tippest och Unicornhorn [PRS]

“No clue. She just signed up for some class”, he said, taking a sip from his glass. “Extremely random. Don’t mind it though, it’s good for her to actually get out of the house.” His mom was a housewife and before her muggle-studies class she basically never left the house. Noel had always wondered if she was really happy with her life, but he didn’t ask. It wasn’t like he wanted some change, he kind of liked having her home at all times. Not that it mattered so much anymore, him being at Hogwarts and all.
“Well - I actually had muggle studies up until last year, so I know a lot, I think”, he said. “Couldn’t read it this year though. It’d take too much time.”

Audrey nodded, and looked surprised.
“I thought only half bloods and muggle borns took those classes” she said and shrugged. She hadn’t, since she felt she knew everything about the world she lived in during the summers. She spaced and started to think about her summers, and how much she missed Hogwarts during those long three months. She hadn’t realised how much the wizard world had meant to her until a few years ago, and she appreciated it a lot. She pulled a hand through her hair and looked at Noel.
“When do we have to leave? I didn’t put on a watch today” she said and waved with her left hand.

“Mom pretty much made me choose it. She thinks that it’s very important to learn about the muggle-culture and whatnot.” He shrugged, not knowing if he agreed with her. It was an interesting subject, but didn’t feel that important. He had been the only Slyhterin in that class - and many had frowned upon his choice to read it. Not that it bothered him to much; he didn’t care about their opinion.
“One and a half hour”, he answered as he looked down at his own watch. Being a Prefect he could never forget his watch - one of his duties (that he had made up himself l, actually) was to be able to tell the time to everyone, anytime.

Audrey nodded.
“At least you know something about another culture” she said. She took the ball of paper from her pocket. She pressed it flat again and opened it. Just as she had guessed. She rolled her eyes.
“Idiot” she said and slammed the piece of paper on the table. She didn’t even know why she bothered to even read it, since she only got mad. She leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling, which showed a pretty grey day. How wonderful. Or not. She looked at the paper on the table, which sudden started to burn. Flames ate the paper and words on it. Audrey shrieked and stood up, backing away from the little fire on the table. She looked around the room, and felt how her head got dizzy. She took a step back, tripped over her own feet, and fell to the floor. She looked over by the door, where some Slytherin students laughed with their wands out. They disappeared, and Audrey tried to stand up, but the whole room was spinning. She cursed, loudly and a lot.

Cultures were interesting, but he preferred different magical cultures. He didn't tell her, though. Her being a muggle and all... It could hurt, he thought. His gaze followed her as she read the letter and threw it on the table. He didn't understand her. It was a letter. Letters were wonderful to recieve - he would've loved to get more than one letter a week. He kept his thoughts to himself and continued to look at her. She didn't seem to notice his blue-green eyes on her.
All of a sudden, the letter that she had thrown onto the table started to burn. His reaction was - unlike Audrey's - quite calm.
"Aguamenti", he said, pointing his wand at the letter. Water came out from it and drowned the fire. His pure instinct to get rid of the fire had taken his mind completely from Audrey; who was now on the floor, cursing. A couple of students from all houses had started to gather around her. He looked over at the head table, and professor Sprout (who was the only one there) had quickly gotten on her feet and almost ran to the scene across the room.

He didn't know what to do. It felt stupid to join the other students that had gathered around her - so he didn't. Instead, he looked at the students who were still sitting down. A table full of Slytherins in the seventh year - including William - sat there with smug smiles on their lips. Noel understood what they had done. William noticed his gaze and looked back at him - laughing. And Noel, who was very fond of that boy - started laughing, too.

Audrey tried to concentrate on one spot, but the whole room span, and made her sick. She swallowed and tried to breathe calmly. She got a clear picture of the room for just a few seconds, and took in the whole scene. All eyes in the room were on her. A few students stood around her, and Professor Sprout came running to her aid. It had finally happened. She had been humiliated in public, and not little, that was. She looked around and fixed her dizzy eyes on the one person in front of her, Noel. As if the humiliation wasn’t enough, she got punched in the stomach by his reaction. He joined the Slytherin’s laughs.

