15. Girl Talk

"Longbottom!"

Callie rolled her eyes as the potions master rounded on Neville. Why couldn't Snape ever get sick and miss a class like Lupin often did?

"Didn't I tell you to cut the elderberries?" Snape asked the boy, and Callie turned to them both.

"I told him to crush the elderberries instead of cutting them, Professor," she said. "More of the juice is released when you crush them."

Snape glared at her. "Oh, and of course you'd know better than I would." Turning to Neville, he said. "Thought you had trouble paying attention, boy, yet you seem to hang onto every word out of Warbeck's mouth. Start over and do it as I said this time. Five points from Gryffindor."

Now it was Callie's turn. He approached her. "I don't recall having asked your opinion on the technique," he said. "Tell me who you think you are, dismissing my instructions and ordering your classmates to go against them."

Callie returned his sneer with her own. "I know the crush method releases more fluid than cutting, I've done it a thousand times," she said. "Trust me, I'm not completely incompetent."

There was a pause before Snape said, "And I am?"

Fuck. She sighed. "Obviously I didn't mean it that way-"

"Saturday," he said. "My office. Bring a pair of gloves and some earmuffs."

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Callie stormed into the library after her detention. "Son of a bitch!" she exclaimed. Neville and Hermione had been waiting for her; lately the three had been hanging out a lot. Callie and Neville were almost always together in their free time, and Hermione was currently having a row with Harry and Ron. Callie and Neville were happy to have her join them in the dungeons or the greenhouse - or, Hermione's first choice, the library.

"You won't believe what Snape had me doing today," she told them. "Cutting up mandrakes. Baby mandrakes, at that. God, it was ghastly!" Truly it had taken all of Callie's willpower to slice into those ugly baby faces, knowing that all the while, Snape was enjoying her mental anguish.

"How could he have known?" she asked. Then, to Neville, "You didn't say anything, did you?"

"When would I have mentioned that to Snape?" he asked. "Over tea and biscuits in his office?"

Plopping into a chair, Callie said, "Ugh, I hate that man! One of these days, I swear, I'm gonna haul off and hex him."

"No, you can't!" Hermione said. "He's a teacher!"

"She's not really going to do it," Neville said. But he turned to Callie and asked in a serious tone, "Are you?"

"Ought to stop bringing my wand to detention," she said. "Just in case."

"Well you won't have to worry about that anymore," Hermione said reasonably. "All you have to do is keep your head down in Potions and do what he says. Don't give him any reason to punish you."

Easier said than done. Just as Snape had always chided Callie about not knowing how to keep her mouth shut, he too seemed to have some ignorant comment or another every time she saw the man.

One day in class, Neville succeeded in brewing up a proper Doxycide. "What a happy surprise," Snape had said sarcastically, "the Witless Wonder has managed to produce a potion without Warbeck or Granger whispering instructions in his ear."

"Oh, come off it, would you?" Callie said. "He got it right."

So much for not having to worry about detention anymore.

Snape's derogatory remarks about her friends weren't the only thing that got her. There was also the praise that he heaped on her housemates any chance he got.

"Brilliant performance in the Slytherin-Ravenclaw match," he'd told Malfoy, after the boy had brought their team to victory.

"Yes, I don't know what we would've done without you, Draco," Callie cut in, "considering Ravenclaw was up a hundred points before you caught the snitch."

"Who asked you?" Malfoy spat.

But Snape silenced him. "I'll handle this - detention this Saturday, Warbeck."

"What did I do now?" she asked.

"You let that sharp tongue overrun that thick skull. Yet again."

Callie marked the days she'd be stuck in detention and realized that one of them happened to be the next scheduled visit to Hogsmeade.

"God damn it!" she exclaimed.

"Can't you get out of it somehow?" Neville asked later in the library. "Tell him you're sorry, maybe he'll go easy on you."

"When have you ever known Snape to go easy on anyone?" Callie asked. But she'd never go groveling to Snape anyway, even if he could be swayed.

"Didn't I tell you to bite your tongue?" Hermione said in a tone that reeked of I told you so.

"Ugh, you sound just like him," Callie groaned. "Don't do that."

"Sorry. But it would be much easier to just ignore him."

Pointing to Neville, she reminded the girl, "'Witless Wonder?'"

But Neville cut in, "Don't get yourself in trouble over me. Snape can call me whatever he wants so long as you can go to Hogsmeade."

Callie looked at him and said dejectedly, "Bring me back a box of Chocoballs?"

He held her gaze a moment, then shook his head and said, "You're not going, I'm not going."

"Come on," Callie argued, "I'm gonna be trapped in Snape's office all day anyway."

Ignoring her, he said, "Hermione? Would you bring her back a box of Chocoballs?"

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"Do me a favor," Callie said as she pulled Hermione into Myrtle's bathroom later on. "When you're in Hogsmeade, stop into Gladrags and see if you can't find some... bras."

Hermione raised her brows at that. "Bras?" she repeated.

"I'll give you the money," Callie said. "Just-" she reached into her bookbag and pulled out a beige underwire garment "-something a little bit bigger than this."

