Heheehe. Flailsteed, it was rather brilliant wasn't it?! Talking about Professors was so much fun! "Hah, thanks!" Hehe. Flailsteed. Speaking of which, he still had to delivery his card to that nutty man. That'd be quite the expirience. Anyways, back to the discussion at hand. "She's SO strange! Do you think she can really understand animals??" That was a little too Snow White for his taste. Like really, that woman was a nutter. A nice nutter, but still her story did not sound legit. At all. "She smiles WAY too much," Like seriously, that's not normal!! The two could probably start their own Professor Gossip paper. It'd be like the aparecium, BUT professor only gossip. It'd sure be a hit. Especially after the third year found out that he wasn't the only one who thought the professors were all crazies. Except for Bentley, she's perfect.

.....

This was bad. NO, BEYOND BAD. Zander was so uncomfortable and itchy and ohmygosh he couldn't believe he was actually gonna tell Kevin his secret!! At least Kevin wasn't glaring anymore. But he was starting feel all weird when Kevin didn't say anything. Wait, was he putting his pinky in the air!?! YES!! Phew. He wasn't looking at him all crazy! Zander met the boy's pinky with one of his own and firmly shook.

He almost forgot. THE WHOLE ENTIRE REASON WHY THEY JUST PINKY SWORE WAS SO THAT HE COULD TELL KEVIN. Which he did NOT want to do. Cue the nervous sweats. Okay. How would he do this? Just rip the band aid off. That's how it's done. Here goes nothing..... "Bentley." He tried to whisper, but he's voice kind of faltered so that didn't work out.

Were there any spare blankets around to hide under?!

Sighing out loud, Kevin shook his head when Zander asked if he believed that she could talk to animals. "No one can right?, not even magical people. Well of course the Dark Lord from years ago could talk to snakes...but thats not the point" and yes, he did refered You-Know-Who as "Dark Lord". What?

And YES! She smiles too much! Kevin nodded his head this time as he agreed. "Who smiles all the time? that's just creepy! No one can be THAT happy all the time" And then he remembered something that his mother used to tell him. "Did you know that the people who smile the most are actually really sad and they try to hide it? Also, people who act tough usually are afraid of something and are actually really nice peo----eeeh.." Kevin suddenly stood up from his chair. "But i'm just normal tough! I'm not a softy underneath!" and to prove it he .....kicked the chair and sent it flying to the other side of the room.

Great, now he didn't have a chair T______T

Grabbing his wand, he accio'd the chair back which was successful at the second attempt. He had been practising that spell for his duel. "Oh also, that woman thought my singing was beautiful...DUDE i can't sing to safe my life!" He laughed. He wasn't going to demonstrate though...nope.

This was it, the moment of truth. Kevin sat back down on the chair and inched closer and closer to the older Gryffindor. His left hazel and right dark brown eyes were curiously watching Zander when.........he confessed.

BENTLEY?!

Almost immediately, Kevin jumped out of his chair and clapped his hands while he laughed. "Dude! you got a crush on BENTLEY?!" bwahahaha oh gosh this was so priceless! "She's like , 20 years older than you!" seriously Zander, go after a chick who is your age! "How long have you have a crush on her? And does she know about it? Oh goooosh had she been sitting on YOUR bed that time?!" Had that been why he had acted so weird?

"Oh man, this is GOLD!" Oh, he should probably sit back down...

The Dark Lord? Zander just ever-so-slightly raised an eyebrow at the mention of whoever that was. Growing up in the muggle world always had it's drawbacks. As for the talking to animals bit, "Yeah, I think it's all just made up." Kevin was right wasn't he? Why would they hire a bogus professor though? Hm.

As for the next exclamation of the woman, Zander nodded enthusiastically. Yeah! No one could actually smile that much. They're mouth would hurt. It's not normal. Sure it was nice, but not normal. Creepy. "Really creepy!!" he nodded in agreement. Before he could even get another word in, however, the younger Gryffindor was getting all excited and was going on about something or another. Actually it was kind of amusing. For the most part, Kevin had been pretty reserved around Zander. Well, besides the fact that the kid had no filter and said whatever was on his mind, he hadn't ever gotten this happy and bouncy. Not ever. Not ever that Zander had seen anyways. Knowing it probably wouldn't last long, Zander listened and smiled smugly. He'd just let Kevin go on for a bit, who knew how long the boy would last?

