The Three Broomsticks was warm and full and inviting, the smell of hot Butterbeer hitting them full-on as they walked through the door.
Ian led her to a table, just tucked away enough to afford them a kind of privacy.
"What would you like, dears?" Madam Rosmerta asked.
"Butterbeer, please!" Bonnie said, as she shrugged out of her coat and took off her cap, scarf, and gloves.
"And the same for me, thank you," Ian said.
"Two Butterbeers, on their way."
"Thank you," Bonnie said, earning a smile from Rosmerta as the landlady made her way back to the bar.
"What?" Bonnie asked, catching Ian smirking once again.
"Nothing," he said quickly, turning to drape his coat over the back of his chair. "Are you always this nice? To everybody?"
Bonnie shrugged.
"Why shouldn't I be?"
"Hufflepuffs," Ian said. "Never cease to amaze me."
Bonnie crossed her arms on the table and leaned into them.
"That's because you're jealous of our tight-knit friend groups and late-night butterbeer parties."
"You have those?"
"Oh, all of the time."
Bonnie lowered her voice and leaned forward conspiratorially.
"When we get really crazy," she said, "We even throw in some cookies and Firewhiskey."
Ian raised his eyebrows at her, just as Madam Rosmerta came back with their Butterbeers.
Bonnie thanked her again and wrapped her hands around the mug. Three Broomsticks' Butterbeer was one of her favorite parts of Hogsmeade trips.
"What do you do in Slytherin?" She asked before finally taking a sip of the warm, sweet liquid.
"We're not nearly as much fun as Hufflepuff seems to be," he said. "Though there is a hidden cabinet stocked with elf-made wine and red-currant rum. Usually only opened after exams are through. We're really a very quiet sort."
Bonnie didn't think she could live with quiet. She wasn't exactly a quiet kind of person. An hour or two on her own in the library was always nice, yes, but after that she always felt a keen longing to find her friends.
Bonnie Hargrave just was not a solitary animal.
"So," she said, when Ian did not seem willing to continue the House difference discussion, "It's O.W.L year. What are you thinking of doing after Hogwarts?"
"I suppose it will depend if any place will have me," he said. Ian took a long drink of Butterbeer, swallowed heavily, and stared at a place about Bonnie's right shoulder. "What I really want to do," he said, "Is to work in the Department of Mysteries. But something tells me they wouldn't want me."
"You can't know that."
"Bonnie, even you were taken aback when I told you my surname, first year."
Bonnie ducked her head and stared at the foamy contents of her mug.
"Rosier," Ian spat. "And they didn't even give me a distinct first name. Evan, Ian."
The bitterness in his voice cut through even the sweetness of her Butterbeer.
"I never even knew my father, really," he said, voice darkening by the second. "And yet they expect me to be just like him..."
His hand around his glass tankard was beginning to tighten dangerously. Bonnie imagined she could almost hear the glass shrieking in panic. Quick as a flash she reached out, brushing her fingers against the tightened hand.
Startled, he relaxed his grip almost immediately, and she drew her hand back to rest in her lap.
"Sorry," he muttered, and lifted a shaky hand to smooth his hair. He hadn't lost that habit, she noticed, since she'd first met him.
"It's not a problem at all," Bonnie assured him. "Anyway, your teachers know you. We have Herbology together - Professor Sprout doesn't often take to Slytherins, but she likes you. She all but told me, when I stayed to help put numbing potion on the Venemous Tentacula..."
Ian seemed to be breathing normally again, and the bemused smile he seemed to wear whenever he was in her company surfaced.
"You really like Herbology, don't you?"
Bonnie nodded eagerly.
"Herbology and Potions are my favorites," she said. "I just...I love helping things to grow. You start off with just this tiny little seed, and soon there's a...a Venemous Tentacula or Hellebore, or Foxgloves..."
"And then, I take it, your love for the plants led to a greater understanding of how potions work?"
She nodded again.
"I don't think Professor Snape quite understands how a Hufflepuff is doing so well in his class," she said, holding back a giggle.
"Well, then, let me fire your own question back at you," Ian said. He'd finished the last of his Butterbeer, and pushed the mug toward the center of the table. "What are you thinking of doing after Hogwarts?"
