4 4

"Sorry boys, but I'm with Susan on this one." I state with an easy smile, backing up to her side of the corridor.

"Mate you didn't..." Justin shot me a betrayed look but the damage was already done, I'd switched this morning before breakfast. "It's Arithmancy, all they do is stare numbers and try to predict the future and stuff. It's nerd shit."

"'And stuff'?" Susan parroted mockingly, I almost laughed as Justin jerked towards Susan like a deer in the headlights. "You wanna tell us what that stuff is Justin?"

"H-Hey, I didn't mean it like that-"

"What did you mean it like?" She pressed.

"I…"

"Only thing he didn't mean to do was put his foot in his mouth." Ernie laughed, grinning at Justin's expense.

"That 'stuff' is predictive spell creation, the backbone of modern spell crafting." Susan steam-rolled on as if Ernie hadn't spoke, clearly in some kind of mood. "Something that's a lot more important than reading tea leaves!"

Annoyed, she grabbed my arm to drag me away. "C'mon Tom."

I winked at the pair, letting myself be pulled away. "Later guys, have fun in the hippie den." Ernie laughed, while Justin somehow managed to shrivel up even further.

It was only when we rounded a corner that she slowed enough to realise what she'd done.

"S-Sorry." She muttered, releasing my arm.

"You're good." I smiled. "Something happen to get you this riled up?"

"No- I… I have a lot on my mind." She looked visibly frustrated, glancing at me in her periphery as we made our way to Arithmancy. "I just... I messed up yesterday, I treated you poorly when you were just trying to help- but I was so worried about Hannah that I… and now I can't stop lashing out at people, I'm such a-"

She stopped, resting a hand on my arm and looking up at me with surprisingly chastised eyes. "I'm sorry Tom." She breathed, clearly relieved to have gotten that out there.

"It's fine." I said simply and it was, because -to be perfectly honest- I didn't really mind her attitude in the first place.

"That's it?" She asked in a small voice.

"Susan all you did to me was stick up for your friend; my skin isn't so thin that I can't take you glaring at me a bit." I tell her, but in my mind I was considering if this had something to do with our friend group.

Susan almost exclusively dealt with boys who had a crush on her, if she thought abnormal emotional responses to her displeasure were the norm instead of the exception... did she come into this expecting me to bitch and moan over something this minor?

That's a pretty sad commentary on the others if true.

"Right..." She muttered. "Are you sure you're- we're alright?"

She was just going to keep taking this on herself wasn't she? I rolled my eyes in plain view, making a show of my exasperation. "We're fine Susan, now c'mon, we gotta get to class." She nodded and led the way, but an awkward silence told me exactly where her mind was.

To me it felt like she was making a big deal out of basically nothing, but the Duffer -or his instincts at least- seemed to understand. There was something there about Hufflepuff and loyalty, choosing between friends and all that. But to me that was just normal in friendships; there'll always be different priorities, different levels of loyalty at work, getting bent out of shape about it doesn't achieve anything.

Before I could think of anything to say to break the awkwardness, we arrived at the Arithmancy corridor just as the rest of the mixed class was trooping in. Shaking my head, I followed them into a rather normal Hogwarts classroom, the only differences outside of the norm I could see were the equations scrawled across one of the blackboards and clear signs of excessive use upon their surface.

We found two seats besides a Slytherin called Daphne, whose name I only know because the Duffer had tried it on with her in second year; she rejected him pretty hard. We'd only just sat down when the professor stopped at our desk, staring me curiously. "I don't believe you're in my class Mr..."

"Brooks." I offered. "I switched in with Professor Sprout this morning."

"And you have your books?" I nod. "Brilliant." She clapped, wheeling around to the front of the class. "So you're all to be my students then? Most excellent! Certainly a better turnout than last year."

Glancing around the classroom filled with less than a dozen students, I didn't really understand how a class could be kept running with this number, let alone less; especially with a dedicated teacher.

"Now, I'm Professor Vector and I teach the fascinating subject of Arithmancy, the art of predicting the future through mathematics, a grossly underestimated subject I find." She spoke passionately, but there was an almost forced element to it, like she was drumming up the subject to keep us interested.

