Swear loudly if the Venomous Tentacula seizes us from behind

[Deleted]

September 12th, 1974

Looking down at the stack of hand-written notes peeking out from his slightly worn school bag, Frank Longbottom suddenly didn't feel so sure about this. This, was a tutoring session with a fellow Gryffindor in his year, and was also on his best and favorite subject - Herbology. He really shouldn't have anything to be nervous about, seeing as he was quite talented in this particular subject, and Alice Logan was a known sweetheart in their house, or so he'd observed over the years, so it's not like she'd do something to him should he fail to get her grades up. 

No, the prefect was simply unaccustomed to sharing this part of himself with another person. It had always been a soothing and therapeutic hobby for him, to tend to their gardens back at Longbottom Hall, where he would spend hours and hours there by himself, thinking, talking, singing to his confidantes. To him, tending to plants was a private thing, and to open up that part of himself, if only just to help someone with their homework, took some mental preparation on his part.  

"Hey, so McGonagall said you needed some help with Herbology?" raising his eyes up in search of confirmation while he reached into his bag to retrieve a study schedule he had come up with this morning while brushing his teeth. This was his first tutoring job, and he really wanted to help someone else appreciate the wonderful subject that most students just went through because they had to, despite his own personal demons. "So here's a study schedule that might help, and we can adjust it to accommodate your time tables and such. Um, Professor Sprout tells me that you're having trouble with the 5th year material so far?" smiling kindly at his classmate, not wanting her to think that there was anything wrong with asking for help, and that he was happy to help her with whatever she needed. 

"So since 5th year basically consists of 5th year material and 1-4th year reviews, I thought we could do a bit of both? We have Herbology on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and I have quidditch practice on Mondays and Tuesdays along with prefect patrols that you also have. So...how about Monday evenings and Thursday mornings? We can adjust it to any time you want, and maybe we could also schedule our patrols together so we can kill two birds with one stone and do some reviews while we're on patrol? That way you'd have more free time. We could do 5th year material on Mondays before this weeks class and reviews on Thursdays for 1-4th year stuff and hopefully we'll have you reading ahead way before O.W.L.s...we can focus on O.W.L.s once we get through the first round. sh*t...I'm rambling...sorry about that...um...so what do you think so far?" blushing in embarrassment over his apparent nervousness. This wasn't how he planned to explain his ideas...but oh well. Sliding over the small sheet of paper across their desk, the Gryffindor rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his as he awaited his classmate's response.

He should give her time to process all this right? 

[Alice Longbottom]

Twisting her quill between her fingers, she studied Frank silently across the desk. They had been in the same house for years now, but this year they had been assigned to be prefects together. He was very kind person (and if she was being honest not bad to look at), and she had enjoyed getting to know him the past few weeks.

”Yes, she nodded, ”But it I’m being honest, I’ve never been that good at it. I’m already worried about O.W.L.S. as silly as that is.” Alice dipped her quill into the ink, scrawling notes as Frank spoke, adding the times of her clubs in on the days he listed. When she glanced up as he once he was done, Frank was blushing, and she shot him a smile. ”Oh! You aren’t rambling at all. Thank you for doing this.”

He slid the paper across to her and she glanced it over, tapping the quill to her notes as she thought. ”I think we should ask about the schedules at our next meeting, but those days work for me.”

Looking up, she handed him back the schedule before turning to her book that she had propped up on her bag. ”How’s Quidditch practice going so far? I’m excited to watch the first game. Some of the 3rd year girls have been coming up with a cheer.” The younger students could be so sweet, Melody and Daisy had shown it to her when she had slept over in their dorm. ”They asked me to join them, but I haven’t decided yet.”

Turning the page, she looked back over to Frank, pointing at the drawing in the book. ”Self-Fertilising Shrubs, fantastic idea. But I think I could do without the eating flesh part.”

[Deleted]

September 12th, 1973

“It’s ok, that one’s for you. I’ve got another copy here so you don’t have to scribble down everything…and it’s got notes on the back and a bit more detail so you don’t have to write anything more today.” chuckling as he slid the parchment back towards his housemate, a bit annoyed with himself for not telling her sooner…he just sort of…blacked out from earlier. Argh.

