already covered that."

"Not because of the door."

He chuckled light-heartedly. "Of course I'm alright! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Did you notice me waving my hand in front of your face just now?"

Thorne blinked at her. "Did you do that?"

"Yes. You didn't see?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "Not… exactly…"

Cress held up two fingers for Thorne to (hopefully) see. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Three?" Thorne guessed tentatively.

Cress shook her head slowly. "No, two."

She was growing more worried by the second. Thorne still hadn't shifted his gaze over from her shoulder, and she had the funny feeling she could wave her arms around like a lunatic and he wouldn't notice a thing.

"Thorne…" Cress whispered nervously, "can you see?"

He smirked, but it was a lot weaker than usual. "Is this a metaphor for something, cus I'm not following."

"It's not a metaphor. I'm asking literally if you can see."

Thorne sighed. "I was afraid of that. No, I can't see."

Cress gasped in sympathy and, on impulse, threw her arms around him in a tight hug. Thorne grunted in surprise, but it wasn't long before Cress felt the warmth of his arms around her.

"I'm so sorry." She murmured.

Thorne chuckled. "What're you apologising for? Levana's the one who blinded me, not you."

"But it was because of what you did to Sybil Mira wasn't it? And you only did that because of how she cut my hair because I was being impetuous and-"

"Cress." Thorne cut her off, his voice surprisingly firm. "In no way is this your fault. No matter how much you twist the situation, it'll never be your fault. Okay?"

Cress nodded against his chest.

She felt Thorne's chin come to rest on her head.

"Cress?" He asked.

"Yes?"
"Why does your hair smell like vanilla?"

A/N: Do any of you remember what that last line referenced to? Feels like ages ago since I wrote that chapter, so I don't blame you for being stumped.

Anyway, just wanted to write some sweet Cresswell stuff. Fair warning: I'm going on a bit of a couples spree for the next few weeks, but we're going to hit a major development in the story really soon.

Please review!