"To any future spellcrafters or wardbreakers, this subject will form the very basis of your approach, it will be your safety net and guiding hand in the navigation of the perilous depths of magic!" Her passion seemed to plateau, before she sighed and admitted in a small voice. "Yes, you can also use it to predict your chances of getting a date."

Excited whispers rang out from the formerly dead silent group, and suddenly I was reminded that this was a world in which Madam Puddifoot's and love potions are a thing.

Magic is truly a wondrous and horrific thing.

The Professor clapped loudly to silence to the group. "Now, the first thing I like to do with my first years is get a good understanding of where you're all at in your basic mathematics." The class immediately groaned, and even the formerly silent Susan let a noise of displeasure besides me.

"Now, now don't be like that, this is just so I can get a good idea of where you're all at." She informed us in a chastising manner, while I was just left wondering what the actual skill proficiency of the average wizard child was.

My answer came in the form of a magically dispersed five page test, ordered from least to most difficult, the fact that it started with double digit addition said it all. If anyone in this class can't answer 37+46 then I'm revoking all respect I naturally have for them as peers.

I could kind of understand a small lack of mathematics literacy in a society where you both have to learn magic and magic is the solution to almost any problem. But I also couldn't understand how we'd get to predicting the future from a skill curve that apparently ends in the most basic of algebra.

Surely future prediction requires a daunting number of variables and insanely complicated equations; how do we get from here to there?

It's as I'm bulldozing through the work that I realise I have an almost boring advantage in the subject: even muggleborn students start Hogwarts at ten, I have about four years of mathematics on them. Even students like Hermione Granger likely haven't had any formal education on algebra.

So it was with no surprise that I wound up finishing well before everyone else. It's as I was setting my quill down however, that I just barely caught the flinch coming from the girl next to me, something which I admit caught my interest.

Was it a 'I can't believe I was beaten by this mudblood' kind of twitch, or more of a pride kind of thing?

I slide my papers forward into plain view as if waiting for the teacher to notice and then lean back, watching this girl out of the corner of my eye.

After a minute or two she shifts, rather sneakily stealing glances at my page before filling out a few of the questions she missed.

She's not dismissive of muggleborn abilities then, but she also lacks that kind of Gryffindor-esque honourable pride that would keep her from cheating in the first place. I obviously can't tell what flavour of pride is driving her to cheat on a test that ultimately doesn't matter, but there's something there.

Not the prettiest picture, but she made up for it in looks, so seven out of ten.

"You wanna be any more obvious?" I call her out quietly.

Her rather lovely blue eyes widen minutely as she glances up at me, but the uncertainty in them passes quickly and a smirk crosses her lips.

"Do you want people to cheat from you?" She returned, immediately finding her answer as my smirk widened.

"It's called bait, and I caught a rather interesting bird with it."

"That's not how fishing works." She deadpans.

"Do you want me to call you a fish?" I lean back, turning towards her fully; somewhere along the line Professor Vector had disappeared into a back room, and the noise in the classroom was slowly rising.

"I don't want you to call me anything." She scoffed, but her eyes remained on mine, interest apparent. "But go on then, tell me what you find so interesting." She feigned a snooty attitude, or perhaps she was just like that, I couldn't quite tell yet.

"I'm interested in why you want to cheat on a test that doesn't matter." Daphne doesn't quite flinch, but it's a near thing. "But I'll settle for why you trust me enough to cheat off of." Besides me Susan releases a surprised cough, but I just maintain my winning smile.

"...You finished early." She tries, while obviously side stepping my first question.

"I also have a terrible academic record." I counter.

"You think I know what your record looks like?" She scoffs. "Please, you're not that interesting."

"What a terrible Slytherin, not even spying on their fellow students properly."

Daphne shot me a look that conveyed exactly what she thought of that statement. "Contrary to rumours, we're not overly invested in the lives of others." She sighs.

"Fair enough." I concede gracefully. "I'm Tom by the way."

