I nodded my head. I forced myself to turn and walk to the nearest entrance instead of hugging him like I wanted to. If I hurried I should be able to make it back to Ravenclaw commons before curfew. I walked quickly through the halls that once seemed as confusing as a labyrinth but now were as familiar as the halls of my parents' home. I ran quickly through the halls, racing against the clock to return to Ravenclaw before Filch would inevitably find me out of bed.

I rounded the corner turning into the last hall that lead to the stairs up to Ravenclaw tower. A figure popped out in front of me from a doorway, I skidded to a stop.

"Oooooh." Peeves the Poltergeist mused. "What do we have here? A student out of bed?"

"Peeves, get out of my way." I demanded.

"My, my," He gasped with false appall. "Very rude, aren't we."

"I haven't got time for this!" I shouted trying to wiggle my way around the ghost. "Get out of my way!"

"Miss Ruby Winston is out of time," He began singing. "As the clocks begin to chime. Out past curfew is her crime. By the time I finish my rhyme, Miss Winston will be covered in slime!"

Before I was able to react, Peeves dashed to retrieve a bucket, the contents of which he dumped over my head. Ice cold goop spread slowly from the top of my head, down the collar of my robes and onto the floor.

"Oh, how sublime!" Peeves cackled.

"Peeves, you massive moron!" I sputtered through the slime, wiping it from my eyes.

"Do you like it?" Peeves asked, allowing more of the goo to drip from the bucket onto my head. "I followed Snape up to the attic a few days ago. I feel ashamed that I never knew such a wonderful supply of Flobberworm mucus existed right above my head. Though I know how close you and the potion master are, I'm sure he's already shown you many things."

He giggled wildly and bounced through the air.

I could feel my face getting hot with a mixture of embarrassment and anger when I heard a meow and turned in time to see Mrs. Norris' tail flicking around the corner. "If you don't leave me alone and get out of my way I will send the Bloody Baron after you!"

His face flickered with fear. "But he wouldn't listen to you."

I flicked my eyes to where Filch's cat had been. "No, I don't think he would. But I think you have just pointed out that I am close to someone who is in position of power in the Slytherin house. I'm certain that if I ask, the Bloody Baron will be torturing you in a matter of moments."

He stared at me. "Fine, you're no fun anyways."

He soared through me, filling me with cold and making me shiver. I looked for any sign of Filch or his cat and ran the rest of the way to the tower entrance.

I quickly answered the riddle that allowed me access to the common room and closed the door quickly behind. I was greet with a halting silence and stares. I suddenly remembered I was covered in green slime. I countered their looks of disgust with a small embarrassed smile before hanging my head and sprinting to the stairs leading to the dorms. I entered the seventh year girls' room and found Susan sitting on her bed with a book.

"Well that took a bit longer than I expected." She said, not looking up. "What did he say?"

She finally looked up. Her eye went wide and folded her lips to suppress a smile.

"There were…complications." I said, not really wanting to tell her about the effects of Severus' spoiled potions or his words to me. "And, of course, Peeves."

I pointed to my hair which was covered in oozing slime. "Apparently, he's stumbled upon the Flobberworm mucus in the attic."

"Oh dear." She said, still visibly fighting giggles.

My temper was somewhat shortened by the cold enveloping me from the slime and I was not in the mood to be laughed at. I crossed the room to grab some shower supplies and checked to see if my wand was still in my pocket before I left the room for the bathroom.

After an hour of scrubbing my hair and using spells to suck some of the mucus out, I thought I had managed to clear it of most of the mess. I was disappointed when I found, after using a drying spell, that there were still strips of green goo in my hair. I tried cleaning spell after cleaning spell until my hair looked mostly back to normal. There were still a few small strips of green. I hoped no one would confuse them for me supporting Slytherin at tomorrow's Quidditch match.

By the time I returned to the room, all the beds were full and even Susan was asleep. I supposed it took me longer than I thought to wash my hair. I put on my pajamas and cuddled under the covers.

I woke up to flashes of scarlet and gold. I blinked as my eyes focused. The other girls in the room were rushing to get ready for the Quidditch match.

"I know it might make someone upset, but put this on." Susan said, tossing me a light scarlet and gold scarf.

"Make who upset?" Joanne asked, as she charmed strips of scarlet into her blonde hair.

I shot an acidic look at Susan.

"Oh, uh, Ruby." Susan said. "It will upset Ruby…because she's such a Ravenclaw…you know."

Joanne lifted an eyebrow and looked at me.

