Kellen and Hermione grabbed their bags and made their way to Potions in the dungeons. The classroom gave off a bit of an eerie vibe, as it was far more dimly lit than Transfiguration or History of Magic, plus it had a rather musty stench that made Kellen grunt in disgust.

They found a pair of empty seats in the second row, right behind Harry and Ron. When they saw the grim visage of Professor Snape, Kellen gasped audibly. Snape was a gaunt man with a somewhat yellowed complexion, and every last article of clothing he wore was black, from his cloak to his boots. He was completely clean-shaven, and his oily black locks hung to his chin. He had a permanent sneer fixed to his face, and his voice was a dull, monotonous growl.

"Class, this is Potions, and I am your instructor, Professor Severus Snape. There won't be much use for silly wand waving or incantations here, I assure you. I don't expect you to understand, much less appreciate the subtleties of a well-concocted elixir, but perhaps there are a handful of you out there with enough innate talent to learn the delicate art that is potion-making. A perfectly-concocted elixir can potentially save life and limb, so it would behoove the lot of you to pay close attention…"

He caught a glimpse of Harry, and casually strolled to his desk. He had a rather unnatural-looking smile on his face. "Hello, Mister Potter," he said softly. "At last, we meet. How are you today?"

Harry nodded at the teacher. "Good afternoon, Professor. I'm doing all right, how are things with you?"

Snape nodded in return. "So polite, Mister Potter. Rather unlike your father. Maybe there is hope for you after all… tell me, do you know the difference between wolfsbane and monkshood?"

Harry shook his head, clearly confused. "I'm not sure, sir."

Professor Snape smirked. "That's a shame. Maybe I was wrong to place such faith in you."

Hermione shot her hand up to try to answer the question, but Kellen slapped her hand to try and get her to put it down. She glared at him, but he rapped a quick message in Morse code on the table. "Remember what 'Ree said."

"Fine. But you don't have to be such an arse about it," she tapped back.

"I'm sorry," Kellen replied in Morse code. "It was wrong of me to do that."

He took Hermione's hand and squeezed it gently and smiled sweetly at her. She smiled back at him. Unfortunately, their semi-clandestine conversation caught Snape's attention, and he swiftly made his way to the second row where they sat.

"Well, well, well," he murmured in an ominous tone. "It looks like we have some… extracurricular activity going on here, don't we? You, boy," he said, pointing at Kellen. "Perhaps you can enlighten us since Mister Potter has just admitted his naivety?"

"They're the same thing, sir," Kellen replied without having to delve deeply into his memory banks. "Also known as aconite, if I remember correctly."

"Hunh," replied the Potions Master, mildly impressed by Kellen's calm and collected demeanour. "You are indeed correct, young man. A point to Gryffindor." He raised an eyebrow at Kellen. "What is your name, by the way?"

"Grimseth," Kellen replied.

"Interesting," drawled Professor Snape. "A Norwegian name. And not a particularly common one, if I may add." He smirked at Kellen. "So, Mister Grimseth… your dialect… you must be from the Upper Midwestern States. Wisconsin? Northern Iowa perhaps?"

"You're not far off," replied Kellen. "I'm from Minnesota."

"That does not surprise me," replied Snape coolly. "Tell me, how in the world did you end up at Hogwarts, and not Ilvermorny? Surely you were offered an opportunity to study in Massachusetts."

"I was, Professor," answered Kellen. "I received invitations to both schools. I have a blood relative that's a student here, so I qualified for both schools."

"Indeed," drawled the Potions Master. He smirked again. "Is that relative a certain Miss Moultrie, perchance?"

Kellen nodded. "Correct, sir."

Professor Snape's smirk became a full smile, indicating he knew far more than he let on. "And how in the name of Merlin did you end up a Gryffindor? Surely you'd be better suited as a Ravenclaw, like your cousin Miss Moultrie. I'm aware of your accolades, Mister Grimseth. To call them impressive would be a disservice."

Kellen's cheeks flushed a deep pink. "Well sir… it's because I wanted to be a Gryffindor."

Professor Snape chuckled softly. "You wanted to be a Gryffindor. How droll. Let me guess…" His eyes then darted to Hermione. "…your little lady friend here is the reason you wanted to be a Gryffindor."

