Christmas is... awkward, to say the least, so Rajani is quite glad when it's finally time to return to school. At least until she remembers that she'd confirmed to Queenie that she plans on asking Ed out for the next Hogsmeade trip.

She's reminded of this promise when she sees the sixteen year old at the first Feast back to school and Queenie nudges her in the side. Hard.

"Ow, jeez, yes I remember." She grumbles, feeling herself flush slightly when Ed glances over at them with one brow raised. Rajani waves him off and he shrugs and returns to chatting with his friends. "I'll ask later this week, give us a chance to settle back into school."

Queenie sighs dramatically. "Fine fine. I'm just excited for you! Your first crush!"

Rajani smiles tightly. She doesn't really feel like 'crush' is the right way to describe her feelings towards Ed, but as she can't think of a better word - aside from 'friendship' which she doesn't think counts - she stays quiet.

"Queenie chill, you're crowding her." Nia scolds lightly. "And I still say being single is the superior relationship status."

"Lies." Queenie, Eugene, and Clary all state at the same time, and Clary giggles and lightly pushes Lenox, who's seated beside her.

"What's with not defending my honor?" She teases lightly. Lenox just smiles in return and Rajani feels the usual twist in her gut, which she angrily shoves down. She'd never given Lenox a second thought romantically until Clary had developed her own crush on him, so really she has no right feeling angry about their relationship.

"You'll be eating your words when you finally meet someone who suits your picky tastes, mark my words." Queenie declares grandly, pointing dramatically at Nia as she does. "Els, you're with me, right?"

Elspeth glances up slightly, shrugs noncommittally, and turns back to her food.

"Ha! She's on my side." Nia declares, and this of course devolves into a debate about indications of agreement between the two that Rajani is only too happy to tune out as she finishes her meal.

She's able to keep putting Queenie off for the rest of the week, continuously citing classwork as an excuse for why she can't go ask Ed out right that second.

Of course, the reason these excuses are accepted is because schoolwork really has increased dramatically since the fall, and their study sessions in the Slytherin common room are dragging out longer and longer. On Fridays they push right up until ten o'clock, when they have to leave to go to Astronomy class.

On their way up that Friday they end up running into one of the Prefect patrols - more specifically they run into Ed and a Hufflepuff girl, who raises her eyebrow in curious amusement when Queenie makes a rather embarrassing noise and waves their friend over.

After a quick word with his partner, Ed jogs over, grinning. "Can't talk long. What's up?"

Queenie attempts to elbow Rajani, but she dodges away having expected it.

"It's probably a bad time to ask, but would you want to go to Hogsmeade with me in a couple of weeks?"

Surprisingly, once he's right in front of her, the words come easily. Rajani tilts her head slightly - why had she been so worried again?

Ed beams. "Hey, yeah, that would be fun! We'll talk more later, I've got to get back to patrol and you've got the whole Astronomy Tower to climb." With that he heads back over to his fellow prefect and the fourth years continue on their way.

"There, now you can stop being so dramatic about the whole thing Queen." Rajani quips as she walks past her clearly disappointed friend.

"I'm happy for you, I just expected a lot more stuttering." Queenie admits with a laugh as she does a quick skip to keep up with Rajani. "I wasn't even that chill asking Eugene out the first time and we were just about done with the engagement arrangements."

"That was pretty impressive." Clary admits ruefully. "All of you saw how incredibly dorky I was asking Lenox out last year."

"It was cute." Lenox tells her with a soft smile, and Clary happily grabs his hand.

"Yeah, I am pretty adorable." She agrees cheerfully.

The rest of the night goes by with thankfully little pestering from Queenie, though Rajani knows it's only because Professor Sinestra is on high alert for students chatting instead of doing their assignment. And by the time they stumble back into the Slytherin dungeons, just before midnight, everyone is too tired to stay up and chat about dates.

The next morning Rajani manages once again to escape her friends by waking up early and sneaking off to the library to continue working on Ancient Runes, which as always is the hardest class for her to get her head around.

Unfortunately this results in her bumping into Donaghan while she's looking for the translation book that Professor Babbling had suggested they use for their latest assignment.

"Oh, um, sorry, you can use it." He offers awkwardly, holding out the book that he'd already grabbed from the shelf. He's resolutely refusing to make eye contact with her, and honestly Rajani is rather glad for it.

"No, you found it first, it's fine. I'll get it later, I can work on, something else in the meantime."

She nearly says 'Potions', which is in fact what she needs to study in preparation for Monday's double block, but quickly catches herself. She's still all too aware of the fact Donaghan used to be her study partner for potions, and saying that would probably come across as mocking or cruel.

Donaghan pulls the book back after a moment. "Alright. Well, good luck." He mumbles, before hurrying away.

Rajani lets out a slow breath and makes her way back to the table she'd claimed. So far 1988 is not going particularly well. Hopefully her Hogsmeade date with Ed doesn't follow the same pattern the rest of her life seems to be.

Luck ends up being on her side for that wish. Ed catches her outside the Great Hall the following evening and pulls her to one side. She waves Queenie and Eugene on ahead of her, ignoring Queenie's poorly muffled squeal of excitement.

"Hey, so Hogsmeade?" He grins, and she smiles in return.

"I was thinking it could be a sort of date, just to see if it would make sense to take our friendship a step further. That is, of course, if you'd be interested in doing so." Rajani is acutely aware of how formal she sounds, but she doesn't worry about coming across as stiff since Ed laughs.

"Yeah, I think I'd be interested." He agrees. "Shall we shake on it then?"

Rajani can't help but laugh and shove him slightly. "Oh come off it. I better catch up with Queenie and tell her the news before she implodes from the weight of her own nosy-ness."

Ed grins and salutes her as she heads into the Hall, and she may stick out her tongue in response in a rare show of immaturity.

"That boy brings out the worst of me. My parents will be horrified." She announces as she sits in the seat Queenie had left open for her. "But I suppose it matches my current teenage rebellion."

Nia snorts. "Your idea of teen rebellion is pretty tame Raj." She teases. "Call me when you set something on fire, then we'll be talking rebellion."

