"Look at them," said Nicolai the following day, her eyes in slits as she stared at both Florence and Fred at the distance.

They were currently in their potions class—one of the many other classes that Florence had to share with Fred. Professor Snape had paired them up for their said partners for the whole year, and luck was not in Florence's favor.

Nicolai was paired up with the snooty Slytherin Cassius Warrington, Alexander paired up with George Weasley, while Florence was stuck with Fred.

The shorter brunette had given up on the hope of working in sync with her partner, leaving him to finish up half the work and sauntering over to George and Alexander's desk while Professor Snape was still not in the room.

"Look at them," she repeated to both George and Alexander, who weren't looking the first time she'd said it. Alexander peered up from his cauldron, looking to the direction she was pointing at, and so did George.

"Yes, Florence and Fred. Florence ignoring his existence as usual. What's new, Nic?" Muttered Alexander in a monotone voice, George nodding in agreement, "Yeah. Call us when something interesting happens."

"I mean just look how miserably pathetic they are!" she said in a loud voice, Xander glaring at her to keep it down. "Sorry. But seriously look at them. Not talking to each other is making them miserable."

George snorted, "You know what makes it even funnier? That they're working on an Amortentia potion together. How ironic is that?"

"Shut up, Weasley," said Nicolai, "I'm thinking about something...."

"That's never a good sign," remarked Xander jokingly, "About what, though?"

"I'm going to do something about it. And I need your help, Xander. Also yours, George."

"Oh no," said Xander promptly after, "No no, Nicolai. I am no way, involving myself in any of this nonsense. Absolutely not." he said, both hands raised. His mistake. The stirring spoon he had let go of slowly sunk deeper into the cauldron of almost-Amortentia. "Oops," he said, George giving out a huff as he helped Xander fish it out.

"Come on, you two. You have to help me on this one. Aren't you tired of this unending tension between them. You know it's ridiculous—"

"Okay, fine!" said George, "We'll hear you out. Just leave us alone for now. We have a potion to finish, Clearwater."

"It will be just one second!" she begged, making Alexander huff, "Fine. Just say it quickly..."

She grinned leaning closer to whisper the plan into her friends' ear, George leaning in as well.

"Miss Clearwater." A low voice said, Nicolai swiveling around to see Professor Snape standing infront of her with a reproving look, "Please do move back to your assigned seat. Although you're welcome to stay if it is well out of your conscience that I deduct 10 house points from Ravenclaw."

That made Nicolai retreat back to her desk with Cassius Warrington, both George and Alexander both thankful that they could work out their potion in peace.

"I wonder how long it took Nicolai to plan that," Xander muttered, as soon as Professor Snape was out of their earshot, George shrugging, "Well, let's just hope that it actually works or I'm murdering her for making you drop our stirring spoon into the cauldron."

"Sorry."

Meanwhile, Florence was struggling to keep her interactions with Fred at a minimum, or no interactions at all. They had made a silent agreement to split the work, Fred opting to prepare the ingredients while she mixed them up in the cauldron.

Fred shuffled to the side as Florence reached for the small bowl filled with Pearl dust, eyes glued to her text book as she added just the right amount. She set the bowl down on the edge of the table, nearly knocking it off it wasn't for Fred, who caught the bowl on time.

He thought that he atleast would have gotten a thank you for it, but Florence did not spare him a single glance. Continuing to ignore his presence, she took the Ashwinder Eggs and dumped them into their cauldron, stirring again.

Their potion was starting to turn to a slightly pinkish liquid, which indicated that they were nearly done. Florence was set on finishing first, so she could get the extra house points for Ravenclaw.

She called Professor Snape over, once she thought the potion was ready, and it was.

"Gather around," Snape said as he continued to stir the cauldron filled with successful Amortentia. The rest of the students started flocking towards their table, pushing Florence closer and closer to Fred.

"This is what your Amortentia should look like as the finished product," he said, voice echoing through a silent room, with the exception of a few mumbling.

"Miss Price, would you mind smelling the content and telling us what it is you smell."

Florence leaned closer to the cauldron taking a whiff of the potion.

"I smell grass, candy, smoke...there's one I can't really distinguish.."

Nicolai gave Alexander a sideway glance, before suppressing a smile that was growing on her face. The rest of the class resumed their work after the short demonstration. Florence brought a sample over to Professor Snape's desk for checking, then hung with Nicolai for the remainder of the period.

"Thank god that was over," said Florence as she and a Nicolai walked out of the room at the end of the class, "With all the Amortentia in the room I swear that smoky scent would probably suffocate me..." she muttered.

"Why do you think you smelled smoke?" Nicolai wondered.

"Well it wasn't a really bad smelling smoke. I dunno, the smoke that's sort of like someone has been brewing a potion in a room without windows... And I smelled fresh grass, too. Maybe the love of my life is an outdoorsy person..? What did you smell?"

"Lavender and butterbeer," Nicolai said, with a slight blush on her cheek. Whether or not Florence knew about her affections towards Jillian was unknown.

She caught a glance of George Weasley, head peaking from behind a corner as he gave her some sort of signal, disappearing once more as Florence turned her head.

"What were you looking at?"

"I—uh—Florence... Can I talk to you for a moment? Somewhere private?" Nicolai asked, practically dragging Florence to another hallway. She was so bad at not being obvious.

"Nic, you're worrying me. What's wrong? Why do we have to talk here—Xander what are you doing here? And why are you opening that door—?"

"Sorry, Flo!" Nicolai squeaked.

With one strong shove, she had pushed Florence into a door that Alexander held open, the brunette not at all seeing this coming. Alexander shut the door immediately, and Florence found herself in a dark, secluded area.

"Nic?! Xan?!" She shouted standing still , hoping that the two were just playing a prank on her and that it would pass quickly. But no matter how much she called out for them, they would not reply.

She was about to reach for the door knob when the door flew open, seeing a struggling Fred on the other side of it. Only for him to be shoved into the supply room as well.

"Have fun!" said George, turning a light on before shutting the door completely.

"Open the door!" Florence was the first one to fling herself on to the door, pounding them with her fists, her voice livid, "Alexander! Nicolai! Open the bloody damn door!"

"George!" Fred called out as well, just as furious as the brunette was, "I swear if you don't open this...!"

George, Alexander and Nicolai were leaning all of their weight onto the door, pushing back with as much force as both Fred and Florence started to kick the door open.

Alexander whipped out his wand, and charmed the door shut. The other two backed away.

"ALEXANDER!" they heard Florence's scream shrilly from inside, "Nicolai! Get me out! Why are you doing this?"

"Talk it out; both of you!" Nicolai responded, which just made Florence kick the door harder, "Look! You're going to break your leg from trying to get out of there but even then, it's either you two talk or just stay in there." said Alexander, firmly so.

"Aren't you tired of always pretending that you don't have feelings, Florence? Just get this over with." George bellowed.

"No!" she yelled, "Absolutely not! You will not tell me what I should and shouldn't do—!"

Nicolai sighed, trudging over to the wall opposite to the door before sliding down to sit on the floor, "This looks like it's going to be a long afternoon.
Might as well get comfortable here.

George chuckled, him and Alexander following suit, the three of them waiting for the two inside to sort their issues out.

//////
a.n: Yooooo next chapter's going to be big!!

-Denise