#oc: romina oswell

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 31: The Scamander Family

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag  @arrthurpendragon  @anotherunreadblog  @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

​​​​Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

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Hogwarts was bursting with all types of rumors following the escape of Sirius Black. It was almost hilarious to learn the ranges of those rumors. Romina had her fair share of laughs only minutes after she was let go from the night wing. After the night they'd gone through (the part they knew about anyways), Madame Pomfrey had kept her, Hermione, Ron and Harry for a night of observation and one "reconstruction".

Now that Romina was free, she did the only sane thing that anyone in her place would do: go to her Common Room and shower. She was eager to put on fresh clean clothes and fix herself up. After all, exams were over and now all they had to do was just lounge about. And for some reason, she felt lighter than she had in a very long time. She was on her way to the library to return the books she'd checked out for the exams when she bumped into Harry. He didn't look too well and upon asking the reason, she found it hard to keep her cheeriness up.

"Poor Lupin," she put a hand over her chest. "He's just going to leave like that?"

"Well, according to him, somebody let it slip that he was a werewolf," Harry rolled his eyes heavily. The whole conversation with Lupin was irritating because it was all due to someone's bitterness. "As if we don't know that it was Snape."

Romina had no doubt about it too. Snape had been beyond livid that Sirius had escaped and pinned the blame on Harry, despite the fact that he wasn't the only one involved in the whole thing. "I'm sorry. He really was the best professor we had for DADA. Definitely the most interesting one."

Harry could only sigh. There was nothing they could do for Lupin now. "Do you want to have breakfast together? Ron and Hermione are already there."

"Nah, gotta return these." Romina gestured to the books in her arms. "Then afterwards, I promised Arden and the group I'd go to Hogsmeade this time. You know, willingly and in a good mood."

Harry half smiled as she bid him goodbye. She was only a few steps away when he called her name. She looked back, eyebrows raised as she waited to hear what he had to say. Harry had no idea how to broach the subject because last time, they didn't exactly talk so much as snap at each other.

"You and, um, you and Malfoy—what's that about?" He supposed that was the best question he was going to be able to form. He watched the confusion flicker across Romina's face as well as the brief, and not so subtle, shift in her stance.

"What do you mean?" she asked, half shrugging her shoulders. "He's...him and I'm...me?"

Harry long knew her tricks to avoid the subject. She used them on the school playground to outwit other students. "Rom," he said sternly.

Romina sighed and turned completely to face him. "What do you want me to say, Harry? I just fixed his nose," she insisted. "Hermione broke it and I didn't want him to go blabbing to Snape." You didn't even think about that you liar. Romina cleared her throat and looked away.

"He wouldn't have," Harry said with absolute certainty. "Because Malfoy could never stand to let people know that he was bested by Hermione Granger, a muggleborn."

Point to Harry.

Romina shrugged again, less confident with her responses. "I just didn't want to take the chance, okay?" Liar. She hadn't once thought about the consequences Hermione could have faced for her action but the realization was scary enough and she definitely wasn't looking to get more questions from Harry.

"Rom, you and I, we've known each other since we were seven...I love you like a sister…"

Romina smiled lightly. "I feel the same. You're my brother."

"Okay," Harry nodded, hoping that this would soften the blow of what he was going to ask next, "So, keeping that in mind, you know, that I just want to make sure that you're okay."

"Yeah, just like I want the same for you."

"Right," Harry said, agreeing, taking a couple steps towards her. "And I get that being in Slytherin means you have to see Malfoy a lot more than we do—an act that I thank you for your service." Romina's lips stretched into a wider smile that could soon become a chuckle. "But, I mean, with everything that's happened, everything I've seen, you and Malfoy...you're not...you know…?"

Romina laughed on cue but absolutely nobody could take away the insane heat that rushed up to her face. "Harry Potter, what the hell kind of question is that?" She laughed so easily that Harry could believe her. "Absolutely not!"

"You sure?" Harry had to ask her again. "Cos, Rom, you know that wouldn't end well. He's not a good match for you."

Romina shrugged her shoulders in a careless manner, convincing too. "Good, because I wasn't looking for one with him. I don't under—I don't understand. You got all this just because I fixed his nose? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?"

It did sound ridiculous and Harry himself felt very ridiculous, which was why he wanted to quickly move from the subject. "Sorry. I'm...I'm sure you're right. It's not even worth talking about."

"Yeah," Romina nodded at him. "Exactly."

"I mean, you're better off dating Angel Paes."

"Oh God, you know about that?" Romina brought a hand to her face in embarrassment.

Harry grinned. "Yeah. Hermione pointed it out."

"Dammit Hermione!"

"He's loads kinder and, you know, I would tolerate him," Harry said with an innocent face that made Romina laugh.

"Don't even go there! He's never actually made a move and, you know, I don't really see him that way either!"

"You never know," Harry said, beginning to tease her. She suspected that it would become his new game with her.

Romina rolled her eyes. "Not you too. Stop it, Harry Potter, or I'm going to hex you."

"I'm going back to the Dursleys soon—a hex sounds really good right about now."

Romina had no disagreements there. "How about we find something to calm them down before you go home?"

"Sounds like a date—don't tell Angel, though!" Romina groaned while he laughed. Harry preferred this type of atmosphere between them. "I'm done, I'm done," he promised her a moment later. "Sorry."

"You're on thin ice," she warned him. "This entire conversation has put you in quite some danger."

"I had to do it," Harry shrugged. "But no more, promise. I won't ask about you and Malfoy again, I got it."

"Good," Romina said, half smiling. "Because me and him, that's not...that's never happening." She almost laughed at the absurdity of it all.

Harry wholeheartedly agreed with her and started off for the Great Hall.

Romina's lips would slowly purse as the conversation replayed in her head. When she felt fresh new heat, she shook her head. "No," she told herself, turning for the library, "Absolutely not." She made it her mission to solely focus on returning her books then meeting Arden.

~ 0 ~

After coming out of the library, Romina was in a rush to get back to the common room for a quick change of clothes. She didn't want to go anywhere in the uniform. She reached for the hair tie holding her messy bun together as she came down the stairs of the dungeon to get a head start on changing. She had just yanked the hair tie when she crashed into someone on the last step.

"You're making a habit out of this, Oswell!" Draco snapped. He rubbed his forehead after the stumbles of the crash.

"You have eyes too, you know! Use them!" Romina crinkled her nose when she felt the dull ache on her forehead as well.

"Good advice, you should use—oh, you finally took care of that hair!" Draco flapped a hand at Romina's cascading hair. It was back to its original length over her chest and without the blazing red ombre tips.

Romina had already gone through one explanation about her hair change and she really didn't want to confuse herself with her lies with more explanations. "Uh, H-Hermione did a...she did a thing with it." That's the lame excuse she was going for and she would stick with it. "Madame Pomfrey had a ride undoing all of the transfiguration spells I put on it. I am forbidden to touch my hair again for the next 10 years or so."

"Good," the word flew out of Draco. "You were getting annoying with that stuff? And you, know, that's probably what you get for letting Granger of all people touch your hair. Have you seen hers?"

Romina scowled. "This coming from someone who just discovered hair gel isn't a requirement."

Draco rolled his eyes at her. "So does this mean you're finally going back to normal now? Cos that's also been beyond annoying."

"Maybe, I don't know. All I know is that right now things don't feel as bad as they've felt all year. Which is why I need to go change to meet Arden at Hogsmeade." Romina moved around to get into the common room.

"Actually, Oswell, wait a second," Draco's call stopped her inches from the entry. "Before you go to Hogsmeade, meet me at the lake."

"What? What for?"

"You just gotta be there," he said, though he seemed slightly nervous which was very unlike him.

"What are you planning, Draco?" Romina's eyes narrowed on him. "Because I swear to God I am not in the mood for any tricks.

"When have I ever played a trick on you?"

Romina scoffed.

"Oswell, seriously, name one time where I tricked you. Just one." Draco crossed his arms and waited for an answer. Romina was all for giving him one...until she couldn't come up with one. Draco smirked. "Can't think of one?" He called with a smirk on his face.

"I can too think of one!" Romina snapped.

"Name one, then."

Romina scrunched her face. Three years with him and she couldn't think of any moment where he'd played a trick on her? That was...oddly true.

Draco knew exactly when she gave up and so with that, he called out to her again. "So I'll see you by the lake, then?"

"Yes," Romina huffed, rather put out that she had lost. Satisfied with her response, Draco went up the stairs. Romina headed inside the common room to change.

Half an hour later, because she also meant to start packing some of her things, Romina headed for the Black Lake. The heat was reaching unbearable levels so she hoped that whatever Draco had for her wouldn't take a long time.

Things were off to a bad start when Romina didn't see him. He wasn't there. I swear to god if there's a trick…

She took a deep breath in to calm herself. She didn't want to be angry, she felt like that was all she'd been this year. She looked around the area and saw several other students lounging about, including Rolf. Since Draco was nowhere to be seen, Romina decided to pass the time with Rolf.

"Hey Rolf," she greeted the boy. Unsurprisingly, he was near the waters admiring the creatures they could see near the surface.

"Hey," he said, glancing at her then doing a double-take at her. Romina chuckled. "You changed your hair again!"

"Yeah," she said, reaching to take hold of a curl. "Decided maybe it was time to go back to normal, you know?"

"Looks great," Rolf smiled at her. "Are you, uh, feeling better about things, then?"

Romina half sighed. "You know, everyone has been asking me that and so far, I'm not entirely sure that I am but...I feel like I could actually get there again. I mean, I'm not brooding anymore."

"That's something," Rolf said. "The start of a recovery, right?"

Romina nodded. "I don't think I'll ever be able to shake off my parents' legacy though. I'll always have to live with the fact my family is full of dark wizards who did terrible stuff and wherever I go, it's the first thing that people will think about when they see me."

Rolf seemed nervous all of a sudden. He stepped back from the lake, his hands sliding into his pockets. "I don't think that's necessarily true..."

Romina managed a small smile at him. "Rolf, you did the same thing when we first met." She saw the flush on Rolf's face and chuckled. "It's okay. You managed to get past it. I have to believe that others will to."

Rolf let out a heavy breath. "Romina, that's not...that's not exactly what happened."

Romina raised an eyebrow at him. "Then what did?" Rolf held onto his words for what seemed the longest. Romina watched him open and close his mouth several times. "I don't mean to be pushy, but I'm actually supposed to meet Draco in a bit." She looked around and saw that he still wasn't nearby. "Although if he just flaked on me, I'm going to kick his arse."

"Romina, I'm sorry," Rolf's apology was naturally strange to Romina. She didn't understand what he was supposed to be sorry about. "I...I've known about you for a lot longer than this year."

"Yeah, I bet you have," Romina nodded. "First year was absolute hell for me."

"I know, and I'm sorry for never saying anything."

Romina tilted her head at him. "Never saying anything about what?"

Rolf seemed to grow even more nervous. He licked his lips nervously and brought his hands out of his pockets. "I, um, you have to believe me. I was just shocked when I...when I saw you for the first time."

"Okay...that's...that's a fair sentiment, I guess?" Romina thought this was turning very strange, very fast, and she didn't want anything to ruin her cheerier mood, not even Rolf.

Rolf knew she wasn't understanding him and it was his fault for not saying it already. "I've been lying to you, Romina. Back on the first day I talked to you in our Care of Magical Creatures class, I lied to you."

"What do you mean?" Romina instinctively gulped. What if this was going to turn into a huge trick on her? Maybe Pansy was behind it?

"I didn't just happen to talk to you that day. It wasn't random at all. I picked my moment. A-after the library when we bumped into each other, I realized I couldn't just be at Hogwarts without talking to you."

