fall into me | t. scamander

homework buddies

It was a rare sight. A charming one, at that.

Mei's entire body stiffened, "good morning."

"Was it really necessary to wake me up at—" he squinted towards the clock by the back wall, "—seven fifteen in the morning?"

"Unless you want people to talk about us and tarnish your perfect reputation, then yes. It's necessary," Mei replied while flipping open her Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, "can we just get it over with?"

He pulled a chair before sitting himself down next to her, and she felt the warmth of his knee brush against hers. Almost instinctively, Mei leaned away. No distractions. No attachment. She reminded herself.

Together, they worked a full solid hour on constructing Theseus's essay about Werewolves and Lycanthropes without distraction. It turned out, contrary to what he seemed to be, Theseus was quite brilliant and Mei wondered why he'd even asked for her hep in the first place when he was dong just fine.

Her answer came when he started writing it down. It turned out that Theseus Scamander could not, for the life of him, write a good essay.

Mei just gaped at him, "how in the world did you manage to pass your O.W.L.S?"

"They're not as strict on quality of writing. Rather content," he scratched the back of his neck, "but I've never been good at essays. I suppose that's my biggest weakness."

"That's surprising, coming from the school's golden boy."

"Who told you that?" He scowled.

"Oh I've heard the rumours. You are quite the man around here, aren't you?" She shuffled through his written content and grimaced, "oh god. You're right, your writing is horrible."

"Rumours aren't the ultimate truth, Miss Ng," the auburn-haired man rested his jaw into the palm of his hand, gazing in amusement at how she was re-ordering them properly, "just like how people aren't just the product of what we say about them."

"You're one to talk, Mr. Prefect," she shot back, "but seriously, you really could get into serious trouble for this—"

"Actually, I'm just asking for advice from a smart Slytherin girl who just so happens to be my friend," his grin widened and Mei felt like wiping off. With her fist, "I don't see anything wrong about that."

"We're not friends."

"Oh? Maybe I should take back that necklace then—"

"Oh shut up Scamander."

On and on it went. The endless banter, the teasing, the way his laugh would burst out of his chest every time he managed to catch her in a fluster. It was unnerving. Annoying. And Mei didn't know how to deal with that.

"You two are quite friendly," Raina commented one day at lunch, causing Mei to choke on her pasta. Kevin reached out to tap her back amiably as Raina pressed on, "are you guys dating or somethi—"

"No!" It burst out of Mei and eyes went to her face, causing her to wince and lower her tone, "no. We're just—helping each other out."

"What kind of help?" Raina raised a brow, causing Kevin to cackle. Beside them, a group of Slytherins sent them narrow-eyed stares, probably because they had interrupted an intensw debate on climate action.

"It's — nothing. Just homework." Mei managed to stammer out the words. Her heart felt like it was beating too fast in her chest and she silently cursed the said prefect. She wouldn't have been in such a situation if he hadn't instigated it in the first place!

Her friends weren't the only ones who were curious. She got stopped just as she was exiting her DA class only for a girl to ask her whether she was being serious about Theseus Scamander.