Queenie finally runs out of patience and prods Rajani in the side. "Is it a date or not?" She pesters.

Rajani considers letting her stew in retaliation for the jab - it had actually hurt - but decides ultimately it wouldn't be worth it. "Yes, it's a date. Nothing more than that, we just want to see where things take us." She acknowledges.

Queenie beams. "I'm so excited for you! You've got to let me help you pick your outfit!"

Rajani hadn't really been planning on worrying about what she was wearing, so she has no problem agreeing to Queenie's request.

Two weekends later, as they're preparing to go to Hogsmeade, Rajani regrets this decision.

"Rajani Misra how do you have absolutely nothing cute to wear?" Queenie sighs dramatically as she tosses aside another of Rajani's dresses. "Honestly these are all so dark and brooding, where's the color? That's it, you're wearing one of my dresses since you have terrible fashion sense."

Rajani glares at her. It's only seven in the morning and frankly that is far too early to be dealing with Queenie's fussing. "It's not even really an official date Queen, stop being so dramatic." She grumbles.

Queenie smacks her, though it's with a dress so it's not at all painful. "Hush you, appearance is always important. Try this one on, I think it'll be cute."

Rajani reluctantly complies, eyeing her own clothes that have been left in a pile on the floor. Queenie has to help her zip up the dress, but when she turns around her friend claps excitedly.

"It's perfect! Nia, Els, Clary, confirm for me." She waves the other girls over and they sleepily make their way out of their beds.

"It does look good. Green is a really nice color on you Raj." Nia observes with a nod. "I mean, obviously, but still." She adds with a grin.

"It's fine. Dresses are dumb though." Elspeth mumbles, stifling a yawn as she does.

"Dresses can be good in the right circumstances." Clary notes. "Though I'd argue that the crack of winter probably isn't the ideal time to be wearing one."

"Language." Queenie reproves. "But she looks fantastic does she not?"

Clary grins. "Ed will be blown away."

Ed does compliment her dress when he takes her coat later as they settle down to have lunch in Madame Puddifoot's Tea Shop. It's a bit of a gaudy place, but Rajani finds it amusingly charming nonetheless.

"Thanks, it's actually Queenie's." She responds to his compliment as he pulls out the chair for her.

He grins. "Well tell Queenie she has excellent taste in clothing."

"I will not, she'd be utterly insufferable if she heard that." Rajani replies primly, and then grins when Ed starts laughing.

"Fair enough. So I've been here a couple of times before and I thought we could split the mixed platter. It's got some sweet, some bitter, and some spicy which I recall you liking."

Rajani grins. "I do like a bit of heat, but how would one make mini cakes spicy?"

"With great skill m'dear." A stout woman replies brightly as she bustles up to their table. Her black hair is pulled up in a tight bun and she's beaming so much that it's actually making Rajani uncomfortable. "Did I hear an order for the mixed platter?"

Ed looks over at Rajani. "Did you want to share?"

She shrugs. "I'll trust you on this. One mixed platter to share, and could I have your chai?"

"And one Earl Gray for me. Thank you Madam Puddifoot." Ed adds and the owner happily takes their menus and bustles off.

"Earl Gray? Very adventurous." Rajani notes with a sly grin.

Ed shrugs unrepentantly. "Don't mess with a good thing I always say. And Earl Gray is most definitely a good thing."

"You know, I've never actually had it." Rajani admits after a moment. "We only have Assam and Chai on hand in our house."

Ed raises an eyebrow teasingly. "Chai huh? Sound like someone's not being very adventurous."

Rajani laughs. "Fine fine. You can try mine and I'll try yours, how about that? Then we'll both be adventurous."

The conversation meanders through a series of topics after that as they wait for their food to arrive. The tea comes first, and as promised they each try each others'.

Rajani makes a face. "Way too bland for my taste." She admits, handing the mug back to Ed. "And just for the record, that Chai pales in comparison to what we get shipped in from our hometown - I'll have to bring some back next year for you to try."

Ed snorts. "Are you sure you're not just trying to make excuses for if I don't like it?" He teases, taking a sip as he finishes speaking.

"Not at all, just making an observation." Rajani grins back. "What do you think?"

"Not my favorite." He says after a moment's contemplation. "But I can see the charm. I think it would need to be paired with something for me to drink a full mug." Despite saying that he takes one more sip before handing it back to Rajani.

"Well," She observes. "I guess we'll just have to try again when the food gets here."

Ed grins. "I suppose we will."

The cakes arrive shortly after and Rajani has to admit to being impressed by the kick in the spicy ones.

Ed grins at her surprised sound as she bites into the first cake. "Told you they were good. Here, try this one with the Earl Gray, they compliment really well."

She accepts the offered cake and takes a bite, sipping his tea afterwards.

She hums lightly. "They do match nicely, though I still can't say I'm the biggest fan."

Ed laughs warmly. "Well you can't say fairer than that. Which do you think matches the Chai?"

Rajani is honestly surprised when she realizes the time over two hours later. They'd continued to chat and slowly work their way through their food, occasionally pausing to laugh at some of the other couples being cheesy or make cheeky comments about the gauche decorations of the tea house. When they finally finish, Ed insists on paying for the meal.

"Fine." Rajani eventually gives in and puts her coin purse away. "But I'm paying next time."

Ed raises an eyebrow, and then smiles. "Next time? So I'm tolerable company then?"

Rajani gives him a sly smile. "So far you're doing well. We'll see if that keeps up."

Ed smirks right back at her. "Challenge accepted m'lady."

They take the remaining time in Hogsmeade to wander between the shops, ducking from one heated area to the next and collecting sweets, pranks, and one rather fascinating book that Rajani finds on a back shelf of Tomes and Scrolls.

"I admit I had a lovely time." Rajani tells Ed as they walk back towards the castle at the end of the day.

He takes her hand, and she squeezes it reassuringly. It's a rather nice weight, so she lets him keep holding it as they walk.

"Well I'm glad to hear it. We'll have to go again on Valentine's day - Madame Puddifoot's goes all out and it's delightfully awful."