She frowned, her brow cutely wrinkling in concentration. "You actually asked me out without telling me your name…" She seemed amused by the memory.

"I'm upfront like that." I try to twist that situation into something a little more salvageable. "And you did shut me down pretty harshly."

"You deserved it." She scoffed, yet she still gave me an interested side eye. "I did hear some interesting things about someone called Tom though."

"Didn't you just mention how uninteresting I was?"

"That was when I knew you as that boy who embarrassed me in front of my entire house." She retorted with surprisingly little bite.

"Now that's a stretch." I smirk in good humour. "But I'll say sorry anyway."

"And I'll be generous and let it go, if you tell me what happened on the train." She hinted, slowly blinking her long lashes at me.

I hummed. "I don't like to boast." Susan immediately snorted besides me, forcing an amused smirk on my face.

"Okay, I like to boast a little." Daphne rolled her eyes, but gave me an interested look regardless, and I took that as my cue to spread some bullshit. "So… there we were on the train and suddenly, I got the brilliant idea to start up a bet."

"A bet?" She deadpanned.

I hummed in agreement. "As to whether or not we'd get attacked by Dementors; Susan here thought it would never happen."

"That's-!" She swells up to respond, but deflates. "...It was a fair expectation."

"It was." Daphne agrees, before her eyes turn to me. "Which makes you wonder about the kind of person who bets against common sense."

"They sound like the kind of people who win those bets." I claim. Susan rolls her eyes, but she at least looks more engaged than she did before.

"So you guessed they were coming and what, happened to know the patronus?" Daphne read between the lines of my comment, her brow furrowed. "Wasn't your record supposed to be terrible?"

My smile grew three sizes and Susan groaned. "First, you're ruining my fun. Second, it is terrible and I didn't know the patronus." Daphne's expression twisted further into confusion as she shoots a queer look at Susan.

"He learned it on the train…" Susan quietly admits, as I beam in pride.

"You just- learned the patronus, just like that?" Daphne asks me dryly.

"Don't disparage my efforts, it took me a few hours." I respond, amused.

"Right…" Daphne's eyes flicker between my beaming smile and Susan's more resigned expression, clearly trying to work out if we were just yanking her chain. "So you predicted the attack, decided you could learn the patronus, and then you just pulled it off in time?"

"Pretty much." I agree modestly. "I'm pretty amazing like that."

"And what, a Dementor just coincidently happened to invade the compartment of the one guy who was getting ready to fight it?" Daphne's tone dropped just slightly into disbelief.

"That was weird." I admit. I knew why a creature of death would be interested in my compartment or rather me specifically, but I couldn't exactly explain that, especially not to some girl I was just chatting shit to for fun.

"To be perfectly honest? I was partly just learning it to mess with Susan." I continue with a juicy excuse, laughing as Susan snaps around to look at me in disbelief. "The other part was a 'just in case' kind of mindset."

"You did what?" She asks incredulously. "You can't just learn spells to mess me!"

"I did and I will." I respond with a roguish grin. "Besides I knew they were going to be at Hogwarts anyway. I'm surprised more people didn't try to learn it."

"It's a bit beyond our grade." Daphne commented sardonically.

"Don't tell me you've never learned a spell you weren't supposed to, I will not believe you." I scoffed. Daphne's cheeks pinked at the comment, a surprisingly cute look on the stoic teen.

"That's… not something I can comment on." She coughed.

I gave her a smug look before moving on. "Fine... well just to check, did you hear anything about the Dementors entering any other compartment?"

"I did." Susan admits before Daphne can answer. "Apparently they hit Harry's car, luckily a teacher was there to drive it off."

"Potter apparently passed out when it happened, Malfoy won't shut up about it." Daphne rolled her eyes as she added her own two cents. I hummed, that was about what I expected from the movie. "It still feels strange that they would only enter your compartment and his." She eyes me suspiciously.

I smile back her. "Are accusing us of faking the whole thing, or us somehow attracting the Dementor?"

"The first." Daphne states blandly. "Though it's strange that your mind went to the second."