Oh god if he tells me has a crush on me. It was perhaps a pretentious thing to think about but Romina was more afraid than anything at the idea of losing such a good friend in Rolf. She didn't want to think about having to let him down easily.

"See, cos, you...you're...you're not my friend," Rolf said, wincing afterwards when he realized how that sounded.

Romina, meanwhile, gasped. "We're not? Why...why not? I thought we were. Did I...did I do something—"

"No!" Rolf's eyes were no longer on her. They'd fallen to the ground and no matter how many times he attempted to meet her gaze again, he couldn't.

"Then why aren't we friends?" Romina asked frailly.

"It's not like that, Romina. I'm not explaining myself well. I fumble over my words a lot. Especially when I'm nervous." He chuckled to himself. "Apparently, I get that from my grandfather."

"Hm, when I get nervous I tend to get funny. I get more sarcastic." Romina said as a means of comfort and in hopes to lighten up the mood. She was dead afraid of what Rolf wanted to say to her.

"Yeah, you get that from your grandmother, actually."

"Huh?"

Rolf drew in a breath and with all the courage in the world, he looked up at Romina. "You get that from your grandmother, Abigail."

Romina's eyebrows furrowed. "What? How do you...who is that?"

"Your grandmother." Rolf swallowed incredibly hard. He might choke there and then. "And mine."

"What!? Rolf, what the hell are you talking about!?" Romina didn't understand one bit.

"What do you know of your mother's family, Romina?"

Romina didn't want to think about her mother, especially when Rolf was saying such odd things. "I don't know! Who cares! Why are you saying these things!?"

"Romina, it's important," Rolf insisted, and urgently too, "Your mother's family. Do you know any of them?"

Romina shook her head. "No. Uncle Lyonel doesn't really talk about my family on both sides. You can understand why, right?"

Rolf nodded. That made perfect sense and it's exactly what he heard at home all the time. "Of course. I just don't think it's fair that they're hiding part of your family who loves you."

Romina was tired of not understanding. She suddenly wished she was dealing with Draco and his mysterious nonsense rather than this. "Rolf, please just tell me what you're talking about."

Rolf nodded. He supposed he was dragging it out a bit. "Your mum, Elora, she's my grandparents' daughter. She's my aunt. You're...my cousin."

Romina froze in her spot. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. For a second, Rolf had to worry if she was breathing or not. She wasn't moving either.

"Romina?" He called her gently. "Romina…?"

Romina slowly came out of her stupor and when she did, she came out with a tiny laugh. "Sorry, it's just...for a moment I thought you said you and I were—"

"Cousins?" Rolf finished for her. He nodded. "Yeah, we are."

Romina stumbled back a step. "Rolf...that can't...that's not…"

"It is," Rolf promised. "Your mum is the eldest daughter of my grandparents, Abigail and Newt Scamander. My dad is your mother's brother — your uncle. My grandparents are your grandparents. I'm your cousin, Romina."

The noises that left Romina's mouth were the only thing she could muster at the moment. "No, no, because...because I would...I would've known, I...the albums I had, they..."

Rolf felt more guilty as Romina ventured into her past — what she knew of her past — and found that nothing made sense anymore. As happy as the news could be, it was also devastating because what she once knew was no more.

Eventually, her dark eyes flickered to Rolf, her reaction so strong that it was almost like she was devoid of it because she didn't know which emotion to lean on first. "Why didn't you say anything?" Her voice was a frail whisper. "You were here — this whole time you were here and you didn't say anything."

Rolf nodded with his head hanging low. "I know, I'm sorry. I-I knew about you but I had only seen a couple pictures of you until we started Hogwarts. They were baby pictures."

"And when we finally started Hogwarts? What then? You were ashamed of me too?" As angry as Romina wanted to be with him, she knew she couldn't single him out either. There were plenty of people who put distance between themselves and the Oswell family.

"No!" Rolf exclaimed. "I just...I didn't know what to do. At first, when I heard your name in the Sorting, I was shocked. I wrote to my parents and grandparents, telling them that you were here. You were going to Hogwarts with me."

"And then?" Romina's eyes were tearing up. That had been three years ago. Clearly, if they had wanted anything to do with her, they would have reached out to her.

"It's complicated, Romina..." sighed Rolf, but that wasn't enough for her.

"Complicated? They either wanted me in their lives or not!"

"They did! They do! They've always wanted you to be in their lives!"

"So why didn't they do anything!?" Romina practically shouted. Other students nearby began to look at them. "I have lived in the same house my whole life! I've been at the same school for three years! They knew where to find me and they didn't do it! That doesn't sound like a people who wanted me in their lives!"

"After the war, your uncle Lyonel took custody of you. My dad says that Lyonel didn't want you to grow up near wizards in general. Their family name was in ruins and he didn't want you to suffer."

Romina breathed raggedly now as she felt a sob trying to make it out of her throat. She didn't want to make a spectacle in front of the others, not when she had already given them so much content over the year to work with. She turned away from Rolf, dragging a hand through her hair, working on calming herself down.

"My uncle — he knew about this? He knew about the-them?"

"It appears so," Rolf nodded. "Grandma Abby tried to talk to him after you were picked up but Lyonel refused. I think he was so scared that he wanted to personally make sure you were okay."

"By not letting me be with my other family?" Romina smiled sourly at the grass. "I turned out great, didn't I?"

"You did," Rolf said whole-heartedly. Romina turned sideways to see him smiling softly. "You're awesome! You're cool, you're smart, you're so funny."

Romina wiped some of the tears on her cheeks. "Why, um, why didn't they write to me?" Her voice was no longer demanding but instead lamenting. "I've been at Hogwarts for years. They could have written me here."

"I don't know, you'd have to ask them yourself. But one thing I know for sure is how much grandma Abby and grandpa Newt love you. They've been following your track record here at Hogwarts."

"What?" A brief look of panic flashed across Romina's face. Her track record at Hogwarts was less than stellar and this year had to be the worst of all.

"They have some history with Dumbledore so they've been kept in the loop about you."

"What? They went to school here?"

"Just grandpa, but it's honestly a whole other story that I think they would like to tell you."

"I-I can't...this is too much," Romina shook her head. "My whole life, my uncle and aunt knew I had more family who actually wanted to see me and they never said anything?"

There was a time where Romina often asked them about their other family. She was young but she knew they weren't the only Oswell family members. There were other distant members somewhere out there, and that included Elora's family. But whenever she asked or simply touched on the subject, it was almost immediately changed. As time went on, and she admittedly grew bitter about her dark family's legacy, she stopped asking. That was her fault, she now saw. Maybe if she had asked more, if she had been more persistent, they would've cracked and told her about this other side of her family.

But they could have also told you when you started Hogwarts, she told herself. Yes, she could have been more persistent but at the end of the day she was just a kid and they were the adults. They had the responsibility to tell her there were others who wanted to see her. She had grandparents who were right there.

"Romina?" Rolf gently called. When he moved to touch her arm, she stepped away. He tried not to look hurt, knowing it was a proper reaction to everything he had dumped on her. His own parents warned him that if he decided to say anything, she could react this way.

"I...I think I need to sit down..." Romina said slowly, glancing around for an empty spot away from others. "Alone."

Rolf knew exactly what that meant. "Okay," he accepted it without protest. It was fair. "But just...believe me when I say I'm very happy to have met you. I'm only sorry that I was a coward who waited too long to tell you. It's no excuse, I know, but I was scared. I'll write you, if that's okay."

Romina gave him a silent nod. She really needed to be on her own right now. Rolf was reluctant to leave her, though, after the huge bomb he'd dropped on her.

"Scamander, what are you doing here?" Draco's voice carried over seconds before he approached the two. He eyed Rolf with a crinkled nose. "Shouldn't you be off petting some of the gamekeeper's pets?"

Rolf rolled his eyes at Draco. "Seriously not the time but if you're itching for a comment, I bet you're super delighted that the hippogriff escaped, huh?"

The pleasantry was written all over Draco's face at the mention.

"Don't," came Romina's quiet whisper just as his mouth opened. "I just — I really don't want to hear it this time."

"What did I miss?" Draco's eyes shifted between her and Rolf, both curious and admittedly slightly put out. What the hell did Rolf do now?

Romina decided to turn away from the two and head to an empty tree where she could sit and maybe sulk a little bit. Rolf thought it was his time to go and when he did leave, Draco blocked his way.

"What are you up to, Scamander?" He frowned.

"Sod off, Malfoy! I'm not in the mood!" Rolf went to leave but Draco blocked his way again. "What do you care what's going on now? We've known each other for ever and this is probably the longest conversation we've had."

"Don't get it confused, I'm only interested because an hour ago, Oswell was up and grinning again and now suddenly she looks like she's about to throw herself into the lake. What gives?"

"If you're genuinely that interested, go ask her," Rolf said, figuring Romina could use anyone, even him, to vent. "Would do you some good to care about someone else rather than yourself for 10 minutes." He pushed past Draco and went on his way.

As irritated as Draco was, and he was, his curiosity won the best of him and he went to find Romina. She had found herself a spot on the ground, against a tree, and was staring blankly ahead.

"Okay, Oswell, what's the deal now? I thought you said you were done sobbing?"

Romina's eyes flickered from the lake up to him and flashed with anger. "Do I look like I'm shedding a tear to you?" she snapped.

"I don't know, I'm gonna wait it out 5 minutes and see."

"Eugh, go away!" She grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it at him.

"Hey!" He blocked his face with an old book in his hands. "Watch it! I don't need this, you know?"

"Then go away!"

"I could — and would — but I brought you something." Draco held out the book to her.

"I don't need your gifts."

"Would you take a look at the damn thing first?" Draco dropped the book on her lap and crossed his arms. "Look at it," he ordered her again.

Romina thought about the perfect moment she could chuck it at his face...until she saw the cover. "This is the yearbook Parkinson had..." she mumbled. It was the same yearbook where Elora and Caplan were pictured in one of their Hogwarts years. "Why do you have it?"

"I asked Parkinson to see it and she happily gave it to me. Didn't even ask me why I would want it."

Romina scoffed. "Are you really that shocked, though? You can see the humongous crush she has on you from a kilometer away."

"I could say the same thing about Angel."

Romina's head snapped up at Draco. They met each other's looks and upheld it until they both, ironically, rolled their eyes.

"Anyways," Draco went on, "I thought you might want to look at it, hold it, throw it away...or if you're feeling brave, burning it."

Romina curiously lifted an eyebrow at him. "What are you going to do when Parkinson eventually asks you for her book back?"

Draco slid his hands into his pockets then pulled them out. "Oh no, I must have misplaced it." He shrugged.

Romina couldn't help the laugh that broke out from her. "She'll kill you..."

"You just said she's hopelessly in love with me."

"That is not what I said."

"But it's still true."

Romina would have loved to argue but it was very true. Plus, she didn't want to spend time talking about Pansy's unfortunate love life. "Thank you..." She gripped the book in her hands, gazing at its cover. If you open it, you might find your supposed aunt and uncle. She felt knots in her stomach.

"Merlin, Oswell, what the fuck is it now!?" Draco couldn't stand watching Romina anymore. "I will take that book from you right now if you don't tell me!"

Romina thought about throwing the book at him again. She glared at him but in that moment, she couldn't muster that annoyance she usually did it with. "Why didn't you want me to know who Rolf was?"

"Huh?" Draco made a face. Of all the things Romina could have asked, that certainly wasn't what he thought it would be. "What are you going on about now?"

"Listen to me and just answer the question! Back at the library when I bumped into him, you didn't want me to know who he was. Why?"