Rajani grins. "Well I'll look forward to it." As they reach the gates she spies Queenie trying to discretely peer around a corner to spy on them. "What say you we give our audience a show?"

Without waiting for an answer she tugs him closer and gives him a firm kiss on the lips. Ed is clearly surprised, but only too happy to go along with it, and Rajani finds herself quite enjoying their impromptu make-out session in the snow.

"Okay I get it you two are adorable! Get inside before we all freeze to death!" Queenie finally shouts, laughing but also shivering.

Rajani laughs and finally pulls away from Ed. "To be continued." She promises with a grin.

She's rather looking forward to keeping that promise.

Valentine's day lands exactly a week before Quidditch season starts again, so of course the topic of conversation is Quidditch.

Not that Franziska really minds, but she is slightly miffed that a year into their relationship (well, not officially but they were at least dating on the fourteenth the year before) they don't have anything else to talk about.

Still, it's cute how excited Brandon is.

"If Ravenclaw can beat Slytherin by literally any number of points, then Gryffindor has a clear shot to the Cup! The team is doing really well in practices now and just between us I've been trying to brew up a little liquid luck for Drake since he's the weakest member of the team - don't tell him I said that he'd be pissed - but even Fiona is really shaping up and everyone was worried about that replacement since, you know, Laurel was really something else. Not Gwenog Jones something else but-"

"Isn't brewing liquid luck cheating? And also against school policy?" Franziska interrupts, raising an eyebrow and glancing around the Three Broomsticks to make sure no one overheard. "And way above our brewing capabilities?" She adds after a moment.

Brandon scoffs. "You underestimate me my lady." He declares grandly, and Franziska sighs.

Honestly the date isn't bad, none of them are, but since learning that there had been a lot of people interested in her before Brandon had asked her out, Franziska has been a little less taken with her boyfriend and a little more curious about what could have been if she'd just waited it out a bit. It makes her feel terrible - she really does like Brandon after all - but at moments like this it's hard not to consider the missed opportunities.

They return to the castle a bit early so that Franziska can work on Arithmancy with Aidan, and she's rather glad to be thinking about numbers instead of brooms for a few hours.

The entire week following is a blur of studying and stressing - she did terribly on a Muggle Studies essay and it's caused her to become rather worried about her overall grades in the class - so when Brandon sits next to her on Saturday morning she's briefly startled. Then she remembers that it's game day.

"You two are sitting in Hufflepuff right?" Leona pesters them eagerly. "It's neither of our Houses playing so you'll just have to support me!"

"I'm not sure it works like that." Brandon points out amusedly.

"But yes, we'll be sitting Hufflepuff." Franziska assures Leona, who beams.

Brandon shoots her a look, but opts to chat with Aidan instead of speaking up, and Franziska is more than happy to strike up a conversation with Kiera and Tonks about their latest Care of Magical Creatures project. Their descriptions of being covered in mucus multiple times during their lesson the day before make Franziska even more happy about taking Ancient Runes instead, even if it is a harder class homework-wise.

Brandon tugs her aside as they leave breakfast a half hour or so later.

"Hey, I thought we'd sit in the Gryffindor stands today? I mean, you did sit in Hufflepuff during the first game, and we sat in the Hufflepuff stands last game. Isn't it sort of time to sit with the Gryffindors."

Franziska blinks. Honestly she hadn't even thought of it that way - she just wants to support Leona and feels the Hufflepuff stands are the best place to do that. "Well if you had a problem why didn't you say anything earlier?" She replies somewhat defensively. He's not wrong after all - they are supposed to be alternating and she's been very decidedly not doing that so far this season.

"I didn't want to start something in front of our friends." Brandon shoots back, and Franziska glares.

"'Start something'? Really? You've had all week and last weekend to have told me about wanting to sit with Gryffindor and you didn't, this isn't on me!"

"I figured you were smart enough to already have figured it out!" He replies angrily.

Franziska huffs out a breath. "I'm not a mind-reader Brandon, and I'm always going to want to sit with my House. If you want me to sit somewhere else you need to actually communicate that!"

"You know what, I'll just sit in Gryffindor, you sit in Hufflepuff. I'll see you later."

Franziska watches him walk away, feeling distinctly bad but too angry still to try and stop him.

"Well this is a stupid thing to have our first real fight about." She grumbles as she hurries towards the Quidditch pitch so she can hopefully still get a seat with her friends. She had promised Leona she'd be there to support after all, so despite wanting to go curl up in her bunk and bounce her football off the wall for a bit she can't do so without being a bad friend.

Her friends are already crowded at the front, and there's no room left, so she picks her way higher up the stands and finds an open spot next to Roderick Jarvis, a second year that Franziska tutors on occasion. He gives a half-smile as she sits down next to him.

"Hey Rod, how has your year been so far?" She asks politely, because she knows him and as much as she doesn't feel like idle conversation she doesn't want to be rude.

He shrugs slightly. "Alright I suppose. Classes are hard but Jemma's study groups do help."

Franziska had forgotten about those completely. She had asked Roderick to help Jemma set them up at the start of the school year but she hadn't heard anything about them since. It does explain why Roderick doesn't ask her for help as much anymore.

"That's great!" She says genuinely. "Jemma was really excited about those, I'm sure she's thrilled they're working so well."

"She stops in sometimes to offer help, but it seems like you guys have all been really busy since break ended." Roderik replies uncertainly, and Franziska can't help but laugh faintly.

"That's an understatement. Take it from me, learn how to study now or fourth year is going to be a very unpleasant wakeup call." She sighs. "I'm definitely not looking forward to OWLs next year."

"Drake isn't worried at all." Roderik mumbles. "But he's so busy with his girlfriend I think he just forgot they were even happening."

Franziska snorts, somehow unsurprised. She doesn't know Jemma's boyfriend all that well but he seems the type to forget about exams. "Well, Jemma will definitely remind him, she's already planning a study schedule for herself."

Roderik hums. "I might do that too. Make a study schedule." He clarifies quickly. "If Drake wants to forget about the most important tests of his life that's up to him."