Welp, that was quick. Before he knew it, there was a chair flying across the room. HAHAH and Zander was laughing again. That was the second chair incident in less that an hour. Kevin was on a roll. "Suuuuure you are, Kev." Was Zander allowed nicknames too? Because if he were to be dubbed as Bravey Wavey Zandy Wandy, then Kevin could be Kev. Anyways. About this softy stuff, Zander knew that Kevin did have a soft spot. Even if it was hidden way deep deep deep down. The guilt potion had proven that, for goodness sakes he had seen the boy cry!... Kevin saw Zander cry too.... But that's besides the point!!

The third year would have reminded Kevin of that time down in the dungeon corridors, but decided against it. It seemed as if the two of them had an unsaid agreement about that day. What happened in the dungeons, stayed in the dungeons. And there was a line. A line that Zander didn't want to cross now that they were actually friends. WAIT, DID KEVIN ACTUALLY ACCIO THE CHAIR!?! WITHOUT SENDING SPARKS FLYING EVERY WHERE!?! "Woah. You've been practicing!?! NICE!" Genuinely impressed. For real.

Clapping?! SERIOUSLY KEVIN!?! He quickly buried his head between his arms in total embarrassment. Was this karma for laughing when Kevin fell out of his chair? Because he's sorry for that okay!?! Then, when Kevin practically ANNOUNCED Zander's confession to the ENTIRE common room Zander eyes widened and he gave Kevin a pointed look. Very pointed. "DUDE," Kevin's vocabulary was kinda rubbing off on him, "shut up!! I don't need the ENTIRE world knowing!" And then he started going on again and Zander found his arms in cover once more. This time when he emerged out from their safety his face was glowing and SUPER red. "I know, I know, but I can't make it stop! Trust me I'm trying!" Okay so she was way old and way out of his league. But can't a boy dream?

How long? Actually that was a good question. Was it when they spoke at the common room welcome? Nah, he was still recovering from the Zahra bite. Maybe when she gave him advice in the corner room? "Uh... A little after the first lesson..." at this point, Zander was slowly becoming even more of a tomato if that was even possible! He was so nervous and itchy and Kevin was just shooting questions. This felt more like an interrogation than a conversation! "I uh, I-I hope she doesn't know!" At that, his eyes suddenly narrowed, "I swear if you tell her... I'll-I'll... I'll hex you!" He'd taken that phrase from Kevin too. So is this where his Gryffindor courage was hiding at? Man. Maybe people should poke at him more often. "Yeah," it was his bed and yeah, he was now blushing out of embarrassment. Embarrassment at the fact that he still sniffed his pillow knowing that her scent was on it.

This was not gold. This was like the opposite of gold. Like, coal?

Kevin sometimes forgot that not everyone at Hogwarts was from a magical family like him. A pureblood going back for years, it was sometimes hard to understand that some people might not know certain things about the magical history. So when he saw the raised eyebrow at the mention of the Dark Lord he sighed. "You're a muggleborn aren't you?" he asked.

Hearing Zander agree with him that smiling the whole time was super creepy, Kevin sat back down on the chair he had kicked away and then looked rather smug when he mentioned the accio spell. "Oh yeah" he said, trying to sound like it was nothing. "I had a duel with the Astronomy Prof...i mean Flailsteed..." that nickname was sticking now hehe "And used this spell on a dummy in the dueling arena and it hit his back...it was AWESOME" Of course the second year hadn't won the duel...

Kevin balled his fists and a faint embarrassing blush crept up his cheeks as he remembered the scene that the Professor had to hold him princess hold because he had been hit with a confundus spell and was a danger to himself if he left the arena alone. Ugh..so EMBARRASSING.

Kev? KEV?! The blush on his cheeks faded away and he narrowed his mismatched colored eyes at Zander again. "Don't call me that, its just Kevin" it was more because he was freaked out that someone gave him a nickname and it wasn't a bad one like "freak" back at home. The second year looked down for a moment and cleared his throat in trying to find a new subject.

Zander's confession about Bentley was still making him grin and while he was pacing back and forth, Kevin fired questions at the love-struck guy. "Maybe you accidentally drank a love potion?" he asked because he couldn't believe someone would have a crush on a Professor. "It would be a good prank" he shrugged. And then Zander ...threatened him?!

