Warnings for this chapter: none

John's P.O.V.

Sometimes Defense Against the Dark Arts is my favorite class—when we learn hexes—and sometimes it is just boring. Today it is just boring. I'm sitting next to my best friend, Dave, and watching as he draws comics in the margins of his textbook. I idly twirl my wand around in my fingers, even though I know better than to do that. It's dangerous. But I'm bored. The teacher looks turns to face the class and I quickly set my wand down before she can catch me being irresponsible. Sighing, I begin humming one of my favorite tunes. It's a romantic muggle song.

"Mr. Egbert," says the professor, Ms. Serket. She cat-eye glasses a form-fitting blue dress under her robe. She's the kind of teacher that students get crushes on, much like my cousin, Jake. Personally, I don't like her much. Something about her seems like she's always manipulating people, even if I can't pinpoint anything specific. Her gaze reminds me of a spider.

"Yes?" I answer.

"Five points from Gryffindor. It's rude to sing while your teacher is speaking."

I don't say anything. Instead, I glance at Dave. His expression is unreadable, as normal. He goes back to his drawings as soon as she turns her attention from us.

Sighing, I rest my head on my desk and dream up a prank to pull on Ms. Serket. I could charm all of her books shut. But spells can be traced back to wands—I learned that the hard way—so it's best the stick with old-fashioned pranks that don't involve magic.

My thoughts are interrupted when Dave taps my arm and points at his notebook, where he has written something.

wanna watch the quidditch practice with me and karkat

I shake my head, and before I can reply, he's scribbling something else.

if you need to study i can help you get done faster

I shake my head again and write a response in my own notebook, placing it where he can see it.

Detention

what for

The library prank last week

I see a hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

When classes are over, Dave leaves me to meet Karkat and I walk to the library where I will be doing some sort of chore. I honestly feel a little bit left out. Dave and Karkat are both my friends and they get to go have fun together without me. I know it's my own fault, but who wanted to read those books, anyway?

The library is furnished beautifully, but it is dismal with the gray light coming in the windows. I'm very conscious of every step I take because it is so quiet in there. Some of the floorboards creak, and I feel like everyone will turn and look at me if I make too much noise. Surprisingly, there aren't many students in the library right now. I stop at the front desk to find out what I need to do. The librarian gives me a piece of paper and a quill and sets me about writing an apology note to all the students that I inconvenienced. The prank had been a simple one, in which books began swapping titles. Someone might pick up a book called Spell Etiquette and find instead everything they ever wanted to know about dusk-blooming choke vine.

When I finish the apology, I am assigned the boring task of shelving books. I've never been very good at alphabetizing anything, and this job is long and boring. The librarian tells me that I can go as soon as I finish shelving the cart that I'm assigned. She also takes my wand so that I have to do it manually.

I'm sitting on the floor and almost half-way through when I hear footsteps behind me and small cough. I turn around to see a boy with ashy hair and bloodshot eyes looking down at me. He's a Slytherin, wearing a long scarf and a wool sweater and looking incredibly frail.

"Um, hi," I say.

"Hello," he replies.

There is a very awkward silence. I glance at the books, then back at him, and twiddle my thumbs a little. I decide to introduce myself.

"I'm John."

"I'm Henry," he says, punctuating it with a cough. "What did you do?"

"Oh, I just played a little prank," I explain. "Now I'm paying for it."

"They can trace spells back to the wand that casts them," he offers.

"Yeah, I know that now." I clear my throat. Why is he talking to me? I'm a Gryffindor.

"Um... can I have that book?" he points to the book I'm about to shelve—The Healing Magic of Underwater Faeries.

"Yeah, sure!" I hand it to him and smile, hoping that he goes away. I don't want to be caught talking to a Slytherin, but I don't want to seem rude.

"Thanks."

He stands there in silence for a few more seconds, then sneezes and walks away. I let out a relieved breath and go back to alphabetizing the books.

It takes me almost another hour to finish, and I hurry back to the Gryffindor tower. The common room is empty except for Dave, sprawled on the sofa and sleeping with his mouth open, an open book resting on his stomach. His shades are slightly askew and I can see a few freckles on his cheek. I stop for a moment and walk slowly towards him.