If there was ever a time to be proud of his handwriting, it’d be now. The Longbottom heir had abhorred penmenship lessons as a child, finding the task extremely tiresome and boring, even though it was standard for someone of his stature. Curse whoever dictated and made up the rules of the supposed upper class of society. Nothing but a bunch of windbags more like. But as he progressed through school, he found that it was quite useful for schoolwork, as his writing was actually intelligible compared to some of the weird Bowl-Truckle-like figures that some of his peers tended to scrawl out. It’s be more than a bit embarrassing if his student could not tell what he was writing.

“It’s not trouble at all.” giving her a reassuring smile as he pulled the entire stack of notes from his school bag, realizing it made him less nervous if he had something to fidget with in his hands. “Agreed.” relieved more than anything that he hadn’t managed to screw up just yet. Thankfully Alice was smart and didn’t need him to repeat himself and had miraculously been able to catch all the key points in his ramblings. Thank Merlin for giving him someone easy to work with. He really didn’t know what he would do if this had turned out to be a nightmare.

“It’s going great so far, thanks for asking.” smiling as he felt himself ease into familiar waters, letting his nervousness wash away as he got into chaser mode. “I’m excited too, just less than three weeks before we crush the Puffs.” smirking with obvious pride like any respectable Gryffindor team player should. They were a shoe in for championship this year, and he’d be damned if anyone beat them to it. “Really? Will you give me a preview?” eyes lighting up in excitement over the news, though he wasn’t sure if it was the cheer itself or because Alice was probably gonna be doing it too. 

Leaning over to peer down at where she was pointing, the lion let out a hearty chuckle at her apparent aversion of the biting plant. “Ah the Fanged Geranium. They’re actually quite well-behaved and docile usually. They only bite or attack when they’re not taken care of.” talking as if it was a beloved puppy instead of a plant. “They’re in the back of Green House 3 where first years won’t accidentally run into them.” grinning at the last part. Not that they would really attack students, seeing as Frank and Tilden take quite good care of them on a regular basis. “We can start with Self-Fertilizing Shrubs if you want?” 

[Alice Longbottom]

Alice took the schedule back, quite pleased that he had done all this extra work for her. It was completely unnecessary, but it was sweet. She had no doubts about why her fellow prefect had been picked to tutor in the subject. She placed her quill down, flipping the parchment over to read the notes. He was well organized, and as far as she knew he had been at the top of their Herbology classes for the last four years. There was some sort of natural grace to working with plants that she lacked. She hardly spent any extra time in the greenhouses, something she supposed she would have to work into her schedule. The only time she had bothered was when they had worked with baby Mandrakes, and it was only because her mandrake has been such a problem.

Getting him to talk about Quidditch seemed to ease the tension, and she couldn’t help but laugh at the way he spoke of the game. The rivalry between teams was strong, and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t hoping for an easy Gryffindor victory. ”Oh no, I couldn’t I would feel so ridiculous. Those girls are far better at it than I am, I have to practice.” Sure, she could spell Gryffindor as good as next gal, but it was the rest of the chant that she hadn’t gotten down. ”Last I checked they were trying to work the names of all the Gryffindor players in though,” she added with a grin.

He talked about plants the same way he spoke of Quidditch, with a tone in his voice that showed how much he cared for the subject. ”What about fifth years accidentally running into them?” she teased at his statement, ”Do they prefer snacking on the older students?” Perhaps not her best joke, but she made herself laugh none-the-less. ”I’ve heard Professor Sprout assigns as essay on the Self-Fertilising Shrubs in fifth year. I don’t think I’ve even seen one in person before.”

[Deleted]

September 12th, 1973

Frank decided then that tutoring for Alice Logan would be ok. He had been hesitant to share such a private part of himself with someone he barely knew, but it seemed that his classmate was not as scary and intimidating as he’d imagined. Understatement of the century actually. Alice Logan was indeed the school sweetheart, and he’d realized that when she subtly directed their conversation towards something he might be more comfortable with because she sensed that he was nervous. It was…strange really, someone looking out for him for once, but not unwelcome.

