Belle dropped her bag on the table, exhausted by the weight of her textbooks. Yawning, she looked around blearily for Neal and Jefferson. Normally, she was the last to arrive at their table during lunch hour, so she was quite surprised to find their spot empty.

They weren't far behind, though: Neal appeared a few moments later, walking with Emma into the Great Hall. They were still talking even as Neal slipped off his bag and slid into the seat, Emma following suit.

"…just exploded all down the front of my robes, and he just looks at me and says—" Neal deepened his voice and sneered, doing an uncanny impersonation of Snape—"'Mr. Cassidy, if you cannot follow simple instructions, how do you expect to achieve anything higher than a T on your O.W.L.?' I mean, is that really necessary to announce in front of the whole class?"

"'Course it isn't," Emma said, taking a swig of pumpkin juice. "That's what makes him such a git."

"Did he give you detention again?" Belle asked, pulling a platter of casserole toward her and scooping some onto her plate.

"Of course he did," Neal said through a mouthful of bread. "I'm starting to think he just enjoys my company."

"You should have asked him to the Yule Ball," Emma snorted. Neal turned to her, raising his eyebrows.

"Having second thoughts, Nolan?"

"Well, I'd hate to get in the way of true love."

Belle laughed as Neal rolled his eyes, reaching for his goblet. "Speaking of," he said, "did you hear about Hunter asking Ruby Lucas?"

"Of course he asked her," Jefferson said from behind as he sat down. "You saw how Jones humiliated her in front of everyone, no way he was going to make her live that down without asking her."

"Where were you?" Belle asked, twisting in her seat. Jefferson grimaced.

"Arguing with Binns about the length of my essay."

"Goblin wars paper?" she asked, making a face. He rolled his eyes, nodding.

"After fifth year, I'm done with History of Magic," he said, pulling a plate toward him. "I can't last another year with Binns."

"You know," Emma frowned, tapping her fork, "I'm surprised it took me this long to hear about Hunter asking Ruby. She's got the bed next to mine. You'd think she'd have told me."

"I'm surprised she didn't announce it to the whole school," Jefferson snorted.

"When did he ask her?" Belle asked, swinging her head to look at him.

"Well," he said, chewing past a potato, "you know how he had to walk her back to the Gryffindor table because she was too embarrassed to remember how to walk? I think he asked her then."

Emma made a noise of frustration, and hit the table. "Damn, I forgot!" She looked at Neal, grimacing. "Dress robes. Still haven't bought mine."

"Dress robes." Neal cursed. "I forgot about those."

Jefferson raised his eyebrows. "Wait, you're going?"

"Of course, he is," Emma said scathingly. Jefferson ignored her.

"Did you ask anyone? Are you taking someone?" he demanded, pointing his fork at Neal accusingly. "You didn't tell me anything."

Neal blinked. "I'm taking Emma," he said, jutting his thumb at her. Jefferson looked between the two of them with wide eyes.

"You two are going together?" His mouth fell open.

"Yeah," Emma said, folding her arms defensively. "Problem?"

"No, it's just…" Jefferson shook his head. "Am I the only one without a date now?"

"Belle doesn't have a date," Neal said, picking up his fork again. Belle stared at him.

"Thanks."

"Hang on, if you two are going together—" Jefferson turned to Belle and pointed between the two of them—"why don't we go together?"

"Oh, there's an idea," Emma said brightly.

"No, I don't want to go with you just because those two are going together," Belle frowned. Jefferson heaved a sigh.

"Fine," he said, rolling his eyes. "But you better hope someone hurries up and asks you. You're cutting it close."

"Who's left?" Neal frowned. "I thought there were loads more."

"Not really," Jefferson said, going back to his potatoes. "I mean, there's always Booth, from Slytherin—"

"No," Belle said instantly. "No way I'm going with Booth."

Jefferson shrugged. "Just as well. He's already asked nearly every girl in our year, and they've all turned him down."

"What about David?" Neal said suddenly. Belle raised her eyebrows.

"David, as in David Nolan, David?"

"I could ask him for you, if you like," Emma offered. "I'm sure he'd take you."

"No, I heard he already asked someone else," Jefferson said, not looking up.

Emma's eyes widened. "Who?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. But I'm pretty sure he's already got a date."

Belle groaned. "Who else?" she asked, burying her head in her arms.

"There's Victor Whale."

She lifted her head to stare at him incredulously. "Victor Whale?"

Jefferson blinked at her. "Okay, I'm going to take that as a definitive no."

"Come on, she can do better than Whale," Neal said.

"All right, let me think." Jefferson tapped his fingers against his lips thoughtfully. "Mmm… Jones?"

"Jones?" she said witheringly. "I don't think so."

"Loxely?"

"Oh, but he's so obnoxious," she complained.

"Scarlet, then."

"Who?"

"The Hufflepuff Seeker."

She made a face. "He's so immature."

