The closer that examinations became, the more nervous that Noriko got.  She had temporarily abandoned her idea to quit being a witch, and had decided instead to find as many good luck charms as she could to help her succeed at her upcoming midterms.  Her room was bedecked in four leaf clovers, she was careful to keep her fingers continuously crossed, and she had even considered sneaking into the pasture by the Healing Hut to try and steal a horseshoe off the pony there before deciding that ferocious ponies were even scarier than the thought of failing her exams.

Unfortunately, black cats were about as far from good luck as a thing could get.  Noriko's parents had given her a gigantic black cat as a going-to-Hogwarts present, and even though she'd been terrified of it from the get-go, her mother had insisted that she stop being silly and take the Cat with her to school.  Noriko had spent the entire semester letting out a shriek of terror every time that the Cat entered the room.  She had hoped that since she wasn't feeding it, it would eventually get bored with the Slytherin House and find somewhere else to live, but unfortunately, it seemed to have adopted the green-and-silver common room as its own.

Even today, there the Cat was, sitting in front of the fireplace and carefully licking a paw to clean itself.  Unfortunately, that meant it was directly in between the hallway to the dorms, where Noriko was, and the exit to the main part of the dungeons, where Noriko needed to be if she was going to make it to her study session with Eirene on time.  The little Slytherin stared at it, her eyes wide, as her panic started to build.  She couldn't walk by it!  If it crossed her path, she'd fail all of her tests!  None of her good luck charms would work anymore!

Nervously, she took a step back, immediately bumping into something that was definitely not a wall.  Noriko let out a squeak of horror and whirled around.  "I'm sorry!" she said frantically.  "I didn't mean to bump into you!"

Xavier was on his way back to the dorms to put away his egg. The blasted thing had been causing him trouble all week. When he opted for taking care of the thing instead of taking a long stupid test he figured he'd have a partner to help him out, preferably one with beautiful blonde and blue hair, but no such luck. Bellatrix had been partnered up with Wentworth of all people and in a rash move Xavier volunteered to go it alone. Now he was seriously regretting it. He was a good student, he was getting almost straight O's but it was still his OWL year with mid terms starting soon and he just didn't have the time to be taking care of the stupid thing, not to mention the fact that whatever was growing inside liked to roll around a lot. Xavier was sick of chasing after the thing.

As he was crossing the common room something ran smack dab in the middle of his chest and it took him a moment to recover and realize it had been a first year's face. Xavier took a step back and looked down at the embarrassed little girl. She was cute and looked really nervous and for a moment seeing the shaky little thing Xavier's devious mind began forming a plan to help relieve him of his current predicament, he'd just need a few more things to fall into place before he could do anything about it.

"No worries lil darlin' where ye off to in such a rush?"

Noriko nearly jumped out of her shoes.  "I...I...I..." she stammered, looking up and up at the boy standing over her.  She didn't know him by name, but she'd learned most of the older Slytherins' faces between meals and her mad dashes through the common room.  He had to be at least a sixth year, and he was so much bigger than her!  What if he got mad at her for running into him?

She swallowed hard, looking intently down at her shoes.  "I was going to the library?" she said meekly, her rising cadence turning it more into a question than a statement.  "To study?  For exams?  Only -"  Her gaze flickered across the room to the Cat, which, completely ignorant of the entire situation, was still licking its paw with abandon.

"I'm sorry!" Noriko squeaked.  "I didn't mean to run into you!  I'll - I'll go," she added in a very small voice, looking terrified as she backed away from the older student.

Xavier smiled down at the little girl. This was exactly what he needed, yet another little pawn in his great game. Her obvious lack of confidence could be very useful to him, it meant she was more susceptible to outside forces without second guessing him. He could possibly even be able to be a mentor of sorts to this little one, something that could go beyond the one project he was seeking respite from.

He sat down on the arm of the nearest armchair so that he was now eye level with her. He gave her a warm charming smile, "Don' worry about it lil darlin'." He readjusted himself so that the massive egg he had been given as his CoMC mid term was sitting in his lap clearly visible for the little girl. Little girls liked animals right? She would no doubt be curious about it and that was exactly what he was counting on.

