Charms: Third Year Gryffindor and Slytherin

Matt marched in, trying to decide on a seat. Phil would most likely opt not to sit with him all the way in the back of the room, Matt refused to sit in the front, and if the two didn't sit together Matt would some how (if possible) do worse in this class. But, if he sat in the middle by the window he would be distracted by Quidditch practices... Then again, the middle by the door would always be loud due to the hallway...

He went for a seat in the front middle row, trying to trick himself into thinking it was the best place to go. Matt almost cringed as he placed his bag down under the table.

Phil, being the good student he was had already arrived into class. The uniform he was wearing neat and sharp, and he was preparing for a class with the wonders of education. He had already pulled out his Charms textbook, parchment, variously colored ink for note taking, and of course his wand. A competent wizard would never be caught without his wand, according to some.

Anyway, he was arranging all of this just so on his desk in an orderly fashion. He was completely oblivious to Matthew, of course.

Matt sighed over dramatically, and all the sudden poked Phil in the neck with his quill. "Dude you'll never guess what happened!" Matt's voice was more excited than usual, as if he had just won the Quidditch Cup, or even become the Minister of Magic. His slightly-on-purpose messy mass of curls bounced slightly as he spoke.

Phil looked over at Matt, with an annoyed expression on his face. How dare he ruin the exact Feng Shui of the red and yellow bottles of ink! But he held up his hand, and began ticking off answers.

"1. They found the cure to world hunger. 2. Chudley Cannons actually have a chance at the British Cup. 3. They offered you an internship at Gringotts. How close am I?" he asked sarcastically.

Matt frowned, "1. As if the greedy people of this world would allow that. 2. Don't make me laugh. 3. I'm not a goblin. 4. You're a bit of an ass, my dear Phillip."

Beat.

"Anyways! Emily and I sat together and studied in the library!"

"Charming, oh grand!" Phillip was feeling especially sarcastic today, for no real reason. "And I suppose the two of you chatted about how lively the books were today!"

Matt frowned, why was Phil being so sarcastic today? Yeah, he always was, but this took it to extremes. "Why of course! They were so lively today!"Matt attempted to fight fire with fire, and threw some sarcasm back at Phil, forgetting how awful he was at it.

"I'm sorry Matthew, you haven't acquired the proper genetics to be sarcastic. Anyway, really. What did the two of you talk about? You and this Emily chick?" he asked, not being sarcastic anymore.

"Uh... asked her if she knew anything helpful for my History of Magic paper, since, you know, you weren't in the library. And then we just kind of talked about the workload." Matthew groaned, and put his face in his hands. He honestly didn't think he had remembered to tell her his name.

"Hmm... well, at least it was a start." Phil said, after a long paused. Then, he moved on with a more honest answer:

"You can't expect to win over a girl if you're just planning on making small talk with her," Phil was talking while he practiced a Tickling Charm on the guinea pig Matthew and him were sharing. "You're going to have to make yourself memorable. I mean, what?-How many kids go here?-Anyway, you have a ton of other boys, all wearing the same uniform with some differences according to house... you'll just be another face in the crowd! You have to make yourself stand out."

Kyle stood in the frame of the doorway, waiting for all of the third years to slowly file out one by one. Every few minutes he'd catch some juicy bit of gossip, or stats for a Quidditch team. Finally, the last two girls came out of the room, allowing Kyle to step in.

"Professor Billows? May I have a word?"

"Of course!" Billows gazed up at Kyle with a smile. Kyle was a smart student, and quite ambitious too. He had enjoyed teaching him, and it would be sad to see him leave.

"You can pull up a chair, if you want, but what do you need?" he asked, as he began to organize the third year's homework together in neat piles.

Kyle responded with a rare appreciative smile. "Well, sir, I'm very curious about some of the.. eh, darker history of our grand school, and without a teacher's signature I can't gain access to it." Kyle had decided putting it a bit more bluntly would be better.

"Oh, for History of Magic?! That's quite scholarly, of you." The poor, gullible man fished around his desk until he pulled out his expensive, eagle feather quill, and a spare piece of parchment. He began scribbling out the necessary permission slip, while smiling at Kyle.

"I must ask, what are you going to be studying?"

Kyle couldn't help by widen his eyes a bit at the easy victory. Just a few more sentences and he was in the clear, "The Chamber of Secrets..." He said, a bit more quietly

"The Chamber of..."

Billows dropped the quill pen on the permission slip, and as a result, the dark blue ink spilled everywhere. With a little whimper, he quickly waved his wand, and cleaned up the mess he made. Then, he looked at Kyle seriously, trying to hide the fear on his face. After all, he had to appear stronger than the student.

"Kyle, I don't know if I can offer you permission. That is a dark, dark situation we're dealing with. I was a first year myself, when that happened."

Kyle was a bit amused at the 'sheer terror' of it. Any decent wizard could have probably handled it... but then Potter came in and whisked everything away. According to Kyle's theory, though, that was farther from the truth than it could possible be.

But, either way, he nodded sincerely. "Sir, I completely understand. How are those of now supposed to learn without the help from those of the past through?"

Billows sighed, his voice shaking, even with the sigh. "I-I suppose you're right." And Billows began to rewrite the note, and he signed with a shaky flourish.

As he handed the note back to Kyle, he looked at the boy seriously.

"This is ONLY for research. Nothing more, nothing less, alright? And, I'll want this permission signed by the library, to be sure of that." he said.

Kyle sat up a bit more stiffly, but nodded. "Of course sir, nothing else." Kyle quickly snatched up the note, and stood up with one swift motion. "Thank you, Professor Billows." And with that, Kyle exited the room.

Billows shook his head, and he went back to organizing his papers. He tried to keep his mind off of what happened, but he couldn't help but think he had made a bad decision.

Kyle ran into the classroom looking like a tiger on a hunt for pray. "Professor! There's a large food fight going on and a few physical fights have broken out!"

Billows looked up in alarm, and his face looked rather pale. He often looked rather timid and scared when trouble was afoot. He cleared his throat.

"Er, Kyle, maybe you should alert a teacher if someone like that is brewing." he said timidly.