A/N: Chapter two! And in the same day! (Don't get used to it, I only had this pre-written) However, Chapter 3 is in the works, and I will try to update as often as I can.

Not much else to say, except that in the last A/N I forgot to mention that its rated T mostly because I'm paranoid, and want to do some more "mature" stuff later on. And some people think that Girl/Girl is "inappropriate." *rolls eyes*

Anyway, enjoy!

This time, I was running late.

I silently cursed all of the forces that had made me fall asleep in the common room as I raced to the library at 6:15. All chances of being friends, ended. I thought bitterly. When I hurdled around the corner and through the door, I was entirely prepared to see that Ivy wasn't there, as I was sure that she had plenty of better things to be doing with her Friday night than waiting around for some socially-awkward sixth year.

I stopped, panting, and scanned the room. Once again, she had surprised me. I spotted her sitting at a small table near one of the high windows, with her nose buried in a book. She had reading glasses, and in my happiness at finding that she was there, I couldn't help thinking of how cute they made her look.

I shook my head, wondering where that had come from, before walking over and pulling up a chair across from her.

She looked up from her book, and I felt guilty at the relieved smile that she gave me. "I was starting to think that you forgot."

"Of course not!" I said, still trying to catch my breath. "I just…" I paused, but decided to be honest. "I fell asleep after my last class."

This time she gave me a real smile. The first of many times when I would come to appreciate how gorgeous her smile was. "I guess we all need our beauty sleep, don't we?"

"Or we stay up until three A.M. finishing a Transfiguration essay." I smiled back, and prayed that she couldn't tell that I was blushing. I was incredibly grateful that she wasn't angry with me. I found myself wanting to make her happy.

"So," I said hastily, realizing a few seconds too late that I had been staring at her, and wanting to change the subject. "What book are you reading?"

She blinked, startled and embarrassed. "Oh, um…"

My mind started racing. Dammit. I did do something. I made her feel awkward. She thinks I'm weird. You screwed this up, Av, you screwed up!

She showed me the cover of her book. To Love a Goblin: My Own Quest for the Freedom of Others. She went very red. "It's dorky, I know. We were just learning about the Goblin Revolution in History of Magic, and…" She trailed off, under the impression that I now thought less of her.

"No, no, that's cool," I tried to recover the conversation. "So you like History of Magic, then?"

She nodded, evidently trying to go along with an attempt to making this normal. Where had all of the comfort of two days ago gone? "It's my favorite subject. Professor Binns isn't…the most exciting…but, the actual stories are amazing. I love it."

I nodded. Personally, history was just a jumble of names and dates to me (and I had dropped the class at my first opportunity) but I didn't feel like now was the best time to bring that up. Besides, a very small voice that I had never really heard before was telling me that perhaps Ivy could make history, or anything, interesting. I shut it up, slightly confused.

She didn't seem to notice a thing, but continued on. "What's your favorite? Besides Care of Magical Creatures, of course."

I swallowed my embarrassment. "Astronomy. It's going to sound corny, but I've always loved the night sky. I like feeling so small and insignificant in comparison to everything else that's out there. It's sort of comforting. In a really weird way."

"I get it." She laughed. "Maybe you could tutor me in that as well. Memorizing all of those star charts…"

I laughed at that, too. I was starting to feel comfortable again, now that we were slipping back into the easy exchange that we had found at our last meeting. "You're on your own there. I can draw them, but explaining them? Impossible. Besides," I remembered what we were actually supposed to be doing. "We already have enough Magical Creatures to worry about."

"This is true." I could tell that she had also, momentarily, forgotten what we were there for. She dug around in her bag and found her notebook, then opened it and flipped to the page on knarls that we had started Wednesday. I noticed that she had added her own little doodle of a hedgehog going mad at the bottom of the page, and I giggled.

"Very nice," I commented, pointing to it.

"Why thank you. It's my masterpiece." She giggled too.

"May I?" I asked, indicating that I wanted to add my own touch to the drawing.

She handed me a quill. "You certainly may."

I took the notebook and leaned over it, so that she wouldn't be able to see what I was doing. I handed it back to her, and she laughed. I had drawn an extremely upset child, watching as the knarl went about on its rampage.

"Why is this kid so sad?" She demanded, still grinning. "Aren't they amused by the funny hedgehog?"

"Oh, no," I shook my head, trying to be as serious as I could while trying not to laugh. "They know that their parents won't believe them when they say that a knarl ruined the garden, not them." I shook my head dramatically. "It happened to me many a time."

"You poor thing," she looked at me with wide eyes, also attempting to contain her laughter. "I vow that when I have children, I will always believe their knarl stories. Even if I have witnessed them tearing apart the garden myself." She held up the drawing. "I would never want to make a child this distraught!"

We both dissolved into giggles, but stopped abruptly as the librarian, Madame Pince, shot us a venomous look. Evidently we had been getting too loud.

I cleared my throat, and tried to look as mature and responsible as I could, while I knew that her beady eyes were still upon us. "Anyway, would you like me to quiz you?"

"That would be lovely." She said it with a businesslike air, but I could tell that she was still amused.

I began asking questions from her notes, and as we continued on through the evening, we even began on the next creature that she would be learning about: crups. Before we had even fully realized where the time had gone, the library was closing and we had to go back to our dormitories.

I helped Ivy gather up her things and put them back in her bag before we walked out together.

"Thank you, for all of this." She said.

"It's no problem," I replied. "Really. I…I like hanging out with you. Like this."

She smiled. "Me too. See you Monday?"

"Definitely."

And with that, she turned and made her way down the corridor, towards the Hufflepuff common room near the kitchens. I waited for her to be out of sight before going in the other direction to Gryffindor tower. As I walked, I began hoping that time would speed up between then and Monday night…I didn't want wait before seeing her again.