Nothing Tasty In the "Alchemist's Cookbook." (Thalia)

[Deleted]

Though Katrina wasn't interested in a variety of things (she mostly liked art and that was about it), she considered herself smart and good at most subjects. She was excelling in Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. However, she was hurting in Alchemy. Perhaps it was because the Professor bored her more than people and things usually bored her, or perhaps she just didn't care for the subject's connection to ancient sciences. Either way, she felt like it was torture studying the day's lesson and preparing for the upcoming exam.

She sat in the courtyard with her textbook, her pet raven, Empusa, sitting nearby to at least offer her some companionship. Given her Affinity towards birds, the raven could sense she was in a bit more distress as usual. Katrina didn't smile at Empusa, as Katrina rarely smiled, but gave a nod of appreciation instead.

"Why did I choose this course?" she said. "Oh yeah... that's right... I had to take it." She sighed and took a grape from her sack. She grabbed a bunch of grapes from breakfast and had snacked on them throughout the day. She also snagged some meat for Empusa, which she fed her as they sat.

She looked up to see a group of Hufflepuff Quidditch Players walking off to practice and almost wished she could go off with them. Almost wished because like every magical sport, she had no interest in Quidditch... but on the other hand anything was better than reading Alchemy. Anything.

THALIA EILEEN NOTT

[THALIA EILEEN NOTT]

they call her love, love, love, love, love

Thalia Eileen Nott had always been very studious. She had been the definition of a perfect child, especially when one decided to compare her to her older brother, Cole. While Cole aimed to impress their father with his athletic ability, Thalia had always won her parents over with her mental capability. It wasn’t to say that she wasn’t athletic, or that Cole wasn’t intelligent in his own way. The two siblings got on well enough to know that, if that were going around, that would be a lie. It was just that the blonde was enamored with books – loved to learn and read. It could be stressful sometimes, especially if she had some sort of test to do, but she loved it. It was taxing, but it was also soothing for her.

What wasn’t soothing was having her roommates and friends constantly ask to borrow her notes. No one had forced them to take the classes that they had. If they didn’t understand it, she didn’t understand why they didn’t drop it instead of continue on. And, if their marks in the class ended up being the reason for their career, then she didn’t understand why they had decided to go in that direction to begin with. Thinking of the future, Thalia wasn’t even sure what she wanted to do. She had mused with the idea of being a singer – wouldn’t that throw everyone (save, possibly, Scorp) for the loop? – when she had been younger, but the possibility seemed very unlikely now that she thought about it, logically.

She strolled outside with a book to help her translate her Runes assignment. It wasn’t particularly hard. She had gotten a good portion of it done already. While the professor had gone on lecturing, she had taken advantage of having already read the lesson in their text and went ahead and got started on the assignment. Her seat mate hadn’t been particularly thrilled when the Nott had been less than enthusiastic to share, but, then again, she rarely ever was if she didn’t particularly liked them. People like Albus were different, Thalia mused. She had to take care of them and constantly hound them, or they would never get anything done. It would reflect poorly on her, and, besides, she could always add ‘tutoring’ to her resume for whatever career she did end up aiming to get (not that she was going to have any trouble in that department.)

“Bayne?” she found herself asking, having found her fellow sixth year in the middle courtyard. She raised a blonde eyebrow at the book in her hands, gesturing towards the one in her own. “Have you finished yet? I found the second set to be particularly interesting.” Although, if Thalia had to be perfectly honest with herself, she figured the Metamorphagus in front of her probably didn’t feel the same way.

she is love and she is all i need

JAX @ CAUTION 2.0

[Deleted]

As Katrina read her Alchemy, she kept eying her sketchbook. What she wouldn't give to be able to relax and draw right then. And the courtyard provided so much inspiration. While she was good at many of her classes, none of them brought her any real joy. Art was the only thing that did. When he wasn't studying, eating or sleeping, she was usually drawing. She decided she would read a few more pages and then do a drawing to relax her brain after Alchemy did its number on it.

This plan was sort of thrown out the window when Thalia walked up. Not that Katrina didn't like Thalia. In fact, Thalia was one of the few people she did like. The girl had a good head on her shoulder, and was really dedicated to everything she did... and she did a lot. While Katrina was a vibrant person, she didn't want to be a buzzkill on Thalia's apparent fascination with Alchemy. So she just shrugged and marked her book.

