[potions dungeons] made of g l a s s

The NEWT exam was coming up fast. Too fast for the blonde Hufflepuff prefect actually. Only 56 days until the exam. But who was counting.

Winifred weaved around a group of Slytherin students and then stopped to help a younger Hufflepuff whose foot got stuck in the vanishing stair before she carried on towards one of the potions rooms she knew would usually be empty around this time. She was uncharacteristically alone, Marin playing a chess game with Darcy (so boring!), Lip being off brooding who knows where after his breakup with Billie (so moody!), and the rest of her friends off doing various things that Wini knew would only distract her from her goal today: She had to get caught up on her NEWT Potions classwork. And more importantly, she needed to understand it fully. No matter how much she asked Marin or Lip for help with the homework, she knew it wasn't going to help her during the actual exam.

And that's what was stressing her the most.

She had never been a great test taker, but had at least gotten a little better over the years. The stress and anxiety that pending NEWT exams gave her was unparalleled, however. Everything, everything, for her future was riding on this and while she was pretty confident she could pass the other four subjects she needed to become a healer, she was worried about Potions. And it's not like she could get four out of five. She needed them all. There was no margin for error.

So as the exam loomed closer, Wini tried to spend more and more time on a subject she knew she would never be good at. With her hair half up half down, the blonde waves falling on her shoulders and tiny studs glimmering from her ears, she pushed open the door to the potions room with her shoulder, her bag crammed full of texts and parchment and supplies bobbing at her side, before she noticed someone else already there. "Oh, hello," she said to him politely, trying to remember his name. Marin would know. Wini at least knew he was on the Quidditch team and she thought it started with a D? Or a B? Bill? Bob? Shoot. Oh well.

"Mind if I join you?" she said more of a nicety than asking for actual permission, considering she was already plopping her stuff down on the table beside his and pulling over a cauldron then rummaging through her bag for her notes. She hoped he wouldn't mind that she was being her usual overly social self today, but she did glance at him a few times to make sure. That was of course before she had really started in on the potion she was attempting for the fifth time in the past week and still hadn't gotten it right. It was a relatively short time before she was muttering under her breath, both pleas and complaints dropping from her lips, as she stirred the concoction counter-clockwise.

"No, not again! I don't understand why," she lamented speaking into her cauldron as she looked at the gloopy mess it was turning into rather than the silky lavender liquid it was supposed to be. Why couldn't she get this right??

@Benjamin Danvers

There was something about Potions Ben really disliked. Most potions just seemed like a-lot of work when a simple charm would do. (Being so good at charms had its perks, really, but he didn't quite understand that most people probably couldn't perform certain charms, due to their difficulty, but most people could at least purchase a potion that brought similar affects, even if they couldn't brew the potion themselves) He wasn't even sure why he hadn't just dropped the class, instead of following up to NEWT's. He wasn't close to failing or anything, he'd eat his arm and legs before he let a class drag down his grade average like that but he did need to sink in a lot more time on it than any other class, when he'd rather be doing something else.

Hence why any free block had become brewing time ever since third year. He'd worked very bloody hard to get a grade he was comfortable with in this bloody class and he'd started brewing ahead to get more comfortable with some of the more complex brew's so he didn't completely botch it during finals and then NEWT's. Part of him really wanted to just drop the class (what did he really need a potions NEWT anyway?) but if he ever wanted to be taken seriously or even understand the inner workings of some fo the operational stuff for his family's vineyards (his own once his father retired) than he'd need to at least scrape NEWT's with an Acceptable and he'd be happy enough about it. (Not happy, happy, but at least he could say he'd tried his best and came out of it with something worthwhile)

In any case he'd made color coded flash cards (that he'd drawn little cartoon Gryffindor's in varying degree's of explosions to signify sensitive stages) for each of the stages, with lifelike depictions of the ingredients and how each should look prepped. He was just in the middle of stirring and watching his potion turn from turquoise to blue when the Hufflepuff prefect jostled him from his focused attempts. He kept stirring, even as his eyebrows furrowed a bit. He'd been down here a bit and had chucked his robes by his desk, rolled up his shirtsleeves to the forearm, and had loosened its tie. His hair was probably... a mass of dark dishevelment he was sure but there was nothing for it. He didn't like looking less than put together unless he'd been playing quidditch or doing some sort of activity that required it but circumstances were what they were. At least he smelled heavily like peppermint and the starting stages of the elixir to induce euphoria was sweet and aromatic, as most elixirs tended to be,

"Sure." he said, after a beat, satisfied when his potion turned blue and he lowered the heat so it would simmer. Now to watch it until it turned yellow. He took a moment to take another peak at the Hufflepuff, silently admiring the curve of her bum, before chastising himself. Merlin and Morgana he really needed to not fixate on another blond Hufflepuff. He was swearing them, and Slytherins, off for the time being thank you. (It struck him as ironic that they were all older than him too. Whit and Davina were in the same year and he'd not be reeled in by another one. He refused. Especially since he was still a bit, hopeful, that everything with Orli would work out. If she could sit still long enough for him to ask her out and she actually said yes...)

