A Deep Breath

[Willow Wenlock]

Dare thought that Silver already had a couple of pages of poems for her? She didn't think that sounded right, they'd only made the bet a few days ago before he left, although he could be writing them now, while he was gone. "I'm very good at classes, I just need a little extra help. I mean, I had never heard of an I-plod before. And yeah, I bet the card, I have a couple of them, and...I made him promise to read it to me."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's brows arched in unison this time, both at the fact that she apparently had more than one of a certain rare card, and that she'd gotten a promise out of Silver to read his poem to her. He kept his mouth shut on the seriously? that threatened. He silently debated whether it would be funny to make Silver keep that promise, or if he'd just be guaranteeing an early death by aneurysm.

"How are you at Charms?" he asked. "I mean, my wandwork could use a little improvement, and if I'm going to help you beat Silver, I'm going to want something more than a job well done." His grin returned, an easy sign that he was half teasing. He really wanted a Charms N.E.W.T., though. If he was going to learn to paint moving portraits, he'd need more than Potions, which Michael was already overseeing.

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow's eyes danced when Dare said that he wanted more than a job well done. "I'm really good at Charms, much better than Transfiguration. If you'd asked about Runes or Divinations you'd be out of luck." She hadn't ever tutored anyone before, but the idea of tutoring someone was exciting in it's own way. "I'll show you how to do any spell you want, even some of the stuff that's past the advanced books." Charms was necessary for Curse Breakers anyways, so she was an ace at most of them.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare grimaced slightly at her offer, and one hand rose to rub at the back of his neck. "It's not the advanced stuff I need help with," he admitted. "At SWIM—that's where I went before Hogwarts—they thought theory was enough, so like, everything up to sixth year, I'm fine on paper but not so great when it comes to show time. I'm getting better, but they don't go over any of that when they're trying to teach you other stuff." And he was in like, the remedial group for it. He didn't have another three years to get up to the tricky spells.

[Willow Wenlock]

Oh, she thought, that sucked, although she supposed in a similar situation she might have spent hours practicing on her own. "That's fine, I'm good at the beginning stuff to. It'll make it easier for me to teach you." Willow's eyes danced at the thought, "then I won't be tempted to experiment and try harder things with you. Because you'd probably never get to the easier stuff then, we'd be breaking curses left and right," her lips curved just a bit at the idea.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare chuckled. "Screw the lower-level spells, then," he said. "I'd rather get a Troll and a few adventures than an Outstanding any day." It was a fun thought. He could impress the testers with some massive spell and not even have to take the rest of the test, walk away with an O after five minutes of practical application and go home early.

[Willow Wenlock]

"I'll make a deal with you then. I'll teach you some of the lower spells, how to execute them, and you get to help my with curse breaking. I'm about ready to move from theory on a couple of the curses." Her eyes danced, "although I'm sure I'll get in trouble when I try to curse something in a manner appropriate to break the curse. The only place I could think to go would be the forbidden forest, but I don't want detention." That was one of the few rules she had never broken, the forbidden forest was forbidden, and with the library and the grounds she'd never needed to go out there anyways.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"There's always the Room of Requirement," Dare suggested. "The teachers don't really care who goes in the forest, but it's usually pretty crowded. No one bothers you in the Room of Requirement." He'd lived there a few days, thanks to the Daily Prophet, and though nothing beat having a place of your own, it had been a quick and thorough escape from the dorms and the other students.

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow had the grace to look scandalized, "the Room of Requirement? I mean, when I was younger, it was something people used for things like that. But lately." She couldn't help the blush that covered her face, "I've heard rumors that it's never open, that people use it like a hotel and there might as well be a line to get in." Not that she'd ever tried to get there, she hadn't needed the space or the privacy ever.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare arched an eyebrow at Willow. "It's not that bad," he said. "If you think about it, it's not going to be that much worse than, like, empty classrooms. It's only got a bad rap because there's no way to prove what's going on in there. I bet half the people who come out in pairs were just hiding out for a while." He and Michael had used the room, but not as a place to make out, whatever might have happened while they were inside. It had been a quiet, private place to talk in an otherwise crowded-feeling school. It had been a place to sleep when the dorms weren't safe.

[Willow Wenlock]

The thought of people coming out in pairs made Willow blush, she hadn't even thought of that the other day with Silver, they had just ended up kissing in the hallway. She supposed that the Room of Requirement might be more quiet than a hallway though. "Alright, I'll take your word on it. We can meet in the Room of Requirement and I'll teach you how to flick and swish just right." Her lips curved into a smile, "as long as I get some Muggle Studies experience out of it." She almost felt like a smile child conspiring to do something entirely legitimate.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

I'll teach you how to flick and swish just right. Dare repeated the words in his mind, grinning at the path his mind had taken. He opted not to use that as a jumping-off point for teasing, considering the conversation it had come from, but he let himself enjoy it. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know," he agreed, then amended, "as long as I know it." If he didn't, he tended to get the concepts pretty quickly.

[Willow Wenlock]

Anything she wanted to know, Willow thought. "That's a dangerous offer, you have absolutely no idea how inquisitive my mind is." Willow ran a hand through her hair again, the blue of her cardigan offsetting the silver in her hair. "How about the I-plod, Silver didn't seem to know enough about it."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare chuckled. "It's an iPod, he said, "and what do you want to know?" He knew he was probably guilty of mixing up Muggle words once in a while, but he never caught himself at it, so it was funny hearing someone else do it. "Where'd you even hear about iPods? I've only met one other person here who had one." He was supposed to have gone to the club with her, but he couldn't even remember now if she'd shown up.

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow couldn't help the flush on her face again as she was reminded of the night that Silver had asked her to be his girlfriend. "Silver was talking about it. He said he wanted to write his essay for muggle studies on them, but didn't know enough about them." Her eyes danced, "I want to know how they get the band to sing in a box the size of cards." It sounded entertaining, even though she knew muggles couldn't shrink themselves to fit inside of a box.