25

The great hall was almost completely empty; only a few students still scattered around the tables doing their homework or just having stayed behind after dinner today.

The Ravenclaw table itself was practically empty as well, apart from me and Kai huddled together at his usual spot, a calendar and a relatively thin book sprawled out in front of us.

"Why do you need to know this again?" Kai muttered, eyes squinting slightly as he compared the chart in the book to the calendar, his fingers tracing along the page.

"What do you think I need moon phases for?"

I snorted dryly, shaking my head at the seemingly absurd question that — if you thought about it — wasn't absurd at all. Because if I'd be honest with him, I'd have to tell him I need the dates and times of both full- and new moons for the next few months in order to curse an object to kill Dumbledore.

Instead, though, I said, "Astronomy, of course," in a mocking tone. "It seems Professor Sinistra has made it her personal chore to not let me pass this year." That, however, wasn't a lie.

Humming in recognition of my words, he nodded absentmindedly. "Makes sense," He muttered, making my brows raise as I waited for him to go on.

I wasn't quite sure if he was aware of the fact he was speaking out loud. "—Seeing as her boggart is You-Know-Who and your mum—" He cut himself off, eyes flickering up in light panic.

He quickly shook his head, then, eyes darting back down to the pages in order to avoid my stern glare. "Sorry," He sighed, swallowing thickly.

It was silent between us for a while, his eyes trained on the charts in front of him while mine were trained on him. His head rested in his left hand; arm propped onto the table. He rubbed his eyes or scratched his nose with his free hand every now and then, though made no other movement apart from that.

"Anyways," He suddenly exhaled, clearing his throat as his green eyes darted back up to mine, a small, apologetic smile on his lips. "The next full moon is on the tenth of November," He pointed out, my eyes trailing down to follow his finger tapping the date on the calendar. "I'll mark the next... four moons up for you?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "That would be nice, yeah."

With a low grunt, he acknowledged my words, his quill gracefully circling each date before drawing either a small full- or half-moon in it.

"I can't help but feel like you should've been able to do that by yourself?" Placing the quill on the wooden table, he looked back at me, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes as the words left his mouth.

I huffed, rolling my eyes playfully. "Maybe," I teased. "I don't see what's wrong with just wanting to spend time with you, though," I added quickly, and it took everything within me to keep my lips from curling up into a grin.

A playful gasp escaped his mouth, and he shook his head in the same manner. "I cannot believe you're just using me for my brains, Adreanna Hayes," He scolded, his own lips turning upwards into a smile at the words.

I snorted dryly, a singular laugh escaping my lips as I hit his shoulder lightly. "Come on, Alire," I muttered as I got up, waiting for him to mirror my gesture as he handed me the calendar. "You know I'm using you for more than just your brains."

"Is that so?" Brows raising as he threw his arm around my shoulders, he gently guided me out of the hall, a smirk on his face. "Who says I'm not the one using you?"

my lips twisted into a wide smile, eyes rolling as I let my head fall against his shoulder. "Nobody uses me."

"Really? Because I remember you asking me to do so just—"

As we exited through the large doors, my eyes immediately fell on Malfoy; it was hard to ignore him when he was literal seconds from running into the both of us completely. His eyes directed towards the floor up until now.

"—Merlin, watch out," Kai muttered, cutting his previous sentence short, head shaking lightly as he turned me by my shoulder to steer around the blonde. The latter's nose scrunched up in disdain at the words, scanning the both of us intently before his eyes stayed on me.

My brows raised in interest at his stern gaze, shaking my own head lightly in hopes it would coerce any words out of him. As we passed him, my eyes stayed on him; head turning to look over my shoulder in order to do so.

"Why don't you stay clear of me, instead, Alire?" Malfoy wondered out loud, fully turning around as Kai did the same. He had a sly smirk on his lips, his eyes darting over to Kai's hand around my shoulder once before they focused fully on the brunette.

"As far as I'm aware, this isn't your corridor, is it?" Kai huffed. "So let's just stay clear of each other."

Malfoy tilted his head lightly, his brows raising simultaneously, a content hum escaping his lips. "If I were you, I'd be more mindful about what you should and shouldn't call yours or mine."

