Chapter Thirty-Six

Breaking the Rules

Halbert glared openly at the Hufflepuffs tittering in the halls as they walked to class, Andrew wincing every time he heard it, knowing full well who it was aimed at.

"Just ignore them, Andrew. The novelty of it will wear off in a few days," Halbert told him. "You're not the first person to ever lose a match. I lost both of mine."

"No, just the first Snape," Andrew sighed. "Let's face it, I'm not like anyone else in my family."

"Well, from what I've seen so far, not any of you seem much alike," Halbert said. "Your brother is quiet and broods a lot, but your sister talks a mile a minute and she's always into things. And you're quiet too, but not like your brother… more like you spend too much time thinking instead of enjoying what the world has to offer!"

"Not everything in the world needs an active hand to enjoy it," Andrew protested. "What about watching a sunrise, or studying the stars, or sitting by the ocean and listening to the waves crash along the beach?" Halbert looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I think I'd rather have breakfast, go for a night ride or go swimming," he decided. Andrew merely grinned at him and turned into the classroom.

Madame Craw was already sitting in the back of the class, smiling warmly at them as they came in. It was strange how her presence seemed to make the classroom seem more cheerful than normal. Perhaps it was merely because it wasn't so stuffy; the tops of several of the windows had been opened, letting in a frosty breeze and a dab of sunlight. Strangely enough, Professor Snape didn't even comment when he came in a moment later, giving them a cursory look as he walked to the front of the class. He also made eye contact with several of his more troublesome students with a rather cross look on his face as if daring them to step out of line.

"Pass your homework to the front please," he said evenly. As Andrew opened his scroll case and unrolled the right one, he happened to glance beside him at Halbert's, wincing a bit. It was tattered, crumpled, smudged and taped in places, and he was spreading it out as evenly as he could before handing it to Andrew who quickly covered it with his before passing it up, gazing over questioningly at his friend.

"I didn't have time to recopy it," Halbert whispered softly. But Snape's quick ears immediately picked up the whisper, looking towards the back row as if trying to pinpoint its source.

"Did someone have a question?" he asked in a polite but dangerous tone. When no one spoke up he began to gather up the papers, stacking them up neatly and attempting to roll them up on his way over to his desk. He stopped short then, frowning when they refused to roll properly, then with two fingers pulled out Halbert's paper and held it up with a look of complete distaste. Several of the students sniggered outright while Halbert sunk in his seat, and even Craw was having a very hard time keeping a straight face.

"Mr. Hagrid," Snape said after a long pause, a forced thin smile on his face. "May I inquire as to what, exactly, happened to your assignment?"

"Er, well I was doing my homework in the barn this morning and I when I laid it down for a moment, the Cu Sith tried to eat it. Actually, he did eat part of it," he murmured, slightly embarrassed. "But I did get it back!" he added brightly. Andrew covered his face and shook his head.

"Mr. Hagrid, are you trying to tell me that a fairy dog ate your homework?" Snape said dangerously, glancing warningly over at several Ravenclaws who literally were having to hold their noses and cover their mouths to keep from laughing.

"Yes, Professor," Halbert said meekly.

"And you got it back."

"Yes, Professor," Halbert said.

"I think perhaps you should do it again, Mr. Hagrid, on neat clean paper and not a single smudge on it. And for your own benefit you'll write it out five times, and unless you want to lose marks for it being late, I suggest you find some way to have that ready for me before my last class today. Do you think you can manage that, Mr. Hagrid?" Snape asked with a smile so forced it looked as if it were going to shatter.

"Yes, Professor," Hagrid said again.

"Good," Snape said. The paper burst into flames in his hand, and he tossed it into the fireplace. "Now, today we're going to discuss a spell that was lost for several hundred years, and used by the four founders on occasions when they needed to work together without the Flux Effect. I trust you know what that is by now," he said, his eyes darting over towards one of the Ravenclaw students and nodding.

"When more than one wizard casts the same spell at once, a small part of the spell power is canceled out due to not being perfectly timed, therefore their combined effort is always less then if you were to add their combined power together," the boy said.

