April 20

Test time was approaching, and so it was time for Zia to crack down on her books. She understood the importance of this and therefore preferred to get a head start. The advice she'd ascertained from her siblings' years at Hogwarts was that time was of the essence. As soon as something was assigned, Zia was working away at it, little by little. In the end, it was really a time saver.

This was a theory she'd been trying to convince Figaro Sellaphinx of, which was a laughable idea but she had invited him to join her at the library anyway. Zia knew places where the neurotic librarian steered clear of, so she figured he could be as hyper as he wanted without getting yelled at. Getting yelled at by the librarian would surely be counterproductive.

When studying, it was important to be comfortable... but since she was studying with Fig, it was important (to Zia) to look cute as well. She'd spent a little longer than she normally would picking out an outfit to wear to the library. A loose-fitting shirt that always seemed to slip off of her shoulder that paradoxically was too short on her seemed like the right choice. She wore a watch to make sure they didn't get too distracted, because Fig was easily side-tracked and Zia wasn't immune to distraction either.

She was there before Figaro was. She had drawn him a map to where the secret table was, but though Zia was a decent artist, the table was still difficult to find. Zia wasn't very worried and put her backpack down, pulling out her Transfiguration book and setting it down before her on the table.

Figaro was usually heard before he was seen and today was no exception.  "I'm here to study!"  His distant voice was indignant - he'd clearly been intercepted and accused of foul play and his response had been met with a few giggles from others similarly engaged. 

A few moments more, Figaro appeared in Zia's secret nook, map in hand.  "Heya, Z.  I brought food."

He set his bag down with a thunk, and took the chair on the side of the square table nearest her.  He pulled out a roll of thin chocolate-frosted cookies and an orange.  Zia had invited him to study and if it had been nearly anyone else, he'd have laughed in their face.  Figaro didn't study.  And he didn't do it in the library.  He crammed in his dormitory the night before, quizzing Zel Trumble on anything he didn't know.  He had worked in the library before, of course.  With Sasha on group projects, or with Sophie back when they were together.  But Zia had asked, and well.  She was cool.  She was pretty.  And he figured it would be fun.

"These go amazing with oranges," he told her as he dug his short fingernails into the thick skin of the orange.  A little mist of juice sprayed out and their little area would now smell delightfully of citrus.  "The cookies have got chocolate on them.  Just enough.  Perfect combination."

There was no rush to start studying, right?

Zia heard Figaro before she saw him, which was certainly not something out of the ordinary. Zia smirked to herself, especially after he claimed that he was here to study. Poor kid. He had good intentions, but he was sort of scattered. While some people grew annoyed with his antics, Zia found Figaro funny and even a little charming. And cute... definitely cute. Zia nervously twirled the end of her ponytail and then whipped it over her shoulder so she would stop fidgeting just in time for Figaro to finally enter the room. Zia smiled brightly at him.

"Heya, Z. I brought food."

Food! That was an excellent idea -- nothing helped brain power like sugar and junk food. Zia's normal go-to study snack was jelly slugs. Even some of her brothers thought the candy was gross, but Zia had always been a big fan. Figaro's option looked interesting too -- an orange? And cookies? Zia was skeptical.

"These go amazing with oranges.. The cookies have chocolate on them. Just enough. Perfect combination."

While she had heard of the combination of orange and chocolate, she had never personally tried it. Well, there was no better time than the present. "Cool! Thanks," Zia chirped, helping herself to the snack Fig had brought. Sweet and savory -- definitely something she'd be willing to eat again. After she finished eating this cookie. "Really good," Zia said in a muffled voice while covering her half-full mouth. She chewed and swallowed. "So what do you wanna study first?"

Adorable.  She covered her mouth.  Girls did the funniest things, so neat and polite.  It charmed him.  Keep it together, Sellaphix, he urged himself.  She'd been kind enough to help him a couple days ago when he was freaking out about having Obliviating himself[1] and now she was helping him study.  He'd look a git to make a play now, even if he wanted to. 

"Um, study.  Right." He scooted closer and could smell her shampoo.  Distracted him a bit.  But taking a cue from her, he dug out his Transfig book.  He was beat up a bit, but not from overuse.  Just mistreatment under his bed or in the bottom of his bag.

"Transfig.  Hughes is a giant goober.  You hear he knits?"  Figaro didn't dislike Professor Hughs in the slightest, but it wouldn't stop him from having a laugh at his idiosyncrasies.