His potion had just finished turning pink when his attention snapped back to Gwartney, feeling a twinge of empathy, as he lowered the fire again to let it simmer. He bit his lip, glancing at his own cauldron in indecision, before his making girls feel better complex got the best of him, Right, well, he had fifteen minutes then. She wasn't that far from him anyway. "Erm. Are you alright?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he got within reaching distance. He glanced at the gloopy mess in her cauldron and winced. Right, yea probably not. "Can I get you something?" he asked, willing his hands to stay put and not reach out to pet her head like she was a cute dog or something.

Wini jumped a bit at the sound of his voice and glanced up at him, having virtually forgotten the Slytherin boy was there after getting so lost in her potion catastrophe. And what exactly was she supposed to say to his question? 'No, I'm not alright. I'm going to flunk out of Potions because I can't get this one simple potion right and I won't met the qualifications to be a healer and I'll never be able to show my face in the world again because of the embarrassment and I'll probably end up serving donuts in Diagon Alley because that's all I'm good for??'

Yeah, that was an easy no.

But he was already peering into her cauldron and her face crumpled in face of someone else realizing she was hopeless with this. His expression said it all. Wini slumped over to the side, holding her head up against her hand as all the will drained out of her. "Unless you can get me a new brain that knows how to do Potions or a way to charm me so that I'm better at this, it's pointless," she said morosely as she picked at the corner of her textbook with her fingers.

"I don't know what I keep doing wrong, but it always turns out like this. I don't get it. I made sure to follow every little thing," she added gesturing with frustration at the potions instruction list she had open and felt something within her spiraling. She could not lose it in front of this near stranger, she told herself, so she tried to pull herself up a little more. But the reality that this was probably the fifth of sixth time that she had tried this potion with literally no success felt debilitating. Wini glanced at him, desperate for a lifeline but too scared to hope for one. "I'm guessing you haven't started covering this one?" she asked in a futile attempt of asking for help.

It wasn't something he admitted to freely, or at all actually, but he really hated seeing girls in any sort of distress. With guys it was simple - he didn't hesitate or feel awkward about it in the slightest. A firm pat on the back, maybe an off color joke, something biting and teasing depending on who it was and it was done, really. With guys it was a lot of just ... silently understanding moments. He wasn't opposed to talking, exactly, only that it seemed like an intrinsic thing, with blokes. Straightforward, maybe. They either wanted to talk or didn't and it was really apparent when they leaned whichever way. With girls, though, he always felt rather helpless. He was too big, too clumsy, and too panicked half the time which infuriated him because he was usually really quick with words and charm.

It was like something in his brain misfired and all he wanted to do was fix, and fix it quickly.

Watching the blonds face crumple because of something he said made his stomach bottom out and anxiety deep and pervasive spread through his system so quickly it felt like a sucker punch to the gut. His hands balled into tight fists in an attempt not to reach out and pet her smooth looking wavy hair away from her face in an effort to soothe. This was bad, he thought, as he took in her big sad eyes as she poked her textbook with the tips of her fingers, the very picture of forlorn. She looked like a frazzled baby lab and he had to remind himself that she wasn't and that people tended to get irritable when you got familiar with them. He knew better, too, and he usually kept his big paws to himself when he didn't know somebody. Bets were off when they were friends but he honestly barely even knew Gwartney.

Also, it just was the height of rudeness to ... get into a girls space when you hand't been invited there. Which made his indecisive hovering all the more unbearable to him. "I've got notes. Erm, cards you can maybe use?" he rushed out, wincing, as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm rubbish at potions too, so I need to be pretty meticulous so I don't botch it." he added, his blue gaze flickering over his own cauldron, before settling back on the Hufflepuff. "What um, what were you attempting to make?" he asked gently, biting his lip, because the sludge currently attempting sentience in her cauldron was, frankly, unrecognizable. He found some humor in it all, actually, and he so he smothered a grin behind his hand. And he'd thought he was pretty bad at potions.

