September 11th, 1890 — Hogwarts Grounds

Sloane had sat near him during Transfiguration to his surprise, but there was still something off. He knew her well enough to know when she was genuinely happy (her nose always wrinkled and her smiles always showed teeth) and when she was not. The way she'd been smiling at him was not genuine, and it bothered him more than his failures throughout the entirety of Transfiguration class. (Although the more he thought about it, his annoyance made have contributed to his lack of success. He'd go with that.)

He didn't think was mad, though, because she wouldn't have agreed to walk with him to Herbology if she was mad. He tried to push his worries to the back of his mind. Who knew what went through girls' heads? Maybe her sudden weirdness had nothing to do with him. Maybe she'd been talking to Professor Yi; she had recently begun showing more of an interest in controlling her ability, so who better to help her than the Transfiguration professor? Maybe she was worried about quidditch, which is why the conversation had irked her.

He ought to let it die. He really ought to. And for once, he did.

"Now if I get to Herbology and get bitten by a mandrake, I'm dropping out of school. Immediately," he said as they walked side-by-side. He had his wand out and was examining it, as if it must be the cause of his failure in Transfiguration. "I'll play second-string for Puddlemere for the next five years of my life, and by the time you all graduate I might be a success in something."

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Sloane Bixby

  

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Sloane had made it through transfiguration without too much fuss. She'd been stiff and awkward for sure, but thankfully lecture ate up most of the class and then the practical had been something good to focus on. Thankfully it was easy for her, so she could move around and help her friends, carefully avoiding Cam- though he'd needed help in the end too.

Now they were on their way down to Herbology and she was lost in her own head again, arms wrapped around her books, barely paying attention. This morning, before breakfast, she would have been quite happy to monopolize Cam's time, but now she was wishing for the blanket security having their group of friends around would provide. Of course she was now hyper-focused on his repeated mentions of Miss Bonaccord and if it meant something or maybe she was overthinking it and making something out of nothing. She'd tried to get it out of her head, but couldn't and since she didn't want to spark an argument, was trying desperately not to say something.

Belatedly she realized he'd stopped talking and she probably had to respond, but wasn't sure what to go with and so she admitted defeat. "Hmm? Sorry, I was daydreaming." A slight blush crept into her cheeks without her realizing.

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He looked over at her and was unable to ignore that she was still acting strange. There was usually a bounce to her step, and any books she was carrying were usually tucked under her arm instead of pressed against her chest. It was a very un-Sloane-ish stance. She wasn't angry, or at least he didn't think so, but something was definitely wrong—and whatever it was had started at breakfast.

"Never mind," he said with a dismissive wave. His ramblings weren't important, not compared to whatever was going on with her. If only he was more like Ned, he might know how to approach the subject sensitively. He couldn't just ask her what's going on with you?, because that was the surefire way to make her angry, but he also couldn't poke her with cryptic questions until she got frustrated.

"I wish you'd tell me what's got your feathers all ruffled. It's got me all nervous," he settled on, his bottom lip jutted out slightly as he looked down at her. He really didn't want to fight; now would be one of those moments where they practiced talking about emotions. He'd had to do it over the summer, and now it was her turn.

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"Sorry, just lost in my own head." She reiterated sheepishly, looking down at her feet while they walked.

He then of course turned the dreaded question on her. She'd been anticipating it, tried to think of an appropriate response or suitable excuse, anything other than the truth. The problem was that she didn't want to lie to him, but she didn't really want to tell him the truth either. How did you tell one of your best friends you fancied them anyhow?

A fight was also out of the question, she didn't want to do that either, less than either of the other options, but what did she do? It would be incredibly hypocritical of her not to admit what was going on, but she did not want to damage anything they already had.

"I know this is going to sound like a cop out, because it is, and it makes me look like a huge hypocrite, but can you just believe me when I say if it was really important I'd tell you?" It wasn't important and she would get over it and she would get better at hiding it. Probably.

