Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.

A/N: Bent the love potion rules a little, and the prefect rules a little! I'm not too well versed on Harry Potter so I probably bent a lot of rules, actually. Hope you still enjoy the piece!

Gale's being a dick.

Rory's used to it, really. He grew up with him for crying out loud, and things only got worse when Rory was placed in Gryffindor like their father. Gale owned up to being Slytherin 100 percent, and was a Slytherin at heart, but there was a bitter that resonated because their father had been a Gryff and Gale hadn't.

So, to make up for it, Gale's a dick. Whenever Rory's surrounded by his friends Gale will appear and remind him of that one time when Rory was a baby and he had that rash… or sometimes Rory will be talking to Primrose Everdeen, the most beautiful Hufflepuff to ever attend Hogwarts, and Gale will cut in as though he can't see with his own two eyes that Rory is trying to make a move.

It's Rory's friend Jasper that gives him the idea. "If Gale's always messing up your love life, maybe you should mess with his."

Rory frowns, "I don't know." He pushes his dinner around with his fork, not looking up from his plate. "Gale's pretty good with girls. And besides, I wouldn't even know where to start."

Jasper laughs and elbows Rory slightly. "You're kidding. Aren't you? Rosie's got the hookup, Rory!" Still not understanding, Rory shrugs slightly. "Love potion," Jasper whispers. Rory's eyes bulge out of his head. Love potion is strictly forbidden at Hogwarts. "No, wait a minute," Jasper rested his hand on Rory's shoulder. "The potion Rose has got only works if your brother has feelings for the person."

With a groan Rory pushes Jasper's hand away. "Gale doesn't have feelings for anyone." This time last year Rory would've suggested Katniss, whom Gale was infatuated with since the beginning of time, but after an awkward summer of trying to date things never worked out. Katniss has a boyfriend now anyway.

"It doesn't have to be a lot of feelings," Jasper says. "Just think about it. Has Gale ever said anything? Hinted toward something?" Rory furrows his eyebrows together and lifts his chalice for a drink of water.

Gale's good with girls but never keeps any around for long. Rory thinks as hard as he can and glances across the room at his brother sitting in the Slytherin section. His friends around him are laughing about something – Godric only knows what, but Gale isn't joining in with the merriment. His eyes are distant, focused elsewhere. Rory follows Gale's gaze all the way to the other end of the Gryffindor table and his jaw drops open.

Directly in Gale's line of sight sits a pretty blonde, formally known as Madge Undersee. "Jasper," Rory whispers. "Call for Madge."

Jasper frowns, "What for?"

"Just do it!"

"Hey, Madge!" Jasper calls. The blonde looks up, a smile filling her face. "C'mere for a sec!" Madge lifts an eyebrow but nods, removing herself from her seat and making her way from her end of the table down to theirs. Gale's eyes follow her the whole time.

Madge approaches them and Rory retracts his gaze before Gale can catch him staring. "Yes?" she asks, stopping by the boys.

"We've got a Charms exam coming up," Rory says quickly, thinking on his feet. "I'm not doing so hot. Do you think you could help me study?"

Madge laughs a little and rests her hand on Rory's shoulder, squeezing once. "Course I can. I told you that you can always come to me for help." Rory grins cheekily and Madge removes her hand. He can understand what Gale sees in her. "Anything else?"

"Yeah," Rory fibs, casting a glance where all of the professors are seated. Madge's eyes follow and she turns her head. Also thinking on his feet, Jasper reaches up and tugs a strand of Madge's hair from her head. She jumps a little and returns her eyes back to them, furrowing her eyebrows. "Wait. Never mind."

Madge lets out an awkward laugh. "Okay. Well you know where to find me."

"Sure do," Rory nods. She walks away and he turns immediately to his friend. "Did you get it?"

"Got it," Jasper grins, holding up a perfectly golden strand of Madge Undersee's hair.

Finishing off the love potion is easy. Rose got the potion from her uncle's shop for free and because she and Jasper are such good friends she's passing it along for free as well. "Uncle George said never let anything go for free, but because it's a prank I think he'll understand." She grins as she hands it over. "Good luck."

And so, the next morning, Rory takes the small bottle of love potion over to Gale.

Gale's sitting beside Thom, the bags under his eyes are dark and heavy. Gale isn't exactly a morning person, not in the least. He has his head down and is shoveling oatmeal into his mouth, still half asleep from staying up too late the night before.

Rory slips into the free seat beside him and Gale stiffens, turning his head slightly. "What the bloody hell do you want?" Gale grumbles.

