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"Grasp it firmly," shouted Professor Sprout before slipping her earmuffs on. Motioning for the students to do the same, she continued to demonstrate the proper way to repot the screaming Mandrakes.
Vince was certain Greg handed him the fluffy, bright-pink earmuffs on purpose; the little tendrils tickled his ears most uncomfortably. He fussed with them, unable to leave well enough alone. His vigorous scratching with gloved hands moved the side of the muff just a bit, allowing for the piercing wail of the Mandrake in front of him to knock him out completely.
Stupid Greg. Most of the professors thought Vince was the one to start the trouble when it was really Greg. Vince wasn't entirely sure he'd be friends with Greg, if his mother hadn't told him to, and if his father hadn't warned him to protect Draco.
In some sort of bad cosmic joke, most of the second year classes combined the Slytherins and Gryffindors. Those spoiled brats always started trouble rather than keeping their noses down like his housemates. Didn't they know some things were better handled by their parents? A Howler to the Headmaster? What good was it to fight with Snape?
Vince doodled on the corners of his Defense notes. Lockhart was droning on about the Quidditch match from the weekend before—where he'd removed all the bones from Potter's arm. It was funny when Vince first heard about it, but even hecould recite the facts from memory after hearing the story so many times over. He was willing to do anything, even fake blacking out again, to get out of the rest of Double Defense with the bloody Gryffindors.
From the seat beside his, he heard a sigh; it wasn't a long-suffering sigh, or a sigh like the end of a yawn. The quiet noise was accompanied by puppy dog eyes and a chin leaning artfully onto the girl's hand. Her attention was rapt on the teacher in the front and—not for the first time since Lockhart's arrival—he wondered if a girl would ever look athim the way they looked at the blonde ponce.
Greg and Draco laughed loud enough to wake Blaise and Theo when he brought it up in the dorm room one night.
What was wrong with wanting a girl to look at him like he was the sun, the moon, and the stars in their sky? The girl's attention was firmly on their nattering professor, so Vince was free to glance at her without worry of getting caught.
After a year of classes with Gryffindors (really, what was the Headmaster thinking when pairing students?), Vince knew the names of all the boys and girls in his year in the other House. Though he didn't say much in class, he certainly noticed everything and everyone around him. It was a trait borne of a houseful of rowdy cousins and tripping jinxes.
The dark plait of hair was familiar, as was the dark hue of her skin. Not for the first time he marveled at the difference in tones of his own, slightly-pudgy hand and the Patil girl's. However, as he continued to gaze at her, he noticed something a bitoff. Was that a Gryffindor scarf over a Ravenclaw tie?
Parvati Patil was the name called right before Potter's, so Vince knew without a doubt which twin was in which House, and this was certainly not Parvati next to him.
As the weeks went by, he realized the Patil twins were switching classes so that Padma could maximize the time she spent in Defense with Lockhart. It made a knot form in his stomach. He would do anything for a girl to take that much interest in him. Parvati seemed more interested in attending more Charms classes than Defense, since he saw Padma copying her sister's notes in the library one afternoon.
Vince watched Padma watching Lockhart, and wished she'd turn to watch him just as closely.