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sister laughing at?"

Red after Lavender and Parvati's teasing over Olly, Saffron was sitting in her beanbag adjusting her telescope carefully, after greeting Padma and Olly fondly. She wasn't entirely sure why she felt embarrassed by what the girls had been saying. The more she thought about it, the more she felt like Olly waving at her when she came in was only further fuel to the fire that Lavender and Parvati were creating. The fire being a false pretence of their friendship being anything more than just that.

Saffron looked up from her telescope at Padma and let out a tired sigh. "Just stupid things, Lavender's always funny before Astronomy, she hates it,"

"Sure looks like it," Padma jerked her head in Lavender's direction to see the girl curled up in her beanbag, ignoring Neville and Michael Corner on either side of her.

"Figures that Sinistra made her sit in between them two," stated Olly matter-of-factly. "It would probably be the only way to get her to stop talking, put her between the two quietest people in the class,"

Saffron let out a laugh. "Yeah, she's a talker alright,"

"Anyway, how has your year been so far?" Padma asked her curiously, as Professor Sinistra started the class by checking their homework. That gave them a window in which they could talk freely until theirs had to be checked. Saffron fumbled in her bag before answering.

"Alright," she nodded. That was the truth. Alright was probably the word that summed it up the best. At least this year Lord Voldemort wasn't roaming around in their midst. "Nothing bad has happened yet, which helps, except for maybe . . . " She paused. She wasn't entirely sure where either Padma or Olly stood on Lockhart.

Olly seemed to catch her drift. "Lockhart?"

Saffron nodded her head again.

"He's a moron," said Olly blankly.

"Complete fool," agreed Padma.

"The man has no idea what he's doing--"

"They should rename the class to Lockhart studies---"

"I once saw him put an 'a' in the word 'Flipendo',"

Saffron let out a sigh of relief. It was reassuring to see that another girl felt the same way about Lockhart that she did. None of her three female friends in Gryffindor was willing to admit that Lockhart was an utter joke, so to hear it from more people provided her with comfort that she wasn't crazy.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way," Saffron told them with sincerity.

"Us Ravenclaws think he's a joke," Padma assured her.

"Well," Olly said directly to Padma, pointedly. Clearly, there were some who didn't, thought Saffron. "Not all of us, Sue and Isobel still think he's Gods gift to man,"

"That's true," said Padma fairly, she turned back to Saffron. "But besides them two, the rest of us feel the same, I doubt he could tell one end of a broom from the other,"

Both Saffron and Olly started to laugh at that, a decision both of them would regret moments later when Professor Sinistra noticed they were having a bit too much fun.

"Mr Jowett, Miss Mitchell, laughter isn't going to start your diagrams on Jupiter's constellations, so stopping the laughter would be advisable unless you wish to be moved,"

"Switch one of them with me!" said Lavender abruptly, causing a riffle of laughter around the circle of students. Though, neither Neville nor Michael seemed pleased that she said that.

"Miss Brown, if you are going to continue to insist on doing nothing, I would rather you sleep than disrupt my clas---"

"Works for me," replied Lavender, making Saffron laugh even harder simply because the girl wasn't kidding. She pulled her blanket over her and didn't say a word until Neville shook her awake at the very end of class.

Professor Sinistra didn't seem to care. She knew that Lavender didn't care either so there was no point in arguing with her. The rest of the class wasn't nearly as entertaining as the start of it as a result, however, the end of it came with a proposal. A proposal that Saffron actually agreed to this time.

"You know how you told me you'd think about joining the Charms Club we're in," Olly began, as Saffron tidied away her utensils. She smiled looking over railings at the stars in the sky, but only because she knew he couldn't see it. After giving herself that moment, she turned around and nodded at him. He continued. "Right, well there's a meeting tomorrow at seven, and we're really short on members, there's only six of us, and well, we could use a seventh,"

"I'll come,"

"It's alright if you --- wait what?"

"I said I'll come," Saffron told him earnestly, noticeably smiling now. "To the Charms club that you---"

"Right, right," Olly was reddening and pulled the sleeves of his jumper over his hands jitterily. "Sorry, I just didn't think you would say yes,"

"I get it," Saffron could have cursed herself out for shrugging her shoulders after saying those words. "I've never said yes to it before now, but I really do want to go. It sounds fun,"

"Me and Padma can meet you before it if you want," Olly offered sheepishly. "Just so you'll have someone to go with. Maybe meet us by the statue of the goblin, you know the really old looking one?"

"I know it,"

"Right, at quarter to seven maybe?"

"I'll be there,"

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"You'll be where?"

Lavender waited until the Gryffindors had parted ways with the Ravenclaws after class to question Saffron about the conversation she had undoubtedly overheard between her and Olly. The pair of them and Parvati were starting to drift away from Lottie Langweil and the rest of the Gryffindors, so Saffron made a conscious effort to increase their walking pace in order to not lose sight of them.

"I'm going to this Charms club tomorrow," Saffron told them honestly, though neither Parvati and Lavender seemed convinced based off of the look they gave each other. "Honestly, I am, even ask your sister,"

Parvati furrowed her eyebrows at her. "Padma's going too?"

"Yeah," nodded Saffron. "They go every week,"

"So typical," muttered Parvati under her breath somewhat waspishly. Saffron pouted. Parvati was unhappy about that for whatever reason, she just hoped it had to do with her sister rather than her.

"Is that alright?" Saffron asked her tentatively.

With a sigh, Parvati said dramatically: "I guess, it's just typical Padma . . . she needs to stop trying to live my life and get her own,"

''I don't know what you mean," replied Saffron slowly, blinking. There was a long pause before she continued. "Padma didn't ask me to go, she's just going to be there,"

"Okay," said Parvati finally.

"It doesn't sound quite as romantic as it seemed before," Lavender chimed in, defusing a bit of the air of tension that had been brewing. It wasn't necessarily between Saffron and Parvati, but rather between Parvati and the thought of her sister. "Maybe you two are just friends after all,"

"Thank you!" beamed Saffron triumphantly. She made a mental note to herself to keep going to the Charms Club as it seemed to have done the trick to get her friends to get off her back about a romance that didn't exist.