"I just wanted to say good morning," Rory frowns. He makes himself comfortable. "You always come to me when I'm with my friends, I figured I'd come see you when you're with your friends." It's in this split second that Gale turns his head to Thom and rolls his eyes, and this is when Rory pops the lid off of the bottle and pours the potion into his oatmeal. Gale turns back to Rory and the younger brother shrugs slightly, hiding the bottle back in his robe. "Is that a no?"

"That's a no," Gale grunts. He shovels another bite into his mouth. "Get out of here, Rory. Go sit with your house."

Rory eyes the oatmeal once and nods his head. "Fine." He walks away with a grin.

Gale starts to feel funny a little after breakfast. His mind is distracted. He keeps searching the Gryffindor table to find someone though he can't figure out who it is he's looking for, exactly. He rubs at his forehead and looks where Rory and his friend Jasper are sitting, whispering about something and laughing much too loudly.

"Hey," Thom calls for Gale's attention. "You feeling okay?"

"Fine," Gale mutters.

The first years begin dispersing for morning classes but Gale can't shake the feeling that something is off. He pushes himself from his seat, yelling over his shoulder that he'll be right back, and chases after Rory. The crowd gets too large for a few moments and Gale loses him, but quickly he recovers and finds Rory and Jasper walking by themselves off to the side. Gale nudges his way around people before he gets to his brother, pulling on the back of his robe and forcing him to a halt.

Rory spins around and pales at the sight of his brother. "Gale," he croaks. "What's up?"

"What's up?" Gale echoes. "What's up? What'd you do to me, you little shit?"

"Nothing!" Rory lies. He's never been a good liar. "I just thought, you know, since you're so rude to me all the time, well, Jasper's idea really—"

"What. Did. You. Do. To me."

"It's just a love potion," Jasper squeaks. Gale releases his hold on Rory and takes a step away, casting a wary glance in Jasper's direction. "It's not a big deal." Gale narrows his eyes at the kid and Jasper grabs Rory's robe, pulling him away slightly. "Put it in your oatmeal!" Jasper says from a few steps away.

"A what?" Gale growls. The hallway is quickly becoming empty, just Gale and these two stupid first years. A love potion. Rory opens and closes his mouth, about to talk his way out of it when he realizes there really is no way to get around it. There's no real excuse for this. "Godric, Rory," Gale drags a hand through his hair and jerks his head to the side, trying to wake himself out of this. His stomach is beginning to feel weird. "At least tell me who the girl is so I can—"

Gale's cut off midsentence by the potion kicking in. His vision blurs slightly, his mind is overwhelmed at once. No, no, no…

"Madge," Rory says, smiling now that he's got quite a distance between himself and his older brother. "Madge Undersee. You know her, don't you?" Gale's hands are sweating, he wipes them on his pants and gives his brother another look. "But the love potion only works if you've already got some sort of feelings for the girl, so you're in the clear," he teases. Now that Gale's slipping into the effects Rory is much more confident he's not going to die today. "Right?"

Gale's fingers twitch and he balls them into fists at the sound of Rory and Jasper's giggling. "If you fuck this up for me," Gale forces out, "because of a bloody love potion, I will drag you into the Forbidden Forest and no one will ever hear from you again."

Almost out of nowhere Madge's voice rings from over Gale's shoulder. "Excuse me?" she frowns. Gale spins around at once, the breath being knocked from his chest. Holy hell, she's beautiful. "Five points from Slytherin," she adds, her blue eyes narrowing in annoyance at him. Why's she got to be a prefect, for crying out loud?

"Perfect timing," Jasper cheers.

"Late for class," Rory adds. The two sprint away laughing, leaving Madge and Gale alone in the hall.

The second Rory and Jasper's footsteps can no longer be heard the words bubble up from Gale's throat, "You look nice."

Madge's frown deepens. "Sorry, Hawthorne, but you're not getting your house points back."

"No, I don't," he drags a hand through his hair. His mind is screaming at his feet to leave this situation immediately but he finds himself glued to the ground. "I don't give a shit about the points." And instead of away from the situation he paces toward her. Madge shifts awkwardly on her feet. "Has anyone told you that you're beautiful?" he blurts. He hates his mouth for working against him. How did Rory know? "Shit, Undersee have you ever looked in a mirror? How can you look this fucking good and think that it's okay?"

Her cheeks burn red, "Um." She clears her throat and takes a step away from him, fidgeting with her maroon and gold tie. "What?"