"Notes?" she asked with a quick shake of her head. "Notes?? What good are notes going to be if I can't get it right. Why does it always turn out like this, I don't get it," Wini went on as she peered into her cauldron and she had to hold back what felt like a wail of misery building up inside her. She just didn't get it. She wasn't a first year anymore. She had been studying potions for seven years now, or at least attempting to study. How was it possible that she hadn't gotten any better? Or more likely, how had she gotten worse?!

I'm rubbish at potions too, so I need to be pretty meticulous so I don't botch it. Wini flicked her gaze to him and he seemed nice enough, but the only thought she had immediately was a reflection of his words on her work. "Yeah, well I botched this one. It started out so good, honest, I don't know what happened. It was almost purple, you know how it's supposed to look in the final stage, but then it always looks like this," Wini felt her chest getting tight and she swallowed thickly as she tried to stir it one more time, one last feeble attempt before she heard his hesitant question and it felt like the last straw.

"See? You can't even tell what I'm making, it's that bad," she wailed quietly before she sniffled and buried her face in her hands as despair and hopelessness came over her. It's not like she could just quit this class. It was a requirement for being a healer and if she couldn't make a simple wound-cleaning potion, what could was she? Her chin wobbled behind her hands, tears stinging her eyes as she fought with the avalanche of emotions that pressed down on her shoulders.

The tall Slytherin took a cautious step back at the blonds outburst, willing himself not to move forward as his anxiety took a bit of a spike. He was not well equipped to deal with a hysterical female, considering he had the emotional capacity of a match stick. "Fuck." he cursed, quickly turning down his burner so he didn't botch his potion. It looked the right color and he was fairly sure he could let it sit, now, thank Merlin. "Sorry." he muttered, sheepish, once he realized he'd sort of missed a fair bit of her rant. "My notes are stellar. They're cards, really, but you don't need to snuff their usefulness." he managed, highly offended, before he mentally smacked himself.

One did not argue with the ... clearly unhinged. Blimey he could be a real idiot, sometimes, to argue semantics with someone clearly in distress. (If she just saw his cards, she'd see reason, clearly). He bit his lip, trying to think of what potions were purple... Dreamless sleep, maybe? He knew that one was purple off the top of his head, and advanced enough that it was a bit of a complex brew. He cleared his throat in a an effort not to laugh at her as she gave it another stir. He wanted to tell her that at this point it was probably unrecoverable. Anything she could've done to fix the mistake was probably well past its mark, and she might be stirring it wrong which would just making it worse. Potions was nasty that way, really, and the distinction between counter-clockwise and clockwise could be the difference between brown gloop and the pretty purple of dreamless sleep.

His pulsed jumped a second later when the wailing officially started. She was snifffling, dear Mordred he was a scoundrel. A monster of the highest order. Her chin was wobbling and he had absolutely no clue what he was meant to be doing right now. "Its not- I - you're" he managed gruffly, though rather disjointedly, he tried to make a sentence that wouldn't send the blond into another bout of self flagellation. "Chocolate! I have chocolate." he managed, desperate for some sort of a solution. He grabbed his messenger bag, digging through it, as he found some honeydukes chocolate and made it back towards the still-crying girl. He crouched low, so he could sort of be at a height, and held the chocolate out to her like it was a bouquet of flowers. (Sort of like a cross between a sorry man that was giving his wife apology flowers and also sort of like an adult giving candy to a child that had just lost their ice cream - his intent was pretty much both of those things, really). "Chocolate will make it better." he said decisively, hovering, as he contemplated if he should give her a hug or something.

Meanwhile his nerves were bloody fraught. How did females deal with so many feelings? The thought alone was exhausting.

Even in the midst of her crisis, she still caught wind of his defense of his cards. "I'm sure they're great," she sniffled, trying to get ahold of herself because how embarrassing was it that she was acting like a psycho over a potion, but at the same time, how could she not if this was to be the big decision factor for her career? She was usually a very optimistic person, thinking she'd find one way or another to figure this out, but right now, she felt like officially quitting and giving up. She didn't know what was worse: that she was failing in her worst subject and it was the one thing standing in the way of her becoming a healer or that she was worried about falling apart in front of this boy she barely knew.

And now he was offering her chocolate? Wini glanced over at him, digging through his bag, as she wiped at some traitorous tears falling down her cheeks and blinked a few times at him as he offered it to her. Her brown eyes became even more teary at his kindness and if he had been Marin or Lip, she would have hugged him immediately just because of his thoughtfulness, but she held back and gave him a watery, appreciative smile and a soft "thank you."

