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hopeyallenjoy · 3 years

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An eventful birthday

Did he want to make love to you?

Pairing : Young Severus Snape x Fem!Reader

Warnings : slight smut ; little bit of swearing ; caught during sex ; teasing in public

Wordcount : 3, 712 words

Request : Maraudeur era Severus x reader’s first time

I think I got a little too excited about this order so here is the resume. I did two different version with the same base “ severus and reader’s first time.” Don't hesitate to tell me if you like it or not.

Resume : Severus and Reader have been together for a while but have never had sex. Reader is getting impatient and decides to invite her boyfriend to her house for the vacations. With Lucius' help, Severus takes the invitation as an implicit request for sex, so he spends the beginning of the vacation educating himself on the subject, until the big day. D-Day, which turns out to be Y/n's birthday... !

Severus waddled from one foot to the other, in front of the blue door of a small country house, wondering if he should enter or not.

That blue door was yours. You and Severus had been dating since the beginning of your sixth year at Hogwarts. You were the one who made the first move, asking him via owl if he would like to go out with you. To your surprise he agreed. In the early days, your relationship had been tedious, Severus having trouble showing you affection in public and even being unpleasant at times, but you knew him well enough to know that he didn't want to hurt you. He was just a little proud. It had to be said that the rumors that were circulating about you didn't help. Some said Severus had used dark magic to make you fall in love with him, others thought he was using you. In short, the rumors were far from reality, making Severus a despicable man when he was only afraid. Personally, you didn't care what people said or thought, but that wasn't entirely true of your boyfriend. So with all the patience you had, you managed to make him more comfortable, to make your relationship evolve so that it lasts. Taking all the necessary first steps, erasing his doubts one after the other. Yes, your sixth year had been an emotional one.

And you were not at the end of your sorrows, already another obstacle was standing in your way. A few months before the end of the year, you had started sleeping with Severus, either in your dormitory or in his. Of course you only did this, out of respect for your respective roommates, but mostly because every time you tried to exchange more than a kiss with Severus, he found an excuse not to. This behavior had annoyed you a little and even hurt you but you didn't give up and ended up inviting him to spend the vacations at your place knowing that he would have no excuse and would have to explain what was bothering him.

Severus was surprised that you invited him so suddenly, he had been disturbed by your behavior for a few months. It must be said, he was not very good with women and had gone to his best friend, Lucius Malfoy, to ask his advice. He had described to him, the changes he had noticed in the way you dressed, the way you spoke to him, and all the weird phrases that just didn't make sense to his ears.

Lucius had laughed at his explanation, confiding that you wanted to have sex with him. Severus was taken aback.

"Don't look so surprised, my friend. You told me she'd had other boyfriends before you, right?” he nodded “So, it's only natural, your little Y/n wants you to fuck her. You want that too, don't you Sev?"

Severus thought for a moment. Did he want to make love to you? The answer had come to him naturally ; of course. You was the smartest girl he knew, you always understood him, you always seemed to know what to say to make him feel confident, he wanted to confide in you all his problems, to hold you until morning and he understood that now, he would love to see your naked body and feel your warmth against him. But he was not reassured by the idea of you seeing him naked, he was afraid of disappointing you. Lucius then set out to teach Severus what he called the basics of a good fuck. He took his role as a teacher so much to heart that he spent most of the night before the vacations making a book for Severus.

The book was read in one night. Although he wasn't sure if you would like most of the practices described in Lucius's manual, Severus was a little reassured to have a minimum of knowledge before taking action. He would never have thought that sex was a subject that required so much knowledge. Severus didn't have time to continue thinking as the door in front of him opened, revealing a jovial looking woman, whom he recognized as one of your mothers. Because yes, you had two mothers.

"Severus, my boy, come in! Y/n is in her room. You can join her if you like. We'll call you when the food is ready. Oh and you should take your suitcase up with you."

He didn't have time to put one in before your mother had already joined your other mother in the kitchen. Just starting to get used to so much kindness as he had been coming to your house as a friend for a while, he stammered a slightly embarrassed thank you before running upstairs to find you. You was sitting at your window reading,when he enter your room. When you heard him come in you looked up from your book and smiled at him with a smile that would warm the coldest heart.

You were about to stand up and greet him when to your surprise he came up to you faster than a flash of lightning and kissed you fiercely. You kissed back as he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to him.

"Severus" you breathed between kisses.

"Y/n" he replied as he pushed you towards your bed without breaking the kiss.

"Y/n, the boys have arrived, they are asking where they ca... Oh!"

Severus turned around and came face to face with Lily Evans leaning on Y/n's bedroom door. Her gaze darted back and forth between your two faces and the position she had found you in.

"I think... I better go ask your mothers," she disappeared down the stairs, closing the door behind her.

Severus stood up in a bit of a panic as you burst out laughing. He questioned you with his eyes as he thought you had gone mad.

"By Merlin, I've never seen you this enterprising and Lily had to come in.

"Repeating the facts doesn't make them any less dramatic, you know Y/n? What are we going to do now that she's seen us? And what is she doing here anyway?" he said with a frown.

"Well, just like you and pretty much my entire group of friends, she was invited home to celebrate my birthday." your smile lost a little of its luster as your boyfriend broke down before your eyes.

Your birthday. He had forgotten your birthday. Severus felt like the biggest idiot in the world as he stammered a "yes, of course" while trying to avoid your gaze. You could tell by his demeanor, but you didn't have time to get your head around it, as someone knocked on the door. A few seconds later, your other mother's purple head appeared in the doorway, letting you know that the meal was ready and that all the guests were there. You and Severus walked downstairs with your mother to the dining room, decorated with colorful lanterns and holiday streamers. Around the table chatting were your friends, Remus,Sirius, Lily, Dorcas, Mary, Arthur, Frank, James and Marlene. All of them came from different groups of friends but were willing to mix for you. Since only the ends of the table were left, you and Severus sat away from each other. But it was all right, your mind was still on the revelation he had made to you indirectly a few minutes earlier. James and Sirius spat at Severus, who didn't react, just sat at the other end of the table, staring at the plate in front of him. Severus' string of bizarre behaviors reinforced the idea that something was wrong.

Normally, Severus was one of the sweetest, most caring men you'd ever met, and because of his family history, he was so desperate for love and affection that he found it hard not to look at you, or give you compliments, awkward ones, but still compliments. But the last few weeks before the vacations, he had insisted on sleeping alone, and now he had forgotten your birthday, there was definitely something wrong. You did your best to focus on the moment and not think too much. This allowed you to have a nice meal, surrounded by the good mood of your friends and family. When the meal was over, the lanterns went out as your mom came into the dining room with a huge cake of your favorite flavor in her hands. All your friends began to sing around the table, wishing you a happy birthday. That was it. You were finally 17, you couldn't help but shed a tear or two after blowing out the candles. The cake was cut and served and then it was time for the gifts. One by one the gifts came to rest in front of you as you tore off the wrapping paper that wrapped them. You received a broom set, sweets and many other gifts that filled you with joy. Each of the guests pointed to themselves after you opened their gift for you to thank them.

"And you, Severus? Where is your gift for Y/n?" Mary asked innocently.

All eyes turned to Severus as his cheeks turned crimson. He felt terrible for forgetting your birthday and now he was paying the price. He was going to have to admit that he didn't have one in front of everyone. What kind of boyfriend could forget such an important day?

"I don't..." he began.

"Severus was giving it to me as soon as he arrived, he's still in my room," you answered to avoid an affront to your boyfriend.

For the first time all evening, Severus looked up at you with hopeful eyes. You'd had time to digest the news, and while you weren't mad at him yet, he had better have a good excuse. You knew your friends well enough to know that Sirius and James would have been happy to put Severus down again, so you didn't give them the chance. The rest of the evening was spent in a calm and good mood, the small group of teenagers having moved into the living room to play teenage games like Monopoly, truth or dare etc. Once your mothers were in bed, Severus slid in beside you on the couch and shyly took your hand. Your eyes met for a moment as he squeezed your hand gently. Despite the annoyance of his behavior, you melted a little at the look on his face. You smiled at him and then gently let him know that you too would need to have a chat later. He nodded and moved a little closer to you. With a smile, you turned your attention back to the game on the coffee table and slid Severus' hand over your butt. He gave you a panicked look but you were already paying no attention to him, or so it seemed, just pushing your buttocks to meet his palm. Severus took this as an invitation and pressed his hand to your bottom trying to remember what Lucius had taught him. As quietly as possible, Severus began to knead your buttocks, waiting for a favorable reaction. This created a fire inside you that made you close your eyes for a moment. Then remembering where you were, you opened them again and gently slid Severus' hands away from you. He thought he must have felt bad or that you didn't like it, but your buttocks came to rest on his legs and quickly changed his mind. His hands had only touched your buttocks through your dress, but that wasn't enough, you wanted more. You stuck to Severus by slipping in his ear a few words.

"Touch my breasts, please.

He nodded, not sure how he was going to please you on the one hand and not get caught on the other. He started by pulling down the zipper of your dress, just enough for him to get his hands under the loose fabric. A grunt escaped him, which was thankfully covered by Sirius's protesting cries that he was in no position to win. That growl in your ear felt like a bomb in your body. You weren't wearing a bra and he could see that. That was the reason for his groan.

His fingers eventually found your nipples and he began to knead them in the same way he had kneaded your ass. You bit your lip to keep from letting all the pleasure Severus was giving you out into the open.

"Are you okay, Y/n? You're all red," Arthur said, worried about his friend.

Severus stopped his movements as all eyes were now on you.

You nodded, wanting to reassure them and avoid getting caught.

"Yes, yes. I think I'm just a little tired. Do you mind if I slip away now?"

All of your friends nodded and wished you a pleasant night as the smart ones figured out where the redness in your cheeks really came from. After Severus zipped up your dress, you took him by the hand and got up from the couch, dragging him behind you.

When you got to your room, you closed the door, this time with a key. Then you turned to face him, arms crossed.

" Go ahead. Can you explain to me why you forgot my birthday ?”

"I'm ashamed,I’m so sorry you know ? " Severus fled your gaze as he reached into the back pocket of his pants but unfortunately you notice and asked for it.

"What are you hiding ?”

You weren't totally mad, but seeing Severus so secretive left your imagination free to invent far-fetched scenarios that almost always ended with Severus admitting to cheating on you and that broke your heart. You joined him on the bed, trying to keep your composure as he sheepishly pulled a book from his back pocket.

"That's what did it. That's what made me... forgot your birthday." You took it from his hands.

"What's this?" you asked as you began to flip through it quickly.

"It's a book about sex. Lucius gave it to me, and incidentally wrote it as well, when I told him about us.”

Severus explained everything in detail, so much so that by the end of his story, you couldn't be angry anymore. On the contrary. Severus did all this to make sure he would be ready for his first time with you. It was adorable.

"Remind me never to give Lucius a chance if we ever break up " you said with a laugh.

"D-Does that mean that's not how it works ?" questioned Severus confused.

"Well... In fact... I don't know about that, Sev. I'm a virgin too." you confessed making him even more confused.

"You are ? But I thought that... What about your ex’s boyfriends ?"

You settle down a little better on the bed, not knowing how to explain it to him.

"So... Yeah I've had a bunch of boyfriends but none of them have ever touched me. And if they tried..." Severus sits cross-legged in front of you, all ears "... I break up with them. First time, you only get one. I didn't want to give it to just anyone. I never felt safe enough or in love with them enough to take the plunge." your hands find Severus', you intertwine your fingers gently. "But with you, everything is different, Severus."

"Wait Y/n... You mean you..." begins Severus, his eyes sparkling.

You smile softly at your boyfriend, your cheeks turning a little red as he moved closer to you without really realizing it.

"Yes, Sev. I'm in love with you," you finally admit.

"Oh Y/n..." he melts on your lips in a tender but passionate kiss "I think... Me too"

Your heart misses a beat. Since the beginning of your relationship, it was you who took the lead and for the roles to be reversed, it often took a few days or even a few months, so you would never have thought that for such an important confession, he would say it so easily. You could not be happier.

Severus gently flipped you over onto the bed, towering over you as you deepened the kiss. Awkwardly, you undressed each other, urgently seeking each other's lips as quickly as possible. You were the first only in your underwear, at least in your panties, and Severus was speechless. The sight of his fiery gaze titillated your pussy, which had not yet recovered from Sev's caresses in the living room. Instinctively, Severus directed his hands towards your breasts, bringing you out of your dream. He began to knead them again as he had done in the living room, but replaced one of his hands with his mouth and then his tongue, wrapping it around your erect nipples with desire. Small moans came out of your mouth in front of all the attentions of your companion.

"Does it feel good?" he asked, gradually gaining confidence.

You nodded knowing that your voice would break before you could finish your sentence. He seemed to understand as a sly smile came to perch on his lips. He wanted to taste your body, to hear your little moans again, which he found adorable and which excited him more than he wanted to say. His lips went down along your belly to land near your panties asking you for access silently. For all answer you did not delay to pull down your panties wanting desperately to feel him inside you, or at least it was as you translated the sudden heat and tingling that rose from your crotch. Severus in front of you couldn't stop his sex from growing even larger as exotic scents wafted up to his nose.

"Severus," you breathed in a prayer.

"Anything for you, love" he replied.

Within seconds, his tongue met your clit, warming it and covering it with kisses. A few minutes later he was already moving his tongue down to visit your already moistened pussy, making you moan louder than before.

"Please, Sev'. I think I'm going to cum."

"Do you think you can wait for me?" he asked as he lovingly stroked your hair.

You nodded slowly, catching your breath as Severus' tongue left your folds.

"Are you ready? Lucius told me it can hurt the first time for girls, so tell me if I -" his sex in his hand he placed it in front of your entrance as he towered over you.

"It's okay, Sev. I trust you." your smile encouraged him.

He nodded, not totally reassured. So far, it had been easy, he had been content to trust his desires and the reaction of your body, but now it was going to be harder. He could feel it. But encouraged by your love, he ended up pushing his erect member little by little into your dripping sex. An electric shock went through both of your bodies. He didn't move right away, feeling your walls tightening dangerously around his sex. Then you motioned for him to move, which he did, slowly pulling his sex out of yours before moving back in again, keeping a slow pace. The first few trips in and out were painful, but soon it was pleasure that took over. For Severus, it was pure pleasure and moaning, he loved being inside you, but was still afraid you wouldn't.

"Is that good for you, love? Can I speed it up a little?"

"Yes...; please."

So he accelerated his comings and goings, always focused on the reaction of your body to his. Your breathing became more jerky as his change of pace allowed him to perfectly match your pleasure points. It was the first time he felt like this, he felt like he was too far away from you even though his whole body was married to yours and he wanted to be one with you all the days of his life, to feel your body pressed against his forever. It didn't take long for you to tighten your grip on your lover, feeling your deliverance coming.

"Severus... I-" your sentence was swallowed up by the wave of pleasure that engulfed you.

Severus joined you in your orgasm a few minutes after yours, prolonging it as he continued to go back and forth.

"Y/n, Y/n, Fuck, Y/n!" he moaned in your ear.

Breathless, he pulled out of you and immediately took you in his arms, thanking you for your patience by covering you with kisses. He had been a little rough with you but you thought it had been for the best.

"Perfect," you sighed.

"I couldn't have said it better," he said between breaths. "Do you think we could do this again?" he questioned.

"That was our first time, remember? So there's no reason why it should be the only one." you kissed him tenderly, laughing "We can do it again whenever you want.”

"Even... Now?" he asked with an innocent look but flame of desire in his eyes.

You bit your lip before nodding.

#severus x reader #smut #snape content #snape love #snape community #snape x reader #severus snape #pro snape #snape fandom #snape fanfiction #my writing #first time #i love u

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adenei · 3 years

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Day 17: January Word Challenge

Summary: Ron meets with Professor McGonagall for his 5th year Career Advice Meeting. No pairing, but I won’t deny that Romione is 100% implied.

Positivity

“Good afternoon, Mr. Weasley. Please have a seat,” Professor McGonagall said as Ron entered the room.

He wasn’t sure what to expect. The twins weren’t entirely helpful when they saw the bulletin for the career advice meetings, and each student was scheduled sporadically. His was consequently one of the first. So much for relying on alphabetical order, he thought as he took a seat.

“Now as you know, we hold these meetings before students take their O.W.L. exams to give them an idea of what courses they’ll need to achieve high marks in to pursue their career of choice. Have you given any thought to what may interest you after you complete your Hogwarts education?” Minerva asked.

Ron felt his ears grow hot at the professor’s question. He knew what he wanted to say, but hesitated, doubting she’d react positively. His grades were mediocre, and he wasn’t exceptional in any particular subject, but he was consistent in his classes across the spectrum.

“Well, Mr. Weasley? I don’t mean to rush you, but we don’t have a lot of time,” Professor McGonagall pressed.

“I, er–I’ve given a bit of thought to being an Auror,” Ron admitted finally.

He stared at the biscuit tin on his Head of House’s desk in an attempt to avoid seeing her reaction. After a few seconds had passed, he glanced up at McGonagall briefly to see what was taking her so long to answer. She was watching him with her piercing gaze, no doubt thinking of a way to let him down gently. Somehow, he knew his aspirations were too good to be true.

Eventually, he saw her nod ever so briefly as she picked up a pile of brochures. She pulled one out and opened it. Her eyes flitted quickly across the tri-fold. “To pursue a career as an Auror will take significant effort. You will need top grades in all of your classes. Entering the training program alone requires five N.E.W.T.’s, and nothing under ‘Exceeds Expectations’ will permit you into the training program.”

“What are the courses?” Ron asked, finally looking up.

He was surprised that Professor McGonagall was explaining the material. Of course the Aurors wouldn’t be an easy option, but there wasn’t anything else that Ron could see himself doing. If he was being honest, all these years at Harry’s side as he fought off Voldemort had given him an interest in keeping the magical world safe. Especially now that he knew Voldemort was back.

“Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, and Herbology. I will have you know that I do not accept anyone into my N.E.W.T. courses with marks less than “Exceeds Expectations,’ on their Transfiguration O.W.L.’s. And Professor Snape only accepts those who receive ‘Outstanding’ on their Potions O.W.L.

“Maybe I should find something else, then,” Ron said as he immediately slumped in his chair.

If he studied twice as hard, he could probably achieve the appropriate Transfiguration marks. But Potions? There was no way he’d be able to achieve an Outstanding!

“Mr. Weasley, do not count yourself out so quickly,” Professor McGonagall said, surprising him. “According to Professors Flitwick and Sprout, your Charms and Herbology marks are ‘Acceptable’ and ‘Exceeds Expectations,’ and your Defense Against the Dark Arts marks are also satisfactory. If you put in the extra revisions, you will surely be able to follow this path.”

Ron looked up surprisingly at her words, but still didn’t believe them to be true. “There’s no way I’ll be able to achieve an O in Potions, though” he said, eyeing the other pamphlets on her desk as he began having second thoughts about his choice.

“Mr. Weasley, if I may—” Professor McGonagall started, “you are highly capable of achieving anything you set your mind to. All of the professors have noted your promise, and it is my personal opinion that the only thing lacking is a bit of self confidence and positivity. You’ve been named Prefect of your year, as well as Keeper on the Quidditch team, and despite the extra responsibilities, you are still able to keep up on your schoolwork. Managing all that you are involved in is not an easy task.”

He was surprised to hear her mention his extracurriculars. He always assumed being named Prefect was a mistake, and therefore didn’t take much stock in the badge and his duties. “Er, right, about that. Why did you choose me for Prefect, anyways?” The question slipped out before he could stop it.

McGonagall looked a bit taken aback. “Why would I not choose you?” she asked rhetorically. “You are dependable, your grades are up to snuff, and you have a strong moral compass when it comes to right and wrong with a level head on your shoulders. Might I add you do well to help keep Ms. Granger grounded.” She paused for a moment. “It also does not hurt that you are the only person in your class that is not afraid to go toe-to-toe when it is necessary. Mind you that is not the reason for which you were chosen, but simply an added bonus,” McGonagall finished with a knowing look.

Ron gave her a weak smile. So it wasn’t a fluke after all. He had been chosen for Prefect purposely. He was beginning to think that maybe he could be an Auror. It wasn’t like McGonagall laughed at his career suggestion. Plus, she was still going over the qualifications. Surely, that had to mean something!

“Now, back to the matter at hand. The Aurors are incredibly selective in who they choose to take on in the program. There have not been any new recruits in recent years. Not only that, but the training requires three more years following your time at Hogwarts, so your commitment to the program will be of utmost importance.”

Ron nodded at her words. Yeah, it was going to prove a lot of work, but the more she talked, the more Ron felt that this was meant to be his calling. He could do this, or at least he could try.

Once his meeting concluded, he thanked Professor McGonagall, and left with a renewed sense of not feeling as hopeless of a Hogwarts student and wizard. Sure, he wasn’t brilliant like Hermione, but maybe he did have his own strengths after all. He certainly felt better now that he had a direction to take his studies, and perhaps he could write off History of Magic and Divination once and for all. No more Binns or Trelawney after this year! Ron thought as made his way back to the Gryffindor common room.

#Ron Weasley #minerva mcgonagall #hp ootp #implied romione #mcgonagall totally ships them #31 days of January Word Challenge

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halothenthehorns · 3 years

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TLTNL- THE HOUSE OF GUANT

Now James knew he was missing a joke, and he never appreciated that, not even from his beloved wife. She continued in uncontrollable giggles for a solid ten minutes before he cracked and asked her, again, "what is so funny?" Like before, she merely pressed her lips together tight, but still didn't have back full control of her voice when she answered, "you wouldn't get it, promise. Old joke, I'm honestly over reacting." Finishing did seem to draw her up short, and she looked away from all of them now, no longer smiling.

She wasn't even sure herself why she wouldn't tell them. It certainly had nothing to do with Severus himself, she couldn't cling anymore to that protective urge to keep the Marauders out of their life, a life they hadn't shared in a very long time now. So what if the boys knew Harry had happened upon Snape's old Potions book, they probably would find it ironically funny after they were done bad-mouthing him yet again. Still the words wouldn't come, in explanation for them or herself, and so was relieved when Remus gave in first as she knew he would. The other three boys had a terrible habit of being nosy in all things, thinking they could find out the answer to anything. At least Remus respected when someone didn't want to answer a question, something she genuinely valued right now.

For or the rest of the week's Potions lessons Harry continued to follow the Half-Blood Prince's instructions wherever they deviated from Libatius Borage's, with the result that by their fourth lesson Slughorn was raving about Harry's abilities, saying that he had rarely taught anyone so talented.

Sirius at least still found that hilarious, releasing Lily from his curious look to snicker at that some more. Harry had found the best way ever to cheat, though he was quite sure if Slughorn did find out he'd take the book back away, it still wasn't technically doing anything wrong.

