It was, though not late, later than Alex would like when she left Rick’s office. There had been a few brief interruptions, but for the most part, Alex had been practicing the charm that Rick was supposed to be teaching them during the next full moon. Practicing it over and over, with Rick finding something to criticise without fail each time. It was like having her own self critique spoken aloud, except Rick also insisted that her swish was too aggressive.

Bevans was there. While Alex didn’t particularly want to ascribe any talents to him, he certainly did have a knack for showing up in unexpected places. Though considering how he went on about Rick, perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised. He wasn’t the only one (unfortunately), but he was so… thirsty.

“Bevans,” Alex said, which might have been polite if it hadn’t been said so irritably, “Professor Donovan isn’t in at the moment.” The smile which accompanied the statement was serenely unapologetic. It wasn’t the truth, but it was simpler than explaining that Rick, though he did have an open door policy, only had an open door policy for students interested in the charms syllabus and not in if he had a six pack or an eight pack. Bevans was decidedly stroppy. She didn’t want him to start dripping again.

Nicholas had been putting a lot of time into his charms spell work since he'd come back from the break.  Well even further back than that, ever since he'd decided he wanted to be an obliviator.  He needed to do well on his charms N.E.W.T., which only continued to get closer.  And he'd never done all that well with the written portions, so his wandwork tended to make or break him on tests.

He'd been working ahead in Mind Over matter learning the spells that he could on his own.  Spells that he assumed would be extremely important in the career he hoped to enter.  He'd spent most of his break perfecting the spells they already knew and he'd gotten pretty good at casting spells non-verbally as well.  He'd managed the protean charm once, but in the end the knuts had melted.  He was going to wait for the lesson on that one before he tried it again.  He wasn't sure what the goblins did if they found a wizard melting coins.

But he had some questions about some of the stuff he'd read in Mind Over Matter, and had decided to stop by Professor Donovan's office.  Which might have been unusual in the past, but Nicholas liked charms, and it didn't hurt that the current professor was hot and not weird.  So he had visited the charms professor's office more than was usual for him.  Normally it required detention or extra credit for Nicholas to go to a professor's office.  But it was better than trying to get the same information from a dusty old book with the librarian breathing down his neck.  And the view didn't hurt, even if it was distracting at times though in Nicholas's mind that just made his spellwork better.

Of course, he hadn't expected to run into Carstairs.  "And yet, Carstairs, you were just in there."  Nicholas said just as irritably.  He had never forgiven the Ravenclaw in front of him for the what ended up being a temporary demotion in dueling club.  And worse, of course, was her letting Whitman insult him with the fact.  Not that he should expect anything better from someone who was friends with the head boy.  "You know it takes two to claim the points from the list.  And I doubt anyone else was in there with you.  They'd have better luck with the squid."[1]  He said sneeringly to Alex.  In the back of his mind, there was a part of him that was ashamed of his reaction to her, but she didn't have to do much anymore to push his buttons.

1.	Bucket List Challenge - Referring to making out with someone in a professor's office.

Alex could come up with several excuses for being in Rick’s office which were perfectly rule abiding and didn’t feature the challenge, but she wasn’t about to justify herself to Bevans. But it was a reason for Bevans’ appearance that she hadn’t previously considered. It was an embarrassing slip, but, as Bevans had so admirably pointed out, you needed two to qualify for the points for kissing in someone’s office, and he had no partner. Unless he was planning to grope Rick, which she couldn’t rule out as a possibility, using tutoring as an excuse for voyeurism was still the most likely possibility. Bevans hadn’t tried anything yet, and if he’d resisted temptation so long, it would be unlikely to break him now.

Gifted with a unique perspective, the Gryffindor apparently thought that not wanting to kiss someone who she had no interest in for the sake of getting points for a meaningless challenge was an insult. Alex didn’t entirely understand, but she only understood the theory of the challenge anyway. Making memories was all very well, but Alex didn’t particularly want to remember most of the events on the list. Alex was a participant in the challenge, technically, but she gained points only when something she wanted to do anyway happened to be on the challenge list. Perhaps he intended it to imply something that was actually insulting, but that meant ascribing a level of intelligence that she doubted he possessed.

Nonsensical as Bevans’ attempt at insult was, Alex wasn’t about to let it go unanswered. “Speaking from personal experience? Forcing the squid to kiss you counts as abuse of a magical creature. Did you ask out of desperation? Or is that a personal proclivity?” Alex asked, in a tone of mild interest. Sadly, both options were entirely possible where Bevans was concerned.