"I don't—"

"Was it because you knew who he was?"

"Obviously I know who he is—"

"No, I meant because you knew that he was my bloody cousin!?"

"I'm sorry — what!?" Draco's eyes had widened dramatically.

Romina paused her interrogation to gauge his reaction. He seemed genuinely surprised with her right now. Maybe he hadn't known...

"Rolf is your cousin?" The news was too much not to ask more about. "When the hell did he tell you that?"

"Right now!" Romina gestured down to the lake. "Literally 5 minutes ago! Just told me the whole story! Elora is his father's sister, making us cousins!"

Draco stood like a statue for several minutes; the only things moving were his eyes and eyebrows as he thought about the idea. His face was the same one he made whenever she (or Arden) started talking about muggle-related stuff.

"You...you really didn't know?" Her question, albeit soft, still pulled a glare from him.

"No!" he snapped. "Why the hell would I know?"

"I don't know, you seem to always know everything around here—"

"I'm well educated, not a historian! I don't know every fucking member of every family, you know!"

Romina deadpanned him. "You want me to throw you the book?"

"Oh, calm yourself. The problem's not with me, is it? It's with the rest of the world, apparently."

Romina leaned back against the tree. No, her plan was not to be angry at the world again. She found the idea very tiresome. "So...you really had no idea? I mean, no one in your circle knows this?"

"Marriage amongst the sacred 30 is a funny thing..." Draco came over beside Romina and sat down next to her.

"Sacred 30?" Romina couldn't help her face, but it was a rather amusing sight for Draco.

"You are so painfully behind, Oswell. I know for a fact I told you about the Sacred 30 during our correspondence letters two summers ago. The Sacred 30 are the only remaining pureblood families in the wizarding community."

"Honestly, when you started writing essays on that part, I skimmed," Romina said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Draco rolled his eyes; he wasn't going to waste time being surprised. It sounded like something she would do. "The point I was trying to get to is that the way marriage works usually ends up with your maiden name being forgotten. Eventually, enough time passes and then it really is forgotten. I imagine that's what happened with the Scamander family. That and the fact your mother—"

"Not my mother," warned Romina. "Do not call her that. She isn't. Her name's Elora."

"Fine, Elora married into the Oswell family and that became her name. I imagine once she became a Death Eater, she really made a point to shed her maiden name and anything with it. The Scamanders are regarded as war heroes."

"Why?" Romina shifted on the ground to face Draco. "Rolf mentioned it too but he said...well it doesn't matter. I thought they were just authors and clothing designers."

"The war before the one with you-know-who. Dumbledore fought in it."

"Ooh," Romina made the connection now. "They all fought together?" Draco nodded. "That's how they know each other then."

"Like veterans," said Romina. "And Dumbledore never even alluded to it too..."

"Anyways, congrats, I guess? People are going to love this."

Romina stiffened as a familiar dread began to fall on her shoulders. "Again? I don't — if I have to go through what I did this year all over again, then I would rather not do anything about this! I would rather not meet anyone either!"

"And yet somehow I don't believe that," said Draco, glancing at her with a knowing smile despite her scowl. "Don't give me that look. You just found out you have more family and you're seriously going to tell me that you're not the least bit curious to meet them?"

"I don't know," Romina huffed and leaned back on the tree, crossing her arms. "If they had wanted to meet me before, they would've done it. My uncle tried to stop them but...I mean...if you really want something, why would you stop?"

"Maybe in fairy tales, things might have gone in that direction, but in this life? Things are not the way it seems and the quicker you accept that, the easier your life will be."

"What the hell would you do, then? If you were in my spot, what would you do?"

Draco was quiet for a few minutes. Romina was just waiting for him to come out with some smartass response about the whole thing.

"I wouldn't do a damn thing," he retorted. Romina looked at him suspiciously. "Why would I? I don't need anything from them."

"You wouldn't need anything from them?" repeated Romina who then scoffed. "Seriously?"

"What?" shrugged Draco. "If they didn't want to see me, then why the hell would I give them my time of day?"

"But — what about the questions you have? Because trust me, there would be some questions!"

Draco scoffed. "I wouldn't have any!"

"Yes you would!"

"No, I wouldn't."

Romina got more worked up the more Draco denied what she swore was true. "Yes, you would!" she finally snapped and pulled herself up from the ground. She glared down at Draco. "Because they are your family whom you just found out about after 13 years of bloody secrets! You would want to meet them! You would want them to tell you why didn't they look harder for you? Why did they give up on you!?"

Draco's expression remained cool under Romina's hard glare. Little by little, a smirk started worming across his face. "Well, then I guess I know your summer plans, don't I?"

It took Romina another moment to realize what he had done. She let out a heavy breath, mentally trying to decide whether to strangle him or appreciate his gesture. It was a very tough decision.

Draco started getting up and he picked up the yearbook off the ground. "You're welcome," he said as he held the book out to Romina.

She was beyond dumbfounded in the end and the more she thought about it, the more flushed she got. "I..." She was at a loss for words.

"You're tired," Draco said, and grabbed her hand to place the book on. "I suggest you go back to your dorm and just...stop thinking about it. At least for 10 minutes. After that, things don't seem as bad anymore."

Romina got the faint feeling that he spoke from direct experience. If it was, then it would be the first time Draco talked about himself in a real way. Not the showing off type of stuff he usually did. "Thank you," she whispered to him.

Draco nodded at her. He started leaving when Romina suddenly called him again.

"Could you...could you not tell anyone about this?" she nervously asked. "I'm not quite ready for people to...find out more about me again."

"Whatever you want." Draco flashed her a smile and went on his way. He missed the light smile that crossed Romina's face.

A/N:

Been waiting to drop that one! Romina is part of the Scamander family! And her grandmother is another of my OCs, Abigail, and obviously a Fantastic Beast oc but it's still in the drafts! But anyways, happy ending for book 3! Book 4 is where the real fun/drama starts ;)

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 34: All Bets on Deck

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog  @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

​​​​Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

By the end of the first month of summer, Romina was happier than ever. She had continued visiting her grandparents, getting to know them and everyone else and even staying with them for a whole week! The relationship between her "new' family and her aunt and uncle was alright for the time being — she was truly just working on her relationships. She thought she deserved it and that the problems between the adults was something either they would figure out on their own or simply a bridge for her to cross later.

She found herself doing a lot more than she ever had for any summer. When she wasn't with her family, she was taking violin lessons again. Arden had managed to convince their teacher to allow Romina to continue taking classes with her. They even managed to claw their way into one little dance class here and there.

It was hard deciding when she should tell her friends about her new discovery. She was actually surprised that Draco hadn't yet said anything. She knew the moment that the truth was out, she would for sure have Daphne asking her a million questions about it.

The first people she told were Arden and Harry, obviously. They were neighbors and before magic and Hogwarts, it had always been them. So, on one fine hot day they went to their favorite place to hang out (the ice cream parlor) and she told them everything.

"Woah, talk about family secrets..." Arden leaned back in her chair, eyes slightly wide with surprise. Beside her, Harry was silently taking it in as well.

Romina sat across from them at the table, no longer interested in her dessert. She was anxious to hear their reactions. "I was going to tell you, honest," she said when a few minutes had passed by and neither one had said anything. "I just didn't know how to do it."

"It's fine, Rom," Harry said with a light shrug of his shoulders. "I mean, it's nice that you found more family."

"Oh yeah, it is!" Arden agreed with him. "It's just really shocking. Definitely didn't expect Rolf to be your cousin. A couple of us honestly thought he might have a crush on your or something."

Romina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I've heard. It's ridiculous that a boy can't be nice to a girl solely for friendship, you know."

"It's so cool, though," Arden said quickly, not wanting to get stuck on that topic. It wasn't even her who thought about it in the first place. "Your grandmother's a designer and your grandfather's a magizoologist and they're both war heroes. It's so cool!"

"I honestly don't even care about that stuff. It's just nice to have grandparents," Romina said, her cheeks flushed. It was still so surreal getting to call them 'grandma' and 'grandpa'. "I have aunts and uncles and a cousin. Oh, and we're going to have another cousin soon! It's so nice!"

"If you're happy, we're happy," Harry told her. "And since you're in a way better mood these days, have you thought about Ron's invitation?"

"Ron's invitation?" Arden made a face. "To what?"

"The World Cup," said Harry eagerly. "Ron says it's the biggest event for Quidditch and he's got some extra tickets. You're both invited!"

"Oh, that," Arden remembered it well and shook her head. "Yeah, no thanks. But I'll bet happy feet over there would love to go."

Romina waved her off with a hand. "I'm not the biggest quidditch fan but if Hermione's going then sure. She'll need some girl allies. I'm sure my aunt and uncle will let me. They're kind of teetering right now on how to raise me. It's so funny."

"What?" Harry looked at her oddly. Romina chuckled.

"They're so guilty they're basically letting me do whatever I want right now. If I was evil, I could have so much fun with that. But, alas, I'm keeping my morals."

Arden snorted. "Yeah, and yet you still got them to let you go to Diagon Alley this weekend. They would never let you go on your own."

"Daphne made the invite, I just checked 'yes'. And you're going, right?"

Arden shrugged. "Yeah, it should be good since Pansy won't be coming. Thank God."

Romina agreed there. She didn't feel like dealing with Pansy these days when she was so happy with everything else. "Harry, I'd invite you but, uh..."

Harry was already shaking his head. "And see Malfoy's face? Pass. Plus, I don't even know you're other friends that much. I only like Angel, really, and his sister Carolinha."

Romina rolled her eyes. "Daphne's pretty fine too and you can't really say that Blaise and Theodore have ever done anything to you."

"Which is why I haven't," Harry said sharply. "But I don't want to risk it so I will just see you later for the World Cup. I gotta tell Ron you're coming."

Romina thanked him for that. She had a couple more things to do before the weekend arrived and it started with some letters to her other friends, sharing something important.

~ 0 ~

That weekend, Romina and Arden got ready to see their friends and left to Diagon Alley from Romina's house. Arden almost laughed at the irony between wizarding kids and muggles. Both loved ice cream.

The girls walked into the ice cream parlor and found Daphne, Carolinha, Angel, Draco and even Blaise already there. "Seriously, all you needed was to invite Parkinson," Arden said to Daphne once they had sat at their table.

"Oh no, I wouldn't do that," Daphne said with eyes wide that lingered on Romina."

"You are free to hang out with whoever you want, Daphne," Romina raised her hands in front of her. "Setting the record straight with witnesses around."

Blaise snorted. "Yes, because we are absolutely interested in your tetchy relationship with Parkinson."

Romina turned her head in his direction, eyes narrowing slightly. "I imagine that Daphne didn't force you to come."

"I presume you weren't forced to come either," he retorted.

"Don't argue with her," Angel sighed.

"Paes to the rescue," Draco smirked. If Romina had been sitting next to him, she would've jabbed her elbow on his side. Angel was flustered and remained quiet from then on.

"Settle down boys," Romina said, placing her hands on the table. "Absolutely no one is going to ruin the incredible mood that I have been in."

"Oh, and she has been on it for a straight month," Arden told the group. "So don't touch anything."

"Well, we heard why," Angel said, shooting Romina a small smile. "You've been visiting your new family."

"They're not new, Angel, they've always been there. I just didn't know it." Romina shrugged her shoulders. "But they're great!"

"I would say—your grandmother's the head of bloody Gejel!" Daphne exclaimed. Romina had been waiting for Daphne to go down that road. "I only wear her robes. You know."

"Everybody knows," Draco rolled his eyes with heavy annoyance. This was not his type of conversation and he wouldn't stick around for it. He and Blaise decided to get a headstart and order some ice cream.

