'You've been lying… all this time?'

Theodore, not knowing what else was there to do, nodded slowly (and not quite surely). He knew it wasn't a very convincing lie. In fact, it was one of the stupidest lies he ever told, but since Grishoff was the master of stupid lies, maybe he'd actually believe it.

'I can't believe it…' Grishoff started, as he placed his palm across his forehead.

'So… Are you going to give me detention? Sort out books in the library? Or maybe make me scrub Filch's-'

'I can't believe you actually thought I would fall for that! If you want to fool a professor, Theodore, you could at least put some effort into it.'

'Yeah, maybe I should've told you I was going to be too busy on Friday afternoons, studying runes so I can go into the medical field,' Theodore muttered, disappointed.

'A liar can see through lies better than anyone, Theodore,' Grishoff replied smoothly.

'Professor Slughorn must be an honest kind of fellow, then.'

'Now, now, this isn't the time to discuss other things. Now, do tell about this vision you kept secret about me, young man, unless you'd rather be scrubbing bedpans for two weeks.'

Theodore was about to reply that he'd rather scrub bedpans for a month rather than be interrogated every Friday, but Grishoff, who seemed to have predicted that already, didn't give him a chance to, as he forced Theodore down onto a chair.

'It's stupid. It's probably not a vision.'

'A lot of visions are ridiculous. Yours aren't going to be much different.'

'… It was just… Blaise…'

Theodore scratched the back of his neck; he'd been doing that a lot lately, he noticed. Maybe he could tell Grishoff he was allergic to him-

Merlin, he was thinking of stupider lies by the minute. He shook his head inwardly, and cleared his throat before continuing.

'He said, "Well, I'm off on my big date with Eloise Midgeon," in a sarcastic tone.'

'Where does this take place?'

'The Slytherin common room… I think.'

'I see…' Grishoff commented, though he didn't see at all. 'Now… do you have… feelings for Miss Midgeon? It could be a symbolic representation-'

'Does anyone?'

'… I would like to be supportive, Theodore, but please, don't make me insult one of my own students. She tried especially hard to convince her parents to let her attend school. Continue.'

'Umm… Then I laughed at Blaise. He sighed, and then said, "Have some pity" or something. By then, I woke up.'

'Hm.'

'You… probably think it's an inaccurate vision, don't you?'

'We must give everything a chance, Theodore. It might happen later.'

'Sure, if she blackmails Blaise again.'

'I told you not to speak badly of a fellow student.'

'I'm just telling the truth.'

'With a bad choice of words,' Grishoff replied. 'You can leave my office now. I would like to remind you once more, to tell me about anything you saw in your visions, before I use more coercive methods.'

'Yes, Professor…'

Theodore walked out of the office, making sure to slam the door on the way out.

After the sound of footsteps of his student faded out, Grishoff sighed, and took a sip of his tea.

'That boy isn't as quiet and polite as I thought he would be…' he muttered.

Excellent.

----------------------------

That was it. Theodore couldn't stand not having his best friend around. Merlin, he would give anything just to hear someone ask if he could do the recent Ancient Runes homework for him-

'Nott, do you think we'd be able to do our next Ancient Runes homework together?'

Theodore looked up from his parchments. Out of all the people he expected to ask, it was Granger. Granger, the one who got the highest marks in just about anything, including Ancient Runes, was asking for his help. For some reason, however he jumbled the words around, the sentence didn't make sense.

Galloping gargoyles, she must want something from him.

'As if you would need help on anything, Granger,' he muttered. 'Getting the highest marks in just about everything… including Ancient Runes…'

He gave a sideway glance to Blaise, who didn't even give the slightest frown. The boy must be more poised than Theodore thought. He expected him to make a face; imagine, his best friend talking freely to a Muggleborn!

At least, his ex-best friend just did.

Granger placed her hands on her hips. As if she didn't hear his comment, she continued with, 'I'll tell you when and where after class finishes. Thank you for your consideration.'

'…'

Within a few seconds, Grishoff entered the room, carrying a pile of parchments with his right arm. Theodore assumed it was just the result of last week's test, and was about to give Blaise another glance until he caught Grishoff giving him one of his.

Which doesn't mean anything good, considering that it came from Grishoff and all.

'Mr. Nott, would you mind handing these parchments out to your fellow classmates?'

Theodore nodded slowly, as Grishoff beckoned him to come forward.

'Thank you. Five points for Slytherin.'

With a muttered 'You're welcome', Theodore went out of his chair rather reluctantly, and accepted the pile in his hands. It wasn't as heavy as he thought, but it wasn't exactly a pile of feathers either. Theodore looked at the parchment on the top; it was Seamus Finnigan's.

He scanned the classroom for the boy, and once Theodore found him, placed the parchment on his table. Then he moved onto the next one, and proceeded to do so continuously.

That is, until he landed his eyes on the parchment of none other than Hermione Granger, who happened to receive an O on this test. Just like in the previous ones. He wondered whether that girl got any sleep, managing to get not just good, but the best marks in almost everything. After all, witches knew various beauty spells…

Theodore decided to leave that trail of thought behind, considering the fact that he did not need those spells. Then he looked at the next parchment, with an E written on the corner; it was Blaise's.

He paused; what was Grishoff thinking?

The boy gulped. He was only going to give Blaise his parchment. Only giving Blaise his parchment. Only giving Blaise his parchment... He repeated the mantra in his head, hoping it would calm him down.

If anything, it only served in making him more nervous. But he gathered up all the courage he had, and gave Blaise his parchment.