Naturally, my first instinct would be to take this golden opportunity to play a prank on him. But as I look at his sleeping face, I suddenly lose my motivation and the grin I was wearing fades. It's amazing that Dave doesn't have a girlfriend—he's so handsome, why wouldn't he? It wasn't something we ever talked about unless Karkat was driving the conversation, and even then Dave and I never really said anything about our own feelings.

I pick the book up and glance inside to find more doodles like ones he'd been doing in class. Setting the book aside, I sit on the floor next to him and lean my head against the couch as I flip through his text book. He's written some really terrible raps along some of the pages, and I can't help but snort at some of his lyrics.

The room is silent enough that I can hear the rain tapping at the windows and Dave's even breathing, and crisp turn of every page as I flip through the book. The entire thing is rather relaxing, actually. I could fall asleep right here on the fluffy red carpet. Suddenly, the door bursts open and Karkat comes stomping in. He plops into an armchair and lets out a long, irritated sigh. I feel the sofa cushions shift behind me as Dave sits up. He yawns, and then turns his attention toward Karkat.

"You stood me up, bro," he says with mock disappointment.

"It's not like it was a date," Karkat replies.

"Yeah. You're right. John and I had a good enough time without you."

"Actually," I begin, "I just got out of-"

"Quidditch practice was the shit," Dave interrupts me.

"Well I'm glad you had fun standing in the rain," says Karkat.

"We did, didn't we John?"

"Oh, yeah... I guess," I say, waiting for Karkat to point out that neither of us are wet, and that the quidditch practice shouldn't even be over yet, and Dave was asleep when he entered the room. But he doesn't say anything, which is rare for him.

"Where'd you go, anyway?" Dave asks.

"None of your sweet sticky bumbling business."

At that moment Jake English enters the room, his face a mess of anxiety. He looks at the three of us like he wants to apologize and says, "You chaps should probably hurry down to the infirmary. It's Terezi."

Dave and Karkat exchange a look, and both of them are on their feet in seconds and whisking out of the common room. I follow them, because what else am I supposed to do? They're practically running and hardly waiting for the moving staircases, and it's quite a job to keep up. Neither of them seem winded when we finally reach the infirmary, but I'm taking deep breaths through my nose and trying to look composed. I make the mistake of walking in with them and I realize then that I should have stayed outside. Terezi is lying unconscious on one of the beds, her face a blood-stained mess. Both of them rush towards her, but the nurse stops them.

"One visitor at a time," she says sternly. Karkat gives Dave a pleading look, and he nods and leaves the room, placing a hand on my shoulder on his way out to indicate for me to follow him. He's a nervous wreck as we wait outside. He runs his hands through his hair once—something I've never seen him do before, and leans against the wall outside the infirmary. I don't say anything, and instead just watch him peek in the window every few minutes. I feel like I should offer some kind of comfort, but I don't know what to say. The whole thing is incredibly awkward, and I wish I could leave or do something useful.

Sollux shows up after a while and asks us what's going on with Terezi. We can't tell him since we don't know anything ourselves. Eventually, Karkat emerges from the infirmary.

"She broke several bones and got pretty scratched up, and they think she has a concussion, but chances are that she will be fine." He addresses this to Dave, who nods and pushes past him through the infirmary doors. Karkat stands next to me for a moment, glares at Sollux, and gives him the middle finger before walking away. Sollux smirks and watches with amusement as he leaves.

I step towards the doors and peer in the window. Dave is standing next to Terezi's bed. He's saying something that I can't hear. He picks up her hand and squeezes it then carefully brushes some hair out of her face. He looks so incredibly gentle and something in the pit of my stomach is churning. The nurse approaches him and he nods at her and glances toward me, but I don't think he sees me. Then he leans down and lightly kisses Terezi's forehead.

I step away from the window, something sinking in my chest. I can't really explain the feeling that is washing over me, but it is something like being hit by a cold wave. I can almost taste the saltwater. I look briefly at Sollux, who is still standing next to me, and then take off as fast as I can without actually running.

A/N: So I'm planning on posting the next chapter on Saturday. It's already written, so it's not like I have to crank it out before then.

Someone commented that they thought it was strange that Gamzee is a Hufflepuff. My logic behind this was that Hufflepuff is the house that will take anyone who doesn't fit into one of the other three.

Also, a HUGE thanks to my lovely sister for drawing the beautiful cover art!

It would be really nice and helpful if you left a review :D