"He doesn't change," Arden muttered as the pair walked away from the table. "I see Theodore didn't make it today? Maybe it was for the best."

"He's off with his father in Greece," Angel said.

"Well he's going to miss out on some good ice cream," Romina said giddily.

"I'm a little scared of this happy face, not going to lie," Carolinha remarked, though her lips quirked into what would soon become a crooked smile. "But I'm also liking this Romina a hell of a lot more than the grumpy one."

"Carol," her brother elbowed her.

Romina once again laughed. "Don't worry about it, Angel. I'm totally good! In fact, I'm thinking triple scoop ice cream for me today!" She grabbed Arden in a big hug all of a sudden, ignoring (or most likely just not hearing) Arden's small 'oh!' as she let go. "I'm going to go annoy those two over there while I'm ordering!" Romina decided as she got up from her chair.

Daphne, Carolinha, Angel and Arden watched in awe as Romina practically skipped towards Draco and Blaise at the counter.

"I love her but she's freaking me out," Carolinha said.

"Try living next door to her," Arden said, "She's got the entire block freaked out."

"She's happy, that's all," Angel smiled. Romina had just poked Blaise in the back, something the latter wasn't quite happy with.

"Still, she might go poking the wrong bear," Daphne said because Romina was giggling after prodding Blaise on the side.

"Yeah, Blaise is quiet but he has a temper…" Carolinha said.

"I swear to God…" Blaise had to physically stop, take a step away from the glass counter, and take a deep breath because of Romina.

"She'll be fine," Arden waved it off as Romina left Blaise to pick on Draco next. "She's—oh, nope, now she's dead." For some reason, Romina had decided to slip her arms around Draco from behind. "The Oswells are no more." The girls all snickered at the joke but Angel was more quiet.

"Oswell, what the hell are you doing?" Draco had moved his arms up and would've tried shifting out of Romina's grip had that not included making him look like an outright idiot. "Get off me!"

"Not a hugger?" Romina laughed. She rested her chin just below his shoulder. "Did you get taller?"

Draco growled. "Get off me!" Blaise laughed beside them, an incorrigible mistake. "Make one comment, Zabini, I dare you!"

Blaise had the good sense not to but that didn't mean he stopped laughing. "Better you than me," he said in the end.

"Oh, I got one for you too, Blaise," Romina said with a big, teasing smile.

"Good—go get him then!" Draco exclaimed. "I think I preferred when you were all mopey and moody. Least that one didn't go touching people! OSWELL!"

Romina decided he had enough and pulled her arms away from him. She came to stand beside him and grinned at him. He looked away from her. Wasn't she tired of smiling already?

"You want to buy me some ice cream?" she asked and he immediately snapped 'No!'. This, however, still didn't take away her grin. "Please?" She cocked her head to the side, eyes blinking ever so innocently at him.

Draco released a breath. "Fine." He lied. He still preferred her this way over the moody and mopey version. Plus, maybe her rosey scent wasn't all that bad. He cleared his throat, straightening himself up and fixing the wrinkles that Romina had left on his clothes. If he focused—which he wasn't—he could smell a faint trace of the roses on him. "What are you going to want?" he asked Romina.

"I'm thinking chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate chip!"

"Are you sure that's the amount of sugar you want to take in?" This actually worried him because she practically had her face pressed against the display freezer without the heavy amount of sugar she was preparing to eat.

"Absolutely!"

Draco rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to waste his breath so he just made the orders. "So," he started as they waited, "You've decided to let others know that you've added some impressive surnames to your name."

Romina snorted. That sounded a little more like her. She threw him a look. "I mean they were going to find out anyways. It's not that big of a deal."

Draco wanted to remind her of how "big of a deal" it had been the last time they spoke about the matter, but she seemed so calm right now he didn't want to ruin it. "Well, Greengrass over there hasn't stopped babbling about your grandmother. Everybody knows the Gejels are an elite French pureblood family and the Scamanders have worked in the higher levels of the Ministry. Not to mention they are literal war heroes."

"You seem to know that off the top of your head. I had to read that to find out and then I heard some of it from the sources themselves."

Draco shook his head at her. "Leave it to you, Oswell, to not know the value of your family's legacies."

"Hey—you're the one who told me to forget about my family's legacies!"

"That was about your parents. There's no fixing the Oswell name."

Romina gasped with offence. "Well, thank you for your faith in me."

"You know what I mean!"

"You're essentially saying that I'm never going to shake off the reputation my parents left me which is a huge contradiction of what you've told me in the past."

"Why are you so stuck on what I said 'in the past'?"

"Because it was actually nice and meaningful," Romina folded her arms. "You don't have a lot of those moments."

Draco deadpanned her. "Seriously?"

Romina was very much serious with him. "Yes. So take it back or I will be hugging you again."

Draco took one step away from her, pointing a finger at her immediately. "Do that and you'll regret it."

"Good to know what I can threaten you with—never mind hexes," Romina laughed, putting her hands together. "This is even easier!"

"Go hug Angel or something." Draco fixed his collars and turned towards the display. "God knows he's probably asking himself why he didn't get one."

"Would you drop that?" Romina hissed, scooting herself closer to him so that nobody would hear. "It's not funny anymore."

"It is from where I'm standing. When are you going to let him down already?"

Romina did not hesitate to jab her elbow to his side. "Shush!"

"You can hurt me all you want but you'll eventually have to do it."

"Don't ruin my mood!"

"Oh no, I wouldn't want to do that." Draco smirked. He could see from the corner of his eye that she was glowering. He focused entirely on the ice cream coming their way. He figured it would annoy her more.

In a short minute, they were walking back to their table with their ice cream.

"Woah, Rom, that's a lot of sugar," Arden said, eyes wide at the ice cream in front of Romina.

"I know! Isn't it heavenly?" Romina beamed and happily dug in. "You guys should probably order now."

"Oh, yeah, huh?" Arden got up and left the table for a minute and returned with several spoons for those who hadn't ordered.

Romina gasped and 'awd' when they started eating out of her ice cream. "That's mine!"

"Technically, it's mine," Draco said.

"Shut up!" She snapped and proceeded to shoo the intruding spoons from her dessert. She would end up giving up once they, primarily Daphne, began asking about her family.

Romina had no problem sharing everything she'd done so far with her family. She told them about the various designs she'd helped her grandmother, and aunt for that matter, with. She was excited to talk about the more in depth lessons she was learning with her grandfather about his numerous creatures.

"I'll be getting the highest grades in our Care of Magical Creatures class from now on," she said smugly as she dipped her spoon into what remained of her chocolate ice cream. "Well, maybe right after Rolf. He's a genius with that stuff."

"Are you willing to help us out then?" Arden chuckled. "Because some of the things that Hagrid chooses are kinda scary."

"That's because he's not actually a professor, King," scoffed Draco.

"Uh, a whole year says otherwise," she countered. "And the only reason you don't like it is because of what happened when you messed with the Hippogriff." At the reminder of the unfortunate incident, the group laughed.

Draco grumbled under his breath about his poor choices in deciding to even meet with them in the place.

Later on when they were done with their ice creams, they took to walking around Diagon Alley if only to kill some time. Everyone agreed being stuck at home wasn't exactly the life of the party. There were no significant events coming up in their respective homes.

"There is the World Cup this year," Angel remarked. "Anyone going?"

"Not my thing," Daphne crinkled her nose. "You can tell me all about it later on...or not…"

"I'm probably not either," Blaise admitted. "My mother already made plans to celebrate her newest engagement, so..."

"Congratulations?" Carolinha offered him a small smile.

"Eh…" Blaise waved her off. It wasn't a means of celebration after the eighth time.

"We're thinking about it," Angel said, "It's the first time it'll be held here in over 300 years. What about you two?" He asked Romina and Draco.

"Harry was talking about that and he says Ron's dad has some extra tickets so I might pop in. I'm not all about it either, like Daphne, but I do like the commotion of it."

Draco scoffed. "Don't hold your breath, Oswell. It'd be a miracle if Weasley's dad got tickets and even then, I wouldn't expect anything near the grounds."

Romina rolled her eyes. "Like I said, I'm mainly in it for the buzz of things. I don't recall hearing anything about you getting tickets, though. Not going at all?"

"My father's mentioned the possibility of an important invitation," he remarked much too smugly.

Romina wasn't at all surprised that he droned on about the supposed invitation. She purposely slowed her pace in hopes of giving her ears some rest. In her attempts to distract herself, she noticed the dark entry into another part of the alley. She recognized it straightaway.

Knockturn Alley.

She stared ahead to see if anyone liked around. Yeah, as if they would freely walk about. It didn't have the best of reputations, after all. Kind of like you.

She straightened up. The fact there were more dark objects in that part of the alley shouldn't necessarily mean that it's the "bad" part of town. She was sure that thought wouldn't be received well if anybody heard it, but she thought it was a fair statement. Nothing was bad unless you used it for bad reasons.

"Romina? What are you doing over there?" Angel's sharp call startled Romina out of her thoughts.

She hadn't realized that she'd stopped walking altogether. She was right in the face of Knockturn Alley.

"Romina, you shouldn't be close to there!" Angel was quick to lead the group back to their friend.

"I was just looking," Romina said weakly.

"What for?" Angel frowned. "You don't have any business being close to that area."

"Why not?" Her question stumped Angel.

His eyes widened. "What? What do you mean? That's Knock—"

"I know what it is," Romina gently cut him off. "But why shouldn't we know what's there?"

Angel sputtered out of shock. He looked at the others for some help. Most of them seemed as surprised as he was.

Romina playfully rolled her eyes at them. "You guys aren't understanding me. I'm not saying that we should all suddenly do dark magic with dark objects. Wouldn't it be better if we were aware of what some things were so we know how to best fight against it. How to be careful with them?"

"Isn't that what DADA class is for?" Daphne said, taking one noticeably big step back.

"Yeah, but we know they're never going to teach us about everything that's out there. Maybe we should see what is out there."

"No!" Angel was quick to say. "That's dangerous!"

"Plus, you wouldn't last in that area," Draco remarked. He met Romina's frowning face with a smirk. "What?"

"I would too last there," she said.

"No you wouldn't. It's not for the faint of heart."

"What? Like you?" Romina laughed. "Don't make me laugh. But you know what? Since we're here, why don't you put your money where your mouth is?" If she wasn't so irked with him, his reaction would've made her actually laugh.

"What?" He brought a hand near his mouth. "Wh-why would I ever do that?"

Arden snorted. "It's a muggle saying, dumbass." Draco shot her a glare. "She's calling you out, basically."

"Oh I am," Romina agreed. "How's about a wager?"

Draco's interest was piqued. "Depends," he said in his most casual tone, "What do you want?" Romina's lips lifted into a wide smirk. It was admittedly hard to stay away from whatever deal she was about to offer. "What do you want, Oswell?"

"Hmm," Romina put her hands together, fingers tapping against each other, "Well, you seem to think that I won't be able to handle taking a little trip down Knockturn Alley—"

"Oh," Draco scoffed, "I don't 'think' it, I know you can't."

Romina wanted to smack the smirk off his face. "I can," she insisted. "In fact, I bet that I can last there, say...half an hour?"

"One hour," Draco corrected, "And I'm not saying more just because I actually kinda like you."

"Ooh," Romina put a hand over her chest. "Don't I feel special? I'll take your hour and when I come back, you're going to owe me."

"Rom, maybe we should take it a step back," Arden said, biting on her bottom lip.

Romina looked past Draco to see the equally troubled faces of the group, all except Blaise who seemed more amused than anything else.

