Kaz and Meru (P2)

After two days, Kaz had had enough and sneaked out of the hospital wing. Apparently Merula had been there too, but she'd been discharged before he'd woken up. He had apparently caught the brunt of the cauldron explosion since he'd been leaning over to Merula when she had dropped the ingredient into the cauldron 'Shame' He thought, 'That would have been a great opportunity.' Today was a Thursday, so Kaz headed toward the Charms classroom.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor. I just got out the hospital wing." Kaz explained to the diminutive professor as he made his way to his normal seat besides Rowan.

"Quite alright, Mr Reeds. Today we're simply reviewing work from last week, so you haven't missed anything."

Rowan was clearly having an off day, as he'd only filled out two pages of notes instead of the usual six. "You struggling? Can't stop thinking about me?" Kaz whispered to his friend as he slid into his seat beside him.

"As if. I've already revised this topic myself extensively. I've merely been thinking about what to do with my winnings when you give up on this bet."

"Give up? Why would I do that when I've been making good progress?" Kaz pushed his chair back, wincing as it made a loud thump and hit the desk behind him. Turning around, he began to mutter a quick apology to the Gryffindor behind him, only to cut short when he realised the guy hadn't even noticed him. Shrugging, he turned back to Rowan.

"Rowan?"

"Yes?"

"Is that guy practicing the levitation charm?"

"It would appear so."

"Didn't we learn that in our first year? How is he even in school still?"

"Trust me, I've spent hours wondering about this. Did you know he's got a twin in our house? I've seen him teaching the younger years spells from time to time."

"That's...huh. Anyway, I'm not giving up the bet just yet."

"You got blown up."

"Merely a lover's quarrel."

"She thinks you're a danger to the school."

"She's feisty."

"Her way of greeting you is to tell you to piss off."

"She doesn't know how to deal with her feelings."

Rowan's retort was cut off by Professor Flitwick calling to him. "Mr Reeds? Would you please demonstrate the Lumos charm for these three?"

"How does this school stay in business? You'd think someone would question why a bunch of sixth year students don't know how to cast a charm we learnt in our first year." Kaz lamented as he got out of his seat.

"It's almost as strange as us getting 100 points mysteriously at the end of the year, right before the house cup gets rewarded. You got anything to say about that?" Rowan called to Kaz's retreating back.

Kaz spent the rest of the lesson demonstrating a first year charm to sixth year students.

He questioned his life choices.


Kaz and Rowan headed toward the training grounds, bickering over their wands.

"My wand does NOT tinkle!" Kaz exclaimed, raising his wand above his head.

"I know you don't think it does." Rowan replied with an entirely straight face.

"It's a manly wand!"

"Best suited for dainty, delicate work, right?"

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"I never said there was."

"Yeah, right. And your wand is entirely incapable of finesse."

"Is all that extra finesse the reason you're so confident in your flirting ability?"

"That's just my natural tale-Oof!" Kaz's response was cut short as he crashed into a smaller figure in front of him. He stumbled back to his feet and looked down to see a blonde girl in yellow robes. "Oh. Hey, Penny." He extended a hand and she grasped it, allowing him to pull her to her feet.

She brushed her robes down with a cheerful smile. "Kazuma. Rowan. Good morning to both of you." She greeted, falling into step beside them as they entered the training grounds.

"Miss Haywood. Mr Khanna. Mr Reeds. You're right on time. Please take your places at the broom care stations." The stern voice of Madame Hooch commanded. The trio headed to their usual station, finding their usual fourth station member already waiting. Kaz burst into a bright smile.

"Meeeeruuuuuulaaaaaaa..." He walked toward her with his arms outspread.

"Stay away from me, Reeds." Merula's gaze was firmly focused on the broom in front of her.

"Why so cold? What if I'd died? You would have never had the chance to tell me how you really feel about me." Kaz leaned over his station, resting on his broom.

"The only feelings I have toward you are hate." Merula continued to avoid looking at him, thoroughly inspecting her broom, although he noticed that her hand was clenched into a fist.

"Deny it all you want. Deep down, I know you love me!" At that, she finally looked up at him, anger visible on her face.

"The only thing I love is the idea of you falling off that broom and breaking every bone in your body!"

This almost gave Kaz pause, but he noticed her eyes darting off to the sides, and remembered something Professor Snape had once said. "Your eyes dart back and forth whenever you're lying, Miss Snyde."

After a moment's pause, Kaz continued. "You'd visit me in the hospital wing, right?"

She huffed and continued to polish her broom. She kept her head right down, so he couldn't see her face.

As usual during flight classes, she couldn't resist constantly ribbing him. Kaz, however, was not going to idly sit by and let her belt out insult after insult like he had done in the past.

"Watch me, Reeds. This is how a professional cares for their broom."

"Can you take care of me like that, too?" Her face began to heat up.

"It'd be a shame if you fell in the black lake."

"You wouldn't want to see me all wet, would you?" Redder and redder...

"Get your hands off my things."

"There is nothing I want more than to touch your things." She was starting to falter now.

"Y-you're starting to sweat, Reeds."

"Do you always pay so much attention to what others are doing, or am I that special to you?" And with that, her face turned bright red. Before she could respond, Madame Hooch called for everyone to gather and mount their brooms. Merula immediately grabbed her broom from the station and stomped over to the rest of the class, throwing the broom down on the ground next to her.

Kaz followed at a much slower pace, casually dropping his broom next to him and positioning himself on Merula's right side. He noted that she was absolutely refusing to look at him now.

With his right hand over his broom, Kaz quietly commanded it to rise into his hand, which it did with no hesitation. He was the only one, however, to get this result, but he was content to simply stand and watch everyone else struggle. At least, he was content until he heard her voice once more.

"Can someone explain this to me?" Kaz looked over to see Merula's broom was still on the ground, and she seemed no closer to getting it into her hand than she had minutes earlier. He leaned over to her, his head over her broom, and whispered. "Maybe we could have a one-on-one lesson. I'd be happy to give you some...pointers."

Merula snapped, and within seconds she had stood back up straight and slapped him right across the face. "Shut the hell up, Reeds! Stop talking to me!" Kaz was almost shocked when he saw tears in her eyes. He rubbed his jaw and looked deep into her eyes.

"Merula...I'm sorry." She looked up to him, almost in shock. "But...could you do that again? Harder, this time?"

This time, the last thing he remembered before waking up in the hospital wing was the fist of the Greatest Witch in Hogwarts flying into his face.