He took a quick glance at the cat she had looked towards. There seemed nothing sinister about the creature other than the fact that it was black. If his first impression was correct the girl was super stitious, just another thing he could use in his favour.

"Mid terms gettin' ye down? Ye need help wit any of it?"

The sixth year!  Was asking her!  If she needed help!  Noriko melted as he smiled warmly at her.  Here he was, probably getting ready for his examinations which were even more important since he was older, and not only had he not gotten mad at her for bumping into him, but he'd offered to help!  For a moment, Noriko's vision swam with images of green and silver solidarity, where first year students stood arm in arm with their older Slytherin kin as they faced down the worst that Hogwarts professors could throw at them.

She followed him shyly over to the armchair, the Cat completely forgotten.  "Well, we...we have the exam soon in Defense, only Professor Storm won't make us cast spells in front of the class, will he?" she asked nervously.  "And there's so much to learn for History, only I don't know where to start studying!  Are the examinations usually hard?  Should we...?"  She clammed up quickly, realizing she'd been talking too much, which had specifically been on Professor Librarian Morgan's list of things Not to Do.

Instead, Noriko risked a glance at the older boy, hoping he'd smile at her again.  It was then that she noticed the enormous object on his lap.  What was it?  Eyes wide, Noriko stared at it.

"Is that...is that something you need for your exams?" she asked, her expression growing more anxious.  "Am I supposed to have one?  It wasn't in the list of things we were supposed to bring to Hogwarts, was it?" she asked worriedly.  "Because I don't think I did!"

She was so cute!

Xavier could tell just by the way she looked at him that she was going to be putty in his hands, oh the wonders of highly impressionable first years. He watched as she sat down next to him on the arm of one of the large green armchairs. He listened as she spoke about her upcoming exams, at least she was only worried about Defense and History, that was only two subjects out of seven and both of them were something Xavier was good at.

Knowing Professor Storm it was very likely he'd hold a practical exam in front of the rest of her class but he didn't think telling her this was going to do her any good. As for where to start with studying History that really depended on what subjects they had already covered in class. He could understand her concern about the two classes considering both subjects had their Professors changed halfway through. He knew how the little girl felt, he had four new teachers to impress this term alone.

He had opened his mouth to reassure her about her studying when the shaky little thing's attention was drawn towards his egg. He definitely hadn't been expecting her to give him such an enthusiastic response. He chuckled softly and smiled widely letting her know he didn't think she was stupid for asking such a question, "No. This is me Care of Magical Creatures mid term exam. We were givin a choice between takin care o' an egg or takin a long test. I decided on thee egg but now I don't know what ta do wit it." He gave her a well practiced pout, "Everyone else in class has a partner ta help 'em out wit it but I got stuck wit doin it meself." It wasn't exactly the truth but it would do.

He tilted his head to the side and looked at the dark maroon egg. According to the instructions he had been given by Professor O Morain he had to keep the egg very warm and let it sit in a fire every night for at least twenty minutes. He doubted it was a dragon egg since from what he knew the heat level wasn't high enough for one and he doubted the new Professor would be irresponsible enough to hand out dragon eggs to his students, considering they were illegal and so he had deduced that the creature inside the egg was something else well associated with fire, "I think it's a Phoenix. Apparently Phoenix are really lucky, even muggles think so. There's a whole group of muggles in China that think having a statue of a Phoenix in their house will bring them good luck." If he was lucky enough himself the lure of having a good luck charm would be enough to convince the superstitious first year to take care of his egg for him.

If it were physically possible, Noriko's eyes would have grown even wider at the boy's words.  "You have to do it by yourself?" she squeaked, looking horrified.  Was he unpopular too?  Maybe all Slytherins were!  It made her feel awful that such a nice older boy hadn't had anyone volunteer to be his partner!  At least Eirene had agreed to be Noriko's partner, even though she'd been mean to her afterwards.  The thought of having to struggle on partner-less for the next six and a half years of her school career made the young girl's head hurt.

It wasn't just an egg, though; it was a lucky egg.  Noriko eyed it carefully.  She had heard about phoenixes; that was what her father said would bite her if she got too close to the fireplace at home.  She wasn't too sure about them being lucky, but if the nice older boy said so, then it must be true.

