A/N: First, I want to thank everyone for those amazing reviews you left! Especially you, Spockie! Your review was absolutely amazing! I hope I'm not letting any of you down with this next chapter but I felt that this was how it should pan out for his next little meeting. Hopefully you all do too!
A low growl echoed from Ron's throat as he brought his spoon down, harshly, onto the prone beatle he was working on. The bug put up no struggle against the wooden instrument, frail body quickly giving away with a loud 'squelch' noise before it was shoved to join the slowly growing pile in front of him.
Mathew could only flinch at the action. The noise didn't bother him, not much anyways, but the technique was so horribly off it was almost sickening. The bugs were supposed to be carefully mashed, not half-flattened and then half-heartedly tossed into the couldron. That would do nothing but curdle the Riven Juice they had already added.
"Uhm, excuse me?" Mathew ventured, carefully testing the waters between the two. They seemed pretty rocky to him, depsite the fact that they had just met when Snape paired them up.
"What?" Ron snarled. He didn't even bother to stop mutilating the beatles to look at his partner, his stupid Slytherin partner, when he spoke.
It took a lot of effort not to wince. Not because of the tone, but because, for once, neither he nor his brother had done a thing to him. He shouldn't hate him that much right? Even if he was in Slytherin house; but then, things seemed to have changed since he was last a student at Hogwarts and how far the rivalries stretched seemed to be one of those things. "I just wanted to suggest you work on the beatles a little longer. They're supposed to be more crushed then that."
"Well, I suggest you keep your suggestions to yourself! I can do my own potion!" Ron snapped. Who did this guy think he was? Making such a grand entrance yesterday, not getting in trouble for it, and then trying to show him up class? Yeah. That wasn't going to happen.
The next beatle was purposfully crushed even less then the previous ones were.
Mathew sighed, softly and unheard, and turned back to his own perfectly brewed potion. No one could say that he didn't try to help the kid. It wouldn't be his fault when the potion burned a hole through the parchment instead of changing it's color, he told himself, it would be Ron's.
Just as he moved to reach across the table and grab the beets that had to be diced, out of the corner of his eyes, he could clearly see his fellow Slytherin, Draco, readying to throw something. In front of the pale blond was a large pile of Chikasaw Seeds, an ingrediant that would no doubt cause the potion they were working on to explode.
Mathew sat back, lips pursed slightly, and shook his head in Draco's direction. The gesture went unseen though, ignored he tried to force his mind, not unseen, just ignored, and Draco flicked one of the seeds in the direction of Ron's couldron. Without thinking, his hand shot out smacked the seed away; an action that earned him an odd look from both Ron and Draco.
"What're you doin'?" Ron questioned. The anger was still there, laced into every word, and Mathew prided himself in realizing that he hadn't seen the seed.
He shrugged. "I thought I saw a bug. Sorry."
Behind them, someones couldron burst into flames and the green clad members of the room burst into snickers. Snape was half way over to the boy, scoldings still on his tounge, when a second Gryffindor's potion blew up. And then a third and a fourth, all of them near where Mathew and his partner were sitting.
And Ron must have figured something out by that point because he was suddenly staring at Mathew with wide, surprise filled eyes.