"It's nice to know you at least listen in Granger's class, Hayle," Snape said with another thin smile, a couple of the Gryffindors grinning at that. Hayle had quite often been at the brunt of one of Snape's tempers for not keeping his eyes forward during lectures. "And yes, although the combined effort is of course more with added wands, the more wands added, the more Flux Effect occurs, and therefore theoretically could actually reverse the benefit of having help, although of course that has never been proven considering it would take a number greater than the current witch and wizard population of the planet participating for it to actually occur. But regardless of that, the spell we're covering today is a simple spell that even this class can handle, which cancels out the Flux Effect completely by synchronizing a group's spell timing. There are, however, some drawbacks, since it is something that would need to be organized beforehand. Those involved must have physical contact with the caster of the Synchronous spell for it to work, and then all must know what spell they are expected to cast that you want to add the combined power towards. Despite these drawbacks, the spell has been used very effectively in matters of defending these very grounds when the power of one wizard was not enough. Only a fool would try to take on some dark forces alone, and this spell may help you in direct situations. Madame Craw, if you don't mind assisting me a moment please, I will demonstrate."

Madame Craw broke into such a beguiling smile that it got several of the boys' attention until she stepped forward and they were abruptly reminded who she was married to. They shook their heads as she came to stand by his side.

"As you can see, I have that crystal ball set up to a Flux meter. We shall cast a simple light spell at it without the Synchronous spell and then with it. I trust you will see the difference," he said, nodding to Jennifer who got out her wand, readying it as he counted to three, the two of them calling out "Lumos!" as one. The crystal flashed blindingly to life, slowly decreasing until everyone could see again, although no one tried to look at it directly. "Yes, obviously, the spell is definitely stronger with our combined efforts, but at a power loss compared to…" Severus frowned at the long metal needle on the metal cased device, tapping it a bit. "A .015 loss to power… odd, is that all?" he murmured, frowning at it. "It should be reading between four and six percent. Well, be that as it may, there is always a chance for decent timing, but still you should see that after casting this next spell, the meter will be just shy of a 0% loss," he explained, taking Jennifer's hand. "Verbatum synchronium!"

Jennifer felt a strange, almost familiar tingle as the spell took hold of her, guiding her movements as if she were moving through liquid. As he raised his wand she did too, and as the two of them cast the light spell once more. But as the spell hit, the blinding flash was even more intense than it had been before, like a flash of lightning piercing into the crystal ball. Instantly it shattered, but fortunately the class had already been shielding their eyes from the light and nobody was hurt by the scattered glass.

Jennifer, who had been propelled backwards and onto her backside, shook her head slightly stunned as the light returned to normal. Severus somehow had managed to catch himself but was no less surprised than she was when he went to check the meter.

"Impossible," he said at last as he stared at it. The arrow had past the meter's highest mark of zero, pushing itself well past it as to indicate there had been a positive result.

"What is it?" Jennifer asked him in a low voice.

"Well, the meter seems to think there was a positive amount of flux, meaning that more than our combined energy actually ended up going into the spell," Severus said, frowning at it. "The meter must be too sensitive or set too high," he decided. "Fetch another crystal ball off the shelf over there."

Curiously the class watched as the two teachers set the experiment up again, and Severus gestured over to Andrew and Halbert, having them come up to try. Snape tinkered with the meter for quite some time before instructing them both to try it, standing fairly close by to get a reading the moment the light subsided.

".044," Severus reported, nodding slightly. "There, I believe I have it now." He quickly instructed Andrew to take his hand and cast the spell, a soft glow spreading them over momentarily before Andrew raised his wand again nervously, a bit reluctant to cast afraid that it would shatter again. But the crystal acted the same as their first spell attempt except that it stayed brighter much longer, and as the light returned to normal, Andrew saw his Father standing eagerly over it again, nodding with satisfaction. ".009. Well done, although with less hesitation you could probably get it lower," he mused.

Andrew actually had fun as Snape arranged and rearranged them all in groups, some in twos, some in threes and fours, so they could see the growing amount of Flux loss with the bigger numbers and how effectively the spell negated it. But no one missed how intently he watched the arrow, writing each one down thoughtfully, until at the end of the class he couldn't resist attempting the first experiment again. Craw eagerly agreed, very curious now to see it done the right way.

This time, however, Snape took the precaution of backing the class against the wall just in case the crystal shattered a second time, and it was a good thing that he had, for the bits of glass sprayed out in every direction, pelting Snape and Craw's backs as they instinctively turned away. Cautiously Snape went over again to peer at the meter. The metal arrow was not only past zero again, but oddly bent, as if some great force had been pulling it down.