1.	April 18 Link

At the mention of the word 'study,' Figaro's disposition immediately changed. Zia had to remember to take this process slowly- she had gotten him inside the library, and that was a big enough step to warrant a pre-studying break. She helped herself to another cookie and contemplated Figaro's comment about knitting. Professor Hughes had provided all of those balls of yarn, and a few of them had looked oddly familiar.

"The question is, what does he knit?"[/i] Zia pointed out. Did he knit sweaters for his cats? Hats for his owls? Or- did Professor Hughes have a family that he would make sweaters for? There were endless possibilities. Zia didn't open her Transfiguration book quite yet, though it was already on the table from before Figaro arrived. Zia didn't really care if they got any studying done- being able to hang out with Figaro one-on-one was awesome enough for her. She'd been worried about him anyway, since the whole Obliviation scenario, and was glad that since then they'd been spending more time together. Perhaps it was a side effect of the Obliviation, but he was a lot cuter.

"Wand cozies, I heard," Figaro said.  He'd angled to face her, propped up on his elbow on the table.  "With dangly bits.  I've seen one at Christmas.  Horrendous."

Then his attention changed and he sat up.  "You want to see a trick?"  He didn't wait for her affirmative.  Instead, he scooted his chair until he was directly in front of her.  Their knees could have touched.  He raised his hands up at eye level between them and then pointed his index fingers directly at each other, almost touching. 

Grinning, he instructed, "don't look at my fingers.  Look though them.  Past them.  Look at my face."   He did as he said as well, gazing past his fingers at Zia's pretty eyes. 

And between them? A fuzzy, floating...hot dog...

Wand cozies. Zia giggled. She had never heard of such a thing, but despite this she could easily picture the professor knitting these. While she didn't own any tea cozies herself, she could understand the reasons for using one. Keep the tea warm and all. But a wand cozy? Zia had never noticed her wand getting cold before. She could admit that maybe it was a boring color... so perhaps that's why the professor decided to use his time to create such a seemingly useless item.

"You want to see a trick? ...Don't look at my fingers. Look through them. Past them,"

As Figaro proposed a trick, Zia sat up straighter. Maybe it was stupid, but she liked seeing silly, nifty magic tricks. Figaro did not take out his wand but held up his fingers and Zia followed his instructions, a little confused about what she was supposed to be seeing. She tried doing what Figaro told her to do, but had trouble looking at both fingers at the same time. Her brows furrowed.

Look at my face,"

With a slight blush, Zia did so, and for a moment forgot what she was supposed to be doing. Was it weird to find someone's nose cute? She blushed a bit more and the sides of her lips curled. When she felt them do this she remembered what she was supposed to be doing and saw the fuzzy finger between the ones Figaro was holding up. "Oh!" she exclaimed, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "That's really cool," Zia commented. "Where did you learn that?"

"Fayettes," he replied automatically.  Dax and Dion Fayette had been two years ahead of him and had left Hogwarts to be Aurors.  But they'd always been a source of rowdy distraction. 

He dropped his hands but kept his eyes on Zia.  He licked his lips and prepared himself to go out on a limb.  "Erm, I don't want to be an arse, but you're really pretty."  Shit, he'd actually said it.  He sat back, feeling like a git and broke eye contact and took a deep breath. 

"Well, I've said it," he said with a shrug of resignation.  He half expected her to give him a smack, but he had to admit he was far less obnoxious this time than the times he'd earned himself a pop to the teeth.  Right?

Zia didn't know what Fayettes were, but Figaro was staring at her and her words were caught in her throat. Instead of asking, she made a friendly face and nodded with a smile. He looked a little nervous, and once he started talking, Zia figured out why.

"Erm, I don't want to be an arse, but you're really pretty."

In response to this confession Zia's face turned the color of her hair. She didn't really know how to respond. Of course she thought he was great and cute as well but she had no idea that he'd felt the same way about her. Her face expressed her surprise and she watched as Figaro averted his eyes.

"Well, I've said it."

Now she felt bad. It was definitely her turn to talk. "Thanks," she said bashfully. "I think you're really cute... handsome," she corrected, thinking Figaro might feel a little old for the adjective 'cute.'

When she didn't react badly, Fig's anxiety dissolved away and he felt like he'd caught a snitch.  He leaned forward and put his elbow on the table.  She'd called him handsome.  Cute.  That was fine with him.