Franziska grins. "Fair enough. I should probably make a schedule too."

So should Brandon. She finds herself thinking. He'll focus way too much on Potions otherwise.

And there's the pang, and okay, she's just simmered down enough that's she's starting to feel stupid about the fight. Why can't she just sit with the Gryffindors? She has friends in the House, and Jemma is seated there as well with Drake and Evera. She considers getting up to try and find her boyfriend, but then Leona's voice echoes over the pitch.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, whatever strange occult creature Professor Snape is!" She cries, and most of the audience laughs. "Welcome back to Quidditch! We've had a few months off, which means the teams have had time to practice! Today Ravenclaw and Slytherin will face off in the first match of the year."

She goes on to introduce the players as they walk onto the field. Franziska mostly claps politely, not really knowing either team but hoping that Ravenclaw will win.

Soon enough Madame Hooch has tossed the Quaffle into the air, and the two teams are off. Ravenclaw is fighting hard, but the Slytherin team still has the excellent teamwork that had defeated Gryffindor in their first game, and they slowly inch ahead as the minutes tick by.

"A clever fake out pass by Macmillan there." Leona reports, though she sounds rather disappointed by the excellent play. "Slytherin makes a shot on the hoops, but Adley blocks it! Come on Ravenclaw Chasers, you can get the- nope, Flint has the Quaffle and... he's scored."

Franziska can empathize with Leona's disappointment, but she feels a bit bad when she sees Flint's shoulders sag slightly.

Then someone from the Slytherin stands shouts encouragement and the second year perks up again, taking off to rejoin the game.

"Maybe I should tell Leona to ease up on the obvious bias." Franziska murmurs to herself. "It can't feel good to hear people be disappointed when you do well."

"That is true, but also it's Marcus Flint." Roderik says beside her, and Franziska startles. She hadn't thought he'd be able to hear her over the roar of the crowd.

She frowns. "What's wrong with Marcus Flint?"

"He's a bully." Roderik says flatly. "And generally just a mean person. Some Gryffindor first year tried to stop him last week when Flint was putting bulbadox powder in the spare cauldrons, and he punched the kid. Which is not how you say thank you - Filch would have caught Flint if the kid didn't step in."

Franziska hums. "Sounds like a real winner. Alright, I suppose I don't feel as bad about Leona not praising him."

"His ego doesn't need it." Roderik confirms.

The game continues to be nail-bitingly close, and Franziska is actually kind of glad for it. It's a welcome distraction from her own growing guilt over her fight with Brandon.

"The snitch has been spotted!" Leona shrieks after nearly two hours, and every eye snaps to find the two Seekers, who are barreling downwards towards the pitch in pursuit of a faint golden glimmer than Franziska can just barely make out. The glimmer abruptly changes paths, shooting back over the heads of the Seekers. The Slytherin Seeker turns to pursue, only to stop and frown.

The Ravenclaw Seeker has slowed a few feet below him, and his hand is stretched out over his head, gripped into a fist, and he's absolutely beaming.

It takes a moment to sink in what exactly has happened, but once it does the stands go into chaos.

"Ravenclaw has caught the snitch! I repeat, Stafford caught the snitch! Ravenclaw wins by forty points!" Leona is shrieking the same two sentences over and over as the stands celebrate. The two teams fly down, and the captains shake hands.

The Slytherin Seeker McLeod also offers the Ravenclaw Seeker Stafford a handshake, but he's ignored in favor of celebration. He frowns and drops his hand after half a minute and returns to his own team, who greet him with pats on the back.

Franziska eventually manages to make her way out of the stands, saying goodbye to Roderik as she does. She needs to find Brandon and apologize for the fight.

She's mentally practicing what she wants to say when she runs into him just inside the castle.

"Hey." He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. "Look, um,"

"Not here." Franziska says quickly. There are dozens of students filing in from the game, and the two of them are blocking traffic. "Dungeons. It should be pretty quiet there."

They walk down in silence, and Franziska begins worrying that Brandon will want to break up with her. He hadn't looked very happy when he'd stopped her, and that couldn't mean anything good, could it?

However, when they finally stop in one of the empty rooms in the dungeon, what's on Brandon's mind is entirely different from a break up.

"I'm sorry. I should have talked to you. You're right." He blurts out, cheeks flushing and looking anywhere but Franziska's face.

The Hufflepuff blinks, staring at her boyfriend for a long moment before recovering enough to let out a shaky 'what?' in response.

Brandon attempts to stare a hole in his foot. "I'm sorry. I'll try to talk to you more about this stuff, I forgot you don't like Quidditch as much as me and I just assumed things."

Franziska a breath in between her teeth, unsure how to respond. "I... it's fine Brandon, I was the one being unreasonable." She finally gets out. "But maybe we can both work on our communication skills?" She offers when he doesn't look up right away.

Finally he meets her eyes, smiling slightly. "Yeah, that would be good." He pauses, fidgets, and then speaks again. "So we're good?"

"We're getting there." Franziska decides. She can't really say they're good without lying, but Brandon seems happy with the reply so she leaves it at that. "So is the team excited about Ravenclaw's win?" She prompts, remembering what Brandon had said earlier about their chances for the Cup.

It takes some coaxing, but Brandon is soon chattering away as if the fight had never happened, and Franziska sits next to him for nearly an hour just listening. Finally she does have to leave - she has a pile of homework she still needs to complete, and she's still considering mentioning the bias issue to Leona.

She enters the Hufflepuff common room to find most of the House scattered around, studying diligently. Jemma waves her over from the corner that the fourth years seem to have claimed, and Franziska smiles as she walks over.

"Hey, what are we working on?"

Leona eyes her in a way that tells Franziska she probably knows more about where she'd been for the past hour than the brunette logically should, but she stays quiet and Franziska decides that maybe she won't say anything about the biased announcing if Leona can manage to keep her questions at bay until they're done studying.

The rest of the evening is, thankfully, quite boring as they struggle through essays and compare notes. There is a minor incident when Saundra, who's studying in the opposite corner with a few of the other third years, makes it start raining over the middle of the room, but since Franziska isn't affected for once she finds she doesn't mind terribly. After the week she's been having, a bit of rain seems minor in comparison.

