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"Oooh, Kellah, I see you've got an admirer."
"Do I?"
Lavender looks at her friend who has her face buried in a book, pretending to be engrossed in its contents as she negligently turns a page.
Gryffindor's fifth-year It Girls — Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil and Jo King — have finally dragged their fourth member, Kellah Jones, away from her unseemly attachment to Seamus Finnegan.
Kellah has always claimed that she and Seamus have been friends since the train ride before their first year, but over the last year or so the group began noticing their friend's jealousy whenever Seamus mentions or looks at other girls.
The four friends are in the Common Room seated on rounded sofas in the corner, near a large bay window overlooking the grounds and the Forbidden Forest.
Every now and then, a few Wyverns would rise up in the distance over the forest before descending in a rapid dive. Jo is sitting on the cushioned sill, and with her magical camera on a tripod, she takes several shots of the rare occurrence.
At Lavender's words, Jo turns to her friends.
"Someone's getting the hang of Indifference," she says quietly with a teasing grin, mentioning one of their five-step methods to Getting A Wizard To Ask You Out.
"Oh, I'm so proud of you," Parvati says, clapping discreetly out of sight of the group of boys across the room playing All Fours.
Seamus is teamed up with Bem, Dean with Raza and a few other boys are grouped around them making bets. Lavender notices that just as she seats herself opposite Kellah to keep an eye on the boys over the girl's shoulder, Seamus sits facing their way, and every so often he glances over at Kellah's back.
"I'd say he's confused about why you're hanging out with us more often. Let's see how things go when he sees your new seating arrangements during classes." Lavender waves her hand airily. "Honestly, let's not get our hopes up. He may just miss your hovering about him like you sucked down a love potion and nothing more."
"Geez, Lavender, thanks for the encouraging words."
"Ugh, Kellah, you know I mean well."
"I know, I know." Kellah squirms slightly in her seat, giving in to her frustration. "I just thought he'd talk to me by now, ask if I'm alright, something. I'm just scared that you're right. That Seamus thinks of me as one of the boys, an annoyance, or just a... a loyal pet."
"I didn't say that-"
"No, I did," Kellah replies, "and when I think of how I attached myself to him like a Devil's Snare... Merlin, it's so embarrassing!"
"Kellah." Parvati shuffles in her seat until she's facing her gloomy friend. "Did you always have feelings for Seamus?"
"No," the girl murmurs quietly yet vehemently, "I don't know where this came from all of a sudden. What if I really did take a love potion somehow?"
"It wouldn't make sense with the way you're behaving," Parvati replies, "besides, it wasn't sudden, Kellah, we all saw it coming."
"Well, everyone except you," Lavender adds, "remember all the times we tried to talk to you about it, and you kept telling us that the two of you were just friends? Honestly, it was like watching Pansy Parkinson and the way she hovers around Draco Malfoy."
Kellah's eyes widen in horror at Lavender's words.
"Are you saying…? Do you think he knows?"
The girls' hasty denials came a few seconds too late.
"Oh, god!"
Tears of embarrassment fill Kellah's eyes, and her friends huddle closer to her.
"Aww, honey, you know how clueless boys are. I'm sure he didn't know," Jo says, glancing around at the other girls ruefully as Kellah hides her face.
Lavender shrugs at the small lie. Seamus definitely knows that Kellah likes him. There had even been times when they all noticed him using Kellah as a shield against girls who fancied him, but he had no interest in them.
"Excuse me for a bit." Kellah stands, a glamour charm clearly hiding her tear-stained face. Her friends look on in approval. "I'll see you all at dinner."
After bidding the girl farewell, the others look at each other. They all saw Seamus' eyes tracking their friend’s retreat.
"What do you guys think? Should we set her up with someone?" Parvati asks, playing with the ends of her hair.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Jo says, taking a seat next to Lavender, "she still likes that loud-mouthed tosser."
As her friends exchange ideas about what they could do to make Kellah feel better, Lavender eyes a group of sixth-year boys heading out of the portrait hole.
"Hans." The name is said softly, but firmly.
Parvati and Jo turn to look at her and then back at each other before twin smiles appear on their faces.
"Hans," they chorus excitedly, and with three nods of agreement, Lavender leaves the Common Room and begins making her way to the library in search of a Ravenclaw Prefect.
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Once their friends leave, Jo and Parvati huddle closer on the sofa so that their voices don't carry.
"Did you see what she got at breakfast?" Jo asks.
Parvati shakes her head.
"Not really, I only got a glimpse, but it looked like a note. It could have been a poem, cuz it had those flowery looking borders around it."
"Who do you think sent it?"
"I don't know, but she's never hidden all the love notes and gifts she's gotten before." Parvarti blushes and quickly looks away after realising that she and Dean are staring at each other again. "Could be McClaggen. He's the last guy she dated."
"Maybe, she did say he was being too handsy, and she refused all his other date offers. And Merlin's saggy nutsack, are you and Dean totally vibing each other right in front of me?"
Jo clasps Parvati's arm and squeals, shaking her mortified friend.
"Jo, shush... he's watching," she whispers frantically, "come on, let's go check on Kellah before this whole thing crashes before it even starts."
Their arms briefly lace together as both girls move toward the stairs to the girl's dorm. Then Parvati races up the stairs, and Jo turns to give Dean a not-so-subtle thumbs up. Dean looks away, grinning shyly.
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As for Lavender, the witch is just as puzzled as her friends. She desperately wants to know who sent the note.
On her way back from seeing Hans in the Western Courtyard, Ravenclaw House's chosen hangout spot — and after fruitlessly searching the library — Lavender recites the poem in her mind.
I am not yours, not lost in you.
Not lost, although... I long to be
Lost as a candle lit at noon,
Lost... as a snowflake in the sea.
It's rare to find a wizard who would willingly pen a poem to a witch and rarer, one who knew muggle poetry. If Lavender didn't know better, she'd think Hans or one of his mates had written it. However, although they are all kind and gentlemanly, Lavender knows that she isn't their type, which is why their friendships work so well.
The witch turns onto the corridor to Gryffindor Common Room and ploughs into someone going in the opposite direction. There's a loud crash of something breaking, and Lavender braces against the wall to keep from falling.
"I'm so sorry," she begins, seeing the broken clay jar, scattered dirt and a squirming flower. Then Neville bends down, his palms wide but slowly closing in. Once his hands close, they are wrapped around the restored pot, and the flower sways and hums gently in the soil.
How did he do that? Lavender looks around, but surprisingly, they are alone in the corridor.
When her housemate stands, she is suddenly aware of how much taller and broader he is than she remembers.
"Um, sorry again for bumping into you, Longbottom. Is the plant alright?"
Neville doesn't reply. Instead, he looks steadily at her from under long, dark lashes. Her heart begins fluttering wildly in her chest — what the bloody hell, she thinks — and her body clenches with the heat she glimpses in his grey... grey?... eyes. Oh, the liquid steel gives way to his normal whiskey hue.
The wizard steps closer, and a silly part of her wants to flee. Her mind flails to remember that this is just Neville Longbottom. Lavender gasps when one of his hands gently grasps hers, lifting it to the jar.
Silently, Neville places the flowerpot into her hands. Slowly, his eyes stray to her lips, and it becomes hard to breathe as fear and panic rise.
What's happening? What is this?
Then, suddenly, he's walking away.
The witch is left, leaning against a wall, her heart racing, her cheeks flaming, and her breath shuddering.
Only later, after shakily taking it to her room and placing it on her bedside table, does Lavender remember that gifting a flower, as Neville did, is an old Pureblood way of a wizard courting his chosen witch.
Oh my god!