Neither Ron nor Hermione was delighted by this. Although Harry had offered to share his book with both of them, Ron had more difficulty deciphering the handwriting than Harry did, and could not keep asking Harry to read aloud or it might look suspicious. Hermione, meanwhile, was resolutely plowing on with what she called the "official" instructions, but becoming increasingly bad-tempered as they yielded poorer results than the Prince's.

Remus got a good chuckle out of that as well, of all the ways Harry had chosen to annoy his friends, he'd picked a book.

"I'm really surprised at Hermione," Sirius said. "I'd have thought she'd murder Harry by now to get herself on a better copy of a book."

"I'm sure she would have, if Harry hadn't shown off with it first," Remus smirked. "Now she's going to stand by her principal."

James didn't acknowledge the pair, still keeping steady eyes on his wife, waiting for her to crack any second. He'd had years of practice.

Lily hardly noticed, she was thinking carefully about this, and found it something she'd never thought of before. Had Snape been teaching his way of Potions for the past years? For now, she didn't think so, and perhaps he had just been giving instructions straight from the books, hoarding his knowledge of their way over the kid's heads. It seemed the type of thing this perversion of her friend would do. It explained why Harry nor his friends would recognize the handwriting as well.

Harry wondered vaguely who the Half-Blood Prince had been. Although the amount of homework they had been given prevented him from reading the whole of his copy of Advanced Potion-Making, he had skimmed through it sufficiently to see that there was barely a page on which the Prince had not made additional notes, not all of them concerned with potion-making. Here and there were directions for what looked like spells that the Prince had made up himself.

Harry whistled in surprise, also still watching his mum, unable to shake the feeling she really did know the answer. Lily misinterpreted his curious look, or ignored it, and explained, "of course spells can be made up, they all have to start from somewhere."

"How though?" He let himself be sidetracked, giving in himself and letting her play this off however she liked. He could understand not wanting to answer for some things.

"Taking the base root of magic and channeling it into spells is complex, to utilize that further is to begin creating it yourself. For example if there weren't a spell to bring something to you, the ideal way to create one would be to learn in what way your using your magic to repel something from you. In our particular case, as we use Latin, finding the correct combination of words, movement, and power to magic what you're wanting to you would create, well, the summoning spell." Her eyes remained distant through all this, like she was spouting a lecture more than looking at her son for once. "Supposedly other countries would vary of course, and it is why there's different spells to do one thing. Others found a multitude of ways to accomplish their goals. It's extremely dangerous," she finished cautioning, her eyes far away still, lost in thought, or memories.

Harry was admittedly less fascinated by this than he would have thought, she came across easily as one of his teachers when using that tone, but admitted to himself he'd never before bothered to question this so thanked her for the answer and asked Remus to go on.

Or herself, Hermione corrected irritably, overhearing Harry pointing some of these out to Ron in the common room on Saturday evening. She thought the handwriting looked like a girls.

Lily snorted violently, but tried to cover it by clasping her hand to her nose and sniffling as if it had been a sneeze. She fooled no one.

Harry reminded her of the name, how many girls went by the title of Prince?

"Thought it was more like a made up name, but the same principle stands, not to many girls would go by that title," Remus agreed absently.

Hermione seemed to have no answer to this. She merely scowled and twitched her essay on The Principles of Rematerialization away from Ron, who was trying to read it upside down.

"She could be a bit more helpful to him, he's been on her side a lot this year," Sirius chuckled.

Harry looked at his watch and hurriedly put the old copy of Advanced Potion-Making back into his bag. It was five to eight, he was going to be late for Dumbledore.

Sirius pressed a hand to his forehead, looking wide-eyed and concerned at his pup. "Did you really almost miss that because you were looking at a book?!"

Harry made a face at him, not sure how to explain his fascination with this. Yet another simple book made him uneasy in a way he couldn't explain, and he was starting to wonder if he'd dismissed Ginny to easily.

Hermione looked back up at once with excitement, promising they'd stay up and hear everything.

Harry proceeded through deserted corridors, though he had to step hastily behind a statue when Professor Trelawney appeared around a corner,

"I thought you had your cloak on you at all times?" Sirius asked.

"You should know better than anyone," Harry rolled his eyes, "that jumping to hide behind something is ten times faster than dragging the cloak out of my pocket."

Sirius nodded in agreement, though in his experience he often wandered the castle in it just for shits and giggles to startle other students.

muttering to herself as she shuffled a pack of dirty-looking playing cards, reading them as she walked.

The two of spades: conflict, she murmured, as she passed the place where Harry crouched, hidden. Then the seven of spades: an ill omen. Ten of spades: violence. Knave of spades: a dark young man, possibly troubled, one who dislikes the questioner-

"That was, oddly specific," Remus muttered, more confused than anything.

"Damn, Harry needs to stay away from those cards," Sirius chuckled, though his laughter was a bit strained this time. He still didn't like how eerily accurate Trelawney's predictions were, even when he was out of the picture now.

She stopped dead, right on the other side of Harry's statue.

She muttered to herself that couldn't be right, now annoyed, and Harry heard her reshuffling vigorously as she set off again,

Both of them burst out laughing that she managed to dismiss herself the one time she'd been so right. The woman's jokes wrote themselves. Lily joined in after a few moments, trying to push the subject away for now, but James hardly noticed, still scrutinizing her.

leaving nothing but a whiff of cooking sherry behind her. Harry waited until he was quite sure she had gone, then hurried off again until he reached the spot in the seventh-floor corridor where a single gargoyle stood against the wall. After giving the password and waiting for the spiral stairs, Harry knocked and waited for Dumbledore to allow him to come in.

They greeted each other politely, Dumbledore hoping Harry had a good first week.

"Better than the last one," Harry muttered, who would have thought he'd still manage to favor Snape over Umbridge.

Harry agreed he had, though Dumbledore chuckled what a busy week it must have been, already having a detention.

James finally looked away from Lily at that, not exactly looking satisfied but engaging his son again, "couldn't be prouder! First starting school points in the negative, now this! You are my legacy."

The boys all chuckled while Lily scoffed, trying to hide her own smile. None of them could really get too worked up over it, anything other than Umbridge's detentions would be laughable.

Harry awkwardly tried to answer, but Dumbledore did not look too stern, simply explaining he'd rearranged with Snape that he would be doing his detention next Saturday instead.

"Damn, was hoping I'd just get out of it," Harry sighed, already knowing from last year this wasn't likely.

Harry agreed without care, he had more pressing matters on his mind than Snapes detention, and now looked around surreptitiously for some indication of what Dumbledore was planning to do with him this evening. The circular office looked just as it always did; the delicate silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, puffing smoke and whirring; portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses dozed in their frames, and Dumbledore's magnificent phoenix, Fawkes, stood on his perch behind the door, watching Harry with bright interest. It did not even look as though Dumbledore had cleared a space for dueling practice.

"I'm sure if you were dueling you wouldn't be doing it in there," Remus corrected, still not convinced that's what this was.

Dumbledore's tone became all business as he addressed this himself, starting with their last conversation and how he'd promise to explain what began Voldemort's attempts to kill Harry fifteen years ago.

"Like?" Sirius drew the word out impatiently. Remus hadn't meant to hesitate, his mind spinning wildly with curiosity, but quickly kept going before Sirius' impatience really pushed through.

Harry pointed out Dumbledore had said he'd already told him everything.

"I think he meant everything relevant to you," Lily offered, though she too was wondering what prompted Dumbledore to continue many months after saying this.

Dumbledore agreed he'd told Harry every fact he knew. Now they would be delving into the thickets of guesswork, what transpired from here could be as wrong as Humphrey Belchers desire for a cheese cauldron.

James burst out with surprised laughter, but all of them were looking more curious than ever for this. It wasn't at all what they'd been thinking it was, and more than that, what would Dumbledore have to be guessing at? While clearly not infallible, as his time with Harry had proven to them, but in what way could this help?

Harry didn't even have the urge to crack a smile for the same. He had that feeling, like he was being lied to, but for the life of him couldn't put his finger on what it was about.

Harry pointed out Dumbledore would think his ideas were right. Dumbledore agreed, but pointed out that he made mistakes, and being cleverer than most, his mistakes tended to be correspondingly larger.

"Nope, not going to disagree with that." The snarky tone Remus used still weirded Sirius out, he'd never heard of his friend speak that way about him and it wasn't something he would get used to easily.

Harry tentatively asked if this would help him with the prophecy? With surviving?

"Well I'd bloody hope so," James worked hard not to say this with a scowl. "We certainly don't need him guessing how that cheese cauldron invention worked instead."

Dumbledore agreed it had everything to do with the prophecy, and he had high hopes it would help him to survive. He then got to his feet and walked around the desk, past Harry, who turned eagerly in his seat to watch Dumbledore bending over the cabinet beside the door. When Dumbledore straightened up, he was holding a familiar shallow stone basin etched with odd markings around its rim. He placed the Pensive on the desk in front of Harry. He noticed Harry looked worried.

They could all see that clearly, and couldn't blame him. So far, no foray into that thing had done much good for his life except depressing the lot of them, James still felt immensely uneasy about his son's reaction to the last one.

Harry had indeed been eyeing the Pensive with some apprehension. His previous experiences with the odd device that stored and revealed thoughts and memories, though highly instructive, had also been uncomfortable. The last time he had disturbed its contents, he had seen much more than he would have wished. But Dumbledore was smiling, saying he would be entering with Harry, and even more unusually, with permission.

"There is a first time for everything," Lily chuckled.

Harry asked what memory they'd be seeing? Dumbledore pulled a tiny vial from his pocket and explained Bob Ogden, an employee of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He'd died some time ago, but not before Dumbledore had tracked him down and persuaded him to offer these recollections.

"If he died some time ago, why was he just sitting on these memories? Wouldn't he have looked at them long before now?" Harry asked, knowing he'd been to curious about this to ask Dumbledore but the idea still seemed odd.

"I wish we did know more about that man's inner workings," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"It's also possible he has already looked at this, and simply extracted it to show you now, giving you a physical representation of the memory," Lily offered a bit more helpfully.

They were going to be accompanying him upon one of his duties. But Dumbledore was having difficulty pulling out the stopper of the crystal bottle: His injured hand seemed stiff and painful.

Harry offered to do it, but instead Dumbledore pointed his wand at the bottle and the cork flew out.

"Why wouldn't he do that first?" James looked baffled, he'd never bothered otherwise.

Harry asked again what had happened to his hand, looking at the blackened fingers with a mixture of revulsion and pity.

"Asking until they finally crack probably won't work on Dumbledore," Sirius sighed.

"It certainly didn't work on Moony," James agreed.

Dumbledore corrected now was not the time for that story, as he tipped the silvery contents of the bottle into the Pensieve. He prompted Harry to go first. He felt his feet leave the office floor; he was falling, falling through whirling darkness and then, quite suddenly, he was blinking in dazzling sunlight. Before his eyes had adjusted, Dumbledore landed beside him.

They were standing in a country lane bordered by high, tangled hedgerows, beneath a summer sky as bright and blue as a forget-me-not. Some ten feet in front of them stood a short, plump man wearing enormously thick glasses that reduced his eyes to molelike specks. He was reading a wooden signpost that was sticking out of the brambles on the left-hand side of the road. Harry knew this must be Ogden; he was the only person in sight, and he was also wearing the strange assortment of clothes so often chosen by inexperienced wizards trying to look like Muggles: in this case, a frock coat and spats over a striped one-piece bathing costume.

James and Sirius were the only ones who didn't break out into snickers at such a display, but they laughed along anyways for their reactions to it.

Before Harry had time to do more than register his bizarre appearance, however, Ogden had set off at a brisk walk down the lane.

Dumbledore and Harry followed. As they passed the wooden sign, Harry looked up at its two arms. The one pointing back the way they had come read: Great Hangleton, 5 miles. The arm pointing after Ogden said Little Hangleton, 1 mile.

None would easily forget the nightmarish start to Harry's fourth year, and didn't at all appreciate him being back in that environment. Harry couldn't help shivering again at once, memories of that graveyard he still had nightmares about likely over the next hill... but that wasn't even his worst memory anymore. He'd face Voldemort all over again to erase what he'd truly lost only a year later, so he controlled himself hopefully before the others lingering looks could fill with too much pity.

They walked a short way with nothing to see but the hedgerows, the wide blue sky overhead and the swishing, frock-coated figure ahead. Then the lane curved to the left and fell away, sloping steeply down a hillside, so that they had a sudden, unexpected view of a whole valley laid out in front of them. Harry could see a village, undoubtedly Little Hangleton, nestled between two steep hills, its church and graveyard clearly visible.

Remus' voice hitched uncomfortably at their horrifying thought being so right, and only the constant reminder Harry wasn't really there stopped them all from panicking in their own flashback of his time there. Even Dumbledore being present was of some comfort, a feeling they were sure they wouldn't get often, but as the only man left in Harry's life, they had nothing else to rely on.

Across the valley, set on the opposite hillside, was a handsome manor house surrounded by a wide expanse of velvety green lawn.

"Was it not rundown yet?" Sirius demanded, his tone too sharp for the casual question, but he'd do anything to keep conversation alive rather than dwell on other things present.

"Doesn't seem that way, or not nearly as much as it will be, as surely Harry would have noticed," Remus agreed.

"This must have been quite some time ago then, at least before Voldemort murdered his Muggle family," Sirius concluded, the knowledge doing little to comfort him Harry was back around there, even in a memory.

Dumbledore and Harry followed him onto a narrow dirt track bordered by higher and wilder hedgerows than those they had left behind. The path was crooked, rocky, and potholed, sloping down-hill like the last one, and it seemed to be heading for a patch of dark trees a little below them. Sure enough, the track soon opened up at the copse, and Dumbledore and Harry came to a halt behind Ogden, who had stopped and drawn his wand.

Despite the cloudless sky, the old trees ahead cast deep, dark, cool shadows, and it was a few seconds before Harry's eyes discerned the building half-hidden amongst the tangle of trunks. It seemed to him a very strange location to choose for a house, or else an odd decision to leave the trees growing nearby, blocking all light and the view of the valley below.

"I'm imagining that was the point," Sirius muttered darkly at once. Anyone who would purposely cast their house in shadows like that instantly reminded him of the Black house.

He wondered whether it was inhabited; its walls were mossy and so many tiles had fallen off the roof that the rafters were visible in places. Nettles grew all around it, their tips reaching the windows, which were tiny and thick with grime.

Lily felt an unease set upon her just as much as Sirius for that description. Surely a man from the Magical Law Enforcement wouldn't be there unless it was inhabited, so whoever did live there was no one she wanted to hear of.

Just as he had concluded that nobody could possibly live there, however, one of the windows was thrown open with a clatter, and a thin trickle of steam or smoke issued from it, as though somebody was cooking.

Ogden moved forward quietly and, it seemed to Harry, rather cautiously.

"Can you blame him?" James muttered.

As the dark shadows of the trees slid over him, he stopped again, staring at the front door, to which somebody had nailed a dead snake.

Harry hadn't yet been able to relax since this began, and that only made him feel worse. While no personal liking for the beasts, he understood no one would do that if it were anything but a warning.

Then there was a rustle and a crack, and a man in rags dropped from the nearest tree, landing on his feet right in front of Ogden, who leapt backward so fast he stood on the tails of his frock coat and stumbled.

The stranger spoke, you're not welcome.

The man standing before them had thick hair so matted with dirt it could have been any color. Several of his teeth were missing. His eyes were small and dark and stared in opposite directions. He might have looked comical, but he did not; the effect was frightening, and Harry could not blame Ogden for backing away several more paces before he spoke of a good evening, he was with the Ministry-

The stranger repeated himself dismissively.

Ogden nervously said he didn't understand.

Harry thought Ogden was being extremely dim; the stranger was making himself very clear in Harry's opinion, particularly as he was brandishing a wand in one hand and a short and rather bloody knife in the other.

"In his defense," Remus tried to say as mildly as he could, ignoring how much he was failing as this continued to get worse for Ogden, "the Ministry aren't really ever told that, no matter how much we may think it."

Dumbledore quietly asked of Harry he understood this.

"Why wouldn't he?" Sirius muttered, finding it more odd by the moment what exactly Dumbledore was showing Harry.

Harry agreed, wondering aloud now why wouldn't Ogden, then his eyes found the dead snake on the door again, he suddenly understood that man was speaking Parseltongue.

"Oh," the others muttered in surprise. It was not really something they thought about often, even with one sitting in the room.

Harry just grimaced, thinking how he couldn't blame the majority of wizards thinking this a Dark language when people like this used it for conversation. Then he really kept thinking about it and asked quietly, "can you learn Parseltongue?"

"Not that I'm aware of," James said slowly, not wishing to be untruthful, but he'd never particularly tried either.

Harry hesitated for a moment, then seemed to say another question than what had originally been on his mind, "Is that why Dumbledore brought me along then? To translate this?"

"Possibly," Lily agreed quietly. Harry's questions had done nothing to deflect what everyone around him was thinking, including himself. Tom Riddle had claimed to be the last heir to Slytherin, and if these people spoke Parseltongue, than they could well be meeting his mother in this place. It made as much sense as anything, how many were there in the world, and someone just happened to be speaking it in the same town as Voldemort's father would one day be. Already, they could tell it wasn't going to go well.

Dumbledore agreed.

The man in rags was now advancing on Ogden, knife in one hand, wand in the other. There was a bang, and Ogden was on the ground, clutching his nose, while a nasty yellowish goo squirted from between his fingers.

A loud voice hollard at Morfin!

An elderly man had come hurrying out of the cottage, banging the door behind him so that the dead snake swung pathetically. This man was shorter than the first, and oddly proportioned; his shoulders were very broad and his arms overlong, which, with his bright brown eyes, short scrubby hair, and wrinkled face, gave him the look of a powerful, aged monkey.

"Isn't that how you described Slytherin in the Chamber?" Sirius sighed, he didn't like thinking about that place any more than Prongs, but their idea just seemed more confirmed by the line.

"Sadly," Harry agreed.

He came to a halt beside the man with the knife, who was now cackling with laughter at the sight of Ogden on the ground.

The older man presumed him as Ministry at once.

Ogden agreed as much while dabbing at his face, presuming him as Mr. Gaunt.

Gaunt agreed, dismissively saying maybe his face wouldn't look like that if he'd made his presence more known.

"If he doesn't have up alert charms, there's not many other ways to warn there's someone on your property," Remus rolled his eyes at this daft statement.

This was private property and his son was defending himself.

Ogden protested defending himself against what?

"I must give this man credit for still sticking around at this point," Lily murmured, hoping he came back out with the same limbs he went in with.

Ogden pointed his wand at his own nose, which was still issuing large amounts of what looked like yellow pus, and the flow stopped at once. Mr. Gaunt spoke out of the corner of his mouth to Morfin to get back in the house.

This time, ready for it, Harry recognized Parseltongue; even while he could understand what was being said, he distinguished the weird hissing noise that was all Ogden could hear.

Harry did blink in some confusion though as he asked, "I thought you could only speak to snakes like that, not other people."

"I'd presume with practice you could say it whenever, like any language," Remus offered. "Yours may be a bit more limited, considering it, well, you-" he stuttered and ended quickly without trying to finish that while Harry looked away, not meeting his or anyone's eyes.

Morfin seemed to be on the point of disagreeing, but when his father cast him a threatening look he changed his mind, lumbering away to the cottage with an odd rolling gait and slamming the front door behind him, so that the snake swung sadly again.

"Please stop mentioning that," James muttered, it got more disturbing every time.

Ogden protested he was here to see Morfin, but the old man interrupted by asking if he was a pure-blood?

Harry wanted to laugh at such a question being thrown out, it reminded him too much of his first meeting with Malfoy, and even he hadn't been as bad.

Ogden coldly returned that was neither here nor there, and Harry felt his respect for Ogden rise.

"Agreed, though I'd have liked a more colorful response," Sirius sneered, this Gaunt man was reminding him too much of his dad on his worst days.

Apparently Gaunt felt rather differently.

He squinted into Ogdens face and muttered, in what was clearly supposed to be an offensive tone that he thought he'd seen other noses of that kind down in the village.

"I'm sure all noses look the same to your disfigured one," James huffed.

Ogden said he wouldn't be surprised if his son was let around them.

All five of them burst out laughing for the man's wit, they really did like him now.

He got back on topic by saying an owl had been sent here-

Gaunt interrupted he had no use for owls, and didn't open letters.

"Probably can't read them," Sirius muttered.

Ogden tartly responded he could hardly complain of no warning of visitors then.

"This man's a delight, please tell me he still works there," Lily snickered while the boys laughed even louder.

He was here following a serious breach of Wizarding law,

"I've done no such thing!" He paused, considered it, and finished anyways, "yet."

Remus cracked the book over his head for the poor joke while Harry gave a half-hearted laugh.

Gaunt bellowed at him he could come inside, not that it would do any good.

"I could have told him that already," James sighed. "I'd have given him a fine already, and when he ignored that, bloody arrested him for his poor hospitality."

"Making it rather a good thing you may not choose to be an Auror anymore," Lily chuckled to herself. Ogden had already shown more patience than even she could have managed with such a person.

The house seemed to contain three tiny rooms. Two doors led off the main room, which served as kitchen and living room combined. Morfin was sitting in a filthy armchair beside the smoking fire, twisting a live adder between his thick fingers and crooning softly at it in Parseltongue:

Hissy, hissy, little snakey,

Slither on the floor

You be good to Morfin

Or he'll nail you to the door.

"I could have done without that translation, thank you," Sirius grumbled.

There was a scuffling noise in the corner beside the open window, and Harry realized that there was somebody else in the room, a girl whose ragged gray dress was the exact color of the dirty stone wall behind her. She was standing beside a steaming pot on a grimy black stove, and was fiddling around with the shelf of squalid-looking pots and pans above it. Her hair was lank and dull and she had a plain, pale, rather heavy face. Her eyes, like her brother's, stared in opposite directions. She looked a little cleaner than the two men, but Harry thought he had never seen a more defeated-looking person.

Lily sighed heavily, already wanting to croon over this poor family. That boy and girl, they only acted the way they did because of that sham of a father Gaunt no doubt, and his parents before. This was clearly a rotten line that would continue to suffer down the ages, creating their circumstances now. Details of Harry's second year kept trickling back to her, how Tom Riddle grew up in an orphanage. He should consider himself lucky, that had to be better than this pit.

Gaunt waved vaguely to his daughter Merope as introduction, and Ogden politely gave her a good morning.

She did not answer, but with a frightened glance at her father turned her back on the room and continued shifting the pots on the shelf behind her.

Ogden got straight to the point of Morfin, who had reportedly used Magic in front of Muggles last night-

There was a clang cutting off his words, Merope had dropped one of the pots.