"And that concludes our class," Snape said, putting away his wand resignedly. "It isn't every day one has the opportunity to break one of the basic laws of physical magic, is it? Anyhow, I want all of you to write five instances on where the Synchronous spell may come in handy, and please, at least twenty four inches of parchment this time, no one liners, Mr. Hayle. And I had better never see another taped crumbled dog bile infested ink smeared parchment in here again, either," he added as they began to leave, making full eye contact with Halbert who giggled nervously on his way out.

"I must admit, that was anything but a boring class, Professor," Jennifer chuckled softly when the last of the students finally disappeared past the door.

"Just don't ask me what on earth went wrong with that spell because I have no idea what it means yet," Severus said, frowning at the meter once more.

"Well, I'm still too busy wondering what it's like to sit through a regular class with you," Jennifer said challengingly. "You were as stiff as a board and behaving like a teenager sitting with his girlfriend's parents at the table for the first time. At least you loosened up near the end," she added. "Any chance I can come back again when you're being yourself?"

"You had to be a Truth Seeker, didn't you?" Severus said flatly.

"Well, someone has to be around to keep you honest, Severus," Jennifer smiled warmly at him before helping him clean up the experiment.

There was nothing that Dumbledore liked more than finding a quiet hour to share a cup of tea or cocoa with a dear old friend, and none were quite so dear or old as Glen Witolf. Of course, Glen did have an agenda today, but Dumbledore was politely ignoring it, despite several attempts already to change the subject.

"Come, now, Albus, you can't hide it from me forever," Glen scolded.

"Have some honey," Albus smiled at him, offering the jar.

"They say confession is good for the soul," Glen prodded again.

"And confections are even better," Albus added, reaching for the candy dish and holding it out to him. "Have some candy?"

"You wouldn't be doing this, I think, if you didn't still have it," Glen said persistently. "Come, now, tell me the truth. Tell me you haven't broken the promise we made."

"I have not broken the promise, Glen," Albus said sincerely. "And before you ask, no one else on staff knows anything about this. No one knows anything, except Pyther, of course, and perhaps one young boy whom I shared a bit of confidence with."

"A young boy?" Glen repeated with surprise. "Who?"

"I might have mentioned a single piece of the puzzle when I was attempting to gain a child's confidence," Albus admitted, "but I assure you, Glen, that I wouldn't have done so if I didn't find him completely trustworthy. Have some candy."

Glen nudged the candy dish to one side with a finger.

"Albus, who?" Glen insisted firmly.

"Andrew Albus Snape," Albus smiled. Glen gazed at him with surprise, finally accepting a cinnamon drop.

"May I at least ask exactly why you clued a Snape in to the Secret, Albus?" Glen asked with a fixed stare.

"Well, it was the only way I could think of to keep the Secret from his parents until I was ready to tell them the truth," Albus admitted with a smile. "Especially Severus, considering that he knows…" he paused then, catching sight of something as he set the candy dish back on his desk. "Goodness, I do believe he's on his way up."

Dumbledore waved the doors opened just before Severus reached it, stepping up to it with a paper in hand. He glanced up when the doors opened, not even blinking from the fact that he was expected and walked right in.

"Professor, I finished conducting some rather puzzling preliminary research… I beg your pardon, am I interrupting?" Severus said, belatedly seeing Glen curled up in the high-back chair with a tea in his hands and a look of complete interest in his eyes.

"Not at all, Severus, what is it?" Dumbledore replied.

"Jennifer and I seemed to have inadvertently broken the Third Law of Physical Magic," Severus said with bewilderment, frowning at his numbers again before handing it over.

"What, again?" Dumbledore said teasingly, taking the parchment.

"That is not funny," Severus scowled.

"You shouldn't break physical laws, Severus, it gets messy," Glen advised. "And if you tell anyone about it, they expect you to write new laws. No, it's best just to cover it up before there's a big scandal," he added wickedly.

"Apparently they made a Flux meter register above zero," Dumbledore said, musing at the numbers.

"That does take talent," Glen agreed, "considering the meter only goes to zero."

