Acceptance: Hogwarts Legacy Continued

Chapter 78: Garreth- wingman

Garreth tried to catch her eye, but any moment she spared from her cauldron was spent yawning. He had been trying all of class to even just send a smile her way, but it was getting closer to the end of their double period and she hadn't noticed him once.

Now he needed to abandon his attempts if he was going to finish his work before the class ended. They were working on a poison antidote, one he had already perfected on his own, so he wasn't really worried about it. What he was worried about was now getting even less of the Hufflepuff girls time.

Since showing him the room of requirements they had been sending more time together, just the two of them. The Gryffindor found himself there at almost every chance he got just to see if he could find her there as well. She seemed pretty fond of her routines though, and showed up only in the evenings on Sundays, Tuesday, and Thursdays- all the days she prepared for her tutoring.

She was almost always tucked on a seat by a window going over papers, or in the main room practicing spells. He was busy at the potion stations, but made sure to take breaks so he could start up a conversation or even just watch her work. He was glad for that time, but as of recently he was worried it was going to decrease.

At the beginning of the year he saw her only at their shared class, and anytime he convinced her to do something with him. Outside of classes her time was almost always occupied with someone else- and almost always that someone else was Sallow. He had been everywhere with her, which is why it was such a shock when everything had happened at that first quidditch game.

Garreth hadn't seen what happened, but he heard about it from everyone else. He would have paid a lot of money to watch her magic slap him across a field. The story was crazy, but he knew it had happened because after that the Slytherin stopped talking to her. She had seemed really upset about the whole thing, and he felt bad for her... but he also couldn't help relishing in all the available time she now had.

Without the presence of her friend Garreth didn't think he would have convinced her to go on a date with him. That event alone would have been worth all the struggle, but it seemed that was just the beginning. He found a lot more time that he got to be alone with her, or sometimes with Natty who he didn't mind sharing with. They had gotten a lot closer over the last month, and he thought that culminated in her asking him to the dance.

He paused his stirring, reminiscing on the memory for the hundredth time since it happened. He still couldn't believe that it really happened. He had been getting up the nerve ever since he had heard there was going to be a dance to ask her. Then she just went and took his breath away- it was beyond anything he could have imagined would happen.

He'd been living in the clouds since that moment, afraid he was going to wake up and it would all be a dream. It was real though, he was really going to go with her, and she already had a dress, AND he was going to get her a necklace!

"Ten minute warning" Sharp called out from the front of the class.

The red headed boy jumped and went back to his work, stopping for a moment again to peer back at her station. Still nothing. He did unfortunately catch the eye of someone else at her table. He whipped his eyes back at his work, pretending like he and Sebastian hadn't made eye contact.

The Slytherin boy was unnerving. He had been known as a trouble maker and wise ass, with the walk to go along with the talk. He was the top dueler, well second to Diana, but that was a feat nonetheless. No one really wanted to end up on his bad side, especially not with the heir of Slytherin right next to him.

But Garreth disliked the boy now because of his position with Diana again. Since last week when she had ended up in the hospital, suddenly they were on good terms again? He didn't know what had happened, and he tried to be happy for her.... but he was worried.

Worried that he would take all her time. Worried that he may hurt her again. Worried that she would go on dates with him. Worried that she would wish she had asked him to the dance.... He stopped himself from looking back at her; he hoped that if he could just see her smile, maybe he wouldn't feel as nervous about everything.

This whole class his potion was taking back seat to the thoughts that he would lose any and all of the progress he had made with her. He thought that she liked him, but could that other boy somehow change her mind?

He was lucky enough to finish his antidote right as Sharp called time, and everyone took their work up to the front to be graded. He tried to clean up his station quickly so he could maybe catch her before she made her way to her next class. He about knocked his cauldron to the ground though when he heard her voice from behind.

"Hey Garreth" he spun around to face her, his heart beating at an uncontrollable speed.

"Hey! Uh um what um do you need something?"

"Oh, I just thought maybe you wanted to talk. Sebastian said you looked like you were trying to get my attention earlier."

The Gryffindor turned quickly to look behind the girl, where the other boy was. He made eye contact again with the Slytherin, but this time he just winked before he turned to walk away. He couldn't say anything- this was way more shocking.

"Um if you didn't then I'm sorry to bother you. He may have just been teasing me and I fell for it, he does that sometime-"

"No I do!" he cut in before he let this opportunity go to waste. "I uh was going to ask if I could walk with you to your next class."

"Oh, really? Sure, I've got Magical Theory next so it's kind of a long walk."

"No problem!" he said, grabbing the last of his things. "I wanted time to see how you were doing, you seemed pretty tired today."

"Ah, yes I am. Actually I was up late talking to Poppy-"

He listened to her story as they made their way to her class. Apparently Lucan had made a move on Poppy, something he felt a little jealous about. Not jealous about him kissing the other Hufflepuff girl, but just jealous that someone else had gotten up the courage to do something he only dreamed of. It had actually been a reoccurring dream, and for whatever reason, in this moment, it seemed a little closer to becoming a reality. He looked down at her lips as she talked, trying not to think about what they would feel like against his....