"Your hair is like fucking sunshine. And your eyes, Godric, your eyes, you just look like a summer day for crying out loud." He shakes his head. Stop talking, he thinks. "And your freckles. I am in love with your stupid fucking freckles."

"I…" Madge doesn't leave time for awkward silence. "Am also late for class," she decides. She steps backwards, her crystalline eyes narrowing at him, and sprints away before he gets a chance to follow her.

Fuck. Fucking balls, this wasn't supposed to happen. He thinks Madge is nice to look at, sure, and she's kind and brave and sweet and overall just a spectacular human being, but it was never supposed to move this fast. He had thought about making moves on her before but their relationship, their friendship is hardly existent. That was what he needed to work on first, before he could make any advances. But now?

Bloody hell, it's going to be a long day.

Gale manages to make it to his first class but by the time he sits down he actually feels as though he's going to burst. His fingers are twitching, his throat has a knot in it. Madge is literally the only thing that he can think of.

He wonders what it would be like to run his hands through her soft hair. More than once Gale pictures Madge wearing his green and silver tie besides her own and the thought nearly has him undone. She would look way too good in Slytherin colors. She would look way too good sprawled out on his bed, his silver pillowcase, her golden hair fanned out and her lips parted slightly. Gale sucks in a sharp breath and tries to redirect his attention. It doesn't work very well.

While switching classes Madge gets the uneasy feeling that someone is watching her. She turns her head slightly and finds Gale a few yards back, his eyes fixated on her person. The moment she spots his silver stare his eyes move. He hardly looks like he was caught staring. But her eyes linger, and in a few moments his eyes switch back to her. Again as he notices that she's looking at him, he looks away.

She hurries to her next class.

But between that class, and the next, it happens again. Madge cuts through the crowds until she finds Peeta surrounded by his Hufflepuff friends laughing about something. Quietly asking to borrow him Madge grabs his wrist and tugs him away from the group.

"Peeta," she looks over her shoulder than back at him. "I think something's wrong with Gale."

Peeta smirks, crossing his arms over his chest. "Oh? Do tell."

"Don't look at me like that," Madge frowns, mimicking his stance. He's known about her little crush on him for a few years now. It started back when Katniss and Gale were really good friends, not that they aren't really good friends now, it's just a different dynamic. Madge never considered having a chance with Gale, he was clearly in love with Katniss, but that never stopped her from hoping. And now that the whole Gale/Katniss fiasco is over and Katniss is happily dating Peeta, maybe her chance is a little higher. But this, it isn't a good sort of update. "He's… it's as though he's following me around."

"Following you around?" Peeta asks. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Madge shakes her head. She looks over her shoulder again. "This morning he was threatening Rory and I took points from his house, because those are the rules, and then he started saying things like how he was in love with my freckles." Peeta blinks a few times, his eyebrows slowly furrowing together. "I think he was just trying to get the points back, I don't know." She reaches up and rubs the bridge of her nose where the freckles reside. "It was weird. And now I think he's following me."

"Because you took points from his house?"

"I don't know, Peeta!"

Peeta scratches at his jaw, trying to think of the best thing to tell her, when Gale all of a sudden comes crashing through the crowd of Hufflepuffs that Peeta had been with. Madge looks up at Peeta, and Gale makes the most embarrassed face, and a very unmanly giggle escapes Peeta's throat. Madge sucks in a panicky breath and quickly retreats.

"Ah, Madge!" Gale forces himself up on his hands and tries to get off the floor. Peeta extends a hand to Gale who accepts it and brushes off his slacks as he stands. "Thanks," Gale grumbles, his eyes already back looking for Madge. "I just," he shakes his head, "I've got to talk to her."

"You do you," Peeta says. "I'll just do me, way over here." He rejoins his friends and cautiously watches as Gale elbows his way past students to find Madge once more.

As the day goes on the effects of the love potion get worse. Gale becomes less aware that he's on a potion and more and more convinced that he is irrevocably in love with Madge Undersee. It's not just her looks anymore, it's everything about her. It's the way her laugh sounds like bells ringing, it's the way she chews on her bottom lip when she's nervous. Gale remembers every interaction he's ever had with her, the soft lullaby of her voice and the way she says his name. Thom catches him doodling Madge's name with hearts during their potions lecture. He elbows him and Gale shoots him a look.

"What?" Gale hisses.

