Simon sighed, looking up at Watford, at the academy that had been his home for the last seven years. It hadn't changed much during that time, and for a minute Simon could almost forget about the Insidious Humdrum, and what he was expected to do.

"Are you going to just stand there staring up gormlessly all day Snow?" came just about the least welcome voice Simon had ever heard, that of his roommate- Tyrannus Basilton Pitch.

"I thought I would, yeah, and block the entrance so that gits like you can't get in this year," Simon snapped in reply, something about Baz's tone just getting on his nerves.

"By all means go ahead and do that," Baz said snarkily, "I'll just go around to the side entrance."

Truth be told Simon had forgotten all about that other, lesser used entrance until Baz mentioned it.

"Well…" Simon began, but luckily he was saved from having to come up with something witty by the appearance of "Penelope," Simon said gratefully.

"Hello Simon, Baz, how were your summers?" the girl asked.

"Fine," Baz mumbled while sidling past Simon into Watford. Simon, on the other hand, immediately launched into a blow by blow account of his holiday back at the orphanage.

Simon and Penelope began walking through Watford's picturesque grounds, towards the memories of the six years they'd spent together. Simon prattled on over numerous aspects of his rather ordinary summer as they entered the Dining Hall. Out of habit Simon's eyes found a girl, her almost white hair sparkling under the lights, face enthralled in conversation. Agatha was so beautiful it almost hurt Simon.

"Agatha!" Penelope called running towards the girl. Simon watched as they hugged, Agatha's face peering over Penelope's shoulder giving Simon one of her beautiful smiles like it was a gift. That's when he saw Baz. Baz was sitting in the seat next to Agatha's, the seat that Simon usually occupied.

"I swear you've grown at least an inch since I last saw you! And he's let his hair grow, hasn't he Penny?" This last remark was directed at Penelope who looked at him with a shrewd gaze.

"Still not as tall as me." Baz muttered.

Two spots of red highlighted Simon's cheeks and he decided in that moment that he could not imagine another year as Baz's roommate without attempting to kill him.

"Baz," Agatha chided, releasing Simon to scold Baz.

Penelope gave Simon a sympathetic look over their heads. Simon sat next to her and gave her a weak smile. Just another year at Watford.

The Mage had not spoken yet. This in itself was a strange occurrence that had only happened once before (when the Mage had gorged himself on too many pumpkin rolls). Instead the vice head (Simon could never remember her name, he'd never taken any of her classes) spoke, reminding them that these were tough times but that Watford was just as safe as ever.

"Yeah right," Penelope whispered to Simon, "the Mage isn't here, and have you noticed how the class numbers have gone down." Simon hadn't until she mentioned it, but as he looked around he realised that there weren't as many people there as usual and the people who were there looked apprehensive.

"Actually Penelope," Baz butted in, "most people are just paranoid and stupid, as if the Insidious Humdrum can be that dangerous, especially if Snow is supposed to defeat it," he sneered.

Agatha, much to Simon's chagrin, actually giggled at Baz's remark, before quickly apologizing after seeing Simon's face.

"I don't know," Penelope started, "the Mage certainly seems to be taking the Humdrum seriously."

Baz snorted, not even dignifying that with a response as everyone began to eat the food on the tables.

After the meal, Simon was exhausted, but as he left the hall, the Mage jumped out of the shadows. "Hello Simon, how are you today?" he asked.

"Just fine thank you sir," Simon replied, after he calmed down a bit from his fright.

"That's good," said the Mage, "well, I'll be seeing you, you'd better get going on up to your dormitory," he said jovially while walking away. Simon stared after him in disbelief, not noticing Baz walking up behind him until too late.

"Staring gormlessly again Snow," Baz remarked with a sneer, "It seems to be your default expression."

Simon almost jumped out of his skin, spending slightly too long trying to think of a comeback while Baz sneered at him.

"Well, your default expression seems to be brooding- oh wait- that's in the instruction booklet isn't it? How to be a Pitch?"

Baz leant against the wall, his grey eyes seeming to sparkle as they looked down at Simon.

"I think you need better comebacks."

"And I think we should just ignore each other."

Baz didn't answer.

"Baz?"

Simon was starting to get annoyed. Baz was looking at him with an air of contempt.

"Answer me."

Baz folded himself to the ground, his limbs unnaturally long, and took off his ring, rolling it around his hands and smiled- or was it grimaced- up at Simon.

That did it; Simon really didn't like people ignoring him. And that's when it clicked. Baz was someone who, at times, didn't even deserve the breath to curse him, and this was one of those times. Simon turned on his heel and marched off in the direction of the dormitory that they shared.

"Snow?" Baz called after Simon's retreating back, "the dormitory's locked for some reason…." But Simon never heard, as Baz's whisper was marred by his chuckles.

When Baz caught up to Simon he was standing outside their dormitory looking thunderous.

"What did you do?" Simon demanded, not even looking at Baz.

"Don't look at me Snow, I didn't do anything." Baz replied.

"Of course you didn't, you never do anything do you?" Simon said nastily.

"Now, now Snow, obviously you didn't use your brain, have you tried unlocking it?" Baz asked.

"Of course I have but…" Simon trailed off mumbling the end of his statement.

"What was that Snow?" Baz queried, grinning at Simon's discomfort.

"I'm not all that good at unlocking spells, I couldn't really remember that many." Simon said, not looking Baz in the eyes.

"Let's see if this one works," Baz sighed, "Simon says the door should open." With that the door opened, allowing the boys in.

"Why didn't I know that spell?" Simon asked crossly.

