The next two weeks seem to fly by, and Riley is trying her best to act normal and not listen to Erin, who keeps teasing her all the time. Every time Ravenclaws have any class with Slytherins, Riley is on the lookout.
There is a battle going on in her head. As much as she wants to ignore Sebastian to shut Erin up, she also wants to see if she's right. She is very aware she's been staring his way a lot, but never realized anyone noticed until Erin said so. But she is not aware of Sebastian doing the same.
"Looks like Ominis Gaunt gave up quite early this time," Riley hears Erin whispering to her ear during one particularly boring History of Magic class. The class has barely started, and Riley feels like she wants to hit herself on the head with a troll's club to end this misery. When she was reading in her spare time about the Goblin rebellions, they sounded very interesting. Not during this class though.
Using this moment as the perfect opportunity, Riley looks across where Ominis and Sebastian are. Sebastian seems to be zoning out, like everyone else, but Ominis seems to be fast asleep, with one of his hands supporting his head.
"Maybe he's listening with his eyes closed" Riley whispers and keeps looking in that direction.
"Let's find out" Erin takes a bit of parchment and moulds it into a ball and places it at the end of the desk. Then she mutters something and points her wand at the ball when professor Binns is facing the other way and the ball flies to Ominis and ricochets off his hand. There is a small thud as his head hits the desk. Everyone around starts giggling, but professor Binns continues with his lecture, not noticing anything.
It does not take him even 5 minutes of lecture, and the class is lethargic again, barely staying awake.
Riley risks it again and looks Sebastian's way and notices Ominis is probably fast asleep again. Sebastian, on the other hand, is staring at the piece of parchment with his wand out, like he's trying to enchant it. Curious, Riley keeps staring at him, completely forgetting her own plan of not doing exactly what she's doing right now. Why is that parchment a bit green, though? What is he trying to do?
The moment Sebastian looks back at her, she feels mortified and quickly stares at professor Binns, hoping he's got no idea how long she's been staring at him. She can feel her face going very red again and tries to focus on what professor Binns is saying. She read the exact same chapter yesterday before bed. Yet somehow an interesting story about wizards versus goblins seems beyond boring right now.
Suddenly, something hits her and Riley quickly looks in front of her and she can see a bit of parchment rolled into a ball, similar to the one Erin aimed at Ominis earlier on. As she unwraps it and stares at it, it is completely blank, but it looks the same green as the one Sebastian was trying to enchant. Confused, she looks at him and she can feel the butterflies again, as he is looking at her with a small smile. He points at the parchment and she looks at it, again. Empty.
When she looks back at Sebastian, he is writing something, and to Riley's surprise, she can see the words appearing on the parchment in front of her.
"Can you see what I'm writing?" The parchment says and Riley stares at it, completely baffled.
"Yes. Can you?" She writes as the words disappear.
"Yes. I have enchanted both parchments. Glad to see it worked."
"That is impressive," Riley says, forgetting she's in the middle of a class, and her voice seems to be louder than expected. Maybe it is the silence of the classroom when professor Binns speaks.
"Not sure I would call slaughtering dozens of goblins impressive," Professor Binns says in a monotone voice, and Riley notices he is looking at her, and so is everyone else.
"Definitely not. But what is impressive is that after the decree that basically made goblins the equivalent of house elves, wizards were still surprised they revolted and attacked them, resulting in dozens of goblins being killed in the process. It does not matter how long ago it was, actions always have consequences. The sheer ignorance and stupidity are what I find impressive, especially seeing the situation nowadays. One would hope that we will not make the same mistake, " Riley says quickly, remembering everything from yesterday, very proud of herself for adding a bit to it.
"History is bound to repeat itself, you are right. Take 5 points for Ravenclaw" Professor Binns says and goes back into his monotone lecture. When Riley looks around, everyone is staring at her. Some people, especially Ravenclaws, are smiling and giving the thumbs up, while others are glaring at her. Sebastian raises his eyebrows the moment Riley looks at him, so she quickly looks at the parchment, which is empty.
"Did a bit of light reading before bed yesterday," she writes and keeps staring at the desk and the parchment.
"Light reading? History of magic? How more Ravenclaw can you get?" She sees words appearing and tries to contain a smile, but fails.
"Keeping my mind occupied"
"Nothing from Fig yet I assume"
"No." It's been two weeks and Riley hasn't heard anything. She knows professor Fig is busy, but she also hopes to get as many answers as soon as possible. "Will this work at any time? Or is time bound? Or location bound?" Riley adds and keeps staring in front of her.
"No idea. Testing it out now" The words appear and Riley looks at Sebastian, who looks back at her and shrugs.
"I can help to test it out more if you want" Her hand is almost shaking as she writes it and when she looks at her quill, only then she realizes how much her hand is actually shaking.
