Werewolf bites and a.. new friend?

Aiden arrived to DADA that day as usual. No more annoyed or happy than usual as he slid into one of the chairs in the back with the other Slytherins. It was just routine. To call Aiden studious would be an overstatement. He did well in class, yes. But that was more so due to him not being completely incompetent- compared to some- rather than interest. Having interest in a subject was an advantage though. Defence had that going for it, even if he rarely expected much. It wasn't boring as some of the other classes, like history of magic. Though that too was a subject Aiden did well in.

The teacher announced today's topic; Werewolf bites, and they'd be working in pairs of girls and boys. Already then, Aiden didn't have high hopes. Even if the teacher hadn't decided to pair them up at random for 'spice', the slytherin didn't have any girl friends that he would pick to work with. In fact, he didn't have many friends at all. Those he did spend his time with was carefully chosen, and even then, he tolerated them at most.

The room regrouped into their assigned pairs. His partner was a blonde hufflepuff girl. Sweet looking, in the stereotypical way he associated with the mellow house of the badger. It was clear that the girl was annoyed, for whatever reason he couldn't fathom. They'd never spoken, neither did he feel particularly inclined to before this. Aiden didn't have any particular feelings about her until he was forced to sit in front of her scrutinising glare. The Slytherin had little interest in girls in general, and especially not stuck up ones. She didn't straight out tell him this, but it was quite clear to him that this was not her first choice. He raised his eyebrows at her, wondering what her fucking problem was. Ultimately, he didn't give a shit. It was just for this class. He'd manage.

"You're Aiden right? Sinclair? I'm Sophie. Sophie H-S-J- don't ask what it stands for- my ancestors loved the triple barreled surnames. Right now we're learning about werewolf bites. Lovely."

He nodded, both to confirm his name and everything else. "Yeah, I’m aware." He'd been here when the teacher told them about the topic, obviously. "Don't worry, I won't ask." About what her names stood for, because that would mean he was interested. Frankly, he was not. Opening his textbook, he flipped to the relevant page. “Werewolves it is, then. Care to share your knowledge, or do we make something up that sounds vaguely correct?”

Aiden hadn't intended to piss her off, but he couldn't be assed to sugar-coat anything for the sake of one girls feelings. He didn't care about anyone's feelings- avoided them like the plague in fact- and he was fine with the consequences that came with honesty. Expected it to the point where he was surprised if someone didn't care. His words clearly hit a nerve. The words left her before she seemingly could stop herself. "I'd rather trudge through werewolves than sort Flobberworms by hand with a Troll on my report card, thank you very much. The professor isn't stupid, even though you seem to think so."

Aiden raised his eyebrows at her. "Who said anything about Trolls?" Believe it or not, he was not here to fail this class, even if he admittedly came across as unbothered. He didn't address the part about finding the professor stupid. In that regard she was correct. Though, to be fair, he had a tendency to assume the worst of everyone until they had proven him wrong. Many times they never did. In Sophie's case, he had been wrong to assume that she was as sweet and mellow as she looked. If she was going to continue to give him attitude and beat him up over his disinterest in werewolves through the class, it was a discovery for the worse.

The girl turned to the textbook to read about Fenrir Grayback in silence, seemingly fed up with this conversation. It struck him as an act of defiance- the only thing missing to complete the image of bratty blonde was her turning away with her nose in the air. "This group project’s gonna be a blast," he commented in sarcasm, since, you know, they would have to speak at some point. With an annoyed eye roll, Aiden turned towards his own textbook to skim through the history of the rampage werewolf to the useful bits.

Aiden was sentenced to research the side effects of a bite. He watched her walk over to one of her friends(assumedly), with an unreadable expression, before turning back to the textbook to skim through the text. Though some answers were obvious enough that it hardly required a textbook to write it down. A major and inevitable side effect was that you got contaminated with lycanthropy, and were stuck transforming every full moon. Forever. Face in book, and his dominant hand twirling the quill between his fingers, Aiden started writing down the first side effect under the quick title he scribbled down. Permanent lycanthropy – infected individuals transform into a werewolf every full moon. No known cure. That was just common knowledge. His quill hovered above the parchment as he considered the next point, then added: Heightened aggression and sensitivity during the days surrounding the full moon. Unpleasant, but manageable (unless you're the unlucky friend stuck in the same dorm).

Sophie had said she only was going to ask for a quill but when he glanced up again, she was still there, seemingly gossiping with one of her friends. Aiden rolled his eyes with an annoyed frown. Typical girls. Aiden thought, assuming the girl was bitching about having to work with him. Or at least, that wouldn't be too far off. Suddenly the memory of her berating him for not taking grades seriously and putting in the work seemed ironic; now Aiden was doing all the work. That grated on him more than her bratty attitude. Shooting the girl another cool, annoyed glare- though she couldn't see it with her back turned towards him- Aiden turned back to his parchment.

”After this lesson, there are a few books in the library- meet me there at six this evening.” Sophie said when she'd returned to her assigned seat. At her demand, he glanced up at her with a brow raised. Aiden wouldn't have assumed she wanted to spend more time with him than absolutely necessary. The books they had were enough to find the answers for good grades, so he didn’t see why a trip to the library would be necessary except for her simply wanting to. “What would we find there that we can’t read in this book?” Unless, of course, she simply wanted a reason to spend more alone time with him. Aiden sighed, watching her with a tilt of his head. A smirk teased at the edge of his mouth, his tone breaching into flirty territory. “Unless this simply is your way of trying to get me alone.” He wasn’t afraid to ask, even if he had no plans of follow through.

”Oh yes, Mr Sinclair- everywhere else you seem to be surrounded by a group of adoring fans. See you tonight- and by the way- Olivia Nightshade's trying to slip you a love potion, but knowing her brewing skills, it'll send you to the hospital wing."

Aiden rolled his eyes at her observation about fans. If he had any of those, it was not because he had any desire for them. Most of the time he didn’t pay enough attention tp notice people unless they were bugging him personally, which tended to be most conversations unless the topic was one of his specialized interests. That was one sure way to annoy him. Or if they were gorgeous, of course. Aiden noticed them then, too.

Sophie was gone before he could argue with her that he definitely was not in the mood for something like a date. It wasn’t a date- just studying. But for someone like Aiden, was there really a difference? The thought of being alone with someone- that wasn’t a friend- for hours and expecting to interact with them made his skin crawl. With his rotten luck, Aiden was expected to show up at the library tonight. She’d even given him an exact hour to be there, giving him no good excuse to bail unless he wanted to own it and be a no-show. Rude, definitely, but not something that should be held against him.

Aiden still hadn't made up his mind whether he would be at the library tonight when he dropped the book back in his bag and left the classroom. His mind lingered on the snippet of information the hufflepuff had given him, brows furrowed in concern. Aiden didn’t have any fucking clue who Olivia Nightshade was, and by the sounds of it, it should remain that way. He shuddered imagining himself falling slave to someone due to a love potion. Nothing would be worse and more humiliating. Ending up in the hospital wing was the preferable option, rather than being the unfortunate victim of a love potion. Frankly, the thought of it was horrifying. If it was true and Sophie wasn’t saying a bunch of crap to throw him off, he would have to be extremely careful about accepting any gifts from now on...