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Oblivious to Noel Jameson arriving at the library, Demi’s mind was still in the clouds. The way Caleb had been more vague than usual with his explanation of her fortune meant that there was more than he was letting on. But even as she’d spent the better part of five minutes racking her brain as to what exactly he could mean, the brunette was still drawing a blank. An enlightening experience that had him conflicted and that she was to have fun but not too much fun? What the fuck was [i]that[/i] supposed to mean?!

The sound of Noel clearing his throat took her by complete surprise. She jumped, stunned, and nearly falling sideways from the chair. Noel pretended not to see this mishap, deciding to happily announce instead that he was ‘ready to learn’ while a red-faced Demi sat up straight again. His excitement with this whole arrangement made the girl feel suspicious on the spot. If there was something Jameson was known for- apart from his long list of conquests, if the stories were to be believed-, it was for his constant bragging and emphasis on the pureness of magical blood. To have him sound like a child on Christmas day at the prospect of having to spend any time outside of classroom with a half-blood was very much a red flag.  And Demi’s suspicious feelings only intensified when the Slytherin decided to take up the seat next to her instead of one of the two available ones in front of her. 

Even though she always gave people the benefit of the doubt, her defenses would be put on maximum alert. However, her plan might have just gotten off to a rather shaky start. The moment Noel had sat next to her, the Gryffindor girl was exposed for the first time to the scent of the most captivating cologne her nose had ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Of course, Kalder’s cologne was hands down beyond compare. But this one, with its hints of wood and citrus and the subtle hint of spices… No wonder girls were more than willing to drop their panties for him.

Demi swallowed hard. If this was what she was going to be dealing with on a regular basis, then she was going to need all of her strength to constantly remind herself who she was dealing with. It wasn’t some random guy; it was the arrogant, proud, Slytherin manwhore who was her ex-boyfriend’s best friend. She needed to always keep that in mind. Any slip-ups could result in catastrophic consequences that she didn’t even want to imagine.

At his question about how would they go about their assignment, the brunette shrugged, trying her hardest to ignore just how fucking [i]amazing[/i] he smelled. [color=darkred]“I was thinking we just divide the amount of questions equally and then go over them together once we’ve finished. I know we could have said this before, but since you told me you’re not particularly good with Potions I figured it was best to do it while I was present in case you had any questions.”[/color]

Noel nodded in understanding. Splitting the questions in half was still somewhat daunting for him. That, and he was on limited time. If he was too slow, he wouldn’t get a chance to go to the hospital wing. Nevertheless, he would agree, taking his share of the questions without complaint. Ingredients, instructions, a bit of history on the makings of the potions--Kalder was always better at this crap than he was. His quill would hesitate a lot more than Demi’s did, and as he stole a glance at her paper, she was far ahead of him. His eyes darted to a nearby clock, and he started getting nervous. Shit, so much for making a move, at this point he’d miss his chance with Demi and and not be able to see Kalder.

Kalder. Hmm.

Scratching his forehead, he decided to change tactics. He kept glancing at the clock much more obviously and frequently, making sure his writing was faster and slightly more haphazard. His handwriting was probably the best part of his homework, but if he wanted this to work, he would have to go for it.

Letting out a groan, Noel would give up, placing his head down on the table. “[color=green]I’m not going to finish this on time,[/color]” He couldn’t help but whine, trying to see if Demi would take the bait.

Demi, who was neck-deep into the assignment, had begun to notice Noel’s change of behavior. He’d begun to take frequent glances at the clock and pay less attention to the task at hand, as if he had something better to do. His attitude was frustrating her, but she was trying to keep her cool… That is, until Noel put his head on the table and whined about how he wasn’t going to finish the assignment on time for whatever bullshit reason he had to ditch her.

