Kyle put the quill down and rubbed at his eyes. He wasn't quite sure how to fix this essay. Doing the magic was one thing, but writing an essay about it was painful. 

He saw Siobhan disappear behind some shelves, book bag in tow. He figured she didn't see him, so he'd go to her. Kyle gathered up his stuff and found the table that Siobhan had put her stuff at. "Hey," he said quietly, not wanting to incur the wraith of Madam Prince the librarian. "I had an idea, while working on the transfiguration essay." He sat down at the table. "And it wasn't about transfiguration." He grinned and waited for Siobhan to sit down next to him.

"It's about class tomorrow." He paused. "I think I know how to catch him in a catch 22." He lowered his voice glancing around for listeners. "He's got to encourage students to be friends across houses, because the hat said so himself, right? Well he wouldn't want that if he were truly working for you-know-who. That's the whole point right? Divide within and conquer without, or however it goes. So anyway, my idea is, everyone knows you and I are friends. At least anyone who has eyes and pays attention to first years, which the professors do. We stage a fight, between you and I. We have some falling out, we can make up later or something, but for this to work we have to do it after class." Kyle looked proud of himself, even if he had no idea what some of the finer details of his plan should be, nor did he realize how much his life story was a weird mirror of Snape's own childhood.