Gaunt shouted at her, using all manner of insults in between, to pick it up. When she bent down to do so, he called her a filthy Muggle and told her to use her wand!

Ogden tried to step in, but Merope, who had already picked up the pot, flushed blotchily scarlet, lost her grip on the pot again, drew her wand shakily from her pocket, pointed it at the pot, and muttered a hasty, inaudible spell that caused the pot to shoot across the floor away from her, hit the opposite wall, and crack in two.

Sirius let out a low, appreciative whistle, though he wished her spell had misfired on this Gaunt's head instead.

Morfin let out a mad cackle of laughter. Gaunt screamed at her to mend it, with more insults.

James worked furiously with his jaw to stop himself shouting back, getting in the way of this girl and showing this tosser what's what. Shouting at her like that, he was as bad as Vernon!

Merope stumbled across the room, but before she had time to raise her wand, Ogden had lifted his own and already mended it.

Gaunt looked for a moment as though he was going to shout at Ogden, but seemed to think better of it:

"Didn't know he had it in him," Remus snarked quietly.

Instead, he jeered at his daughter how lucky it was of her the man had done that, maybe he'd get lucky and the Ministry would take her off his hands, useless Squib she was.

Harry felt a deep churning of pity for this poor girl mixing with a question he was chewing on, but decided to ask anyways, "thought Squibs couldn't do magic? She just did."

"You're exactly right, she's clearly magical, and this arse shouldn't be near another breathing thing," Lily seethed. She tried to keep the anger out of her voice when speaking to her son, but it was hard. It was maddening to realize this had already happened, there would be no happy ending for this poor girl who would die giving birth to Voldemort of all people.

Without looking at anybody or thanking Ogden, Merope picked up the pot and returned it, hands trembling, to its shelf. She then stood quite still, her back against the wall between the filthy window and the stove, as though she wished for nothing more than to sink into the stone and vanish.

Ogden almost pleaded now to stay on topic, the reason of his visit. Morfin had broken Wizarding law-

Gaunt imitated Ogdens voice, making it pompous and singsong. Morfin cackled again and hissed he'd taught that filthy Muggle a lesson, that was illegal now?

"Yes," all five of them muttered in disgust, wishing they could return the favor in kind.

Yes, Ogden agreed, it was. He pulled from an inside pocket a small scroll of parchment and unrolled it, saying his sentence was a summons to the Ministry for a hearing-

Gaunt was outraged, who did this man think he was to summon them anywhere!

Ogden stated Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad.

"Yeah, that'll do it," Remus chuckled.

Harry sighed in agitation, wishing he'd gotten some friendly man to give him a summons rather than Fudge expelling him for doing the opposite of this Morfin.

Gaunt started advancing on Ogden now, thinking he'd been accused of being called scum! He wouldn't stand it from a filthy Mudblood!

Remus didn't know why he was so surprised given everything around this place, but he still came to a stuttering stop and glared at the filthy word he'd just said.

Lily turned pale as a sheet and twitched for her wand, and the other three boys all looked likely to pitch him off a tower after a good stunner was placed on him for that. Why was Dumbledore showing Harry this? It was nothing but infuriating to the lot of them.

Ogden was now looking wary but stood his ground.

"A brave man, honestly," Sirius murmured, still prepared any moment for curses to start flying.

For a moment, Harry thought Gaunt was making an obscene hand gesture, but then realized that he was showing Ogden the ugly, black-stoned ring he was wearing on his middle finger, waving it before Ogden's eyes.

"A two for one?" James offered, his eyes still narrowed and ruining the joke, not that he cared.

Harry didn't even hear him, his mind scrambling desperately as he tried to make something click together, something very obvious, important, and vital, but that blinding pain was back in full force, threatening his mind for even considering pushing into thinking about this. He wasn't even sure if the others noticed his dilemma, wrapped up as he was.

Honestly they didn't, thinking Harry's pained expression was the same as theirs hearing of this happening.

Gaunt shouted this was a centuries old ring through his pure-blood line, with the Peverell coat of arms engraved on it!

James blinked in surprise at that though, wondering if Moony and Padfoot had even heard it for all the muttered cursings they were still giving at that nasty little speech. Like Sirius, he liked to pretend the majority of his pureblood side of the family didn't exist for reasons exactly like this monster, and for this to just be shoved into conversation like that really made him sympathize with Sirius yet again.

Ogden tried to ignore the ring sailing inches from his nose and keep on track, but with a howl of rage, Gaunt ran toward his daughter. For a split second, Harry thought he was going to throttle her as his hand flew to her throat; next moment, he was dragging her toward Ogden by a gold chain around her neck.

Hauling her with him, he shouted about how that was Salazar Slytherin's! They were his last living descendants, what did he make of that?!

First the ring, now this, Harry was quite sure his head was going to pop off in moments for the sharp pain being caused. He could tell the others still weren't grasping why this was shown except to depress them, but there was a significance here he was sure he was missing, if only this pain would leave and he could just think for a moment...

Ogden shouted in alarm about the girl being strangled during this,

"I'm feeling, he doesn't care, ten times more emotion than he's ever shown for anything but what he just said," Sirius sneered.

but Gaunt had already released Merope; she staggered away from him, back to her corner, massaging her neck and gulping for air.

Gaunt stood triumphantly now, as though he had just proved a complicated point beyond all possible dispute.

Lily sneered in disgust, as if this grimy ape could put two and two together with his brain capacity.

He spat on the floor at Ogdens feet. Morfin cackled again. Merope, huddled beside the window, her head bowed and her face hidden by her lank hair, said nothing.

Ogden insisted this had nothing to do with why he was here, Morfin had accosted a Muggle last night.

"Credit to this man!" Remus blinked in disbelief Ogden was still trying! "I'm with Prongs, can't believe he's bothering to still try!"

"Didn't get to be head for nothing I suppose," Sirius tried for a chuckle.

Their information was that Morfin preformed some jinx or hex on a Muggle, causing him to erupt in hives.

Desperately, so that Harry could think of anything else for a moment, he threw out, "Ministry will come far since I turn fifteen. They knew the exact spell and time it was used. Here, Ogden makes it sound like it was all very general."

Lily wrapped a reassuring arm around him, mistaking that pained expression for his loathing of these circumstances, though that was in there as well. "Magic is always adapting love. What was this, twenty years ago or more from now, I can see how they wouldn't yet be able to more than just determine magic was used in an area. They're finding new ways every day to narrow in on the source, what was once a town became a city block, a house."

Harry nodded to indicate he heard, the pain in his temple not alleviated at all.

Morfin giggled.

Giant hissed at him in Parseltongue to remain quiet before returning to English and demanding of Ogden that the Ministry had already wiped the filthy Muggles mind of it and cleaned him up.

Ogden protested that wasn't the point, it was an unprovoked attack.

Gaunt sneered he'd already had him marked as a Muggle-lover.

Ogden finally said this was getting them nowhere. His sons attitude made it clear he did not regret his actions,

"This can't have been the first offense either," Lily's twitching frown didn't seem likely to vanish anytime soon. "If he's as old as I'm thinking."

"Gaunt probably does keep him on a tight leash though, perhaps the other night he got loose," Sirius snarled with far to much familiarity in his tone, and Lily didn't want to know what that meant.

He glanced down at his scroll of parchment again and read when Morfin would be attending his hearing with the charges of-

Ogden broke off. The jingling, clopping sounds of horses and loud, laughing voices were drifting in through the open window. Apparently the winding lane to the village passed very close to the copse where the house stood. Gaunt froze, listening, his eyes wide. Morfin hissed and turned his face toward the sounds, his expression hungry. Merope raised her head. Her face, Harry saw, was starkly white.

An unfamiliar girls voice was asking of Tom why didn't his father have that hovel cleared away.

"Oh dear," James muttered. Tom was a common enough name though, surely they weren't really fixing to see the other half of the equation that led to their current existence...

A young man's voice replied that wasn't their property, though everything else in this valley did. It was owned by an old tramp named Gaunt, whose children were quite mad.

The girl laughed, and the sounds of horses drawing nearer grew louder.

Morfin made to get out of his chair, but Gaunt hissed at him to keep his seat.

Morfin instead hissed at his sister that Tom had called that woman darling, he clearly already had someone and wouldn't have her anyway.

"This will not go well," Remus said through numb lips. He couldn't imagine Voldemort even being born now. From all they'd seen, the woman they'd pegged as his mother was fixing to drop dead from the hand of her father.

Merope was so white Harry felt sure she was going to faint.

Gaunt turned sharply to her, demanding what that meant.

Merope was shaking her head in protest even as her brother explained her fixation with that Tom, it's why he'd gone out last night-

Gaunt roared at her, hanging after a Muggle!

Lily wanted to cover her ears. She fought back against the impulse only just, but couldn't shake the man so easily strangling his daughter not moments before. Surely the only thing holding her life so far in this waste was waiting for her to be mature enough to give birth to her brothers child, to carry on the precious lineage Gaunt so clearly favored, but even that thought may not hold back what could have happened to her next.

All three of the Gaunts seemed to have forgotten Ogden, who was looking both bewildered and irritated at this renewed outbreak of incomprehensible hissing and rasping.

Gaunt began advancing on her, still hissing a string of insults about his pureblood childs audacity.

Even in his fear for that child James felt his face spasm in disgust, he couldn't stand hearing that kind of talk, and the oddity of it coming from Moony's voice wasn't getting any easier to hear.

Merope shook her head frantically, pressing herself into the wall, apparently unable to speak.

Gaunt lost control and his hands closed around his daughter's throat.

Both Harry and Ogden yelled No! at the same time; Ogden raised his wand and cried, Relashio to free her.

Gaunt was thrown backward, away from his daughter; he tripped over a chair and fell flat on his back. With a roar of rage, Morfin leapt out of his chair and ran at Ogden, brandishing his bloody knife and firing hexes indiscriminately from his wand.

Ogden ran for his life. Dumbledore indicated that they ought to follow and Harry obeyed, Merope's screams echoing in his ears.

Ogden hurtled up the path and erupted onto the main lane, his arms over his head, where he collided with the glossy chestnut horse ridden by a very handsome, dark-haired young man. Both he and the pretty girl riding beside him on a gray horse roared with laughter at the sight of Ogden, who bounced off the horse's flank and set off again, his frock coat flying, covered from head to foot in dust, running pell-mell up the lane.

"I, wouldn't think that very funny," Sirius said slowly, knowing there weren't many things he couldn't make a joke of, but he was sure even he'd find that more alarming than amusing.

Dumbledore deemed that enough for today. He took Harry by the elbow and tugged. Next moment, they were both soaring weightlessly through darkness, until they landed squarely on their feet, back in Dumbledore's now twilit office.

The moment they'd landed Harry asked what had happened to that girl.

Lily gently touched his shoulder in thanks, and then frowned in concern when he didn't relax at her touch. He may still feel deep sympathy for that poor girl, but even that couldn't distract him from fighting the battle his mind was in, still stuck on that memory like a craw in his tooth, but with no way to get it out he could yet know.

Dumbledore passively said she survived. She was in fact left in peace, when Ogden returned fifteen minutes later to arrest Morfin and his father. Morfin received three years in Azkaban, Marvolo six months.

Sirius shivered unhappily at the mention of that place. There was a happier time where he'd sneer, demand that was all they'd gotten for their crimes, but he couldn't imagine ever saying a thing like that again.

Harry was shocked at the name Marvolo, Dumbledore nodding his approval that Harry recognized that as the middle name of Voldemort, his grandfather.

"Bloody hell!" James went bug eyed. It really didn't click until that moment, even though they'd known Voldemort's full name for a few days now, even seeing the horrid excuse for a human the Dark Lord's wizard grandfather was, couldn't have made him really understand what he'd just heard. "Merope named her kid after that, that-" there weren't words for such a creature!

"You got me," Harry sighed in agreement.

He went on to elaborate the Gaunts were the last of their dwindling line. Several generations of only marrying cousins,

"They aren't the only ones," Sirius stated in clipped tones, and Harry was almost sad he didn't need to ask.

and squandering their riches had left Marvolo an arrogant and proud man more consumed with his remaining heirlooms more than his daughter.

"Which doesn't make a lick of sense!" Lily seethed. "Even in his warped reality, his child! She'd carry on his bloodline, clearly what he valued more than anything, how-" she could never grasp the idea of how you could be that way to your child for any reason.

Harry pieced together the rest, that Merope was Voldemort's mother, and the man on the horse had been Tom Riddle. He still couldn't believe they'd married, unable to imagine two people less likely to fall in love.

"Why thank you, I'm glad your own heritage has finally surpassed that level of surprise," James tried for a laugh that still came out wrong. He couldn't wrap his head around it any more than Harry.

Harry shook his head at his dad, even that memory wasn't as disturbing as the one he'd just witnessed.

Dumbledore reminded they'd have to be doing a bit of guesswork here, but Dumbledore speculated that after being free of her eighteen year imprisonment from her family,

"She was eighteen by that point?" Lily murmured in surprise. She'd been picturing someone much smaller, though she supposed many aspects had led to that.

her magic had a chance to flourish, and she'd duped Tom into such a romance.

Harry suggested the Imperius Curse, or a love potion.

Dumbledore erred towards the second, it wouldn't be too hard for the girl to find him alone one hot day and offer him a drink. It was quite the town scandal, the squire's son running off with the tramp's daughter.

Sirius' mouth flopped open. Even in his shock though, he couldn't feel anything but more pity for this girl. As horrid a thing as she'd done, after that kind of life, he could justify almost anything she'd do, including giving birth to Voldemort.

The villagers weren't the only ones stunned, when Marvolo returned home to find his other child had vanished with his precious heirlooms, he may well have died from shock of that. Perhaps he had never learned to feed himself either, but never the less, he did not live to see Morfin released from prison.

Tom had returned of course, only a short time later. This was more guesswork, but Dumbledore believed that when she was carrying his child, she'd either convinced herself his love was real, or he would stay for the child. Both turned out false, and Tom returned with the story it had all started in this way.

"That's still much kinder than she was due, and it actually happened," James muttered with a torn expression in place. He wanted to hate this girl, for letting her fantasy ruin their lives, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it, even by the means she'd used.

He never again went to find out what happened to his child.

"Something that would bite him in his own arse a few years later," Remus sighed, putting together the rest of the story in his head.

"I can't see Tom Sr. doing much good even if he did stick around," Lily had a fascinating look on her face even as it was still flushed red from many things to do with all this. "I've never even heard of this, a love potion being taken so far. I can't imagine the man would care for what he'd been forced to love, and even if he had stuck around," she shook her head deeply, hiding her hair in her face so as not to give away where her mind was wandering back to now.

Dumbledore dismissed Harry for the night then, but first Harry asked if it was really important, learning all this about Voldemort's past.

Funny, how Harry hadn't heard the question brought up in here, but he could see it simmering on all of them. He wondered what held them back from demanding it, and even more, why he wanted to laugh at his past self. Already he could feel the beginnings of a puzzle, one very essential to his life.

Dumbledore agreed extremely important, and it had everything to do with the prophecy.

Harry still felt confused, but agreed with some reassurance.

"I can see it," Remus tried to put into words what he thought was Dumbledore's thinking on this. "To understand your enemy is to know as much as you can about them. I'm not yet sure, obviously we haven't exactly found his self-destruct button, as Sirius has been known to so eloquently put it, but maybe if he keeps digging," he trailed off suggestively, and Harry nodded eagerly. Already he could feel the fog lifting, even the hint of an answer of the horizon making the pain once more bearable as he stopped trying to push so hard to understand all this.

He turned to go, then another question occurred to him, and he turned back again to ask if he was allowed to tell Ron and Hermione all this.

James snorted. "Ask for forgiveness, not permission," he scolded.

"And then don't even bother to ask for that," Sirius agreed with an eye roll.

"After what he said over the summer, I certainly can't see him telling you no," Lily agreed after glaring at the two for departing such wisdom.

Dumbledore considered him for a moment before agreeing, but insisted no one else.

"Who else would they tell it to?" Remus scoffed. "I can't see Hermione sharing this with Luna, and her decision to put another article in her magazine. You three have always kept things close to the vest."

"Guess Dumbledore was just being safe," Harry shrugged.

As Harry was leaving he spotted something new on a spindle table, the same ring Dumbledore had been wearing over the summer, the same one from the memory they'd just saw. Harry gasped how he'd come across Marvolo Gaunt's ring?

Harry's breath hitched in his throat, his trembling hands wanting to reach out now and hold his parents to him. What about this ring, more than anything else he'd yet heard of, made him want to cling to them tighter than ever? To again check on Sirius and Remus, make sure they weren't some spectral figures from his nightmares. He hated this thing being mentioned, and yet at the same time, could hardly breathe when it was, wanting so badly to understand!

James patted Harry's shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring way, letting out a low whistle and offering, "bet that's worth a shiny sickle," recalling how ancient it was.

"Can't imagine how he got it, without dragging it from Gaunts hand," Sirius made a little face of disgust why Dumbledore even had.

Dumbledore half answered he'd acquired it only a few days before he'd fetched Harry.

Harry realized that also meant around the time he'd injured his hand, but Dumbledore merely promised that story would come in due time.

"Ooh, finally getting something out of this," Remus muttered with far more interest than he actually felt, Harry still hadn't returned to normal color. This whole chapter was just a mess for him.

Harry hesitated. Dumbledore was smiling. Then he told Harry goodnight.

Sirius growled in agitation, but all things considered, that wasn't the worst way this chapter could have ended. At least they'd gone two whole chapters now without his death being brought up, so they were honestly on a roll.

Harry's mind was still lingering on this with unease, and he tried to erase some of that as he asked, "well Dumbledore didn't ask me a single thing of what they said, so he either must have figured it out for himself or does know Parseltongue."

"That man's a mystery to us all," Remus bitterly grumbled, making Harry wince again and Remus to shift uneasily at bringing this up himself. He knew he couldn't avoid the topic much longer, maybe he should just air it out with Harry...

HPHPHPHP

Did I lie? Yeah, yeah a bit, but I do still promise you'll get all the explanations I've always offered in the past. Why does Lily know that's his when they stopped being friends at the end of their fifth year but he wouldn't get that book until the next? I do promise it'll all come in time.

#Harry Potter #fanfiction #reading the books #HP #HBP #Marauders #The Life That Never Lived #Jilly #James Potter #remus Lupin #Sirius Black #Lily Potter

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bbmyungho · 4 years

Text

wager- joshua

member/group: joshua/seventeen

genre: fluff, hogwarts!au, hufflepuff!reader, slytherin!joshua, other members of svt thrown in for good measure :))

a/n: i saw @luvshuas posting about wanting to read hogwarts aus and i thought i’d write them one 🥺 i hope you like it, i love your blog!! (also, super sorry it took me so long to write and post 👉👈)

“Come on, we’re almost there!” Seungkwan ushered me through the halls, panting as I tried to fasten my tie properly around my neck while we rushed to get to potions in time. We practically drifted around the final corner, right in time to stumble into Snape on his way to close the classroom door.

“Oh, how nice of you to join us, Mr. Boo. You too, l/n.” He sneered at us as we entered the class, shuffling down under his outreached arm and seeing all of the seats next to each other filled. I looked at my friend like I’d just been issued a death sentence, his sympathetic gaze already meeting mine. “Oh, what a pity; you two decided to muck about while the rest of us actually bothered to show up on time so there are no seats left next to each other. Hmm.” Snape hummed in bemusement at our misfortune, beady eyes peering around the room before settling back on us.

“Seungkwan, you can join Mr. Yoon in the back, and y/n... you can join Mr. Hong over to your left there.”

I shuffled meekly over to my seat, barely able to look at the admittedly extremely attractive Slytherin boy smiling at me as I approached.

“Hi, I’m Josh.”

“y/n.” I smiled shyly, picking out my potions supplies and waiting for Snape to give us the go ahead to begin our brewing.

“Nice to meet you, y/n. Do you play quidditch?” Josh was laying his head down on his arms now, staring up at me with big doe eyes while I fought the urge to run away back to my comfortable Seungkwan.

“Uh, no. Do- you?”

“Yes, I’m the keeper.” He smiled up at me. “What do you do? Anything outside of classes?” He asked.

“I volunteer in the library sometimes. Keeping track of records and whatnot.” He nodded, presumably satisfied with my answer at last as he turned his attention to the professor now droning on about procedure. I took solace in these few moments of comfortable silence, exchanging a look with Seungkwan at the end of the mini lecture before Josh recalled my attention to him.

“I’ll go get the ingredients we need from the cabinet if you’ll start up with what we have here.” He suggested, reaching over to take the beakers from my side of the table. I caught a whiff of his cologne, fresh and sweet, like honeysuckle, making my cheeks heat up involuntarily at the close proximity to a boy I barely even knew.

“Yeah, sure.” I nodded, watching his back retreat before getting to work.

“Y/n!” I was pulled harshly back into reality from whatever daydream I’d been indulged in upon hearing my name, my heart clenching at the sight of some of the first year Hufflepuffs cornered by a Gryffindor boy: Marcus... something. I’d heard he was a bit of a troublemaker.

“Hey, what’s going on, guys?” I approached the group cautiously, the Gryffindor looking rather annoyed at my intrusion on his fun with my house’s first years. They looked like they were having anything but, one of the girls named Hannah bent over with her hands on her knees catching her breath. She looked like she’d just run a marathon, pretty much all of them did.

“We’re just playing a game.” He smiled, an unusual sneer more than anything; either way, it quickly disappeared as his eyes followed the Hufflepuff students away from the two of us. “Reckon you want in?”

Before I could react at all, he turned his wand on me, rushing something out before a loud pop sounded below me and I felt a sting in my leg. I hopped up on one foot, trying to dodge the firecrackers he’d manifested around my feet as I debated whether or not it was worth it to whip out my own wand and maybe turn him into a toad.

I didn’t have a chance before I heard a loud “D’Angelo!” shouted behind me, both of our heads whipping around to see Joshua and the Gryffindor prefect, Seungcheol, approaching; Seungcheol, usually quite smiley and known for being pretty “chill,” actually looked cross. “What exactly do you think you’re doing here?” He scolded. Marcus shoved his wand back into his robes, giving me a death glare before marching off with Seungcheol scolding him the whole way out of sight.

“Hey, you okay? What happened?” Josh’s gaze and tone were both gentle now, his bangs blowing close to his pretty brown eyes in the breeze.

“Yeah, I’m fine. He was picking on some of our first years, but I didn’t want to draw my wand on him or anything so... Uh, thanks for bringing Seungcheol over.” I said, dusting the embers of Marcus’s enchantment off of my legs.

“Oh no problem, we were just walking to the Great Hall. How are your kids?” He asked.