"What me? What you, nimrod," he motions to the drawing. "The hell? I knew you fancied her but Godric—"

"Fancy?" Gale shakes his head, and then drops his gaze back down to the doodles. "I'm in love with her, Thom." Thom blinks a few times before a laugh bubbles out of him. Professor Abernathy shoots them a look and Gale shrugs before smiling. "She's like tangible sunshine," Gale continues quietly. "And her voice, it's like a lullaby. And her smile, has she ever smiled at you, Thom?" Gale sighs and continues doodling. "Utter perfection."

"You've got to be kidding me," Thom says with another laugh ready to burst out of his chest. "Gale, who drugged you?"

"Nobody drugged me," Gale mutters. "Rory, he's just opened my eyes to my true feelings. She's beautiful, and smart, and sweet, and her hands are soft and she smells like vanilla, and she's so patient I don't think I've ever met anyone as patient as her, and…"

Thom's seen the effects of a love potion before. It doesn't take much for him to piece it all together, the way Gale's babbling like a freaking idiot. "Fine," Thom smirks, cutting off Gale's endless list of why Madge Undersee is utter perfection, "then you should ask her out."

"Ask her out?" Gale echoes.

"On a date," Thom nods. He can have some fun with this, too. And not out of cruel intentions, but just because it's been awhile since anything exciting has happened. Besides, Gale pines over Madge more than he realizes it. Maybe this stupid potion can lead to something great. Gale blinks a few times, clearly thinking this over. His fuzzy love-brain is trying to make sense of it. "If you're in love with her you've got to start making moves, brother." Suddenly Gale is nodding, agreeing with this motion. A date! He's going to ask Madge Undersee on a date! "But," Thom drops his and on his shoulder. "You've got to be smart about it."

"Smart about it," Gale repeats. The excitement of the idea is fading slowly. "What do you mean?"

"You're acting a little weird today," Thom says. Gale wrinkles his nose, not entirely comprehending. Thom puts it in terms that Gale will understand, "She thinks so, anyway." If Madge thinks he's acting weird then Gale will change his behavior to be less weird. "So point that out. Admit you're having an off day. Be sincere about it. Don't be jumpy, or spazzy, or… weird."

"Right," Gale agrees. "Okay. Sure. If you say so. Will she say yes? You think she'll say yes?"

"If you're sincere about it," he nods.

Gale nods again, "Course I'm sincere about it, I love her."

"If you say so," Thom chuckles. He pauses, "But don't tell her that."

He finds her after lunch. She ate quickly and kept her eyes downcast, but the second she was done he rose and followed after her into the empty hallway.

"Madge!" Gale calls. Quickly the blonde speeds up, trying to wind her way through the open space as fast as she can, but Gale has long legs. He catches up to her easily, pulling on the back of her shirt to get her to stop. "Listen, Madge—"

"Gale Hawthorne," she spins around and takes a big step back. "You are way too close to me."

He frowns and lets his hand fall lamely to the side, "Listen, Thom told me I've been acting weird and I wanted to apologize. Alright?" She blinks a few times. Despite the fact he's been following her around like a freak his words sound sincere. "It's just, I'm," his hands start to sweat. He's never been this nervous before. The feeling unsettles him. "I, um. I want to ask you out. On a date." She blinks a few more times, her lips parting slightly. At the sight Gale licks his own and her cheeks turn pink when she notices. "You're beautiful and smart and witty and brave and, Madge, I-I just want to take you on a date."

Gale Hawthorne has turned into a stammering nervous buffoon. He wipes his hands on his pants and fidgets with his tie, waiting for her answer. Madge's face softens, she suddenly understands why he's been a psycho all day. He was anxious.

"Okay," she nods slowly. Gale's eyes light up, fireworks shoot through his veins. "Okay, sure."

"Really?" he laughs. Madge nods again, her lips curving into a smile. She never thought that Gale could be nervous like this but it's incredibly adorable, and the following around earlier… it might've been a little strange but that's okay. It was sweet in the end. "Great! That's, wow, okay. Great. Tomorrow? We can go to Hogsmede, yeah?"

"I'd love to," Madge admits. She brushes her hair out of her face and tucks it behind her ear. Her eyes have a hard time holding his because she's so blown away that Gale Hawthorne has shown some interest in her. She hasn't gone entirely unnoticed in his life. "What time?"

"We can leave in the morning," Gale goes on, slowly closing the distance between them. "Ten? Is ten okay?" Madge nods another time, trying to bite down her smile. She doesn't understand where this burst of friendliness is coming from but she likes it. "Great," Gale says again. He grabs her cheeks and tilts her chin up, quickly pressing his chapped lips against hers. "Awesome. See you then!"

