Roxie woke up the next morning to a bushy head leaning over her. "Geez Hermione, don't scare me like that!" Roxie yelled pushing her roommate off of her bed.
"I'm sorry. I was going to wake you up, but then I decided that that would be awful, so I waited. It's not my fault that you sleep late!" Hermione defended herself.
"Well what is so important that you felt the need to hover over me?"
"I just wanted to ask you… well are you and Harry…umm dating?"
"No way! What gave you that idea?!?! Did he tell you something? I'll kill him!" Roxie started to get out of bed.
"No! He didn't say anything it's just that I thought I saw a look between you last night. And you were in the common room alone together."
"A look? Maybe it was a "Thanks for saving my butt" look. He helped me with my homework which is a good thing because I'd still be down there doing it if it wasn't for him."
"Well you could have asked me for help. It does seem…"
"Would you drop it, please!" Roxie said testily. Roxie tried to conceal the smile that was creeping onto her face. She made her way to the dresser and began to change.
"Ok dropping it now," Hermione said in an "I know the truth" kind of way. "What's that?" Hermione asked indicating a spot on Roxie's forearm.
"What? Oh nothing," Roxie flushed and then quickly put her shirt on.
"For a second there it kind of looked like…" Hermione began, puzzled.
"We better get down to breakfast soon or there will be no time before class!" With these words Roxie made her way out of the room and down the staircase. Hermione trudged behind her.
When they arrived at the Great Hall, Ron and Harry were already seated at the Gryffindor table. Hermione and Roxie sat down beside them, Roxie not making eye contact. As the other three began to talk, she pulled the platter of toast towards her and began to eat. At the end of breakfast Harry asked, "So Rox, ready for Snape's class?"
"This is the last time that I'm going to tell you, my name is Roxie, not Rox." Roxie spat, trying to make it clear to him that last night was a mistake. She saw a look of puzzlement on his face that was soon replaced by a hurt look. Roxie looked down, hoping that no one had seen that she had a look on her face too. A look that mirrored his hurt. Sensing tension, Hermione grabbed Roxie's wrist and commanded the boys to follow them. They made their way down the dungeon.
No one was in the dungeon when they got there. An eerie silence filled the space from the high ceilings to the cold, stone floor. Hermione lead the other three to a table right in the front. Roxie made a point to sit on the end and made Hermione sit beside her. Ron sat beside Hermione, so Harry sat on the other end of the table. This meant that Roxie and Harry were as far apart as possible, while sitting at the same table. Harry kept making furtive glances across Ron and Hermione, trying to catch Roxie's eye. Trying to figure out what he had done wrong. How could this be the same girl that had sat next to him last night? The same girl who had admitted that she didn't hate him. That was the thing with Roxie, you never knew what you were going to get. She had her nice moments and she had her mean moments. You can't like him. Everything must go according to plan. Roxie shot him one of her famous spiteful glares and his head fell dejectedly.
After a few more moments of awkward silence, more students began to file into the room. Their chatter filled the room and killed the silence. Hermione pulled out her books and began a conversation with Ron about Quidditch. Harry, being a Quidditch captain, immediately jumped in on the conversation. Although Roxie was obsessed with Quidditch she was not in the mood to talk to Harry right now, so she tuned them all out. She tried to think of ways to complete her task successfully.
With a bang of a door the room fell quiet. Snape marched to the front of the classroom and pulled out his wand. Roxie looked up from her thoughts and saw Snape shoot her a death glare. "Today we will be making a memory potion. This potion will be very difficult and you will, therefore, be working in partners." Roxie glanced at Hermione and gave her a "Will you be my partner?" look. Hermione nodded and they began to read the instructions which Snape had put on the board with a wave of his wand. "I don't think so," Snape stated, eyeing Hermione and Roxie. "I will be assigning partners. Ms. Granger with Mr. Malfoy. Mr. Weasley move over there and work with Ms. Parkinson. Ms. Barker who should you be with?" Roxie eagerly began to pick up her things and move to another table as far from Harry as she could get. "Eager to get away I see. Well then, Ms. Barker with Mr. Potter."
"No! Kill me! Let 1,000 hippogriffs dance the conga on my stomach. Force-feed me pickled Bowtruckles. Make me take Blast-Ended Skrewts for a walk, just don't make me partner with him!" Roxie pleaded.
"As entertaining as that would be for the rest of the class, I believe partnering with Potter will be good for you. Now begin please," with a billow of his robes Snape moved away from a distraught Roxie and a pleased Harry.
"So shall we get started then?" Harry asked quietly. Roxie bit her lip. Snape had already moved away, among the students placing them in pairs that they didn't want to be in. There's no way that I'm going to get another partner. I want a good grade and that's not going to happen if I'm not being a little bit nicer. I guess it couldn't hurt to be nice to him.
"He seems to be enjoying himself a little too much, doesn't he?" Roxie asked indicating Snap forcing two very unhappy girls to sit down next to each other.
"Yeah, yeah he does," Harry perked up.