"I had Granger help me retune the meter so that the arrow pointed to ten percent at actual zero and we relabeled it for the tests," Severus explained impatiently. "The results were fairly consistent. If we were to believe this, it would indicate that it's possible for a group of wizards to exceed the sum of their total power with the Synchronous spell. But where is that extra magic coming from? It cannot be the spell itself, it's only designed for timing," Severus brooded.

"Severus," Dumbledore said with an almost exasperated smile, "Haven't you admitted to me on occasion that you tend to work better with Jennifer than without her?"

"Yes, well, that's personal, this is magical theory," Severus sighed.

"Why is it that young people always seem to think that the obvious answer is never the scientific one?" Glen asked with complete amusement.

"I may not be ancient, but I'm hardly young," Severus said dryly. "I am merely pointing out that since power can not be created out of nothing that there must be some unknown source involved."

"Assuming, of course, that the third law is correct, and power cannot be created or destroyed," Glen pointed out. "Are you so intimidated by challenging a law, Severus?"

"When it comes to a law of magical theory, yes, considering it's the foundation of all magic knowledge as we know it," Severus snapped.

"How old are you again?" Glen asked with interest.

"Fifty one, although I hardly think…"

"Really? You don't look it. How old is Jennifer?" Glen asked, looking at Dumbledore.

"The study is quite interesting, Severus, and I'm all in favor of you continuing the research," Dumbledore said, ignoring the question. "Although don't you think you may be getting over your head a bit with this, considering the work you and the faculty are doing already on NEWTS and OWLS…"

"That will take months of research to complete, Professor, it isn't likely that it'll be ready by the end of the year," Severus admitted.

"That you have undertaken it all is astounding, Severus. I simply do not want you to get yourself buried again when your family still needs your utmost attention right now. And Severus, if at any time you feel you must take some time off to attend to family affairs, do not hesitate to ask, or any other requests you might have for me as a friend for that matter," Dumbledore added.

"Ah, well, perhaps now that you mention it, there may be one small thing," Severus said, hesitating only briefly as he looked towards Glen, but then decided it didn't matter. "Jennifer and I were considering a small private affair for this spring, merely a symbolic sort of ceremony in the Grove to reinforce our past commitments. We were thinking of having it during one of the last Hogsmeade weekends before the end of term, and we were hoping that you would be so inclined to officiate again."

"Severus, you know I have no idea what you just said, but it sounded impressive," Glen said in a teasing, amused tone.

"Severus, I would be quite happy to help you and Jennifer renew your vows," Dumbledore smiled. "I cannot even think of a better place to do so."

"Thank you, sir," Severus said, accepting his paper back from Dumbledore, frowning at it again.

"Oh, and Severus, one other thing?" Dumbledore said, waiting until he looked up again. "As your friend, I think I should warn you that you need to be very careful about how you explain this ceremony to your children," he said, his eyes quite serious. Severus gazed at him in confusion.

"I doubt they'll think much of it, except perhaps for the fact they'll be free to go to Hogsmeade that week," Severus said rolling up the paper.

"Severus, I understand why you and Jennifer need to do this," Dumbledore said quietly. "What happened to her wounded you both terribly, and despite the fact there is much we still do not understand, there is a great need for closure so that you can move on. But the children were just as wounded, Severus, in some ways less, but in some ways more, and it would be unwise to think that all of them will be ready for this yet."

"Fine, I'll talk to them at some point," Severus said briskly, nodding to them both before heading out the door. Dumbledore's eyes followed him out, his face still lined with concern.

"I'm sure he heard you, Albus, he'll talk to them," Glen said, noting his friend's worried gaze.

"Yes, I only hope they listen better to him than he listened to me," Albus said thoughtfully.

Spring burst into life in sheer defiance of the grueling winter. As always, it was the time of year that the students grew more and more restless, despite attempts made by the staff to pummel in all of the information the students were going to need by the end of term.

Andrew saw very little of Rose, Conner, and Stewart during the next few months between their Quidditch practices and preparations for OWLS. He saw even less of Aurelius, who had abruptly dropped out of Bridle class in February. Only in sparring club did he get to see any of them any more. Not that Aurelius spoke much even then, only stepping away from the Slytherin bench to watch his brother and sister's matches, both still in the running, although Andrew did have the one match against him. Often Aurelius kept to himself, speaking only about the tense competition of points that was going on between Slytherin and Gryffindor, which swayed from day to day between one and the other. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had their own race for third, but neither of them were anywhere close to the leaders. Right now it was sharply in favor of Slytherin, for not only were they pulling out leads in five of the seven years in sparring, but they had succeeded in securing the Quidditch cup with a no losses season.

