Chapter Four

That Tall Ravenclaw Seeker

"Miss Hachette! Now, will you please explain what in the world you have been doing back there with your cauldron?" Professor Slughorn called out to me, having finally noticed the great big cloud of green smoke that was emitting from my cauldron.

"Um, I'm experimenting!" I said loudly, frantically checking over the instructions and trying to figure out what I could have possibly done wrong before something worse happened.

"Miss Hachette... you are truly a hazard to this classroom... in all of my years of teaching, I have never met anyone quite like you..." Professor Slughorn walked up to my seat, shaking his head. "You seem to have added the porcupine quills too early, Hachette. If we let this simmer for just a couple more seconds, this mixture will melt your cauldron, then proceed to burn through your shoes, and will then produce large, unfriendly, and, I daresay, rather uncomfortable red boils all over your body."

I stared at him, wide-eyed.

"We don't want that, do we?"

"No, sir. Not at all."

"We'll just need to get rid of this then... Evanesco," he said, waving his wand at the mixture, and in a moment the cauldron was empty. "Hachette, I'll have you do this over again. Remember, add the porcupine quills after you take the cauldron off the fire. Mister Lupin, fantastic job on your boil cure."

"Thank you, sir."

"I'll let you help Miss Hachette, in that case that she needs it. We don't want anyone sent to the Hospital Wing on the first class, do we now?"

"No, sir," Remus answered, shooting me an amused glance.

Slughorn walked away and I slumped over my cauldron, worn out.

"Gracie, I don't think that's the most sanitary thing, just telling you," Remus said politely, dragging his chair over to mine. "I'll help you, don't worry."

"Thanks Remus. What are we supposed to add first? I didn't quite get—"

"Oi! Remus!" Sirius shouted out, waving him over.

"Sirius!" I hissed at him. "You dumb git, he's in the middle of helping me!"

Remus looked over at Sirius wearily. "I'll be over in a second, let me just help Gracie finish this—"

"I'd be happy to help the lady, if she wouldn't mind."

Remus and I both looked up quickly, and met eyes with the tall Ravenclaw seeker, Kenneth Howell.

I stared blankly for a second, and then realized what was going on. I felt heat rising to my cheeks. "Oh, me? I wouldn't mind! Go on ahead, Remus. Sirius probably needs more help than I do, anyway."

"But you nearly melted your cauldron—"

"It's all right! I'll be okay. Go, go, go." I ushered him away with my hands.

He looked at me uncertainly, then shook his head and walked over to Sirius.

Kenneth sat down and smiled at me sweetly. "So your boil cure didn't exactly turn out right?"

"Ah, no," I said, biting my lip. Not only was he the tall Ravenclaw seeker, he was also the handsome, tall, Ravenclaw seeker, and on top of all of that, he was smart. Obviously. He was in Ravenclaw, after all. "No, Professor Slughorn said I was a hazard to the class, actually..."

"No, this is just a trickier potion, don't worry about it." He winked at me, and then went on to explain the instructions and the order of the materials, going into full detail of the importance of each part and explaining how to effectively accomplish each part. "...And then you add the dried nettles," he said, demonstrating, "and you let it simmer over the fire for five minutes."

"And then what do you do for five minutes?"

"Wait patiently," Kenneth said, giving me a small smile.

The butterflies in my stomach were practically having a rodeo in there. I didn't know why I'd suddenly gotten so nervous; it might have been due to the fact that Kenneth Howell was known as one of the most attractive boys in our year, if not the most attractive. And I had never spoken to him before. I wasn't normally a nervous person, but... well... I had to admit, I'd always had a little crush on him.

"So," Kenneth said, and I quickly brought him back to my attention. "I heard you call that Sirius guy a git earlier. Does he bother you?"

"Oh," I said, laughing. "No. Well, yes actually, extremely. But it's not a bad kind of bothering. For the most part." I shrugged.

He nodded, and then asked, "Is he your boyfriend?"

I nearly choked. Sirius? My boyfriend? No one had ever asked me that. "What? No, of course not," I said, laughing again. "He's my best friend. He's practically a girl to me."

"Oh. Okay. So he wouldn't beat me up if I asked you on a date this weekend?" He leaned forward, eyes sparkling in a kind of teasing way.

I collected myself as quickly as I could so I didn't start squealing like a little girl. "Even if he did try to beat you up, I'm sure you could take him," I said, picking up the teasing manner.

"Hmm," Kenneth said. "I don't know about that. I guess I'll just make sure I don't find out then."

I tapped my fingers against my chin, smiling. "So does that mean you'll be asking me out on a date, or was it a hypothetical question?"

"I guess it doesn't have to be hypothetical," he replied, leaning back in his chair. He seemed to have a smile that was just another feature on his face, like his dark eyes or his sandy blonde hair. "Hypothetically speaking, if it wasn't a hypothetical question, what would you say?"