Who was she to say no to the proffered chocolate and plus, sweets usually did make her feel better so she didn't hesitate in opening the wrapper on the candy bar -- mm, dark chocolate -- and breaking off a couple of squares before sliding it back towards him. She munched on a square, her cheeks feeling hot as he glanced over at him, sighing a little. "I'm sorry I'm so..." she fluttered a hand. "I just don't know what to do anymore, feels like everything I do is wrong, you know?" she asked a little more quietly, unable to keep her doubts and worries to herself.

And now he felt like a right troll. "Erm. Thanks." he managed, feeling guilty she was trying to make him feel better when she was ... leaking.

Merlin, no. Absolutely not. Was she somehow leaking more? Her brown eyes had gotten all wide, wet, and sentimentally soppy and his brain could not process this. "Here." he blurt out, fishing out one of the many silver and green handkerchief's Issie had made him when they were kids. He always kept his favorite in a safe place, not wanting to loose it, because he was secretly a sentimental sap and couldn't control his impulses when it came to pretty girls. Merlin. He used it to dab lightly at her face, while absentmindedly grabbing the chocolates back. "You're welcome." he muttered, half smile upturning his face a bit as the panic started to recede.

She looked like a splotchy chipmunk eating the chocolate, though a decidedly dryer one, after he'd finished up patting her face gently with the napkin. He couldn't help but find her sort of cute. It'd been an unconscious decision on his part, sort of automatic, because she'd looked sad and pathetic and he didn't want to actually tell her she'd been leaking all over the place and it made him so fucking uncomfortable. No one should have to feel that way in a public setting and though he didn't consider himself empathetic he couldn't really ignore a sobbing girl. He wasn't a monster. "Hey it'll be alright." he muttered, grabbing a piece of chocolate for himself once he'd finished drying her tears. He needed chocolate, too, at this point. He fucking deserved it.

He pet her head unconsciously, as he frequently did to Baylen to annoy the shit of out him. "We can uhm, work on it together?" he offered tentatively. He wasn't sure how well that would work out, considering, but though he wasn't particularly good at potions she'd be loathe to find a more dedicated study partner.

Wini blinked, trying to hold back her tears so she didn't look like a complete crybaby in front of her fellow prefect, but holding back the emotions was just as exhausting if not more so than just letting them all out to begin with. Ben dove into this pocket and she sniffled as embarrassment creeped in. She wasn't exactly embarrassed to have cried, but maybe it just wasn't ideal that she had done it in front of him and over a potion as stupid as the wound-cleaning potion.

But was that a.. handkerchief? Who even had their own handkerchief anymore other than like her grandfather? But it was nice in an old-fashioned kind of way and it amused her, giving him an almost smile.

He came closer with the handkerchief in his hand and Wini immediately stilled as he dabbed at her tears with his handkerchief, looking at him and feeling an awareness slide into place. He was close and she could see the color of his ocean eyes in minute detail and he was being so kind to her for no reason she could think of so naturally, her mind was already helpfully jumping to some conclusions. She tried not to focus on those, but still... the question was already made.

"Thanks," she murmured, her tears dried, chocolate still on her tongue, grateful that this silly break down was at least in front of a Slytherin who seemed to have a heart. She shuddered to think of how embarrassed she would be if it was someone else who wasn't as sympathetic. Probably would have perished on the spot. She twisted her fingers together as she took a shaky inhale, trying to center herself, only to still again as he patted her on the head. She could only blink at him, so unaccustomed to casual touch when she wasn't the one initiating it but feeling very pleased by it even if it did feel a teensy patronizing. Beggars can't be choosers though and she wasn't complaining, not really.

"You'd want to do that?" she found herself asking, a furtive glance at the unrecognizable potion gurgling in her cauldron before glancing back at him. Oops, maybe she should have agreed immediately so he couldn't change his mind, but he did seem to be getting the short end of the stick in this situation and there was no guarantee that she wouldn't start crying again over a future ruined potion. Then again if he always had chocolate and a cute handkerchief in his pocket, maybe she almost wouldn't mind the breakdown. 

It didn't occur to him that his handkerchief wielding ways could be the subject of judgement. It seemed to him a perfectly respectable piece of attire, thank you. His grandfather and father always had them in hand and they were the self-cleaning kind because he was a bit particular about general cleanliness (ie he liked to look nice and smell nice, unlike some of the disgusting guys that didn't know their way around a bar of soap) and, well, really. Handkerchiefs were practical and his had been gifts.