An idea occurred to Noriko, causing her to blush furiously.  Normally, she would have been too embarrassed to offer, but she still remembered what Professor Librarian Morgan had said - the best thing she could do as a Slytherin was make herself useful to her older housemates.

"Do you...do you maybe need help?" she asked shyly, risking a look up at him through her fringe.  "I don't know very much about eggs, but...it's not fair if you don't have a partner and everyone else does!"

Xavier's perfectly practiced pout turned into a look that wasn't unlike disappointed shame. He was playing right into her hands or rather she was playing into his. Xavier couldn't believe his luck. She was reacting exactly the way he had expected her to. She was shocked and appalled that he had to take on the project by himself which had actually been his own choice but she didn't need to know that. It was supposed to be a partner project but Xavier let his own ego get the better of him.

Shooting for a few more sympathy points he added in a small soft voice, "Well me girlfriend got paired up wit sumone else . . ."

"Do you...do you maybe need help?"

JACKPOT!

He gave her a shocked expression with a compassion in his bright grey blue eyes, turning to her with all of his attention. He gave her the look of someone that couldn't believe their luck which wasn't far off the mark, "Ye'd really? Ye'd help me out?" This was almost too easy, "Oh darlin that's be great, it'd really help me out an I swear I'll help ye wit any of yer studyin'," In a tone of charm, grace and confidence he added, "I am an O student afterall."

An O student wanted her to help him?  And he offered to help her study, too!  Suddenly, all of the upcoming exams didn't seem nearly as terrifying as they had a few short minutes ago.  Noriko felt like singing or dancing with delight.  Professor Librarian Morgan had been right!  Slytherins did look after their own!  And maybe she'd survive her first four months at Hogwarts after all!

"Of course!" she said earnestly.  "What should I do?  I don't..."  Noriko eyed the egg, suddenly hesitant.  "I don't know very much about eggs," she admitted, an anxious expression creeping over her face.  "How do you look after it?  Do you just need someone to watch it?"

Xavier did his best to hide the sinister grin that was threatening to break through his charming facade. If he played his cards right Noriko would be exactly the kind of partner he needed. If he was lucky she'd even do better than some of the lazy third years that were doing the project. At this point all he really cared about was doing better than Wentworth, how could Professor O Morain let something like this happen? How could he let Wentworth get paired up with Xavier's perfect Slytherin girlfriend?!

He reached into his robes and pulled out the piece of parchment he had found within the box that held his egg. It was written in a very neat and proper script. It listed very precise intructions that if followed correctly would cause the egg to hatch. Apparently the Professor had timed it somehow that all the eggs would be hatching at the same time. He handed the parchment to Noriko, "Thankfully Professor O Morain gave us instructions. Now if yer gonna be me partner on this we gotta work out some kinda schedule."

He thought it over. To the first year it would probably seem like he was just trying to figure out the best way to equally divide up their responsibilities. In reality he was trying to figure out how to make it look like he was doing all the proper work without actually doing any of at all, "I shouldn't have a problem wit it durin classes, an I don' want ye gettin in trouble fer payin more attention to thee egg than yer teachers." He gave the younger girl a wink before continuing on, "So how about I give ye a copy of thee instructions an' every night afta dinner I'll let ye take care of her fer me. Shouldn't be too hard but it'll give me enough time to work on me own homework. Then at thee end of thee night ye cin give her back ta me."

He looked her over still smiling wondering if she'd go for it and also wondering if she'd notice that left her in charge of putting the egg in a fire bath every night before she went to bed, "Then when ye need me I'll be free ta help ye wit whateva it is ye need help wit."

It wasn't often that Noriko was beside herself with glee - the one time when her parents had taken her side after her little brother had put glue in her hair while she was sleeping was really the only instance in recent memory - but right now, she was nearly there.  The older boy wanted her help!  He was talking to her!  And he had winked at her!  If he hadn't just told her that he had a girlfriend, Noriko would have started planning their wedding right then and there.

"Yes!  I can do that!" she said excitedly.  Evenings were usually devoted to studying, which recently had meant spending time in the library with Eirene and maybe Aglaia, but they'd both understand, wouldn't they?  Besides, even if they didn't, Noriko thought that this might be worth it.  She was important!  She was helping!  Maybe the sixth year could help her with her studies so that she didn't need the other first years.