Kevin blinked a couple of times, then he smirked as he stopped pacing around and walked towards Zander, stopping next to him. "Really? you're gonna hex ME?" he laughed mockingly. "You do know what happened to the last person that hexed me right?" actually, nothing had happened to her since Alexa was still intact but trying to scare him was a bit of a plan. Because this was the first time he had heard him talking back to him and acting more like a Gryffindor. Kevin just wanted to push him to see if he could stand his ground.

Yes, Zander Adair, he's testing you.

Maybe he should've taken a few notes from CB and taken a crack at his history books... At least then he wouldn't end up looking like such a prick at the slight mention of some household magical being. Zander hadn't really realized that not everyone grew up without this knowledge, like him. "Yeah... I am. I'm pretty obvious about it, huh?" Next stop, the library? Naaaah. He'd rather be clueless and not read.

Kevin picked these things up pretty quickly! Zander still didn't know how to summon things. Well, he hadn't really ever tried. Maybe he could experiment later or something? Man. Kevin was younger than him and the kid was already an epic potioneer AND he was showing him up with all this spell work stuff. "You dueled with Flailsteed!?" Heh. He was kinda glad that Kevin had adopted the nickname too. It made things more official sounding. Were Professor on student duels even allowed?? That's SO COOL!"

Ooohkay so that's a no to the nickname... Was it really that bad? He knew it wasn't anything original, but it was better than being called Flailsteed or Bravey Wavey Zandy Wandy, for that matter! But oh well, at least he tried. But just then, Kevin gave him an idea. "Okay, just Kevin. Got it." Zander could always call him 'just Kevin'. Though, that'd defeat the purpose of a shortened nickname. Sigh. Oh well.

WHY WAS HE PACING!? The pacing just put Zander even more on edge, if that was even possible!?! The third year started tapping his fingers nervously on the table in front of him. "Yeah maybe....." he was hoping it was a love potion. Even though he knew it wasn't. He was also really hoping that Kevin really believed it was. That would make his life SO much easier. Hopefully the questions could stop though. This was a mess. No, he was a mess. He hadn't even realized it, but he was starting to sweat and his face just kept getting redder by the minute.

At the mocking laughter, Zander frowned angrily. He quickly got out of his chair to reach Kevin's height. It was kind of intimidating when the kid was just looming over him. "Yeah. Just because I've never hexed anyone before doesn't mean I can't," and this was all completely false confidence. He was trying to make Kevin believe him, but mostly he was trying to convince himself. Life was so much easier when Kevin was the one with the threats. He had to hand it to the guy, being the mean one was hard. And just as Zander thought his tough guy thing was working, Kevin threw out a threat of his own.

Welp, that didn't last too long. "No. No, I don't," his confidence faltered a little, but wait! He was talking about BENTLEY, HERE. He couldn't let Kevin scare him and then tell the whole world about his crush. With a renewed gust of confidence, he tried again, "Look, you just better not tell anyone, okay?" he tried not to phrase it as a question... "You pinky swore." At this point Zander had balled his hands into a fist without even realizing it. He also tried the whole narrowing his eyes thing to add some dramatic flair. Ugh. Trying to be tough was so straining! How did Kevin live like this!?

Where was Peeves when you needed a good distraction?

It was really obvious that Zander wasn't a pureblood, or at least didn't have any or many magical connections. How some muggleborns are able to use magic was still odd to him, but none of his business. Kevin sat back down after pacing and folded his arms before he nodded that it was obvious. "But still, that you don't know the Dark Lord...." he glanced at him for a second but then shrugged his shoulders.

Kevin couldn't help but look a bit smug when Zander asked if he had dueled with Flailsteed (heh). "I did, and guess what? i used accio on one of the dummies and i totally took him by surprise and hit him with it" He hadn't fallen over even with his arm tied to his side but still "It was awesome" He smiled in to the distance before he turned to the third year. "Have you ever dueled someone?" he asked.