His eyes flickered over to me for a moment, the gesture making me regret not killing him when I had the chance to. My nose scrunched up lightly, and his eyes diverted back onto Kai, his arm no longer around my shoulder.

When the Ravenclaw turned around with nothing more than a "Just piss off, why don't you?" I held in my own laughter until after we turned a corner. Once we did, though, I couldn't help myself.

"Piss off? Really?" I mocked lightly, poking his side to annoy him further. "I feel like you could've come up with something better than that." The grin on my lips was wide, teasing him without even having to say anything.

Kai groaned lowly in return, head falling back to look up at the ceiling as the sound escaped his lips.

"One more word, and you can join him," He muttered, head tilting to send a single glare my way. My hands raised in defence, a small smile still on my lips.

"Alright, alright!" I faltered, rolling my eyes. "You win; telling someone to piss off wins every argument without fail."

He shoved me lightly, the gesture seemingly making him feel like we were even, as a sigh escaped his lips. "You truly are the worst," He joked, throwing a glance at me as he came to a halt at the corridor leading down to the dungeons.

My body leaning against the wall next to it, I crossed my arms in front of my chest. Instead of another sly remark, I just waved the calendar around. "Thank you."

My words were sincere, and he gave me a small smile in return before my eyes darted down to quickly scan the circled dates in my hand; the time of each moon rising included.

November 10th — 6:01 AM; November 24th — 4:04 PM; December 10th — 7:08 AM; December 24th — 4:12 PM

"All good?" He checked, his voice laced with interest as well as a hint of concern at the prospect of doing something wrong, head poking into my field of vision as he leaned over towards me to take another look at it himself.

I simply nodded — not quite sure if he'd be able to take another blow to his ego if I jokingly told him it wasn't all good — and lowered the page in my hand. "Perfect," I said, instead. "I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you."

A smirk found itself on my lips as I looked up at him, the sight of it making one appear on his as well.

"I think we'll find a way, don't you?"

His head tilted slightly, brown locks messily falling into his face, and a few of them tickling his nose enough to make him scrunch it up. His hand raised to push them out of his face, then, a lopsided grin gracing his features as he came close enough for the smell of parchment and dark coffee to linger in my nose.

Humming lightly at his rhetorical question, I nodded once more. "We might."

My eyes diverted as soon as I registered the sound of fast-approaching pairs of footsteps down the hall, sighing and rolling my eyes when a group of first years loudly yelling and giggling turned the corner.

Kai's gaze followed mine, the hand previously propping him up against the wall lowering as he casually leaned his back against it next to me, mirroring my position.

Looking straight ahead, a sigh escaped his lips before he asked, "You lot doing anything for Halloween?" Head nodding down to the dungeons as he referred to my house.

"Probably just get shit-faced and then regret it as soon as we have to sit in transfigurations Friday morning." As the words left my mouth, my eyes followed the group of first years as they passed us; A few of them giving us inquiring looks, almost tripping over the singular uneven stone on the floor.

A little amused by the sight, I diverted my eyes back onto the brunette next to me. The latter having a small, worried frown on his face, attention still on the kids in red robes. "And you?"

His head snapped back towards me at the question, a moment of silence between us as he thought. "Don't think so," He said, then, and a playful pout formed on my lips. "We do have an essay to hand in on Friday, so I assume that's partially the reason why."

A shocked gasp escaped my lips, hand clutching against my chest as a teasing smile found its way to my face. "And you don't have that done yet? That's only three more days to go, Kai— very unlike you."

"Well, it's not my fault I had to help you figure out moon cycles when you should be perfectly capable of doing so by yourself," He huffed, rolling his eyes as his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Okay, well, off you go, then," I hushed, gently pushing him into the direction his common room was located in. "I don't want to be the reason for your first 'Exceeds Expectations'"

He huffed lowly, brows raising as he turned to leave. "You better not," He warned — amusement lacing his voice just as much as sincerity was — before pushing himself off the wall we were previously leaned against. 

A/N: Everyone missed the A/N last time so its back due to popular demand jkbhvgcfx

Anyway, this one was more of a filler but its fun nonetheless because Kai content <3

Also just wondering how anticipated smut is in this book? LOL 

See you. <3