“I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit.” smiling encouragingly at her as he tried to imagine the chant in his mind’s eye. There was just something about the adrenaline rush of a game that made him almost feel human again; something that made him feel, not just exist anymore. “Well good luck to them trying to fit in ‘Longbottom’” snorting and chuckling at the idea. His name just a bit too long compared to the other players. But it was a nice thought, being part of a team was…it felt almost therapeutic for the lion.

Her words quickly breaking him out of his quidditch-induced trance. ‘Focus Longbottom!’ though just as quickly making him almost do a mental double take. ‘Did she just make joke?’ not really used to…conversations with…people, the Gryffindor was a bit slow on human interaction sometimes. “I don’t know, are you a maiden? They like virgin sacrifices in ancient times.” Frank teased back, though quickly regretting his words as soon as they left his mouth. Merlin how stupid could he be? Seriously? Who says something about virgins to a girl? He really needed to get out more. “Merlin…I’m sorry, forget I said that” feeling his face heat up in mortification as he looked away, unable to meet her eyes.

“Come on I’ll show you.” deciding to focus on his job before he made a fool of himself again. The tall lion got out of his chair with practiced grace, likely due to his training though he doesn’t really notice it nowadays as he moves over to the east side of Green house three. 

[Alice Longbottom]

It was sweet of him to encourage her, but he did have a point. Getting everyone’s name in was going to a task, but she knew the girls were up for it. She was expecting them to be coming back to her soon, with the first game of the season coming up. “Let’s see, Longbottom....that’s a tough one. What about, Longbottom is our favorite chaser, he flys like a force of nature?” she asked with a laugh. It was awful and cheesy, but she was still going to suggest it to Melody or Daisy the next time she saw them. It was better than listening to them argue over giving James or Tommy the best compliment, the two Quidditch rivals were enough on their own. “Unless you have something better, in which case I would gladly pass it on to them.”

Her joke went over well - see, you can be charming - but his tease back brought a flush of color to her cheeks. It was clearly meant to be light hearted. And it wasn’t the first time she had gotten the question, although it was usually more of a direct one. And Frank was quick to apologize, looking away from her. Oh, it was such a harmless statement and he was right, their history was generally less than grand when it came to those sorts of things. “Well, I do believe maiden’s can also simply be unmarried women - although I’d prefer to be left out of any sacrifices,” she spoke as nonchalantly as she could. “People tend to frown at sacrificing your classmates.”

Once they had eased into discussing the plants themselves, he was offering to show her them. She gave a smile, pleased that this tutoring experience was more than just sitting at a desk with paper. It was the practical application that counted the most. Matching his pace, she watched him from the corner of her eye as they walked. She liked to learn the small details, and you could learn those best from watching someone. “So, tell me more about these shrubs. I know you can’t have more than three next to each other at a time or they tend to kill each other. That, and most other plants.”

[Deleted]

Frank was starting to wonder if he had contracted dragon pox like his dad somehow, because the heat in his face and ears and…everywhere surely wasn’t normal as he flushed a brilliant red at his fellow lion’s impromptu little chant. Merlin this was mortifying…Get ahold of yourself Longbottom! his mind screamed at him to focus as he somehow lost himself in the cheesy but terribly flattering chant. He involuntarily sat up straighter as he busied himself with his other notes, trying to not look too pleased at her likely casual remark. “Um…I’m g..good thanks.” his blush deepening with his nervous stutter.

Though clearly his own joking skills were in much need of improvement, seeing as he had likely embarrassed himself more than his student. Thank Merlin Alice was so sweet about it and hadn’t taken advantage of the chance to tease him further. “No, I don’t suppose they’d agree to it.” laughing dryly as he quickly ended the subject altogether.

“Yes, that’s correct.” Frank smiled encouragingly at his student as he led her deeper inside the greenhouse, towards the artificial cave on the eastern end. “You’ve been reading ahead.” chuckling as he pushed away an over-hanging branch that was obscuring their way gently, making sure to hold it up for her until she’d passed before continuing along the small dirt path that was well-worn from plant lovers like him.