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The following 2 users Like Sloane Bixby's post:2 users Like Sloane Bixby's post
   Cameron Gillenwater, Jupiter Smith

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He passed her a strange glance and shook his head to himself. Something was up. He was right. Only now that he'd figured it out, she wasn't going to tell him, which was... fine, he guessed. She didn't owe him anything, and she was entitled to her secrets just as he was, but he still needed a little more than that.

"Only if you promise that you'll tell me if there's something I can do to help," he said, and meant it, too. That she hadn't yelled at him or even snapped back at him was promising, even if everything wasn't better, per se. He smiled and gave her braid a little tug, hoping to ease the tension. "But you really ought to know," he said, stifling a laugh, "by being a hypocrite now, that gives me one free pass to be a hypocrite in the future. Just so you're aware."

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Anticipating a rebuttal, she was relieved he took her answer at face value. "I can handle that, yeah." Only she couldn't just up and say, please don't talk about other girls. As if it wouldn't give anything away. Nope.

Pulling a face, she smiled more genuinely at the tug on her braid. "I suppose that's fair, but you may have to remind me." There was no way Sloane, in the heat of the moment, would be able to wrap her head around it, until she was advised. Maybe it would be better that way. If they could both respect the other enough to let the small stuff go and talk about the big stuff, maybe there would be less fights.

"So you anticipate getting bitten by a mandrake today?" She teased, fading back into their normal banter, determined not to repeat last year.

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See? They could do this. They could compromise and get a long. It was far cry from the end of August, when he'd been certain that the end of their friendship was near. Logically they should be able to go a day without fighting (he rarely fought with Sisse, Calla, Alice, Maddy, and Alcyone) but they'd both always had the most... expressive of their friends. Passionate. They could do to keep the fire at bay for a day.

It helped that they could return to their banter.

"I'm sure I will. I would be my luck, wouldn't it?" he laughed. "Attacked by two unruly creatures in one day. I can only imagine what Alice will think when I ask her to heal me again. How are you with healing spells?"

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Not bad, okay, they could get through a day without fighting. Hopefully it would only get better from here. If they could just keep this up, it would be fine. She could do this, keep being friends and just keep the rest to herself.

"Not great, are we even doing mandrakes this year?" They'd already covered them a couple years ago. Then again, it would be Cameron's luck that he would get attacked by something they weren't even working with that day. The greenhouses, while one of her favorite places on campus, were often pretty dangerous if you weren't paying attention. "Alice is your best bet, maybe Ned? Even Sisse would be better than I am." She should work on it though if he was going to keep getting himself beat up- by things other than her!

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"I think Professor [Name] said they planned on bringing them out to experiment with how different sentient herbs interact with one another. Something about being careful not to plant your plants too close to each other," he said with a dramatic eye-roll. He didn't know why he couldn't opt-out of Herbology as a fifth year; he already knew he had no intention to plant a plant ever.

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that. Feel free to shove me away if I get too close," he joked, imagining the professor's face at Sloane smacking his hand away in the middle of class. They'd done worse, probably. It was still better than being bitten by a mandrake.

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Whoops she'd missed that at their last class. Ugh that meant earmuffs. Herbology was one of her favorites (there were only three) but she didn't enjoy mandrakes. The potential repercussions of working with them was kind of off-putting.

"Ohh permission to whack you, got it." She smirked up at him, watching him carefully out if the corner of her eye. He had no idea what he'd just given her.

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Cameron shot her a warning glance, but his lips betrayed him by spreading into a smile.

"Only if I'm not paying attention," he said despite fully knowing she'd take advantage of it. They arrived at the greenhouse and Cameron caught the eye of one of their friends. He nudged Sloane and pointed in their direction. "I'll bet you a treat from Honeyduke's that I can give Ned a headache before the class is out?"

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"Poor Ned, we need him to get us through these classes you know. Don't turn him against us." She swatted him gently on the arm. Not that she thought Ned would ever give up on them, but she'd rather not frustrate him to the point of annoyance either. Letting her hand fall, she maneuvered to her assigned seat, away from him for now. At least she was confident they might survive this year as friends.

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