"Yeah, that's not a place you want to get caught in by yourself," Carolinha said. Daphne could only squeak in agreement. She was scared most of all.

"Draco, don't make her do that." Angel was practically glaring at the blonde.

Draco, however, snorted. "I'm not making her do anything. She's just stubborn."

"And she is right here, ready to smack you if you act like I'm not here!" Romina huffed. "Are you going to accept or not?"

"Depends, what do I get if you don't make it the entire hour?"

"What do you want?"

Draco thought for a moment, making a show out of it all while ignoring the heavy glare that Angel was sending him. "Well, I could always use a favor," Draco ultimately decided on. "Yeah," he smiled to himself like he'd just done something amazing. "I want one moment in which you have to do something I want or need, no questions asked."

Romina evaluated the idea with a tapping finger against her chin. "Okay, but—" she pointed that same finger at him, "it cannot involve hurting anyone physically nor something that'll get me or someone else into trouble. Got it?"

Draco nodded. "Done. Oh, and there is no expiration date on this. I'm going to hold out on it until I see fit."

"Fine, whatever, but when I win…" Romina's eyes flickered to Arden for some reason, the brunette wearily sighing in return, "You have to spend the same hour in the muggle world."

A round of gasps erupted from their friends.

Draco's face fell in horror. "Absolutely not!"

Blaise finally made a noise and it was just to laugh. "Now it's interesting," he said to the others.

"This is beyond daft," Angel groaned. "Malfoy, just tell her no and we can move on."

"Yeah, tell me no," Romina taunted Draco in front of her.

And admit defeat? Draco literally felt his insides burn at the idea. Romina was challenging him and with a stupid pretty—not pretty, very not pretty—smirk. "You're on, Oswell. Don't worry, I'll come get you when we hear your inevitable screams."

Romina snorted and stepped back from him. "You wish!"

"Romina, this is a really bad idea!" Angel shouted, if only to claim some of the attention before disaster struck.

"It'll be fine, Angel," Romina said, already turning for the small steps leading into the darker alley.

"Sage and Lyonel won't like this," Arden warned her. "Now matter how guilty they are for keeping your family a secret, if they find out about this, they will kill you."

"So we don't tell them!" Romina hopped down the three steps. "I'll be back before you know it!" She spun around, eyes meeting Draco's. He was full of mirth even if he didn't want to admit it. "Better clear your calendar cos you're coming to my neighborhood soon."

"Keep dreaming, Oswell. I'll keep an ear out for your screams," he promptly retorted.

Romina turned away and strode for the infamous alley. There was no way in hell she was going to give him the satisfaction. Arden was right, though, if either of her aunt or uncle found out she was in Knockturn Alley, she was dead.

"I can't believe you just made her do that!" Angel practically exploded after Romina was out of hearing shot. He turned to Draco, absolutely livid with him. "Do you have any idea what's in there?" Angel scoffed and answered before Draco even had the chance. "Of course you do! You're—"

"Watch your tongue, Paes," Draco finally snapped and turned to meet Angel's glare, "I did not make her do anything. Did you see me push her? Walk her down the steps myself? No!"

"I mean, to his credit, this is by far the least amount of effort he's put into anything," Arden remarked and just as Draco was about to gesture at her in gratitude for making the point, he did a double-take at her. He was surprised they'd just agreed on something. Arden shrugged in return.

Angel was not on the same page. "Arden!"

"I'm sorry," Arden said, "But I've known Romina far longer than all of you. She was going in there no matter what. She's very competitive."

"Still, it's dangerous!" Angel exclaimed.

"She'll be fine," Draco waved him off. "She has one trick that, if she's smart enough, she'll use."

"What's the trick?" demanded Angel.

Draco smirked. "Guess you're not smart enough."

Carolinha genuinely thought she would have to go pull her brother away before he lunged on Draco. She really hoped Romina would come out soon.

~ 0 ~

It was shady, that Romina would immediately admit. It was a stark difference from Diagon Alley. She walked with her shoulders straightened, her head held high, like she knew exactly what she was doing. But of course, a fourteen year old girl walking by herself in one of the shadiest parts of the wizarding world was bound to draw some attention.

Ten minutes in and she had already been stopped by a couple wizards asking her what she was up to. Apparently, fourteen year old girls also entered this part of town with the intentions of pulling tricks. If only they knew.

Romina stopped by the only store that she recognized. Borgin and Burkes. Her eyes raked over the display windows. She lost count on the dark objects that were sprawled on not-so-clean pedestals. With no idea why, she pulled the door open and walked inside. The shop was dimly lit and absolutely cluttered. She abruptly stopped when she caught sight of human bones lying under a display. Her eyebrows knitted together. How horrible.

"What are you doing here?" A man's voice made her jump in place. She spun around to come face to face with an older man she would definitely not like to meet anywhere. His eyes bore down on her, demanding to hear her explanations.

Romina swallowed hard. "Umm...just...looking?" Well, that was a terrible excuse.

"Get out!" The man barked.

"No!" Romina snapped. You have got to get ahold of your temper! One day it was sure to get her in trouble...and that might be today.

The man was furious with her. "Now who the hell do you think you are?"

Romina's eyes raked over the shop and all its countless objects. She couldn't imagine any wizards with good intentions coming in here. Wizards without good intentions. Her eyes widened. The idea was set and now she would execute it.

"My name—" she started, loud and clear for a fourteen year old, "—is Romina Oswell, daughter of Elora and Caplan Oswell." She started to relax when the man leaned away from her. Her trick was working. "And who do you think you are talking to me like that?"

"I-I'm...you're an Oswell?" He took a full step back, his hands coming to press down the wrinkles in his robes.

Romina gave an affirmative nod. "Do you know my parents?"

"W-well, of course! Of course I do!" The man turned away from her, missing the big breath of relief that Romina took as soon as he turned. "Your parents were in here all the time."

Of course they were. Romina shook her head. She hated mentioning her parents to anybody but it was about damn time they did something for her that was useful.

"I'm Mr. Borgin," the man introduced himself, though he didn't look back at the girl. He started walking for the counter instead. "What can I do for you, Miss Oswell?"

"I…" That was the question, wasn't it? What did she even want? To waste time. Romina looked around the store again. "Like I said, I was just...perusing around."

Mr. Borgin gave a gruff nod. "Anything in particular catch your eye?"

"Not...yet…" Romina said slowly, She noticed spikey instruments were hanging from the ceiling. Nice, their own version of a chandeliers.

"I must say, it is strange to see an Oswell here all alone, especially you." Mr. Borgin eyed Romina carefully. "I have never seen you here."

"Wasn't old enough to understand," Romina said with a careless shrug of her shoulders. She didn't know whether it was good or bad that Borgin was smiling at her.

"Ah, and now that you do, does anything catch your eye? I'm sure we can put your money to good use."

Romina had the inkling suspicion that the man was aware of the Oswell vault in Gringotts.

"Your family typically indulges in poisons and potions," Mr. Borgin remarked.

"Indulges?" Romina lifted an eyebrow at him. "Present tense. Has...has anyone else from my family been here recently?"

Mr. Borgin's lips pulled into a wide smile, possibly menacingly. "You're living with the only Oswell who didn't join You Know Who, right?" Romina nodded silently. "You wouldn't know, then. I don't know either, of course."

Romina suspected that was not quite true. Her eyes narrowed. "You better not mention that I was in here," she warned. "I did inherit my father's temper and I have a reputation for my inability to control it."

Mr. Borgin laughed. "I have no interest in spiting the youngest Oswell. My only business is to sell, after all. If you have inherited your parents—your family's—gift for the Dark Arts, you know where to find us."

Romina swallowed hard, drawing a step back as if Borgin would come after her. "Yeah, I'll let you know if I find a use for those human bones over there." She turned away fast, though perhaps not fast enough in her opinion, and hurried out.

~ 0 ~

It had been an hour and a half since Romina had disappeared in Knockturn Alley. The concern and tension were palpable in the air amongst the group who had been doing nothing but waiting. Angel was pacing back and forth, mumbling things about how they had made the biggest mistake of their lives.

"Maybe we should tell someone," Daphne whispered to Arden. The two girls were sitting together on the ground.

"Are you mad?" Arden hissed in the same hushed tone. "We'll be in so much trouble. Romina's aunt and uncle will kill her."

"But it's been more than an hour," Daphne said, not that either of them needed the reminder. "At this point, wouldn't it be better if she just got in trouble with her family instead of getting in trouble in that alley?"

Arden started biting on her bottom lip. That would be the more reasonable option between the two. She glanced at the others. Carolinha was following Angel in his pacing, trying to calm him down and no doubt stop him from telling any of the adults. Angel had already made the threat several times since the time passed. Draco and Blaise were leaning against a wall, mumbling things to each other. Neither of them seemed all that concerned. Arden wondered if it was an unusual amount of faith they had in Romina or if it was their typical carelessness.

"Okay, that's it!" Angel exclaimed, stopping abruptly. Carolinha crashed into his back. "We need to do something! It's been a whole hour!"

"She probably got lost; should've given her a map or something," Draco remarked, earning a full glare from Angel in return.

"This isn't funny!" Angel snapped. "It's your fault!"

"I thought we had already discussed this. On the matter of things being my fault, this one's pretty low. Romina does whatever the hell she wants—did you even see her hair last year?"

"You know what, Malfoy? I am sick of you!" Angel started for him, leaving Carolinha to scramble and try to pull him back.

"There's a surprise," Draco rolled his eyes, infuriatingly calm. "It's not like you've been sending me death glares for the past hour."

"Angel, c'mon!" Carolinha held onto her brother's arm tightly. "It's not his fault. Nobody forced Romina to go in there!"

"You should listen to your sister," Draco told the frantic twin brother.

"Not an invitation for you to keep talking!" Carolinha snapped. She looked at Blaise for some help but he was beyond attempting to hold either side back.

"What is going on?" Everybody froze in their tracks at the sound of Romina's voice. She was both horrified and confused at the sight of the near standoff between Draco and Angel.

"Oh thank God!" Daphne zoomed past them all to attack Romina in a big hug. "You're alright!"

"Well of course I am!" Romina laughed and patted Daphne's back. "What'd you think was going to happen to me?"

"Bad things!" Angel exclaimed, pushing Carolinha off him and hurrying up to Romina. Daphne had just managed to let go when Angel took his turn and hugged Romina. "You're never going back in there again, do you understand? You were gone for more than an hour!"

"Oh yeah," Romina said, shrugging carelessly. "I kinda lost track of time."

"What were you doing?" Arden curiously asked.

"Well, I went into Borgin and Burks—fair notice, giving them the Oswell name is like a free pass into anything in that part of town."

"So, you figured out the trick," Draco walked over, never minding the glare Angel still had on him.

Romina, however, was smirking proudly. "I'm not an idiot. It was the first thing that came out of my mouth. For once, Elora and Caplan actually helped."

"Why were you there for so long?"

"There's a lot of things to see…" Romina waved the matter off in favor of a much better matter, "And so, it seems like I win, and you know what that means?" For a moment, Draco had forgotten the deal. The horror that crossed his face was much too funny not to laugh at. Romina clapped her hands together. "This is going to be amazing!"

"I'm not—I can't, Oswell!" He said, almost frantically. "My parents would never let me go near your...your neighborhood!"

"Please, I'm sure that brain of yours—" she managed to tap his forehead before he smacked her finger away, "—will come up with a decent lie."

"I'm not doing it," Draco declared.

"I think you have to," Blaise said, snickering on the side.

"Shut it, Zabini!"

"Nice doing business with you," Romina said with her own giggle.

"You shut it too, Oswell!"