“As you’ve probably read, Self-fertilising shrubs tend to live in dark places, usually caves and such…so there’s this magic made cave in the east side Professor Sprout made a while back.” catching a glimpse of the familiar mouth of said cave coming up before them. He should probably mention the other key points before they go in, just in case she hasn’t read about them yet. “They basically take care of themselves…ergo the name.” his hands gesturing at the air awkwardly “But um, they need regular watering and lots of fresh flesh to eat…so careful with your fingers, we don’t wanna be missing some of them.” warning his housemate as they entered the dark damp cave.

The watering was easy enough with a magical water-pumping system taking care of it around the clock, but the fresh flesh was always a bit of a bother. “Since we don’t feed them classmates here…we’ll just have to make due with some fresh ferrets.” motioning over to the basket of dead ferrets under a permanent stasis charm. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was better than feeding them their own fingers. Kudos to the wizard who had invented the charm in the first place. Saved so much trouble.

“Here, you can just toss one over.” reaching down to grab one to hand it over to his student of the day.

Hope she’s not too squeamish with dead animals.

[Alice Longbottom]

It was interesting how you could spend so many years in the same house with someone, but still hardly know them. She knew she’d spoken to Frank over the years, she knew the names of everyone in their house that was in their year. But this was the first chance they really had to talk about something that wasn’t pertaining directly to school, and it was endearing how red Frank got at her chant. She hadn’t meant to embarrass him and so she didn’t press the subject further, but she knew what she’d been telling the girls to add in later.

“Yep, but just a little,” she said to his statement, following him through the greenhouse. She always tried to read ahead when she could, especially in a subject she found difficult. She hadn’t ever been to this part of the greenhouse though, and she didn’t want to admit how uneasy it made her as they continued toward the cave, Frank chatting happily about plants as she followed behind him, nodding as she absorbed the information. The cave didn’t seem inviting in the least bit but she had promised herself she was going to give this a try.

So she followed him in, arms crossed in front of her to avoid losing any limbs. Before she could really comprehend his next, however, he was handing her a dead animal and she felt her stomach churn. Obviously this sort of plant would eat something like this but she hadn’t been excepting to hold it. She couldn’t wimp out on this though, not when he was being so nice in helping her. “Okay well, here we go...” she said uneasily as she tossed the ferret in, jumping back and running into Frank as the plant greedily went after the food. “Sorry! Just startled me, I’m alright I swear.”

[Deleted]

Frank hadn’t thought much on the whole ‘dead ferret’ aspect of this particular plant, having been used to this sort of thing year ago. Of course, he wasn’t one of those mentally disturbed people who had a sick obsession with torturing little creatures, but he was all too grateful for the house elves providing them with dead ferrets, because that meant Frank and his other plant buddies didn’t have to venture into the Forbidden Forest every few hours to personally hunt for their food. And to think, they had an assortment of plants to take care of…they’d never be able to do it all if most of their time consisted of riding on the backs of centaurs as they hunted for boar or some other strange food.

But obviously, he hadn’t taken into account the impact a dead rodent would have on someone newly acquainted with this type of work, and the sudden tenseness in his housemate had only served to remind him that he should have realized this beforehand. Damn. But before he could take back the carcass, his brave student had snatched it in her shaky hand and tossed it towards the plants’ general direction all in one go. Godric Gryffindor would, no doubt, have been very proud.

Though her courage seemed to have deserted her after that great toss and she ended up crashing straight into him while turning to flee to a safer distance. Frank hadn’t really minded the unintentional bump, having found it quite amusing that she would be afraid of the plant lunging forward to catch the dead ferret in its mouth. Not that he blamed her. The teen couldn’t really recall the last time someone had touched him, other than his mother giving him a hug when he was home for the holidays. It felt strange to have someone lean on him, yet wasn’t it wasn’t an unwelcome feeling.

