The British Ministry of Magic claims that magical blood is dwindling in Pureblood families. This puts some students in awkward positions. Kris Averbach finds himself being dangled like a piece of meat in front of eligible Pureblood young ladies, but...
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Kris and Kit met at their usual table in the greenhouse. Kris had been so disappointed on Monday when Calliope had shared a table with Lavinia, Ishanvi, and Ella. And perhaps even worse, Xander had still shared their table. So not only had he been denied Calliope's presence, but he'd had to put up with Xander's smug attitude.
Although, to be fair, he'd seemed a lot less smug on Monday.
And then last night, during dueling club, Calliope had dueled with Caius. Caius. What had that been about? Kris had ended up dueling with Andie. And maybe that had been a good thing? There hadn't been any tension with the other Slytherins at least. Maybe Andie was his bridge back to being on good terms with the rest of his House.
"So, what did you get detention for?" he asked Kit.
"Goofed off too much in Divination. Tristan kept telling me that my palm lines were saying I'm going to turn into a fuckboy." He rolled his eyes while Kris snorted.
Jaylan entered the greenhouse, holding hands with Caius. She made a beeline for Kris, a wide smile on her face. "I have good news for you," she told him in a sing-song voice.
"Yeah?" He looked down at their clasped hands. "If it's that you guys are dating, then that's devastating news. I was hoping to date Caius myself."
Jay and Caius both laughed. Kit joined in a second late, his laugh sounding more forced.
"It's about ..." She stopped suddenly and pecked Caius on the cheek. "Can you go get my seedlings, cariad?"
Caius gave her a suspicious look, but did as he was asked. As soon as he was out of earshot, Jay whirled back around to Kris. "Xander is ace."
"Erm, okay. Bit weird to call that good news." Kris just gave her a puzzled look.
"Asexual," Jay explained. His mouth fell open. "I overheard him tell Calliope last night after dueling. Evidently she was worried he was trying to date her." Jay grinned.
"That's...that's brilliant," Kris said hoarsely. "So that's why she was upset after Hogsmeade? An awkward date with Xander? But it wasn't a date?"
"Nope! And yeah, poor thing. She spilled her tea everywhere and people started laughing..." Jay's smile was wiped away from the memory.
Just then Calliope and Xander came into the greenhouse. Jay pressed her lips together, gave Kris a knowing wink, and hurried over to join Caius.
Kris couldn't keep the smile off his face for the rest of Herbology. It was a lot easier to talk to Calliope now that he didn't have to worry about what was going on between her and Xander. He was even able to tolerate Xander's normally grating personality a little better. When class ended, Kris carried Calliope's pots for her to avoid a repeat of last week's disaster. Afterward, when he asked her if she wanted to study in the library with him, she agreed. Kit reluctantly came along, and Xander butted in, of course, but Kris was less bothered by that than he would have been.
He got very little work done, sitting across from Calliope. He kept finding himself distracted by the way her hair fell forward as she worked, the tiny crease in her eyebrows that showed she was concentrating. Kit would elbow him sharply in the ribs whenever he was caught staring for too long.
"What are you working on?" he finally asked Calliope. It looked like an Astronomy assignment, but he didn't remember Professor Amherst assigning a sun chart.
"Hm?" She looked up and he was temporarily lost in the motion of her fingers tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Oh, it's sort of an extra credit assignment."
Kris laughed softly. "Since when do you need extra credit?"
"I don't. It's just something I wanted to do. Mostly just to see if I could. It's a sun chart of a particular location. I only hope I'm calculating everything correctly."
"Can I have a look?" Xander asked, sitting at her side. She scooted a stack of papers over to him. Kris felt a brief stab of jealousy before remembering he didn't have anything to feel jealous about. Xander studied her pages of charts and tables and then gave her an appraising look. "Looks accurate to me."
She seemed to exhale in relief and nodded, taking her work back. At Kris's side, Kit let out a frustrated sigh. "C'mere to me, what's another reason ashwinders are useful?"
Kris looked over his essay. "They're also used in Edurus potions," he told him.
"Sound." He started scribbling away. "And, erm, what does that do?" he asked, pausing his writing.
"It forms a protective layer around you to keep you from getting injured," Kris explained. "Dead useful if you're dealing with dangerous animals, for instance."
"I could kiss you," Kit said gratefully, scratching out another sentence for his essay. "In conclusion," he said out loud as he wrote. "Ashwinders may be considered dangerous, but..." He paused and scratched his forehead.
"Their uses outweigh the dangers?" Calliope suggested.
"Provided you're competent enough to freeze the eggs before they ignite," Xavier added.
"You two will also get kisses," Kit said as he wrote what they suggested. He tossed his quill down and grabbed Kris, planting a loud, wet kiss on his cheek. "Mwah!"
"I think we'll pass," Calliope said with a laugh.
"Speak for yourself." Xander tapped his cheek and Kit came around and planted another noisy kiss on his cheek. Then he tackled Calliope from behind and kissed her cheek despite her laughing protest. Madame Strout came over and told them all off for being too noisy. They apologized, Kit sat back down, and the four of them traded grins. It wouldn't be the last time Kris wished he were a Ravenclaw.
But their time was coming to an end, as Kris had History of Magic to get to. As he packed up to leave, however, he couldn't help but notice Maddock Witte getting up from a nearby table, looking at Kit with disgust. And Julian Wood, packing up his books nearby, looking uncomfortable. Kris quickly flicked his eyes over to Kit, and was relieved to see that his friend hadn't noticed. He made sure to follow Maddock out, though, afraid the older Ravenclaw might otherwise confront Kit.
And that's how he overheard Maddock say to Julian, "This is what I'm telling you about, Julian. You don't want to go making friends with someone like that. People will start to question you."
If Kris hadn't been so fresh out of detention, he very well might have punched Maddock then and there. As it was, he just glowered at his back, and when Julian glanced briefly over his shoulder, he started to see Kris's angry expression and turned swiftly back around.
He hoped for Kit's sake that Julian wouldn't listen to Maddock.
But he worried that he would.
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A/N: Do you think Kris will forge ahead now that he knows Xander isn't a threat/competition?