The second year Gryffindor sighed loudly , "It's not that i don't LIKE Nicknames" actually , he had one back at home but no one knew about th----crap Flailsteed knew! but he had pinky swore not to tell anyone. "Kev is just so ...boring, you know? Something like...oh i don't know... Commander? General? ...not Prince thats too mweh" he suddenly gasped out loud and his eyes twinkled "King!" but he had the feeling that Zander wouldn't be calling him King since the older Gryffindor suddenly had gotten some backbone by standing up for himself...literally.

This caused Kevin to look up just slightly since the third year was a bit longer than him but that didn't mean he would take a step back. He continued to look straight in to his eyes while narrowing his own and was already deciding which hex he should use IF he really hexed him now. Aww look at that~ the little Hufflepuff became a manly Gryff----oookay he was back to being a Puff the moment Kevin saw that his confidence had faltered and he sighed.

Ah, the pinky swear. Of course he was going to keep his promise , his mother had told him bad things would happen to himself if he didn't keep pinky swear promises and although he didn't know what would happen, he did trust her ....but Zander didn't know that right? Actually, he could use someone right now. With a sly grin, Kevin sat on the table and looked up at Zander. "Even a pinky swear can be easily broken, its just empty words...if you don't want me to tell everyone about your crush on ...her..." he smiled. "Then you have to do something for me" He took out the exploding potions vial he had gotten from Culloden and placed it on the table "You know what potion this is?" his grin had faltered now as he ticked his finger on the table.

Zander tried reeeaaally hard to suppress his utter confusion about this Dark Lord guy. What was a Dark Lord and why did the wizards have one? He was also trying to keep from looking all embarrassed about his lack of wizard knowledge. Instead, he just shrugged. Was Dark Lord that Voldyshmort-or whatever-his-name-was-guy? If it was then why the heck was Kevin calling him the Dark Lord? That was creeeeeepy, Kev- ahem 'just Kevin'.

Right anyways. Zander was actually pretty impressed with the fact that Kevin had dueled Flailsteed. Just the fact that the boy wasn't afraid to duel with a professor. It was actually kind of admirable? Which was a weird thing to say about Kevin. Heh. Zander smiled and opened his eyes wide enough as if to say 'AWESOME'! One of those looks. As for his dueling experience... ahem. uh. "Me? Of course I've dueled with--" Uh? "No... I haven't." Heh. Nah. Sophie had challenged him to one, but he refused. Mostly because he didn't know any cool intense spells yet. He just didn't want to lose.

Kev was boring? Well he was really trying, he was! It just- it was hard trying to be clever when the sorting hat had already made it clear that he didn't have a clever bone in his body. Maybe it was the fact that the hat had told him that, that kept him from even trying to be remotely clever. Whatever it was, the kid had no other good nicknames. And he would not be calling Kevin, King Kevin anytime soon. "No way, King?" He was already standing up for himself, why not defend his honor too? "I guess it'll be just Kevin... For now... Until I come up with something better, I guess," he totally would... It'd just take time. Lots of it.

Just when he thought the pinky swear guilt trip had done it... Kevin proved him wrong. O___O Would he actually break the swear!? Of course he would. He was a Kevin. Sigh. Wait a minute... What was he going on about? Something for him. "What are you going to make me--" A potion? Kevin, was this really an appropriate time to show of your potioneering skills? There is a time and a place for that and it is NOT when you've just learned a super important secret that you can't tell. Gah. Zander let out a small sigh and looked at the second year with the most blank expression he could muster. "I have no idea, Kevin. But why is it so important?"

Whatever it was, Zander was starting to get suspicious...

Dima had had the right idea when he mentioned the Common Rooms. She could have gone with him to his but then thought better of it when she remember her warm bed she'd insulated recently and thought...Gryffindor Common Room sounded far more appealing so back inside she went, being greeted by Felix at the portrait hole. His rubbing against her leg signalled his readiness for a nap as well and she made a face at him.

"Not yet, I haven't actually gotten the work done." She told him as she stepped by him and headed to the study area. This place needed insulating too. People came here for homework, even she did on the odd occasion. More so when Alice was here but whatever.

Felix followed close behind as she went to the windows by the table. Horizontal eight. "Caelum Saepio!" This place would be freezing without this. She watched Felix hop onto the table and walk over to the glass with the rising fog. "Neat, huh?" Again she raised her wand to cast, trying not to get distracted by the kneazle pawing away at the light fog. There was the horizontal eight wand movement then, "Caelum Saepio."