"As long as we aren't supporting Slytherin." I said, forcing a laugh and wrapping the scarf around my neck.

I dressed quickly and Susan and I made our way to the Great Hall for breakfast. I nearly forgot about my detention the night before. Students were not seating at the tables but rather were sitting in groups on the grass with the baskets which were over flowing with chocolate croissants, cheese danishes, fresh fruit. Some students had removed their robes to bask in the artificial sunlight.

"What happened in here?" Susan asked as she took in the transformed Dining Hall.

"This was last night's detention." I said, a bit proud.

"I want detention with Flitwick." She said as she walked over to the Ravenclaw table to grab a basket.

We found a nice empty spot in the grass and sat. We were each only about two bites into our pastries when someone interrupted us.

"Mind if I join you?"

I looked up and Susan turned around to face a smiling Henry Wood. Susan looked back at me with a look of surprise on her face.

"It's okay if you two don't want me here." He said, beginning to turn with the smile leaving his face.

"No!" Susan blurted, causing some Danish to fly from her mouth onto the ground. Her face turned bright red and she quickly covered the mush with her hand in an attempt to hide it from Henry. She gave a hard swallow and cleared her throat. "You can sit."

The smile returned as he took a seat between Susan and I forming a triangle around the basket. It wasn't long before a few other Gryffindor players sat with Susan, Henry, and I but it wasn't long before they all got up to get ready to play.

"How do you do it?" I asked.

"Do what?" Susan asked, eating a slice of strawberry.

"Get these guys to like you?" I asked. "Henry seems to really like you."

Susan shook her head. "No. He's just nice. To everyone really, there's nothing special about me."

"I disagree." I said.

"What about you?" She asked. "You have a guy that doesn't like anyone in love with you."

"He isn't in love with me." I said shaking my head. "I just remind him of Lily Evans."

"I disagree." She said.

The warmth and brightness of the Dining Hall made it all the more miserable to enter the grey chill of outside. Cold rain hit like needles on the skin. The wind blew hard making my hair stick to my face which made it almost impossible to see. The grass on the path to the Quidditch field soon was nothing but a trail of slippery mud and it ran into my shoes. I pulled the Gryffindor scarf over my head and held it tight which helped with the wind and my hair.

Soon we were taking our seats in the stands. Everyone was cold but still excited. Most were donning scarlet and gold with a few patches of emerald and silver. The teams both flew from their stations and started on a lap around the stands.

Henry slowed down as he flew past Susan and winked at her. Susan blushed and giggled. Mark sped up behind Henry and gave him a knock on the back of the head with his Beater bat before he raced back around to fly past Susan, giving her a wink was well. She furrowed her brow in agitation.

Henry flew to guard the goal posts, rubbing the back of his head. Mark, having seen this, looked pleased with himself and reveled in the acidic glare shooting at him from Henry.

Slytherin were the first to be in control of the Quaffle but Henry was able to thwart their attempt at scoring and tossed the ball to a third year girl Chaser. The crowd roared at his expert save. There was some back and forth movement of the Quaffle with each team perfectly defending their goals. The rain began to pick up, it was now impossible to see the stands across the field because they were drowned out by the grey rain. The teams were now just hazy blobs of scarlet and green. I couldn't make out the Quaffle in the thick rain and therefore I hadn't any idea who had control.

The commentator seemed to be having the same problem since his commentary and died to down to whether the players were flying towards the Gryffindor side or the Slytherin side. I was watching the blurred colors fly back and forth waiting for someone to score so that I would know who had been in possession of the Quaffle. I glanced over at the Gryffindor goals as the pack of colors changed direction again.

Suddenly, the red blob in front of the goals began tumbling towards the ground. I gasped before anyone else seemed to notice. The other players advanced on the goal post. I could hear those around me beginning to question where Henry was when the Slytherin team began to close it.

"I think he fell." I said. "I didn't see what happened but he went down."

Commotion arose in the stands as everyone began wondering what happened to Henry Wood. Slytherin was on a scoring streak since the goals were unprotected and were now leading 80-0. The rain was beginning to let up and I was able to make out Henry Wood on the ground under the goals. Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall were hovered over him as an enchanted stretcher hovered above the ground next to him. Hagrid appeared and lifted an apparently unconscious Henry onto the stretcher.

I looked over at Susan whose face had gone pale.

"Do you think he's alright?" She asked.

I didn't have a clue. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

Slytherin scored seven more goals before their Seeker caught the Snitch. It was the most anti-climactic Quidditch game I had ever seen. Slytherin, however, was still celebrating as though it was a well-earned victory.

