The day that Jessica was set to return to Hogwarts came sooner than she had expected. She had spent the New Year with her family and met up with some of her muggle friends she made back in elementary school and in summer camps. It was incredibly difficult to keep magic a secret and she was glad that they were all busy telling their own stories to keep pestering her about her mysterious boarding school. Before she knew it, she was all packed and in King's Cross Station.

Jessica was making her way down the train, looking for either Bethany or Alista. It was proving to be a challenge since the train was more or less full this time around, similar to how it looked at the start of every school year. She greeted some familiar faces, classmates, and housemates, but she was running out of luck. She even bumped into Terence Higgs who was exiting his compartment.

"Oh," he said. "Hey Haw —"

"Hawthorne!"

Jessica drew her eyes away from the Slytherin boy who was just about to greet her to look for who had just shouted her name not even a second later. The moment she turned on her heel, she almost came face to face with Oliver Wood, who had on a bright smile on his face. He placed both his hands on the girl's shoulders once he was near enough, mildly startling her.

"I was going to write a letter to say thanks, but I wanted to say it in person. I can't believe get you got me those Quidditch gloves," he rambled, letting go of her shoulders as he started talking animatedly with hand gestures.

"I can't believe it, too. They were limited edition," Jessica bragged jokingly.

"Exactly! How did you get them? Why did you get them? Why did I just get you tea and hot chocolate? Bloody hell, I'm a horrible friend."

"Calm down, Wood," Jessica laughed at how out of character he was being. She had never seen Oliver this excited. After all, the time they spent together when they started becoming friends was usually studying or just in the Great Hall, so she assumed he was only this energetic when he would play Quidditch.

Oliver did as she told, shaking his hands as if he was getting rid of all that excess energy. It was only then that he noticed Terence Higgs behind the black-haired girl.

"Higgs," he said stiffly.

"Wood," Higgs replied. The boy then scoffed under his breath at how the two Gryffindors were blocking the way, taking it upon himself to lightly push against Oliver's shoulder as he made his way down the corridor to make a point.

"Slytherins," Oliver muttered when he was gone.

"Hey, they're not all bad," Jessica defended.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot Greene's one, too." Jessica narrowed her eyes at the fifth year boy who still sounded bitter talking about Slytherins. When he noticed her intense stare, he faltered. "Okay, okay! I said I was sorry. Greene's a nice person."

"Apology accepted. To answer your question, I just got those gloves at Quality Quidditch Supplies."

"But they're limited edition."

"That's why I asked Charles for help. I needed the connections." Jessica beamed at him before walking away, continuing her search for her friends.

"Charles? Charles Hawthorne?" Oliver questioned, quickly following after her as his excitement came back. "Your cousin?"

"No, my dog."

"Oh."

"Of course, it's that Charles. Besides, I remembered you saying you wanted new gloves back in Hogsmeade."

"But those must have been expensive."

"Well, then, think of it as me repaying you for carrying all the bags of presents I bought that day in Hogsmeade."

Oliver opened his mouth to retort, but the pointed look on Jessica's face that convinced him she was serious made him give up with a sigh.

"Whatever you say, lass."

★ ★ ★

It was the first day that classes resumed after the Christmas break. The lessons in all classes went by slowly as practically everyone, students and teachers alike, were trying to get back into the routine of being back in school.

Late in the afternoon, Jessica found herself sitting across Terence Higgs in a rectangular table in the middle of the library. Two rolls of parchment (one for notes and one for the final essay), bottles of inks and quills, and a few books of varying sizes were laid out before them. However, they had yet to actually do anything.

"So, Chopra doesn't seem like she's gonna show up, is she?" Jessica broke the silence.

Terence looked at the clock at the end of the rows of books they were surrounded by. It read 4:13 PM, but his house mate and group mate was supposed to arrive at 3:30 PM as they had all agreed on before the break even started. With pursed lips, he looked back at his only other companion at the table.

"I don't think so. Sorry, Hawthorne."

Jessica sighed and leaned back in her chair. They were all supposed to meet up in the library to actually make some progress on their Potions assignment. Being punctual, she came to the venue on the dot and Terence arrived ten minutes later. But, Chopra was nowhere in sight.

