A Taste of Magic

Chapter 2: 2nd Course - Settling In

"Uhm, hi."

Harry looked up. He was in the library doing his homework. The common room was a little too loud to comfortably do work and he was eager to avoid the looks from the other Gryffindors. What he did in Potions had gotten around and while no one had said anything outright to him, he still garnered more attention than he wanted. He was currently finishing an essay when someone spoke to him.

He looked around for a moment, wondering if the girl had meant to talk to him. Seeing no one else close by, he looked back at her. "Hello," he said shyly.

Lavender stood there, fidgeting a little. It had taken her a few moments to gather the courage to come talk to Harry. The incident from the other day did not sit well with her and when she saw him sitting alone in the library, she had decided she needed to do something. She coughed awkwardly. "I'm sorry," she said at last.

Harry looked confused. "What for?"

"I should have said something, the other day," she said. "When the other boys were being rude to you."

"Oh." Harry rubbed his neck. "It wasn't your fault, it's not like you joined Seamus or anything."

"No, but it wasn't right what he said either," she said. "It was really rude."

"Yeah, it was," Harry sighed. "But I'm used to it really."

"Oh, that's not right either," she replied weakly.

"Like I said, I'm used to it," he replied just as weakly.

They looked away from another in shared awkwardness.

"I…I know what it's like," she said all of a sudden. "To be picked on for something like that."

"You do?" he asked, looking at her directly.

Lavender nodded, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Yeah. Especially for something you can't really control."

"That's not right either," he repeated quietly.

She smiled shyly. "Are you working on your Potions essay? Do you mind helping me? I don't really get it."

"Sure." Harry blinked when she sat beside him eagerly.

"Thank you," she sighed with relief. "I don't understand the differences in the potions instructions and Professor Snape is really intimidating."

"Yeah he is," Harry said, agreeing completely. "I don't think he likes me."

"I don't think he likes anyone," Lavender whispered. "I heard he's only nice to people in Slytherin."

"That's not right," Harry said with Lavender echoing him. They smiled at each other and after some giggling, started working together.

"Thank you so much," Lavender sighed when they finished the essay. "I get it more now. You're good at potions."

"It's like cooking, following a recipe," Harry said with pink cheeks. "I hope to get better the more I learn though. It's kinda interesting."

"So you really do cook?" Lavender asked.

He nodded. "When I can."