By the time Susan and I returned to the school there were several rumors about what happened to Henry Wood floating around. The one I liked least was the theory that Snape had used the killing curse on Henry Wood to guarantee the win for Slytherin.

"That is complete nonsense." I spat at the fourth year who swore by this scenario. "There wasn't any green light and I doubt Snape could have even seen Henry through the rain from where he was sitting."

The fourth year froze with a look of terror.

I cleared my throat to try to regain my calmness and pursed my lips. "Though, it does sound like a Snape thing to do."

My last phrase left a bitter taste in my mouth but I couldn't have everyone know I was defending Severus.

After changing into dry clothes and convincing Susan that it wouldn't hurt her to try to visit Henry in the hospital wing. Even if Madam Pomfrey wouldn't allow him to have visitors yet, she might be able to ask what happened which would at least confirm that he wasn't dead.

I walked with her to the Hospital wing before I left to meet Severus in the potions room for my Defense lesson.

I entered the empty classroom and walked to his ajar office door. When I reached it I saw several Slytherin students talking animatedly and Severus standing in a corner surrounded.

I jumped back out of the doorway and pressed my back against the classroom wall.

"…It was brilliant." Said one student voice. "The way you knocked him out of the air!"

"We never would have won otherwise!" Said another voice.

"I've told you already," Severus' voice finally spoke. "I didn't have anything to do with what happened to Henry Wood and I'm surprised that you are all so excited about the serious injury of another Hogwarts student."

"Yeah…but he's a Gryffindor." Said a third student voice.

"If I can get along with Professor McGonagall, I expect all of you to get along with other students, even if they are Gryffindors." Severus spat.

"But…" Said the first voice.

"No excuses." Severus snapped. "Now get out before I give you all detentions!"

There was a collective sigh of disapproval before I saw their growing shadows stretch across the light flooding into the classroom from Severus' office. I quickly held my breath and closed my eyes tight as though those actions would make me invisible. I opened my eye a small bit to see the stream of students leaving the classroom. As soon as I could no longer hear them, I stepped in and leaned against the doorway.

"What a very un-Slytherin-y thing to say about Gryffindors." I said with a smirk.

Severus looked up, his cheeks turning the slightest shade of pink. "Well, personally, I much more detest Ravenclaws."

I gave a small laugh. "I'll try to ignore that hurtful comment and allow you to help me with Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was, after all, by your insistence that I'm even here."

I placed my bag on a table in the front of the classroom. Severus moved all the other tables back against the walls, shutting the doors to his office and classroom and blocking them with the tables.

"So, er, do you know what happened to Henry?" I asked.

He shook his head. "All I know is that is looked like he was hit pretty hard with a Bludger."

My mind immediately went to Mark. "Did it look like it was intentional?"

"I doubt it." He said. "It was raining, it was probably because he couldn't see it until it was about to hit him. Why are you so concerned about Henry Wood?"

There was a flicker of worry in his eyes.

"Because Susan is making another mistake, I think." I said. "She's definitely falling for him even though she won't admit it. It doesn't make sense to me, especially after what happened with Mark."

"So…you don't like him?" He asked.

"He seems alright, but I think I'm a bit more skeptical than Susan." I said before I noticed the look on Severus' face and understood what he meant. "Oh, no. I don't like him, not even a little. He's a bit too…simple for me. Is it horrible that I enjoy your complications?

I shook my head. "We need to get started. These are exactly the distractions that made me want to ask for Susan's help and not yours."

There was a flash of remembrance in his expression. "Sit down."

I sat immediately. It was incredible to me how his professional tone had such an effect on me.

He walked to his desk and opened his own copy of my Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.

"Get out your textbook." He said with a tone of mild annoyance.

I removed my book from my bag and before I could even open it, Severus raised his wand and the pages whipped open and fluttered to a stop at the beginning of a chapter containing a few of the spells with which I had been struggling.

"Read pages 463 to 472." He said taking a seat and sitting back, his eyes resting on me.

"I've already read the chapter…" I began to protest.

"Well, read it again." He said coldly.

I stared at him for a moment. It amazed me how he could turn this attitude on and off so easily. I found it oddly attractive.

I read through the assigned chapter, glancing up at Severus every now and again. Each time I met with his own glare. I could feel him watching me rather patiently as I read over the words, sometimes several times due to the distraction.

Finally, I finished reading. I skipped over parts and, had I not already read all of it, I doubted I would have retained any of the information. I looked up at Severus. He was still watching me.

"Stand up." He said, and when I did, he moved the table at which I had been sitting.