Gale sprints away leaving Madge startled, holding her hands to her mouth.

Gale wakes up in the morning with a sense of dread pooling in his stomach.

He remembers it all. Every little bit. He remembers fawning after Madge Undersee, following her around to get a whiff of her stupid vanilla shampoo, doodling her name into his notebook. He asked her on a date. He kissed her. Gale sits straight up in bed and looks around the room. He finds Thom at his bed pulling on a shirt.

"Morning, Sunshine," he cheers. Gale scowls at him. "Feeling better?"

"You fucked it all up you bloody idiot," Gale growls, throwing his blanket off of his bed. Thom cocks an eyebrow. "It wasn't supposed to happen like that!"

"Whatever do you mean, my good friend?"

Gale rubs at his eyes and groans. "Madge," he says. It wasn't supposed to be like it was yesterday. He likes her, yes, but he wants to do this on his own time. He wants her to like him, not some crazy love potion version of himself. "You encouraged it you asshole."

"Making moves," Thom says. "Making moves."

"The wrong ones. I kissed her." Thom cocks an eyebrow at Gale who is still rubbing at his eyes. "It wasn't me. It wasn't even me." Gale pulls away from his hands and finds Thom standing a few feet away with his face full of guilt. "It's not your fault," Gale sighs. "I just, I don't know what to do."

Thom sinks onto the edge of Gale's bed, reaching onto the floor and grabbing the blanket from the ground. "You could go on the date with her that you wouldn't stop talking about last night," Thom suggests. "I mean she did say yes."

"Not to me," Gale annunciates.

Thom frowns, "Then you could retract your offer. But—"

Gale shoots him a look, "But?"

"But I feel like that'll do more harm than good."

He disregards the warning.

When Gale sees her approaching he feels sick. She looks incredible. Her hair is curled, her Gryffindor scarf is wrapped around her throat. She's smiling so sweetly that Gale can't believe he's about to do what he has to do. When he doesn't approach her, when he stays leaning against the wall, Madge slows down.

Her smile fades a bit as she moves toward him, she bites on her bottom lip. He tries to remember what it was like when he kissed her last night, it must've been nice. Her lips are sweet, she probably tastes like the tea she had with breakfast.

"Hi," she says quietly.

Should he say it back? "Hey," Gale murmurs. Suddenly she feels very small, and Madge knows that something is wrong. "Listen," Gale starts slowly, "we should talk about yesterday." Madge nods her head in agreement, unsure what it is that they have to talk about. "I don't actually want to take you on a date." His voice is calm and cool, and it's that coldness that infiltrates Madge. Her cheeks feel pale, her stomach empty. "Yesterday, anything that happened, it wasn't me."

"What…what do you mean?"

"Use your brain, Undersee, I know you've got one."

Her jaw drops at his annoyance to the situation. Yesterday he was so kind to her, adorably sweet and nervous and entirely not like himself. She shakes her head as the realization washes over her.

"Love potion," she breathes. "It all makes sense now." Madge is scared that if she speaks too loudly her voice will crack, will give away the fact that her eyes are starting to prick with tears and her ribcage is getting tighter. "You would never do those things," Madge whispers.

He would never ask her on a date. He would never kiss her. Not unless magic was involved.

For once, Madge really hates being a witch.

"Undersee," he starts, but she shakes her head and forces a smile.

"It's okay. I should've realized." It was so bloody obvious. Madge backs up quickly and looks away from him. He doesn't miss the way her eyes glass over. "I've got, um, some studying to do." She tugs awkwardly on her scarf and spins around as fast as she can before nearly sprinting away from him.

It's in the sound of her footsteps does he realize that he's made a mistake.

Gale can hear her voice from his common room. "You get Gale Hawthorne and you bring him out here. Now." With a groan he closes his textbook and slips out the door, finding Katniss waiting for him with fire in her eyes. It's times like this he wonders how she wasn't placed in Slytherin, but then he figures out why it is she must be here and receives his answer. Katniss is the bigger person here. She grabs his tie and drags him down the hall away from the entrance to Slytherin's common room. "You've got a lot of explaining to do," she snaps.

"Rory was a little shit and gave me a love potion. There's nothing to explain."

"Nothing to explain?" Katniss echoes. "You're full of it. Do you know how mortified Madge is now?"

"She's embarrassed?" Gale asks. "She is? Are you kidding me?" She wasn't the one doodling names and hearts into her notebook, she wasn't the one practically crawling on the floor just to get a glimpse of him.

