Dirty Minds

Peace *Moment 8*

Alice turned to give Terrance a sheepish smile as he packed his stuff to move next to Percy.

"Be a good boy." Alice whispered to Terrance as he passed by. He smirked at her in return.

Percy didn't seem too pleased with this arrangement, but Alice was sure he'd have no complains by the end of the lesson. Terrance wasn't as bad as the rest of the boys, and he's pretty decent at potions.

"Ms. Farley and Mr. Montauge." The second pair was announced.

Graham seemed to be celebrating his partnership, as he high fived Adrian and then picked up his stuff to join the beautiful Gemma Farley, who Alice caught shooting looks that clearly said 'SAVE ME' to her best friend Adelaide. 

"Mr. Wood and Ms. Yaxley." 

Alice's eyes immediately met Oliver's, who seemed to be just as surprised as she was. Adrian and Graham on the other hand seemed to be having none of it.

"No way, Professor Snape you can't pair up Alice with him!" Graham interjected.

"Pair me with Alice, why Wood?" Adrian suggested.

"As a matter of fact, I can pair up whomever I want. If you haven't noticed already, I am pairing up the best of my student with the worst, that way their performance can be balanced out. Ms Yaxley is one of my top students." He spoke through his teeth, as if one more interjection would earn them a good smack.

"Bu-" Graham was going to add before Snape's voice drowned his, "Quite down before you lose yourselves the points Ms. Yaxley earned!" He hissed, and that was the end of their fuss.

That didn't stop them from glaring at Wood as he made his way next to Alice, who was now red with embarrassment. She didn't even get the chance to say anything to the two idiots who spoke out that way infront of the whole class.

"Hey wonderland." Oliver's voice shot her back to reality. She turned to smile at him, his eyes following her hand as she went to tuck strands of hair behind her ear.

He quickly looked away and started placing his stuff on the table and said, "Or should I call you professor Yaxley from now on?" He teased.

"Oh, shutup Oliver." she said, though he could hear the smile in her voice. 

They started setting up the cauldron together and preparing the ingredients. 

"Sorry about earlier, with Adrian and Graham. They're dorks." Alice said as she added the powdered moonstone. 

"It's alright, I get it. They're just being protective." Oliver brushed it off as he watched the potion turn green. He then started stirring the potions according to Alice's instructions.

"Overprotective, and what's there to be protective of anyways?" Alice replied.

"Well, you are the only girl on their team so you're like a little sister to them. And I'm the enemy captain." He stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

Oliver stopped stirring as the green started to fade into blue. Alice added a little more powdered moonstone, she quickly stopped when the potion turned purple. They set down everything and allowed the potion to simmer.

"Like what, you're going to try something weird?" She said, a teasing grin on her face.

"Who knows?" He said, a smile on his face.

"You wouldn't. You're a total sweetheart." She stated, returning his smile.

He raised an eyebrow. "How would you know, you haven't hung out with me since we were kids, I might have changed." 

She turned to look him in the eyes, and they stayed like that for a few seconds. Then she smirked and said.

"Nah, you're still the same sweet Ollie I knew." 

He parted his lips but his reply never came out. Instead, he let out a sheepish sigh and smiled. 

Then they went back to the potion as its color turned to pink. They worked for a bit in comfortable silence, only broken to give out quick instructions and tips.

Graham and Adrian seemed to be watching them, displeased by the way they worked so naturally together.

By the time Oliver was once again stirring the now red potion to orange, he interrupted the silence,

"I don't think I've heard you use that nickname since you last flew on my broom, Wonderland." he whispered.

She stopped preparing the porcupine quills and look at him, but his eyes were fixed on the potion. They seemed to be both wondering why their friendship had gone wrong, but Alice didn't want the comfortable mood to turn somber.

"I'm sorry Ollie." she whispered back.

"Don't be, I understand. I just wish things could be different." He said.

"They could be." 

he stopped stirring, and looked at her. "Do you really think so?" he doubted. Oliver knew there was no way they could have any sort of relationship, especially not now that Alice is on Flint's team, but he could still hope.

"I do. But it's going to be hard." She stated, her heart pounding.

"It's worth it." he said. With that simple statement, her anxiousness seemed to fade away.

As they went back to working on the draught of peace, Alice decided to take the chance to ask,

"So, do you ever plan on telling me why in merlin's sake do you call me wonderland?" 

"No way, Wonderland."