There was no way in this world that people like myself or Tom could ever become wizards of the dark arts. It just didn't sound right.

...

"What's with that smile?"

I started, looking up from my desk and at him. He'd been looking at my expression for awhile. "Nothing, I'm just glad that out of the whole house of Slytherin, there's at least one other person who isn't awful or crude. And that one person is my friend."

He rolled his eyes. "How romantic."

"Oh, yes. Very."

Professor Slughorn cleared his throat, but then winked at us as all of the other students turned to looked away from him and at us.

"Sorry Professor." We chimed in union, then went back to taking notes for our next potion—the aging potion.

"Now. Every person to have done this generally happens to be about your age, and every person asks the same thing at some point. And just what is that question?" Professor Slughorn paused and looked around the room. "Go on, don't be shy now. Ask me."

Walburga was the first to raise her hand. "What all is in it?"

"No, no, no. Not quite. Any one else?"

Almost ashamed, Walburga slowly lowered her hand. I saw her sneak a glance over in Tom's direction before she hid her face from both of our views. I smiled sympathetically. It was no secret that she had feelings for Tom, but still he hadn't noticed her. When I looked back up at him, I saw him looking straight at Slughorn and nowhere else. Ever so faintly, his cheek twitched.

There was a slew of different answers, none of which were what Slughorn had been looking for. Every time he looked in our direction, Tom's face would ease from his usual empty stare into a more open and inviting one. The minutes droned on, and the Professor's face grew more and more defeated.

"For something everyone asks, no one seems to know what it is, do they?" Tom leaned to me and whispered this as he raised his hand.

"Tom!" Professor Slughorn called out, a look of hope in his eyes.

"Does it reflect you as just an old person, or you as your future self?"

Professor Slughorn smiled. It was all I could do no to roll my eyes at the smug grin that I could see underneath his modest nod. When he looked at me, his eyes had that familiar glint. He had proved a point. He knew more than they did.

"Yes! That is exactly the question I've been asked, time and time again. Not now of course, but that's besides the point. Anyway. Tomorrow we will test this. Tonight, I want each and every one of you to study tonight on how exactly to make it, and tomorrow you will come in without your books and do an individual potion experiment. This will be graded as an exam."

We were up all night, hidden away in the library, studying. This would be the first time since we had been first-years that Slughorn had made us work without each other.

"It's all you're fault, Clarissa, you know that right?" Tom had whispered to me that night. I nearly dropped the lantern that I was holding above our books, but didn't.

"My fault? How on earth is this my fault? How is it anyone's fault, for that matter?"

The look on his face was knowing. He was so sure of himself. "You were smiling like an idiot during class and encouraging conversation. Had you not done that he wouldn't have separated us."

At first I laughed, thinking he meant this as a joke, but he didn't smile, and this time I did put the lantern down. "Oh, so now I'm an idiot then, am I? Mind the fact that you were the one who started the conversation in the first place."

"You tempted me to."

"I tempted you too? Tom—." I stopped when I saw the look on his face. If I kept pressing, all it would do was make things worse. "All right Tom. Alright, you win."

The look was gone, and he motioned for me to pick up the lamp again so that we could read the book. I never said anything else, only sat there trying to memorize the ingredients of the potion. Never had Tom gotten so worked up about something that he would openly show so much aggravation...not in front of me at least.

When we finally packed up our things and snuck out of the library, we only would have had a couple of hours at most to sleep. I only got a handful of minutes—I was kept awake trying to figure out the severity of what his expression could have meant. Thousands of different scenarios ran through my head of how to ask him about it the next morning. After all, I was his closest friend there wasn't I? It would only be natural for me to worry about it. I sighed, and rolled over, peaking out at the beginning of the sunrise from the small space of the canopy. Surely it wasn't that big of a deal. It wasn't like we had a huge fight or anything. I closed my eyes, and within seconds I was out.

I plopped into my seat in the great hall the next morning, directly across from Tom as always. There wasn't a sign of wariness on his face, or anything to show that he'd only had such little sleep. Me on the other hand? It showed. My brown hair was more than just soft waves—it was a horrifying typhoon of un-tameable destruction, and my eyes were as dark underneath as Blodwyn Bludd's, and everyone knew he never slept at night.

"You look like you've slept well." He noted sarcastically, before taking another bite of his eggs.

"Not in the least." I reached forward and grabbed my food. Again, I wondered if I should ask him. I decided to ease into it. "You don't get mad very often, do you Tom?"

He laughed at this, his eyes locked on mine as he became curious, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "You've been my closest friend since we were first-years, and you're asking me if I get mad very often?"

"You're right Tom, that was a silly question." I smiled, picking at my eggy-a-basket. It felt kind of nice to hear him say that. "I was just worried because of how you were acting last night. I've never seen you show so much emotion."

"Oh...that." He stabbed his fork in his eggs a couple of times before he looked at me again. "Forgive me for saying this, but...I was merely upset at the thought of having to work in potions without you. I wouldn't have made it this far without you, and if Slughorn finds out, he'll never let me back into the Slug Club."

I tried to laugh at that, but something about his demeanor was off. Something about what he was saying was true.

Tom noticed what was running through my head, as always. He smiled at me, "You're my lucky charm."

…

Tap, Tap, Tap.

I slowly felt myself coming-to. Someone had been making some sort of racket on my—.

"Ow, bloody hell. What was that for?" I rubbed the back of my head and looked up to see the cold gray eyes of Professor Merrythought, who held her wand from the thinner end, still pointed at me. She'd been using it as a blunt weapon to flog me awake.

"You'll never find yourself defending anyone from any arts, Miss Mimsy, let alone origami, if you carry on this way. Stay after class to finish you're notes."

"But, Professor Merrythought, I have an exam next class!"

"Well, then, you should have thought of that sooner."

I do plan on having some stuff actually happen at some point, I'm only setting the scene and mood and the what nots. Please review so I know whether or not I'm doing any good! Lol. I'll write more soon, but right now I'm dead tired. :p