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"EXCUSE ME?"

I slowed my steps and turned to see a boy with blue hair striding towards me, looking slightly sheepish as he tucked his hands into his pockets. I blinked then smiled, hoping I wasn't being as awkward as I felt, "Yes?"

"Where's the Charms classroom? My dormmates left me behind and I know we share the class with Ravenclaws," he looked anywhere but me as he spoke.

I frowned, "We're standing outside the classroom right now."

"Oh," he flushed, looking at the door next to us. He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up as the tips slowly turned a light shade of pink. I found myself staring at it, fascinated at the way it faded as the color changed, until I realized I was being creepy and met his eyes again.

His cheeks were dusted pink as he coughed, "Thank you."

He turned and left, quickly ducking into the classroom before I could say anything in reply. I followed him inside and took a seat next to Amara, one of my dormmates. She turned to look at me, barely catching her ink pot before it slid off the desk.

"Not a word," she insisted, staring me down.

I nodded, "Of course."

"Good morning, class!" the professor greeted us, climbing onto a stack of books atop his desk. He was much shorter than I'd ever expected and I was sure he would've come to my knees, perhaps a little higher, "I'm Professor Flitwick."

Most of the Hufflepuffs greeted him back cheerily while us Ravenclaws replied with simply "morning." I could feel the anticipation in the air as he raised his wand and demonstrated a few spells, asking what connected them all.

The answer was that they were all charms, which led into his lesson. He started by explaining the different types of magic and how charms were special, differentiating them from other types like transfiguration.

I jotted notes down as he spoke, making sure to get the most important parts. I couldn't help but glance over to the blue-haired boy every few minutes, since he was sitting towards the front of the classroom.

He looked fully invested in the professor's lecture, not taking his eyes off of the board as words scrawled themselves across it. With closer inspection, however, I realized he was staring out the window behind Flitwick.

I wasn't too sure what that meant but I filed that away because he stayed in the same position for the rest of the class, not moving an inch, even when we were shown demonstrations of the charms we'd be learning throughout the year, which earned a lot of amazement in the other students.

I took my eyes off of him to sketch quick diagrams of each spell's wand movement as they were shown, wanting to be ahead as much as I could. I also double checked the spelling of each of the spell's name in my textbook to be sure that I was getting them all right.

"Come on, Asuka, we're going to be late," Amara bumped my shoulder as she stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder with a smile playing across her face.

Almost everyone else had already left so I hurried to gather everything together, now worrying about being late to Herbology due to the long walk out to the greenhouses.

My robe's sleeves were longer than I had thought and, with a careless sweep as I made a grab for my ink pot, I accidentally sent my papers flying across the floor.

I cursed under my breath and dropped to grab them all up, since kids for the next class were already filing in. I stuffed them into my bag as I picked them up and stood up, looking for the rest.

I saw the boy with blue hair reading over them and my face turned pink as I held out my hand and cleared my throat, "Can I have those back? I'm going to be late."

"Oh, yeah, of course," his cheeks were dusted a rosy pink as he looked away from me, handing them back, "sorry."

I didn't reply and instead waved it off, tucking them into my bag as I bid him goodbye. I dashed into the hall after Amara, joining the flood of students heading to class.

-

"Set your bags over there, please," Professor Longbottom instructed, pointing to the corner next to the door, "and take out your textbooks and gloves!"

I dropped my bag next to everyone else's and waited with the others, since we hadn't been given instructions on seating. Small groups were already forming, even though it was only the first day, and it was easy to see as we all stood quietly.

A few minutes later, after everyone had filed in, he called for our attention and headed over to the far end of the greenhouse, standing at the head of a table, "I don't have any specific places for you all to sit but I'd like you to alternate between Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. I do believe we have more lions than eagles but we'll make it work. I trust you to figure it out yourselves."

He moved a potted plant to his table from a side one as everyone shuffled around to take their seats, arguing over who sat where.

I took one of the nearest stools and pulled myself closer to the table, setting down my book and gloves in front of me. Amara sat diagonally to me, to the left, and she grinned with an enthusiastic wave.

I couldn't help but flash a smile back as Professor Longbottom started to speak again, "I'd like you to introduce yourselves to your tablemates, since there will be a lot of partner work. Afterwards, open up your books to page six and read through it. I'll distribute pots to you, one for each able, and you can follow the instructions on that page."

"I'm Clay," the boy directly across from me informed us as soon as the professor was done speaking, shaking his wispy brown bangs out of his eyes as he spoke. Half of his mouth turned up in a small smile as the silence became longer, the rest of us remaining silent. Eventually, as if to break the silence, he pointed to the Gryffindor on my left, "That's Kyrie. He doesn't talk. Selective mutism."

Kyrie's hair covered his eyes, falling gently around his shoulders in soft waves. His cheeks were a light, sweet pink that matched his lips and his eyes looked solemn. His skin was pale, though, pale enough that the lighting turned him a light green.

When he shifted and his hair fell away from his eyes, I could see that they were red and slightly puffy.

