Unspeakable

Chapter 33: Veritaserum

Anne held her textbook in her arm as she knocked on the door to Garreth's 'secret' room, biting her lip nervously. She hoped she wasn't intruding on anything or making it awkward between them. She was... starting to enjoy her time she spent with him.

He opened the door and looked down to her in surprise. "Anne?" He asked, smiling as he saw how bashfully she was looking up to him. "What can I do for you?"

"Can... I ask a favor?" She said sheepishly, looking off to the side when she felt her nerves begin to frazzle under his dazzling smile.

"Of course. What do you need?" He asked curiously.

"Can you help me study for my potions exam?" She held up her textbook to show him what she had, the basic 7th year potions class.

He was surprised for a minute before his smile turned softer. "You sure you want to study with me and not your brother or Ominis?"

"Y-yeah." She said, sure that he could probably hear how fast her heart was beating.

Garreth cleared his throat softly, a blush coloring his cheeks before he moved aside to let her in. "Come on in, then. We can study while I work on finishing these wiggenwelds."

He was wearing his uniform still, even though they didn't have to on the weekends, which she found curious. She had opted for a more casual outfit of a simple blouse and skirt, preferring to be out of uniform when she could. She'd gotten used to wearing normal clothes after being out of school for so long.

"You're still wearing your uniform?" She asked curiously as she walked in behind him.

"Ah, yeah, admittedly I don't have very many other outfits so I just tend to wear the uniforms because it's easiest." Garreth shrugged.

"You have the outfit you wore to Hogsmeade the other day, you looked good in that, so why not wear it?" She said casually, sitting back on the stool to open her book, crossing her legs delicately off to the side.

"You thought I looked good?" Garreth grinned, glancing over to her as he stirred one of the cauldrons.

"Ah-" she blushed as she realized she had actually said that, blushing and looking away. "I mean, you looked fine, I guess." She muttered.

Garreth chuckled as he went to the next cauldron, adding a bit more dittany before stirring again. "You looked good too." He said, watching her over his shoulder to see her reaction and smiling softly when he saw her turn red. She was fucking adorable.

"A-anyway, why not buy more outfits, then? Surely you make a lot selling all these potions." She looked at all the rows of cauldrons he was working on.

"Oh, I do." Garreth shrugged. "But a lot of it goes back to my mom."

Anne looked up in surprise, turning toward him with a thoughtful look. "Your... mom?"

"Yeah, I have four brothers and one sister. Us Weasleys always have large families. So I send back money to help them out with expenses." Garreth shrugged.

"That's a lot of siblings." Anne said in shock. And she thought Sebastian was a handful on his own...

"Well, I guess I'm used to it. I couldn't imagine having just one sibling, I think it would be pretty quiet." Garreth chuckled. "I'm always used to the house being loud."

"Sebastian's loud enough on his own." Anne smirked.

Garreth laughed at that and nodded "I'd imagine. He probably doesn't shut up about whatever he's fixated on at the time, too."

"You have no idea." Anne said flatly with a roll of her eyes.

He chuckled and smiled over to her, his smile widening when she blushed gently and looked down at her book. "So what are you needing help studying with?"