"Should we just get started, then?" the Gryffindor suggested after a moment.

Terence agreed easily. "Sure. I doubt she'll get any work done if she were even here."

And so, Jessica and Terence set to working on their group assignment. Like she had realized the day before she left Hogwarts during the Christmas break, Terence wasn't a bad group mate. He did as he was told and inputted some of his own suggestions and opinions, easing Jessica's worries. She could easily be categorized as a perfectionist, so she was glad that Terence was easy to work with despite the fact that they were missing one group member.

At one point, Terence was about to write down a section of their essay, but his quill hovered over the final paper already.

"Wait!" Jessica said, startling the boy.

"What?"

"Have you written down your points on the scratch paper?"

Terence made a face at her. "No?"

"Well, then do it. We need to avoid mistakes on our final paper."

The Slytherin chuckled and shook his head in amusement. "You're odd, Hawthorne." Nevertheless, the boy followed her words anyway, switching the papers so that he could write down his thoughts before finalizing them on the actual paper. The two fourth year students did their work in a productive silence, occasionally speaking only when Terence would make small talk. Jessica soon found out that he didn't seem to like the silence very much.

The clock finally struck 6:30 PM and the two group mates were just about to finish one of their sections in the paper. Just a few more, including the conclusion, needed to be completed before they had to proofread and pass it. Outside the library, just a few hallways away from where they were working, Alista and Bethany were complaining about how hungry they were and that dinner was about to begin.

"Why does Jess always forget about dinner?" Alista groaned in annoyance. "We always have to drag her to the Great Hall for it."

"I know," Bethany sighed, agreeing with her. "She's always up early to eat mountains of breakfast, though."

"Ten Galleons says she's doing homework right now."

"There's no need to even place a bet, Alista. I'm a hundred percent sure she's off somewhere doing homework."

"Oh, it's that Potions group essay, isn't it?"

"Have you started it?"

"No. Have you?" Alista asked.

"... No." The two girls sighed hopelessly, accepting that they would most probably just receive an average grade for a group essay and practical test they would soon be procrastinating for. "Let's check the library, shall we?"

"But I don't wanna go all the way there," the Slytherin girl whined. "Why don't you go find her and I run down to start eating?"

"No way," the other glared at her friend. Just then, Bethany spotted a now familiar Scottish boy crossing the opposite corridor, an idea popping into her mind. She tapped Alista hurriedly to get her attention and pointed at the boy walking nearby.

"What —? Oh, it's Wood," the blonde said. When Bethany gave her a certain look, she let out an ohhh in realization.

"Hey, Wood!" Bethany finally called out. The boy whipped his head in their direction, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. His face relaxed upon seeing the familiar faces of two girls he was now well acquainted with.

"Greene, Faye," he greeted with a nod, approaching the two girls. It was only then that he noticed them smiling all too sweetly at him. This raised his suspicion and his steps slowly came to a halt as he wondered what they were up to. It vaguely reminded him of the mischievous smiles that the Weasley twins wore whenever they were planning to prank or tease someone, or when they had just finished doing either of those.

"Where are you off to?" Alista started.

"To the Great Hall to meet up with Carson," Oliver replied slowly, tilting his head in the direction of the stairs going down. "Why do you ask?"

"Have you seen Jess anywhere?"

"No. I assumed she'd be with you girls."

"Well," Bethany began. "Alista and I were on our way to dinner, too, but we usually have to remind Jess about it since she always forgets to eat when she's busy doing school work."

"She does? Is there even any school work already?" Oliver questioned.

"Yes, Wood. Although I wouldn't expect you to pay attention to that because your head is filled with just Quidditch," Alista said, a hint of humor in her voice.

"Hey, I still prioritize my acad —"

"Anyway," Bethany raised her voice to get back on track. "Could you go find Jess for us in the library? We're starving and I'm pretty sure she's tired of us fetching her for dinner all the time."

"Uh, okay," Oliver agreed, although he did find the request a bit odd and sudden. "Well, I guess I'll see you at the hall later?"