"Honestly, it's weirder that you think Hufflepuffs would lie on mass for something like this, but alright." I deflect it back to her, muddying the waters a little so to speak. "And I can show you my patronus if you want." Slipping my wand out of my sleeve with a grin.

"Not here." She hissed, glancing across the classroom; our teacher hadn't returned, but I went along with her paranoia, hiding my wand. "And aren't you Puffs all about loyalty?"

"We're also about putting in the effort." Susan retorted, looking a bit annoyed at the Puff comment. "Tom- we wouldn't lie about this."

"A lying Hufflepuff would be…" I trail off rather ironically.

"Zach." Susan finished with mild disdain in her tone.

"As interesting as your dislike for Smith is, I'm still not completely sold." Daphne continued, her eyes on me. "So I'll take you up on that offer Brooks, fourth floor, second classroom in the tower wing after last period."

"Sure, one thing in return though?" I ask.

"If you're about to ask me out again…" She trailed off threateningly.

"Nah, that can come later." I laugh, Daphne sighs while Susan glances at me oddly. "In this case I just want to know who was spreading rumours about me."

"Isn't it obvious?" Daphne deadpans.

"Yup." I reply with a smile, patiently waiting for her response.

"Smith, you happy?"

"Very much so."

"Tom you're not…" Susan trailed off looking worried.

"No, but I like where your head's at Susan." I commend her, internally smirking as she pinks at the insinuation and the smirk Daphne shoots her. "No violence, no lying, we just need to spread some true rumours about him. Turn about is fair play after all."

"If they're interesting, I wouldn't mind lending a hand." Daphne offered.

"Weren't you just accusing us of being liars?"

"That is something else entirely." She snorted.

I smirked. "Sounds to me like you just wanted to get me alone in a classroom."

"In your dreams Brooks." She rolled her eyes, but the dusting of red across her cheeks told a slightly different story.

"If you're done flirting…" Susan cut in, I grinned as Daphne scoffed. "What exactly are you proposing for Zach?"

I hummed in thought. "Remember that thing in first year? With the toothbrush?"

A guilty look crossed Susan's face as she warred over the idea. "I think that's a little extreme…"

"Extreme my ass, this isn't the first time he's gone around telling everyone our business."

"He did inform me of your little crush just before you asked me out…" Daphne smirked in amusement.

I blinked, staring at Daphne incredulously, I opened my mouth to say something, closed it and then thought on it some more.

"Cat got your tongue?" Her smirk widened.

"Just… wondering why the hell I ever trusted him with anything." I shook my head, the Duffer had made some questionable decisions.

"Hufflepuff." Daphne said as if it explained everything, and I guess it did.

"Trusting people is a good thing, Zach just betrayed that trust." Susan argued.

"Trusting people that are likely to betray you is a dumb thing." Daphne retorted.

"Slytherin." Susan stated coolly, before turning to me with that gleam a woman gets in her eyes when she's about to put a man between a rock and hard place. "What do you think Tom?"

"I'm also interested in hearing your perspective, Tom." Daphne agreed, clearly just playing along for fun.

"I think, you're both wonderful people." They scoffed, but I wasn't done. "And if you start catfighting, just let me sell tickets first." I finished with a grin.

"Men." Daphne muttered but without any real heat, Susan just straight up glared.

I however just keep smiling; if you're going to put me in a situation without any right answers, then don't be surprised when I just make fun of you instead.

Susan sighed. "That aside, I'm not comfortable with spreading rumours like…" She glanced at the Slytherin sitting right next to us. "Just leave me out of it."

Daphne rolled her eyes and I couldn't say I wasn't too far off it myself; Susan was essentially okaying me on this front, while also cleaning her hands of the situation. It was a position without conviction, taken to make herself feel better.

I can't say I was fan of it.

"That's fine, I'll take care of it, and I guess Daphne if she's still feel-" The door to the back opened and I cut myself off. Which was a shame, I was genuinely enjoying the conversation.

Daphne leaned in as the teacher began collecting tests. "Remember Brooks, fourth floor." She whispered.

I certainly would.