Even though Andrew knew that Slytherin had already been eliminated from his year (Meyers, after winning one match with Davidson, ended up losing in the rematch) he knew the pressure was far from over. Gryffindor needed every point they could get. Stewart still came every week, although Andrew suspected it had to do with the fact that Kath Dunn, the seventh year prefect for Gryffindor still had a slender chance, even though she was down one match. Regardless, it was a comfort to know he was there to root him on, for Stewart was ever the one for the go get 'em speeches.

But as the weeks went on and Andrew's victories finally began to add up, the moment that he was dreading was soon upon him. He didn't have to look at the board to see who he was facing that day; Stewart, Conner, and Kath were heading straight over to him the moment he walked on the door, Stewart putting his hands on his shoulders.

"Andrew, you can do this," Stewart said firmly. "You're not only a Gryffindor, but you're a Snape, and I can't think of a more dangerous combination. I know you don't think you're as good at this as your brother and sister, but I've watched you enough to know you're more than a match for anyone on the field, and that includes Davidson. Just don't let her unnerve you. We need this one, Andrew."

"Yeah, 'Drew, don't choke, will you?" Conner put in, getting a dirty look from Kath. "No pressure, or anything," he added, folding his arms almost defensively. "By the way, you're in Snape's ring again."

"Of course I am," Andrew said, hearing his name being barked out at that very moment.

"Bon chance," Halbert said, patting his back. "And if it helps, don't do it for Gryffindor. Just do it for all men, everywhere. Girls have it too easy." Kath nudged him hard.

"Considering you got beat by two girls, you have no room to talk," she said.

"That's what I mean, they were up against me, they had it easy," Halbert said, walking with the others to the side of the ring.

Professor Snape didn't say a single word when Andrew stepped in the ring, his face completely expressionless as if judging any other typical match. Andrew, however, felt it anything but typical as Ginger bowed almost mockingly to him, and he returned with a stiff one of his own. But as he turned to pace he happened to catch sight of his housemates, standing there looking even more nervous than he did, their faces full of hope.

It was then in that moment that he once again remembered that he wasn't doing this for himself, and relaxed. He really had nothing to prove to anyone. He had been so let down that match, but had he truly let anyone down? Stewart had been right; it was the support that mattered more than the outcome. In the instant it had taken him to realize that and turn around, he felt a renewed determination to simply do the best he could for Gryffindor.

Severus, who had been looking as if was about to doze off a moment before, had caught the spark that flashed in Andrew's eye and suddenly sat up straight, quite alert as he made the final countdown.

As they both fired, the spells smashed together dead on, but Andrew's pushed forward with just a bit more snap and made Ginger dodge to the side as it came in. Surprised, she hesitated just enough to allow him a second shot. But she was on guard this time, rolling away and blasting him with the Petrification spell, which had worked so well on Meyers just a few weeks before. But the spell fell a few millimeters away and he didn't even flinch as it passed him. The calm look on his face chilled her to the bone as he cast his next spell, and then she was literally chilled as the freeze spell took hold, the wand falling to the ground as the Gryffindors began to cheer.

Quickly Andrew released her from the spell, going over to check on her with open concern. But as she shook off the shivers from the spell, she smiled and accepted her wand back, shaking his hand before stepping out of the ring. He glanced over at Severus who merely nodded at him, writing it on the board and turning his attention to the next match. Over at the Ravenclaw corner, Alex and Mandria were clapping loudly. As he went to join his friends, Andrew began to look for Aurelius but didn't see him at all. Had he left already, Andrew wondered? Sure enough, Aurelius' name had already been added to the board as a victor. Andrew sighed, a bit disappointed that he hadn't been there. But soon he allowed himself to get swept up in the excitement of his house's victory and joined them ringside to watch the next match.

It was at breakfast a few days later when Dodger, the family owl, dropped a note in Andrew's plate: Lunch in the Defense office, 12:00 pm. It was most undoubtedly in his father's handwriting, but cautiously he looked up at the main table at his father, who nodded to him. Severus then turned to look at the Slytherin table, waiting for Aurelius' eye to nod to him then to Alex as well.