"Because it is an advanced spell," Baz replied, sitting on his bed to remove his shoes, "It can be used for almost anything."

"Really?" Simon said in disbelief, "I suppose I should remember that one then."

"Can you just stop your inane chattering," Baz said tiredly, "I'm going to bed."

"Fine then," Simon said in reply, stomping into the bathroom.

Simon didn't really know what he wanted to do in the bathroom, in actual fact he just wanted to get as far away from Baz as the small dormitories allowed. Leaning against the sink Simon looked at his reflection in the mirror. Brown hair, brown eyes, brown skin. A lot of brown as a matter of fact. But Simon couldn't consider the boy in the mirror a hero- even after seven years of being told he was. Simon brushed his teeth relishing in the minty taste and then returned to the darkness of the room that was filled with Baz's sleepless breathing. Simon ignored the book that was open on his desk- assuming that Baz had put a spell on it- and pulled down the covers on his bed, gladly welcoming sleep.

Simon woke to the noise of frantic knocking on his door. Sleepily, his eyes only open a crack; he peered over at Baz's bed. It was empty. This woke Simon considerably. He stumbled out of bed; his casual clothes rumpled and creased from the night, and tried to open the door. It was locked. A curse exploded from Simon's mouth as he dug his wand out from his jeans pocket.

"Simon says door unlock."

The voice came from the other side of the door and a furious Penelope whirled in taking one look at the rumpled silhouette of Simon with his wand held loosely in his hand.

"What were you going to do with that? I hope you were thinking about checking the time?"

Her uniform was almost impeccable- Simon remembered that lessons were starting today- and this fact made him curse again.

"Just give me five minutes," Simon shouted at Penelope, rushing into the bathroom and simultaneously brushing his teeth and trying to straighten his hair.

"I'll meet you outside," Penelope replied, walking calmly out of the room as Simon began to strip out of his day-old clothes.

A few minutes later, Simon stumbled out of the dormitory with his tie crooked and his book bag over his shoulder.

"Honestly Simon, sometimes I wonder where you would be without me," Penelope said while straightening his tie.

"Late," Simon replied, "Or at least later than I am now," he amended.

"Speaking of late, we have no time for breakfast; we have to get to class." Penelope said, pulling Simon along the corridor after her.

"But Penny…" Simon whined as his stomach rumbled loudly, tripping over his untied shoelaces as he followed Penelope to the class.

"You should have thought about that before you woke up late. Have you never heard of this wonderful modern invention called an alarm clock?" Penelope asked sarcastically.

"Why are you so mean to me Penny?" Simon pouted as they pulled to a stop outside the classroom.

"I'm not as mean to you as he teachers would have been if you were even later," Penny replied. "And how do you expect yourself to defeat the Insidious Humdrum if you don't learn your spells?" They paused outside the huge wooden doors set in a stone arch and ignored the small bustles of the late students around them.

Penelope sighed and fixed Simon's hair, "there, now at least you look presentable." Simon smiled at her before taking a deep breath to still his erratic heart beat and then pushed open the wooden doors. Silence greeted them.

"Ah, it seems Mr Snow has finally decided to grace our spells class with his presence." Professor Plum exclaimed, striding down the aisle from the front of the classroom. Simon smiled, caught like a deer in the headlights and tried to use his charm.

"Hello Professor, you had a good summer, I hope?"

"Yes I did Mr Snow; I trust that you completed the holiday homework I set for you, that would make my holidays a lot better."

This stopped Simon's thoughts in their tracks, the spell holiday homework. He had completely forgotten about the homework that had been set before his latest run in with the Insidious Humdrum. This made him forgetful. Penelope, her head down, rifled into her book bag and pulled out pages of crisp paper. Then with a knowing glance at Simon, she retreated to the front of the classroom to take her assigned seat.

"Well Mr Snow," Professor Plum said, shaking out her charm bracelet and pointing it to the detentions list. Simon Snow appeared in her neat calligraphy below Howard Cooper.

"Detention, for a week!" Professor Plum gave Simon a stern look, then turned making her way back to the room. "Maybe this shall give Mr Snow time to finish his homework."

"Alright class, we shall practice the incantations for any dilemma in which you should have read about in the holidays." She gave a stern look over her glasses at Simon, "Using the words 'Simon says', ironically." While she continued talking Simon slid into the nearest seat, cheeks flushed with shame.

By the time the day ended, Simon was exhausted, and annoyed. When he got back to his dormitory and saw Baz lounging nonchalantly on his bed, he exploded.

"Why didn't you remind me about the holiday homework?" Simon snapped at Baz.

"Well, Snow" Baz replied, "first we were ignoring each other, then you stormed out of the room and I went to bed, leaving your spells book open to the right page on your desk, thinking that may just jog your memory, but no, you are too daft for that."

"It's just not…" Simon trailed. "Wait; did you just say what I think you just said? Did you really leave my book open to the right page to try to… help me?" he questioned.

Now Baz looked embarrassed, "Yes, it was a moment of weakness, don't worry, it won't happen again."

"Um, thanks… I guess," Simon said, "who knew you could actually be kind of nice."

"Don't go telling everyone," Baz griped, "It could ruin my reputation entirely."

"Yeah, well anyway, I'm going to head down to the common area," Simon said.

"And I care, why?" Baz asked in reply.

"You don't, I mean, it doesn't matter, bye," Simon stammered slightly in reply, almost running out the door to escape the awkward silence they had lapsed into.

Note: We do not own Simon, or Baz, or Watford, this is all the property of Rainbow Rowell.