“They’re fine, I’m sure. I don’t know how long he’d been picking on them like that, but they probably just ran back to the common room or something.” I smiled at him, running a hand through my hair as I straightened. “I’m sorry I interrupted your trip to the Great Hall.”

“Don’t worry about it, we can always reconvene later,” he hesitated before adding, “would you maybe like to join me since I lost Cheol?”

I flushed scarlet at his words, quite caught off guard: sure, he was nice and all, but we weren’t really friends. The most I’d heard out of him until potions the other day was a little bit of conversation here and there between him and his friends in passing.

“Uh, actually, I think I’ll go check on the first years, make sure they’re okay. Thank you though.”

“Oh, isn’t the Hufflepuff common room in the kitchens? How about we just walk together til then; we’d be going the same direction, right?” He cocked his head and god if I didn’t think he was pretty before, now I thought he was adorable.

“Oh yeah. Right. Uh, in that case, sure.” I blushed deeper if possible, Josh holding out his hand to beckon me forward ahead of him.

“Who was that?” My friend, Momo, didn’t miss a beat in questioning me once the door to the common room closed behind us; we’d arrived at around the same time, and Joshua had bid us a quick farewell when he was sure I was back safe.

“Oh, his name’s Josh. We were paired up in potions the other day and I guess we’re sort of friends now?” I said, greeting Seungkwan with a simple pat to the head before making my way up to my dorm.

“Friends? That’s it? What was he doing here then?!”

“Relax, he just walked me back.” I began to fiddle with my hands as I tried to brush off Momo’s (loud) words, which were earning us a fair amount of attention from the quieter patrons of the common room. Although, I couldn’t quite settle the flutter of butterflies in my stomach or the comfortable heat rushing to my cheeks.

“Aww, you’re blushing! You’re definitely in to him!” She squealed, wrapping her arms around my torso and jumping happily.

“No I’m not! I- we barely know each other! We’ve talked like twice, and he’s a Slytherin! We’d never work!”

“He’s sweet, though, right?” She teased, poking my cheek as I flushed further. “He’s obviously cute! Come on, what’s holding you back?”

“I- just- ugh, can you just leave it alone?” I whined, covering my now very red cheeks with my hands as she smiled. She just shrugged and finally walked off, leaving me to walk into my dorm alone and flop down onto the bed with a frustrated sigh.

I didn’t like Joshua. Sure, he was handsome and charming and helpful and just about everything I’d find attractive in just about anyone, but we barely knew each other, and we were from polar opposite houses! I was burdened by Momo’s words for the rest of the night, not speaking much at dinner as my eyes searched the dining hall for a certain dark haired Slytherin.

“Alright everyone! For this project, I’ll need you to form groups of two; choose wisely! I’ll give you all a moment to form your groups and find a spot to settle in.” Professor Sprout smiled brightly over the sea of students currently present in our joint herbology class with the Slytherins, everyone now scampering to find their friends and pair up as quickly as possible.

I turned excitedly to see Seungkwan already giving me a knowing look, smiling and patting the space next to him as I strode over happily. My heart dropped, however, when none other than Momo sat herself down in the seat previously meant for me, whispering something to Seungkwan before they both looked at me, their eyes flitting over teasingly to a group of boys that had yet to settle in. God no, please no-

“Hey y/n, do you have a partner yet?” I turned to see Josh smiling at me expectantly, my heart fluttering as I took in his hair and his lips and damn it maybe I was starting to come to terms with my crush on Joshua- “Uh, y/n?”

I realized I hadn’t replied to him yet in all of this time I’d been ogling him, his eyebrows furrowed in a hint of concern as my mouth fell open and closed quickly. “Oh, uh, yeah- I mean, no, no I don’t have a partner yet.” I smiled sheepishly, Josh’s own smile widening. “Would you, maybe, wanna work together?”

“I was gonna ask you, actually.” He said, motioning me towards the first open station we saw. I smiled and nodded, tossing a glare over my shoulder at Momo and Seungkwan silently cheering me on in the background before we sat down and Joshua’s presence fully stole my attention.

“y/n!” I startled at the sudden calling of my name in the previously perfect silence of the library, looking up from my records work to see Joshua emerging from the shelves.

“Hi, Josh. Do you need anything?” I asked, taking note of the books he had stacked in his arms.

“Just wanted to check these two out, please.” He said, placing them gently next to the records book in front of me. I smiled and took down the serial numbers and his name quickly, handing the books back to him as quickly as possible so I could finish up my work for the day. It hit me like a lightning bolt when his hand brushed mine as he accepted each of the books back, a glimmer in his eye when I looked at him inquisitively. “Have you read them?”

“Oh, no, not those. Uh, interesting choice of books.” I squirmed awkwardly under the weight of the mundane conversation, mentally facepalming at my inability to think of literally anything else to say.

“They’re for a charms report,” he smiled, “are you coming to the Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin match on Saturday by any chance?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I might just stay in and do some homework, maybe take care of some of my chores that I’ve been putting off-“

“Oh, come on, live a little. Or have you already come to terms with your house’s loss?” He taunted. I rolled my eyes.

“Badgers eat snakes, dear, I think we’ll be just fine.” I teased back. He laughed, a sound I wouldn’t have minded hearing more often, of course, and leaned forward onto the desk.

“How about we make a wager: if Slytherin wins, I get to take you on a date.” My breath hitched in my throat, causing me to choke and my chest to explode into a quiet coughing fit that probably only fanned the flame under Joshua.

“Where did that come from?” I asked frantically.

“Where did your confidence go?” He asked. “What do you say?”

“What if we win?”

“Hmmm, unlikely, but... I’ll wear Hufflepuff robes the whole day Monday. I’ll even see if I can talk the whole team into it.” He said. I mulled over his words quietly, scanning over the pages of records I was taking down while I thought.

“Okay, then. It’s a deal. I’ll see you Saturday.” I said, offering a shy glance up at him as I tried to keep the raging blush on my cheeks to a minimum.

“Can’t wait. We’ll set a time and place after the match.” He said, strutting off happily with his books in hand. I bit my lip, fighting to repress the smile that threatened to turn up my lips when I heard a quiet “yes!” echo through the halls outside of the doors before they closed.

“I’m glad you came with us, y/n! It’s been a while since we got you to come to a game!” Jihyo smiled brightly, Momo bouncing along next to her happily as she nodded along.

“Yeah, well, I just thought I’d get out instead of spending my weekend in the dorms. Honestly, it’s nice, getting all excited about watching a match again.” I said, rubbing the back of my neck and looking away towards the towering hoops.

“Yeah, they’ve picked up a new appreciation for the game just recently, actually.” Momo teased, nudging Jihyo and, subsequently, me. I glared at her while Jihyo just looked at us in confusion, leading us to a few empty seats where we’d get a good view of the game.

We sat down right in time to watch the players fly out in procession, Jihyo cheering as her boyfriend Daniel, one of the chasers for the Slytherin team, flew by. I couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought of me getting to cheer Joshua on when he flew out for a game. I did, actually, my breath catching a little in my chest when I saw him fly by with his dark green robes flapping around him, his hair blowing beautifully in the wind and skin gleaming in the sun. I felt my heart quicken when I observed him, now floating in front of the hoop, scanning the crowd for confirmation of my attendance.

It really was nice getting excited for a game, participating in the festivities... having a player searching for you in the crowd, listening specifically for your cheers over the rest. I waved at Josh when his eyes fell in my general direction, his lips quirking up into a lopsided grin when (I’m assuming) he saw me before his attention returned to the match just about to start.

I didn’t know much about the rules anymore, but I did remember enough to know that Joshua was very good and he was trying very hard to win. Whenever he made a good play, he’d look down at me and smile, once even mouthing something to me that I assumed was about taking me out. I felt bad, but I couldn’t help but feel a little downtrodden when my own house made a good play. Was that blasphemous?

Whatever it was, it was what I felt, and I could tell that Joshua was feeling it, too, whenever he’d look down on me with a little pout on his face and make me laugh. As the match got more intense, I leaned forward, the sounds of cheering fans and Momo’s occasional teasing drowning out as I zoned in fully, hoping and praying that Joshua could keep it up, that Jeonghan would catch the snitch.

The buzzer sounded. It was announced that Slytherin had just obtained the snitch. I was completely deaf to the crowd as I sprang from my seat, whooping and cheering while Momo gazed on happily and Jihyo clapped half heartedly along with me in confusion. Joshua’s smile in that moment could’ve made flowers grow, his eyes falling upon my smiling face as he joined the rest of the team for a victory lap around the arena.

#kpop #kpop imagines #seventeen #kpop fluff #seventeen imagines #seventeen hogwarts au #kpop hogwarts au #seventeen fluff #joshua fluff #joshua imagines #joshua hong #seventeen joshua

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lov3nerdstuff · 3 years

Text

Voluptas Noctis Aeternae {Part 7.9}

*Severus Snape x OC*

Summary: It is the year 1983 when the ordinary life of Robin Mitchell takes a drastic turn: she is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the struggles of being a muggle-born in Slytherin, she soon discovers her passion for Potions, and even manages the impossible: gaining the favor of Severus Snape. Throughout the years, Robin finds that the not quite so ordinary Potions Professor goes from being a brooding stranger to being more than she had ever deemed possible. An ally, a mentor, a friend... and eventually, the person she loves the most. Through adventure, prophecies and the little struggles of daily life in a castle full of mysteries, Robin chooses a path for herself, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more, and two people abandoned by the world can finally find a home.

General warnings: professor x student, blood, violence, trauma, neglectful families, bullying, cursing

Words: 1.5k

Read Part 1.1 here! All Parts can be found on the Masterlist!

______________________________

A glimpse into the eighth week of travels (or the third week of August):

"I told you this was a terrible idea!"

"No you didn't!"

"Well, I should have!" Snape hissed quietly and rolled his eyes, but the painfully loud roar coming from the creature that was currently creeping up on them made him drop the annoyed act in but a second.

While it had been rather easy for Robin and Snape to enter the huge system of caves and tunnels they found themselves stuck in now, and even easier to gather the crystals they had come to Sweden for in the first place, the gigantic bear-like thing standing in front of them obviously hadn't taken too kindly to them intruding in its home. Or perhaps it just hadn't found anyone stupid enough to wander into its trap quite so deeply in a while.

"We're still too far underneath the ground to apparate out, right?" Robin whispered in badly suppressed panic, not daring to take her eyes off the creature in front of them that was effectively blocking their only exit.

"Unfortunately…" Snape replied just as distractedly, while both he and Robin slowly backed up into the tunnel they had just come from. It only led them down further into the caves again, further away from the exit. Damnit, things had gone so well up to this point… They had just been on their way back outside when this enormous creature had appeared in front of them out of nowhere. Silent as night, fast as light.

It came approaching them just as slowly as they were backing up now, but the coiled muscles that were visible under the short fur told Robin that it wasn't long until it would pounce. And then there wouldn't be any time left to think of a spell that might have saved them.

If she had learned anything from her years of classes on magical creatures, it was to never just use a random defensive spell if one didn't know what kind of creature they were dealing with. At least not if there was any other choice. Since neither she nor Snape knew what the thing in front of them was though, they were left with the only other choice currently available to them: running. And they only had one way left to go.

"If we can get to the gap in the wall a good hundred feet down the tunnel, it won't be able to reach us anymore. The space is too narrow." Robin breathed in a tone as calm as she could manage with her heart racing like it did. "Then I can look up what it is and how we can get past it. I have a few books in my backpack we'll have to check."

"But we will literally be stuck between a rock and hard place then, in a space we might not get out of again! That really is a terrible idea."

"You have a better one?" She huffed, resisting the temptation to roll her eyes. No answer. "Thought so. Now, it would be faster than us at a distance like this… Can we distract it somehow?"

"You can distract anything if you know how to." He replied, but went straight on instead of making her guess like he usually enjoyed to do. "It lives here in darkness… A very bright light should irritate it for a moment."

"Are you guessing or do you know that for sure?"

"It is an educated guess."

"Great…" Robin took a deep breath, then released it again slowly to calm down her body enough to function. "Let's hope we're both right, then."

"What?"

"We run." She whispered while drawing her wand out of her sleeve. Then, fast as lightning itself, she sent the brightest possible light directly at the beast in front of them, a broken second before grabbing Snape by the arm and dashing off down the tunnel. Neither the beast's furious roar stopped them, nor the sound of thundering footsteps echoing through the space behind them with a shocking pace that came closer by the second. Stopping meant dying, and Robin had no intention to do either.

To their luck, the crack in the wall she had seen wasn't as far away as estimated, barely 80 feet from their original position, and it took them only a few painfully long seconds to reach. Robin didn't hesitate to squeeze herself through the narrow gap and pull Snape right with her, even if it meant they were both pressed against the opposing walls, and even more pressed against each other. Well, better embarrassed than dead. They managed to get a few feet away from the opening before the crack became too narrow, but going by the size of the animal that had arrived outside their awfully tight prison by now, they would need as much distance to it as they could get. Even if that left them pressed together chest to chest, with hardly enough space to breathe at the same time.

Safe from the immediate danger for now, Robin closed her eyes and let her lead drop back against the wall as she tried to catch her breath. It had been sheer dumb luck that the crack had been wide enough for them to fit in… but they had, so she wouldn't waste precious nerves on wondering what could've been otherwise. At least she'd had the brains to take off her backpack before squeezing in here, or it would now be stuck between her and the wall. Much like she was stuck between the wall and Snape. Honestly, this was a highly dangerous situation, could her pathetic touch starved body please not react to it like that?! Bloody hell, being human was stupid sometimes. She had an angry bear-like thing reaching for them with its gigantic claws a good few feet to her left… and all her brain could focus on was Snape. How oddly comforting and exciting at once it was to feel his chest heaving against hers. How neither of them knew where to put their hands without being an awkward mess. How close his face was above hers.

Good gods, Robin! Danger! Angry bear! That stupid little thing called brain; use it, idiot! She took another deep breath to calm herself down from either distraction, but it left her with too little air and too much of his scent. He smelled like rain and sunshine at the same time, coloured beautifully by a hint of timeless depth and delicacy. Oh bloody hell… who was choosing to torture her like that today? Changing strategies, she decided to breathe through her mouth instead, which at least solved one of her problems.

"So… that worked." She got out after a moment of finally being able to calm down indeed.

"Apparently."

"Is this the kind of thing you meant when you said I might run into trouble, at the beginning of the holidays?"

"Not precisely, but it makes for a better reason than the original one, so I might as well say yes."

Robin had to snort at the comment, and she couldn't believe how he managed to make her laugh even in a dire situation like this. He probably hadn't meant to, but it was quite the astonishing achievement nonetheless. One only he seemed to be capable of these days. At the very least, it helped calm her mind back down to a working pace now.

"I better get us out of here, huh? As much as I enjoy being stuck with you, it's getting a little hard to breathe." She said before she thought better of it, and then could only hope that he would put it off as humor in return. Either way, she went to pick up her backpack from the ground where she had dropped it, trying to somehow get a hold of it without being able to turn around or bow properly.

"Will you stop moving already?!" He grumbled after a few seconds of her struggling to reach down far enough and thereby pushing him into the wall even further, but Robin ignored him until she finally had a grip on the leather bag.

"Sorry, I didn't have a more spacious gap in the wall to offer." She rolled her eyes, then pressed her bag against her hip with one arm and reached over both their chests with the other to summon out her books. "Help me find that beast out there in the paperwork and next time I'll make sure to find us a space to get stuck in that's more to your taste."

"Don't be ridiculous, this one is perfectly fine." He objected in an instant, and Robin quirked an eyebrow at him with a humored smirk while he seemed to realize what he had said, and rolled his eyes in return. "Just find the creature in the bloody books, will you?"

"Give me some light and I will."

______________________________

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wowsoboring · 3 years

Text

He's Changed, one shot

Words: 1k, rated General audiences, romance and fluff. Ship: romione

Hermione had liked Ron for quite some time. If she tried to pinpoint that exact moment, it'd be very hard. Even back in the second year, she felt so flattered when he defended her with such ferocity when Draco had said that slur to her. She hadn't realized what it meant until he explained it to him. Even in her third year when Snape had called her "an insufferable know-it-all", Ron had leapt to her defense. She was rather surprised when he did that, though, seeing how he would mock her for being a know-it-all. But then again, he never used the word "insufferable" to describe her. Maybe that's what set him off. It was rather obvious she wanted Ron to ask him to the Yule Ball (before when he was supremely desperate to get a date) so when he just used his lame attempt at 'flirting' to ask her to the ball at the last possible moment, she'd turned him down. She was Hermione. She had dignity.

Then they'd get into their scuffles and then get on good terms again. It was amusing for a while but after a while, it got exhausting. She remembered how much she hated his fling with Lavender freaking Brown. She had to pretend to like Cormac. Cormac. But then he'd gotten poisoned and mumbled her name in his sleep. That left her positively giddy even though it hadn't resulted in anything.

It was obvious that her least fond memory of Ron was when he'd walked off on her. Obviously it was that darnedest locket and she was glad that she could blame the locket. He seemed quite reproachful after that ordeal to say the least. He apologised to her about that same thing last week as they were cuddling in bed. "It's okay Ron…" she sighed, shaking her head. She didn't even care about that moment anymore. She knew Ron would never do that to her unless he were off his rocker. A guy loyal enough to stand up to Snape or Bellatrix or a child loyal enough to almost sacrifice himself in the game of wizard chess would never in his right mind walk out on someone he called a friend unless he were being poisoned. Which he kind of was.

So when she reached home that day, she realised something finally.

She turned the key in the lock and witnessed a smiling Ron. He'd gotten off work early, apparently and had prepared a Spaghetti dinner for the both of them. She was amused he'd gotten off work early since he'd usually be busy till 9 pm. It seemed sometimes that the days that were hard for her were easy for him and vice versa.

Ron was a good cook to say the least. He'd admitted to spending a lot of time with his mother as she cooked when he was a child. The spaghetti tasted splendid. As she was wiping her chin of any pasta sauce that could've been in her face, Ron cleared her throat.

"Thought you'd wanted this. Arrived at the post today." He said normally as he handed her a letter.

Sent from Viktor Krum.

It was a "Happy Thanksgiving" card that had arrived too late. Krum would send her those too.

"Oh, uh, do you know what this is?" Hermione asked, carefully.

"Oh yeah, it's a thanksgiving card sent by, uh, Vicky" he chuckled, grinning. Grinning . Not jealous, not cold. Grinning.

"You aren't jealous?" Hermione asked, incredulously.

"Bloody hell, no." He exclaimed. "I admire Vicky's spirit. I would've given up by now."

"I thought this was going to be a fight." She said, taken aback. She'd already planned how she'd defend herself. She'd come up with some good points to counter whatever she was sure he had to say.

But he didn't say anything.

"Awww, Hermione, you like fighting with me" he smirked, playfully. Not bitterly. Playfully.

"No, I can't say I do. Did Ginny tell you to react this way or something?"

"No, not really", Ron said, "it just didn't seem to make any sense."

"You think about what makes sense now? Where is my Ron and what have you done with him?"

"I'm not surprised you'd think I would be jealous, to be honest." Ron said. "I mean, c'mon Hermione. We've been going out for a year now. We've been living together for three months. Last week we declared our love for each other for the first time. I mean, yeah I'd be jealous if Vicky Krum sent you this like nine months ago. It doesn't make any sense to react that way after all this time. I know I'm the most irrational and nonsensical person alive, possibly but even I have limits."

Then he chuckled to himself, muttering "Vicky Krum".

"Well, in that case, someone's getting brownies tonight. Fresh baked" Hermione smiled.

"Yay! Should I call Harry? He talked about wanting to have brownies and he got off at the same time as me."

"Sure" she grinned.

At that moment she realized why she loved Ron so much. It wasn't just only because of his red hair and blue eyes that looked like fire and water, resembling his personality. It wasn't just only because he was fiercely loyal and defended all his friends. It was also because he changed. For the better. Without anyone telling him. All by himself.

—

A few hours later when Harry had left and both of them were tidying up the kitchen, Hermione had to ask, "Is there no other reason why you're being so cool?"

Ron responded, kind of ashamed, "well, uh, you know, whenever I call him Vicky, I just, it just helps." He spat out awkwardly.

"Why are you ashamed?"

"Well i know you. I know you'd then start calling me Ronnie or some other rubbish name!" He said defensively.

"Ron, c'mon, you know I'd never do that."

"Really?" He asked.

"Yes," she nodded. "Now will Ronniekins help me clear these crumbs off the floor?"

He scowled for the first time that night. "Well I will, if Hermy Ninny passes me a napkin" he retorted.

Both of them laughed uncontrollably.

#harry potter books #romione #harry potter movies #ron weasley #harry potter #ron weasley appreciation #hermione granger #ron x hermione #harry potter fanfic rec #harry potter fanfiction #romione fanfic #ron/hermione #ronxhermione

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ardent-musings · 3 years

Text

The Girl Who Vanished (Part 1)

Chapter 3: Welcome to Hogwarts

Thankfully the twins were the very last thing on her mind as she woke up early in the morning, she and her new dorm mates spent most of the night getting to know each other. The morning was busy, they all scurried to get dressed in their new green robes as Ana brushed through her long silver hair. It wasn't how she imagined her first day would go, but having the two girls laughing the moment they woke up made her excited for her day to start. Ana's medicine was left on her nightstand, a note attached to the vial.

As per your mother's request. –S.S.

Ana downed the small vial as the girls rushed her out of the room, skipping breakfast and running to the Herbology greenhouses. The large glass structure of the greenhouse reminded her of the one her mother kept up at the Manor. Since she was little, Ana would sit outside and play in the dirt and mud while her mother tended to the plants. Most of them were used for Ana's medicine, so Ana liked to sit outside and listen to her mother hum as she would snip at their leaves or mend broken limbs. Draco typically stayed inside; he didn't like getting dirty all that much. He was like their father in that way.

The professor was a short, plump woman with the rosiest cheeks that just peaked from underneath her large hat. The material the woman would talk about reminded her of her mother and Ana's nerves from running through the castle grounds to get to class disappeared the longer the class went on. Calista and Alex were sitting together, mumbling to themselves, while Ana sat next to a Ravenclaw boy. He didn't make any effort to speak to Ana, preferring to keep his head locked towards the teacher.

"Can anyone tell me the purpose of the Dittany plant?" Professor Sprout asked.

Ana looked at her classmates, all of them seemingly clueless and diverting their attention from the teacher hoping they wouldn't be called. She didn't want to answer, but when the Professor's smile began to dwindle Ana shot her hand up in the air.

"Ms. Malfoy, yes."

Ana gulped suddenly feeling many eyes on her, the Ravenclaw next to her began to pay attention to her for the first time. "The Dittany plant is a restorative herb. If someone were to get hit and had a cut, eating the plant would help heal it faster."