Reaching out on instinct, the plant lover steadied his student as he held on to her arms as he looked down to check for any wounds on her body. He was afraid that she’d been bitten and a chunk of her was already being turned into fertilizer. But her words quickly put that scary thought to rest, and Frank visibly breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that he hadn’t lost his first tutor on the first lesson.

“Are you sure? I can take you to the hospital wing?” a deep frown etched into his face as he made sure that she really was fine and wasn’t just saying so to stop him from worrying. “I’m sorry…you weren’t ready for that yet…and I should have showed you first…” stepping back a bit to take in every little detail, training his eyes on her in search for any blemish or damage the violent plant likely had caused. His hands remained forgotten as his focus was on any possible signs of injury. "You sure you're really ok?"

[Alice Longbottom]

It was just a plant. Maybe one that would devour her flesh, but still just a plant, and surely she could handle that. Sure, she hadn’t expected it to lunge towards her it’s food like that but it seemed silly now that she had jumped back. Because it was no different than an animal going after food, a concept a tad more familiar than plants. At the very least, she hadn’t given into her uneasiness about feeding the plant. That had to earn her some Herbology points, or at least some Gryffindor credit.

Frank was a sweetheart, steadying her from her panic and checking to make sure she hadn’t been hurt. She felt silly for her reaction, but he was being so nice about the whole thing. “Really, I’m fine. Just a bit jumpy is all, I’ve always been more comfortable with spell work than this sort of thing,” she said as she directed her eyes to the ground. If she couldn’t feed a ferret to a plant, she didn’t have much hope of getting a decent mark on her herbology O.W.L. “Should we feed the rest of them too? I’ll try not to startle as easily,” she added as she glanced back up to him, her cheeks growing warm as she met his eyes. She wasn’t used to this sort of thing, the concern his eyes were expressing as he checked to make sure she hadn’t been injured.

[Deleted]

Frank probably would have jumped back in embarrassment and tried to fight down a blush if he had the mind to notice what he was doing. But as it was, the gentle lion was so focused on the welfare of his charge and her narrow escape from becoming compost that he really didn’t have time to think about how this all looked. He was just glad that she wasn’t missing a hand or some other body part.

“Well if you’re sure…” still not feeling all that sure about it but deciding to drop the issue nonetheless. He could rush her to the hospital wing should anything else seem amiss later on. “Sorry, I didn’t consider that….I’m more ‘hands-on’ myself…” apologizing again as guilt riddled the gentle lion. His carelessness could have cost her her hand. Sure you could fix a severed hand with some advanced healing magic, but a hand that was already turned into compost was just too far gone to save, even if it was St Mungo Bonham himself. He needed to be more careful.

He felt worse when his charge stared down at the ground, not wanting to look at him. It was his fault for not warning her, and she’d likely want to stop this tutoring session altogether. He didn’t blame her. Perhaps he wasn’t cut out to do this kind of thing? But he was proven wrong when she glanced up at him, her face determined and kind while a faint blush spread over her cheeks. Good, she still had color instead of being a pasty white right? That’s better.

“If you’d like.” smiling shyly at his student before he gave another nervous glance at her hand. Five fingers. Good. “It get easier, promise!” The gentle lion tried to smile comfortingly as he summoned a few carcasses into his outstretched hand before handing one to her again. “There’s always the levitation spell you can use to send the food over so you don’t have to get as close to them. It’s safer.” A roguish smile appeared on the lion’s face at his next words, signaling a playful side that he rarely felt comfortable enough to let out. “But it’s much more fun to just toss it.” laughing as he spun the dead rodent in a circle to gain momentum before he let go and tossed it towards the flesh-eating plants, where the carcass was quickly snatched up by another hungry one to the left and gobbled up in one bite.

Yeah, plant-feeding totally counted as chaser practice.

[Alice Longbottom]

Frank was still apologizing, something that was completely unnecessary. It had been her fault that she had been so startled, not his. She had read up on these plants and it made complete sense that they would lunge at their food. Besides, it's not like anything serious was going to happen to her. Madam Pompfrey would be able to take care of anything that happened, and she was with one of the most knowledgeable students in the school when it came to Herbology. She was going to be just fine, and she was determined to pass her O.W.L. She would need to know this stuff in the future, even if she preferred spellwork. She was a Gryffindor after all, and the sorting hat wouldn't have put her in this house if she didn't have courage somewhere.