He grinned at her without shame, resting his head in his hand.  Casual.  Well chuffed.

What now?  They definitely weren't going to study, and in these moments which were lasting forever the snacks he'd brought had been forgotten.  As had his floating magic hot dog trick.  Zia Piselli.  Why'd he never thought of her 'like that'? She'd been in his class the entire time and he was just now coming to his senses.  Ah, Figaro.  You silly git.  This is teenage love, lad.  It's fickle but fierce.  Enjoy it while it lasts and you'll all be lucky if it stays true once the glitter fades.  It's nothing to scoff at.

"So what then, Zia Piselli? What shall we study?"

He lifted his eyebrows in a dare.

Having someone tell you that you're pretty is a pretty decent adrenaline rush. The exciting sensation buzzed throughout Zia. She was positive that she was blushing, but hoped that her bright hair would detract from the similar hot-pinkness of her face. Figaro seemed pretty smug about the idea that Zia thought he was good-looking too, so at least she wasn't alone.

"So what then, Zia Piselli? What shall we study?"

It was a fair question, but Zia didn't know the answer. She looked around, surprised by the sudden change in subject. If she knew anything about Figaro, though, it was that he definitely didn't want to study. "Well that's up to you," Zia announced with a smirk. "What do you need to study the most?"

"Ravenclaws!" Figaro laughed and clapped his hands.  "Zia Piselli! You are such a Ravvy.  I cannot believe you."

As far as Figaro was concerned she'd totally chickened out, but he wasn't angry.  It was kind of cute, really.  He knew she didn't actually want to study.  She couldn't! Not after that moment they'd just had.  He certainly didn't want to study, not at all.  Figaro just wanted to be with Zia. 

"I don't know what I expected," he joked sweetly and scratched the back of his neck.  "You were supposed to kiss me."

His tone was almost pleading, because he'd been really hoping. 

"Or I could kiss you, if you prefer."

Figaro was going out on a limb again.  He was just all caught up in it, swept up in Zia's sweet smile and their mutual sugary sweet feelings.

It was true, Zia Piselli was a Ravenclaw. She smirked at Figaro's exclamation. Even some of the people in her house didn't seem to think that she belonged there. For some reason, there were a bunch of people who thought that Zia was a bit of an airhead While Zia could admit that occasionally that was true, she believed that Ravenclaw was certainly the right house for her. The small joy she received from studying and academic success was unparalleled by any Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin.

That wasn't to say that Zia avoided distractions when studying, however.

"I don't know what I expected... You were supposed to kiss me."

Zia's eyebrows shot up and she turned pink. She had been completely oblivious, hadn't she? Zia had kissed boys before, but she had definitely never kissed Figaro Sellaphinx, and she had never kissed anyone in the library. Not that any of these things should have indicated that she was supposed to kiss him! Weren't boys supposed to make the first move? That was one of the better parts of being a girl.

"Or I could kiss you, if you prefer."

"That would be the gentlemanly thing to do, I think," Zia responded sweetly, batting her eyelashes and smiling just enough to make dimples appear on her cheeks.å

She seemed genuinely surprised and was all red now.  But Figaro didn't really pick up on that because he was busy internally celebrating.  His stomach did a few flip-flops, his palms started sweating, and his mouth suddenly felt very very dry.  Her face looked really soft and he felt just the tiniest pang of insecurity.

Figaro swallowed a lump in his throat, leaned in and pressed his lips against hers.  She smelled amazing.  She was as soft as she looked.  This was no quick peck, but it wasn't wet or sloppy either.  Figaro had had plenty of practice, you see.  After a few wondrous seconds he pulled away.  He was flushed and he was aware of each one of this breaths.

He searched her face for some kind of reaction.  He'd have very much liked to do this more.

"Better than studying?" he asked quietly with a smile.

Figaro took Zia's suggestion and planted a really great kiss on Zia's lips. With the kiss came a surge of warmth and mushy-gushyness that she hadn't felt in a while. She'd always thought that Figaro was cute, but she never expected him to feel the same way about her. Kissing him was definitely really fun.

"Better than studying?"

For a moment, Zia had completely forgotten where they were. Thank goodness she had chosen a seat out of the librarian's usual range, or else they would have been thwacked on the head and severely reprimanded. Snogging in the library was frowned upon, Zia assumed. "It feels almost as good as getting an O," she teased. Zia did love the feeling that came with getting good grades, but kissing was definitely leagues better.