The woman's smile returned, "Very good, Ms. Malfoy. Ten points to Slytherin!" With a renewed skip in her step Professor Sprout went on to talk about the properties of the Dittany plant.

The Ravenclaws around her didn't react all too pleased with the fact that Slytherin gained a few points, but her fellow Slytherins looked at her happily, and Ana felt better for saying something. Most of the class continued similarly; Ana would answer whatever question Professor Sprout had. She allowed the other students a chance to respond, but no one ever raised their hand. The other students might as well not been there, the whole class felt like a one-on-one session. Ana didn't mind and from the smile on her teacher's face, it seemed that she didn't mind either.

After the hour had passed, everyone got ready to head to their next class, but the sound of the professor calling for her stopped her in her tracks. Calista and Alex stayed back for a moment until Ana ushered them to go on without her.

"Yes, Professor?"

"You know quite a bit about herbology from the looks of it," the woman gazed down at the girl. "Where did you learn so much?"

Ana smiled, rocking back and forth on her heels, "My mother has a greenhouse in our garden and she talks to me about what she's doing. I guess I remembered some of the things she has told me," she tapped her head.

"Well, I just wanted to say that I look forward to having you in my class again." Professor Sprout nodded her head, silently thanking the girl for saving the class. Lessons always often got uncomfortable for the professor; not a lot of students valued Herbology. Ana took her teacher's silence as a signal to leave. She began to turn away until the professor stopped her, "Although! I must ask-"

"Ask what professor?" Ana replied softly.

Quickly the happiness drained from Professor Sprout's face, a more concerned look taking its place. The expression didn't look right on her and Ana wondered what brought that sudden change.

"I must ask, do you often use the Dittany plant at home?" she questioned.

Ana nodded, "I do. I'm kind of clumsy so I'm always hurt somewhere."

"And that's all? Just clumsy?" Professor Sprout inquired.

The question made Ana's heart skip a beat, uneasiness ran through her. She understood what the professor was trying to insinuate and Ana would be lying if she said that her clumsiness was the only cause of her bumps and bruises. But admitting the truth was more than Ana wanted to do on her first day of class. So without second guessing, Ana nodded in agreement.

Professor Sprout's expression remained tight. She wasn't convinced. "Alright, Ms. Malfoy. I wouldn't want you missing your next class on my account, so you go straight there."

Ana gave a soft smile and turned quickly, not allowing the professor another chance to ask any more questions as she began running in the direction of the castle. Surely she would be late considering she still had to figure out where to go, but after a few wrong turns Ana arrived at the charms classroom. She situated herself in the back and the short professor didn't seem to notice her arrival. Not wanting to alert him that she came into the room, Ana decided that staying quiet would be the best thing for her to do.

Her mind kept going back over what Professor Sprout had said to her and Ana couldn't help but think she said too much, even though she barely said anything at all. Just the look in the woman's eyes was enough to make her feel like she did something wrong. It made her stomach sick and Ana prayed the feeling would go away as soon as she ate at lunch. Unfortunately, charms class dragged for what seemed like hours and their double transfiguration class did nothing to help that feeling.

After the tortuous two hours of changing a hedgehog into a hairbrush, it was time for lunch. She walked side by side with Calista and Alex on their way to the Great Hall. They had asked her why she was held back but Ana shut that down quickly, saying it was nothing important and what was important was food. Alex started sprinting down the halls, rounding each corner in wide strides until she was out of sight, effectively leaving the two girls in the dust.

Lunch didn't soothe all her nerves, but dear lord, running around a castle on an empty stomach was not a good idea. Once again, Ana grabbed her favorite strawberries and helped herself to two sandwiches, hoping to fill up the sinking feeling in her stomach. But nothing looked as good as the cake that was sitting at the center of the table. Calista looked at it disgustingly, claiming it had too much frosting for her liking.

"More for us!" Alex said as she and Ana leaned over to cut into it.

A deafening blast sounded from the cake, catapulting the entirety of the dessert into bits. It covered the two girls in the sticky chocolate. Calista shrieked as she shielded herself, narrowly escaping the shrapnel of cake. Alex immediately darted up, wiping the cake from her eyes as she glared across the hall. All of the students brought their attention to her, she was seething and covered in frosting. The hall was almost silent, except from the snickering that came from the Gryffindor table. Ana stood to see where the sound was coming from, despite already having a good idea as to who were the culprits.

The Weasley twins stood up from their table, high fiving Lee as they fled from the room, trying to escape the wrath of Professor McGonagall who was hot on their tails. Lee was clutching his sides in a fit of laughter, watching as Ana and Alex looked blindsided. Alex didn't care once she saw that Lee was laughing at her, she lunged from her spot and sprinted to the other table, chasing Lee out of the hall.

Ana couldn't find it within her to react. She knew of the Gryffindor and Slytherin rivalry but she couldn't help that sliver of hope that she had. The one that convinced her that she and the twins would be okay. Sure, they wouldn't be friends, but she didn't think she'd be on the receiving end of one of their pranks. They were nice before she was sorted into Slytherin. They were nice before they knew her last name.

Calista started picking off the chunks of cake from Ana's hair, breaking her from her trance.

"Ana, are you okay?"

Ana couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's question since the answer was fairly obvious.

"Yeah," Ana choked, feeling her throat tighten. It was an obvious lie and she knew that Calista could see through it. But admitting out loud that she was not fine felt like giving up. She twitched her nose trying to deter the tears she felt wanting to spill over. Calista looked at the girl with sadness, understanding just how upset she was. That moment ruined by a snort coming further down their table.

Aeron was eating a sausage that he had stabbed onto his fork instead of opting for cutting it like a normal person would. "I told you last night, Malfoy. The twins wouldn't be all sweet and dandy with you just 'cause you talked to them once."

"Oh shut up, Aeron, and eat your sausage," Calista snipped back at him. He rolled his eyes and continued eating while flipping through the Daily Prophet.

"Don't get mad at me because I'm telling her what you refuse to say, Kane," he said without giving them a second glance. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Yes, welcome to Hogwarts," a lulled voice pulled the three out of their conversation. Professor Snape had waltzed his way undetected by the group and hovered behind them. He sustained a harsh glare at Aeron that made even Ana unnerved. "It seems that you have regretfully experienced the annoyance that are the Weasleys," he hissed. Aeron chuckled at the comment, making Snape sigh in aggravation. "Mr. Wright it would do you well to not stick your gargantuan nose in the business of others unless you wish to lose house points."

Aeron's eyes bulged, and he dipped his head down low. Ana smirked at the boy's reaction, mentally thanking the ridiculously mystifying man for making Aeron squirm.

"But I would say that it would be beneficial for you to leave the lions alone," he emphasized every word to an unnecessary degree, but Ana couldn't deny he was probably right. Not only did the twins look at her differently after finding out who she was, but they also had the gall to prank her on her very first day as a new student.

"I think I might have to, Professor," Ana confessed.

He looked down at the two girls, both of them still covered in remnants of chocolate cake. "We cannot have you two leaving crumbs behind you. Hold-," he paused for dramatic effect, "-still. Scourgify!" He pointed his wand in their direction, making any and all cake disappear from them. Surprisingly, her robes smelt like soft floral soap, quite a delicate scent to come from a man who hardly looked like he used soap. "Do not be late for class," he warned.

They muttered a thank you but Snape had walked away immediately after casting the charm. Lunch had been thoroughly ruined and Ana's initial feeling of embarrassment slowly switched to irritation. Friendship was no longer in the cards for them if they had no problem humiliating her in front of the whole school. And to laugh in her face as they ran out of the Great Hall was a punch to the gut. Ana wasn't used to feeling so disrespected and she vowed to never let the twins make her feel that way ever again.

#fred weasley fanfiction #fred weasley #fred weasley smut #fred weasley x oc #bibiana malfoy #the girl who vanished #tgwv #tgwv 1-3 #enemies to friends to lovers

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drawlfoy · 5 years

Text

Joint Custody

masterlist request guidelines i’m technically on hiatus until oct 15 but if i really like your request i’ll take it

pairing: draco x hufflepuff!reader

request: oh yes, from maybe late july? i’m sorry for getting back so late to this one

summary: your pet snake is a snake in more ways than one...for example, befriending the most obnoxious boy in your year.

warnings: language, snakes (so if that’s a fear i don’t recommend this)

a/n: ohhh gee it’s been a while hasn’t it? i’m working on my ucas rn, and as an american with literally no one in my area who knows anything about it, i’d be happy to get tips from anyone who knows about oxford ppe. i hope you guys enjoy! i’m taking a little break from mirror, mirror rn since i have no idea what to do w that. also i have never owned a snake so i apologize if i say something incorrect about the care of y/n’s snake

word count: 3,692

tags tags tags @accio-rogers @geeksareunqiue

music recs: i listened to random music so idl

Y/N dug through her knapsack, her fingers brushing past everything but the scales she wanted to feel.

“Monty? Monty? Where are you??” she whispered, flinging her bag onto the potion table and opening it so the light illuminated the insides. Her worst suspicion was confirmed: her magically shrunk corn snake was completely gone.

“What’s the matter, Y/N?” her friend Luna Lovegood asked from the opposite side of the table, her eyebrows scrunched in concern. “Are you missing something?”

“Er...” She took one final sweep of her pockets and her bag before sighing in defeat. “Yeah. Monty is gone again, but this time he isn’t listening to me.”

“Off to snack on nargles, I presume,” Luna said, a smile drifting across her face. “I wouldn’t worry if I were you. He wouldn’t put himself in danger and he’ll always come back to you.”

“Thanks, Luna.”

“Of course.”

With that, her Ravenclaw friend turned and left for her next period, leaving Y/N to deal with the situation alone. She weighed her options: she could, technically, just summon her snake, but then she’d risk smacking him into a wall and injuring him. She could also ask Snape for his help, but one look at the greasy professor confirmed that, as always, he wasn’t in the mood to make the life of a Hufflepuff any easier.

Y/N scanned the room, noting that there was no yellow snake on the floor of the dungeons. He really could move fast when he wanted to.

“Who’s this?”

A familiar voice caught her attention behind her...no doubt originating from the Slytherin section. Against her better judgement, Y/N turned around to see Draco Malfoy staring down at his hands with a wonder she had never seen in his eyes before. Further examination made the cause clear: Monty was curled around his fingers, hissing contently.

“Hey!” Y/N said, catching his attention. “That’s my snake!”

Malfoy’s head shot up, his eyes filling with realization as he connected the yellow and orange colors of the pet to Y/N. “Oh? It seems as though he chose to come over here on his own accord. Probably got sick of being a house traitor, isn’t that right?”

To Y/N’s horror, Monty seemed to agree with the sentiment, slithering up his arm.

“That’s my snake, Malfoy, give him here,” she snapped, holding her hand out. he raised an eyebrow, running a finger down Monty’s scales.

“Don’t do that! Snakes don’t like to be pet!” Y/N was positively fuming as she saw how her pet didn’t even react badly to the physical contact--even though he was supposed to.

“That’s interesting,” Malfoy mused. “He doesn’t seem to mind it when I do it.”

“If you don’t give him back now, I’m going to kill you in your sleep,” Y/N said, whipping out her wand and pointing it at him to emphasize her point. Amusement flickered across his face.

“Okay, okay, you can have him back,” he said, gently unwrapping the snake from his arm and placing it back into her hand. His thumb brushed her palm in the process, and she was surprised to feel how warm it was. “Just remember that if you’re ever sick of hufflepuffs, I’m always here.”

He directed the last part at her snake, affection creeping into the edges of his tone. Once he seemed satisfied that Monty understood, he turned around without another word, grabbed his things, and left Y/N to stand in shock.

Draco Malfoy likes my snake?

The unthinkable happened the next Saturday night. Y/N was getting ready to go spend a nice study session in the library with her roommates and went to grab Monty from his perch, only to find that he was simply...gone.

“Monty! Monty!!”

While she wasn’t a parselmouth, she knew for damn sure that the snake knew she was looking for him.

“Monty, I’m going to put you in a cage if you keep doing this to me,” she scolded, sifting through her room to try and locate her pet. He was, unfortunately, nowhere to be found.

A very scary realization crept into her mind as she worked. Y/N hadn’t seen Monty since dinner...and there was no way that she could be sure that he was even in her room to begin with.

Oh, Merlin, I’m the worst snake owner in the history of snake owners. I didn’t even realize that he was gone...

Once she was sure that her room was snake-free, she burst out of the dorms and into the common room, where she asked everyone if they had seen Monty. There was a unanimous and concerning no from her housemates, only serving to raise her stress levels.

“Retrace your steps?” a particularly worried 7th year proposed. “Monty couldn’t have gone far...and plus, you both get along so well. There’s no way that he’d just leave you like that.”

Y/N nodded and burst out of the door, running down the corridor the way she had just come from and yelling her snake’s name.

She reached the dining hall entrance in record time, panting as she placed her hand on her knees and breathed. She really should’ve just gotten an owl or a cat like everyone else.

A flash of blonde caught her eye, and she turned to see a rather amused looking Malfoy leaned up against the wall opposite to the door.

“Looking for something?”

“You git! Where is he?” Y/N pointed her wand at him and clenched her other first, trying to regulate her breathing.

“I had a feeling you’d come back,” Malfoy said lazily, kicking off of the wall and striding closer to her. “For the record, it wasn’t my fault. Your snake must’ve gotten into my pocket during dinner.”

“He got from the Hufflepuff table to the--”

“Slytherin table? Yeah, I know, I was impressed too.” He reached into his pocket and pulled a hand with a yellow snake curled around long, elegant fingers. “It seems like he has a preference.”

“I hate you,” she muttered, offering her hand to Monty and inwardly rejoicing when he chose to slither onto her.

“Okay,” he responded, seemingly unbothered. “Are you at least going to thank me for taking care of him?”

Y/N studied him for a second. “No. Putting him in your pocket and waiting for me to find you doesn’t count as taking care of him.”

He snorted, stuffing his hands in his pockets and bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I can see why he likes to get away from you every once and a while. How did you even get into Hufflepuff?”

“What are you talking about?” she increduled (i don’t think that’s a word but whatever).

“I’ve only spoken directly to you twice, and both times you’ve managed to offend me,” he replied, raising an eyebrow. “I can’t imagine how your roommates deal with you.”

“They start by being tolerable people,” Y/N spat, slipping the hand that held Monty into her pocket, “Something that you ought to consider.”

“Ooooh.” He mimed twisting a knife in his heart. “You got me there. Touché.”

“I’m going to see my friends,” she said, glaring at him. “Please come directly to me if Monty ever bothers you again.” She began walking back down the hall, taking extra care to make the ride comfortable for Monty.

“Wait,” he called after her, causing her to stop in her tracks. “He really doesn’t bother me.”

She spun around to face him. “So?”

“Er...” Malfoy scratched the back of his neck. “Look, clearly he likes both of us, and I have a feeling this is going to happen again, so... do you want to just split the time with him?”

“Split the time with my own pet?”

“I actually really like him,” he confessed. “And it’d probably save you the stress of having to deal with constantly losing him...I know that snakes sometimes get bored with just one owner.”

“How do you know that?” Y/N asked.

“Er,,,” He stumbled over his words. “Just...perks of being a Slytherin, I guess. Nothing to think too deeply about.”

Y/N huffed, thinking over the proposal. No matter how much it pained her, it appeared as though her snake actually did enjoy Malfoy’s company.

“Okay. Fine. You have to learn how to take care of him, though.”

“No problem,” he said quickly. “Can I have him tonight?”

“What, need him for a ritual or something? Is it time sensitive?”

He laughed. “No. If I needed a snake, I could just serpensortia my way out of that issue.”

“Fair enough.” She paused before sticking her hand in her pocket again. “I need to go get his food and perch, then. I’ll be back in a moment, okay? You can hold onto him if you’d like.”

Draco seemed to visibly brighten at this remark, nodding and holding his hand out. Y/N tried not to take note of how immaculate his hands were as she allowed Monty to slither back onto his palm.

<^>

Y/N gathered her items quickly, ignoring the glances from her confused roommates.

“I’ll explain later,” she promised, darting out the door before they could ask any further questions.

When she showed up at the meeting place, she was relieved to see a bored looking Malfoy cooing to the snake twisted around his hand. He blushed a deep red when he saw that she heard him.

“Took you long enough,” he drawled.

“I’ve never heard you sound like that,” she said, chuckling instead of acknowledging his previous rude comment.

“Sound like what?”

“You? Cooing to Monty?”

“You’re going batty.” He scowled, putting his hand intertwined with Monty into his pocket.

“Sure. I’m guessing you want to go to the Slytherin dorms?”

“Congratulations on your deductive reasoning,” said Malfoy, rolling his eyes and starting off at a brisk pace. “Try and keep up, will you?”

<^>

On the way, they spoke about official terms: each would get the snake for two full days, and they would meet outside the Great Hall to transfer the equipment. Malfoy was adamant that they not tell anyone about the deal--something about how his parents would die if they knew he was sharing a pet with a Hufflepuff. Y/N was adamant that he finance the portion of food that he was using, which he initially protested to but eventually gave in.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Malfoy began once they stopped in front of the Slytherin common room entrance, “But thank you. For being open-minded. I know we aren’t on the best of terms...”

“No, this is most certainly not good-bye,” Y/N interrupted. “You need me to show you how to set up the perch in your room. And, of course, I need to demonstrate how to feed him. He’s very picky.”

Malfoy swallowed, his hand pausing before the bricks that obscured the entrance.

“Okay. All of the older Slytherins are out at Hogsmeade right now, so I can probably sneak you in.”

“Isn’t Hogsmeade closed to students after 5?” Y/N questioned.

“Yeah. We have our ways.”

With that, Draco muttered the password that she couldn’t quite catch and pushed open the door that appeared.

“Be quiet, though,” he cautioned.

They entered the Slytherin common room. and Y/N was blown back by a gust of damp, heavy air. It smelled like the inside of an expensive, appointment-only store.

“This is kind of cold and unfeeling,” she told him as they neared the entrance to the boy’s dorms. Malfoy looked like he was going to snap at her to be quiet, but something made him freeze.

“Shit. The wards.”

Realization flowed into Y/N. “Oh...oh, how could I have forgotten...”

“Can you just show me how to set it up here?” He asked, nervously passing his hands through his hair.

“No, no, I can’t,” she said. “I wish, but I need to see the layout of your room...there are specific requirements as to where the perch can be placed...”

Malfoy mulled over this for a few moments before letting out a long sigh. “I can’t levitate you past the wards. I have to carry you across.”

Y/N paled, even though she knew that that was the only possible way to make it happen. “Okay. I’ll leave the stuff on the ground. You help me over and then bring the perch and food.”

She set her things down and awkwardly stepped closer to him. Malfoy seemed just as uncomfortable as he held out his arms.

“Turn around and loop your legs over my right arm...like that...”

Before she knew it, she was scooped up off the floor and on the other side of the wards, the expensive silk of Malfoy’s suit pressed up against her cheek. She was surprised, yet again, at just how warm he was compared to his usual cool demeanor.

Malfoy set her down on the ground, and grabbed the box of snake supplies. “Last door on the right.”

<^>

“So you scored a single, huh?”

Malfoy’s room was made up of just a one large bed instead of the standard three that she saw in Hufflepuff dorms, and she couldn’t say that she was surprised. The Malfoys had the connections to get these sorts of things.

“Yeah,” he said absentmindedly. “Anyways, show me what to do. Monty is getting antsy.”

Y/N made quick work of unpacking the perch and locating an appropriate corner to place it. Showing Malfoy how to feed the snake was easy, and before she knew it, they were done.

“Enjoy Monty,” she said as they made their way to the ward again. “Let me know if anything weird happens or if you have any questions.”

Malfoy simply nodded and opened his arms again, signaling that he had to pick her up to let her out. She obliged, turning around and looping her legs over his arm, allowing herself to be scooped off of the ground. It was strange, really, getting moved so gently by someone who she thought, until recently, wouldn’t spit on her if she was burning to death. They were just over the ward when the common room entrance opened and the sounds of many Slytherin teenagers--albeit drunk Slytherin teenagers--filled the room. Malfoy’s face turned sheet white and he spun around, striding back towards his room.

“What are you doing?” she hissed. “Put me down!”

He didn’t answer her until they were safely inside the room, the door locked tight.

“They’re normally not back until midnight,” he said, his tone rushed. “It’s hardly 10:30...I don’t know what they’re doing here...”

“That’s okay, we can just wait until they all go to bed,” Y/N told him, placing a hand on his arm. “No worries.”

“Er, yes worries,” he corrected, moving further away from her. “Saturday all-nighters are very common here...you aren’t leaving this room until morning.”

“Are you joking?”

“I wish.” His eyes nervously darted around the room as he wrung his hands. “There’s nothing we can do right now, unless you know a very strong disillutionment spell...which I suspect neither of us do. They’ll be out in the common room for a while, and honestly, I should probably join them.”

“You’re just gonna leave me here?”

Malfoy seemed rather conflicted, but he screwed his eyes shut and exhaled sharply. “Yes. I said I would meet them afterwards. This way you can sleep, too. I won’t be here.”

“Are you sure I’m not intruding?”

He let out a shaky laugh. “No, you are, but it’s not your fault. Just stay here and don’t let anyone in unless it’s me, alright?”

“Alright.”

He got up and made to leave. “Oh, and, Malfoy?”

He turned to face her. “What is it now?”

“I don’t want to sleep in my school uniform,” she told him, her face darkened by a blush. “Do you have anything that I can borrow? Just a shirt or something?”

She could see his jaw clench before he ducked his head down and walked over to his dresser, tossing him the first shirt on top.

He was out the door before she could properly thank him.

<^>

Y/N took a long time to fall asleep, but when she finally drifted off, she was out like a light. Malfoy’s bedding was heavy and smelled like green tea and ink, something that she wasn’t expecting but most certainly appreciated.

So, when Y/N jerked awake just a few hours later, she was a little frustrated.

“Hey, hey, Y/N, wake up.”

She opened her eyes to see Malfoy standing over her, holding a candle and looking very tired. “What is it?”

“They’re gone. You can leave now.”

She groaned, turning over and searching for her clock--only to find that it wasn’t there, as this wasn’t her room. “What time is it?”

“3:20. Now are you going to get up, or do you want me to drag you out?”

“You said I could sleep here,” she complained, hardly completely awake yet. “And now I have to walk all the way to my dorm from the dungeons? At night? I don’t think so.”

The candle highlighted the frown etched into his face. “You should go.”

“This is the situation you created,” she countered. “You told me you were pulling an all-nighter. Why don’t you?”

He sighed, this time a staccato puff, and placed the candle holder on the nightstand. “Sorry I lied.”

“Yeah, uh-huh,” she mumbled, turning back over to drift back into sleep.

