Best Actress

Hufflepuff Common Room.

When Gavin came down from the boys' dormitory that morning, Justin was already sprawled on the softest sofa in front of the fireplace.

He looked exhausted.

Gavin stopped on the stairs when he saw him and asked with a frown:

"What happened to you?"

Justin raised his head. It took him twice as long as usual.

"N-nothing."

Gavin sat across from him and took a bite of a Butter Biscuit.

He had to admit that the treats made by the older Hufflepuff students were exactly to his taste.

"He's dating Susan Bones."

Ernie came over from the other side with a glass of Pumpkin Juice, looking as though this was old news.

"What?"

Justin shot upright faster than if a curse had hit him. "How do you know?!"

Ernie didn't answer at once. He set his Pumpkin Juice on the table, sat down beside them, and took a Butter Biscuit of his own.

"Three days ago, in the library, you kept asking her questions. You two were sitting closer than ordinary friends would."

Justin's mouth fell open.

"Yesterday, after dinner, at the corner of the corridor, you wrapped your scarf around her neck."

"How did you—"

"Don't get the wrong idea. I happened to pass by. Besides, you weren't exactly hiding."

Gavin watched Justin's face go from white to red, then to a shade of deep crimson he couldn't describe.

That reminded him of something.

He had seen Justin's and Susan's names overlapping in the library on the Marauder's Map.

He hadn't thought much of it then, but looking back, that was well inside the bounds of personal space.

"How did you two get together?" Gavin asked, puzzled about how it had started.

"After that Quidditch match—" Ernie began.

Justin suddenly reached out and clapped a hand