FOUR THIS HAS GOTTEN MESSY

Sitting in potions with Maeve by his side, Victor kept sparing glances over to where Sirius was goofing off with Remus in an attempt to mess up their potion. Of course, Remus was never going to let him actually make a difference, but it was entertaining to see him try. Been there, done that flashed in Victor's mind. His eyes also shot to the Slytherin side of the classroom where William Alexander was glaring holes into the side of Sirius's head. God, this has gotten messy.

"What are you staring at? We need to cut up the Sopophorus bean," Maeve groaned as she nudged the boy back to attention. "Please don't tell me you're plotting against James, we've got shit to do."

"What if we just... gave him the Draught of Living Death?" Victor asked experimentally as he shot a cautious glance to Professor Slughorn who was reading a book at the front of the classroom while they prepared their potions. "Like... if we make it just had enough it won't kill him. Hey, look, Snivellus is crushing his!"

Sure enough, Severus Snape had pressed the flat of the blade against the bean and that seemed to do the trick. Maeve raised her eyebrows at the action before doing the same thing. Together they ducked as someone's bean went shooting through the air.

"Hey, Maeve," Victor began, a fluctuation in his voice that would surely give himself away as he asked, "So, has Sirius ever, like, told you about his... dating history?"

"Just a fling with Mary McDonald, why do you ask?" Maeve answered absentmindedly as she pushed the ingredients off of the cutting board and into the cauldron. She didn't even spare him a second glance as she carried on doing most of their Potions work like usual. Maeve was never a perfect student, but she was damn good at Potions. "Did he say something to you?"

Victor shook his head, his mind going wild at the idea that Sirius had not told his longtime girlfriend about certain... affairs. He narrowed his eyes at Sirius before turning back to Maeve and saying, "No, I was just curious. I thought I remembered seeing him with someone, but I think it might have just been his brother -- they do look awfully similar."

"Not really, Regulus has a wider face, sharper jaw," the girl spoke absentmindedly with a surprisingly apt description, "And good ole Reggie rocks the green and silver so... I'm pretty good at telling them apart. What's gotten into you? You're being weird."

"I feel like James knows we're conspiring against him," Victor made up on the spot even though it was an outright lie. Looking over at James, he was partnered with Marlene who was doing all the work while James glared at Severus. Victor would be surprised if there was a singular thought passing through that pretty little head of his, but he hoped Maeve wouldn't notice this. Judging by the lack of a change in her expression, she hadn't. Then again, Victor had always been a good liar. Not to Maeve, though, he hated lying to Maeve. That wouldn't stop him from doing it, though. Sometimes it simply had to be done.

"Maybe if you stopped staring at him like a supervillain with a bone to pick he wouldn't be onto you," the girl smarted off with a toothy grin as she shoved her best friend aside gently. He stumbled off his stool a little bit, but not enough to actually lose his place. He rolled his eyes and things felt okay again, his breathing evened out and he wasn't thinking so hard.

He took a deep breath and began to actually help Maeve with the potion, hoping it would clear his head. It didn't, but he was happy to continue pretending like everything was fine. Everything was fine, he was freaking out over nothing. It wasn't like he had recently discovered his best friend's boyfriend that he maybe slightly had feelings for has gone for men in the past, it really wasn't important. No matter how many times he told himself that, it still burned his throat like firewhiskey. God, Victor was a fool and he knew it.

"Okay, I know I'm not crazy, something's up with you," Maeve broke the tense silence after a few moments of work. Her voice was a harsh whisper as not to draw the attention of any of their fellow students, "I'm not stopping until I find out what it is. You may think you can hide your feelings from me, but I've known you too long. I'm not as stupid as you think I am."

"I never said you were stupid!" Victor defended himself, trying to keep his voice as low as possible. The last thing he wanted was anyone prying on their business -- Victor had always been a private person. Then again, it was usually fairly difficult to have a truly private conversation in the middle of class. Still, Maeve and Victor were experts in harsh whispers and shared secrets.

"You implied it by assuming you could get away with lying to me." If only she knew. If only she knew just how much was really being hidden from her. Victor knew he could never tell her about his feelings for Sirius. His alleged feelings. He could never break her heart like that, she loved Sirius too much and she loved Victor too much. Of course, Victor couldn't have settled on literally any other suitable boy in the school, it just had to be Sirius with his overgrown hair, his rugged charm and -- oh, Merlin, he forgot what he was doing.

He sighed after a moment, stirring their potion until it was a gentle lavender -- perfect. "What do you think would happen if I just chugged this right now?"

Maeve snorted, peering down into the cauldron, "If we did it right -- which, we're geniuses, so we did -- you would... uh... let me think, oh, yeah, die instantly! You should try it!"

"You bitch!" he gasped as he shoved the girl playfully the two of them bursting into giggles as they earned a few pointed glares from the Slytherin side of the room.

"Mister Glass, Miss Bloodwood, you're finished, I presume?" Professor Slughorn came up behind them and Victor had to stop himself from jumping. He hadn't even seen the man leave his desk. The two of them nodded and the Professor dropped a dried leaf in the potion to where it immediately shriveled up and disintegrated. Underneath their desk, Maeve and Victor high-fived. "Very good, as always, you two. Go ahead and pack up your things, you may leave a little early since you've completed your potion."

"Far out, thanks, Professor," Maeve exclaimed as they poured their potion into a vial and handed it to Slughorn before packing away their things.

As soon as they were out of the classroom, Maeve shoved Victor to the side and asked, "All right, I've had enough! What's gotten into you? Why're you walking on eggshells around me?"

Victor searched his brain for something, anything that would be a good enough excuse, but then he remembered the conversation he had with Sirius the other day and what he had traded, "Sirius is bumming cigs off of me again, I felt bad and wanted to tell you, but I wasn't sure how you would react."

"I knew it!" she shouted as the two of them walked back towards Gryffindor Tower, "I knew he was hiding something. God, what is it with those muggle cigarettes that he loves so much? I'll never understand. Ugh, thanks for telling me. Is that really what had you so weird?"

"Well, I wouldn't want him to hate me for snitching, we're trying to get him on our side, remember?" The words were slipping out much easier than they were in class and Victor found himself easily spinning a half-truth that would settle the girl's curiosity for now. "Now, can we just drop it, please? I'm starved and I've got my Honeydukes stash calling my name."

Maeve rolled her eyes, but smiled as they continued walking, "Yeah, yeah, consider it dropped, sheesh."

He grinned at her, but his heart ached. It had been doing that far too often for his liking lately, but he supposed this was going to be something he had to get used to. He would also definitely have to get better at lying to his best friend. God, this year sucked.