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DIANA THOMAS STARED AT THE hands of her delicate silver wrist watch, every anxious tick sending her more and more into a downward spiral of immense overthinking.

Lysander had left their session, his surprised look not lost on her when she said that there was another appointment booked after him.

"Another appointment?" He had blinked twice.  "I thought you were cutting down on tutoring?"

"I was." she said firmly, ushering him out of the Room of Requirement. "But an unavoidable opportunity presented itself."

Lysander tossed her another strange look and left after an insistent shove on her part.

Now she had five minutes until Albus would show up, no doubt coming to wreak havoc on her life now that he knew her secret. She glanced at the worn panel of mirrors, smudged with ash from spells gone wrong.

"Don't turn." She told herself, itching at the space where her ribbon hair elastic would normally rest. "Don't turn."

A shuffling of bricks pulled her away from the mirror.

"Hello?"

Her mouth went dry when she saw him. "What on Earth are you wearing?"

"A shirt?" he looked down and plucked at the tan fabric of the polo he wore.

"You're not supposed to wear civvies outside of your common room," she cleared her throat.

"It's past dinner, I'll be fine." he rolled his eyes and slid his brown leather messenger back over his shoulder to settle on one of the two empty seats connected to the long table.  "Do you always wear your robes even during tutoring?"

She held back a scowl. "And what am I supposed to wear?"

He glanced at her under lowered soot eyelashes. "What you had on this past weekend was... acceptable."

"Acceptable?" she felt her eyebrow twitch. "Enough out of you. Do you have your notes with you at least?"

He grimaced. "May have forgotten that actually. I don't even have parchment and quill. Mind if I borrow yours to copy notes? I know you let others in Ravenclaw copy your notes."

"Depends on how serious you are about Alchemy. And they reference my notes, not so much copy."

Albus leaned back in the chair, stretching out like a smug cat who got all the cream. "I promise you, Diana. Once I'm serious about something, I'll achieve it no matter what."

She crossed her arms, fingers tapping incessantly in a strict rhythm of irritation on her sleeved arm. "In that case, I hope you brushed up on your Alchemy textbook before you came here. I was going to give you an open notes placer test, but instead I'll draft it to the basics in a form of a quiz. If you can make a passing grade on this and draft a decent Transmutation circle then I'll lend you my notebook for the weekend to copy over any notes you need."

Albus paused at that. "You do know what letter I received on my exam?"

"No, but I do know that when I spoke with our professor I've never seen her so flabbergasted at your grade before so it was clearly something out of character for you." she reached into her bag, pulling out the test she had drafted out. She cut out the harder concept questions, added multiple choice options since the placer test was originally free response, and finally removed future chapter questions in hopes that he'd at least read ahead before their next lecture. "Now take this. I'll let you borrow my quill. I'll give you our entire session to do this and complete the Transmutation circle. I'll be practicing Arithmancy on the mirror so I can see if you attempt to cheat."

Diana pulled out a new chalk piece and kept it by his table, grabbing her Alchemy textbook from her bag to keep it by her side as she worked on Arithmancy. They fell into a quiet rhythm once Diana finally stopped staring at the same equation that fell just above Reflection Albus' head. She still couldn't believe that he was here, tutoring with her after dinner in the Room of Requirement, just a few weeks after she'd poured her heart out to him at the Yule Ball.

Of course, she got what she deserved. No logical side of her would every resort to something that silly and spontaneous and completely out of character. But it was the way felt courageous and world-breaking in that sparkling dress, the way she overanalyzing into how they coincidentally seemed to match after she told him her dress was silver, how he offered to bring her along if no one had asked her as if it was his secret way of asking her out.

Rowena, what an idiot she was! Albus Potter wouldn't look at her that way. 

Not someone with Veela blood in them. 

She crunched on with the numbers, breaking the equations into baser forms then building them back up. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't realize Albus had been tapping her shoulder for quite some time. 

Diana caught his hand reaching forward from the reflection and her shoulders snapped back, body alert. She also caught her own flare up, eyes firing brilliant silver before settling back to neutral gunmetal gray. But for once she didn't have to immediately excuse herself. Albus knew her secret. She didn't have to hide it. 