"I suppose it is interesting if you like that sort of thing," she said. "Anyway, I'm about halfway through the second set. I'm getting the hang of it and all and think I'm good for the next exam. Your advice contributed to that, and for that I extend my appreciation." As usual, there was no personality in Katrina's face or voice. The same bored look in her eyes. The same near-monotone voice coming out of her mouth. But she was sincere. Katrina then gave the ground a single pat. "You can sit down and share more of your wisdom if you wish. Empusa won't attack you. She knows who not to attack." Katrina was joking here of course, though one couldn't tell. Her pet raven only attacked on her command or if directly threatened, and Katrina had never asked her to do so.

THALIA EILEEN NOTT

[THALIA EILEEN NOTT]

they call her love, love, love, love, love

While she loved and adored the class, it wasn’t hard for her to see why someone would find it mind-numbing and an incredible bore. One pretty much had to have a passion for the class, or at least be mildly interested by the content of it, so as to not fall asleep. It was the same as the History of Magic, only Professor Lambert was just as attractive as Professor Lloyd. It was a wonder the Slytherin teen got anything done in class, honestly. It was as if all the attractive looking males had suddenly decided that they wanted to teach all these classes, and Thalia wanted to participate in all of them. The only two she had decided against from the moment her parents began to tell her of Hogwarts had been Divination and Herbology, frankly because there was nothing in her future plans that involved taking either classes. She felt somewhat cruel about thinking along those lines, but she had had a long conversation about it with Professor White last year about what classes would benefit her the most, and what classes wouldn’t.

She had, as of this year, even been debating dropping DADA. But the look that he had given her when she had suggested it really put her off the idea. She had a good standing in his eyes – what with how active she was on top of her prefect duties and not – never ever – letting her grades drip below an E. She very nearly had O’s across the board. It was just that she kept getting distracted by the prettier, older teachers. She paid perfect attention in Arithmancy and Potions. She wasn’t ever distracted by how pretty Professor Noble or Professor Bartlett. She rarely ever paid any attention to Professor O’Hara. She had taken Herbology because it was such an easy O. Her mother constantly joked about the unfairness of it all – they had never had such attractive looking teachers when she had gone. When her father had heard her joking on an occasion, he had given Thalia a lecture on academics and how not to get distracted. She was still unsure if it was because he wanted her to focus in class, or if the thought of her dating was unappealing to him.

“Haven’t you ever wanted to make your own philosopher’s stone?” She had to make sure to keep the sarcastic out of her tone, but she flashed a quick smile and eyed the ground with only minimum distaste. It wasn’t as if she didn’t like to do her work outside – she did. It had been what she had been out here to do to begin with. It was just…sitting on the ground without having something to sit on hadn’t been very appealing. She would have transfigured something more comfortable for herself. “I wouldn’t want to bore you, Katrina. We can always gush over Professor Lambert and how his robes fit him just so.” And, with a slight twitch of her left hand, she allowed herself to sit down next to her fellow Slytherin. She raised an eyebrow at the bird, having seen her around plenty of times and never having had any problems. “I figure if my father’s eagle didn’t attack me when I was younger, I don’t have anything to fear from Empusa.”

she is love and she is all i need

JAX @ CAUTION 2.0

[Deleted]

Katrina almost wanted to smile at the remark about the Philosopher's Stone. She recalled the story of Nicholas Flammel, as well as one had happened with Harry Potter and this stone his first year at Hogwarts. Legends like that don't stay quiet. Still, she had no real interest in extending her life or turning things into gold. It wasn't that she wanted a short life either, and wasn't as if she didn't like gold. She just didn't care to play mad scientist instead of artistic witch. hen again, she of course knew Thalia was messing around with her with the remark.

"I think I drew one once if that counts," she said, joking back... dryly of course. When Thalia said that she didn't want to bore Katrina with Alchemy, Katrina took that as an invitation to go for her sketchbook. She would of course pay attention to Thalia while she drew. She had a great talent for art, and could draw quite well even when part of her attention was somewhere else. It was almost a second nature thing. She raised an eyebrow at Thalia when she talked lovingly about Lambert. Katrina wasn't the puppy love type... toward students or professors. But she had heard more than her share of how wonderful he was from others like Thalia.