Ana thinks the awkward, slushy gray area between winter and spring might be the worst time of the year.

She trudges through the melting snow Thursday morning on her way back from their double Herbology block, Aidan at her side.

"I must admit I'm glad tha Professor Vector is so understanding about us coming in a few minutes late most Thursdays." Aidan observes as they finally make it to the castle and he loudly stomps the mush from his boots.

Ana is a bit more delicate as she taps her shoes to shake off the slush.

"Well it is a twenty minute walk from the greenhouses to the Arithmancy classroom, assuming the stairs are optimally positioned." Ana points out. "As a mathematician one would hope Professor Vector would understand that the fifteen minutes we have between classes isn't sufficient time to cross the distance."

Aidan laughs. "I like how you take five words where one would suffice, it makes you very interesting to talk to. Speaking of, I saw you were reading Hans Christen Anderson and I have to ask, how connected to real magic is it? I haven't read the stories in a while, and I always prefered the Grimm tales myself, but I am curious."

Ana mentally flashes back to Alec and the winter break and she feels her cheeks heating slightly and becomes acutely aware of the silver pendant resting under her robes. "Well I admit I didn't think there was much magic, but a family friend over break pointed out to me that the stories serve as allegories and metaphors to magical events."

Aidan raises an eyebrow. "Family friend?" He prompts with a grin.

Ana glares at him. "I'm embarrassed that he was able to point something out that I hadn't previously noticed. And since when do you care?"

"I admit Leona is rubbing off on me." Aidan raises his hands, still grinning. "But I'm sorry, that was out of line."

"Quite." Ana huffs. "Honestly I'll never understand how anyone could be thinking about dating when we have our OWLs next year."

Aidan hums. "Agreed. Brandon did pretty badly last year when he and Frannie were still in the honeymoon phase. And how many people really find their forever partner at our age? I figure I'll start looking after we graduate."

Ana hums. "I figure my parents will set me up with someone by the time I'm seventeen - probably Alasdair Macmillan, which I suppose isn't the worst fate."

Aidan looks over at her with an unreadable expression. "An arranged marriage? You're okay with that?"

She shrugs. "I suppose I'll know if it happens - my parents got married without any interference from their families, so I doubt they'd set anything in stone without my approval. But they certainly seem interested in tying our families together and Alas and I were friends for a while."

Aidan drops the subject then, instead turning to the Arithmancy assignment due that day. Ana wonders why the topic had made him so uncomfortable - arranged marriages are far from unheard of things in wizarding culture, but perhaps they've fallen out of fashion for Muggles.

They arrive at Arithmancy late as predicted, though the rest of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs come in even after them. Once everyone has finally arrived and settled in Professor Vector launches straight into the lesson, and Ana briefly puts the entire conversation with Aidan out of her mind as she focuses on getting everything written down.

Aidan leaves with his Hufflepuff friends and Ana ends up waiting for Amelia and Shaun to walk to the Great Hall with.

"I completely failed that last assignment." Amelia sighs. "I'm thinking I many drop this class and just focus on Care of Magical Creatures next year, assuming Professor Flitwick doesn't tell me I'll need it to be a Magizoologist."

Ana doesn't say anything, and works to keep her disapproval off her face.

She apparently fails as Amelia rolls her eyes at her. "Not all of us can be perfectly conditioned to study twenty four seven regardless of our interest in the subject Ana."

"I didn't-" She cuts herself off. "Sorry, I know."

"Well I think it's a good idea Amelia." Shaun pipes up as they arrive at the Great Hall and Ana sees Jerome waving at them enthusiastically from the Ravenclaw table. "If you know what you want to do it's smart to start focusing on doing exceptionally in the areas you'll need to pursue it."

Amelia smiles at him brightly and Ana is abruptly reminded of her talk with Aidan.

She clears uncertainly and decides to sit next to Jerome for lunch.

She mostly stays quiet during lunch, getting a head start on her Arithmancy paper and going over her notes from the class. The other three are content to let her study and conduct their own conversation around her.

They have double potions after lunch, and Ana naturally falls into step beside Amelia who has become her permanent partner for the class.

"Wit-sharpening today." Jerome recalls as they walk. "Can't wait to see how Snape insults our intellect in his explanation."

Amelia laughs softly. "I'm sure he'll find a way."

"Really it makes him look stupid to imply Ravenclaws aren't all intellectuals." Ana rolls her eyes. Insulting Snape on the way to Potions is a bit of a ritual for the four of them. She didn't used to participate until she realized it was started to help Jerome brace himself - he and Evie are most prone to being the target of Snape's wrath.

She figures if she's going to spend time with him the least she should do is be nice, and helping bolster his confidence fits into that mold.

She and Amelia set up their cauldron at the front of the class and begin organizing their ingredient for the day's potion. Professor Snape looms behind his desk, watching them closely. Ana does feel rather uncomfortable with the attention, but she practicedly ignores it and sits next to Amelia once they've finished preparing.

As expected Snape does, in fact, insult all of their intelligences ("you all could certainly use a dose of this potion"), but the actual brewing process is almost relaxing after the high energy of their other classes.

"Okay, that's definitely purple." Amelia decides, quickly capping the vial of armadillo bile and giving the cauldron two stirs before sitting back. "Ten minutes to simmer right?"

Ana turns down the heat under the cauldron and nods. "Correct. I'll keep an eye on the time."

They end up finishing the potion early, and the two wave to Shaun and Jerome, who are struggling to get the correct color in their own cauldron, as they head out of the classroom.

"Well I have half and hour until Care of Magical Creatures. Would you be interested in reviewing the Charms essay with me before I have to go?" Amelia offers somewhat uncertainly, and Ana is honestly surprised. While the brunette does study with them rather often, she's never the one to initiate it, instead following along half-reluctant when Jerome or Shaun suggests a group study session.

Ana shrugs. "I don't see why not." She decides. Getting input from others can be useful after all, even if that usefulness arises only rarely.