“Wait, wait! What am I supposed to do?”

“That’s for you to figure out. I’m going back to sleep.”

“But you can’t just--”

“Sh.”

Y/N let herself fall back into the realm of dreams, but not enough to completely lose consciousness. She was aware of a few sounds of movement from the room she was in--she assumed it was Draco, Draco, that sounds much better than his last name--but it wasn’t enough to motivate her to lucidity.

However, when she felt the bed on her opposite side dip, that was more than enough.

“What the hell, Malfoy,” she snapped, shooting upright.

“Can you please be quiet? I’m sorry, it just so happens that you’re refusing to move from my bed, and I have no other options, unlike you.”

“I don’t want to argue right now! Can you just go somewhere else and let me sleep in peace?”

“I could say the same for you!”

The two sat in a heated silence until Malfoy finally took the high road.

“I’m sorry about this, but I’m offering you one last time to carry you over the wards. If you don’t want that, I’m going to sleep in my own bed whether you’re in it or not.”

Y/N swallowed. “Okay. Okay, fine. I’m not going to leave.”

“Goodnight.”

<^>

Y/N wasn’t totally sure what woke her up--perhaps it was the breath on her neck, or the warm arm that was draped over her side, or the tickle of something that felt suspiciously like very vine hair on her cheek--but when she did, her heart almost stopped.

Malfoy had slung an arm around her waist, pulling her closer than what was comfortable. His face was mere centimeters from her own, and every time he exhaled, a few rogue strands of pale hair brushed her cheek.

This was not good. She had to do something--but the most unethical part of her did not want to. Malfoy was no doubt going to be upset when he woke up to see this, and she needed him to be in a good enough mood to let her out of the boy’s dorms.

“Malfoy?” She broke the silence, softly nudging his side with her elbow. He groaned, burying his face into her neck. “Malfoy!”

Y/N gave him a swift shove, effectively detaching him from her.

“Er...what?” He shot up, looking very alarmed and confused. “What?”

“You have to carry me out of the wards, remember?” she told him, slipping out of the covers and pulling them off him. “We should get going as soon as possible. There might be people out in the common room the later it gets.”

He seemed to understand the problem as he swung upright and ran a finger through his ruffled hair.

“I’m sorry about that,” he mumbled.

“Sorry about what?”

“For, er, touching you, I know that I shouldn’t have done that,” he clarified, turning away from her, but not quickly enough to hide the blush on his cheeks. “I don’t know what got into me.”

“It’s okay,” she mused. “I guess if we’re to have joint custody of Monty, we should get to know each other anyways.”

Malfoy froze for a second before he gathered his bearings. “Er, yeah. Yeah, good point. For Monty.”

Once he seemed ready, they left the room, Y/N giving a wave to Monty, who was curled around his perch.

“He’ll be fine, don’t worry about him,” Malfoy told her, spinning her around by her shoulders and opening his arms to pick her up again. She looped her legs over his arms again, leaning back into him and allowing her to lift her up and take her over the ward.

He set her down softly after making sure the coast was totally clear, looking down at the ground immediately after.

“Thank you, Draco,” she said quietly. “For everything. Sorry I was a bit of a pill last night.”

“’S only fair, I’ll been worse to you.”

Y/N couldn’t see for sure, but it appeared as though the very outer corners of his lips had turned up.

“I’ll see you in two days? Outside the dining hall?”

“Yeah.” He sounded almost breathless, like he was winded or something.

“Okay, well..I think I’m going to go,” she said, backing away. “Feel free to show up to the Hufflepuff entrance if you want any help. Or if I’m not there, then you can normally find me in the library, or you can always ask in potions...”

She trailed off once she saw that Draco’s face had broken into an exasperated but amused expression.

“Okay, I should go then.”

“Yeah, me too.”

With that, Y/N turned and left the Slytherin common room with the feeling that that was certainly not going to be the last time she was going to be there.

final a/n: i didn’t know how to incorporate actual fluff in here and i shouldn’t even be writing this rn lmaoooooo but here it is and i’m so sorry if it sucks i haven’t proofread

#draco x reader #draco imagine #draco malfoy #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy imagine #draco x oc #draco x y/n #draco malfoy x oc #draco malfoy x y/n #harry potter imagine #draco lucius malfoy

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carewyncromwell · 4 years

Text

Hey, guys! So I don’t really have enough material in this most recent side quest to work with to create full roleplaying posts for it (largely because the writing for this quest was stilted as all get out and there really weren’t very high stakes)...so instead, I’ll be doing something a little different, and simply writing out my personal rewrite of the quest’s storyline, as performed by my MC, Carewyn. Most of the overall framework of what happened in the quest will still be there, but I will try to flesh out or rewrite some things to hopefully better develop the ideas and help them more smoothly fit into canon. Hope you enjoy!

When Lucius Malfoy first arrived at Hogwarts, Carewyn was immediately suspicious of him. She wasn’t familiar with the man, but she thought that his timing of coming to Hogwarts for an inspection only after the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher went on the run from the law reeked of the school governors and/or Ministry of Magic wanting to put forward a good show of looking after the students for the press, so that they couldn’t be condemned for their inaction.*

* = (Yes, I know this quest is supposed to be aimed at year 2, but...well...I honestly can’t justify why year 2 would be when an inspection would happen. I suppose the Ice Curse was still in effect, but it’s not like the Ministry or the school governors took any action in response to the danger of the Vaults, even though it seems like the perfect ammunition for Lucius to use against Dumbledore. He was able to coax all of the school governors to sack Dumbledore in the name of saving students during the Chamber of Secrets arc later on, so it feels like this could’ve been done here too, if the Ice Vault was still raging. Dumbledore would also have little reason to think we’re “good at solving mysteries” if this takes place in year 2, since we at that point haven’t even successfully dealt with one Cursed Vault yet. So in this version of events, Lucius has only just become a school governor in anticipation of his son, Draco, attending school in the next few years. And because the Statue Vault and Rakepick are currently being tackled by the Ministry already, Lucius doesn’t really have any more action he can take. It also makes very little sense for a five-year-old Draco to be brought along to Hogwarts. His mother Narcissa is a stay-at-home mother, and even in the films, it’s pretty clear she -- and Lucius, at least in the books -- wouldn’t want her precious bb boy being taken care of by a pair of strangers with no experience in child-rearing. And I don’t think either movie! or book!Lucius would want any “bad influences” like protagonist MC around his son at that age, either -- at least by age nine, Draco would be pretty locked into the pureblood beliefs he’s been raised with, and since he’d be attending school in two years, it would give Draco a good preview of what his school life will be like ahead of time.)

Carewyn’s suspicions only heightened when Flitwick summoned her and Ben to the Charms classroom and Lucius Malfoy was there talking to Professor Flitwick. She had been very flattered by Flitwick’s praise of her Charm work...but the way Lucius looked at her when he turned to her...

Even though yes, Carewyn didn’t like the mention of Jacob, there was something else she could sense in Lucius’s eyes -- something intrigued. Although he smiled very pleasantly, there was a definite marked interest in his voice, not unlike how Professor Tofty greeted her upon first meeting. Lucius had definitely heard a lot more than just about Jacob -- but despite this, Carewyn merely gave Lucius a very cool smile in return.

Lucius’s condescension toward Ben for his blood status only made Carewyn dislike Lucius all the more. When he’d left the room, Carewyn agreed with Ben’s distaste for the school governor immediately.

“Professor Flitwick,” she said slowly, “are the Malfoys an old Wizarding family?” Carewyn had heard plenty of stories about her mother’s family and their particular dislike of Muggles, so it seemed logical to think the Malfoys were like them.

Flitwick had confirmed that yes, they were, adding that Lucius could be difficult sometimes. “But he is one of the school governors,” he’d said. “So we simply must cooperate.“

After Potions class, Merula and Carewyn were both forwarded to Dumbledore’s office by their Head of House, Severus Snape. While waiting for Lucius Malfoy to arrive, Merula explained a bit more about Lucius Malfoy’s history with Voldemort, which thoroughly justified Carewyn’s distrust of the man. When Dumbledore and Lucius arrived, however, Carewyn and Merula soon found themselves roped into looking after Lucius’s son, the bratty nine-year-old Draco Malfoy.

Okay -- I know a lot of people liked how Draco was portrayed in the game and enjoyed how he (if you picked to protect his secret) expressed genuine admiration for MC, but...yeah, in this version of events, he’s not nearly so cute. (I mean, come on, in the books, Harry compared Draco to Dudley on first meeting -- this kid has some serious issues with empathy and a real selfish streak. He might be a lot more clever than Dudley, but in my mind, he should be pretty fun to hate at this stage, rather than cute.)

For one, because he’s older, Draco’s in less need of babysitting and more in need of guidance. Lucius thought it only fitting that two such promising students show Draco the best Hogwarts has to offer -- and Draco, being older and therefore even more entitled, arrogant, and condescending than he’s portrayed in the game, was sizing up his competition just as much as he was tailing after them. His father Lucius had told him all about Merula’s parents and about Carewyn’s reputation as a Cursebreaker, so he knew that both girls were incredibly powerful and thus were both people Draco should have in his circle, whether as allies or as pawns. While Lucius was at school, he became very talented at making connections, which has served him well in the present by giving him the power to either sway or pressure people into doing things his way -- and Draco not only is expected to do the same, but the young Malfoy heir is eager to follow in his father’s footsteps and already be the “big man on campus” when he starts at Hogwarts. Even if both Carewyn and Merula will be graduated by the time he starts school, those ties could still be very beneficial down the road.

That being said, Draco and Merula did still instantly end up at each other’s throats. Even if Draco was supposed to “get Carewyn and Merula in his circle,” thanks to his spoiled upbringing by his parents, Draco has no social skills whatsoever, and so has little idea of how to charm people without putting down others in the process. Even though (or perhaps because) Merula was a bully herself most of her school career, she reacted very harshly to Draco’s nasty attitude, and soon the two were verbally smacking each other around with barbed, personal insults.

Despite her growing dislike for both Lucius and his son, Carewyn did everything she could to be the mediating force between them and even successfully distracted Draco by asking about his interests and taking him to the Quidditch pitch. Not long after they arrived, Draco succeeded in snatching a spare broom and started flying around the pitch.

Merula sincerely hoped that he’d fall and break his neck, but Carewyn -- even if she didn’t particularly like Draco -- knew it’d be terrible if he did hurt himself. So she boarded her own Cleansweep (which she’d kept locked in the Slytherin Quidditch tent, in case one of Orion’s players needed a spare broom) and took off after Draco.

Once in the air, Carewyn kept her wand close in case something went wrong. Fortunately she needn’t have feared -- within a minute, she could see that Draco was a very talented flier. In an attempt to distract him away from fighting with Merula, Carewyn suggested that she could teach Draco some flying tricks. Draco was scornful at first, until Carewyn weaved through the stands and threaded the needle through all three goal posts before sweeping into an extreme dive and pulling up mere feet from the ground. She smirked up at Draco, folding her legs over her broom so she could lean back effortlessly with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Ready for a lesson now, Mr. Malfoy?” she called up to him coolly.

The young Malfoy heir couldn’t hide the greedy look in his eye at the thought of learning those cool tricks, nor could he hide how thrilled he was learning how to do an extreme dive.

Once the two had finally come back down to the ground, Draco asked Carewyn if she was on the Slytherin Quidditch team. When she said no, explaining that she just didn’t have the time to devote to Quidditch, Draco reacted with scorn.

“Because of those Vaults, I guess?” he presumed.

He said that his father had told him all about Carewyn’s Cursebreaking, and her family too -- that her brother was a delinquent and her mother had run away from home to marry a Muggle. Merula was actually a bit startled by this, not having heard that particular fact about Carewyn’s mother, but Carewyn herself kept her temper, even as her tone grew cooler and dryer than ever.

“My family may not be perfect, but I’m proud of it, all the same,” she said softly.

What she didn’t add out loud was, “I certainly wouldn’t be proud of my family if I were in your shoes.”

A bit miffed he hadn’t been able to get a rise out of Carewyn, Draco soon enough turned his attentions back to Merula. He ranted about how his father had said Hogwarts was going to the dogs and about how they had so many Mudbloods amongst their ranks. Carewyn stiffened very sharply at the use of the word.

“That is not a word to be used in civilized conversation,” she told him very severely.

“My father says it all the time,” Draco argued.

“Really?” said Carewyn, her lips turning up in a cool smile. “Don’t reckon that’s something you should admit too readily, given your own family’s history -- I wager a fair number of people at this school would hex you to belch slugs for using a word like that.”

Merula's face broke out into a smug smirk. “Don’t give me any ideas, Cromwell.”

This change in topic, however, led to Draco wanting a proper dueling lesson from Merula and Carewyn. Naturally, because Draco didn’t have a wand of his own and they certainly weren’t going to lend him theirs, the two girls refused -- and soon enough, they got word that Lucius was finished with his inspection and would be leaving the school soon.

Of course, that didn’t happen, because sure enough, Lucius’s wand went missing. The prime suspect? The Malfoy family house elf, Dobby.

Carewyn had little experience with house-elves prior to Dobby (only having met Pitts the previous year), so the poor elf’s maltreatment at the Malfoys’ hands greatly upset her. Determined to prove his innocence, she asked Dobby to tell her whatever he could say without hurting himself and -- upon Dobby trying to smack his own head against the ground -- she actually bent down and grabbed hold of him in both hands to try to wrestle him into not hurting himself.

“It’s okay, Dobby,” she kept telling him. “I’ll make sure you don’t get blamed.”

It didn’t take long at all for Carewyn to get to the bottom of who had taken the wand. If Dobby felt he couldn’t tell her who the thief was because he couldn’t speak ill of the Malfoy family, then there was only one possible suspect. Catching up with Merula and Draco, she confronted the Malfoy heir about having taken his father’s wand. Draco denied it at first, but pretty quickly came clean.

“I’m not too young to learn how to duel!” he said. “I wouldn’t have borrowed Father’s wand if you’d just lent me yours!”

After some prodding, Draco admitted where he’d hidden his father’s wand. It didn’t take long for Merula to find it.

Despite the younger boy’s bravado, though, Carewyn could still tell that Draco hadn’t meant for this whole thing to go so far. He wasn’t really sorry about the thought that Dobby could be blamed for something he did -- but he’d enjoyed what he’d learned so far and wanted to stay at Hogwarts a little longer so he could learn some spells.

Feeling some compassion despite herself, Carewyn sat down on the edge of the fountain next to Draco.

“If you give me your solemn word only to use this in a formal duel,” she said very seriously, “I will teach you one spell. Do we have a deal?”

His eyes once again greedy for knowledge, Draco nodded and eagerly agreed. Holding out her wand in front of her, Carewyn told Draco to put his hand on top of hers. Then she walked him step-by-step through the wand movements for the spell “Everte Sactum,” the Stumbling Hex.

“When you cast this correctly, it will hurl your opponent off their feet,” she explained. “That can then give you the time you need to get away, if you’re in trouble.”

Her eyes then narrowed sharply upon Draco’s face. “Remember your word, though -- you will only use this in a duel, not for fun. Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Draco said breezily, but he was grinning from ear to ear all the same.

The group met back up with Lucius Malfoy and Dumbledore in the Headmaster’s Office. When Lucius asked Carewyn who had stolen the wand, she answered simply,

“No one, as far as I can tell. Merula found it on the floor near the Entrance Hall -- no thief to be seen.”

After all, Draco had only admitted to “borrowing” his father’s wand -- not stealing it.

”There’s no evidence that Dobby couldn’t have still taken it,” said Lucius.

Dobby shook his head frantically, wringing his hands desperately as he insisted he didn’t take the wand and never would. Carewyn very gently cut off Dobby’s denials by pointing out that house elves can’t lie to or speak ill of their masters without hurting themselves. The fact that Dobby was not hurting himself while claiming he didn’t take the wand was proof in itself that he didn’t commit the crime. And everyone must be considered innocent until proven guilty...right?

Lucius considered Carewyn carefully, his gray eyes oddly critical and shrewd upon her face -- then he inclined his head in an abridged nod.

“...Wisely said, Miss Cromwell. You could be an excellent lawyer, with sentiments such as those.”

His gray eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly as his lips curled up in a cool smile.

“I daresay that would please your grandfather quite a bit.”

Carewyn’s blood ran cold. Lucius Malfoy was in touch with her grandfather, Charles Cromwell? She’d never met her mother’s father before -- but given that Lucius Malfoy spoke highly of him, she wondered more than ever if she was incredibly fortunate in that...

For his part, Lucius seemed satisfied by how taken aback Carewyn was and, with a flourish of his cloak, swept toward the office door.

“Come, Draco,” he called over his shoulder.

Before Draco left, he paused, turning back to look at Carewyn.

“I won’t forget that,” he said. “What you did.”

He didn’t need to articulate what he meant.

“And I swear -- when we’re both done at Hogwarts, we’ll meet again, Cromwell. And when we do, I’ll be the greatest wizard ever -- greater than you could ever be.”

Despite the arrogance in his expression, Draco was still grinning from ear to ear in a kind of vicious determination.

Carewyn’s blue eyes grew a little smaller as she smirked in return.

“Good ambition. Just keep in mind -- there are many ways to be ‘great.’“

With an offhand scoff, Draco turned on his heel and followed his father, not fully able to bite back the smile still clinging to his lips.

When Dumbledore, Carewyn, and Merula were out of earshot, Lucius spoke to Draco at last.

“She knew you took my wand, didn’t she?” he asked.

Draco, although startled, reluctantly nodded.

“And yet she dared lie to my face,” said Lucius in dark amusement. “Rather effectively, too. Tell me -- what did you think of her, Draco?”

Draco shrugged offhandedly. “All right, I guess. She’s a decent flier -- and her spellwork’s okay.”

“Coming from you, that’s high praise,” said Lucius dryly. His lips curled up in a wry smile. “Seems I was right to think I should keep an eye on her advancement...”

Dobby was so grateful to Carewyn that he said that if she ever needed him, she only had to ask. Carewyn was very happy for that -- she had a feeling that she could use at least one friend in the Malfoy household, if Lucius really had such close ties to her mother’s family.

#carewyn cromwell #gameplay #hphm #hogwarts mystery #roleplaying #lucius malfoy #draco malfoy #merula snyde #dobby #albus dumbledore #ben copper #filius flitwick #my writing #au #headcanon

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bush-viper-cutie · 4 years

Text

“Aunt Marge Visits” || YEAR 3 – Ch.2 (HP au)

Chapter List

<-- Last Chapter Next Chapter -->

Day posted: 7/14/2020

Word count: 3,063

Relationship: EVENTUAL severus X oc (slow burn)

Rating: E for everyone

Warnings: none

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A/N: This is my first fan fic I’m writing mainly as a way to practice. This is a retelling of the hp books with an inserted character. Although most every character will be written about, this is mostly for the pro snape fandom. Please do not fear, although this is a severus x oc story, it is an incredibly slow burn as I do not intend for them to get together at all until after the final book events. Chapters will be posted twice a week.

This derivative work follows the events of the Harry Potter books by Jk Rowling and is intended as a fun way to practice my writing. Thank you for reading :D

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~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~

Heather let Hedwig and Errol out of their cages, not wanted them to hoot or screech while Aunt Marge was over, “Go to the Burrow for a week. You’ll have a much better week than we will.” Heather opened the window for them.

Harry was making sure all their stuff was in the floorboards, when he remembered the growling book under the dresser, “What do we do about that?”

Heather moved one of the boxes slightly to see if it’d come out and to her horror, it had chewed through into the very box she had pulled away, “It’s in here!”

Harry opened the box flaps and looked inside, “It’s asleep,” he whispered, “Hand me my belt.”

She handed it over and watched him make a loop and lean inside. There was a growl and a quick yelp from Harry followed by a sigh of relief. He took out the growling book, bound together by the belt, and placed it under the floorboard as well with the other one.

“COME DOWN NOW!” Aunt Petunia called from bellow.

“Why do we have to greet her? She hates us.”

“Because she loves making fun of us,” Heather held the door open for Harry and they both made their way downstairs.

Heather stood next to Dudley and snorted trying to hold in a laugh at his stupid necktie. Dudley turned to her and stomped on her foot suddenly.

“OW!”

“Quiet! She’s coming,” Aunt Petunia opened the door and smiled, “Welcome!”

There was a CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH of the gravel and then Aunt Marge was in full view as she walked through the open door, looking as if she smelled something foul and sour in the air. She gave a polite smile to Aunt Petunia and set her chunky dog down on the ground, opening her arms wide to hug Dudley.

“MY DUDDERS!” she scooped him up with both arms and squeezed very tight.

Dudley’s feet dangled and it was amazing watching Dudely’s self-restraint. Heather knew he wanted to yell and scream to be put down, but he had a mission, and the reward for it was dessert, no doubt. Aunt Marge finally set him down and turned to Heather and Harry, frowning like she’d found what smelled so awful.

“Marge, there’s some tea in the kitchen,” Aunt Petunia quickly led her away from them.

Uncle Vernon came through the door next, carrying all her cases. “Carry these to your room,” he pushed the luggage at them.

“Our room?” Heather looked at Harry urgently.

“Isn’t she staying – ”

Uncle Vernon closed the door and grinned, “It must have SLIPped my mind. There’s a tent set up for you two in the back.” He made his hand into a chubby walking man motion, “So walk these on up and do as you’re told for the week. Then it won’t SLIP my mind what our deal was.” He left them in hall and closed the door to the living room.

Heather kicked one of the cases, “We should have known.”

They split the workload and dragged everything upstairs and set it in the corner of the room. Luckily, they didn’t get their brooms out and the loose floorboard was right under the bed. Ripper – the favorite bulldog Aunt Mare took everywhere – hopped right onto the floor mattress and growled when she tried to kick him off.

“We get to keep our pillows. At least.” Harry grabbed them both and they headed back downstairs to set up the tent.

After the last rod was in place and all the spiders were kindly removed by Harry, they washed their hands and sat for dinner, across the table from Aunt Marge and Dudley. At first she pretended not to notice them, until Heather decided to go for seconds.

“I see that school of yours hasn’t taught you a thing,” she moved the bowl of cooked greens towards her. “Gluttons and freeloaders. The pair of you.”

It was hilarious, watching Aunt Marge yell at them about eating too much as she spooned a mountain of gravy into her mouth. All while Dudley laughed with his mouth open at them.

“Petunia, you should write to them – obviously their lessons aren’t sticking. Maybe it’s time for a more aggressive approach.”

The rest of the week went more or less like how it always went. Once a day she offered to beat them to “really show them who’s in charge,” or would comment on their appearance. Despite complaining about them eating every time they did so – which was only twice a day – she commented on how weak they looked and how it had to do with their genes.