"She likes you, Gale," Katniss frowns, hitting him in the shoulder. Katniss's declaration makes his stomach feel weird, almost as though there's still some love potion in his body. "You asked her on a date and she thought you were serious. And she said yes. And now she just looks like some big joke because you were on a love potion the whole time."

Gale shakes his head, "That isn't my fault."

Katniss tugs on her braid and looks around the room, trying to figure out a way to get Gale to understand this. "Flip the situation," she says. "Imagine that a girl you've fancied for a long time suddenly, out of the blue, starts showing interest in you. Before that you didn't even think she really knew you existed." Gale frowns. Madge felt this way? "Then she starts flirting with you, calling you handsome, I don't know. She asks you on a date to Hogsmeade. You say yes. The next day she comes to you and takes back everything that happened."

His stomach still feels weird. "She's fancied me for a long time?"

"Since before the summer we gave it a go," Katniss says, her ears turning a bit red at the admission.

"And she didn't think I knew she existed?" he asks.

"You've always been a bit brash with her," Katniss mutters. "And your half-assed attempt at being friends doesn't count for much when it's only a conversation once a month."

"Godric," Gale drags his hand through his hair and takes a step back from her. "I fucked it up, didn't I?"

Katniss doesn't say yes or no, she only sighs.

When Peeta finds Madge by the lake she's fighting back her tears. He's just returned from Hogsmeade. His plan was to stay all day but when he didn't see Madge amongst the crowds he knew something was off and headed back. Just the night before she had been so excited about everything happening. And though Peeta didn't understand why Gale all of a sudden was showing feelings for her, he was happy that Madge was happy.

He stoops down next to her and she tilts her head away, sniffling as quietly as she can.

"It was a love potion," Madge croaks. Peeta nods, he heard the gossip spreading through the hallways. He reaches over and rests his hand on her shoulder and squeezes, and Madge slowly leans into him. "I'm so stupid," she mutters.

"No, no," Peeta shakes his head and pulls her closer. "You're not stupid."

Madge cries, "Yes I am!" She looks up at him as tears leak from the corners of her eyes. "Peeta, why would he ever like me?" She swats at her face with the back of her hands to get rid of her idiotic tears. Madge has never felt worse than in these moments. "I'm never going to be good enough for him, why did I ever think that—"

"Stop," Peeta sighs loudly. He pulls away slightly, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration. "Listen to yourself, Madge. Like your self-worth has anything to do with whether or not Gale Hawthorne likes you or not. And to hell with him if he doesn't, because he's missing out on something spectacular!" Madge blinks a few times as Peeta shakes his head again. "You're thousands of times better than he is." Madge sniffles again. "Okay?"

"Okay," she nods hesitantly. "Okay. You're right." She shouldn't let a boy get to her like this. It's just… "He kissed me." Madge sighs and feels her stomach sinking. "I just thought… I thought it'd be different."

It wasn't like Gale wanted to make Madge the laughing stock of the school. In fact, it's the complete opposite of what he wanted. How had word gotten out so quickly? It wasn't like he rejected her, not really. Fuck, why did love potions make things so complicated? There was a reason Hogwarts banned them!

Gale kept his eyes open for Madge every chance he got, somehow feeling the need to explain himself further than he did. He wanted to tell her that maybe, in different circumstances, a trip to Hogsmeade would be acceptable (such as him not being drugged). And perhaps, next weekend he was free, they could maybe give it a try (as long as no one spiked his oatmeal).

Finally he gets her class schedule from Delly (well, Thom got them from Delly but what's the difference) and decides to make a move. On Wednesday morning he takes a few secret passageways to get to her classroom before she does and is there before she shows up.

"Undersee," he calls out her name when she's still a few yards away. Madge is walking by herself and when she looks up and sees him her heart drops into her toes. And instead of the thoughtfully planned out speech he had spent writing in his mind the past few nights, he says the stupidest thing he could ever say. Gale sprints to her, stopping right in front of her. "Go out with me."

Eloquent, really.

"Mm," Madge hums and forces a polite smile, sidestepping around him quickly. "No thank you."

She starts to walk away but he follows, placing his hand on her shoulder so she stops. "Undersee—"

"Gale," she turns around quickly and shrugs off of his hand. "I'm not going to be your stupid joke." He sees the hurt in her eyes and the guilt festering inside of him begins to leak. "It's not funny anymore. It never was."

"Will you just—will you at least let me explain?"

