Sorry for the long wait. I kind of got distracted by other projects. I'll try to get the next chapter up faster. Please enjoy!

I Can't Even

"I thought we were meeting here to study," Jason said as he and Channer arrived to the spot by the lake where Missa, Brett, and Irving were. While Irving had his book bag opened and a book and parchment out, neither girls had followed suit. Jason took a seat between Missa and Irving while Channer sat next to Brett.

"Some of us did," Irving said. He looked at Missa, who was lying on her back and staring at the sky.

"You do know you can't study the stars during the day," Channer said. "Right?"

"No," Missa said. "But you can watch the clouds go by." She pointed up at the sky. "That one looks like a bunny. I've always wanted pet bunnies."

"And you never got one because...?" Jason asked.

Missa turned to him and smiled. "Because my parents knew I'd be away at school most of the year and what's the point of having pets that I can't bring? It's not like a cat or something." She pushed herself into the seated position. "So, what are we studying?"

"Hopefully, Herbology," Irving said. As it turned out, his worst subjects were the ones he thought he'd be good at. Potions, as it was like cooking, and Herbology, because he actually knew how to grow and use plants at his home. He guessed magical plants and non-magical plants were just very different.

"I thought we were working on our Charms papers," Brett said. She didn't even have her bag with her. Instead, she had a small box with different colors of strings, and had pinned a partially woven bracelet to the knee of her denims, working on weaving it. It had the four colors of Hogwarts: green, blue, red, and yellow.

"What do you care," Irving asked. "You've finished all your homework."

Channer and Jason both turned to her. "Seriously?" Channer asked.

"I couldn't sleep last night," she said. "So, I used the time to read and write my reports." She shrugged as if it was the most natural thing. "Aren't you two supposed to be in the smarty-pants house? Tell me you haven't worked ahead a little."

"I mean, I've done all the reading," Jason said, his cheeks turning a bit red.

"Me too," Missa said. "Now, I just have to write the reports."

"And, what are you doing?" Channer finally asked Brett.

"I'm making Mimi a friendship bracelet," Brett said. She looked up. "It's a Muggle thing. You hand weave a bracelet, and tie it on with three knots. With each knot, you make a wish. And, when the bracelet falls off, by natural causes, the wishes are supposed to come true."

"Does it work?" Irving asked.

"Oh, no," Brett said with a laugh. "But, it also stands for friendship."

"And I asked for it to be in the four colors so I could keep it on in Tula's class," Missa said.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just make it by magic?" Channer asked.

Brett looked up and frowned a bit. "If I knew a spell, yes, but that hardly counts as a friendship bracelet. It's the work that you put into it that makes them valuable. I mean, sure, I make a few flaws by doing it by hand, but think about the time and effort put in. I put my heart into my bracelets, not my magic." She continued on with her weaving. "But, if you're nice, maybe I'll make you one too."

"Cool," Channer said. "What colors do you have?"

Brett simply pushed the box next to her towards him with her foot as her hands were busy. "Choose up to four colors and put them in the empty side slot," she said. "I'll decide what design by the number of colors you choose."

"Can we actually get to studying now?" Irving asked, rolling his blue eyes. "I'd rather not fail every class."

"Oh, Irving, you'd only fail two," Brett said with a cheeky smile.

"Let's see what you have," Missa said, sitting up and grabbing his parchment. She noticed Jason blush as she had to reach over him.

"Defense against the dark arts," Professor Aegis said walking into the classroom early Friday morning. He walked down the center aisle, then stopped and turned to them. "There are only six of you." No one responded. "Where is the rest of your class?"

Professor Matthew Aegis was a tall and broad man with tanned skin and a few scars on his arms. He had been missing the first few days of classes, so rather than starting their first class at Hogwarts with him, he was the last teacher the first-years met. His long curling black hair matched his eyes.

They all looked around before Brett spoke. "There are only six of us," she said. "Don't you have a class list or something?"

Professor Aegis huffed. "I usually find my best students from your house," he said, throwing a mass of dark hair over his shoulder. "I suppose that this won't be true this year."

"Just because there are so few of us doesn't mean we won't be good in this class," Missa defended.

Aegis turned his black eyes on her. "You're a Couquett, am I correct?"

Missa sat back a little. She didn't know why she was surprised, of course Professor Aegis had a class list somewhere with her name on it, even if he hadn't taken the time to actually count his students. "Yes," she said after a moment of consideration. "I'm Missa Couquett."

Aegis smirked. "I would have thought that you would have ended up in Hufflepuff like your pathetic father."

Missa gasped. Was a professor allowed to even speak to her like that? "I'll have you know-" she began.

"Shut up," Aegis snapped before she could finish. He nodded to the front of the classroom. "Let's see if you have any skill to back up your words."

"This is ridiculous, Professor," Irving said, standing before Missa could. "We're first years and you haven't taught us anything yet."

Aegis surveyed Irving, before turning to the board. "I suppose you're correct," he said. Missa sighed sure that her professor wasn't about to make an example out of her. "As I was saying," he began again. "Defense against the dark arts has no hidden meaning behind its name." He turned back to the class. "Now, I know you're not Ravenclaws, but do you suppose you could remember that tidbit?"