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 30: Break-out

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist:@ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

​​​​Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

The next time Harry knew anything, he was flanked by two girls on either side of him. It took him several minutes to figure out he was in a hospital wing bed and that both Hermione and Romina were scared out of their minds for him. Ron was on the bed right next to him with his foot bandaged up.

"You shouldn't have run off like that," Romina said with a relieved sigh. They'd been waiting anxiously waiting for him to wake up. "You were lucky the dementors didn't get you! Stupid!" She smacked his arm, ignoring Hermione's reprimand.

Dementors! Harry snapped upright on the bed. Everything was coming back to him now. The lake, the dementor, Sirus... "I saw my Dad!"

Romina, Hermione and Ron exchanged similar puzzled looks. They hadn't really known what happened down at the lake. Professor Snape would not tell them a single word except for the fact they all had detention until they graduated — if they weren't suspended first, of course.

"He sent the Dementors away…" Harry went on, not really noticing the faces of his friends, "I saw him. Across the lake…"

Everybody wanted to tell Harry that he probably just imagined it after everything, but they didn't have the heart. He seemed so animated about the idea that it seemed cruel to take it away from him. Plus, there were more pressing matters at the moment.

"Listen, Harry," Hermione inched closer to his bedside, "They've captured Sirius. Any minute the Dementors are going to perform the Kiss."

"The Kiss...?" Harry said slowly, confused.

Romina felt awful having to explain it, especially now that they knew Sirus was a completely innocent man. "It's the Dementors' biggest ability. Their most terrible act, really. They clamp their jaws over the victim's mouth and...suck out his soul." She wasn't proud of why she knew exact detail either. She'd known it even before Hogwarts explained it to them. She was guilty of asking her aunt and uncle about the place where Elora and Caplan were imprisoned and how they were kept there. She only learned of the Dementors and their abilities after badgering her uncle for answers. In her darkest moments, she was guilty of wondering why the Dementors hadn't applied the Kiss to the imprisoned Oswells already.

Harry had a very small moment to be horrified before Dumbledore entered the wing. Hermione didn't waste a second in telling him they had the wrong man captive.

"It's Scabbers who did it!" Ron's input didn't exactly help them make a strong case in the beginning.

Dumbledore sent the redhead an odd, slightly concerned, look. "Scabbers?"

"My rat, sir. Only he's not really Well, he was a rat. You a rat. See, he used to be my brother Percy's but he got an owl—"

"Ron, stop talking," Romina waved him off before they were all declared insane because of him. "What we're trying to say, sir, is that we know the truth. You need to believe us here. Sirius Black is not the man we thought he was. He's innocent. He's being framed!"

"I do," Dumbledore surprised them all, "But I'm sorry to say the word of four thirteen-year-old wizards will convince few others. A child's voice, however honest and true, is meaningless to those who have forgotten how to listen. Mysterious thing, time. Powerful. And, when meddled with… dangerous. Sirius Black is in the topmost cell of the Dark Tower." Hermione straightened when Dumbledore's gaze landed on her. "You know the laws, Miss Granger. You must not be seen. And you would, I feel, do well to return before this last chime. If not... well, the consequences are really too ghastly to discuss. Three turns should do it, I think. If you succeed, more than one innocent life may be spared tonight. By the way, when in doubt, I find retracing my steps to be a wise place to begin…"

Romina, Harry and Ron watched the Headmaster leave with the same dumbfounded faces.

"What the hell?" Romina said in the end. "I rarely understand what that man says but did anyone else get that this time?"

"Nope," Ron said flatly. "What in bloody hell was all that about?"

Harry was getting out of bed when he noticed Hermione was tinkering with a necklace around her neck. "What are you doing?" His question made Romina turn around to see the same thing.

Hermione reached for Romina and Harry, slipping the chain of her necklace over their heads. "Sorry, Ron. But seeing as you can't walk…"

"What?" Ron's one-worded response was the last thing Harry and Romina heard before things got...weird.

Everything around them became blurred. Things spun and Romina felt like she might be losing it the quicker things got. When it finally stopped, it was daytime out.

"What just happened!?" Harry spun around the room that was now completely empty. "And where's Ron!?"

Because Ron was not in his bed either.

"And why is it day time?" Romina whispered, her eyes glued to the shiny windows.

Hermione paid their questions no attention. "Seven-thirty. Where were we at seven-thirty?"

"Huh? Dunno... going to Hagrid's?" Harry glanced at Romina to see what she thought, or remembered. The girl shrugged her shoulders.

Hermione grabbed both their arms and ran out the hospital wing. "We can't be seen!" She warned them.

"Be seen?" Romina said incredulously on their run. "You really think I want people to see me like this!?" She made a gesture to her uneven choppy hair that Hermione left her with.

"Hermione, what is going on!?" Harry started demanding again and soon Romina was too.

It was a god-right talent of Hermione's to be able to ignore the repetitive questions about what was going on. She didn't say anything all the way down to the monoliths, right where they had been before Buckbeak's execution. The only reason the questions stopped was because Romina and Harry seen the impossible: themselves.

Well, all Romina saw were them having what she assumed was a spectacular disagreement with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. "What is this?" she whispered to Hermione. "How are we...what?" She was tired. So, so tired.

Hermione finally held up her chain to show them the hourglass pendant at bottom. "This is a Time-Turner. McGonagall gave it to me first term. This is how I've been getting to my lessons all year."

"You mean, we've gone back in time?" Harry's widened. "This whole time!?"

"You pulled a Back to the Future," Romina chuckled. "You know, in reverse!" Her smile soon dropped when she thought about what Hermione had said. "Hey wait a minute, that's not fair!"

"Romina," Harry said wearily. This was really not the time to discuss about what was fair and what wasn't.

Romina didn't agree. "What? It's not! Look, Hermione you are stupid smart but that time-turner thingy gives you an unfair advantage over the rest of us! Your grades will be excellent because you got a chance at all of the class!"

"I didn't get it so easily, Romina," said Hermione defensively. "And I didn't ask for it either. Like I said, I got it from Professor McGonagall on our first day back. She made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic so I could have one. She had to tell them that I was a model student, and that I'd never, ever use it for anything except my studies..."

"Seriously unfair," Romina reiterated. "But whatever. So what are we supposed to do now?"

"Well..." Hermione looked around, unsure, "Dumbledore wanted us to return to this moment. Clearly something happened that he wants us to change."

They heard a distinctive smack in the distance. Draco had landed against the monolith with a bloody nose.

"Huh," Romina cocked her head, "So that's what happened."

"Nice punch," Harry said with nothing but admiration for Hermione.

Hermione smiled rather proudly. She still couldn't believe she did that. She stiffened, however, when Draco and his cronies started coming their way. "Oh no! Malfoy's coming! C'mon!" She pulled Harry and Romina with her to hide while they passed.

"Oh wait…" Romina said once something struck her, "We should go the other—"

"Shh!" Hermione clamped a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. Romina's eyes narrowed on the brunette. She wasn't liking today at all!

"Argh! Watch it—Oswell!"

Romina pushed Hermione's hand off her and then hissed: "That's what I was trying to tell you! Now I'm here too! And we're wasting time!"

"We have to wait it out," Hermione hissed right back. "Nobody can see us."

"Rom, what the hell are you doing?" Harry had been far more preoccupied watching Romina from three hours ago having a small conversation with Draco.

Romina watched the moment in which her past self realigned Draco's nose with a hard push. "Well...I was fixing his damn nose, don't you see?"

"Yes, why?" said Harry irritably. "He deserved it."

"No quarrels there."

Harry threw her a look.

"What?" Romina frowned.

Hermione suddenly wished she wasn't in-between them.

"Wait a minute," Harry paused all of a sudden, "I thought you said you were talking to Diggory and that's why it took you longer to catch up with us."

Romina's eyebrows raised. Yup, that is what she had said. "Um…well, I was...at one point..."

Hermione really wished she wasn't in the middle right now.

Harry was outright horrified to see Romina and Draco impossibly close all of a sudden. Then, Romina was touching Draco's face. "Rom…"

Romina's eyes had widened with both fear and embarrassment. The warmth blossoming over her face didn't help. "So...it's not what it looks like…I was just...you see, his nose and..."

Harry turned his head slightly at her, his eyes blazing with disbelief and anger. "Seriously? Right now it looks like you and Malfoy are staring into each other's eyes!"

"I wasn't…" Romina laughed lightly out of sheer nerves, "His nose—I was trying to fix it! I told you!"

"He deserved it!"

"Again, not arguing that he didn't! But, c'mon, that was all I did!"

"Really? Cos you're still staring at each other!"

"Shhhh!" Hermione had enough and put her hands on either side of her. "They're going to hear us!"

"Oh, well, far be it from me to ruin their moment!" Harry exclaimed.

"I don't think this should be our priority right now!" Romina argued. She snuck a look, however, to her past self and saw that Harry was indeed right. Had she really stared at Draco so much? To be fair, he was staring right back at her. And her hands—they were definitely touching his nose. And he allowed it. He must have not thought bad of it because he never even asked her to stop.

The heat on her cheeks got worse.

"Romina, I cannot believe—"

"Oh my god — shhh!" Hermione cut in again to keep them from arguing out loud and getting them caught. She wouldn't deny that the scene before them was quite troubling but they had more pressing matters right now. She thanked the heavens when the past versions of Romina and Draco started going back and forth again. She wouldn't put it behind Harry to forget about the rules and march over there to tear Romina away from Draco.

"I'm going to get her back," Draco was warning Romina.

"No you're not because then I'll break your nose again," Romina promptly said back. She flashed him a smile and moved around him.

Hermione glanced at Romina with a small smile. "Thanks for that."

"Course," Romina bumped shoulders with her. "If he ever asks for it again, break his nose."

Harry was the only one not remotely amused with the scene and the entire situation for that matter. Romina could still feel his burning look and she did not like it one bit. She coughed awkwardly and happened to look back down to Hagrid's hut. "Oh hey, Buckbeak's still alive." She had it said mostly to get things moving but Hermione clung to it with a gasp.

"Of course! Of course! Remember what Dumbledore said. If we succeed, more than one innocent life could be spared!"

"Buckbeak? But... how will saving Buckbeak help Sirius?"

"We'll see!" Hermione shrugged. As soon as the coast was clear, she led the way down for the hut.

~ 0 ~

Getting Buckbeak to follow them out of the pumpkin patch had been an interesting task but not impossible. From their hiding spot behind the trees, they witnessed their past versions, save for Romina who didn't show up on time, sneak out of Hagrid's hut through the backdoor before they could be spotted by the adults. From there, the trio and Buckbeak were forced to retreat further into the forest.

"Now what?" Harry called once they found a safe spot to rest.

"We save Sirius," Hermione responded like it should've been obvious that it was their next move.

"Great, how do we do that?" Romina promptly asked her.

Hermione bit on her bottom lip. "I have no idea."

That was promising, alright. As night grew closer, they had to move closer to their past selves near the Whomping Willow. It was the only way to hopefully interject and save Sirius. They had already seen Ron get dragged in by Sirius, then themselves getting swung around by the Whomping Willow, and finally Lupin showed up.

They spotted their professor coming up to the tree carefully and as was its nature, the tree began to thrash when Lupin drew too close. However, the professor grabbed a broken branch from the ground and easily froze the tree's movements by poking a knot on its trunk.

Romina's mouth fell open at the sight. "You're telling me I could've avoided this!?" Her hand flapped at her choppy hair.

"Wait until Fred and George hear about this," Harry remarked. For a moment, they shared a light laugh. The twins would surely take advantage of that trick.