"There's nothing to explain," she says, walking away again. Madge has spent the past few days regaining her dignity and pretending not to watch him out of the corner of her eye. There have been an endless amount of girls mocking Madge for what happened to her, some even pointing out how they didn't need love potion to get Gale to drag them into a closet and steal a few kisses. She's over it. "Just leave me be."

"Madge," he tries, but she slips into her classroom before he can say anything else. Gale lets out a groan and hits himself on the head.

What else is there that he can do? But then it hits him.

Rory.

"Red alert!" Jasper shouts as Gale approaches. Rory is too slow to notice what's happening and Gale waves his wand, casting a spell to keep Rory in place anyway. "Hey, that's against the—" again with a flick of his wand he silences Jasper.

"This is an emergency," Gale mutters. He waves the wand again, muttering the spell to allow the annoying brat that Rory calls his best friend to speak again. "Rory I need your help, and I swear to Godric if you don't I'm going to write Ma immediately and tell her what you've done."

Rory's jaw drops, "I gave you a love potion! It's not the end of the world!" Rory keeps trying to move his feet but he's stuck. Gale's a dick sometimes, but he is a good wizard. "What do you want from me?" he groans.

"I need a favor."

A few minutes after Madge has settled into the common room by the fire, Rory Hawthorne drops down into the seat next to her with his giant charms textbook and a dorky smile on his face. Madge turns to him as he awkwardly extends the book, and then she laughs.

"Alright," she opens the textbook. "What is it you need help with?"

They flip through the textbook and Madge starts explaining to Rory the concept of the mending charm. They're about twenty minutes into the conversation, Rory taking quick notes, when they start drifting into normal conversation.

Madge has always liked Rory – and not because he's Gale's brother but because he's a very enjoyable human to be around. Rory has always been a very happy-go-lucky kid, eager to learn and happy to be at Hogwarts. But the problem with Rory is that he does remind her of Gale.

So it slips when Madge says, "If only Reparo could fix a broken heart." Rory perks up, his eyes widening. His job just got infinitely easier and also a bit harder, all at once. "Oh, Godric," Madge holds her hand to her mouth. "I didn't mean, Rory, I'm sorry—"

"It's fine," he shakes his head, looking back down at his notes. "I heard what happened with Gale." Madge shakes her head again, not wanting to talk about it. "I, um, actually," here comes the hard part. "I wanted to apologize about that."

"Oh, Rory, it wasn't your fault."

"Eh…" he reaches up and awkwardly scratches the back of his next. "Actually…" Madge turns to face him and the blood runs from his face. "I never wanted you to get hurt," Rory squeaks, looking away from her. "Gale, he… he always picks on me. You know that. I wanted him to feel… I wanted him to feel stupid for once." Madge looks down at the charms textbook in her hands and thinks it weighs too much. "I'm sorry. I really am."

"No, no," again she waves it off, though she can't help but feel a bit betrayed. "It's okay. You're a good kid, I know that."

"And if I had known that you liked him I never would've risked it."

"Rory, honestly," Madge lifts her hand and rubs the bridge of her nose. "I'm alright."

"It's just stupid how things turned out," Rory mutters. This is the easy part. "The potion I used, we got it from Rosie. Her uncle's shop. It only works if the person actually likes who the potion is for." Madge's fingers begin to tingle.

"What did you say?"

Rory returned his eyes to Madge. "Yeah. I wouldn't make him go after someone he had no feelings for. That wouldn't have been embarrassing enough." Her cheeks run hot. "Honestly, Madge? Gale totally likes you."

"Rory, no," she shakes her head again, her eyes unable to meet his. "We… we should be studying, let's go back—"

"Madge," Rory frowns. "When I told him what I did he said, 'If you screw this up for me because of a stupid love potion…'"

That was when Madge walked in on Gale threatening Rory. She remembers. And right after that was when all of his weird but awkwardly sweet comments about her started coming out.

"He said that?" Madge asks.

"It was a little more vulgar," Rory admits, "but yeah." Madge finds herself looking at the Charms textbook in her hand again, her eyes not really focusing on the words. "Gale's rude but you're a great person. I don't know why you like him considering he has nose hair and forgets to shave sometimes, but I never would've done anything to hurt you." At that Madge laughs a bit, and Rory's smile brightens slightly. "Are you mad at me?"

"Of course not," she shakes her head. Her own plan is spinning around her brain. "But we should get back to studying."

Gale is much too tired to be awake. He hasn't been sleeping very well, tossing and turning and thinking about how much better things could've been if he hadn't screwed it all up. Not only that but he keeps flashing back to that one thought of Madge, of her laid out on his bed, curled into his sheets. Fuck, the idea of it hurts too much to even think about.