"So let's get started," Roxie said nervously and looked up. His brilliant green eyes shone down at her. He has great eyes. Eyes that I can melt into. Roxie smiled and Harry smiled back. Roxie began to measure out the jobberknoll feathers. Harry began to set up the cauldron and make the liquid base of the potion. When they were both done they had to add the jobberknoll feathers to the liquid. Roxie poured the feathers in and then, "The next line says that we are supposed to stir counter-clockwise eight times." Roxie reached for the spoon to stir. Harry reached at the same time. Harry's hand brushed the back of Roxie's. Chills went down Roxie's spine. She looked up and Harry grinned sheepishly. She flushed red and pulled her hand back.
"So umm I guess I'll do this then," Harry said nervously. Roxie gave a small nod. When he had stirred eight times he looked up. "And now we wait until 'The potion turns a pale shade of grey'" he stated, looking up at the instructions on the board. He sat back in his chair.
"Potter! Barker! You should be working now not relaxing!" Snape barked from behind his desk.
"But Professor the board says to wait," Harry defended them. Snape looked at the instructions as if for the first time and then, defeated, went back to grading papers.
"So what do we do until it's done?" Roxie asked, grinning.
"I guess we could talk," Harry said hopefully.
"Ok. Starting with a little more about your aunt, uncle, and cousin. They sound like hilarious Muggles."
"Well my uncle is extremely small minded. He goes around ignoring me and trying to pretend like he doesn't know that there is such a thing as wizards. My cousin is rather large, but he acts like he's a two year old. He's so easy to scare and it's really fun to come up with new things to do to him. My aunt is my mother's sister. She's the only one in the family that understands me at least a little bit. Most of the time she goes along with my uncle and pretends that there is no such thing as a wizard, but occasionally she does slip up with something that shows that she knows about things. Not monumental things, but last summer she did say that she knew that dementors guard Azkaban. I'm pretty much alone all summer and they make me do chores and stuff. But what about you're family?"
"It's just me and my mom and dad. My mom is always at home. It's actually very annoying. She always hovers over me, but she means well. My dad works, actually I'm not really sure what he does. He's very hush hush."
"Maybe he works in the Department of Mysteries. Although if he does I apologize because we pretty much destroyed it last year."
Roxie laughed, "Oh yeah I heard about that. It sounded like so much fun."
"Being chased by Death Eaters isn't exactly what I call fun."
"Oh come on Potter where's your sense of adventure? I'm sure that was like an adrenaline rush or something." Roxie playfully poked him.
"Wow you have an odd sense of fun. You'd actually probably be pretty fun on a date." Roxie looked up at him. Is he asking me out. I was being nice to him, but was I being a little too flirty? I can't date him! Being nice, yes. Even being friends would be ok, but dating him? I'm sure that would be a major mistake.
"Harry…" but Roxie was saved the embarrassing speech when Snape stalked over to their table.
"I hate to break up this little flirty banter, but your potion seems to be ready. Please bottle it and bring it to my desk." Quickly Roxie waved her wand. Some of the grey liquid appeared in the bottle. She shoved a stopper in and then went up to the desk, leaving Harry to clean up. She held the bottle out to Snape. He looked at it, but he didn't take it. Clearly he had something to say. "I'll tell you this now, Ms. Barker, I will not tolerate flirting in my classroom. In fact, I think it would be best if you didn't flirt at all. You aren't all that you think you are. You walk around here with your nose stuck up in the air expecting people to just bend to your will." What's he talking about? Why's he telling me all of this? And then he delivered the punch in the stomach, "Your mother was the same way. She flirted with me because she knew that I liked her. Every night she would make me do her Potions homework and occasionally any other homework that she had. I thought that she liked me. Then one night, I was sitting in the common room doing her homework when she walked in. Hand and hand with another boy. Well you can imagine my shock, after all I thought that she liked me. She toyed with my affections and used me. She was and still is nothing more than a slag!" With a satisfied smile, Snape snatched the bottle from Roxie's grasp. The other students were moving around behind Roxie. They were all crowding around the desk trying to hand in their potions. Roxie couldn't move. All of the sudden she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She turned around, expecting to see Hermione, but instead she looked into a pair of all too familiar green eyes. She brushed Harry's hand away and walked back to her desk. She grabbed her books and bag and ran out of the room. She ran as fast as she could.
Soon, she reached the familiar pathway to the common room. She mumbled the password and then made her way into the cozy interior of the room. She flung herself onto the couch and let the tears flow. She began to sob uncontrollably. Why am I even crying? It's not like he threatened anyone. He didn't even insult me. Just my mom. She heard the portrait hole swing open. A blurred image appeared at the couch beside her. The image had messy hair and glasses. Harry sat down on the couch next to Roxie. He pulled her into him. Roxie sobbed harder. He feels so good. And he's so nice to me. How can I do this? They sat there for a while, Harry with his arms around Roxie and Roxie sobbing against his chest. When she had almost stopped crying, Roxie pulled her head away from him. His hand moved to her face. What is he doing? He moved his thumb across her face, brushing away the tears. His hand paused on her face. Their eyes locked. Roxie could swear that the space between them had lessened. His head was leaning toward her. He was close now, so close that she make out every bump of his scar. She closed her eyes. I'm ready. Then the portrait hole opened. Roxie and Harry pulled away from each other and the looked towards the entrance.