Twice she had to stop Harry from talking back. She knew every time Aunt Marge bordered on bashing their parents, Harry was ready to giver her a piece of his mind. She often times looked at Aunt Petunia, to see how she reacted to almost being insulted since she was the one actually related to them. If she was bothered by it, she never showed it, nodding and agreeing with everything Aunt Marge said about them.

“In breeding they take those things very seriously,” she was saying to Uncle Vernon over dinner that night, “You can’t make any old mut a dam or a sire, or the whelp will turn out ill-tempered and bad-mannered.” She looked at them, “Which must have been the case. Just compare these two to my sweet Dudders over here – ”

Just then Aunt Marge’s whine glass exploded, covering her in red wine and staining her overly embroidered suit jacket and brown top. Everyone but Aunt Marge looked at Heather and Harry – though mostly Harry since he’s always the one to lose his cool first.

“I’m so sorry, Petunia. Sometimes I forget my own strength,” she laughed. “One of those two can get me something. I’m sure they’re capable of at least that.”

Heather and Harry walked into the kitchen together, gave her a couple of napkins, and excused themselves from the table. They walked out of the room and ran outside. Heather made sure the glass door was closed shut and dove into the tent after Harry.

He was curled up in the corner with his arms crossed, “I know. The forms. I’m sorry.”

“Harry…” she sat down close to him, “I hate when she says that stuff too… But you shouldn’t care what she thinks or says about… about them. Even if she calls them muts.”

“You only don’t like it ‘cause you hate hearing about them! You don’t even care what anyone says, good or bad.”

Heather clenched her jaw, knowing they were bordering on an uncomfortable subject for her. “I just… We have to live our life now. And that means going to Hogsmeade. The past is the past and nothing anyone says now or ever will change that.”

“It does change things!” he sat up and smacked his hand on his pillow, “You act like they left us on purpose – ”

“Harry!”

“But they didn’t! They were taken from us! They didn’t leave you – ”

“Harry I SWEAR – ”

“But you have no problem leaving them!” Harry frowned and wiped tears from his eyes, letting silence fall on them for several minutes. “You’re the one whose leaving them.”

Heather punched his shoulder as hard as she could and ripped the tent flap open, “I’m sleeping outside tonight. Until you APPOLOGIZE.”

She stood up and stepped out, zipping the flap as fast as she could and walked over to the far left of the house, away from all the windows and from view of the tent. She fell onto the dirt and started sobbing, kicking the fence as hard as she could until a crack appeared in the perfectly white picket fence.

“I’m not leaving them,” she growled into the wind.

There was a rock to her left and she imagined angrily flinging the rock over the fence and hearing it smash to pieces onto the street and before her eyes she watched it follow her exact imagined trajectory. She heard it hit the street on the other side and skid a few feet before hitting something hard. Her anxiety about being caught doing magic ruined the moment, knowing two accounts of underage magic would be showing up for the evening. Two more than what was allowed.

It only took an hour for Harry to apologize for what he said. Heather nodded but kept quiet the rest of the night and some of the morning. It was during breakfast that Harry finally made amends by offering up his slice of bacon to her, which she cheerfully accepted, despite the disgusted looks Aunt Marge was giving her.

“You’ll be lucky to find any kind of husband willing to put up with you,” she shook her head, “And if you want a wife you’ll fix that mop of yours atop your head!”

The twins nodded, not really knowing how else to respond to that kind of attack on their future selves. The day felt like a copy of the last, having to sit around the room near Aunt Marge while she barked orders and spit out insults.

Heather excused herself to the bathroom for the fourth time that day and headed upstairs. She was walking past their bedroom door when she heard a familiar clicking. She looked over the railing quickly before opening their door to a large majestic owl pecking at the closed window with a light green scroll tied to its leg.

She crossed the room and pulled the window open to allow for the owl to enter. It stretched it’s leg out and the second the rolled up letter was pulled free, it swept away, as if unable to be in the vicinity for much longer.

“WHERE IS SHE? You know drugs can be done at any age? I’d check the tank if I were you…”

Heather rolled her eyes at Aunt Marge and stuffed the letter in her pocket. She left the room quickly, closing the door behind her quietly and made her way back into the room where Aunt Marge was now commenting on Harry’s “glassy” eyes.

She could hear Harry muttering under his breath, “Focus on the form,” over and over to keep his cool. The only thing getter HER through it all was the fact today was Aunt Marge’s last day here. They would get their room back, she could study some more, take a long shower… and she’d get to clean that gross mattress Ripper had been sleeping in all week.

Heather and Harry were drawn back to reality by the snapping Aunt Petunia was doing to get their attention.

“Maybe they were dropped on their heads,” Aunt Marge howled with laughter.

“Go set the table,” Aunt Petunia called from the kitchen.

While Dudley entertained Aunt Marge – who had been slipping him twenties every so often throughout the week – and Uncle Vernon uncorked several whine bottles, they set the table and got it ready for Aunt Petunia’s fancy dinner. They all sat down and Heather and Harry watched everyone dig into the meal before they served themselves.

Sometimes Heather wished Aunt Petunia had been nicer to them, she admired her cooking and thought it would have been nice to learn from her, though she knew the reality was they wouldn’t be able to stand each other for even a second. If Heather complimented her cooking right then, she would have been sent away for mocking her somehow. In the end, their relationship is best left well alone, along with the rest of the Dursleys.

“Fancy some more, Marge?” Uncle Vernon held up the last bottle of red wine.

“A tiny bit more won’t hurt,” she pushed the glass and kept motioning for him to keep pouring until there was no more coming out. “That’s alright, then.”

Would it be so bad if they disappeared during dessert? She kept eyeing the door with Harry but Uncle Vernon made it incredibly clear they were not to move an inch, quietly slamming his fist down while his sister downed the wine.

“That hits the spot,” Aunt Marge set down her wine glass and pet Ripper under the table and looked at Dudley on his third cream cake serving, “Dudder’s you’ll be a healthy beast-of-a-man when you grow up, just you wait,” she winked at him. “But you two,” she started.

Heather noticed Harry start to mumble again, something about the broom servicing kits.

Aunt Marge pointed her cream-covered spoon at Heather, “Gotta watch out for ones like her in their teenage years. My horrid neighbor – the one I was telling you about, Petunia – she had a bitch once – she kept seeing all sorts of strays in the neighborhood, wondered why – well I knew just why. It was only a shock to her when her bitch gave birth to a dozen mutts – and who knows what dog was to blame.”

Heather clenched her jaw and squeezed her fork tight. They were all lucky Harry and her were going to Hogwarts, or she would’ve had nothing to lose just then.

Marge spooned some more cake into her mouth and turned to Harry next, “And this runty-one – what kind of boy is shorter than his sister – It must be to do with THAT blood.”

She was starting to jumble her words, but Harry understood her perfectly.

“What blood,” Harry asked, setting down his fork.

Heather looked at him with wide eyes, wishing she could flick his nose or ears or anything to keep him from starting something everyone at the table would regret, but mostly him. Dudley had now looked up from his cake again, grinning and happy to hear about how awful his cousins were.

Marge squinted her eyes at Harry, “That sister of yours, Petunia, was clearly a bad egg, but the rotten egg was obviously that Potter boy she ran off with. You’ve got the results of bad blood mixed with rotten blood right here, and you can see it in him.”

Harry shook his head and pushed the small cream lumps around his plate. Heather’s heart was beating out of her chest and sighed with relief at his calm reaction. She kicked his foot under the table and nodded her head slightly when he glanced over, trying to convey her approval.

“What was it this rotten Potter boy did, again?”

Aunt Petunia hesitated for a second, “Nothing, he had no job – ”

“Of course he didn’t, why would he. That layabout was nothing but a filthy bum – a pimple by societal standards – and good riddance. I’d say be thankful there’s no chance for them to be coming around begging for money but now look what they left behind. That Potter boy was filth – ”

“No. He wasn’t!” Harry slammed his fist down.

“MORE WINE, MARGE?” Uncle Vernon quickly stood and ran to the wine cabinet.

Marge ignored her brother, “What else would you call a good-for-nothing moocher who goes and kills himself and his wife and leaves you two accidents on the doorstep of two hardworking people too good and decent to kick you off their property, hmm?”

“He didn’t get anyone killed!” Harry stood, knocking his chair back.

“Oh, going to get all tough on me, are you boy?” Marge sneered and stabbed her spoon into her cake, “You and your sister are both ungrateful little RUNTS – ”

Heather looked up from her hands – previously pressed against her face in horror – and stared at Marge the same as everyone. She had suddenly stopped speaking and the red from her face was spreading down her neck and onto her hands. Everywhere she turned red, it looked like she was swelling like a great big balloon until her buttons all popped off her clothes and her belt buckle broke in two, allowing what little waist she had before to disappear entirely.

Heather stood as Marge began to lift from the table, grasping at the corners and looking around utterly confused.

“NO! MARGE!” Uncle Vernon came running back to the table and tried to sit her down into her seat.

She looked like a hot air balloon now, rising up out of her seat despite Uncle Vernon’s attempts at keeping her down – Aunt Petunia only looked on in horror with Dudley cowering behind her, looking at Harry and Heather.

Harry grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the table and out into the hall. She made to run upstairs for the lock pick kit but just as Harry reached for the knob, the door burst open and all their things fell out.

The living room door was rattling as if someone was trying to get out – likely Uncle Vernon ready to yell at them – but despite there being no locks, it would not open. She couldn’t help but stare at Harry as he stuffed all his things in his trunk and then Heather’s. Did he know what he was doing? Did he mean to do it? She hadn’t seen anyone else use all that magic without a wand at school… and she hated to think it… but was he really the powerful wizard everyone claimed he was?

“Are you going to help?” Harry hissed at her.

“Wh-what are you doing? Why are you packing? We should get a hold of Mr. Weasley and ask how to reverse whatever spell you used – ”

“We’re LEAVING, Heather. Why would we stay here?”

She blinked and turned back to the door being pounded on heavily. Even the kitchen door was jammed shut with something.

“Leave where? Where would we go? We have no one!”

She pulled him up but he pushed passed her and ran up the stairs. She stood frozen in place as Harry collected their things from under the floorboard and came back, pouring their belongings into their trunks. He shoved her broom into her hands and dragged his trunk to the door, flinging it open – this time manually – and exited the house.

Just then the kitchen door flew open and Heather jumped, grabbing her case and following Harry out the door as Uncle Vernon yelled for them to come back and fix Marge. She ran to catch up to Harry, who now had his wand out and ready.

“Why do you have that out!”

“In case they try to stop us leaving. We aren’t ever coming back.”

~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~

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hati-writes · 4 years

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Harry Potter and the Family who Loved him Year Two

What if Harry Potter had been raised by a family who gave him all the love and support he needed? What would change about the Harry Potter stories if Harry had been raised by the Weasleys rather than the Dursleys?

Part One is here

Link to the story on Ao3 is here

___

The summer after his first year at Hogwarts passed in a happy sunlit blur for Harry and his family. Ginny was highly excited to be going to Hogwarts in September and badgered Ron and Harry with a million questions as to what it would be like. Charlie gave them weekly updates on Norbert’s progress and the twins persuaded Harry and Ron to help them, ahem, “borrow” their dad’s battered muggle car to test that it worked well. They didn’t even crash it! Not that that made any difference to the scolding they all got when they returned home, breathless and delighted with themselves. Mrs Weasley was less than delighted and all four boys ended up de-gnoming the garden and pulling up weeds for hours. Still, it had been worth it they blithely decided.

It took almost two weeks for Harry to notice he wasn’t getting any mail, and even then only because Hermione mentioned in one of her letters to Ron that ‘I was surprised you would be better at replying to letters than Harry, can you tell him to hurry up and write back?’. Mystified Harry checked with his parents, Errol hadn’t brought any mail for him at all, and neither had Hedwig or any other owl.

Mr Weasley was alarmed when this was brought to his attention, being well aware of how difficult it was to interfere with the owl post. He consulted with his eldest son and Bill came home for a week to check up on the status of the house wards. They could find no evidence of tampering, which only made them more suspicious. Worried, Arthur invited over Moody to see if there was any dark magic around. Mrs Weasley threatened her children into behaving for their guest and chased them upstairs while Moody was examining the wards, for fear that the twins would play some sort of prank that would send Moody in a paranoid state and end up with the kitchen demolished or something.

Banished to their bedroom Harry and Ron had been playing chess when they were visited by a house elf. Ron was gobsmacked, Harry had been raised to be polite though and invited Dobby to sit down. This cued tears and self inflicted punishment. The boys did their best to keep him quiet, not wanting to incur their mother’s wrath any further. Dobby eventually revealed he had been stealing Harry’s mail and that Harry was not to go back to Hogwarts. As expected, Harry refused to consider that particular notion.

Dobby wouldn’t give up that easily however and sprinted downstairs, closely followed by Ron and Harry who were just in time to see him shoot a stinging hex at a distracted Mad Eye Moody and vanish. Moody, predictably, reacted like it was an attack from fully trained dark wizards and Harry and Ron leapt for cover as the wall behind them was blown to smithereens.

Moody apologised of course and managed to fix the wall up better than ever , but the damage was done. Ron and Harry were grounded for the rest of the summer. No flying, no visiting the village, no chess and all homework completed. Mrs Weasley even confiscated Harry’s new broom just to be certain there would be no illicit Quidditch games before school, no matter how much Harry begged that he needed to practise, he was on the team! Harry did notice that Ron got quiet whenever Harry mentioned that and resolved to discuss it with Hermionie when he next saw her. The other outcome of Harry and Ron being grounded was the twins getting bored enough to let Ginny play seriously with them. She was much better than anyone had realised actually. Harry was impressed.

When the time came for the Diagon Alley shop Ron and Harry were thrilled, they’d been itching to get out of the house for weeks now and the prospect of minor freedom was intoxicating. Harry of course knew how to use floo powder properly and, with no desire to incur his parent’s anger yet again, he went straight to Diagon Alley. There they met with Hermione and her parents as well as bumping into Hagrid. The bookstore was overflowing with middle aged witches with stars in their eyes and all the Weasley children eyed the banner proclaiming the author signing with apprehension. They were all too aware of their mother’s infatuation with the blond man, and none of them felt overly inclined to be favourable to him.

Lockhart never noticed Harry in the crowd, another red haired boy in second hand clothes standing with his family. Lucius Malfoy on the other hand was very aware of all of the Weasley’s, and the Potter they thought of as their own. His comments towards Hermione had Harry and his brothers furious, and then when he started on their father...well, if Arthur hadn’t punched Lucius then his children might have!

But there were no further incidents and September first and all the usual chaos of sending children off to school descended upon the Burrow. Even more so that usual, this was the first year that all the children in the house would be leaving! Six children to get up and dressed and fully packed for the eleven o’clock train to Hogwarts. Mrs Weasley had been heard to enthuse about all the relaxation she was going to get now she and Arthur would have the house to themselves.

Harry and Ron waited for the rest of the family to go through the barrier before following. Or trying to. The barrier was blocked somehow, and they stared in dismay as the clock ticked over past the hour and the train left. Ron’s idea of taking the car was regarded as sheer genius by Harry and the two of them cheerfully set off to fly all the way to Scotland.

They rethought the plan after a few hours of hot, uncomfortable, and hungry driving. Even moreso when the invisibility booster failed and they had to be constantly wary of being spotted by muggles. They managed to get to school without any real incidents though. At least until they crashed into the Whomping Willow. They came out of that incident with several bruises and scratches each, a snapped wand and no car. Exchanging looks they came to the gloomy realisation that their mother was going to kill them, and when they went to the entrance hall and found Snape waiting for them they decided she might not get a chance.

Snape didn’t even say anything to them, just took them to his office, continuing to avoid looking at Harry, and leaving them there. The lack of shouting was somehow even more unnerving than threats of expulsion or dismemberment. Both brothers were convinced they were going to be thrown out. McGonagall shouted enough for two Snapes, and Dumbledore’s disappointment was even worse. The two eventually made their way up to Gryffindor Tower, still feeling as though they had narrowly escaped death or worse to be greeted by a disapproving and annoyed Hermione who thought they’d stolen the car just for lark or something.

Discovering Lockhart was their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher did not improve their first week. They’d already coped with seeing two red envelopes flying towards them at breakfast, both screeching discordantly at them while the rest of the school looked on and laughed. Harry had tried to hide behind a pile of sausages while Ron had gone brighter red than his hair. At least Hermionie seemed to think they’d been punished enough and was back to being their friend again. But that was small comfort for Harry as Lockhart corralled him outside Herbology, apologising elaborately for not recognising him earlier and assuring him that Lockhart would help his celebrity shine through, that Lockhart would be Harry’s guide and advisor and that he could make it so no one ever mistook Harry Potter for a Weasley ever again. Harry stiffly informed him that he was a Weasley and he didn’t want to be recognised as a celebrity. Lockhart seemed not to hear.

After dealing with Lockhart Harry was even more irritated to find a first year following him around with a camera and constantly calling him Harry Potter. Unsure of how best to deal with either situation he simply did his best to avoid both Colin Creevy and Lockhart. Which was difficult when one was your teacher and the other in your house. He was relieved when Quidditch came around, he’d spoken to Hermionie about Ron seeming upset over Harry being on the team and she’d had a suggestion he wanted to talk to Wood about.

Wood was eager to talk, and Harry’s suggestion made him nod thoughtfully, though he said he’d have to think it over. This was enough for Harry and he was smiling happily as they stepped out onto the pitch. Only to be faced by Draco and the Slytherin team. In the ensuing fight it was revealed just how badly Ron’s wand was broken. Ron, Harry and Hermionie retreated to Hagrid’s hut where Harry plunked his head on the table and declared this had definitely been his worst week of school ever.

School however did slowly improve, Harry and Ron fell into their usual routine of classes, homework, Quidditch practise and relaxing. Lockhart had claimed Harry for detention much to his annoyance and had him answering fan mail for hours on end. The detention was only finished when Harry heard a mysterious voice making threats from within the walls. Concerned he told his twin and his friend but they didn’t have any ideas.

Harry was also becoming worried about Ginny. She was his little sister, he’d known her as long as he could remember and Ginny was usually bright and chatty and full of questions and enjoyment in everything she did. But since coming to school she seemed to have become quiet and sad, withdrawn...almost washed out. Harry shared his worries with Ron, but neither of them were certain how best to help. Ginny denied anything was wrong whenever they pressed her about it.

Finally after Quidditch practise one night Wood held back Harry to talk to him, he admitted it was a good idea, to start to train up reserve players for Gryffindor team and he would let Ron try out for reserve keeper sometime soon. In his excitement to tell his twin the news Harry ran full pelt through the castle, slamming into Filch and getting in trouble yet again. Honestly, he’d been in trouble almost constantly this year, or at least it felt like he had! He did however get invited to a Death Day party by Nearly Headless Nick.

Unforunately the party ended with Harry, Hermionie and Ron standing next to a petrified Mrs Norris and half the school suspecting them of murder. Ron muttered that this seemed par the course for the way this year was heading. At least Dumbledore didn’t seem to think they’d done anything, though Snape seemed more suspicious, wondering aloud why they hadn’t been at the feast.

Hermionie asked Binns about the Chamber of Secrets and all three of them became convinced Malfoy must be the heir. They began trying to think of a plan to find out the truth, hampered only by the disastrous end to Harry’s Quidditch match against Slytherin. As though he’d needed any extra reason to dislike Lockhart… Colin Creevy’s petrification and Dobby’s clandestine visit made their search for the truth even more important.

The duelling club was an unmitigated disaster, though considering who the host was that wasn’t really a surprise to anyone. Harry was well aware he was a Parselmouth of course, his mother had caught him earnestly trying to convince a grass snake to go and scare the twins after they’d turned Ron’s teddy into a spider. The next morning his dad had sat Harry down and carefully explained that there was nothing wrong with him, but people might get scared if they knew he could speak to snakes so he should only do it in an emergency. Harry deemed it an emergency when the snake seemed about to attack Justin Finch Fletchly and revealed his secret to the whole school.

His brothers and sister knew about it of course, and they stuck by him through the suspicion of the school. Ron never left his side, Percy took to lecturing groups of students on the history of Parseltongue, Ginny showed a flash of her old self and promised to play the worst possible prank on him to distract him (this one worried Harry, Ginny had a fiendish imagination) and the twins tried their level best to turn the whole situation into a joke, loudly proclaiming Harry was the Heir in such over the top ridiculous manner that no one seemed able to take the idea seriously.

Hermione’s idea for catching Draco turned out to be slow and difficult, but on Christmas morning the potion was ready. Mr and Mrs Weasley had practically begged all their children to come home for the holidays, all things considered but truthfully hadn’t been surprised when they’d all decided to stay, all of them were Gryffindors after all, they weren’t the type to run away from danger. Case in point Harry and Ron spent their Christmas afternoon sneaking into the Slytherin common room to question Malfoy. They got no useful information and both boys were only barely able to retrain themselves from getting into a fight when Malfoy began insulting their father. Only the failure of the Polyjuice kept Harry from punching Malfoy as hard as he could.

Ginny’s prank became obvious on Valentines day. Harry swore he would never forgive his younger sister as he tried his best to flee from the dwarf chasing behind him. Ginny leaned against the wall as he struggled, smirking and looking more like herself than she had in weeks. Harry’s bag ripped, throwing all his equipment everywhere, including the strange diary he’d found in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. Harry didn’t notice Ginny’s face turning white as she stared at the book, too preoccupied as he was by trying to gather his things and dealing with the laughter of everyone nearby.

That night Harry tried writing in the diary and soon had more answers about the heir of Slytherin than he might have wanted. Shaken and unsure, he and his brother discussed with Hermione how best to ask Hagrid about it. However, the diary was stolen away again before they could question it further, and by someone in Gryffindor tower at that! They grew ever more concerned and resolved they had to talk to Hagrid, no matter how awkward it might be. They decided to wait until after the Quidditch match that was upcoming. Ron had been training as reserve keeper since Christmas and was thrilled to be more of a part of the games, even if he wouldn’t be playing in this match. But before they could even kick off, the match was cancelled and Ron and Harry had to deal with the sudden loss of Hermione to petrification.

They snuck out to see Hagrid. But that ended with Hagrid arrested and Dumbledore pushed out of the school. All they were left with was a cryptic clue. Harry knew about Ron’s fear of spiders of course, he’d been there when the eight year old Fred had screamed at Ron in anger and Ron’s teddy had squirmed and warped until it was a spider half the size of the five year old. It had turned back after a few minutes of course, an eight year old’s accidental magic wasn’t that powerful really, but the damage had been done. Ron had thrown the teddy into the fireplace and hated spiders ever since.

