That evening, when Blake arrived at dinner, the rest of the group questioned him about his whereabouts. Uh oh - looks like they're suspicious - especially Zabini. His roommates eyes were full of apprehension and clearly trying to figure out his whereabouts. Contrastingly, however, one person had no such fuss, and merely continued eating her meal as if he hadn't even arrived.
I don't know who gave you that confidence, Greengrass, but I promise you - you're not cool, nonchalant, composed or whatever you think you are, he thought to himself inwardly before smiling to himself, smugly.
I'd like to see her create a spell as a muggleborn within less than a month of learning magic!
"Why in Merlin's name are you smiling like that looking at Daph, you weirdo?" asked Tracey, grinning.
"Wait, that's not-"
"OoooOooOOoOOoo," came the mocking reactions from Zabini and Charlotte as Blake blushed profusely.
"Oh, shut up, Tracey," Greengrass finally said, looking up from her plate. As always, there was no sign of reaction on her face, bar mild annoyance.
"Aww, Daph, did I get on your nerves? Is it a sensitive subject?"
Greengrass merely shook her head disapprovingly at her friend, and then at a laughing Charlotte, before quickly turning her head back down to her plate.
"Anyway," Blake said, trying to change the subject rapidly, "I got lost in the Forbidden Forest." At his words, the group's eyes widened, and Blake was relieved - they believed me. But more than that, he noted that just for a brief second, Greengrass stiffened at the mention of the Forbidden Forest. What's that about?
"What in Merlin's name were you doing in the Forbidden Forest?" Tracey demanded, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Well, I was on a walk around the castle, then I saw Hagrid, and we had a chat for a bit, then he invited me into his house, we spoke, and then I left, and I got distracted by something, then I got lost. That's pretty much it, to be honest."
His lackluster story seemed to disappoint the small audience, but Blake wasn't really watching them - instead, through his peripheral vision, his eyes were locked in on Greengrass, looking for any further reaction. It was no random lie that he had chosen - "I got distracted by something".
Now, if Greengrass really was doing something in the Forest, then…
Unfortunately for Blake, however, there was no such reaction from Greengrass, who just continued to eat her dinner. That doesn't rule it out though, the boy reminded himself.
"Blake?" Charlotte said.
"Yeah?"
"Your cheeks are still red," she stated innocently.
"Aguamenti!"
/
After dinner, Blake stood outside the Great Hall, having told the group to go ahead without him because he needed to do something first. While Tracey and Charlotte continued on without any doubts, Zabini looked at him with suspicion but didn't say anything, whereas Greengrass merely gave him that same, neutral, uncaring look, just to let him know that she knew. What a prat.
Regardless, he successfully caught his targets - or rather, they caught him.
"Renshaw!" Weasley said loudly, jogging towards him with Harry in tow. Blake discreetly cast a 'Muffliato' with his wand around them, before smiling back at them.
"Weasley. Harry. So, have you guys held up your end of the deal?"
"Yep," Harry said proudly. "Neville's asked for a lifetime supply of Potions and Transfiguration essays!" Damn - I expected him to be a customer for Potions, the way Snape treats him and being a rich Sacred 28, but lifetime? And for Transfigurations too? Maybe my reputation precedes me, Blake thought smugly to himself, before internally smacking himself. Mum would have pinched me if I said that out loud, he thought to himself, momentarily reminiscing.
"That's actually amazing, guys! As promised, here's your essays - you'll have to copy them out so that Snape doesn't realise, but they're different and everything - should be an easy job, am I right?"
As he handed an essay to each of them, the two Gryffindors' eyes widened.
"You wrote this?" Weasley said incredulously. Blake just smiled in response.
"You're crazy good at Potions!" Harry said, half surprised and half grateful.
"Thanks, Blake!" The Gryffindor handed him a Galleon, which Blake accepted.
"Pleasure doing business, guys. Tell Longbottom to find me behind this pillar tomorrow, 10 minutes after dinner! And remember, new customer every week!"
Blake left them, smiling at himself. He wasn't stupid - they had probably planned to make sure that they only told one person a week, so they could continue getting a free essay every week - but he didn't mind. If anything, he respected the cunning. Besides, every new customer was money that was almost guaranteed to come back later too, either directly as a customer, or by word of mouth telling someone new.
That being said, I need to fix the Quill some more, Blake thought to himself. The issue was that when generating essays, the fact that they stemmed from Blake's own memories and experiences meant that the Quill mimicked his way of thinking, so the generated essays seemed very similar to each other - it took 10 iterations just to get two different enough ones.
Now that I have three customers, that's gonna be even harder.
But he had time, and for now, that was a problem for another day, and all he had to do was wait for Snape to mark their essays. Don't be too harsh, Blake prayed, as he made his way up the stairs to his dorm.
Unsurprisingly, waiting for him were Zabini, Tracey, Charlotte and Greengrass.
"Took your time!" Tracey said loudly with faux exasperation.
"Sorry," he said, grinning. "Business calls. Speaking of that, here," he said, handing Charlotte and Tracey a scroll each.
"As promised, your essays. Let me know the results!"
As Charlotte thanked him and Tracey began to criticise her essay with fake outrage, Blake slipped into the bathroom.
"Taking a shower!" he yelled from inside.
Finally, some peace, he thought, as he reminded himself of the day's successes. Naturally, however, in only a few minutes, the peace was broken, as he heard a loud argument - not quite shouting, but still an argument probably (considering Tracey's shrieking laughter) from the dorm room. Good thing we cast a Muffliato, he thought, sighing. Wait a second - is that Greengrass's voice?
Blake quickly got out, dried himself, and dressed, not wanting to miss the drama, especially if it involved a shouting Greengrass.
Unfortunately for him, however, by the time he'd come outside, all was quiet - too quiet. He looked at Tracey, who was trying her best, but still failing, at hiding a smile.
"Well," he began, looking around. "Is somebody going to fill me in or what?"
"Davis made a bad joke, then Greengrass shouted at her for it."
"My joke was not bad!"
"I did not shout."
"What was the joke?"
"It was-" Tracey stopped her sentence after looking at Greengrass, before smiling.
"Fine, fine. Jeez, stop taking everything so seriously, Daph!"
"She asked Daphne if she wanted to see you showering," Charlotte said, grinning. Apparently, neither Blake nor Greengrass, despite their usual calm and collected demeanors, expected that, especially from such a shy girl.
"Charlotte!" they both admonished at the same time, causing a light blush to adorn Blake's face, much to the amusement of the rest of the group - even Zabini was laughing, promptly causing Blake to poke him with his wand.
Meanwhile, Greengrass looked almost shocked for a second - but it wasn't for long, as she quickly regained control of herself, before chiding Charlotte poshly, which was an odd combination. She needs to stop acting like a princess.
"Anyway, look what I have!" Tracey announced after her laughter finally subsided (likely due to somewhat threatening looks from both Blake and Greengass), and produced a deck of cards.
"Exploding Snap!"
Hmm. That doesn't sound very safe.
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