Feelings

" Bloody hell I am about to throttle Slughorn, I don't even know what the hell a Dittany is," Maria slumped forwards, pressing her forehead against the parchment while muttering curses at the potions master under her breath.

" Why don't you just ask Riddle for his paper, knowing him it's probably going to be Sluggies favorite?" Maria shook her head without looking up at Jay, he shrugged and returned to making up dreams to fill his dream journal.

" You know, I overheard some of the Gryffindors talking about you and Tom's friendship," At this Maria looked at Jay, eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the boy's words.

" They were talking about you two being more, like more than friends," The Gryffindor rolled her eyes at that and let out a breathy laugh.

" Oh please, that wouldn't be the first time I heard that. There's nothing between me and Tom, we're just friends, plus I think Abarax already has his eyes set on him," At that, she moved to pick up her quill but paused at the Hufflepuff's words.

" But is he really?" Maria hesitated, she knew the answer to that, of course, he was she had never viewed Tom as anything more than a friend. But there were those moments when something he did made her heart beat faster and made her feel constipated.

" I, I don't know,"

" What do you mean you don't know,"

" Like, I think he's good-looking and he's a good friend, but I don't know if I like him in that way," The silence after seemed to stretch, neither willing to break out of their thoughts to continue the conversation.

" Well a word of advice from a friend who cares, if you don't like him then maybe make it a bit more clear, not for me but to others. Because the way that you act around him makes it seem like your crushing on him, and crushing on him pretty hard," At that Jay turned back to his journal, giving Maria the hint that the conversation on the topic was over. Though it left her with questions and more confusion than she was willing to handle, especially if she was to finish her paper in time for slughorns class later that day.

The words though came back as she was making her way towards the quidditch pitch for practice. ' He changes me, but in what way and should I be wary around him,'. The swirling thoughts carried through to the team's practice match on the pitch. She was broken out of her thoughts at the sound of Fleamont calling her name and she noticed the hurtling bludger in time to dodge it. She sent a quick thumbs up to him and returned her focus on the game, but no matter how hard she tried her mind kept wandering back to the earlier conversation.

After another half hour of dodging bludgers and struggling with staying concentrated, practice finally ended.

" You know in total, you nearly got hit 8 times a bludger and 5 times with a quaffle, though I think that last time I think Minerva did on purpose." Fleamont approached the Rowan, his smile dropping at the look Maria gave him. This was the first time outside of necessity that the boy had tried to talk to Maria since the fight.

He threw up his hands in exasperation, " Come on I'm trying here, I apologized didn't I, and I haven't even gone after any of those snakes in weeks,"

" Hmm fine, but quit calling them snakes, how would you like if people started calling you a howling kitten,"

" I do not howl,"

" Yuh-huh, sure you don't," The two made their way back towards the castle, brooms, and goggles in hand.

" Don't try to change the topic, seriously what's up, you looked like you were in merlin land the entire match."

" Do I act like I fancy Tom, like do I treat him differently than I do others?" Fleamont looked at her, brow raised in confusion.

" Well kind of, but why do you ask? Did something happen between you two?" Maria bit her lip lightly, teeth nervously tearing at the delicate skin.

" Well it came up in conversation between me and jay and he mentioned how I act differently around Tom,"

" Meh, I don't see it, but if you do act differently you could just I don't know, not act differently around him?" At this Maria stopped and stared at him, expression blank.

" What?"

" I don't even know why I asked you,"

Though Fleamont had been absolutely no help, the conversation had helped her get an idea of how she was gonna handle the issue, which leads her to the current situation. Eating a bag of sweets her mother had sent, reading a book, and petting her roommate's cat. Of course, she knew it wouldn't help her solve the problem but it would help her forget about it.

But did she really have to worry about something like that, honestly what would she even do if she did like Tom. He seemed, untouchable in a way, well to her at least. He was cute, and they had been friends since they were first years but would he like her back. It wasn't like she would be the first person to ask him out, she knew just how well-liked he was among the female population in their year, and even by girls in years younger.

Would she even be an option? Had he ever thought of her that way? She put her book down and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the dorm wall with a sigh. After a moment of trying to sort through her racing thoughts, she tilted her head to the side and opened her eyes to her reflection in one of her roommate's mirrors. Brown eyes stared back at her, and she took a moment to study herself, then let out a snort starling the cat in her lap.

As if, she knew full and well she didn't compete with Tom's other admirers, better to go back to ignoring the issue.

" Ahh fuck, I forgot about Slughorns paper,"

Tom had never really minded the cold of the Slytherin common room but Nagini did, and he had no intention of freezing the little corn snake to death. So he found himself in the library, tucked away in a shadowed corner while reading up on the new topic they were going over in transfiguration. Though he made sure to keep an eye on the curious snake, he was completely lost in the book in his attempt to soak up all the information he could.

He didn't hear the group at first but his focus was broken by Nagini coming up to him and nudging him with her nose. The Slytherin lowered his book and looked in the direction Nagini was gesturing him. In the aisle to the right, he could hear a couple of voices discussing in hushed tones, he went to pick up his book again, not catching interest in the ongoing conversation when Nagini started to nudge him again. Tom rose an eyebrow at the snake's adamant gestures, but eventually relented and moved closer to the shelf so he could better hear the group.

"-aid to father that now that Grindelwald's gone whose gonna make sure the mudbloods stay in their place?" At the mention of the powerful wizard, Tom leaned in closer, trying to hear every word spoken.

" I overheard my parents talking about the Prewett's, a whole lot of blood traitors they are," The eavesdropping boy noted the name and reminded himself to ask Abarax what the term blood traitor meant and why it was bad.

" Things are going to be tense in the ministry that's for sure, they're putting extra pressure on wizards skilled in divination to make sure there won't be any big surprises in the years to come. As if a little prophecy would've stopped Grindelwald."

" Is he really dead though?"

" No one knows, he was declared dead but there was no body,"

" If anyone knows, it's probably Dumbledore or the Rowens, but then again as if they would tell anyone, they have that nauseating nobility complex going." The others replied with hums and after a moment of thought changed conversations. Tom leaned away from the bookshelf and processed what he had heard. He returned to his original spot against the wall and pulled out his diary to note down the conversation, Nagini slithering into his lap to coil up.

Abarax noticed him as he was walking past the aisle, he gestured Zabini and the others to go on without him. He walked up to Tom, who glanced up at him over his diary, then looked down, the only sign of acknowledgment being his slight shift to the side giving Abarax space to sit.