"Guess there's a family meeting today," Andrew said when Halbert peered curiously over his shoulder. "We'll need to take care of our mount duties early. Best we get shoveling," he advised.

"Right," Halbert agreed.

"Well, whatever you two do, don't be late for your first class," Stewart said. "We're only ten behind Slytherin now, and we can't afford to take any chances, especially considering they'll probably finish out ahead of us in the sparring."

"Minus first years," Halbert said indignantly, patting Andrew on the shoulder.

"Well, that goes without saying," Stewart said, grinning at Andrew. "But the point is that we really need to be careful and hope for some good points to be thrown our way."

"Or hope for Slytherin to royally screw up," Stewart's younger brother put in with a grin.

"Yes, but I doubt they will. Even they've been on their best behavior lately," Stewart said.

"You want me to taunt them a bit to see if one of them trips up?" Conner suggested.

"Let's not stoop to their tactics if we can help it, please," Rose pleaded. "We've gotten this far by playing it straight."

"Yes and they keep winning every year because they don't," Conner pointed out.

"There are some things worse than losing, Conner," Stewart said. "I can't think of any at the moment, but there are."

Reluctantly Andrew took the last bite and he and Halbert hurried out to the pens, splashing unconcernedly through the puddles at a quick pace as they talked about their upcoming tests, vaulting over the fence energetically. But as they stepped in they realized they were not alone, for Sagittari was brushing Colossus as they stepped in, rewarding them both with a smile.

"Good morning boys! Out early, I see," he said.

"Something came up for lunch," Andrew explained, "and we've been practicing sparring at night."

"Ah yes, I heard you were doing well," Sagittari said sagely. "But it is good that you are here. There has been something I have been meaning to speak to you both about. I have been quite impressed with the way you boys have conducted yourselves after that unfortunate incident at the beginning of term, and how you have kept on through the year with your obligations."

"It was the least we could do, Doctor," Andrew protested. "Besides, I've learned a lot from you and Halbert taking care of them."

"Yes, and there is something to be said about knowledge for knowledge's sake," Sagittari agreed. "The two of you also were a help to me organizing the Bridle Club."

"It was my sister's idea, really," Andrew said. "She missed riding."

"So it was, but it was the two of you that helped me pull enough mounts together for twenty as well as bring them out and get them ready those first few weeks. I know how close the points are this year, and I cannot possibly watch them be tallied without knowing that the two of you were acknowledged for your work in some way. So, I have decided to reward you thirty points each for your contributions this year. Have a good day, gentlemen," he said as they turned to each other, Andrew with a stunned look and Halbert beaming with joy.

"Sixty points! We got sixty points for something we'd have done anyhow!" Halbert said.

"Yes, why do you think you got so many?" Sagittari remarked with a thin smile as he headed back out of the barn.

Andrew loved going to Herbology after that, for telling his classmates about it had resulted in a round of cheers, even if Halbert had done most of the talking. They were the heroes of the moment, and Professor Sprout had a very hard time settling them down. From her side of the room, Ginger looked over and smiled warmly at them both as the class came to order and they took out their herb identification homework, and he and Halbert exchanged a sheepish grin. But they were a little surprised when after class she called for them to wait up, coming up beside them.

"Congratulations on the points," she said, having to run a bit to keep up with the long strides of the other two.

"Oh, thanks, we would have done it anyhow," Andrew admitted, "Wouldn't we have, Halbert?" Halbert suddenly tried to talk but nothing came out, so he quickly grinned and nodded.

"Well good job anyhow," she said. "By the way, how exactly do you do that in the ring?"

"Do what?"

"You know, that blur thing you do," she said. "And however you do it, you sure you're not breaking any rules?"

"As far as I know I'm not," Andrew said enigmatically, shrugging off the question.

"Well, keep it to yourself, then, but I will find out how you do it," Ginger said with a determined smile. "Next year for sure," she promised.

"Actually, I might not be in sparring next year. But we'll see," Andrew said. Ginger frowned a bit at that but covered it quickly with a smile, waving to him before running to catch up with June.

"Not spar next year? Are you out of your mind?" Halbert hissed when he left.

"Sure. How else am I going to convince her to look at you instead of me? Poetry?" Andrew asked with a grin, patting his friend in the back grinned at his flustered face as they hurried down the hall.