"Yeah, well, you won't be so 'happily' stuck with me after seven years of putting up with my shenanigans." Garreth teased. Seven years was a long time, and a lot could happen over the course of a single student's stay at Hogwarts. He wondered for a moment if he'd still be the same person at the end of it all. It scared him a little to think that the little boy that he was now would one day no longer exist. He'd be replaced with an older, more mature, more learned and hopefully experienced version of himself. He wondered what it would be like to become a completely different person. In a weird way, the thought frightened him, but comforted him at the same time. After all, if he didn't change at all over the course of his seven years at Hogwarts, what was the point of going at all? Getting to know all the wonderful people he'd met so far had already made him far more social, and he wasn't having any trouble keeping up with the academic side of things. As far as he could tell, he was well on his way to becoming that older boy.

"You know, Azura, I have a feeling that you might just be cool in general." he returned her grin. It seemed like the obvious conclusion to come to. Even if Azura could be a little clumsy, and had the worst luck of anyone Garreth had ever met, she was still one of his best friends, and a wonderful person. In fact, Garreth wasn't sure if she'd be as cool if she wasn't clumsy and unlucky. A clumsy step there and a tumble there only added to her strength of character, and if he was honest... It was rather endearing.

Despite his best efforts to smile, the first year had trouble keeping it up when his friend was feeling so down. It physically hurt the boy to see her like this. "Oh, Azura.." he began, pausing a moment to think. What could he say or do to make it better? Was there anything he could do at all to help? "Your feelings are always going to matter... I don't think Jace would want you to brush your emotions under the rug on his account." Was this helping? Probably not? Stupid, stupid, stupid. "The best thing you can do is to just be open about the way you feel so you won't make each other so uncomfortable. That way, you can still be friends. He needs to know you still want to be his friend even though he doesn't like you that way." Garreth had no idea where all of this was coming from, but it just seemed like the sensible thing to do. Of course, poor little Garreth had never had a girlfriend, as he was a tad young to be thinking about that sort of thing - even though he had noticed that he was becoming increasingly nervous around girls these days - but if he had one, he would have no idea how to talk to her. Hence, it came as a surprise to him that he had any advice at all for Azura on matters like this.

And then came the hug. "Yeah.. Yeah, of course. Of course that wouldn't be horrific." he spoke with a little more confidence, wrapping his arms around the girl in response to her hug. He had often been described as quite the wordsmith, but of course, when it came to talking to girls, and especially one as pretty as Azura, he just drew a blank. How did all these older boys do it? They just walked right up to girls and started talking to them. Were they all in Gryffindor? Surely, they had to be. How else could they be brave enough? Garreth certainly wasn't.

"You're welcome, Azura." he murmured back. Somehow, he got the feeling that he'd helped. At least a little.