Audrey rose, quickly. Too quickly. Her vision got blurry again, but she managed to stumble out of the room, with the student’s laughs ringing in her ears. She had to pinch her arm. This must be a nightmare. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. It was as real as her hair was blonde. She got weird looks from the few students she passed as she ran through the entrance hall and into an empty corridor. She stopped to catch her breath, and tried to focus on the wall’s markings. She thought about the scene that had occurred, and clenched her fist. She punched the wall in front of her. The feeling rushing through her was great. She kept punching, not realising the blood that dripped from the open wounds the punching created on her knuckles.

Audrey sank to her knees, panting of exhaustion. She leaned her forehead on the wall. Looking down at the floor. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening.

He saw her looking at him. It felt as she was shooting guilt at him - tons and tons of it. He didn't stop laughing, though. He didn't know why. Did he really care so much about what others - specifically what William - thought of him? Apparantly, he did. And he was ashamed of himself. What would his parents say about this? Hell, if they found out how weak he was, he wasn't even sure if they would be able to look him in the eye.

Audrey stumbled out of the room - professor Sprout coming after her. The feeling of not having a clue what to do was still stuck with Noel. He really had no clue. Was he supposed to run after her, or stay here? The project said that he should be with his partner almost at all times. It worked great as an excuse for him - so he walked after Sprout. He didn't run, although he wanted to, but he didn't want to seem desperate. He wanted people to think that he only did this because of the project.

Professor Sprout didn't run very fast, which is how he managed to follow her, walking. She ran into a corridor and Noel followed her - catching the sight of Audrey, sitting on her knees, facing the wall. He saw blood, first on the wall and later on her knuckles. He could feel the pain in his own hands.
"Dear child!" professor Sprout walked up to her, placing her hand on Audrey's back, as to comfort her. Noel didn't say anything. He suddenly wished that he could be anywhere else in the entire world. How could he manage to face Audrey?

Audreys head was spinning. She kept reliving the scene in the Great Hall again. The fire, her reacton, the tripping. The students running to her, and Noels laugh. Somehow, that was the thing that hurt the most. She didn’t understand why. She had known this guy for a few days, and they had been pissed at each other most of that time. But somehow, she still heard his laugh as if he was a centimetre from her ear. She wondered if she could get the entire school to forget this ever happened, but not even Obliviate was strong enough for that. Or her power to use it, anyway.

She heard steps behind her, and Professor Sprout shrieking. Audrey flinched when the professor touched her back. She pulled away, and turned around, leaning against the wall, still sitting down.
“I don’t need you, I’m fine” she said with her teeth clenched. She had a really hard time keeping herself from weeping. She looked further down the corridor. Her eyes widened.
“Come here to laugh some more?” she said, and you could almost freeze the entire school with the cold in her voice. She laughed a humourless laugh.
“You did it, after all. Congratulations, you broke me. Took only three days, you should get a medal. Did you plan this the entire time, with your Slytherin friends? I bet your confession last night wasn’t even real, was it?” she said, and looked at him, right in his greyblue eyes.

Professor Sprout didn't stay for long. She quickly turned around and saw Noel. She smiled at him. It was forced. Her eyes were full of tears. He had never seen a professor being close to crying before. It felt weird. She was probably going to scold the Slytherins or go talk to Dumbledore. She was rushing.
He turned his eyes from Sprout to Audrey when she started talking to him. He wasn't prepared for the iciness in her voice; for some reason he had actually expected her to laugh it off. She had laughed everything off, in his defence. What could he say? He was a prick. Her eye contact made his guilt even worse; tears started to build up in his eyes. He looked down at the floor.
"I-", he started, his voice cracking due to the lump in his throat. "I'm sorry."

She drew the conclusion that with his apology, he also confessed that she was right.
“How come you picked me to mess with? What have I ever done to you? And how on Earth did you even manipulate the whole project so you and I got paired up?” she asked and her right hand twitched. Her bloody knuckles started to inform her brain that they were in fact in a huge amount of pain. She laughed again, still humourless.
“I should have known, though. You just don’t change opinion about a person that quick. One day you take points from me for being a bitch, the next you tell me I’m pretty. All part of the game. I was stupid enough to believe you” she said and shook her head.

She moved her eyes from Noel to her feet.
“And how did you know that I’m terrified of fire?”. This question she asked with barely a whisper. She pulled her legs up and put her arms around her knees. She leaned her head towards the wall, looking up at Noel again. She wanted to see him answering that question. Had he figured that her scar was from a burning accident? Probably, but she wanted to hear it.