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It was a chilly winter's day which meant that most of the students were cooped up in the school somewhere. Matthias had been up in the Gryffindor common room working on homework for Potions, with occasional breaks to read the latest comic book he'd received from Mama had sent him. But being sat in one place like that, working on homework, even with the comic as a distraction, was driving Matty insane. Especially since there were a lot of students in the common room, the fire was roaring behind him, and everything just seemed so oppressive. He needed to get up and stretch, maybe go for a walk. The castle was huge and there was no way there wasn't something fun to find to do. He'd packed up his school stuff and brought it upstairs before heading back down to the common room. Walking was fun, but doing it alone wasn't nearly as fun. Thankfully Clara was in the common room and she looked absolutely bored too. He'd asked her if she wanted to go for a walk and she'd agreed.

Finding themselves on the sixth floor, Matty was walking along a crack in the stone floor that seemed to go on forever, balancing precariously on the separation in the stone. "The castle has so many secret passages and hidden room that I bet we couldn't find them all if we tried," he said with a bright smile. Glancing over at her, a little blush colored his cheeks. Matty was harboring a little crush on her, ever since Christmas last year when she invited him to ride the carriage together. He didn't want to say anything that might embarrass himself, but he was a bit clumsy with his words sometimes. And she was just so pretty that almost anytime he looked over at her, his cheeks got warm and he got butterflies. Stupid schmetterlinge were beating in his belly just thinking about it. "Durmstrang didn't really have hidden rooms. Everything was very straight forward, which kind of sucked. Just another reason I like Hogwarts better." Matty was focused on trying to walk along this crack without falling off it and he poked his tongue out a little as he concentrated.

Glancing over at her, Matty noticed the smile she had on her face while they walked through the halls. Whenever she was around, the room always seemed a little brighter. Matty really liked that aura that she had around her. She confirmed his thoughts about the secret rooms, commenting that there was even a passageway to the candy store in Hogsmeade. His eyes lit up with a mischievous glint when she said she was too scared to try it. "We totally should check it out together. Imagine being able to go buy sweets whenever! My teeth would totally fall out!" He did an impression of what he'd look like without teeth, mumbling about his yard like an old man. With another little chuckle, he focused on the walk again, doing his best to stay balanced on the line on the floor. When she commented on Durmstrang and said it didn't sound fun, he made an 'mhm' sound.

Then she said something that caused another blush to cross over his cheeks. She said that she was glad that he was here. Now that could just be a friend saying that because they were friends, but Matty was hoping it meant a little more. He was hoping it meant that she liked him the same way that he liked her. Still looking at the floor so that she'd be less likely to notice his blush, he said, "I'm glad you're here too." A slight grin crossed his lips as he reached the end of the crack and let out a little sigh. Well, there went that excitement. He stopped walking by a painting of an old wizard who smiled down at them. Looking at the name on the frame, he said, "Artemis Floxbottom, 1521. Hm, that's a funny name, richtig?"

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SherbertLemondrop

They were chatting about secret passages and Clara had said that she'd try taking the secret passage to Honeydukes next Hogsmeade weekend, as long as he was with her. That seemed like a normal comment between friends, so why did it cause a deep blush to spread over his face. Then she quickly added that she do it if she could talk herself into it and let out a laugh. Matty laughed too and that helped to alleviate the strange feelings in his tummy. Glancing back at the portrait, Matty missed when Clara reacted to his response to her saying that she was glad he was here at Hogwarts. Sure, it had just been a friendly response, but also he knew that she'd been unhappy at first about being placed in Hogwarts. They'd talked about that, but Matty was glad that she was in Gryffindor. It made being friends so much easier. Heck, Matty might not have even talked to her that much had she been in Hufflepuff with her sister, so that was a big plus. But he was also kind of secretly saying he was glad she was with him here in the sixth floor corridor too.

He giggled a little when Clara said that any name with 'bottom' in it was kind of rough, then she said she wondered who he was. Matty grinned. "We could just ask him, richtig? Hallo Herr Floxbottom, what are you famous for?" The portrait man, who had been looking down at the children disdainfully for mocking his name suddenly seemed to brighten up a little. It wasn't very often anymore that children came to speak to him and really it was only the weekly card game between the sixth floor portraits that he got any conversation at all. After a moment, Artemis answered the children. Clearing his throat, Artemis said, "I was a potioneer in my life. I'm most famous for inventing a potion to cure flatulence. My potion used to be taught in Potions class, and in fact, the lesson required students to come speak with me. Though, since then, I fear, my potion is no longer taught in class." Matty was covering his mouth to try and stop himself from laughing, since he didn't want to offend the portrait. But he was famous for making an anti-fart potion, and that was too hilarious.

Matty chuckled a bit when Clara said they could talk to Professor Chahal and see about getting the anti-fart potion taught in class again. Could you imagine learning that potion in class? A bunch of children struggling not to laugh at the flatulence. And to test it, they'd need someone really gassy and the children would be unable to control their laughter at that. Matty was almost breaking up trying to imagine the class. "Ja, zat vould be a real... gas..." he said with a grin and laugh. Artemis, who had seemed excited by the premise of his potion, his life's work, being taught again, suddenly looked rather downtrodden and cross at the children. With a huff, he got up from his painting and walked away, heading to the portrait of himself at Floxbottom Manor. Matty laughed even harder, then said, "I should feel guilty for making Herr Floxbottom upset, but I can't stop ze laughter." Heaving a sigh, he tried again to bring himself under control.

"I'll come back to apologize to him. Shall ve continue our valk?" Matty asked, offering Clara a smile. It was a little weird, but he had a fluttering in his stomach whenever he looked at her, and it was especially worse when they were alone. He'd have to ask Anne about that, maybe she'd know more. Though he did wonder if it was related to him having a crush on her. That much he knew, because his cheeks got warm around her and his heart always seemed to flutter a little too. So probably the fluttering in his tummy, the schmetterling in his gut, was related. A quick letter to his sister would answer that theory for him though. In the mean time, Matty was going to spend all the time he could with Clara.