Nicholas rolled his eyes at the idea of asking the squid to kiss him.  "Never had the need, "  He said, trying to keep his irritation at the interruption of his day in check.  He just wanted to ask his questions of the professor and move on.  He hadn't planned on finding his way blocked by his least favorite Ravenclaw.  His hand, without him even realizing, was now grasping his wand in his pocket.  Though this time his emotions were not getting the better of his control over his magic.

"I get it, you were in there getting some extra credit," He made an obscene gesture next to his face before continuing, "if he doesn't want to answer fine, just get out of the way, I've got questions for the man."  Nicholas wasn't trying to start a fight, and given the opportunity he'd happily do what he just said.  But he was trying to get rid of Alexandra.  And his mouth had a habit of getting out in front of his common sense.

Her eyebrows twitched at the claim, expression disbelieving, but she didn’t comment. It wasn’t going to go anywhere, and since she was ostensibly getting rid of Bevans so that she could do more important things, there was no point continuing. Of course, what she was actually doing was insulting Bevans, but some pleasures were too enjoyable to be denied.

"I get it, you were in there getting some extra credit, if he doesn't want to answer fine, just get out of the way, I've got questions for the man."

It was something that she had known was a possibility, and something which she had thought she was prepared for, but when it was actually implied, that was forgotten, replaced by the sudden burn of anger. Alex took a slow breath, a finger to her forehead as though exasperated by Bevans’ depthless stupidity. Really, and shameful though it was to admit it, Alex needed the moment to stop herself from doing something like turning Bevans into a burning monument to stupidity. It didn’t help that the idea was so appealing, she knew that she wouldn’t (couldn’t) break first.

That kind of emotional response, childish, immediate, seeking only the sweetness of satisfaction without a pause to consider the consequences, was for the foolish.

“Jealous?” she asked, smiling sweetly. “Because come hellfire or high water, you aren’t going to see Rick. He’s not in, so why don’t you give up?” Her fingers were in her pocket by now, curled around the handle of her wand. Bevans was stupid, but he wasn’t slow, and Alex wasn’t going to be caught unprepared. Not by Bevans.

He wasn't going to hex her.  He wasn't going to curse her.  He kept repeating the thought to himself in his head.  And if he'd looked down at his hand, he'd have realized that his hand was changing colors from the grip he had on his wand.  Why did she have to be such a—breathe, he told himself.  He'd have to be an idiot to start slinging spells outside a professor's office.

"What do I have to be jealous of?  You."  He said, the incredulity obvious in his voice.  "If he was stupid enough to mess around with a student it wouldn't be you."  It probably wouldn't be him either, he admitted to himself.  But the man also generally looked like he'd kill a student before doing something else.

"Rick is it?"  He laughed, "Maybe I should go talk to Ignan about how familiar you seem to be with the professor."  He shook his head.  Hellfire and high water seemed like a good starting place.  Though again, outside the professor's office was a bad idea.

"Gah...why do you have to be such a bitch."  He sighed in frustration, "Just get out of the way.  Before I make you."

Alex’s eyebrows lifted sharply. Well, that was a quick change in opinion. Did Bevans not understand that his inability to stick to one position seriously weakened his already flimsy argument? Alex rolled her eyes, waiting for Bevans to stop spouting nonsense like a deranged gnome. Gnomes were at least usually succinct.

“So is Rick too clever to sleep with a student, or are we having some kind of torrid affair which you’re going to report to Storm on the basis that I used his first name? I’m not following your logic, but by all means report me. I would love to see Storm tell you that your wet dreams don’t actually constitute evidence.”

She didn’t smile at the insult, or the sigh of frustration, even though it was tempting. Bevans’ control really had improved, since his wand wasn’t spewing anything yet. It would be impressive, but his previous level of control had been so dire that he could only improve. Bevans might get the award for most improved, but that still put him below average.

“No,” she said, decisively. “I told you: hellfire or high water. Or you can just leave.” Alex was personally hoping for hellfire and high water.

Even a year ago, it was likely that his wand would have already responded to the anger boiling inside him.  Hell probably even six months ago.  But his control had gotten a lot better.  He wasn't sure why but he thought it was all the non-verbal spells he'd been practicing. Or maybe he just had better control over his emotions.

Still, he wanted to hex the witch in front of him.  But, despite what she seemed to believe about him, he wasn't stupid and he knew that she was a gifted dueler.  Which just meant he needed to get the first shot in, even if he didn't really want to give her the satisfaction of starting something, he also wasn't one to back down.

"Really, what's your problem?  Is it your time of the month or something?"  Nicholas said loudly, his voice tight in anger.  "Just move!"  He pulled his wand out in a flash and wordlessly cast the knockback jinx[1] at Alex.  A loud bang followed as the spell shot towards its target.

1.	Knockback jinx - The Knockback Jinx feels like a blow to the chest, knocking its victim back, along with "a loud bang."