"St. Mungo's Healer," Bonnie said almost immediately. "But...that means I have to get at least an "Exceeds Expectations" in Transfiguration which...may not be possible. I'll probably end up being a Welcome Witch instead."
She looked so put-out that Ian had to struggle just to keep from laughing.
"Well," he said, when he'd managed to regain a straight face, "You do have time, you know. And, as it happens, Transfiguration is one of my better subjects, while Potions...let's just say, is not my strongsuit. And I'd need an "Exceeds Expectations" in order to be an Unspeakable."
"Don't you need an "Exceeds Expectations" in nearly everything to be an Unspeakable?"
"More or less," Ian said, and though he didn't smile she could see some kind of good humor in his eyes. "But what I'd like to propose to you, Bonnie, is a trade: I'll tutor you in Transfiguration, if you'll help me with Potions. In that way, we'll both get "Outstandings" on our O. and will be more than able to get "Exceeds Expectations" when N.E. come around. What do you say?"
"I'd say...you have a deal."
"Good. Good, we'll meet on Tuesdays after dinner for Transfiguration, and then we can do patrols after. And we can do Potions on Saturday mornings."
"Sounds good to me, but, um...where will we meet? I highly doubt that Professor Snape will..."
"I know a good place for both," Ian said. "I'll show you after dinner on Tuesday."
"Won't it get in the way of your Quidditch practice?"
Ian had made Chaser in third year. Bonnie didn't know much about Quidditch, but he seemed quite good.
Well. He never fell off of his broom, anyway. Which was about as much as Bonnie knew to look for.
"No, it shouldnt," Ian said. "Flint has fairly solid schedules. Most don't even come near meal-times."
When Bonnie had finished her Butterbeer they paid Madam Rosmerta and headed back into the cold air. The wind had picked up, and was having fun tugging on Bonnie's hair and the tassled ends of her scarf.
"Oh, let's go to Honeydukes!" Bonnie said with the enthusiasm of a much-younger child. She grabbed Ian's hand and began to tug him in the direction of the shop. "I have to get candy for the Halloween party this...oh! You will come, won't you? It's in the Hufflepuff Common Room, but I'm sure I..."
"Hold on, there," Ian said, though he still followed behind, his gloved hand caught in hers. "Honeydukes is one thing, the Hufflepuff Common Room is quite another. I don't really think I would be welcome..."
"Oh, nonsense. They're Hufflepuffs, they'll come to their senses."
Bonnie pulled Ian into Honeydukes, where she immediately ducked into the aisles and aisles of sweets.
"Chocolate Frogs. Bertie Botts'. Ice Mice. Sugar Quills."
"How much money are you willing to spend for this Halloween Party?"
"We've pooled our money. I'll end up spending maybe a Galleon, at the worst."
Bonnie was so busy loading a hand-basket with sweets that she hardly noticed when Ian disappeared. He did come back moments later, holding a half-unwrapped chocolate bar. Bonnie was sufficiently distracted to not notice the blue spark that jumped from the bar when Ian snapped a piece off.
"Here," he said, holding the hunk of chocolate out to Bonnie. "Try this, it's really quite good."
Bonnie looked at it, then up at him, and smiled.
"Why, thank you," she said, and popped the chocolate in her mouth.
"Why are you looking at me like -"
There was a pop as Bonnie finally bit into it, her eyes went wide, and her hair flicked up, as if caught by a sudden breath of wind.
"Shock-o-Choc?" She shrieked, gasping for breath and swiping at her tongue with her (thankfully ungloved) hand. "Ian Eustace Rosier, I am going to murder you..."
"Eustace? That's not even my..."
"I. Don't. Care. Ohhh, just you wait, my friend, I will repay this..."
"You're crazy."
The store had gone quiet, every patron looking at them.
"Sorry," Bonnie mumbled, and ducked behind Ian to grab some caramels, muttering darkly about "Veritaserum in your pumpkin juice..."
"Bonnie," Ian said when Bonnie continued to glare daggers at him, "I'm sorry. Really I am, but you should have seen..."
Bonnie grinned, throwing poor Ian off his track entirely.