"Please tell me you don't have dancing hearts with your and his initials in your notebook," she said. "Given student/professor romantic interaction is strictly forbidden and... just wrong, I need to avoid having whimsical feelings toward any of my instructors."

Katrina then fed Empusa another piece of meat.

"Yeah, she's not all that frightening," she said. "Sometimes I think I shouldn't have named her after a vampire goddess. Then again, Ms. Featherbottom doesn't exactly fit either."

THALIA EILEEN NOTT

[THALIA EILEEN NOTT]

they call her love, love, love, love, love

Thalia could recall very few things that caught the attention of one Katrina Bayne. Over the course of the six years that she had known her fellow brunette, there were only a handful or so things – that the blonde had witnessed – that had, legitimately, managed to amuse and capture Bayne’s interest to the point where the girl wasn’t incredibly sarcastic. It wasn’t that she minded the sarcasm. Actually, she appreciated it. Compared to Alietta’s constant state of drunk and chipper, it was refreshing and definitely an attitude the Nott appreciated. Still, she understood where the other girl was coming from, and she did have to blush at what she had said. She had meant it, mostly, as a joke, but she could see where Katrina could take it that she was being serious. After all, there were plenty of girls in Hogwarts who were, legitimately, throwing themselves at the professors in hopes of getting a better grade. Disgustingly enough, Thalia could actually name names and point out who was doing it, including one of their fellow roommates, though she’d never call them out on it in public. No, such matters were handled…delicately in Slytherin. There were no face-to-face confrontations, only a council of sorts, and even that was very rare. No one liked to get in someone else’s business.

That was how they functioned. That was how they all managed to stay on relatively good terms with one another with only an occasional fight here and there. (Usually one that she or one of the other Prefects had to break up, but never ever in public where anyone of the other houses could see, and exploit, the weakness and breach in character.) Her face colored a lovely shade of red. It stood out especially against her pale, smooth skin. She shrugged her shoulder slightly, trying to think of a response that wouldn’t make her seem like an idiotic skank. “I would like to point out that I have better use of my magic than making hearts dance across my notebook.” She started, diplomatically, “Like, charming them to write my notes word for word so I don’t miss anything,” which she did in pretty much every class. Why no one else seemed to think of that as a solution was beyond her. Thalia was almost sure that she would have to charm some people’s notebooks soon to do the same. She couldn’t always be handing out her study guides this way and that. It simply wasn’t practical.

“Nor would I ever consider dating him – or any of our professors, really. I don’t mind that they’re nice to look at, but I draw the line at having to see them after school hours for clubs and such.” Because, even though she liked to flirt and make some of the younger professors squirm, she wasn’t the type of girl who would ever actually do anything. She was too busy to be involved in stupid things like that. And, besides, Thalia hardly had enough time for herself. She wasn’t looking to get into any sort of relationship until she was certain that the guy could handle hardly spending any time with her, or putting just as much on his plate so that he could. If they weren’t in many of the same clubs, then it was only a shame for them. That was why she liked Darrius so much, though the older Slytherin was in different classes. He respected her, her opinion, and everything that she did without having her or getting on to her for doing so much. If only he’d grow a pair and actually ask her out, things would be different. She cracked a smile and agreed. “I can’t say that I would. And, honestly, I like the name Empusa. It’s not common. I’m the one with Halle.” Her own hawk owl that had been given to her when she had been younger.

she is love and she is all i need

JAX @ CAUTION 2.0

[Deleted]

Katrina couldn't help but smirk when Thalia said what she was really doing instead of making moving hearts. Katrina believed her too. Thalia was extremely bright, and must have taken really good notes, with or without magic. Still, Katrina had to be Katrina.

"I'll take your word for it," she said. "Might give that shot myself."

As Thalia went on, Katrina cringed again at the thought of dating one of her professors. She cringed at the idea of dating most students too, but professors... ugh.

"Another good thing about art is I have something better to focus on than dating, though I was talked into doing that blind date thing," said Katrina. She then shrugged. "I don't know, guess I wanted to see what potentially romantic social interaction with the opposite gender is like. But knowing me, I'll probably ditch him after the first date... whoever he turns out to be." In actuality, the possibility the date could go somewhere hit her too. If that happened, she hoped she wouldn't live to regret it.