Kellen's cheeks went from pink to vermilion. He merely nodded in response.

"I witnessed the Sorting Ceremony the other night, young man," the Professor murmured. "You two appeared to be quite inseparable. I see this all too often in our underclassmen… what's the Muggle term to describe young couples like yourselves? Ah yes… puppy love."

Several students, namely Slytherins, snickered or made smooching sounds.

"Silence," Professor Snape said simply. "I think I've embarrassed poor Mister Grimseth quite enough for one day. Everyone open your texts to page fourteen."

Kellen couldn't wait for the class to be over and done with. He was fuming by the time he made his way to the hallway. He was so angry that tears filled his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Kellen," Hermione said as they headed toward Charms. "He was very unfair to you. But your cousin did try to warn us about him."

"He utterly humiliated me, Hermione," Kellen murmured back, still fighting back tears. "I like you. I like you a lot, really… but there's a difference between having a girl as my best friend, and having a girlfriend. Those idiot Slytherins wouldn't understand the difference."

Hermione smiled at Kellen. "Look on the bright side. You got us a house point, and from what I gather, Snape is very stingy with those. There's a real possibility Gryffindor won't get any more points from him for the rest of the year, so that's a pretty significant accomplishment."

"That may be, but teasing me in front of the rest of the class is very unprofessional in my book," said Kellen. "And I'm really sorry for slapping your hand like that in class. I was just trying to look out for you."

"It's okay, Kellen," replied Hermione. "I know you meant well. I'll keep my hand down in Potions going forward, since we both have a better idea how he runs things in his classroom."

"I guess all we have left is Charms to get through, and then we're done for the day," said Kellen. "Hopefully Professor Flitwick is a bit more tolerable."

Charms was very uneventful, as they only went through Charms Theory instead of actually going over any actual spells, but thankfully Professor Flitwick was a far kinder and more professional instructor than Professor Snape, much to Kellen's relief.

The two friends started making their way back to the Gryffindor common room. Kellen was fortunately in a much better mood at this point.

"Now that class is done for the day, what are your plans for the evening?" Kellen asked. "Would you like to go over homework together? Maybe play a game of Wizard's Chess?"

"That would be terrific," replied Hermione. "If time permits, I might write a letter home. I really miss my parents."

"I'm sure you do," said Kellen. "At least your parents still live on the same island as Hogwarts. Mine live six time zones away. That's a fourth of the way around the world."

"Well, to be fair, you chose Hogwarts and not Ilvermorny, so my empathy only goes so far," said Hermione. "But if you want to stay with my family for Christmas out of convenience, I don't think my parents would be opposed to that."

"I'll think about that," Kellen said. "I was thinking about going home to Minnesota, but winters can be really unpredictable during the holidays, so maybe staying here in the U.K. might not be a bad idea. But we just started our first day of class today, we have a long way to go before even thinking about making holiday plans."

"There's always Christmas at the castle," Hermione replied. "It might be lonely, but at least it's safe." She smiled at her friend. "And you're right, it is several months away still. Just let me know whatever you decide… I would love to have you spend the holidays with my family."

"That's very kind of you to offer," Kellen murmured. "I'll definitely let you know."

"We have a bit of time before dinner, so do you want to go over our homework once we get to the common room?" suggested Hermione.

"Works for me," Kellen responded. "That way we can actually enjoy each other's company after dinner."

A few minutes later, they reached the Gryffindor common room and completed their homework together. They compared notes – both of them had taken meticulous, extensive notes for each of their classes and impressed the other with how thorough they were. Kellen was actually more impressed with Hermione's lovely, loopy cursive calligraphy – it was far more legible than his own rather ragged-looking block-style lettering.

"Erm, I hope you were able to read my so-called 'handwriting'," Kellen said with a note of embarrassment in his voice. "Calligraphy was never my strong suit."

"I've seen far worse," replied Hermione. "You're a boy, so I won't criticize your handwriting too harshly."

Kellen smiled. "Yes, in my experience girls tend to have nicer handwriting than boys. Yours is exceptionally high quality.

Hermione leaned over to give Kellen a quick peck on the cheek. "I suppose we should head downstairs for some dinner? I'm getting rather famished."