The classroom was as empty feeling as I could remember.

"Try the blinding spell." Severus instructed as he took his dueling stance.

I simply stood in front of him with my hand held limply at my side.

He abandoned his stance and with a sigh said, "Miss Winston, perform the blinding spell."

"It's a stupid spell." I said with a shrug. "What's the point of it?"

"The point is to temporarily blind your opponent so that you have time to either further incapacitate or flee." He said, returning to his dueling stance. "Now let me have it."

With a sigh, I took my dueling stance. "Oblinere Lucem."

His stance fell and he slumped his shoulders. "You aren't even trying."

"It's stupid." I said. "I can't get it."

"You aren't going to get it if you don't try." He argued.

"I've tried." I defended. "It won't work. The most I've been able to conjure is a slightly warm wand."

"Stop holding back." He said.

"What does that even mean?" I demanded becoming frustrated.

"We've already talked about your lack of emotion," He said. "And it doesn't help when you give up because you don't get something right away."

"I'm sorry I'm not like you." I said. "Apparently, I'm not good at everything."

"Stop." He spat. "Why don't you use your frustration? It will make your spells stronger but instead you give up as soon as something becomes difficult. I don't understand how someone can get the marks you do when you abandon anything that requires any effort."

"I don't give up!" I shouted. "This is a stupid spell. There are much more efficient ways to incapacitate an opponent, why would I use this one?"

"Because this is the one they are teaching you right now." He said. "Sometimes schools teach things because you should know it, not because you will ever use it. Tell you what, once you are done at Hogwarts, you never have to use this spell again. Just, get a handle on it for now."

I hated that he was using reason against me. I sighed a surrender and returned to my stance.

I waited for him to get into his own stance before I tried the spell. "Oblinere Lucem."

"Try." He urged.

I thought about how stupid this spell was and how angry I was that I was being forced to learn something so useless yet difficult. "Oblinere Lucem!"

A blinding white light filled the classroom. I was forced to shield my own eyes and I lost sight of Severus. The light dimmed and disappeared, leaving me with spots in front of my eyes which I tried desperately to blink away.

"How the hell is that supposed to help me when it disables me too?" I demanded as I rubbed my eyes, the spots continuing to glow.

"I never said it was practical." He said. "But you did it, rather well I might say."

The spots had begun to disappear when I heard Severus speak, "Stand up, time for the disarming spell."

"This one is even stupider." I whined.

"I know." He said.

"Why would I use this when Expelliarmus is so much simpler and basically the exact same thing?" I asked.

"This spell is harder to deflect." He said. "But I know."

"I'll never have to use it again after school though?" I wasn't sure why I needed to ask.

"I can't think of a situation where you will be forced to perform this particular spell instead of Expelliarmus." He said, a smile just visible under the dimming spots from the previous spell.

I sighed, took dueling stance, and thought about how the other spell was completely useless. "Ferendo Leniendam."

Severus was whipped backwards so far that he landed on top of one of the tables pushed against the wall. His wand rolled along the floor where he had been standing. I ran to pick it up and rushed to Severus.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"A bit winded." He gasped. "My, you are powerful when you want to be."

Within a moment he slid himself off the table and I handed him his wand. "Do you see how easy it is when you stop thinking about how stupid you think something is and just do it?"

"Shut up." I said with a roll of my eyes and a smirk. "You always have to be right, don't you?"

"I do really like being right." He confessed. "Okay, last spell."

I took a few steps away from Severus and pointed my wand at him. "Ready?"

He nodded his head and pointed his wand back at me.

I took a deep breath. "Detrimentum Patiamini!"

Severus flipped into the air as though a rug had been ripped out from under him. I heard his head hit the floor with a loud smack.

"Oh my God." I gasped as I rushed over to him. "Severus, are you alright?"

When I arrived at his side and knelt beside him, his face was scrunched in a pained grimace. "We are supposed to be professional."

"What?" I asked, confused about his response. I lifted his head and placed my hand on the back of it and pulled it away. I breathed a sigh of relief that there wasn't any blood.

"A normal student would address me as professor." He said, squinting his eyes open. "Not Severus."

"Right." I said. "Sorry, professor."

"Though," He said. "I don't think a normal professor would do this."

He lifted his left arm, draping it around the back of my neck and pulled me down to where our lips met.

He pulled his arm away and I sat up.

A rather large smile spread across my face accompanied by a breathy laugh. "You owe me five galleons."

Still laying on the floor, his eyes now closed. He smiled. "Worth it."