The discussion then went to pets again, which made Katrina more comfortable. Katrina loved most any bird, and really didn't have a problem with an animal in general. She felt one knew where one stood with an animal, whether one was its friend or its lunch. Humans weren't as trustworthy. But the one beside her was close enough to that, at least to Katrina.

"Birds are good to have around," she said. "You seem like you have a good one with Halle."

Katrina then sketched quietly for a moment, then looked at Thalia.

"So was thinking about going to Hogsmeade this weekend," she said. "You want to come with?"

[THALIA EILEEN NOTT]

they call her love, love, love, love, love

Her eyes brightened lightly at the thought, elbowing Katrina slightly with a knowing look in her eye. “If you need my help to cast the spell, we have the majority of our classes together.” Keeping out the fact that Thalia was taking almost twice the classes that Katrina was. In fact, if she added it all up correctly in her mind, then she was in exactly twice as many classes as her fellow Slytherin. She didn’t blame her much for it, really. It was just that the blonde tended to be an overachiever. Everyone asked her why she did it – why she took so many classes. It was because she was aiming to have the most N.E.W.T.s, and no one was going to stop her from that dream. Admittedly, she was a bit of an overachiever and could probably do with some time off. Still, she didn’t have much time for studying aside from taking notes. She preferred to go over them by teaching it to her friends. “Well, we have all of your classes together. I envy you so much.”

“Cole likes to tell me that the only reason I’m doing so much is so that I can avoid the fact that I don’t very much like a lot of people.” She winced slightly, remembering how flushed and upset the comment had made her. It wasn’t like she didn’t have time for dating. She just…didn’t have any time for it. She was always so busy with school work. Gah, just thinking about it upset her when he said stuff like that. She glowered internally at the thoughts before shaking her head and raising an eyebrow. “You were actually talked into it? You poor thing,” Thalia teased, knowing that Katrina would probably have more fun than she was thinking of. She hummed under her breath lightly before shrugging her shoulder. “Sounds like every single one of the dates I’ve been on. No worries. If you end up hating the guy, we can always hex him later, right? Secretly, of course, so I don’t have to take off points.”

“Oh, I adore Halle. I make a point to visit her at least once a week. She likes to peck my hand if she isn’t satisfied with whatever treat I bring her.” Thalia, only partially, wanted to roll her eyes because her beloved bird was such a silly thing most of the time. Silly, but she couldn’t remember a single time when she couldn’t count for Halle to be there for her. It was rare that Cole ever wanted to let her borrow his owl, so she counted on Halle for most of her letters to their Mother or, on the rare occasion that her father bothered to send her something, her response right back to him. She blinked quickly, reverting her attention back to the Slytherin that sat right next to her with a smile on her face. “Sure, why not? I’m pretty much ahead of everything, and I need to get some new ink.”

she is love and she is all i need

JAX @ CAUTION 2.0

[Deleted]

Katrina nodded when Thalia offered to help with the spell.

"Okay, and in return I can draw a self portrait of you if you want one," she said. "I don't do a lot of those, but the last person I drew said I was pretty good at it and it won't hurt keeping in good practice seeing I want to do stuff like that as a job one day." What Katrina didn't tell Thalia was that she thought her friend was pretty and more than worthy of having herself sketched. But Katrina wasn't the mushy type.

Katrina smirked as how Thalia envied her.

"Yeah, lucky me," she joked dryly.

Katrina raised an eyebrow when Thalia said she should hex her blind date if she didn't like him.

"Nah, I figure if I hex him, he'll annoy me even more, following me around and trying to get me to life said hex," she said. "It's best he would know I have no more interest in him whatsoever. But who knows, maybe we'll hit it off, someday get married, have like three of four kids, and live in some cottage on a beach where I'll cook him chicken dinners while he sits and drinks beer all day. That's the dream life right there I tell ya."

Katrina almost wanted to laugh in spite of herself, but decided to hold it in. She then nodded again when Thalia accepted the invitation to Hogsmeade.

"Cool," she said. "We can eat at the Three Broomsticks, and yeah I have to get some new paints. Last time I accidentally got some of those that make your painting jump right off the canvas. You should have seen the look on Elena Court's face and heard her screams. That dragon I painted must have chased her for an hour."

