Ravenclaw played Slytherin a week after the start of term. Slytherin won, though narrowly. According to Wood, this was good news for Gryffindor , who would take second place if they beat Ravenclaw too. He therefore increased the number of team practices to five a week. This meant that with Lupin's Anti-Dementor classes, which in themselves were more draining than six Quidditch practices, Gwen and Harry had just one night a week to do all their homework.
No one felt the strain as much as Hermione seemed to, though. She spent every night in the common room, her book and supplies spread out over several tables, her immense workload seemingly to have finally gotten to her. She barely spoke to anyone, and snapped when she was interrupted.
Gwen, however, sought refuge in the library whenever she got the chance. She would spend her one free night a week there, and, three weeks into January, she was joined for the first time that year by Theodore Nott.
He took the seat he usually took beside her, dropping his books onto the table and, without even saying hello, he started on his Potions homework.
Gwen would be lying if she said she wasn't utterly thrilled to see him. She'd only spoken to him in Potions since Hallowe'en, and he had seemed to be drifting away. He was pale recently, and his neat appearance was slightly scruffier than usual.
Something had been plaguing him, but she had not had the opportunity to extend her hand of comfort.
She fought the urge to hug him.
'Theo,' she said brightly. 'How are you?'
He smiled at her, his dark eyes sad. 'I'm OK. How are you?'
'I've missed you,' she said.
'You see me almost every day.'
'No, I mean, I've missed seeing you. Like this, outside of class.'
Theo smiled, but his eyes betrayed his true feelings. Something was bothering him, she knew, and after his undying kindness to her last year, when she had been suffering, she wanted to return the favour.
'You don't have to say anything,' she said quietly. 'But I'm here if you want to talk.'
Theo's eyes met hers, his charming smile ever present. 'Thank you, Gwen.'
They fell into a comfortable, familiar silence, scribbling on their parchment, the silence only broken every now and then by one or the other asking a question.
Eventually, Theo sat back in his chair, yawned widely, then tipped his head back, eyes closed.
'Are you sure you're OK?' Gwen asked.
He nodded. Then, with an air of coolness, he changed the subject. 'What have you been up to recently?'
Gwen sat back in her chair, kicking off her shoes and tucking her feet underneath her. 'Too much. Oliver Wood's got us practising five nights a week for Quidditch--' Theo smiled. '--and Professor Lupin's teaching me and Harry how to fight Dementors--'
Theo's head snapped forward so quickly, it startled Gwen. His eyes, now wide open, stared directly at her. 'Really? How is he doing that?'
Gwen paused, surprised by his reaction. She explained the Patronus Charm and how it worked, and how Gwen and Harry had been making progress. So far, Gwen had managed some sort of misshapen figure, while Harry was still producing just a pair of legs. Theo watched her with deep interest as she spoke, and when she finished, he didn't say anything for a moment.
'Can you teach me?' he said, finally.
'Well, yeah, I'm sure, one day I could but I'm barely even doing it now.'
'Potter doesn't like me very much, does he?' Theo said suddenly.
Gwen blinked. 'What do you mean?'
'Because I'm Slytherin?'
'What? No,' she said. 'No, he just doesn't know you. He doesn't dislike Slytherins--'
'He hates Malfoy.'
'You know why he hates Malfoy,' Gwen said firmly. Theo didn't meet her eyes. 'Malfoy's cruel at the best of times, especially to Harry. You know that, Theo.'
Theo didn't respond. It seemed they always clashed over Malfoy. They had done so at the beginning of the year.
Finally, Theo sighed. 'When you master the Patronus Charm, teach me?'
Gwen smiled. 'Of course, if I ever do.'
'You will.'
'What makes you so sure?'
'Because you're intelligent,' Theo said. 'And strong. You've mastered almost every spell we've learnt in Charms, and more.' He relaxed in his chair, smiling at her. 'You're better than you think.'
Gwen suppressed a shy smile. 'You're just being nice.'
'I'm not. It's true, you're just too humble to admit it.'
They fell into a comfortable silence again. The roots of Gwen's hair tinted lavender, and she felt the blush creeping up her neck. She pulled her knees to her chest, trying to hide it from him.
'You're pretty smart too,' she said quietly. Theo laughed.
'Yeah. I could beat you in anything.'
'Not in Charms,' she said. 'Or Defence Against the Dark Arts. Or--' she peered at the essay he had been writing, grinning, 'Herbology.'
Theo's pale face tinted pink. 'Nah, a pretty girl like you could give me a run for my money.'
It was as though her insides were set alight. Her hair turned completely lavender, her face heated up, and before she could even stop herself, she said, 'You think I'm pretty?'
Theo hesitated, seemingly only just realising what he had said. His lip tugged at the corner, his cool demeanour never once faltered. He smiled, that sweet, charming smile. 'Gorgeous.'
Gwen bit her lip, trying to suppress the grin that threatened to pull at her face. 'Hush you. You need to learn when to be serious.'
'I'm utterly serious.'
Theo walked her back to her dorm that night, as he used to always do on the library study dates. She had never once considered them to be anything more than that, studying, but as she waved goodbye to him through the closing portrait hole, because, as usual, he waited until she was inside and safe, she couldn't help feeling that something had ignited inside of her that night. A feeling she wasn't quite familiar with.