Perfect Grades (Open)

[Cody James]

It wasn’t fair! Transfiguration was his thing, the one subject he was guaranteed to get better grades than irritating, stupid, bane of his existence Pyxis Malfoy. Except she wasn’t stupid and that was the problem really. Cody wanted to be the best in his year, to prove beyond a doubt that he was better at magic than some stuck up purebloods. And it was working... Mostly. It would be working better if not for perfect Pyxis with her perfect grades and her perfect... hair!

Cody huffed, crossing his arms and glaring across the transfiguration classroom at the back of her blonde head. Class was almost over and they’d just got back their results for the latest pop quiz, a test where they’d had to turn their textbooks into turtles and back. His had been good turtles, if a little papery, a good solid O. But Pyxis’s had been better, top of the class perfect in fact, and now Cody was fuming. As soon as class was dismissed he stood, stalking across the room to catch her before she could escape.

”How did you do it?” He demanded, arms still crossed and voice slightly more whiney than he’d been hoping for. Sure he was annoyed that she was beating him, but she was also attractive enough that he didn’t want her to think he was irritating. In truth he’d always had a bit of a crush on her, but she always seemed to have another boy on her arm, somebody much cooler than he was, so he’d never really had the chance to talk to her. She was single now, if the gossip was to be believed, and so he didn’t want to ruin his chances entirely.

[Pyxis Malfoy]

Pyxis smiled when she got her mark back. Her turtle had been perfect, cute, slow and stupid. The teacher had gushed about how good it was while she sat in her desk, basking in the glory of being top of the class. That was what kept her going, attention. It didn't matter if it was from her peers or the teachers, as long as they were looking at her, praising her she was happy. Of course that never happened at home. With her parents it was always "Pyxis do better, like your sister or brother. An E is simply not acceptable. Anything less than perfect is a failure." But here at Hogwarts she was different, at school she was the golden girl. Destined to go places.

And she wanted to go places. Pyxis had her eye on one job and one job only, Minister for Magic. As the teacher dismissed the class she scooped her books, up in her arms and turned sweep out of the class. She could feel some of her peer's eyes on her and kept a bright knowing smile on her face. The way a celebrity smiles at her adoring fans, because that's what they were to her. As she walked towards the door she was stopped by a boy.

"How did you do it?" He asked and she paused, not letting her smile falter. She looked him over with her bright blue eyes. He was taller than her, darker blonde hair, kinda cute, and a Hufflepuff. He had been in her classes since her first year and his name was Cody James.

"How do I do what?" She asked innocently shifting so her textbooks, and former turtle, were on her left arm. She reached up and ran her left hand through her long hair. She shook her head a little, letting the hair shake out and smile flirtatiously at him. She had broken up with her last "boyfriend" - if you could call him that - and was always looking for a new guy. It wasn't hard, Pyxis was one of the most cutest, desired girls, third year, Slytherin, and to her being desired was everything.

[Cody James]

Pyxis was smiling that knowing smile of hers, the one he’d seen on her face countless times in class when she knew the right answer or got some praise from a teacher. It was infuriating, made even worse by the fact that he knew he would be wearing that exact same smile had he been top of the class. Except Cody just looked smug when he smiled like that, on Pyxis it was attractive. She was confident and cool and so out of his league it wasn’t even funny. He shook his head, determined to concentrate on transfiguration and not how pretty she was, that would only make him flustered and he wanted, just once, to try and hold a conversation with a pretty girl without saying something stupid.

She breezed over to him, meeting him halfway and making everything look so graceful, although the way she looked at him as he spoke confirmed he’d only cut her off on her way to the door and she hadn’t actually been heading in his direction. Pyxis Malfoy didn’t talk to people, they spoke to her and if they were lucky she might grace them with a reply. Cody wished he could reach that level of popularity, but it was the kind of status only achieved by purebloods and quidditch players.

”The turtle.” He explained as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Pyxis knew what he’d been talking about, he could tell from the knowing smile on her lips. He tried and failed not to follow the path of her hand through her long blonde hair with his eyes. ”Nobody can transfigure an inanimate object to a live one so perfectly on such short notice.” Cody griped, even though he knew he’d be perfectly capable if he’d just practiced a little more. ”Nobody except you it seems.” He added, unable to resist flirting back. A little praise went a long way with somebody like Pyxis.

[Pyxis Malfoy]

Pyxis knew that she had an effect on the people around her. They couldn't help but look at her, and want to be her, and that was the way she liked it. She was the one every boy watched and every girl wanted to be, or at least she thought that, not that that mattered to her parents. To them the only thing that mattered were things that could be recorded, documented and framed, all O's on reports, prefect, things like that. Not that she had the head girl or prefect position. Despite her perfection, her perfect marks, groups of friends and outstanding status she hadn't made that cut, mostly because she was too young.

She and her dad had yelled for hours back and forth. Him saying she was a disappointment. She had screamed at him that she did everything she could to make him happy, worked harder than anyone but him never gave her any credit, his only response to that was if she worked harder than anyone she would be a prefect, despite her age.

As she pointedly looked Cody up and down again she smiled. "Oh that, that was nothing," She waved a hand dismissively, "I just practiced, anyone could do it." But she knew that wasn't true, not many people could do that at the spur of the moment, but it was always a good idea to act gracious and humble. "I could help you if you wanted." She offered smiling her brightest smile at him, though it wasn’t out of generosity, it was just the thought of him failing miserably sounded funny to her and she wanted to see it.

[Cody James]

Nothing! Cody hid his frown of irritation by ducking his head and letting his hair fall forwards. It was getting too long again, but like most boys, a haircut was about the bottom of his to do list. Besides he thought he looked rather dashing when he flicked it out of his eyes, even if his friend Kale just said he looked stupid and girly. He lifted his gaze again, smile back in place although now it was slightly strained. Transfiguring a turtle from a textbook wasn’t ‘nothing’ and both of them knew it. Matchsticks to needles and all that first year stuff was nothing, but once live creatures were involved it became a lot more difficult.

”I don’t need help!” He protested sharply, his ego taking a hit at her offer. It might have been an innocent comment, but you could never tell with a Slytherin. If anything he should be tutoring her. But he had just enough sense not to mention that out loud, mentioning a girl like Pyxis’s short comings was never a good idea. ”I just need to practice a little more myself, still got an O on raw talent alone.” Cody couldn’t help gloating just a little bit. Transfiguration was his best subject after all.

He came to the sudden realization that if he left it there she would soon lose interest in the conversation and move on. There were plenty of boys interested in Pyxis and if he lost his chance now he might not get another. ”Hey maybe we could study together sometime, though…?” Cody suggested, it would practically be a date, he couldn’t wait to tell Kale about this. ”Your turtle was very cute.” He complimented. Like most teenage boys he didn’t see animals the way girls seemed to and cute was a word he’d never usually use to describe anything, but it was worth a shot to get in her good books. ”You could show me how you got the pattern on the shell.” Helping and showing were two very different things in Cody’s mind.