In Horace Slughorn's defence, he couldn't have known that all this would happen. All he had wanted to do was play match-maker between his two favourite students, Tom Riddle and Artemis Potter.
...
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-----------------------> EVERYBODY HAD DIFFERENT WAYS OF ACTING AROUND SOMEBODY THEY LIKE-LIKED. For example, when Gen fancied somebody, she would behave more flirtatiously with that person. So much so, that there was no way anybody could mistake her intentions and sister-zone or friend-zone her.
Nobody knew how Artemis acted around her fancies because unfortunately, all of her crushes were currently in Bulgaria and most probably preparing for the Quidditch World Cup.
Artemis and Gen would shamelessly confess that they loved it when Roman had crushes because he behaved so painfully awkward around them and had a tendency to make a fool of himself by freeing his inner-clumsy trait.
Presently, Roman, Mr Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team and Best-Keeper-Who-Was-Already-Getting-Scouted had a crush on the rival Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, Bilius Prewett.
And Merlin, did he have it bad this time!
Roman was extremely competitive, especially when it came to Quidditch, so nobody was scared that he would purposely lose this match or anything, but the way the two keepers reacted was hilarious.
Roman's crush on Bilius was an open secret around Hogwarts, known to every person but Bilius, who continued to remain stubbornly oblivious. So their interactions were always bound to be funny.
Even better was the fact that Bilius was this annoyingly sweet person who talked to everybody kindly, and the fact that Roman had had a crush on him for the past two years and the fact that every time he was just about to confess, something or the other would stop him from doing so.
"You can ask him out today after the match," Gen suggested.
"Yes, because nothing says 'I like you' than making one's crush lose in a Quidditch match," Roman said with a roll of his eyes.
"Then ask him out before the match," Artemis said.
"If I did, then he'll think I did it just to distract him or something," Roman replied.
"Is your name Bilius Prewett?" Artemis asked.
Roman's eyebrows furrowed. "No..."
"Then how do you know what he'll think?" Artemis questioned pointedly. "And besides, everybody knows you have a crush on him. Trust me when I say that even if Bilius mistakes your intentions, all of us will be there to correct his assumption."
Roman sighed before adopting a thoughtful expression which soon changed into a determined one. He nodded strongly before his expression faltered and grew panicky. "I can't do it."
Artemis put her hands on his shoulders, looking him dead in the eyes. "Yes, you can," she told him firmly. "You are a confident, brave and charming man."
"I am honestly none of the qualities you mentioned."
"Maybe, but Billius doesn't have to know that," Artemis said. "Repeat after me, you got this, Rome."