Noriko nodded, intent on showing how serious she was about the egg care.  "I'll take it after dinner," she repeated obediently.  "And give it back to you at the end of the night.  And follow all the instructions you give me."  She hesitated, and then gave the boy a shy smile.  It sounded so easy.  Even if she'd never cared for an egg before, she knew that she could do it!

"Is that it?  Is there anything else that I can do to help?" she asked earnestly, obviously hoping for more.

Xavier handed her the heavy maroon egg wrapped in a Slytherin scarf. He'd be happy to be rid of it for the night, giving him time to get some of his own work done without having to worry about the stupid thing rolling away on him again. For a moment he wondered if he was doing the right thing in letting the first year take care of it, as enthusiastic as she was about helping him it might end up being too much of handful for her. He shook his concerns away and focused back on the first year. If her smile told him anything it was that she'd rather die than disappoint him, exactly the kind of attitude he needed from his latest pawn.

He wrapped his large strong arm around her tiny little shoulders and gave her a sideways squeeze, "nah that'll do, as long as ye follow thee instructions exactly ye'll be doin more than enough fer me." He smiled down at her, his arm still casually around her shoulders in a big brother sort of way, "me name's Xavier by thee way. Yer Noriko right?" It wasn't as though Xavier had sought her out specifically but it was hard not to hear about the shifty little Slytherin that had a serious paranoia for being eaten by muggles.

Noriko nearly fainted.
 
HE KNEW HER NAME!  And he had hugged her!  She beamed up at him, completely unaware of the utterly goofy smile that was crossing her face.  If it hadn't been for the solidness of its weight in her arms, she would have given the egg the biggest hug of her life, ruining any hopes she had of Slytherin bonding with a cracking shell.

As it was, she remembered just in time, managing to stop herself from crushing the precious object just in time.  "Yes!" she squeaked, her voice coming out even more high-pitched then usual.  "I mean, yes!  I'm Xavier.  Noriko," she stammered, turning pink as she realized that it had just come out all wrong.  "You're Noriko.  I'm -- You're --"  She broke off, horrified, and hid her face against the egg.

"I'll take good care of it," she managed, her voice slightly muffled against the maroon shell.  "And I'll give it back to you tonight.  That's all right, isn't it?"

Xavier chuckled softly as she stammered, clumsily making her way around an introduction of sorts. If he wasn't using her to get back at Wentworth he might actually take her under his wing. Perhaps he still could depending on how this whole thing turned out. It would do him some good to have a little first year lackey that hung on his every word and with his help maybe she could be shaped into a proper slytherin girl instead of a whimpering panic stricken mess.

Xavier winced slightly when she seemed to have hugged the egg hard enough to possibly cause damage. He couldn't turn back now and he knew he was being a jerk for sloughing off his responsibilities on her but he wasn't enough of an arse not to care about the very much alive creature that was inside that egg, "Jus be really careful wit her."

Once again he smiled down at her and gave her a squeeze. On impulse he leaned forward and place a kiss at her temple the way a father would to their child, "Have her back here by thee time yer ready fer bed an' I'll take it from there."

The fact that Noriko was still sitting was the only thing that kept her from dropping the egg.  She stared up at Xavier, her eyes wide, as her blush deepened to nearly match the maroon color of the shell that she'd just been charged to protect. 

Of course she'd be careful!  She'd be so careful, she could raise a dozen eggs!  A thousand!  Shyly, she gave Xavier a tight smile, not quite meeting the older boy's eyes as she nervously clambered to her feet, her knees nearly giving way beneath her.  Noriko somehow managed to catch both herself and the egg before she managed to embarrass herself any further, but it had been a close call.

"Yes," she agreed in a near whisper, so excited she wanted to explode.  "I'll...see you later then?"

Hugging the egg (but not so much that she might crack it - it was her job to keep it safe now!), she trotted off for her dorm, too embarrassed to look back.  It might make her late to her study session with Eirene, but she'd have to come up with a way to guard her new charge before she went charging off to the library.  She had to have something that she could use as an egg protector back in her room!