Thirty minutes isn't really enough time to do much more than get through the first page of the essay, but Ana is able to point out a few things for Amelia and she feels rather smug about it as the other girl thanks her before running off to her class.

Shaun joins her not long after and they study silently beside each other until Jerome and Amelia return from Care of Magical Creatures, bringing with them Finnigan Marley who sits quietly at the end of the table and pulls out his textbooks.

Finnigan studying near them has become a semi-regular occurrence since Ana returned from Christmas Break, but it's still rather odd to look up and find him staring at one of them. The worst of it, Ana thinks, is that he never asks or answers any questions, just sits nearby and does his own thing, occasionally staring until he's caught.

She glances up just as she's thinking this and finds the brunet once again staring at her analytically. She glares at him and he quickly goes to start his essay again, but she decides enough is enough.

"Can we actually help you with anything?" She says plainly. "Because generally when people stare at other people while doing homework it means they have questions." She's seen Amelia do it enough times to be confident in her declaration.

Finnigan glares at his paper. "...No." He finally mutters, and Ana huffs out an irritated breath.

"Then stop staring, it's distracting." She informs him before turning back to her own textbook and trying to find where she'd left off reading.

Finnigan keeps his head down until dinner, when all five of them stand to head to the Great Hall.

Jerome hurries to shove his things into his bag and rushes to catch up to Finnigan who'd started leaving on his own, as he always does. "Hey, you can come sit with us if you want! I know Ana was kind of snappy but she's just very focused on studying - she's actually nice once you get to know her." He beams hopefully.

Finnigan stares at him in vague confusion, and then glances at the rest of them uncertainly.

Ana shrugs. "I honestly don't care, you do you."

Jerome pouts at her but she ignores him as she packs up her textbooks and parchment, placing her self-inking quills - a late Christmas gift from Hannah - in a side pocket. They hadn't malfunctioned yet but she has had nightmares of them splattering all over her essays and causing her to fail the assignment and she's not taking the risk.

"You're more than welcome to sit with us Finnigan." Shaun says firmly, and that seems to be the decider since the quiet boy follows them to the Great Hall and sits next to Jerome when the excitable boy gestures for him to do so.

"Are any of you going to the Quidditch match this weekend?" Jerome, as always, is the one to start the conversation once they've all gotten their food.

Ana nods. "I'd like to see the team defeat Gryffindor - I think we have a good chance considering how the lions played against Slytherin."

She doesn't miss how Finnigan looks surprised at her answer, and she resists the urge to roll her eyes. One can be an efficient studier and also appreciate the fine art of winning in sports, though for some odd reason several people seem to think the two are mutually exclusive.

"I'll probably go as well, since we're playing." Amelia concurs. She's picked only the sweetest dishes to pile onto her plate, and Ana stifles a sigh. For such a tiny person Amelia has a terrible diet.

"Finnigan, are you coming?" Shaun offers, the only indication he gives that he too plans on attending. "We like to try and predict plays, though none of us is particularly good at it."

"I get the most though." Ana can't help pointing out quickly. It's a bit of a sore point how badly she actually does in their little competition during games - even if everyone else does rather poorly as well.

Finnigan nods uncertainly. "I guess I could." He mumbles.

When Saturday comes he looks like he regrets his decision. Ana hadn't really seen Finnigan the day before, so when he's pushed into the seat next to her in the Ravenclaw stands she's honestly a bit startled. She'd figured he would back out.

Even if he'd wanted to it's clear Jerome hadn't let him. The other boy squishes himself on the stand on Finnigan's other side, beaming happily at them.

"Great day for a game! i think it's finally starting to warm up some!" He exclaims cheerfully.

"I can still see my breath." Finnigan grumbles, and Ana thinks that maybe they could get along under the right circumstances.

Still, it does warm up as the rest of the spectators fill the stands, and once the players are in the air it's easy to forget the remaining chill as all focus is directed to the field.

"Gryffindor has switched up their playbook." Amelia notes about twenty minutes into the game, frowning. "I hate to say it but they might actually be better than Ravenclaw's team."

"Blasphemy." Finnigan states immediately. "Ravenclaw always has the best team."

"Statistically speaking Hufflepuff is the best one currently." Ana points out mildly. "Which is why they're first in the race for the Cup at the moment."

Finnigan gives her a reproachful stare and she shrugs. "I want to win as much as the next Ravenclaw, but statistically speaking those are the facts."

"Statistically speaking you guys aren't paying attention to a really good game." Jerome interrupts, whining slightly.

"That makes no sense." Ana tells him, even as she does turn back to the game in front of them just in time to see their Chasers perform a skillful pass around the male Gryffindor beater. "But there, see? Statistics don't always set things in stone. Statistically there's no way Slytherin should have been able to win the House Cup three years in a row, but that didn't stop them."

"They're up in first again now, did you see?" Amelia sighs. "If they get the Cup again this year I might scream. Where are they even getting the points from? Certainly not in class, we get much more in the ones we share with them."

"Guys!" Jerome looks away from the pitch momentarily to gaze at them with wide, pleading eyes. "The game!"

"Sorry Jerome, we'll stick to calling plays." Shaun promises, despite not being one of the people talking.

They do manage to keep their focus after that, and Ana is both impressed and annoyed when Finnigan ends up calling more plays accurately than she does, leaving her in second place for their miniature competition.

"And Weasley has spotted the snitch!" Leona calls excitedly from the announcer's box about an hour and ten minutes into the game, and all five of them turn to find where the Gryffindor Seeker is. To Ana's disappointment he's clear across the field from where the Ravenclaw Seeker has been hovering all game, and despite the red-headed boy not having the faster broom it's clear Ravenclaw doesn't have a chance at beating him to the snitch.

Despite this the Seeker does make a valiant effort, but he's still a good three meters away when Charlie grabs the golden ball out of the air and Gryffindor's side of the stands explode in celebration.

Ana sighs in disappointment. "Well, there goes our chances at a comeback. We're looking at third now regardless I believe?"

"Could go second, but Gryffindor and Slytherin both will have to lose rather spectacularly to Hufflepuff for that to happen." Shaun reports. "Still, it was a close game. We'll get them next year."