"It's not like we're Slytherins," Brett said with a slight air of superiority that she usually didn't carry.

The other five first-year Gryffindors all smiled and chuckled, but Professor Aegis narrowed his eyes. "Miss...?"

"Holiday," Brett said.

"Miss Holiday," he said again. "Do you know which house I am the head of?" He lifted one of his thin black eyebrows waiting for an answer.

"By your reaction, I'm going to say Slytherin," Brett said slowly, all superiority disappearing from her voice.

"Very good," he said. "You lose five point for your comment."

Brett bit her lip, as everyone turned to her. 'Sorry.' she mouthed to Missa. Missa rolled her eyes, but then smiled at Brett. She was just glad that Brett had made the comment in the first place.

"Good morning, students," Professor Stalwart was a tall, yet young professor. She was the Transfiguration teacher, as well as the head of the Gryffindor house. On their first day of classes, they had discovered that she was very lax in her classroom. They shared Transfiguration with Hufflepuff, but as they all took their seats, everyone loosened their ties and leaned back in their chairs. "Are we all here?"

"All Gryffindors accounted for," a small girl by the name of Nike said. Missa and Brett stayed up at night with her talking, but she had a best friend in Hufflepuff, that she was sitting next to.

"Hufflepuffs too," the girl said, named Bia if Missa remembered Nike talking about her correctly.

"Perfect," Professor Stalwart said, before launching to her feet. She had her long blonde hair pulled into a pony-tail, pale skin, and light blue eyes. What Missa couldn't understand was what Stalwart could possibly see in Professor Aegis, as it was a well known fact that the two professors saw one another in their spare time. The two were day and night. "Now, I assume you all read the first couple of chapters of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration," Professor Stalwart looked around. "I hope."

"You asked for us to read from Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffing," Irving said.

"Did I?" Professor Stalwart asked. She tapped her chin. "I suppose I did." She clapped her hands together. "Well then, discuss that. Er... how far in have you read, exactly?"

"Half way," Bia announced, holding her head high. "And some of us finished it."

She and Nike giggled as if they had a secret.

"Well, I guess we have a lot to talk about," Professor Stalwart said. "And, before I forget, finish the book for Monday, and please read the first chapter of your Transfiguration book as well."

Brett turned to Missa and mouthed, 'Is she for real?'

Missa had no idea what that meant or if she had read Brett's lips wrong.

Just before the end of their lesson, there was a knock on the door, and Professor Aegis stepped in. His eyes glanced over the students. "Really?" he questioned. "This must be a headache."

Professor Stalwart's face lit up and a flush came to her cheeks. "Matthew, what a surprise," she said, her voice airy suddenly. "What brings you here? Don't you have your own class at this hour?"

"Fourth-year Ravenclaws are all somehow two weeks ahead of where they need to be," he said. He glanced over the group again. "How do you deal with this lot three times a week, Morgan?"

"They're really a great group of students," Professor Stalwart said. She turned to the class. "It seems our time is almost up, so how about you all pack up for the day and don't forget your reading."

The fifteen students all hurried to stand and shuffled out of the room, but not all of them made it out before Aegis encircled his arms around the transfiguration professor and pulled her onto a quick kiss.

"Can you believe them?" Irving questioned as they were walking toward their dormitory quickly to exchange their books before their Charms class.

"The image of them together," Brett said, shaking her head. "I.. I just can't even."

Missa waited for her to go on, a little surprised that Brett had stopped talking. "Can't even... what?" she finally asked. Irving began to laugh a bit.

"Huh?" Brett asked. An understanding came to her eyes after a moment. Missa quickly recognized it as what she often realized when speaking about magical things that felt obvious to her, but a Muggle-Born wouldn't know. "Oh, um, it's just a Muggle term."

"What does it mean?" Missa asked.

"It basically means 'I can't comprehend...'" Brett said. "Or, something like that. Basically, it's a term of shock."

"Just can't even," Missa mused, testing the words on her tongue.

"It might be best if you didn't try to use that," Irving said chuckling. "It just sounds weird when you do."

Missa feigned shock. "I just can't even!" She said and huffed.

"Well, it's not wrong to use it there," Brett said.

"It really does seem like a silly thing to say," Missa said. She tilted her head to the side while thinking. "But, it does seem fun."

"Just don't use it too often," Brett said. She then grabbed a mass of her brown hair and pulled it back with a rubber band. "I hardly ever do. It just sounds so Valley."

"Okay, I know I didn't understand that," Missa said.

"Me either," Irving said. "So that must be an American thing."

"Yeah, it is," Brett said. "And I'm not even going to get into that."

"Are you sure that's how you want to leave your hair?" Nike asked, walking up beside the group. "No offense, it looks like a mess."

Brett shrugged. "It's hot in here today, and this keeps it off my shoulders."

"I mean, I could style it for you," Nike said. She smiled brightly. "I'm really good. I swear."

"No thanks," Brett said.

"You can do my hair," Missa said brightly. She was a fan of having her hair played with. She had already had Brett do it for her more than once in their first week.

Nike was a little slow to answer. "Sure," she finally said. "But, after Charms, okay?"

"Yes, ladies, we do have a class," Irving reminded them. He turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Porcupine Quills."

The Fat Lady simply sighed as the passage opened for them.