Hermione took the piece of clothing and studied it. "Thirty-four B?" she said. "What are you now?"

"Thirty-eight C, I measured yesterday." Checking herself in the mirror, she said, "I didn't know they could grow that fast. Look at this." She lifted her shirt. "I'm bulging out of it and I only just got it over the Christmas break."

Before Hermione could speak, a shrill voice behind them yelled, "Harlot!"

Callie covered herself as Myrtle floated angrily toward them. "So it's true what they wrote on the stall," she said. "You will flash your knickers for five galleons!"

Callie sighed. "No, Myrtle," she said, "just a bit of girl-to-girl talk."

"Hmph. Only certain types of girls," Myrtle said, and floated away to her toilet.

"Bloody hell," Callie breathed. "That girl is all sixes and sevens." After a pause, she returned her attention to Hermione. "Anyway," she said, "could you?"

"I'll see what I can do. I don't know if Gladrags has anything... tasteful, though."

"I don't care, nobody's gonna see it. And no I won't show my knickers for five galleons."

Hermione chuckled at that.

"I blame my mum for this," Callie said, indicating her chest. "She's massive up here."

"No wonder all the boys look at you that way," Hermione said.

Callie furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Hermione said, "Fred, Dean, Seamus... even Malfoy kept glancing at you the other day in Potions."

"Glancing or glaring?" Callie asked, unable to believe that Malfoy, of all people, would ever look at her... that way.

"Trust me, he had the same-" she searched for the right word "-distracted look in his eye that Ron always gets when he looks at Madam Rosmerta."

"Who's Ron?" Callie asked.

Looking as though her Slytherin friend was a little bit slow, Hermione said, "Ron Weasley?"

"Oh right!" Callie said. "In my head I always call him Red."

The Gryffindor grinned at the nickname.

"What did you mean about Fred and Dean and Seamus?" Callie asked.

Shrugging, Hermione replied, "They fancy you. Fred came back from practice one day gushing over you. Said you'd make a hell of a beater... for a girl."

Callie was pleased at the compliment - in spite of the "for a girl" part. "That doesn't mean he fancies me," she argued.

"No. But the day of the Slytherin-Ravenclaw match, when we were in the stands? Unless he was checking your pants for a label..."

Callie got the picture, and checked out her backside in the mirror. "Tell me my butt's not as big as my boobs," she said.

Grinning, Hermione said, "No, but... you do look at bit more like Madam Rosmerta than like me or Parvati or Lavender." She waved her hands through the air in an hourglass shape.

Callie inspected her own body, then looked at Hermione for comparison. The Gryffindor girl was much smaller up top, clearly, but she was also more narrow in the hips, and her butt didn't pooch out as much as Callie's.

"God, I feel..." Callie began, struggling for the right words. "I feel like... I'm on display or something! Everyone's been looking at my arse this whole time?!"

"Boys are gross, we all know that," Hermione said. "Most of them have probably just 'discovered' girls. You happened to develop before the rest of us, so... well... you get the bulk of their attention."

All of that made sense, but Callie still felt rather uneasy. "Who all is looking?" she asked.

Apologetically, Hermione replied, "Well... I overheard Seamus telling Dean and Neville that he'd snog you if you let him. 'Course, I'm sure he'd snog any girl that gave him the chance. Dean said you were pretty."

She didn't go on, but Callie was dying to know if Neville had said anything. "And Neville?" She asked. "What did he say?"

"I don't know," Hermione said. "Didn't catch the end of it, I had to get to class."

Callie shoulders sank, but she tried a different tactic. "Ever seen him... looking?"

"Not at your boobs or your butt." Gesturing to her own face, she said. "He keeps his eyes up here."

Oh, fantastic. The boy she spent the most time with was the only one not leering at her.

Wait... shouldn't that have been a good thing?

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"What is that?" Neville asked, indicating the book Callie had checked out.

"Beginner's Greek," she replied. "Kind of a pet project."

At some point, she'd either get a copy of that Grecian dark arts book, or else get another glimpse at Snape's. Either way, hopefully a basic understanding of the language would help her figure out what all was going on in that cannibal drawing.

Once again, they'd found themselves hanging out in the library with Hermione. The latter was taking so many classes, Callie didn't know how she fit them all in. While she and Neville traded notes on Potions and Herbology, Hermione worked on her Muggle Studies, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy homework.

"Christ, it's a wonder you're not in Ravenclaw," Callie commented, shaking her head at the overwhelming amount of papers spread out before the Gryffindor girl.

"Maybe the Hat put her in Gryffindor," Neville said, "because she was daring enough to take five extra classes."

He and Callie chuckled, but Hermione let out a sound that was half-groan, half-sob.

"Why did I do this to myself?" she said. "What was I trying to prove?"

"You don't need to prove anything," Neville said. "Just drop some if you have to."

"I have an idea," Callie cut in. "Put all this away and do something fun, for a change."

"How can I have fun when exams are right around the corner?" Hermione cried.