A moment later, they witnessed Snape following through the same gap. They then prepared themselves for the wait until the group would come out of the gap.

"You know…" Harry started in the midst of their silence, "Before...down in the lake, when I was with Sirius, I did see someone... that someone made the Dementors go away…"

"With a Patronus," Hermione finished and startled him with her knowledge. "We heard Snape telling Dumbledore when we were taken to the hospital. According to him, only a really powerful wizard could have conjured it."

"It was my Dad," Harry said without the faintest of doubts. "It was my Dad who conjured the Patronus."

"But Harry, how?" Romina softly asked him. "He's…"

"I know," Harry nodded, "But I'm just telling you what I saw."

Eyes can be deceiving, thought Romina. She just didn't want to press Harry about it anymore. She felt like she didn't have much of a right to talk about them considering what Elora and Caplan did.

"Here we come," Hermione nudged Harry who then prompted Romina to look forwards.

They watched what they did which, unfortunately, was a little slow.

"You see Sirius talking to me?" Harry asked the pair. "He's asking me to come live with him."

"Really?" Hermione blinked.

"When we free him, I'll never have to go back to the Dursley's. I'm going to tell him I'd like to live someplace in the country," Harry said, eyes filling with excitement the more thought he put into the idea. "I think he'd like that, after all those years in Azkaban. We don't need a big place and I can help him…"

"I think that'll be wonderful, Harry," Romina smiled softly at him. If anybody deserved that kind of life, it was Harry.

When they heard the howl, they knew that things were about to begin.

"Lupin's transformed," Hermione said.

"Which means Pettigrew is slipping safely into the night. While we just stand here…" Harry muttered. For cautionary reasons, both Hermione and Romina held onto his arms. He just couldn't run towards the scene no matter what.

They witnessed the fight between the wolf and dog and even when Harry from the past interjected. Since the wolf was now gaining on Harry, Hermioen decided to act out a wolf howl.

"Hermione!" Romina hissed after the brunette's second howl. "You can't do that!"

"Why not? I'm saving his life!" Hermione continued to howl like a wolf.

"Yeah, thanks, but now we have to run for it!" Romina flapped a hand forwards. The wolf had caught onto the howl and was coming to the source.

"Yeeeah," Harry said, patting Hermione's arm as gratitude for saving his life despite now facing danger.

"Didn't think about that—go!" Hermione exclaimed.

The trio ran for their lives as the werewolf gained on them. They had to take refuge behind a tree in hopes that it would pass them by instead.

"Where's Buckbeak?" Romina's eyes wandered through the dark forest. They had just run without even remembering the enormous creature they'd saved.

"We've got to find him," Hermione said, deciding to leave their hiding spot.

Big mistake.

Three steps away from the tree and now they had the wolf a couple inches from them. Just as it prepared to launch itself at them, Buckbeak came charging into the clearing. It took the wolf into a fight.

Hermione winced after one particular scratch Buckbeak landed on the wolf. "Poor Professor Lupin is having a really tough night…"

Suddenly, the air gained a chilly tinge to it. The leaves around them rustled with the sudden pick of the wind. When the trio looked up, they saw shadows flying in the sky.

"The dementors!" Harry said, memories of the lake flashing in his head. He led the way to the lake, which turned out to be right across from where his past self and Sirius were.

The past Harry was desperately trying to conjure up a Patronus against the imminent dementors.

The current Harry held onto his faith because he knew what would eventually happen. "Don't worry. My Dad will come... Right there... you'll see... he'll come... any minute... he'll conjure the Patronus…"

But nothing was happening.

"No one's coming, Harry…" Hermione tried to say but Harry was adamant.

"HE WILL! He will come!"

Romina couldn't take the scene ahead of them. Harry's Patronus wasn't showing up no matter how many times he tried. "You're dying over there," she said, "You and Sirius...no one's coming."

Harry's face hardened. It had to be wrong. Someone had come, they did. It was how he survived. Before he knew it, before either girl knew it, he had gotten up from their hiding spot and ran forwards.

"Harry, no!" Hermione cried with horror.

Harry ignored her and ran as fast as he could. He brandished his wan forwards and with the biggest scream of his life, he went: "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Silver emanated from his wand to envelope the entire lake. Dementors were thrown back before they disappeared completely.

~ 0 ~

Harry was filled with exhilaration on their ride back to the castle. Buckbeak had them soaring through the sky at amazing speed. "You guys were right! It wasn't my dad I saw earlier. It was... me. I saw myself conjuring the Patronus before. I knew I could do it this time, because...because I'd already done it. Does that make sense?"

"It's a time loop!" Romina laughed. "Wizard's edition! Right, Hermione?"

Hermione wasn't listening to anything right now. Her heart was pounding with the horrific flying and she let out a huge scream when Buckbeak plunged down. They came straight to the cell in which Sirius was being kept in the meantime. Once Hermione was on actual ground, she remembered everything. With confidence, she found a way to release Sirius from the cell.

"Remind me to stay on her good side," Romina whispered to Harry after the cell door went flying with an exploding spell.

From there, they took Sirius away before anyone came. They couldn't risk doing goodbyes there with the impending sentencing. They landed in another part of the castle.

"I'll be forever grateful for this," Sirius said as he helped Hermione get off Buckbeak, "To all three of you," he added, giving Romina a particular look.

She perked up. "Thanks. And...I know it's worth nothing but I'm sorry for, um—" she swallowed hard, "—what my — what Elora and Caplan did to you."

Sirius could see just how much it meant to her to be able to apologize. He acknowledged the apology with a nod first, then smiled. "Thank you, but it wasn't your fault. You don't have to feel guilt about what your family does. Believe me, I know what that's like. You may share the name but that means nothing in comparison to what you do with your life."

Romina softened at his words but after a moment, she wondered what he meant when he said he could understand her. Before she could think of asking, Harry moved up to Sirius.

"I want to go with you," he said.

Sirius expected as much. "One day perhaps. For some time...life will be too... unpredictable. Besides, you're meant to be here." He clapped Harry on the shoulder and bent down enough to be on the same eye-level. "But promise me something, Harry."

"Anything."

"Trust yourself. No matter the challenges you face - and I fear they will be many - you'll be surprised how many times you can find the answers...here." Sirius gave a light tap over Harry's heart, making the boy smile.

The trio watched him make his escape on Buckbeak through the sky. They would've stayed there had they not heard the loud ding of the clock tower.

"We have to go!" Hermione said, jumping into the lead.

It was a whirlwind making it back to where they started: the nightwing. They reached the doors just as Dumbledore was exiting the room.

"Well?" he stared at the trio.

All out of breath, Harry managed to give a response. "He's free—Sirius. We-we did it!"

"Did what?" Dumbledore said innocently as they rushed in so he could lock the doors.

Romina barely held her laughter in when they were finally closed into the room, just barely catching a glimpse of herself, Harry and Hermione disappearing inside. Poor Ron was left wide eyed and terribly confused when the trio walked in.

"How'd you two get over there? I was just talking to you... over there!" He was a stuttering mess which just made them laugh.

"Honestly Ron, how could we be in two places at the same time?" Hermione had the nerve to say, causing a whole new round of laughter amongst them.

Madam Pomfrey strode out of her office demanding what the noise was all about. She was happy that the adults were leaving because, as she said, she was finally allowed to look after her patients.

She sat Romina, Harry and Hermione down and gave them pieces of chocolate to eat. She stood right in front of them making sure they ate all of it. Then, she took Romina to a separate bed and finally got to her hair.

"What in god's name were you doing when this happened?" she gave a light tug at one of the ends of Romina's hair.

Hermione flushed and ate her chocolate with her head down. It didn't help that Ron was also curious because the last time he knew, Romina's hair was still long as ever with brilliant red streaks.

"I, um, accident...in all the mess..." Romina muttered, "But can you fix it?" She looked up hopefully at Madame Pomfrey. "I really don't want people to see me like this. They already talk about me enough. I'll be the laughing stock of everyone."

"Yes, yes, of course I can fix it," Madame Pomfrey patted the girl's shoulder. "But I won't be able to recreate the, uh..." she pointed at one of the strands that still had a bit of shiny red.

"That's okay," Romina said, "I, um, I think I'm done with the ombre style. I just want my old hair back now."

"Well then, that should be no problem at all." Madame Pomfrey headed into her storage cabinets for what she needed.

"I really am sorry," Hermione whispered to Romina.

"You did that to her?" Ron's eyes widened when he heard. "Blimey, what'd she ever do to you?"

"Cut it out, Ron," Romina said promptly. She reached up to the tips of her hair. "I think it's what I needed. Tough love."

"Why did you change it so much anyways?" Ron asked, ignoring the looks from Hermione and Harry.

"Because I was dumb," Romina said with a watery smile. "Because I thought if I changed my hair I would look less like the woman who birthed me."

"Your mum?"

"She's not my mother," Romina retorted with a hard voice. "I do not have parents. I utterly refuse to ever call them my parents ever again."

"That's your choice, Rom, but you're not like them. Not even close," Harry said with a soft smile. "So I think that you should start leaving your hair — and everything else about you — just the way it is. You're Romina. Nothing more, nothing less."

Romina nodded fervently, fully intending on believing it this time. She was more than happy when Madam Pomfrey returned with a potion for her. She did have to confess that she had changed her hair on her own using transfiguration.

"Well, I've never...heard of such a thing," Madam Pomfrey said, "While I'm sure Minerva will be immensely proud to hear this, I don't condone this usage of transfiguration. You are much too young and you could seriously injure yourself if anything goes wrong. You are not to use that again, do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Romina nodded obediently.

"Honestly, you remind me a lot of your uncle," Madame Pomfrey muttered as she got to work.

"Uncle Lyonel?" Romina mused at the idea of his uncle being a troublemaker like her.

"No, no, the other one," Madame Pomfrey said as gave Romina the potion to drink.

"Other one? What other—"

"Drink!"

Romina quickly did as told and drank it all down. It wasn't the most delightful of tastes but if it was what she needed to get her hair back to normal, so be it. In a few minutes, she felt the tips of her hair begin to grow again, to and past her shoulders. After a bit of touch-up from Madame Pomfrey's wand, it was more or less back to the length she had it long ago. Madame Pomfrey offered Romina a mirror so she could see for herself.

"Wow..." Romina gripped the sides of the mirror as she stared at her reflection. "It feels like...like forever since I've been...just me."

"You look wonderful," Hermione said with a wide smile. "And I can help you brush out the knots and we can put this nice tonic that I put on my hair and — we'll just make a whole day out of it!"

Romina suspected it was Hermione's guilt speaking again. She still laughed. "I'd like that."

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 32: The Waiting Game

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

​​​​Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

Book 4:

Romina held her tongue until the moment she got back home. Then, she let it all out. She had a lot of time to digest Rolf's confession on the train ride home and it helped her sort some of her feelings out. The truth of the matter is that she was angry. She was so, so angry.

As soon as she was home, she told her aunt and uncle everything. Needless to say, Sage and Lyonel were in a state of shock. It was clear to Romina that they never expected her to find out, and that just made her even angrier.

"So what, you expected me to live in the dark about this my whole life?" Her dark eyes shifted between the two adults incredulously. "Seriously?"

"I didn't know they had a child," Lyonel said, though it sounded like he was speaking to Sage rather than their expectant niece.

"We never really looked back..." Sage said, meeting Romina's gaze. "Sweetheart, we're sorry—"

"Are you?" Romina cut in sharply. "Because it sounds like you were never going to tell me! It looks like you were intending on lying to me for the rest of my life! How dare you!"

"Romina, watch your tone," warned Lyonel.