THALIA EILEEN NOTT

[THALIA EILEEN NOTT]

they call her love, love, love, love, love

Honestly, Thalia wasn’t entirely sure how to go about telling Katrina that she didn’t really need a portrait of herself. The blonde barely looked in mirrors these days. Her hair was generally a mess – if it wasn’t, it was because she had the chance of seeing Darrius at some point that day, and she would really rather not embarrass herself by looking as horrible as she had the last time the childhood friends had met. The most she did with her hair was make sure it wasn’t too tangy as she whipped it into a side ponytail or straightened it to hang down behind her. Still, she knew how talented Katrina was. She also knew how rare it was for the brunette to offer to do something like that. She was touched. “Is it?” Her blue eyes focused on the other girl briefly, almost as if she was appraising her. “An artist?” She shouldn’t have been surprised. She should have seen it coming. It should have been obvious from the moment the two were forced to share a room with one another, but, for some reason, it had never occurred to her that that was a possible career. “How awful is it that I have no idea what I want to be?”

She wrinkled her nose at the thought, tilting her head upwards as she thought about what she was going to say next, carefully. “Think about it; you can say no. I can’t.” That and it all went back to the fact that she had no idea what she wanted to be. There were so many choices, and, whatever field she decided on, she wanted to be sure that she was the best candidate for whatever it was. Thalia hummed. “Well, I suppose that they could do that up until they realized that they were messing with my friend. I’m sure they’d back off real fast after that.” Not that the Nott preferred it, or even liked it in the slightest, when her friends used her like that. Not unless they had permission, and she was certain Katrina did. She didn’t take advantage of her like Ali did. “I really hope that he has a job, then. Or that your paintings and portraits really take off. Someone’s going to have to pay for that beer, right?” And, she had almost believed her. Had almost taken what Katrina had said word for word, albeit shocked. Thalia couldn’t imagine very many people living like that. Morgana knew her parents weren’t like that in the slightest. Who’s to say how she and Cole would have turned out if things had been different? No, she wanted a different life for her friend.

Oh, well, if they were going to go out to eat instead of grabbing a quick bite here, she was going to have to dig into her trunk and find some spare galleons lying around here and there. Usually, she only set aside enough to do some shopping, and, even then, she only made sure to buy the necessary stuff. Thalia had always been told that she was a bit of a bore. It wasn’t her fault that the stuff she found fun and interesting other students and people didn’t. Really. It wasn’t her fault. She had always been raised to be the academic one to Cole’s athleticism. “Damn, I would have been in a right good mood after seeing that. We only managed to hear it, and Flint wouldn’t let us look to see what was up.” She smirked, nudging Katrina lightly. “Can’t believe you didn’t even get any points deducted for that. It was brilliant.”

she is love and she is all i need

JAX @ CAUTION 2.0

[Deleted]

"Yep, an artist," said Katrina. "I have people keep telling me I should try to get a position in the Ministry, but why spend the rest of your life doing something you hate just because the money is good?" Katrina then listened as Thalia said she wasn't sure she knew what she wanted to be. Normally Katrina wasn't one to give advice, but again Thalia stood out. "Well if you don't know yet, that's probably a good sign. That means whatever you end up wanting to be will hit you at the right time. Like I said, don't let other tell you what you should be. We're Slytherins after all... all about ambition."

Katrina then smiled and even laughed a little to herself over the discussion of her "dream husband", which was something someone could and wrote down and proclaimed as history being made.

"Thalia, I think you and I both know I plan to be single for the rest of my life," she said. "I'll just grow old and alone, gradually painting stranger and stranger things and running all the kids off who come to my door and look at me like I'm some carnival attraction." Katrina was of course joking about that too. She would leave her future lovelife to whatever the hell would happen.

The smile remained when they spoke of the painting incident. Thalia definitely brought out a hidden side of Katrina. Katrina still wouldn't be social in general, but opening up to who could very well be her best friend had become easy.

"I wouldn't call it brilliant," she shrugged. "I mean it was the store's fault for showing me the wrong paints. I do think Elena is trying to come up with a revenge spell though."

(OOC- BTW, I am loving the Katrina/Thalia friendship. We should thread a great deal together.)