"Yes. Thanks, Wood!" The two fourth year girls practically skipped away, leaving the boy in the dust.

"Are you really trying to push Jess and Wood together?" Alista whispered to Bethany even though they were already out of earshot.

"I think they look cute together."

"They seem more like friends to me."

"They do not."

"Okay, fine, they have potential. But Terence would look cute with her, too," Alista said giddily. "I think he's really interested in her."

"But Jess and Wood would be great for each other. The two of them need something else to think about other than Quidditch and academics all the time," Bethany pointed out. That signaled yet another round of bickering between them, the two girls fighting over who would be a better match for their best friend.

Oliver eventually found his way into the Hogwarts library. It was fairly empty considering that dinner had already begun, so he wasn't surprised. The only sounds being made were his own footsteps, the faint voices of students chatting in the corners, and the flipping pages of books.

With the library being quite massive, he sought to searching in the area he knew by then that Jessica liked to stay in. There were a couple of tables in the Charms section that the girl usually wanted a spot in, mostly because there was good natural lighting and not too many tables there, lessening the chances of students being too noisy nearby.

As predicted, he found the black haired girl sitting in one of the tables there, though she wasn't alone. She was accompanied by Terence Higgs. At that point, though, it looked like it was just Jessica working. Terence had just finished his part and was leaning back in his seat, playing with a paper bird he folded out of spare parchment. He was using his wand to make it hover around, intentionally making it poke Jessica as she concluded the second to the last section of their paper.

"Hawthorne. You done yet?" Terence asked, the paper animal whizzing around her head.

Ignoring the object flying around her, she merely hummed in response.

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes, Higgs." The bird flew too closely by her head, her hair getting caught momentarily and spreading over her face. She huffed and blew the strands out of the way. Terence couldn't help but laugh at how she was trying to concentrate, yet she ended up looking like a child about to throw a tantrum.

Oliver had enough of their interaction. Sure, he knew Jessica was best friends Greene, a Slytherin, but she was one of the only decent ones he was aware of. Higgs was part of the Quidditch team, too, so it was more than likely that he was as foul as the rest of them, especially since Flint was still their captain.

Eventually, he walked towards the two as calmly as possible. Terence noticed him first and set his wand down, causing the paper bird to land on Jessica's head. The girl looked up in mild surprise at that action and soon acknowledged Oliver standing next to her.

"Oh, Wood. What're you doing here?" she said.

"Greene and Faye told me to remind you about dinner," he replied. "Something about how you always forget to eat because you're doing homework."

"Oh," Jessica said, slightly embarrassed that they made Oliver basically fetch her for dinner. "What time is it?"

"Almost seven," Terence answered before Oliver could.

"Oh, Merlin, really? I didn't realize. I'm sorry I kept you here for long."

"It's fine, it's our group work," he reminded her. He stood up and leaned across the table, almost causing Oliver to take a step forward in order to stop whatever he was going to do. Jessica looked taken aback as well, flinching a bit when Terence was too close for comfort. However, he had just reached a hand out to remove the paper bird that was still on the girl's head.

"I was just going to take this back," Terence explained, the corners of his lips turned up. Jessica nodded sheepishly while the Slytherin boy gathered his things. "See you in class, Hawthorne. Wood."

Oliver could only nod wordlessly in reply, watching with slight irritation as Terence left.

"Why do you look like you got your wand in a knot?" Jessica asked amusedly as she, too, packed up her things.

"Higgs is just... off."

Jessica scoffed, not surprised at how Oliver felt towards Slytherins. He was quite vocal about it, as were most Gryffindors she knew. It was only herself, Bethany, and a few others she knew that weren't as prejudiced against that house.

"You think all Slytherins are off, Wood," she said, nudging him. "Let's have dinner."

"Wait, what?"

"In the Great Hall," Jessica said slowly, wondering why he reacted that way. Oliver shook his head, cursing himself for even thinking that she meant something else.

"Oh, right."

"Hurry up or Bethany and Alista might beat you up for not doing your job right."

Oliver gulped nervously and hurried after the girl who had already started walking ahead of him.

"They can do that?"