But for Hermione Ron would face his deep seated terror of spiders. Once the spiders had been found he and Harry snuck out that very night and went deep into the Forbidden Forest. They met Aragog and barely escaped from him, only saved by the old and battered car they’d crashed into the Whomping WIllow months previously. No answers had been found in the forest and Harry and Ron returned to their beds dispirited and worried.

Harry realised that Moaning Myrtle had the key to the whole mystery and he and Ron snuck off to talk to her. After a brief detour by Hermione’s hospital room where they learned what sort of monster they were up against, they had all the answers they needed and were on their way to the teachers lounge when the announcement was made. Hiding in a cloak closet, listening as the teachers discussed what had happened. Both Harry and Ron felt as though they had suffered a physical blow when it was revealed who exactly had been taken by the monster.

Harry returned to the common room, feeling like his heart had shrivelled up into stone, how and Ron and him not noticed? Why hadn’t they taken better care of their little sister. He sat with his brothers, none of them saying much as they all tried not to contemplate the awfulness of reality. Harry felt the first pangs of real, true grief tug at him, and it was a relief when Ron and he decided to go and speak to Lockhart. Any task, any distraction was worth it right now.

Lockhart turned out to be a fraud and, reckless with grief and fear, Ron and Harry decided to go and fetch Ginny on their own. If there was even the slimmest chance their sister was still alive then they had to find her and bring her home safely. They found the entrance and, taking Lockhart with them, went down to battle a Basilisk and save their sister.

The fight was hard, Ron was separated from Harry. Lockhart tried to use Ron’s wand, broken during their crash landing at the Whomping Willow and ended up wiping his own memories. Harry continued on alone. Parseltongue got him through the doors to face the shadow of Tom Riddle. Tom Riddle who insisted on addressing him as Harry Potter, no matter how tersely Harry corrected him as to his surname. Tom Riddle who took Harry’s wand as he tried to lift up his younger sister to carry her to safety. Tom Riddle who revealed his true name as Lord Voldemort and brought forth the Basilisk. Harry barely survived the fight with Slytherin’s monster but with the help of Fawkes and the sorting hat, he overcame the diary and the beast both, driving the Basilisk fang deep into the pages of the slim volume and watching the ink pool and splash. Behind him Ginny woke up with a gasp.

Ginny was crying and apologising, trying to explain how she’d wanted to come and talk to her brothers, but that she felt like she’d betrayed Harry. Because Harry was her brother and she knew that was all he ever wanted to be, but Tom had become obsessed when she’d let slip about Harry’s past and Ginny had felt as though she’d betrayed her brother by revealing his original surname. The guilt had stopped her coming to her family for help until she was too far under Tom’s control. Harry hugged her and told her it was alright, he didn’t blame her at all, he was just relieved she was safe. Then Fawkes guided Ginny, Harry, Ron and the befuddled Lockhart out of the Basilisk’s lair and to the safety of Dumbledore and their parents.

The Weasley’s cried and hugged all their children close, half scolding, half praising them. Harry and Ron told Dumbledore their story and Ginny tearfully confessed to her part when Dumbledore asked how Voldemort had enchanted a Hogwarts student. Dumbledore asked Harry to stay behind after everyone else left, but Ron insisted on staying with his twin and Harry nodded when Dumbledore looked at him questioningly. Dumbledore explained about the sword, and the true meaning of courage.

Moments later Lucius arrived. Harry and Ron both instantly recognised Dobby and in a single glance they formed a plan, Dobby may have got them into a lot of trouble over the year, but he didn’t deserve to be treated like that. Ron ran ahead to slow down Lucius as Harry quickly took the diary back and stuffed it inside a sock. A few minutes later Dobby had been freed and Ron and Harry ran down to the Feast, laughing and happy again. The year had been full of trouble, but everything was made right again as Hagrid came back, and Hermione ran over to hug them both, and all their brothers were over the moon to have their whole family safe and well again. Gryffindor won and Harry thought his face would tear he was smiling so hard. All was right in the world once more.

Tag List:

@sparklylovegiver

@janinethewitch

@nerdinacoolway

@sincerelybirchtree

@lyoth737

#my writing #Harry James Weasley #Harry Potter #Ron Weasley #Hermione Granger #Arthur Weasley #Molly Weasley #Percy Weasley #fred and george weasley #Bill Weasley #Mad Eye Moody #Charlie Weasley #Hagrid #Dobby #Au #Chamber of Secrets #Ginny Weasley

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calliopewritings · 4 years

Text

leaving you

Draco Malfoy x Fem!Slytherin!reader

Word count: 3.8k

You’ve been left by people you care about before, but now you’re tired.

Warnings/Tags: Fluff, angst, swearing and light making out.

Same old, same old, I thought as I settled myself at the Slytherin table, watching my family owl slowly reach me. She dropped the letter, and off she was again. I sighed deeply and opened the envelope. Only one person ever wrote to me, and it was my stepmother whenever she’d found a new problem with my existence. Written in harsh cursive was:

Y/n

I’ve found that you’ve been slacking off at school lately.

I expect you to straighten up if you wish to keep staying in my house. You have been spoilt for long enough. It’s no secret that your father never knew how to say no, but I do.

I can’t help thinking he’d be disappointed looking down at you from his resting place.

This is your last chance to get it together.

- Mrs Y/l/n

Yet again I sighed, not even surprised at the content of the letter. It wasn’t anything new for her to guilt me about my father's death, and it certainly wasn’t surprising that she wanted me out of the house. Two years ago, I may have been affected by this, but her condescending letters had become quite a common occurrence, to the point where I wasn’t even affected by it.

I guess you could call her my evil stepmother. After my mom decided to leave my dad and me, he’d met my stepmother. She insisted that she was the woman for him, and somehow he’d found that refreshing. I, on the other hand, did not find her refreshing, perhaps because she made it very clear that she did not like me and my presence at all. All it took was for my dad to cancel on her once because he had to take care of me, for her to decide that I was the enemy.

I left the great hall in a hurry, wanting to work on my essay for potions after deciding that I still very much so, needed a house to live in.

Exhausted, I slumped onto a seat next to a nice Ravenclaw I’d exchanged a few words with before. The potions classroom was quickly filled up, and as a certain Pansy Parkinson passed me, she made sure to bump my shoulder. “Very mature,” I snickered.

“Attention! I know you must all be very excited about the Triwizard Tournament, but your studies must come before that,” Professor Snape started, to which some students groaned.

“With that out of the way, I will be assigning you seatmates today that I’ve deemed appropriate, and to hopefully avoid the chattering about the ball”. At that statement, it was my turn to groan. Pairing up meant there was a small chance I’d be working with Parkinson, which was the last thing I needed.

I let out a sigh of relief when I heard Parkinson’s name called out with someone else’s name. I relaxed a bit until:

“Y/l/n and Malfoy!”

Parkinson's eyes were at once daggers, and they were aimed right at me. I instantly wanted to just disappear. I’d obviously be dealing with Parkinson anyway.

Begrudgingly I got up from my seat and went to sit beside a tired-looking Malfoy.

“I’ll be returning the essays that were due last week now. Some of you have done well enough, but I expect more,” Professor Snape spoke. He quickly made the rounds and everyone had gotten back their work. I looked down at mine and saw a big ‘A’ for acceptable. Not what I’d hoped for, but at least I didn’t fail. Still, I needed to up my game if I didn’t wanna live on the streets.

From behind me, I heard Parkinson scoff and I turned to see what the fuss was about, only to find her looking directly at me. “Acceptable? Really Y/l/n? And you’re sure you’re at the right place? I mean look around. I don’t get why Professor Snape would put you, who’s so clearly way beneath average, with someone as brilliant as Draco,” she remarked, followed by a taunting grin.

Beneath average? No, not even… way beneath average, she’d said. I was usually pretty good at keeping my calm and ignoring her, but for Godric's sake, I was on the brink of being kicked out of my home, abandoned again, and I realized I’d had enough.

So I got up from my chair and looked into her dark eyes that didn’t do much to hide the ugliness of her personality. Although she looked surprised that I reacted at all, she quickly regained her posture and put on a challenging smirk.

“Yea? Well, at least I’m not an annoying bloody prick. Merlin's beard, does anything even go through that thick skull of yours?” I growled.

Then, an inch from her, close enough to punch her in her annoying face, I spewed: “Speak to me again and I’ll feed you to the dementors, got it?”

Defeated and embarrassed she huffed out: “Yea, alright, whatever”.

Somewhat satisfied, I turned around, but before I could even get to my chair I heard a loud: “Stupefy!” From behind. Before I could act, I felt a sharp pain in my back and then everything went black.

I woke up in the hospital wing, my whole body aching. I tried to get up, only to be met by warm hands pushing me down again.

“You’ve got a concussion, Dearie, don’t move too much,” said Madam Pomfrey, as she handed me the water from the nightstand. “Sorry,” I muttered and accepted the water.

“You have a visitor, but he’ll have to leave soon. You need rest, Young lady,” she scolded.

My face retorted to a look of confusion as she went to get my visitor. It’s a he? My closest friends here are both girls, and they probably aren’t aware that I’m in the hospital wing yet, seeing as they’re in Hufflepuff and were in Charms class when it happened.

My thoughts were interrupted as a blond boy stepped into view. “Malfoy?” I asked, shocked.

“Yeah, well spotted,” he remarked, unimpressed. “Sorry, stop pouting,” he sighed, running a frustrated hand through his hair. Not even realizing I was pouting, I quickly stopped, embarrassed.

“I came here to apologize,” he spoke up. “For Parkinson, you know. I realize it was my fault. She only acted the way she did to get my attention or some bull crap”.

“What?” I asked confused.

“I believe you heard me Y/l/n,”

“Yeah right, Uhm, I’m sorry, but you don’t have to apologize. It’s not your fault that Parkinson is a complete dung brain,”

“Careful with your words there Y/l/n, the Malfoys and Parkinson's are close,” he warned.

“Oh yeah? Well, I don’t think you’ll do anything,” I smiled.

“And why’s that?”

“You came to apologize”. A small smile grazed his lips, but only for a second.

“Also, Y/l/n? We’ve got a group project coming up,” he finished and left looking smug.

“Okay, Let’s do this!” I insisted, bouncing on my feet. “Teach me the stuff Malfoy. Be my mentor,” I said excitedly. “Calm it Y/l/n,” he replied, a calming hand on my shoulder.

“Just get your book out and we’ll work on this. I’m doing well in potions, this shouldn’t be that hard”.

“I know, you’ve bragged about that one too many times, but listen Malfoy, I really need an O on this one,” I pleaded. He rolled his eyes at my desperate antics and mumbled a “sure”.

Ignoring him I turned to the potions book and started reading up on everything I thought necessary, but much to my dismay I was interrupted after about 15 minutes of peaceful reading, by a certain blond throwing crumpled up paper at me.

“Malfoy please,” I whined. He grinned, happy to have successfully disturbed me, “What do you even need that O for anyway? You’re doing fine in potions,”

“Since when were you the nosy one? Back to work Malfoy,” I dodged his question. He eyed me sceptically but turned his attention to the work seconds after.

The potions classroom was empty except for Malfoy and I. It was Saturday, so most were out playing around or practising quidditch.

Nose stuck deep in my potions book I was interrupted by the blond boy across from me. I sighed and looked up from the book. It had become quite a common occurrence for him to interrupt our peaceful studying, and usually, it was just to make a bratty remark.

“You know,” he started.

“I could’ve made our school proud. If only there wasn’t a stupid age restriction on the goblet,” he huffed, slumping in the seat.

“And despite the age restriction, the Potter boy was chosen anyway. He must really be the chosen one, huh?” he mocked, grinning.

Raising an unimpressed brow, I gave him a sympathetic smile, “I’m sure Malfoy, but we wouldn’t want anything happening to that pretty face of yours now, would we?” I teased.

I trained my eyes on the potions book again, ready to continue studying. I failed to notice his flustered reaction and the blush spreading from his ears, but looked up when I heard: “You want me to curse you, Y/l/n?”

Grinning I decided to push my luck a little, “Think you can even do it?” I challenged. He smirked and pulled out his wand, “Such a brat,” he smiled at me, standing up. I made a run for the exit, giggling as I made my way down the corridors, Potions long forgotten.

Behind me I could hear Malfoy slowly catching up, laughing too.

“You’re dead Y/n!”

Walking into the potions classroom to study with Draco as usual, I put down my books and took a seat. I noticed that Draco wasn’t there yet, but decided I could just read up on some stuff before he came, I opened my books.

10 minutes had gone by when Draco finally stepped into the room.

“Hey, Draco, did anything happen?”

“No, not that it’s any of your business anyway,” he snapped as he took a seat opposite of me.

“I-… I’m sorry,” I uttered before hesitantly going to get the ingredients for the potion. Draco pushed himself off his chair and went to gather the other ingredients.

As I searched the shelves, I couldn’t help but wonder if Draco was okay. He seemed off, and if anything had happened, I wanted to help. Though it didn’t seem like he wanted to talk at all. At least not to me. Maybe I’d done something wrong? But I couldn’t think of anything I could’ve done to hurt or offend him.

Maybe he was just having a bad day… yet still, I couldn’t help but worry, maybe-

“Gallopin’ Gorgons!” I yelped as the glass vial fell to the floor, glass shards everywhere. Lost in thought, I’d accidentally tipped one of the vials. I hastily bent down to pick up the shards, but yelped once again, as a piece pierced my hand.

I hurriedly picked up the last pieces from the floor and went to throw them away, but as I stood and turned around I hit a wall. A wall called Draco Malfoy. I stumbled backwards and almost fell, but a pair of hands gripped my waist.

I slowly opened my formerly closed eyes, just to realize that I was pressed tightly against Draco, my hands gripping his shoulders as one of his hands were on my waist, the other holding onto the table.

“You’re bleeding,” he breathed, and that’s when I looked up at him. We were much closer than I thought. If I’d moved a centimetre or two, our noses would’ve touched.

I wasn’t sure who had moved, or if we both had, but suddenly I could feel his breath on my lips and butterflies going crazy in my stomach. A little closer and-

“You should go to the hospital wing,” he suddenly said, as he went to gather his books. Stunned, I watched as he packed up his things and went to leave. He stopped at the door, “Go see Madam Pomfrey, alright?” And then he left.

I went to the library early to study but was quickly joined by my two good friends from Hufflepuff.

“I’m so excited for later! Will you be cheering for us, Y/n?” The brunette asked me. She was, of course, referring to the quidditch match later that day. Hufflepuff versus Slytherin.

“You’re playing against my house though,” I reminded her. She responded with a pout, “Anyway, it’d mean a lot if our favourite Slytherin would be cheering us on”.

“I know,” I sighed, “I’ll see if I can make it. I’ve got a lot of studying to do”. Earlier that day, Draco had approached me about the assignment.

“I’ll do half, you do the other half. No need to go to the potions classroom, I won’t be there. See you for the presentation, Y/l/n,” and then he hurried off. I’d stood there for a while, processing his words. He must not have wanted to work with me, I thought.

“Y/n?” I heard a voice and broke out of my trance. “Huh?” I questioned. Both the girls were giving me worried looks. “We’re going to go practice, ok?”

“Oh, yeah. Good luck,” I told them. They hesitantly gathered their things and left.

Get yourself together Y/n, I huffed and turned to the textbook. A paper fell out as I was flipping through the book looking for the right page. Curious, I picked it up.

On the paper was a beautifully drawn flower, and I instantly remembered the day it was drawn. We had been studying outside, and as I looked at Draco’s notes, I noticed that he’d drawn one of the flowers surrounding us.

“That’s beautiful,” I whispered without realizing. He turned with a questioning look, but when he saw what I was looking at, he hastily closed the book. “Why’d you hide it? It was really pretty,” I assured him.

Red in the face, he handed me the drawing, “You can have it if you want, it’s whatever. Just get back to studying,” he said. Beaming, I accepted the drawing and slid it in between the pages of my potions book.

Suddenly I felt like crying. Why didn’t he want to talk to me? Or look at me. Bloody hell, he didn’t even want to be in my presence.

I looked down at the bandages wrapped around my hand and sighed.

It was just a matter of time before he left anyway.

Pushing my way through the flock of students heading to the great hall for dinner, I made my way to the library, just as I’d done the past week. I’d decided my time was better spent studying than eating, I’d have a snack or two throughout the day, but skip the meals to study for the presentation in potions.

I needed an O, I had no choice. I couldn’t leave home, the house I grew up in. And although she wasn’t always kind, I couldn’t lose my step-mother, the last person I had left. I couldn’t be alone. So it was decided, no sleep, no food, just studying, that was my only priority.

I stumbled as a hand grabbed my arm, and started pulling me towards the great hall. I struggled against the grip, but couldn’t find the strength to break free. I was pushed down to sit at the Hufflepuff table, and that’s when I realized it had been my friends pulling me.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“You’re eating with us today,” the brunette told me firmly. “Actually I need to study, so-”

“Don’t argue, because you’ll find you can’t win this one,” the other girl interrupted. “Do you think we’re stupid, Y/n?” They turned toward me. “I- I don’t… What’s this about?” I wondered.

“You haven’t been eating, Y/n, actually, you’ve been off the entire week, so now we eat,” she insisted. Worried I looked around to see some Hufflepuffs looking weirdly at me, “I’m a Slytherin, I shouldn’t be at the Hufflepuff table,”

“Are you kidding? You’ll be-”

Their voices faded out and I froze as I suddenly made eye contact with a very familiar blond from the Slytherin table. I realized that the time spent with him had been more precious to me than I’d realized. Our study sessions were what I’d looked forward to every day.

I was so distracted by the new source of happiness that I’d failed to notice how he’d gotten bored already. Despite all these feelings, I was surprised to find I didn’t feel anything when we locked eyes. He, however, seemed to feel something, as worry flashed through his eyes, quickly replaced with a blank stare.

“Y/n! Listen to us!” I snapped out of my trance to look at two now fuming girls. “I have to study,” I told them, hoping my voice didn’t waver as I stood from the table. However the brunette stood as well, quick to grab my hand, “ we want to help you, but if you leave now, I’m not sure we can do much more,” she professed.

Pulling my hand out of hers and grabbing my books I forced out an, “Okay,” as I dragged my body out the great hall.

The annual letter from my step-mother dropped onto the bed, right next to my outspread potion books. I reached to grab it, my hands shaky from either malnutrition or fear.

Y/n

For your own sake, I hope you’ve studied well. If I see any less than an O on your next project, and I’ve heard from Professor Snape that you have one in Potions very soon, you will have to find somewhere else to stay.

You must know that your father would be very disappointed. Your mother left because she didn’t want to deal with such a disappointment, and I’ll have you know I’d happily do the same, perhaps that wench was right about one thing.

- Mrs Y/l/n

I hadn’t realized the tears were trickling down my cheeks, until one dropped, wetting the letter. I pushed off of the bed, not bothering to put on my robes, I hurried out dressed only in my skirt, sweater and Slytherin vest.

Tears blurring my vision, I ran, unsure of the destination. In the end, I found myself on my knees next to The Black Lake. Still, on my knees, I crawled to the water’s edge, splashing a refreshing wave of the water on my tear-stained face.

I looked down and froze when I saw my reflection. I had prominent dark circles, and you could tell I hadn’t been eating. I looked dead. I’ll always be alone.

Then I screamed. I let everything out, and quickly after, the tears started streaming again as I cradled my head in my hands, still lying in the cold grass. They all leave.

A muffled voice called out to me but I didn’t respond, only when a strong pair of hands gently grabbed me and pulled me to my feet, did I react. “Y/n,” a familiar voice breathed.

I looked up and came face to face with the one person I thought I didn’t want to see, Draco Malfoy. Yet when I looked at him, even if it was just for just a second, I was relieved to see him. The feeling of relief quickly passed, however, replaced by anger, fueled by unanswered questions.

“Don’t touch me,” I snapped as I pulled away, out of his grasp, surprised to hear my own voice so hoarse. He reached out again, hesitant, “Y/n, please. You need to-”

“I don’t need people to tell me what to do,” I interrupted, feet staggering backwards. The tears had stopped flowing, but I could feel a new wave pressing on. I needed to go back inside, I wasn’t done studying. I had to-

“I’m sorry,” he croaked. Surprised, I looked at him, only to see him looking impossibly small.

“Why? You left,” I reminded him.

“I- I know, but I-”

“You’re not sorry,” I told him, my voice rising.

“Y/n, yes I am-”

“Stop lying, Draco!” I yelled, “If you’re so bloody sorry, then why did you leave me?” I yelled, my voice cracking in the process, and the tears started flowing anew.

He grabbed my arms, and I started trashing to get out of his grip. “Let go of me! Draco-”

“Listen to me!” He yelled, desperation evident in his voice.

“Please, Y/n…” And at that, I gave up and slumped against his body. “I shouldn’t have ignored you… I- … I was scared,” he croaked, and curious I looked up, to see tears rolling down his cheeks. My heart broke at the sight, and my first instinct was to wipe them away, but I held back and listened.

“I really enjoyed spending time with you… like, a lot… I was scared because… “ he gulped, eyes flickering away to look somewhere else. Hesitantly, I moved to finally wipe away the tears, gently caressing his cheeks.

“I was scared because I realized… I realized I was in love with you,” he whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. “It doesn’t justify leaving you, and I really am sorry, please believe me. I was just so stupid and I-”

I interrupted him for what must’ve felt like the hundredth time that day, but this time, with a peck on the lips.

He looked stunned for a second, and I was just about to apologize when he pulled me back in. Our lips met again, but this time the kiss was much more passionate.

His hands held my waist almost desperately, pulling me impossibly closer against him. My hands had drifted from his cheeks, to tangle themselves in his blond locks. Our lips moulded against each other as if meant to be. The moment ended, as we parted to breathe, our foreheads resting against each other.

“I’m sorry, Y/n, I really am,”

“I know, Draco, I believe you. I’m sorry I yelled at you”. He chuckled, which in turn made me giggle too. “I think I deserved that one,” he laughed.

I went in for a quick kiss, “Please don’t leave me, Draco,”

“You’re not going to lose me. I won’t ever leave again, I promise”. I smiled, “Thank you, now let’s ace this potions presentation,”

“Are you going to tell me why it’s so important,” he questioned as we walked back inside, hand in hand. “Depends, if I do, is there a prize?” I teased. A smile made it’s way onto his lips, “Hugs and kisses?” he offered.

“Deal,” I told him, leaning up to give him a peck. His face reddened, and I ran ahead of him, suddenly feeling shy.

“Hey! Come back here,” he yelled after me. Laughing, he picked up his pace, and came to sling an arm over my shoulder, “You’re playing a dangerous game, Love”.

#harry potter #draco #draco malfoy #ff #fanfiction #x reader #x fem!reader #draco x you #draco x reader #angst #fluff #swearing #making out #draco malfoy x y/n #reader insert #draco x slytherin!reader

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fullmoonpieces · 4 years