Nothing he should feel the least bit embarrassed about. Clearly as he wasn't embarrassed.

"You're welcome." he managed, finally registering how close her face really was and that he was hovering over her like some kind of life-sized moth person. Blimey. He really needed to get it together. "Oh sure." he reaffirmed, brightly, feeling the clawing, stabbing motions of what could only be described as relief because she'd finally stopped leaking. Her face was dry, finally, and he felt pretty good about contributing to that, like the damn that stopped the flood. Nice thought, that. It almost made up for being subjected to the sobbing mess to begin with.

"I need as much practice as I can get, myself. I'm sure between the two of us we could work out an acceptable potion." he'd just have to tread lightly and watch her like a hawk if he ever wanted to use his cauldron again. There wasn't a way she was going to be able to scrape off that burnt out goo out of hers. Maybe ... "If you want to leave that I have something that could scrape that off." he offered, only feeling marginally guilty about lying to her face like this. No magic on this earth would make her cauldron salvageable and it was likely that whatever they did use would fuck up future potions due to the residue. He was tossing her cauldron out and getting her a bran new one. If she called him out on it he'd make some excuse about burning a hole through her current one accidentally and feeling compelled to offer her a replacement.

 

His 'oh sure' had her narrowing her eyes. Whenever Lip said that to her, he almost certainly meant it sarcastically so she was looking for any signs of that in Ben, not knowing him well enough to be able to pick up the difference easily. But Wini relaxed as he started explaining, feeling her automatic suspicions fade away and a little smile take its place. Merlin, she was sensitive today. The thought of him being so nice to her made her almost want to cry again.

"Yeah, I'm sure we can figure it out. I just can't seem to get which part I keep messing up," she said with a disgruntled look at the cauldron, as if it was its own fault. "Oh, that's nice of you," she chirped and gave him a nod. "I always have such a hard time getting it clean you know, even with the charms. I swear I've gone through more cauldrons than anyone else," Wini told him, the thought both a little embarrassing but amusing too and she laughed softly at herself as she reached over and stole another piece of chocolate from him.

And as much as she wanted to lean in to his kindness, she also felt like she had to repay him. "Can I help you with anything in return? I'm pretty good at Charms. Or ooh, I could take some of your Prefect rounds if you needed a break one night?" she offered, smiling over at him, her eyes still feeling tight and puffy from her tears, but at least she was seeing the light from the tunnel again. Maybe she wouldn't fail her Potions NEWT, just maybe.

Sweet relief. He'd happily ply her with chocolate on a regular basis if it would stem the flow of tears indefinitely. Benjamin G Danvers, purveyor of chocolate delights to the female population at Hogwarts. His efforts were sure to make life at Hogwarts a happier place, all around. Chocolate and wine, he mused, thoughts devolving into ideas faster than he could keep track. A place like that was bound to be popular, though, and there were few people that had a knack of combining pairing flavors as well as he did. It had always been an idea blossoming at the back of his head but, well, he was old enough now to draft something official, wasn't he?

"Potions are deadly complex." he said wryly. "A huff of air could make it combust." he said, huffing a bit. He was exaggerating, of course, but it chaffed to admit when he wasn't good at something. Especially when he excelled at mostly everything else. He was a bit of a perfectionist that way. He wondered briefly how many times she'd melted a cauldron but figured it'd be rude to ask. He'd lost count how many he'd lost during first year and had made a pact with himself never to melt another one after that. He'd gotten depressingly good at cleaning the gunk of, even going so far as getting specialized cleaning tools for it. Magic was lovely but he felt that the less his cauldron was exposed to any outside sources the better.

He let the blond pilfer another piece of chocolate, grinning hard enough the twin dimples on his cheeks were on display, before popping another piece into his own mouth. Crisis averted., thank Merlin.

"Charms is the superior subject." he said, eyes glinting, even as he found it amusing she excelled in the subject as well. Ironic, really. "For the love of Merlin swap your rounds with @Donna West ,please. I live in fear of being paired together. I imagine being transfigured into a toad and being eaten. I don't think she likes me overmuch." he mused, rubbing at his hair, and exuding an air of innocence. She probably wouldn't mind him if he didn't deliberately antagonize her, he was sure. Last encounter had ended in her huffing away like he was a delinquent. He hadn't tried to be particularly charming, though, and his defense always lied in the fact that she'd been nosy at a time where he'd been trying very hard not to be noticed. Ah, well. Some people seemed determined to hate on the green and silver, no matter how docile.

