Garreth listened intently to Azura's attempts at making him feel better about his applications, but as soon as she implied there was a possibility that he would actually get into college, he began to snicker. What a thought! College students would have to put up with going to class with a 12 year old boy, fresh out of his first year at Hogwarts. What a show that would be. "I have faith that I'll get a fair assessment, Azura." he chuckled. "Anything beyond that is wishful thinking!" the boy smirked and shook his head. "And even if I did get in, I'd have to tell them I've changed my mind. I won't be leaving Hogwarts." He repeated himself, but it was an important point to make. There was no way he could leave Hogwarts after only one year. In fact, he couldn't even imagine what it would be like to have to leave at the end of his seventh year.

"No, don't worry about me going anywhere. I'm afraid you're stuck with me until graduation." he smirked and nodded vigorously as she admitted that she was pretty cool. "If there's ever a time when you're not 'pretty cool', you must do that in the dorm or something, because I've never seen it." he teased with a chuckle. Azura really was one of his best friends, and the way she supported him and understood what he was going through only strengthened that fact. He wasn't sure if he could call her a 'best friend' to her face. They hadn't talked all that much, but every word they'd exchanged had been more pleasant than the last, and if a stranger had spied them talking, they'd assume they had been friends for many years - at least many considering their youth.

"Yeah, it's okay. I forgive you." he couldn't help but smirk back at the girl. It WAS rather silly, and he knew Azura didn't mean anything by it. He wasn't sure he'd have been able to keep down the laughter if he were in her shoes.

"What do you mean, Azura? Of course your feelings matter!" the smirk vanished and was replaced by a look of concern and worry. "Why do you think he would take it so badly if he knew you.. like him, and not because of some potion?" Jace was a mature boy for his age, as were most of the Ravenclaw gang, and Azura especially. Surely, the two of them had to be able to work this out. At least Garreth had faith in them. "Maybe he doesn't like you back, as silly as that is, but you won't lose your friend. I'm sure the two of you can work it out!" he tried to bring an element of logic into the whole situation, but he also knew that scenarios like this were often based more on emotion than logic.

Of course, logic had nothing to do with his reaction to the prospect of Azura liking him the way she liked Jace. Oh Merlin, just running over those words in his head made him blush even more. 'It wouldn't be hard to like you' Merlin, Merlin, Merlin, what was he supposed to say? Garreth was only ever able to talk to pretty girls by sort of 'phasing out' that aspect of their character. By sort of 'forgetting' that they were indeed pretty girls. Thinking about Azura liking him forced him to face the facts and he began to stumble over his words and blush profusely.

"No, d- don't worry, It's fine." the boy croaked. "The idea of you liking- I mean, being liked by you is- I'm saying that- I-" Wow, Garreth. Why did you have to be such a bumbling idiot sometimes? "It's not horrific, it's- In fact, it's-" Okay, he obviously wasn't getting through that sentence in one piece, so maybe it was for the best that he just drop it and try to address something else she said instead. "No, please don't keep it to yourself, I'd like to know." Woah! He actually got through a complete sentence! AMAZING! Even though that one sentence was even more embarrassing to get through than the first one had been.

What a doofus.

"No worries." he spoke in a more reassuring tone than her panicked 'no worries' had been spoken. While she had meant 'No worries, I won't tell you if I like you', he had meant 'No worries, what you said did not offend me or make me want to abandon you.' It was a lot of information to leave down to the tone of his voice, but then again, tone can convey a lot. He was still blushing really badly, but as long as he didn't have to actually speak, he was calm enough. The few moments of silence he had after getting through that last sentence were enough for him to gather his thoughts and calm down - at least a little bit.