"Exams aren't 'til June, that's four months from now," Callie reminded her. After a pause, she said, "You've never gotten a bad grade in your life, have you?"

The Gryffindor girl remained silent, her eyes downcast.

"Look, the first one always hurts," Callie said. "But once it's done, it takes the pressure off. You don't have to try to be perfect anymore."

"I'm not trying to be perfect, I just-" She cut herself off. "Never mind."

The three went back to work until they were interrupted by a voice at their side. "Hi, Callie," it said.

It was Justin Finch-Fletchley, smiling shyly at the Slytherin girl.

"Hello, Justin," she greeted. "How are you?"

"Good, thanks. I was wondering if... I could talk to you a minute?" Callie gestured for him to sit down, but he said, "It's... kind of a private matter," gazing from Hermione to Neville.

"Oh." Callie stood. "Yeah, sure."

The two found a secluded spot near the restricted section. Justin looked unusually out of sorts, and began nervously, "So, um... the next Hogsmeade weekend is coming up soon, and I was wondering... if..." He swallowed before going on. "I was wondering if... you might want to... go with me?"

Taken aback, Callie simply stared at him a moment. The memory of Justin elbowing Ernie in the ribs that first day in the village came to mind. It was right after Ernie had kind of, maybe, asked her out.

"Oh," she said. Now it made sense, Justin's reaction. "I have detention that day," she explained. "I can't go."

Bloody hell, the boy deflated faster than a popped balloon. "Oh," he said. "Really?"

Callie nodded. "Pissed off Professor Snape again. And again. Every week, it seems, he finds some reason to punish me."

"Ruddy git," Justin said, still looking dejected. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Callie said. "Hope you have fun though." First Ernie, now Justin. She never wanted to have to turn a boy down for a date again.

"Thanks," Justin said, a small smile curling his lip. "I'll see ya."

"See ya," she said as he walked away with his head bowed.

Rejoining Hermione and Neville, she groaned, "Ugh," as if in pain.

"What was that about?" Hermione asked.

"He asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him," Callie explained.

"He asked you out?!"

"Yeah, but I had to say no, I've got detention that day."

Hermione's excited expression fell away as quickly as it had come.

"That's not even the worst of it," Callie went on. "Ernie Macmillan did the same thing this morning."

"Both of them, today?" Neville asked.

Hermione looked over at him and said, "That's why they seemed so upset with each other in Herbology."

"Huh?" Callie said.

"Ernie and Justin were at each other's throats the whole class," Hermione explained. "Little digs here and there. They didn't even work next to each other like they normally do. They're best mates. But that day..." She trailed off, before concluding, "They were fighting over you!"

A moment of silence passed, before Neville spoke up. "Sooner or later there'll be another Hogsmeade trip," he noted rather flatly. "One you won't have to stay back for."

"What if they ask you again?" Hermione said. "Who would you go with?"

"Neither," Callie replied. Neville, beside her, let out a breath.

Hermione considered Callie's answer, and said, "Wouldn't want to come between two friends?"

"Well... no, but..." She shrugged. "Guess they're not my type."

"Right," a familiar voice piped up. "Bit too young for you, aren't they, Warbeck?" Apparently, Daphne Greengrass had been standing a few feet away, listening in while pretending to read something on werewolves.

"Oh, hell," Callie sighed, rolling her eyes. "What's that even supposed to mean?"

Snapping her book shut, she said with a look of pure arrogance, "I know your type. Light brown hair, six-two, thirty... fiveish? Has a knack for Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

Callie gaped at her. "What are you talking about?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Remus. John. Lupin."

Callie was horrified. Not only did Daphne somehow know her secret, but now Hermione and Neville knew it too.

Daphne smirked. "I saw you leave that box of Chocoballs on his desk that day," she said. "Thought it was rather cute. Don't worry, darling - your secret's safe with me." She winked and then wandered away. Callie felt as though all the air had been sucked out of her lungs.

Hermione was tactful enough to keep her voice lowered when she said, "You fancy Lupin?"

"No," Callie replied, still in shock. "No, I don't fancy him. Those chocolates were a 'thank you' for the Boggart thing."

"But you left it on his desk? You didn't give it directly to him?"

"I didn't want to bother him."

Clearly, Hermione didn't buy that. "How would he know they were from you?" she asked. "Did you leave a note or anything?"

Callie hesitated, then replied, "Yes I left a note." However, she hadn't signed it.

She and Hermione locked eyes, and the latter broke out into a wide grin.

"Don't laugh at me!" Callie said. "You're the one who was all googly-eyed over Lockhart last year!"

Hermione blushed, but only for a second. "So you're googly-eyed over Lupin?"

Callie had walked right into that one. Glancing between the two Gryffindors, she said. "Daphne couldn't have told anyone, or else Pansy would've been giving me hell all this time. I swear, if either one of you say anything..."

"You know we won't," Hermione said. Shrugging, she added, "Guess I can see why you're not keen on Ernie or Justin. Compared to them, Professor Lupin is... something else entirely."