"I would like that" Sebastian's response makes Riley grin, and she is doing her best not to squeak.
"How many are there? And are they all green?" She quickly writes as the class is almost over.
"They are green indeed, very perceptive. And just those two," Are the last words Riley sees before the class finishes. She quickly looks at Sebastian, who is now talking to Ominis.
"It is very refreshing to see an inquisitive mind" Riley hears behind her and turns around to see who is talking to her. It's Professor Binns.
"Thank you, Professor. Looking forward to the next lesson," And she is. The enchanted parchment is her golden ticket how to have enjoyable History of Magic class from now on.
"Good, good." Says Binns and disappears through the wall.
"First the troll, now this. You know, there is such a thing as trying too hard" She hears Ominis behind her and looks at Erin, who just raises her eyebrows.
"Am I the bigger person?" Riley asks quietly, and Erin shakes her head in disagreement.
"I've been called worse by better," Riley says loudly and turns around, gives Sebastian a small smile and quickly waves her wand, so the table Ominis is leaning on jumps back. Ominis almost falls to the floor and both, Riley and Erin, leave giggling.
The rest of the day is very quiet as they have no more classes with Slytherins, and Riley is fully focused on work, trying to avoid the temptation of parchment. Thinking back, she should have asked how long the messages lasted, and many more questions, but then again from what she could understand, Sebastian is testing it and not sure himself.
After dinner Riley is sitting in the Common Room, feeling a bit exhausted. But that is not stopping her from doing homework. She has decided to do Binns straight away, while she remembers what she's read yesterday. With the book opened and parchment in front of her, she makes sure the book is properly hiding her from everyone. The only problem is that under the normal parchment, she uses for homework, there is another one. It is greener rather than white or yellowish.
As she is making her way through the essay, she can see a green parchment, that is peeking out, and it has something written on it. Riley's heart starts to beat faster and she moves that parchment on top.
"Are you here?" She can see his writing. Should she wait a bit not to look desperate? But what if it disappears, how can she justify responding later?
"About to finish Binns essay" Riley quickly writes and looks around, no one seems to be paying any attention to her. For all they know, she is hiding behind the book working on her essay.
"I wish I had your enthusiasm" Riley chuckles as she reads the message and turns the page of the book, so it seems like she's still working on her essay.
"Can I ask you something?" She writes. There is something that is bothering her since earlier on. "What is Ominis' problem with me?" Not even waiting for him to write back, Riley just asks. She cannot recall doing or saying anything to him, yet what he said did hurt her a bit. Trying too hard? All she's doing is existing.
"He does not have a problem with you" Riley rolls her eyes. If he did not have a problem with her, why the comment?
"So why that comment then? Pretty hurtful and uncalled for" Riley writes, letting her guard down a bit. She feels like she can confide in him, so hopefully, her judgement is not wrong.
There is no response for a while, so Riley goes back to her essay, very distracted. She makes zero progress and keeps staring at the parchment. Why did she write it? She should have not done it. She needs to seem like she's tough and like it doesn't matter. She cannot be this whiny little girl getting upset because of a silly comment.
"Nevermind. It doesn't matter. Goodnight" She writes and puts the parchment into the bag. Closing the book and grabbing all her stuff, she looks at Erin and Amit, who are doing their homework as well.
"I am so done with this." She says in an exasperated voice, and they both laugh. As Riley is heading to the dorm, she does not feel nearly as excited as she was earlier on. Why did she have to ask that? And why did he not respond? Is she overthinking it? Or does he agree with Ominis? Why would he be talking to her then? It makes no sense.
Lying in bed, her mind is racing. The temptation to check the parchment is real. But is it worth it? Words seem to disappear very quickly, so even if he wrote something back, there is no way for her to see it. Going against her best judgement, Riley reaches out for her bag and grabs the parchment. There is something on it.
"I think he's just a bit jealous. Hopefully, you can see the message, I put an enchantment on it to last longer." It reads and Riley smiles again. Jealous of what? Almost getting killed by a troll? And Binns class was not even her showing off, she was saving the situation she did accidentally create.
"Next time we meet the troll, we can send it his way then," She writes back, grinning, staring at the parchment. What are the odds he will read it any time soon? Or at all? The words disappear after a few seconds, but new ones appear.
"Fine by me. Thought you were asleep already" Riley is now sitting on her bed, with a history book in her lap and parchment on top of it, not tired at all.
"Can't sleep. Too much on my hazy mind." Riley is watching her own words staying longer on the parchment. Maybe they disappear only when the other person writes back? Is that the enchantment he's trying now? And why was she overthinking it before? And why is this boy having such power over her? Why is she acting like this? Can this be a serious crush?
"I'm a good listener. Or reader, in this case," Sebastian writes back and Riley actually squeaks a bit. She's never been more grateful for an empty room.