"Well, you're running out of options," Jefferson said bluntly. "Just go with me, all right?"

Belle sighed heavily. "Fine."

"Good, then it's settled," he said, satisfied.

"Anyone else think it's weird, about Jones and Scarlet?" Emma asked thoughtfully. "You'd think those two would've had dates by now. Quidditch players usually go like that—" she snapped her fingers.

"Scarlet's shorter than most of the girls in our year," Neal pointed out. "And Jones is just an ass."

"Set me on fire at least ten times in our last Charms class," Emma grimaced, showing them the singed edges of her robe.

"Oh, you should have seen what she did to my hair in that class!" Neal said to Jefferson, grinning at Belle. "Do you know, I had to go to Transfiguration like that? McGonagall was furious."

"Was she really?" Belle said, raising her eyebrows. Neal nodded, beaming.

"Said I looked absolutely ridiculous, and if I walked in her class like that again—" he put on a falsetto voice and wagged his finger at them—"detention, young man! For the rest of the year!"

"Bad year to be unpopular with the teachers," Belle said over the sound of Jefferson's and Emma's laughter. "They might let you fail your O.W.L.s."

"Oh, no, I don't want to talk about O.W.L.s now," Emma complained, her laughter dying instantly. "Please, can't we just forget about them? Just for a while?"

"No!" Belle and Jefferson said together, horrified. Emma groaned, tilting her head back.

"But I'm so tired of studying, and I've got six months left of it," she bemoaned. "I don't want to spend lunch talking about how I'm probably going to fail, anyway."

"Speaking of failing," Jefferson said, nodding to the right. Belle followed his line of vision to see Jones standing near the Ravenclaw table, looking intensely uncomfortable. She frowned: what did he want?

He looked startled when he caught her suspicious gaze. "What's wrong with him?" Jefferson said beside her.

"I don't know," she said, shaking her head.

Jones scratched the back of his head in an uncharacteristically nervous gesture. Belle narrowed her eyes when he started walking toward them.

"He's coming over here," she muttered.

"Why?" Jefferson whispered back.

"Well, how should I know?" she hissed.

They bickered back and forth under their breath until Jones stopped in front of them, looking very pale.

"You all right, mate?" Jefferson asked, furrowing his brow. "You look like you're going to be sick."

Jones barely glanced at him. "Can I talk to you?" he said to Belle, no trace of his usual smarminess present in his voice.

"Go right ahead," she said, pointedly not moving. Jones closed his eyes briefly.

"Can I talk to you in private?"

Belle twitched her mouth to the side indecisively. "All right," she relented, getting up. Jones looked momentarily relieved, then glanced around for somewhere to talk.

"Over here," he said, beckoning for her to follow him to the Slytherin hourglass. Belle smiled in satisfaction as she passed her own House's hourglass, noting that there was a greater amount of sapphires in the Ravenclaw hourglass than emeralds in the Slytherin one.

"Okay," Jones breathed, backing into the space between the two hourglasses. Belle folded her arms, raising her eyebrows expectantly. "Uh…" He fiddled with a loose thread. "I just, uh… I wanted to…"

"Hurry up, Jones," she said impatiently. "I've got better things to do right now."

A shadow flitted across his face. "I was just wondering if you'd consider tutoring me," he said finally. "I didn't want to ask in front of all your friends, I'm not exactly proud of having to ask for help, but…" He shifted his gaze to his feet, a muscle jumping in his jaw. "But I need it."

Belle blinked in surprise. "Oh," she said. "Tutoring…"

"Yeah, I remembered what you said the other day," he said, some of his old cockiness creeping back into his voice. "And it kills me to say it, but you're right. I don't want to embarrass myself in front of a bunch of Ministry officials. And I figured since you're the best in our year…"

Belle tilted her head, considering. On the one hand, she was impressed he had been able to humble himself enough to ask for her help. On the other hand, he was still an arrogant bully. "I don't know…" she said hesitantly.

"Look, I know I don't have any business asking you to help me, after…well, everything," he said abruptly. "But I'm really running out of options here. So—" he raised his eyebrows quizzically—"you willing to help me or not?"

Belle looked at him for a few minutes, tapping her foot as she thought. Finally, she blew out a breath. "I know I'm going to regret this," she said. "But I'll help you if—IF—" she held up a finger—"you apologize to Ruby and Graham."

The relieved smile slid off his face instantly. "You want me to apologize to Hunter?" he said incredulously. "Are you mad?"

"Those are my terms," she said, folding her arms. "If you want my help, that's what you have to do."

Jones looked furious, curling his hands into fists. "Why?" he said roughly.

"Because I'd like to see you as humiliated as they were the other day," she said acidly. "And either way, I get my way. You can either humiliate yourself in front of a bunch of Ministry wizards, or you can humiliate yourself my way." She smiled sweetly. "Your choice."

He clenched his jaw, his eyes darting around with the effort of keeping his temper. "Fine," he said through gritted teeth.