"Well, hypothetically speaking... I would say, you know, hypothetically, that I'd love to."

"All right then," Kenneth said. "Sounds good. So, Grace?"

Everyone called me Gracie, and I had half a mind to correct him, but the impulse died away. It was nice hearing my name, the way he said it, like he'd given my name a whole new meaning, just by saying my name the way it was supposed to be said.

"Yes, Kenneth?" I decided then that I liked saying his name. I wanted to keep saying it, but that would have come off as creepy, and scaring him off at this point would just be devastating.

"Will you go with me to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

"Sure," I said, and I giggled only slightly. "Do you think it's been five minutes now?"

"Five minutes?"

"The boil cure."

"The... oh! Right! Oh, yeah. Can't forget that now, can we?" He winked at me again. "Let's finish this up now. So, now that we've let it simmer, we'll take it off the fire..."

"Good job not blowing up the Potions classroom," Sirius snorted, bumping into me teasingly as we walked to Transfiguration.

I rolled my eyes, shoving him back. "Thanks, Sirius. Lucky you had Remus to help you, or else you might have thought the boil cure potion was pea soup."

Remus cringed at the thought.

"At least I'm not a hazard to the class!" Sirius retorted.

"Okay, I'll give you that. But you are the worst hazard to yourself."

"I didn't drink the boil cure," Sirius said. "You git. Yeah, I didn't forget that."

"I was joking," I said. "I love you, remember?"

"Love and hate are not synonyms, you silly air-headed dudder brain."

"You're a big, fat, giant dudder butt!"

"Um, not to ruin the moment," Remus said, "but what is a dudder?"

"It's Sirius," I said, nudging him. "His butt to be exact."

"Remus, that was not an invitation for you to be looking at my behind!" Sirius said, turning around and walking backwards, with his hands over his butt.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I've made you insecure about your big, fat, giant dudder butt, Sirius," I said.

"I wasn't looking..." Remus said, clearly confused. "Oh, never mind. I'll just... hello, Lily!"

There was a momentary squeak as Sirius collided backwards into Lily. "Sirius," she sighed, smoothing down the front of her robes and re-collecting herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear Lily," Sirius apologized. "Remus and Gracie were odling my buttocks!"

"Pfft. He wishes. His big, fat, giant dudder butt is nothing to look at," I said.

"So you were odling it! You've odled my butt. Violated! I have been violated!"

Lily and Remus were standing, observing us, looking uncertain as to whether or not they should laugh or make us stop. Lily apparently decided on the latter, as she took me by the arm and dragged me away from Sirius. "Not to break up your little argument, but I wanted to ask you about something before class started."

I glanced over my shoulder, at Sirius and Remus who trotted up beside us. I turned back to Lily. "Yes, I'm listening."

"Since when do you talk to Kenneth Howell?"

My face flushed instantly. "Oh..."

Remus made a noise like he was suppressing a laugh. "Oh yes, I remember him. Gracie made me go away so Howell could help her instead of me."

"No, Sirius is hopeless and he needed you—!"

"Gracie!" Lily said. "On topic!"

I sighed. "All right. I talk to Kenneth Howell since today. Does that answer your question?"

"Gracieeee," Sirius sing-songed, "why is your face pink?"

"Because I am finding this walk quite exhausting. I have no stamina, you know. I might pass out any second." I fanned my face with my hand. "Wooh, this is hard work!"

Sirius gasped. "You fancy Howell?"

"He was flirting with you, wasn't he?" Remus asked.

"Did he ask you out?" Lily said, growing livid.

"Woah, woah, woah," I said, holding my hands up to them. "Everybody breathe. I'm not getting married or anything."

"So he did ask you out?"

"Yes," I said, exhaling. "To Hogsmeade, that's it, no big deal, let's move on!"

Lily's shoulders relaxed and she giggled. "How is it that this happens just after what I told you yesterday?"

"'What I told you yesterday'?" Sirius questioned.

"Oh, like we all don't know about it, Lily," Remus said. "James was practically gushing about it to everyone this morning."

Lily looked at the both of them, going slightly red.

I laughed, and took her arm again. "Look, I think Lily's getting tired from this walk too! We better hurry. We'll catch up with you guys in class later." I turned around and winked at both of them, and then turned around and walked off, arm-in-arm and laughing with Lily.

I heard Sirius's distraught voice behind us as we left the two behind. "Remus, at this rate, we're going to be two old wrinkly bachelors!"

A/N: All right, I don't know British slang, because I'm American. I admit my defeat. You've all been warned, so don't judge me for that!
REVIEWS ANYONE? I'll love you forever!
Oh, and okay, who noticed what potion I mentioned? The boil cure potion? Anybody remember that from, yes, Harry's first year of Potions? Oh boy, that's one "tricky" potion right there! It's okay, Gracie. You have other talents, surely.