She gave a laugh as Frank spun around a dead ferret – perhaps an odd thing to laugh at – but he was doing his best to make it fun. The plant lunged for the food, and she found that it was less terrifying than the first time. Levitating them food would be easier, but could she make it fun? Probably not. But Frank had an advantage, the Qudditch player had a much better throwing arm than she did. "Quite an impressive throw," she complimented with a grin, before doing her best to copy his style of tossing them. Thankfully the plants made up for her lack of distance, snatching the ferret from the air before it fell to the ground. "My mum always said I should do sports, but I doubt this is what she had in mind."

And while it wasn't a competition, she did her best to keep up as they fed the rest of the plants, having to keep herself from laughing when one of the plants missed a ferret and instead just got hit by it. She pulled out her wand to levitate it up for the poor plant, before turning to give Frank a smile. "Thank you for your help with all of this, by the way. I will admit I was worried that I'd be an awful student and you'd hate tutoring me."

[Deleted]

Frank was starting to think that maybe he had contracted dragon pox somehow, seeing as his face was heating up for the umpteenth time that day. Maybe he should be the one to visit the hospital wing after this lesson? Because clearly there was something wrong with his body and there was no one better to help him than Madam Pomfrey. If there was something contagiously wrong with him, then he wanted to get it taken care of quickly – he didn’t want to infect Alice, or anyone else for that matter.

But apart from the alarming non-existence of equilibrium in his body, the Gryffindor chaser was more than a little flattered by his student’s compliment, albeit embarrassed by the sudden praise in his throwing skills. He had not been aiming for that. He quickly thanked his student, despite his shyness and embarrassment about the whole thing and quickly complimented her back on her progress so far. And it was well earned indeed. “Thank you, but I’ve had loads of practice. It’s you who’s made outstanding progress today.” smiling encouragingly at his student as they polished off the last of the carcasses. The other plant-enthusiasts would be pleasantly surprised when they came for feeding time later.

The lion chuckled at her comment about her mum, suddenly wondering what women did for exercise in the wizarding world. Quidditch, although not limited to men, was still a male dominant sport in most places, and pureblood woman usually weren’t encouraged to take part in the slightly brutal and accident-prone sport, since most families worried about tarnished looks, or worse, the inability to give birth to children. Being barren was like having a death sentence to a pureblood, men and women alike. But it likely was ten times worse for the women. Frank had never really cared about such things, though being the scion of a house that was considered one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight meant that he had to receive his formal education and training like any respectable little pureblood. He was just glad that his family had never been big on these kinds of things – well nowhere near the extent of the Blacks at least – though he was sure that he would be expected to produce an heir at some point, since he was the last direct descendent of the Longbottoms…something he did not want to think of at all until he really had to. But he digressed, wizards and witches likely just stayed fit due to magic. He surely hadn’t seen anyone overly obese at Hogwarts, apart from their Potions professor, whom Frank secretly thought consumed way too much crystalized pineapples for it to be healthy. “Well herbology is half about labor, so you’re welcome to sign up for the manual labor of potting and planting the new batch of mandrakes that are scheduled to arrive next week…one of the second years had burned the original few dozen in their haste to stop the screaming…” shaking his head at the absurdity of it all. But he supposed anything was possible at Hogwarts.

Frank blinked stupidly as she smiled up at him, unaccustomed to the attention he was receiving from the cute blonde as he reached up to rub the back of his neck in nervousness and embarrassment. “N..no..no problem! You’re a quick study and I had fun too! ” The gentle lion smiled sincerely at his new student, wondering if he had sucked as a teacher. “I hope I haven’t messed up too badly?” smiling apologetically as he considered his blunder today.