"And maybe Finnigan will be back on the team to help!" Jerome encourages brightly.

Despite the dull atmosphere in the rest of the Ravenclaw stands, Ana finds that she's actually rather happy. Somewhere along the line it seems the group have become her actual friends, and she finds she's less upset about it than she thought she would be.

Hannah will be thrilled.

With Ravenclaw defeated and only one match left Kent is running the team ragged with training. They don't know how Slytherin and Hufflepuff's match will go and so they're preparing as if they'll need a two hundred point win in order to secure the Cup, which may very well be the case.

Their last practice before the penultimate match is spent half playing and half listening to a combination encouragement speech and strategy guide by Kent.

"I expect all of you to be at the Slytherin-Hufflepuff match tomorrow, and I expect all of you to take note of Hufflepuff's plays. Statistically they're the best team right now, but we're close enough that it's still a toss up of who will actually take home the House Cup." He says sharply, and for once every single member of the team is quiet and paying full attention, even Remi who's made a habit of being very loud in his disinterest recently since apparently finally realizing he'll probably never be on the team unless he changes positions.

"Every single one of you is more than capable of outflying every one of Hufflepuff's team, I've seen that and you've seen that. So the more prepared we are, the better. Any questions?"

Everyone shakes their head, and Kent nods firmly.

"Excellent. I'll see you all tomorrow at the front of the stands. Dismissed."

Myr has to skip showering as practice had run long, making him late for a study appointment he'd had since the beginning of the week.

"Sorry I'm late, practice-"

"Ran long, I assumed." Percy Weasley looks up from the textbook that he'd been reading. He pushes his horn-rimmed glasses up his nose slightly, only for them to immediately slip down again. "It's perfectly alright, Gryffindor has a real chance at the Cup and I think it would be nice to get a win. Oliver certainly can't talk about anything else at the moment so at the very least it might get him to shush for a time."

Myr hides a smile as he sits next to the youngest school-aged Weasley. "You two are still having problems?" He asks.

Percy lifts a shoulder slightly. "Not particularly? I believe we're finally accustomed to one another's rythms, and I admit it can be fun to talk to him on occasion. Of course, knowing my luck we'll fall back out of sync next year and have to repeat the process all over again."

Myr pats his shoulder comfortingly. "I doubt it." He assures the younger boy. "Once you know how to live with someone it usually sticks, at least in my experience. Now, you wanted to go over Transfiguration, correct?"

Percy eagerly pulls out his textbooks, and they fall into what is a now familiar routine for Myr. He has to admit, going through the old theory again has actually been useful, as everything in Transfiguration builds on itself. The class is now probably his best one of the eight that he's taking, which is a major shift from previous years.

The next day finds him crushed in between Drake and Charlie, clutching a parchment and attempting to write down any plays that catch his attention as Hufflepuff faces off against Slytherin in their Quidditch match.

Honestly it's hard to do, as he has no surface to write on (he probably should have thought about that) and everything is happening so quickly that he's missing most of the game each time he ducks down to write something.

"Damn, Hufflepuff is good." Drake hisses as Lola Abbott, the Hufflepuff Seeker, cheerfully pretends to spot the snitch in order to distract the younger Slytherin Chasers and allow her team to snag the Quaffle away from them. "Keep an eye on that one, yeah Charlie?"

"I'll keep an eye on the snitch. Let Lola do whatever she wants, don't let it affect you or Evera." Charlie replies, raising his voice to be heard over the roar of the crowd as Hufflepuff scores.

"Or Fawley." Evera shouts back from Drake's other side.

Myr smiles faintly. "It wouldn't affect Jacob, he's way too zoned in on his job during games. I'm pretty sure Russia could set off a nuclear bomb and he wouldn't notice."

He gets some weird looks from the people around him, but behind him Fiona laughs.

"Dark humor, I like it!" She leans forward. "Muggle five!"

Mry grins back at her and obligingly high fives her. He hadn't even considered that his wizarding world friends might be unaware of the Cold War, but he supposes it makes sense that their newspapers wouldn't write about it. Perhaps he'll bring it up in Muggle Studies on Monday, it could be interesting to see exactly how uninformed everyone is on current events.

Over the course of the exchange they'd apparently missed three goals, so they all quickly settle back down and start taking notes again. Myr wishes he had a camera to document things instead - it would be easier and he wouldn't be developing a hand cramp.

By the time the game ends he has almost a foot of notes and he's having to stop writing every few seconds to shake out his hand and get the blood flowing back into it.

"That was terrible, we better beat these guys in two weeks." Evera declares as they head back towards the castle a few minutes later. Hufflepuff had won, and if Myr is calculating things correctly in his mind then in order to get the Cup they'll need to beat the badgers by about a hundred and fifty points.

"Team meeting!" Kent appears out of nowhere behind them, and all of the fourth years jump. "Common room in ten minutes. Be there or be benched."

Remi perks up. "Hey Charlie you should go talk dragons with someone for the next eleven minutes." He suggests.

Charlie snorts, whacks Remi lightly on the shoulder, and then runs ahead of all of them, spinning around briefly only to stick his tongue out before racing up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower.

Evera laughs. "Last one there has to clean all the brooms after practice this week!" She calls, and she's off as well, closely followed by everyone else. No one particularly likes cleaning the brooms after the practices, especially the ones they've been having so far during the year.

Fiona ends up being the last one to arrive, having stopped to congratulate the Hufflepuffs on their win and not heard Evera's challenge. She shrugs when she's informed of her new task for the week.

"It could be worse. None of you are as bad and Cassidy and Laurel were last year." She points out with a grin. "And Jacob won't actually let anyone else take care of his broom."

"True." Fawley agrees from where he's perched himself on the window sill. "A true player always maintains their own broom anyway."

Evera bristles when the raven-haired teen shoots her a grin on his last sentence. "I'm still taking care of my own broom too!" She declares hotly. "Since I'm a far better player than you could ever dream of being!"