Amara glanced at him and I could see her eyes light up a bit when she realized she had a talking point, "My sister had selective mutism when she was younger. I'm Amara, by the way."

His mouth curled into a very small smile and he mouthed "thank you."

The silence returned so I awkwardly introduced myself, "I'm Asuka."

Clay shifted in his seat and struck up a conversation to the best of his ability, trying to include Kyrie as much as possible despite his inability to verbally participate.

Everyone chattered away for a while until Professor Longbottom had to remind us of our task, saying we had plenty of time to talk while working. The talking didn't die down at all as textbooks were flipped open and, as he dropped off the plants, I could still hear some trying to read and speak at the same time.

Clay opened his book and I found myself watching him as his eyes scanned the page, never leaving the top and going over the same paragraph over and over again, squinting slightly. He looked up and caught me staring, his expression turning sheepish, "It's hard for me to read and comprehend it."

"Oh," was all I had to say to that, making note of that, too. Kyrie was a much faster reader than the rest of us, finishing the page well before Amara and I had. Clay eventually asked us to summarize it for him after he struggled for too long with the words. He explained that, because his parents were muggle, some of the words were even more unfamiliar and, therefore, harder to figure out.

"I think the leaves are harvest like this?" Amara tried, pulling the pot towards her and attempting to replicate the motion of twisting the leaf until the small thread-like structures broke and fell into her palm.

Kyrie shook his head and made a motion for her to pass him the pot. He took it and pinched the stem, twisting it slowly until the threads unraveled and detached, breaking off the main stalk. It took much longer than Amara's attempt had but it looked a little different from hers, since it looked less frayed.

He helped the rest of us harvest more leaves but, after a bit, he took over because we kept tugging them off instead of twisting them, according to him. He jotted down short sentences when he had to tell us something beyond gestures but, otherwise, he was focused on the task.

We collected them into a small pile next to the pot and removed our gloves, shifting back into conversation while Professor Longbottom weaved through the tables and helped those struggling.

"What careers are you all wanting? Magical careers are fascinating," Clay stated randomly, setting his elbows on the table and leaning forward, his eyes bright from his clear excitement at all things magical.

"Professional quidditch player," Amara answered immediately, fidgeting with the pages of her book, "My mum's been playing chaser since her second year of Hogwarts and my dad's a reporter."

His eyes widened, "Quidditch?"

"A sport consisting of two seven-player teams on broomsticks," I explained, summing it up to be as short as possible.

He nodded and Amara continued, "I'm hoping to play keeper next year, always ended up in that position when playing my siblings."

"Keeper does what?"

"They guard the goal hoops, keep people from scoring," she studied him for a moment then, very bluntly, asked, "Do you know nothing of sports?"

His ears turned pink and he tilted his head down, his hair falling over his face as he mumbled, "No, not really. My family's all muggle and don't watch sports anyway... and I don't have any friends to watch them with."

"Amara, don't be rude," I chided, watching how Clay seemed to have started curling in on himself, "It's okay not to know much, I've only recently started following teams."

Kyrie tapped the table with his fingers and we all looked over. He gestured at Clay, ones that certainly weren't sign language, but Clay seemed to understand all the same. He turned back to Amara, "Kyrie asked who your parents are."

"Oh. Mum's on the Falmouth Falcons. Dad is a bit of a no-name, he writes articles and tries to get them published wherever he can."

Kyrie seemed satisfied with her answer and crossed his arms on the desk, resting his chin on them. I glanced between him and Clay, "Do you know each other? Before Hogwarts, I mean."

"Er, no," Clay replied while Kyrie shook his head, "I just spent most of yesterday trying to understand his cues."

Kyrie smiled and rolled his eyes dramatically at Clay, to which he responded with flicking Kyrie's arm. They laughed and to say I was shocked was an understatement. The two were clearly close, despite only having known each other for less than a few days.

"Place your leaves into one of the wooden bowls I set out for you, be careful not to touch them, and start to clean up!" Professor Longbottom called, heading for the greenhouse door, "Have someone hand them to me on your way out, please. Dismissed!"

Without prompting, Kyrie used his sleeve to sweep the leaves into one of the bowls and headed for the door while Clay, Amara, and I went to grab our bags from the pile. Clay lingered a bit longer after he grabbed his, searching for something, then grabbed another one.

"Kyrie's," he explained quickly, his ears turning pink again when he noticed me watching.

I smiled and gestured dramatically for him to head out first because I could see Kyrie waiting outside the door for him, tilting back and forth on his feet slowly. Clay shot a glare at me but left quickly, carefully placing Kyrie's bag over his shoulder for him before the two of them headed back for the castle.

"Cute," Amara giggled as we followed behind, leaving the greenhouses. She nodded to them and I glanced back, noticing how they were leaning towards each other and walking shoulder to shoulder.

I shook my head, amused, "You're invested."

"I am!" she defended, quickening her pace as she motioned at them, "They're so adorable, I don't know what you're talking about. If they don't get together, I'll cry myself to sleep."

I laughed and she couldn't help but laugh too, the two of us soon breathless as we entered the entrance hall.

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