Plus there was Quidditch to consider.

Wini smiled and nodded at his joke, feeling a bit better about all the cauldrons she had gone through over the years. "I believe it," she said ruefully with a shake of her head. A huff of air could make them go wrong? Yeah, she was clearly huffing in the wrong direction when it came to her potions. Maybe the most annoying bit was that the answer was right there in front of her, clearly spelled out step by step, ingredient by ingredient, exactly what she needed to do to get the desired outcome and yet, she still managed to get something wrong each time.

It made her feel dumb and she hated that. She was glad that Ben seemed a little hopeless with Potions too (clearly not as bad as her, but not perfect). It made her feel as if she could get it wrong with him and it wouldn't be so embarrassing. Plus, when he smiled at her like that, dimples and all, she was starting to think he would make a very good study buddy.

Wini's smile grew as she met his gaze. "You like Charms too?" she asked. It was her best subject, Potions her worst and it kind of sounded like Ben's were the same? What a coincidence. She wondered what else they had in common.

A surprised laugh burst from her in a way that made her press her lips together after, her brown eyes dancing with amusement as he mentioned Donna and his fear of her. "Why? I think she's nice," Wini said with a laugh. Well, nice in the way that she seemed protective over younger Gryffindors and seemed close with her brother who was in Hufflepuff. She admired that sort of closeness between siblings, maybe because she didn't have it anymore. But then again, Wini thought most people were nice.

Wini could see where he was coming from though. Donna could be a little... intimidating. "I'm just glad I don't have to face her on the pitch. It's a good thing I quit the team after first year," she said with a laugh as she looked at him. "You on the other hand..." she trailed off purposefully leaving it open-ended and questioning. "But, sure. Next time you're paired up, I'll ask her to switch with me to spare you." Wini hadn't suggested the idea in the first place for her benefit, but she rather liked the idea of it being a win-win for both of them.

"Charm's is my best subject." he admitted sheepishly as he stared back, knowing she'd take it as him agreeing, grin still in place, as he let out a little huff of laughter. "Its the most immediately useful, too." he added with a shrug. His gaze flickered up towards her mouth a second later pleased by the laughter he'd managed to surprise out of her.

"To you, maybe." he said with some amusement, mischief lighting his eyes. "I think she assumes I'm-" he paused there for dramatic effect, leaning in, as a smirk curved his lips. "trouble. Can you imagine? Me, trouble. Theres not a mischievous bone in my body." he added though he knew both his tone and his grin were bound to give him away. Truth was he was probably vaguely antagonistic to his fellow prefect. It wasn't malicious, really, but he opted for avoidance to retain the status quo. "Then there's quidditch." he said, offhand, as a grin burst on his face. He'd do practically anything when it came to Quidditch.

"Is this how you treat your cauldron savior?" he teased, blue eyes glinting. "It's all I ask of my future study partner. I'll even supply more than our combined body weight in chocolate to sweeten the deal." he added, holding his hand out to seal the deal.

"Mine too," Wini said with a growing smile. Since finding out she was a witch all those years ago from a biological father she had just met, Wini had always taken a liking to Charms work and she was good at it. It wasn't something she had to worry about, not like Potions. And she liked knowing that Ben was the same in this sense. She nodded, her blonde hair moving about on her shoulder as she did. "It is the most useful, isn't it," she agreed easily.

She wasn't used to feeling this sort of cheerfulness in a Potions dungeon and Wini couldn't help attributing that to the boy sitting next to her. When he leaned in, she smelled the scent of his soap and the sweetness of the chocolate on his breath and her insides tightened. Trouble? Wini thought she was in trouble as she noticed how bright his blue eyes were even in the windowless dungeon. She shook her head slowly, letting out a nervous laugh of a sound. "I think I agree with Donna," she admitted, biting her lip to stop a smile. No matter how sweet and kind he was to help her and offer her chocolate, he did feel like trouble. And it was exactly the brand of trouble that Wini liked.

Glancing between his eyes and his hand outstretched to her, she grasped it a second later, not needing much time to think about it. "Deal," she said with a shake, her brown eyes warm. "Although I do think I'm getting the better end of it, but I'm going to go cross-eyed if I look at another page. Want to grab some real food?" she asked as she started stuffing things back into her bag, messy as always with a hopeful look at him. Whether they decided to venture up to the Great Hall or down the corridor to sneak into the kitchen, Wini was fine with either, but she wasn't exactly ready to part ways just yet.