"Both of you stop it, you can bicker after the team meeting." Kent interrupts impatiently. "Now, floor is open, which plays caught your attention?"

Once the meeting is in full swing the team gets serious, swapping observations and suggesting possible counters to some of Hufflepuff's trickier plays.

The atmosphere is broken when a shuffling from the stairway draws everyone's attention, and a certain sandy haired first year trips into view, dragging his roommate down with him.

Percy flushes and scrambles to right himself, already stammering apologies, but Oliver bounces up excitedly.

"Hi! Can we help? We both have some ideas for how to counter some of the stuff you were talking about and-"

Kent cuts Oliver off. "Look, that's really nice of you two, but this is a closed team meeting." He speaks gently, but Oliver still deflates.

"Oh, right, yeah. But we-"

"Oliver we tried, let's go." Percy hisses uncomfortably. "So sorry again." He adds to the team, his face still as red as his hair.

"Now hang on a second." Charlie interrupts. "Perce, Ollie, what were you thinking?"

Kent shoots him a look but Charlie puts up his hands placatingly. "Trust me, Perce is actually pretty smart with this stuff and Oliver's obviously passionate. It doesn't hurt to hear what they have to say."

Kent sighs but acquiesces, clearly still thinking it will be a waste of time.

It is not, as it turns out, a waste of time. Both boys bring suggestions that are surprisingly insightful, and even Kent has to admit afterwards that it was good that they'd jumped in.

"Are you two trying out next year then?" He asks after they've wrapped up the meeting and are heading out of the Tower to get some dinner.

Oliver nods enthusiastically. "I'm a Keeper!" He announces.

Kent grins and pats his head lightly. "Well I feel better knowing the team will have you in my place next year." He says honestly, and Oliver beams.

"I don't like heights." Percy mumbles his answer more to the floor than to Kent, though the captain is now engaged in a conversation about professional Keepers with Oliver and doesn't hear the young Weasley.

"That's alright, not everyone has to play." Myr assures him. "We need fans as much as we need players."

Percy smiles at him slightly. "I know, it's not a bad thing." He agrees. "Just sometimes people look at my family and think it's weird that I don't play."

"You keep score which is vital. I'm willing to bet that once Ron and Ginny are old enough they'll be arguing goals for days if there isn't someone to call them." Charlie assure his brother, who grins.

"You don't know how true that is." He laughs ruefully. "You haven't seen Ginny throw a tantrum yet, she's always an absolute angel when you and Bill are at home."

Despite the ever present weight of the upcoming final game, and of the exams after it, Myr finds that the weeks following the Slytherin-Hufflepuff match are still enjoyable. He keeps up his study sessions with Percy around daily practices with the team, and he continues to do better in his classes than he had in previous years.

Then the day of the final match comes and he's pretty sure he's going to be sick from nerves. The whole team is tense, as is most of Gryffindor House.

"Good luck today guys!" Leona chirps happily as she passes the table. "I'll try to not be biased, but I mean Hufflepuff definitely should win." She adds with a wicked grin before skipping off to the Hufflepuff table, giggling to herself.

"They should get announcers who aren't from any House." Evera grumbles. "They shouldn't be so biased."

"You're only saying that because you haven't had a Gryffindor announcer." Kent observes. "My first year we had a Gryffindor and he was great honestly."

"At least Leona is better than the last guy." Drake adds, making a face.

Everyone voices agreement at that. Leona is definitely better than the Slytherin boy who had preceded her, and the conversation sidetracks into his most memorable calls.

Soon enough it's game time, and Kent gives them one last speech in the dressing room before they're off.

Myr takes to the sky as soon as Madame Hooch blows the starting whistle, bat held in a loose fist and gripping his broom more with his knees than his other hand. He keeps below most of the others players to start, occasionally swooping up to protect the Chasers from incoming bludgers but otherwise remaining low.

He can see Fiona faintly between the crush of bodies hovering just above the main play level, doing the same as Myr. Their game plan is to keep the Hufflepuff Beaters constantly moving, while they themselves need to do very little. The goal is to keep up their energy for when the snitch is spotted.

He's so focused on his assigned job that Myr mostly loses track of what the Chasers are actually doing most of the time. He thinks the score is close, and he can tell when a goal has been made, but he's more focused on where the bludgers are than the quaffle.

Then he sees Fiona moving, and he scans and spots Charlie climbing rapidly, in clear pursuit of a golden glimmer. Lola is just behind him and gaining ground.

Myr immediately takes off after them, bat cocked up and scanning rapidly for any nearby bludgers.

Fiona beats him to it, firing off a bludger directly at Lola, and the blonde has to pull up to avoid it, giving Charlie a small lead in chasing the snitch.

In the end though, neither Seeker catches the tricky ball as it vanishes among the stands and the game resumes.

Myr retreats back below the players but he's even more tense now, and he can feel it affecting his game.

His swings are stiffer, and it puts his aim off. Laurel would be disappointed in him, he thinks wryly as one of his bludgers nearly clocks the Hufflepuff Keeper in the gut, though she luckily spots it and darts out of the way. He's not sure how he would feel if he ever hospitalized another player, accidentally or not.

It's another hour of game before the snitch is spotted again, this time by Lola.

As soon as Myr sees the chase start again he takes off, spotting one of the bludgers and firing it point-blank at Lola. Her swerving gives Charlie a chance to catch up, and in a move both brilliant and - in Myr's opinion - incredibly stupid, he stands up on the broom and run.

He pushes off the back of Lola's broom and grabs the snitch out of midair, just as Myr remembers she had done during the final game their first year. He can see Lola laughing even as he leans forward to catch Charlie before he can tumble to the ground and kill himself.

"That was spectacularly moronic." He informs the redhead once he's successfully gotten the Seeker onto his broom.

Charlie leans against his back and grins, waving the snitch in his face. "I knew you or Fi would be close enough to catch me."

Myr finally thinks to look up at the scoreboard as he escorts Charlie back to his broom, and just like that the lightness that always comes with a win dampens ever so slightly.

Even with Charlie's catch they've only won by twenty five points. Which means Hufflepuff has won the Quidditch Cup.