“Ah, give me a minute, I need to refill the water in the pumping system.” Walking over to the magical water pump, glancing at the meter being lower than average. Usually Professor sprout or another older student took care of this, but seeing as no one’s noticed it, Frank will have to do something lest the plants start drying up and shriveling to death. It was embarrassing really, that Frank had yet to master his water-making spell, as it would make this entire process easier. But he supposed he’d just have to walk out back and find the water hose that no one really ever uses.

[Alice Longbottom]

She wouldn't have called her progress today outstanding by any means - unless you counted no longer being afraid of a plant as outstanding. But at least she had learned something, and that was important. She'd also had fun, which she couldn't say she had been expecting. Tutoring sessions didn't always include throwing ferrets around a greenhouse, or anything that could be considered the least bit entertaining. She would have to write a thank you note to her head of house for setting her up with such a great teacher.

She couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped as he talked about the Mandrakes, as she remembered her first experience with the little creatures quite well. They had such shrill screams, and were hideous looking things. Alice truly did feel bad for the fact some of them got set on fire as they were incredibly useful once they were full grown. "Sorry, I think it's terrible they got hurt but I can just imagine the second years panicking. I would love to help out though, you'll have to show me where I can sign up." Brushing her hands off on her jeans, she was glad to see her worry about the day hadn't been one sided. "Oh you didn't mess up at all, I promise. You're a much better tutor than I am."

Alice watched curiously as Frank went to refill the water system, her interest getting the better of her at the confused look on his face. She made her way over, pleased to find that the system was quite simple in design and easy to figure out. Holding her wand over the tank she gave it a wave before a jet of water shot out the end of it. It only took a few moments to get the water level back to the acceptable line on the meter, and she turned to Frank when she was done. "Anything else we should do before we go?"

[Deleted]

Stop. Blushing.

The gentle lion told himself firmly, not wanting to embarrass himself any further. This was all so…different to the pureblood, as it’d been years since he’d last interacted with anyone like this. It was weird, but not necessarily a bad kind of weird. But it definitely needed some getting used to, even if Frank couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in such a good mood, or any mood for that matter. For years he’d just been existing, rarely feeling much of anything as he learned to just be, instead of putting his heart out there. It had been easier that way, as the numbness afforded him peace and quiet and just blocked out all else, including his problems.

But somehow, Professor McGonagall had decided to assign him someone to tutor, and here he was, a week later, blushing harder and more often than he ever could remember, during his very first tutoring session. Hopefully, it went well, though he had a feeling that Alice was too nice to say otherwise. She did genuinely seem like a sweet person. Thank Merlin for nice people. He didn’t think his head of house would actually give him a difficult student to tutor, but with the blonde being his only student so far, he really had no idea how tutelages go. He thought it had been pretty good today, with all her fingers intact no less.

“Always happy to have an extra pair of hands on board.” letting the corners of his lips lift up into a genuine smile, glad that he hadn’t ruined Herbology for her. He usually didn’t really mind the solitude that he found himself in, more often than not, but he found that he quite liked the blonde’s company and presence. Perhaps it would be good to have her around during the mandrake replanting that none of them were particularly looking forward to. Frank loved the plants, don’t get him wrong, but it was a tedious process, and rather dangerous and prone to making people faint.

It would be a long weekend.

“You’re too kind. But I appreciate it nonetheless.” nodding his head at her praise, though knowing she was the better of the two. There was no doubt about it.

“Um…no.” the lion blinked dumbly as he watched the pretty blonde perform a spell that was way above the usual fifth year level, and quite flawlessly too. He couldn’t help but admire her handiwork as he made sure the pumping system was alright, before turning back to face his student, motioning for her to walk with him so they could go back and collect their bags and call it a day. “That was quite brilliant…” genuinely complimenting her on her skill as they neared the desks. He wondered if it would be too embarrassing to ask her to teach him… what tutor asked the student to teach him stuff?

“I…I know it’s weird but…I can tell that you’re great at Charms…um…could you…” coughing a bit nervously as he struggled for words, not used to talking to people, let alone asking for help. “Could you help me with Charms? I know…it’s weird…um…I’m supposed to help you with Herbology, not the other way around…but…I could use the help.”

There. He said it. Here’s hoping it won’t blow up in his face.