classroom. Otherwise known as the last place she wanted to be right now, seeing as she had to sit next to a certain Regulus Black and after their conversation down by the Black Lake, the last thing she really wanted was to sit besides him.

She purposefully ignored Donna's wake up call, hoping she would be able to sleep through the lesson but the nagging voice of her best friend was still in the back of her head, 'It's the most important year, Ivy Roselina Evans. Get your ass up or you're going to fail Potions then at life.'

Of course, Ivy knew that Donna was being a bit too dramatic. But on the other hand, from both her sister and Sirius, Ivy knew that fifth year at Hogwarts was the hardest one. So, deciding to eventually get out of bed, the redhead threw on her uniform messily and began strolling - extremely slowly - through the practically empty school halls; the younger years were all in class by now, where as the oldest were either lounging around or occupying the library.

Ivy had walked past her sister and Alice Fortescue and tried to strike up a conversation with the pair of them, but Lily knew exactly what her sister was trying to do and the older redhead scolded her before dragging Alice away meaning Ivy had no other stops before the dreaded Potions classroom.

Secretly, the young Gryffindor hoped that a different Professor would find her, scold at her for not being in class and make her go and serve a detention right at this moment. That certainly didn't happen. She had, however, walked past Peeves who very kindly decided to throw a water balloon at the girl before throwing a balloon filled with flour right when she reached the door of the Potions classroom.

Ivy let out a loud, annoyed yell and before she could clean herself up, the door of the classroom swung open and a shocked looking Professor Slughorn eyed the girl curiously.

"Miss. Evans?"

Ivy huffed, "Yes, Professor."

He looked taken back; most likely due to the fact that not only was she late, but the fact her head and shoulders was covered in wet flour, "Why don't you get yourself cleaned up and then come inside," He instructed before moving away from the door and walking back to the front of the classroom, still sending the redhead questionable looks.

Ivy looked into the classroom. She could see a few students giggling quietly to themselves, apart from Jasper who was full on howling with laughter at the sight of his best friend. She grabbed hold of her wand, muttered a couple of words and waved it around her head, clearing up all of the mess and sending Jasper a hard glare; which of course, didn't stop his laughter.

"Now, now, settle down everybody," Professor Slughorn said, trying to calm the excitement he could hear around the room, "Especially you, Mr. Pine," This finally caused Jasper to start calming down slowly, yet he threw an extremely amused look towards the redhead as she begrudgingly moved to her desk; where Regulus was already sitting at.

"You alright?"

Ivy looked shocked at the question. Her head shot up and her jade eyes met the icy blue ones that she had decided were probably the prettiest eye colour she knew anyone to have, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, thanks," She replied, feeling the awkward tension rise between the two, "Peeves happened," Ivy added, finally moving her gaze from the boy.

Regulus nodded understandingly, "Yeah, he's a nuisance, isn't he."

It was clear to see that he had never been in a situation like this. His awkward conversation starters showed that to Ivy, and the redhead realised that she was probably the first person to tell him straight that they couldn't ever be friends. Yet, even though she said that and hoped that that would make it easier to ignore the black haired boy, it certainly didn't, and she found herself staring at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah," Ivy mumbled nodding her head to his previous statement, "That he is."

Another awkward tension overwhelmed the pair. Ivy was staring at the front of the classroom, trying her best to listen to Professor Slughorn; something that seemed like an incredibly difficult task at that moment, especially since she could feel Regulus' eyes on her every so often.

Regulus tried his best not to look at the redhead. He didn't need anyone noticing and making up rumours that would eventually spread to his mother, but he couldn't help himself. He didn't really understand why, but when Ivy said what she said down at the Black Lake, he could feel himself becoming quite affected by her words; something that has never happened to the black haired boy before. When she had left him standing alone by the large tree, he couldn't take her off his mind; calling himself stupid after he realised what he was thinking about.

"I heard you're going to the Black Ball this half term."

Ivy moved her head from the front of the room. She was shocked that Regulus wanted to carry on trying to force out, clearly awkward, conversations, "Yeah," The redhead nodded, "I am," Not knowing what else to say, she sent him a tight-lipped smile and turned her attention back to the Professor.

Yet once again, Regulus couldn't follow her actions. Instead, his eyes looked either at her or down at his desk. He just hoped that seeing as they were quite far back in the classroom, no one would spot the glances he sent her.

He was wrong however.

One person did stop them.

One person spotted everything.

That one person was Donna Bitterwood.