[color=darkred]“What the fuck is up with you, Jameson?”[/color] she asked briskly, dropping her quill and glaring at him. [color=darkred]“You’ve been driving me nuts with the whole glitch of staring at the clock every five seconds. If you had some [i]‘prior commitment’[/i]-”[/color] she said that last part sarcastically, heavily implying that he was going to a booty call or something of the sort. [color=darkred]“You should have said so.”[/color]

Noel immediately looked up, offended by her implication. “[color=green]I’m worried about not reaching the hospital wing in time,[/color]” He stated, his voice surprisingly meek. “[color=green]I’m sorry, I don’t know if you heard, but Kalder Sigourney--the one that got sent to the hospital wing--he’s actually my best friend. I just...wanted to go see him tonight.[/color]”

The mention of Kalder was enough for Demi’s heartbeat to start racing. Of [i]course[/i] she knew Kal was Noel’s best friend -not that Jameson would know. Her ex-boyfriend considered Noel the brother he never had, and spoke of him very highly even though he could be an arrogant dickhead sometimes. It made perfect sense that Noel wanted to go see Kal… And here she was, jumping to conclusions and immediately assuming he was up to no good.

[color=darkred]“Shit,”[/color] she muttered, feeling like a complete asshole now. The glare on her blue eyes had vanished, to be replaced now with a rather sympathetic look.[color=darkred]“Yeah, I heard about Sigourney... Something about an accident?”[/color] the brunette asked, feigning ignorance about the whole situation.

“[color=green]Apparently it happened in our class,[/color]” Noel was a little more genuine with his explanation, mainly because he was stating facts and not quite going for sympathy. Yet. “[color=green]With the partner switch, apparently whoever he got was super incompetent. The potion was messed up so badly it turned out poisonous. Although...I noticed he hadn’t been eating or sleeping well, either. So poison plus malnourishment makes for a pretty bad situation.[/color]”

Guilt instantly rose to Demi’s face, and the tears were blurring her vision before she could do anything to stop them. Even though she was only responsible for the malnourishment and lack of sleep part, it was her fault that Kalder had gotten Beatrice as a partner, and that she’d done so poorly that she’d poisoned the both of them. Demi wanted to say something in Beatrice’s defense, but knowing that she’d been the one to instill the domino effect on this unfortunate chain of events held her back from doing so, and only contributed to how absolutely shitty she was feeling.

[color=darkred]“Fuck… I guess that’s all my fault.”[/color] she muttered, looking away as the first of the tears rolled down her cheeks. The brunette wiped them off as quickly as she could, because she would be damned before having Jameson of all people see her cry. Once she composed herself she would turn to Noel again.

His quill stopped at her words, and Noel looked over at her, surprised. After a second, he chuckled lightly. “[color=green]Honestly, if it wasn’t going to be Kal, it would’ve been someone else,[/color]” He assured her, dipping his quill in the inkwell. “[color=green]Madam Appleton’s quite talented, if she couldn’t fix him, he would’ve been sent elsewhere.[/color]” Pausing for a moment, he decided to take a chance. “[color=green]Would you like to accompany me to go see him?[/color]”

That stopped Demi for a moment. The most logical answer would be for her to politely decline and do her good deed of the day by finish what was left of their assignment so that Noel could go see his injured best friend. However, the cynical part of her debated that the boy could be using Kalder as an excuse to get out of doing the work to do something else- or simply to do nothing at all. On the other hand, agreeing to his request would look odd, as her and Kal had been just mere classmates in the eyes of the world.

Suddenly, an idea struck her. [color=darkred]“Tell you what,”[/color] she began, blue eyes focused completely on Noel now. [color=darkred]“I’ll go visit Sigourney with you if you’re willing to pull an all-nighter to get this assignment done together. That a good deal?”[/color] This way, she wouldn’t have to do all the work herself, and she made certain that Jameson would do exactly what he said he was going to.

Darn, he secretly hoped he could have gotten out of doing the work. Still, all all-nighter with her was certainly tempting. “[color=green]That sounds like a plan,[/color]” Noel would agree to her deal without rebuttal.

[color=darkred]“Well, I guess that settles it.”[/color] Demi declared, putting away all of her belongings. Once she was done, she turned to Noel with a neutral expression. [color=darkred]“After you.”[/color]

This could backfire on her at any time, but it was better to not dwell too much on it and simply let things go with the flow. Too late to back out now.