With a huff of air he trudges toward the dining hall.

Before he makes it someone is tugging on the back of his robe. He spins around and finds Madge, her eyes a little wide and her lips parted. She's nervous as all get out but she needs to do this.

"Madge," he croaks in surprise, his voice comes out raspy.

"Has anyone put anything into your drink today?"

"Not that I know of," he frowns.

"Do you like me?" she asks. Point blank. No hesitation, no double meanings.

And just as quickly, "Yes." Before he can say anything else she's wrapped her hand around his silver and green tie and pulled him down to her. His lips meet hers a bit more roughly than anticipated and he groans in shock. She pulls away much too soon and Gale reaches out for her, determined not to let her get too far. His voice is high, "What was that?"

"I wanted to know what a kiss from the real Gale Hawthorne was like," Madge says.

"That was hardly a real kiss," Gale murmurs. His hands find her hips and he slowly pushes her backwards. They move slowly until they hit the wall, Madge's eyes still wide. "Two days ago you wouldn't even hear me out," he says, shaking his head. Her hands snake up his chest until they find his tie again. Her pale fingers wrap around the fabric and tug him toward her a minuscule amount. "I mean I told Rory to apologize but I didn't think these would be the results."

"He might've said more than just sorry," Madge tells him.

Without waiting for her to elaborate, Gale lowers his lips to hers. This kiss is unlike the first two. There's no rush. He takes his time. Gale feels her smile against his mouth. She tastes like mint toothpaste. Before he knows what's happening her hands are in his hair. He groans again, this time at the feeling of her body pressed against his.

"Wait a minute," Gale pulls away slowly, his lips still dangerously close to hers. They brush as he asks, "Has anyone put anything into your drink today?" Madge laughs and shakes her head to the side. "You sure, Undersee?"

"Positively positive," she nods. "Rory just told me that his blasted love potion only worked if you actually liked me."

Gale tips his head forward, his lips curving upward. "And I do," he responds softly. "I didn't… I just didn't want it to happen like that." Their gaze is strong, her bright blue eyes locked with his steely ones. "That wasn't me. And though I wanted to take you on a date, Godric, I did, it didn't feel right for me." Gale looks away for a bit. "I could've gone about it in a better way. I know that. I wasn't thinking things through."

Madge nods a little, "I agree. But I understand."

"And then you wouldn't talk to me," he points out. "Wouldn't let me explain that I'd much rather ask you on a date when I was in control of my own feelings rather than Rory having poisoned me." Madge rolls her eyes at the word poison, but she's smiling anyway. He sighs and leans back a little. "Besides," he drags out his words, "if you had made more effort in past years then maybe this wouldn't have taken so long."

"If I had made more effort?" she laughs, knowing that he's teasing. Gale grins. "If I had made more effort? Gale Hawthorne!"

He kisses her again, a few short quick kisses all over her face as she laughs and swats him away. Eventually his kisses slow, Gale works his way up Madge's pale chin, back to her neck. "Madge," he whispers. Her hands are pulling his shirt toward her in fistfuls. His breath tickles her skin, "Will you please go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" She nods slowly and can feel his smile against her throat. "Great," he breathes.

"Are you going to turn me away when I show up this time?" she asks.

"Are you joking?" Gale shakes his head and tilts her chin up. "It was hard enough the first time. You in your blasted Gryffindor scarf with your hair looking all nice and that sweet smile you've got." He stops talking when she bites her lip to suppress her smile. "What's that look for?"

"You sound like love potion Gale."

"I'll have you know I'm capable of many compliments," Gale tells her. "And I remember everything I said to you while I was off my rocker and they were all 100% true." As an afterthought he adds, "I probably wouldn't say half of it ever again, but I always thought it all."

"So you think I'm smart and witty and brave?" she asks.

"Obviously."

"And beautiful?" she adds quietly.

"Incredibly," he murmurs. Gale remembers having said something about tangible sunshine and doesn't think there's any better way to describe it.

Madge smiles sweetly. "I guess you're okay too."

Before Gale can dip down and kiss her again – hell, he can't get enough of her – Rory and Jasper walk by groaning. Both Madge and Gale pull apart to look at the two friends. Rory looks disgusted, but a little relieved, and Jasper just looks plain disgusted.

"I don't think this was part of the plan," Jasper mutters. Rory drags him into the dining hall without saying anything in response.