'Thank you,' Blaise said slowly, without making eye contact at all. Theodore didn't know whether he should be relieved that it was over so quickly without anything significant happening, or disappointed because of what was pretty much the same reason.

Deciding that standing in front of his (ex) best-friend's table wasn't doing him any good, he handed out the last few parchments, before finally getting his own, at the bottom of the pile.

Did Grishoff put any symbolism in that?

It wouldn't surprise him if the professor did, but Theodore couldn't get himself to care about being the top or the bottom or the middle of the stupid pile. He looked at the mark; he actually managed to get an O, instead of his usual E. He looked at Grishoff; the man didn't seem to be the type to do so, but there was a possibility that he was bribing him with good marks.

Theodore scoffed inwardly. If Grishoff thought that would make him "open up" and tell all his secrets all of the sudden, then the man was wrong. It wasn't as if he had anyone to impress.

'We've just finished doing our various interpretations on ihwaz. Because this is one of the topics that will come up on your NEWT, I will now start teaching you on the magical properties of runes. Since ancient times, our ancestors have used runes as amulets, charms, even an oracle for use in divination. Various rituals and spells have been performed with them.

'We will start with runic divination.'

Theodore had a feeling that Grishoff glanced at him when he told them their new topic.

He saw Granger huff with disappointment at the word "divination", but didn't dwell on that. Instead, he took out his quill, and got ready to write some notes down. He saw that Blaise also had a quill in his hand, but the lazy way he held it in his hand made it clear that he was not going to take the lesson seriously, as usual.

'Runic divination, or "rune-casting", is much different from "fortune-telling", when one actually sees the future. Instead, the runes give guidance, it tells you what the likely outcome is, and analyses the path that you are currently following. The future is not fixed, you can change it with what you do, and if you dislike the path that you are on, then change it.'

Granger looked slightly more pleased. He did not know what she had against divination, but considering how Professor Trelawney was according to other students gave him a certain idea.

'I will tell you some methods of casting runes, but I'm afraid we don't have enough time in class to actually carry it out ourselves. However, if you are interested in doing so for extra credit, I will not be reluctant to help.'

He listened to the rest of Grishoff's explanation, and put it down on paper, but it was quickly forgotten, as the class ended. After Grishoff assigned the homework ('I want a one-foot-long parchment on the proper methods of rune-casting with a Runic Cross'), he gathered up all his things, and left his seat.

'Wait, Nott!' Granger exclaimed, as she ran towards him. 'How about doing the assignment together? I found this excellent book on-'

'It's not about Ancient Runes,' Theodore interrupted.

It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Theodore knew it, and Granger knew it. She had mixed expressions on her face, as if trying to come up with other excuses to talk to him, but settled with telling the truth:

'Whatever you say, Nott, but meet me in the library after your last lesson ended.' She was holding on to him by his robe, and he was about to pull away, before she hissed, 'It's important' and let go.

That just about proved it. She was not going to talk about Ancient Runes.

He was about to leave the classroom as well, but Grishoff's call stopped him.

'Wait, Theodore. Come here.'

As reluctant as he usually was to be in the presence of Grishoff, Theodore took his time, and it was a while until he dragged himself to the front of the professor's desk.

Grishoff cleared his throat. 'About the mark you received. I-'

'Was trying to use incentives to make me cooperate…?' Theodore completed the sentence.

'- was very impressed.'

Praise was not something Theodore was used to getting. He knew he did decently in almost all of his lessons, enough to earn him an average of either A or E, but he was not a genius like Hermione Granger. But being the rarely praised person he was, there was no way he was going to believe that Grishoff, out of all people, have given him a praise without a purpose in mind.

'You are suspicious of me, I suppose, and rightfully so, since I guess my first method was too… forceful. But let's not dwell on something we both find unpleasant. Theodore, do you know why I asked you to hand out the parchments to your classmates?'

Theodore shook his head, and started to pay more attention to the professor, in case he was going to give the answer.

But instead, the man sighed, and asked, 'Did you look at the other student's marks, Theodore? The numbers?'

'I… don't see where you're going with this, Professor.'

'You received the highest mark in class.'

Theodore was speechless. He tried to say something, anything, but all that would come out of his mouth was, 'I… I'm…'

'I talked with your teachers, Theodore. Your marks in other subjects are fine, and I noticed your marks in Potions have recently gone up drastically, but I believe you're not trying hard enough. I assume because you've always prided your skill in Ancient Runes you are more confident with the subject, but you need to have the same attitude in your other lessons.

'You're clever, Theodore. Don't put useless limitations on yourself.'

Out of all the people that he knew, Grishoff was far from being the first person he expected to give him a boost of confidence. There were people whom he knew would make him feel better about himself, but Grishoff was not one of them. Wasn't, isn't, never will be, or so he thought.

That was what Grishoff just did. Despite knowing better, knowing that Grishoff was meant to be getting information out of him, Theodore found himself believing the man.

'Why are you doing this?'

Grishoff raised one of his eyebrows, as if he thought inquiring about a student to all the professors who taught his lessons was a normal thing to do.

'Isn't that a normal thing to do?'

'Uh… no, it's not.'

'Well, I thought it would be a shame to let precious talent go to waste. Who knows, maybe you could be a Healer, Theodore?'

'Was that a joke?' he felt a bit strange being the one asking the questions this time, but wasn't exactly disappointed by that.

'Yes, that was indeed a joke. Also, I would like you to work on your Ancient Runes essay as soon as possible. You may go now.'

Theodore nodded, and he swiftly ran out of the classroom, before Grishoff could see the slight smile that graced his face.