"You should really keep a grip on your emotions." he said gruffly as she turned to face him and not his reflection. "If you scare this easily then everyone will know you're part Veela come next Hallowe'en Feast."

She squeezed her marker tight, hoping to blink away her genes. "There won't be a next year. We're seventh years."

Diana found it fascinating, how his pupils widened before shrinking back as he stepped away to reveal a completed Transmutation circle. 

"I forgot." he offered simply. 

She was impressed at his work. Albus was rather smart, so she knew that not all reason and logic had been vaporized from his brain. His grade on the last exam was not result of incompetence, but rather something more complex and maybe even pre-meditated. 

"This is a decent circle. You're line work could do with some clarification."

"Decent?" he scoffed, toeing the edge to smudge the chalk. "That's all you have to offer after the two hours I just spent? And what about my quiz?" 

Before she could respond he was already waving the quiz in front of her face. "Check the answers."

She skimmed over, noticing that he had gotten a decent chunk correct. "This is..."

"Well?" he pressed impatiently as she picked up her Alchemy book and headed over to the table to pack her bag. "Good? Right? I did everything you asked."

He hounded her until the Room of Requirement morphed open in a flurry of bricks. 

"What kind of tutor doesn't provide feedback?" he frowned.

She rounded her heel to face him head on, tossing him her notebook along with her critique, "You got eighty percent of the material correct. Your Transmutation circle was above average for what I expected it to be based of your grade. I expect you to be sitting next to me in lecture going forward. Bring my notebook then. And overall, I'd say those results are...acceptable."

Diana stepped out in satisfaction as the bricks closed behind her, effectively cutting his last words off from her.

~

The satin pajamas only aided in her slipping out of bed in her shocked state. Someone was grabbing her ankle at 2:05 am. 

She lunged for her wand on the side table but her stretch was too far off in the night, hitting her hand on the corner instead. 

"Wait no, Diana! Diana, it's me!"

Albus fucking Potter ripped the Invisibility Cloak off to reveal his head and broad shoulders. "Slytherin's having a party for Maryse's birthday. Figured I could sneak you out as a thank you for agreeing to tutor me- whoa, whoa, hey what's going on?"

Diana choked on her words, reaching for her hand still. "I-I thought-"

He looked down at his grip on her shaking ankle and let go immediately. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to risk getting punched in the face so I assumed a gentle shake of the leg would be enough. I didn't mean to frighten you into thinking I was a Boggart of sorts."

She shook her head, clenching and loosening her grip around her wand. "I didn't think you're were a Boggart. I thought someone knew."

His confused expression made her bitter inside, even if fleetingly. 

"I thought you told someone..."

Painful realization dawned on his face. "Oh. Diana, I would never-"

She screwed her eyes shut. "No-no- don't say that. Don't promise me anything. You can't make that promise. Once one person knows, everyone will eventually know. Now it's just a waiting game for the rest of seventh year." 

Diana hated how jaded she sounded. But it was the truth. Veelas still weren't fully accepted in the Wizarding community. Her father, Dean Thomas, still got whispers about his tryst with her Veela mother- enough so that they had moved to the United States to attend Ilvermorny for her first few years of magical schooling before transferring to Hogwarts.

"Hey," Albus lifted a pinky. "I'll be waiting it out with you."

She smiled softly at what he was offering then. Not a verbal promise, but a reassurance. She crossed pinkies with him, only for him to pull her up abruptly. 

"Now, I say we ditch the party and go somewhere else. Top floor of Astronomy Tower? I have some Chocolate Frogs I can grab and meet you there if you want to change into warmer clothes."

"I really shouldn't-"

"Diana please, it's my way of paying you for tutoring." he urged.

"Alright!" she replied in a hushed tone. "Now leave! I'll change and be there in a few."

He shot a wink at her and covered himself with the cloak once more, his padded footsteps the only indication of his leave. 

She dressed after a few minutes just to be sure he was gone and rushed to the top floor of the Astronomy Tower that had a beautiful view of the night sky blanketing Hogwarts. But her anticipation began to wear thin as the seconds grew into minutes, minutes into hours, black and blue into pink and teal, and finally golden as the sun began to crescent and silver moon faded to white. 

Not once did Albus Potter return with Chocolate Frogs.