"Oh, it's quite alright," she said breezily. "The entirety of Hogsmeade now thinks your middle name is Eustace, so I'd call it even." She reached into her bag and pulled out two packages.
"Don't worry," Bonnie said, handing him a Chocolate Frog, "This one hasn't been tampered with..."
"Am I really going to have to be on my guard from now on?"
"Oh, quite. Just remember...I am the one helping you with Potions, now."
Ian glanced at her warily.
"They should have put you in Gryffindor, you know, you're crazy."
"The Hat considered it," Bonnie said, all but bouncing.
"I am not," Ian said, as they passed Zonko's Joke Shop, "Going in there with you."
"I wasn't going to ask you to," Bonnie said, happily biting off her frog's head. Then: "Oh, look!" in such an excited tone that Ian leaned closer to look at the card, "I got Helga Hufflepuff! She's my favorite."
"She would be," Ian replied evenly.
Bonnie stuck her tongue out at him.
They went back to Hogwarts that evening, cheeks pink with cold, laden with purchases, and laughing - closer friends than when they had left.
As Bonnie had expected, Maggie, Thalia, Tess, and Patricia were waiting in the dormitory when she arrived.
"So," Patricia said eagerly as Bonnie changed out of the borrowed clothes and into shorts (Hufflepuff was always quite warm) and an oversized long-sleeved Hufflepuff shirt. Bonnie tilted her head and grinned, despite the black hair elastic clenched in her teeth.
"It was good," she said as she wrapped the elastic around her ponytail. "Very good, actually. Ian's a wonderful person to be with."
Thalia and Tess turned to each other and raised their eyebrows.
"Oh, stop!" Bonnie exclaimed, then pitched Fizzing Whizzbees at them. "I bring you candy, and this is how you treat me."
She tossed a Chocolate Frog to Patricia and a pack of Sugar Quills to Maggie, then stowed the rest in her trunk, to be saved until Halloween.
The rest of the girls seemed determined that "something more", as they said, had happened at Hogsmeade. All through the week they continued to pepper her with questions. Bonnie was peculiarly happy that they were repotting Mandrakes in Herbology - the earmuffs protected her from more than the ugly plants' shrieks.
The whole castle was gearing up for Halloween, and there were even rumors flying that Dumbledore had employed dancing skeletons for entertainment at the feast.
True to their discussion, Bonnie and Ian met that Tuesday after dinner, and Ian, with a mysterious glint in his eye, led her round and round the same hallway.
"Ian, what..."
"You'll see," was all he said.
Much to Bonnie's surprise, a door appeared in the wall.
"But that...that's never been there before!" She said.
Ian laughed.
"It's called the Room of Requirement," he said. "It appears if you have need for it. It's apparently been a broom-cupboard a number of times. And you can find it if you know how to look. Come on."
He opened the door and let her walk in in front of him.
The room she stepped into was small and filled with books and knick-knacks on shelves along every wall. It was illuminated by a large gold chandelier which hung from the ceiling above a round table made of shiny, dark wood. Two round-backed chairs with arm rests and red seat cushions faced each other across the table, which was covered with intricate-looking diagrams and spell instructions.
"It'll be different when we come for Potions," he said. "It changes according to..."
"What you require," Bonnie finished, nodding as she turned her head back to look up, up at the top of the shelves. "This is amazing."
"I'm glad you like it, Bonnie," Ian said.
His smile was softer than she had yet seen it. "Shall we get started?"
They began with the simplest things, turning matches into needles and back again and that sort of thing. First-year stuff, just to get started, and Bonnie managed without much trouble.
"Good," Ian said, waving his wand to return everything back to its normal state. "Now that I know what you can already do, we can begin the more difficult spells next week."
The door to the Room of Requirement closed behind them and vanished immediately, leaving the two in an empty hallway.
"I believe," Ian said, "We have separate patrols, now. Bonnie Hargrace, it's been a pleasure."
He kissed her hand again (why, Bonnie didn't know) turned, and vanished around a bend, robes fluttering behind him. Bonnie shook her head and smiled before she turned in the opposite direction. She didn't know if she'd ever understand Ian Rosier. But at least she was closer now than she had been.