THALIA EILEEN NOTT

[THALIA EILEEN NOTT]

they call her love, love, love, love, love

It almost made her wonder. It almost did. What kind of life was her father living. Did he honestly enjoy his job, or was it kind of like what Katrina said? Did he hate it, but enjoyed the money so much that he kept at it? Personally, she didn’t think much of the whole “money” situation. After all, her family was loaded. And, no, she didn’t think she was conceited for saying that. It wasn’t like she was incredibly proud of it or showed off her money to anyone who would look. It was just…a fact. A simple fact. Everyone knew that the Malfoys were rich, and Scorpius certainly didn’t go around making some big deal about it. He probably enjoyed it, but then it made Thalia wonder about the whole coming of the next evil thing. She hadn’t forgotten about the bombing, though it had happened a couple of months ago. A lot of people had moved on – they hadn’t commented on the bombing that had happened so long ago, but the blonde couldn’t help but still be worried about her father and what he was getting himself into with the wizards from other countries. Her mother still hadn’t said anything back to her, either. “I’m not sure I don’t want to go into the Ministry, so don’t you go insulting what might be my job just yet.”

Although, she wasn’t sure what type of career she would want to go into. She was exceptionally good at Charms and at Potions, but she loved to create spells that would make her life easier. It had been something she had thought about exceedingly in the past couple of weeks, but Thalia honestly didn’t know. She bit the corner of her lip. “Maybe, but I’m the type of person who doesn’t like that sort of thing, Kat.” The nickname felt weird on her tongue, but it had come naturally. She glanced out of the corner of her eye, wondering how Katrina would react to it. “I like to plan. I plan out my entire schedule and give myself an hour for leeway. I suck the fun out of life. Ask anyone, especially Albus.” The blonde smile, easily. “Morgana knows I bother him enough times to do his homework. Slacker that he is.” She recalled the conversation that they had had on the Astronomy Tower, and how much better she had felt after it. She also remembered the conversation she had had with Darrius in the Common Room, and she knew better than to let herself get that stressed out again. It wouldn’t be particularly good for either of them. “And, you and I both know that I wouldn’t let you descend into a madwoman fit to be a carnival attraction? What kind of image would that paint me in, seeing as I’m with you most of the day.”

Because, like it or not, there was a certain reputation to be held the moment you became associated with someone of the Nott family. She wasn’t sure if Cole had gotten the same lecture from his parents, he probably would have or he could have commented on it more when she brought up similar lectures that she couldn’t stand to make a fool out of herself in school. Thalia Nott had a reputation to uphold, after all. She was cool and calculating, intelligent and exceeding involved in the school. She didn’t date but the most respectable of gentlemen (excluding a certain dance, but they couldn’t all win). She didn’t befriend but the most fitting of people, from all bloods as her family had been turning to one neutral rather than dark. “I would call it brilliant. Either a mistake on their part or not, I doubt she’ll succeed.” Thalia was under the impression that coming up with revenge spells was particularly difficult, especially if Elena was going to use one that had been used before. Then, both she and Katrina would be waiting for it, ready to counter it with some of the ones Thalia had tried to invent but hadn’t turned out too well.

she is love and she is all i need

JAX @ CAUTION 2.0

[Deleted]

Katrina just shrugged when Thalia told her not to talk poorly about the Ministry.

"I've got nothing against the Ministry," she said. "I mean yeah it's good work if you can get it, and the Ministry's being doing a good enough job. Just not my glass of pumpkin juice is all."

Thalia called her Kat. Katrina hated being called that, but from Thalia it wasn't so bad. Maybe Thalia was the only one Katrina would let get away with calling her that. Whatever the case, she didn't give Thalia the usual thread she gave others.

"I think you're fun," she said. "And you know me, I don't say that about a lot of people. So you're organized? You shouldn't feel like that's a bad thing. I think Albus might be relying on being the son of a celebrity or something. Who knows?"

Katrina smiled, yes another genuine smile, when Thalia promised not to let Katrina become some mad hermit of a witch living in some hut down by the river.

"Hey, maybe you and I can get a place together when we graduate from here," she said. "Live the dream together for a while." This was not a joke. Katrina had been meaning to bring that up to Thalia for a while. Katrina's mother rented out a little place near their own home, and told Katrina she and someone else could move in with a family discount of sorts.

Katrina rolled her eyes good-heartedly when Thalia insisted it was brilliant.

"Okay, maybe it was, but it would be nice to paint something without it running away from me once it's done," she said.

Katrina then looked over at her Alchemy book and sighed.

"Hey... thanks for helping me out with this stuff," she said. "Don't think I'm going to be this mushy all the time, but you're a good friend."

THALIA EILEEN NOTT