"My tone?" Romina was once again incredulous. "Are you kidding me!? You're going to reprimand me about my tone when I just told you that I know that I have a bloody cousin, grandparents, aunts and uncles!? My tone is what worries you right now!?"

"Romina, let's try to calm down," Sage said and moved towards Romina. The girl took the same steps back from her aunt. "Romina, please—"

"NO! According to Rolf and his family, you guys took me away from them! You never told me about them! You didn't let them see me!"

"I had to, Romina! You were in danger!" snapped Lyonel. "After the war, the ministry wasn't exactly giving our family much consideration!"

"But later you could have said something!" Romina argued. "You could have shown me pictures of them! You could have told me about them! It would've made a huge difference in my life knowing that I had another part of a family who weren't evil!"

"I couldn't trust anyone but myself and your aunt and I am not sorry about that!"

"What your uncle means is that we didn't know who we could trust after the war," Sage cut in just as Romina was about to shout again. "A lot of families claimed that they were under the imperius curse and that's why they did whatever the Dark Lord demanded."

"But you knew that Rolf's father wasn't part of that, none of his family was except for my mother!" Romina exclaimed.

"Romina, I couldn't trust anybody. I hardly knew them at that time!" Lyonel said. "Caplan and Elora weren't exactly all for family reunions. They got married without even telling us first!"

"You could have told me," Romina insisted. "Especially when I started Hogwarts."

"We didn't know that Elora's brother had a son," Lyonel repeated, "We don't know anything about them, actually. When we made the decision to leave the wizarding community, we followed through to every extent. We cut off all ties."

"Knowing that one day I would step into it," Romina frowned. "And that's when you should have told me. 'You have grandparents. You have an aunt and an uncle. You have more family'. But you didn't. You let me believe that the only family I had were Death Eater parents. You thought that would be the best for me. To let me wallow with that burden. You have no idea what it's done to me. This whole year—" she swallowed hard, pushing down the tears she felt stinging in her eyes. "This whole year, I've had the worst thoughts about myself."

"Romina...you should have told us," Sage said with a lamenting sigh. "I knew something was wrong...you can always tell us if there's something wrong."

"Like you guys did?" Romina crossed her arms. "You didn't even bother telling them about me — how I was doing, where I was. They didn't know about me until I started Hogwarts and Rolf told them! My grandparents — they've been writing to Dumbledore about me, asking about me! It sounds like they actually want me and...I think I want to see them too."

"What?" Lyonel looked like he had heard the craziest thing in the world. It just made Romina more adamant about her idea.

"I want to meet them. I want to meet my grandmother, my grandfather...I want to see them."

"Absolutely not!" Lyonel started shaking his head. "That's not happening!"

"Lyonel—"

"And why not!?" Romina went over her aunt's voice, glaring at her uncle.

"Because I said so!"

"Oh!" Romina brought a hand to her chest. "As long as it's bloody fair!"

"I said to watch your voice—"

"I DON'T WANT TO!" Romina screamed. "I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO MEET THE ONLY FAMILY I HAVE LEFT!"

"ROMINA—"

Romina didn't stick around to hear more as she ran towards the stairs, leaving her uncle to call after her. She did not come back down for days. Sage would try to coax her out for meals and resorted to just leaving the food outside her door.

The more that Romina thought about the situation, the stronger she felt about her decision. She had every right to meet her family, at least to ask the questions burning in her mind. How could they not allow something she had a right to? So, in the next days, she thought about her options. And she came up with a simple one, albeit a little out there.

Rolf,

I'm not going to lie, I didn't really see myself writing to you this early into break. It's been hard deciding if I'm upset or not with you, but I'm starting to look at the bigger picture here. I told my aunt and uncle about you, and what you told me. They weren't happy, unsurprisingly. My uncle is taking it the worst. He especially hated when I told him that I wanted to meet our grandparents. He's really against it.

If you were serious about, well, being cousins...help me out here. I truthfully don't know what I'm going to do if I get face to face with our grandparents but I feel like I at least deserve the opportunity to be there. I want to see them.

Romina.

Romina was nerve wrecked for the following days waiting for Rolf's response. She started wondering if she made a mistake writing to him. What if she'd pissed him off the last time they talked? Luckily, her thoughts didn't get too far from her because Rolf wrote back.

Dear Romina,

I hope you don't get mad but I told my parents about this. I think they're talking about it with grandma and grandpa right now. They told me to stay in my room. Don't worry, they'll figure it out. It's different now that you want to come. I think before they left all this alone because they didn't want to overwhelm you. Aren't they lucky I'm around?

Romina had actually laughed at that part. It almost felt like nothing had changed between them and they were just friends again. Your cousins, she soon remembered. Only now it didn't feel as shocking as it had before. Now she felt glee realizing there was someone else she could talk to, and someone her own age!

Just hang tight, Romina. We'll make this work, I promise. Keep writing to me and I'll do my best from over here. Or just write for the sake of writing too. I'd like to get to know you more, if that's alright. I know your birthday's coming around in July! Mine's in March! Guess that makes me older than you!

- Rolf

Romina found solace in his letter. If he could be lighthearted and funny, then maybe things weren't all that bad. She didn't have to be so bitter because at the end of the day, she had a cousin and nobody could take that away from her. She would just have to get smarter about getting to meet the rest of her family.

~ 0 ~

Later that afternoon, Arden was in Romina's bedroom listening to everything that had happened since they returned from school. Arden was shocked that she had found out just now. She was impressed that Romina managed to keep it all under wraps.

"Seems like this year you became an expert at hiding your emotions," she gave Romina a sharp glance. "No more of that, alright?"

Romina waved her off with a dismissive hand. "Just focus! I've been trying to come up with a way to meet my grandparents. I have so many questions and they're the only one who can answer. Merlin knows aunt Sage and uncle Lyonel are very tight lipped about the families."

"Okay, so how are we going to do that?"

"We?"

"Well, you don't think you're going to do it alone, are you? Sign me up!" Arden exclaimed. Romina chuckled. "Bet we can get Harry to help us too! Does he know?"

Romina shook her head. "You're the first I've told. Well, there was also Draco but he just happened to be there."

"And he hasn't said anything yet?" Arden snorted. "Did you have to pay him millions for that?"

"No, I just asked him not to say anything until I was ready."

"Seriously?" Arden said, unconvinced. "Must have caught him on a good day then. I didn't even know he could have those."

Romina laughed. "Okay, back to the point here. I gotta meet them, Arden. I have so many things I want to ask..."

"I bet you do," Arden mused on the list Romina probably had somewhere with questions. "Well hey, why don't we see if Harry can come with us to the parlor and we can talk about all this stuff. Maybe he'll have some ideas."

Romina liked the idea. She hadn't been out since the first day they got back from Hogwarts. As far as she knew, her going out privileges hadn't been revoked and her uncle was working. Aunt Sage was softer and was trying to be the mediator between the two. So, the girls left the room and hurried down the stairs.

"Where are you headed?" Sage called from the kitchen as they crossed the living room.

"To the parlor with Harry!" Romina promptly said. "I can go there, right?"

Arden blinked at the sudden edge in Romina's tone. Even more surprising was that Sage didn't say anything about it. They were out of the house in less than a minute.

"Wow, thought you'd be grounded for sure there!" Arden said as they headed to Harry's.

"Aunt Sage is trying to keep the peace and it's frankly annoying," Romina admitted. "I wish she would just step in already and help out. She knows as much as I do that I should get to meet my other family."

They soon arrived at the Dursley residence and knocked on the front door. Dudley opened up and at the sight of the girls, he whimpered and shut the door on them.

"Uh, okay?" Arden raised an eyebrow at the closed door. "What the hell was that about?"

Romina snickered. She'd forgotten that Sirius had encouraged Harry to use his identity to scare the Dursleys into giving him more freedom and treating him better. Clearly, Harry had taken Sirius' word. She wished she could tell Arden about it but nobody was supposed to know the truth about Sirius Black, at least for the time being.

After knocking a few more times, Harry opened the door next. "Hey Rom!" he greeted. "Hey Arden! What's going on?"

"We were heading to the parlor, wanna come?" Romina said. "Or do you gotta ask for permission?"

"Nope!" Harry said with a pleasant grin. "Let's go!" He stepped out and shut the door without telling the Dursleys anything.

"What had Dudley in such a twist?" Arden asked once they were heading down the block. "He didn't even insult us today. Is he alright?"

"Ooh, he's doing just fine," Harry's grin grew wider as he glanced at Romina.

They reached the parlor soon enough and got their usual orders after greeting the owners. Since they were gone for most of the year, they only really came to the parlor during summer. Once they were sitting together, Romina told Harry about Rolf and the Scamanders.

"Woah, Rom, that's...that's big..." Harry felt bad not having something better to say. Luckily, Romina didn't seem to mind as she just nodded and agreed with him.

She glumly stuck her spoon into her ice cream. "And so, I'm stuck waiting to see if uncle Lyonel will realize that I have every right to meet my other family."

Like Arden, Harry was sure that Lyonel eventually would. "If they went to the extent of keeping you away from the wizarding society for your own good, they'll realize that meeting your family is also for your own good. Especially if what you said about them being war heroes was true."

"I really wish I had that much faith like you two," Romina said with a heavy sigh. "This year has been challenging enough."

Arden snorted. "I'll say. Sometimes, I wish I was just in a regular school. I mean at least there, I could avoid Pansy Parkinson and her jabs."

"Don't ever let Parkinson make you wish you weren't a witch," Romina promptly said. "Plus, not everyone's bad."

Arden shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

Harry smiled at the pair. "You come over to the Gryffindor tower whenever you're that bothered, Arden."

"Oh, wouldn't that be nice," she mused. "But I don't think anybody would want me there. They barely want Romina in there and you guys love her."

"It's the prejudices they have against Slytherins," Romina sighed, very much tired of those prejudices.

"I mean, Rom, a lot of them have pretty much earned that," Harry remarked.

"A handful, Harry," Romina corrected. "I have met many people who are just there to study."

"Yeah," Arden said, "Just because you and Draco have an arch enemy relationship doesn't mean we're all the same."

Harry raised a hand to stop her from talking again. "Like you and Parkinson, I would like to avoid any conversation where Malfoy's mentioned."

Arden laughed. "Fair enough."

Romina shook her head at them both. She ate more of her ice cream, getting several brain freezes in the process, until she realized she had just stress-ate it all.

"Boy, I would not want to see you with some Fire Whiskey," Arden said when Romina pushed her ice cream glass to the side.

"Rom," Harry reached over the table for Romina's hand, "It's going to work out. I know it will."

Romina managed to smile. If Harry, who had gone through so much crap, believed in it then maybe she should too. "Thanks," she said and he patted her hand. "Since I've been locked in my room this whole — my choice, by the way —" she added as Harry gave her a look, "I started digging around the Scamander name. They seem pretty cool. They weren't kidding about being war heroes. They fought in some war before You-Know-Who's time. And they fought alongside Dumbledore."

"Wait, so he knew about your family too?" Harry blinked a few times.

"And he didn't say anything either," Romina said bitterly. "But anyways, my grandfather wrote one of our textbooks 'Fantastic Beasts and where to Find them'."

"No way—he wrote that!?" Harry paused just as he was about to have another spoonful of ice cream. Romina nodded proudly. "And Rolf never bragged about that? Wow, he really is one of the good ones."

Romina rolled her eyes at him. ""My grandmother started a fashion designing company—The Gejéls? My aunt is also part of it."

"Oooh!" Arden beamed at the idea. "Hot couture?"

Romina laughed. "Wizard's edition."

"Gotta say, that name sounds familiar, though..." But Arden couldn't quite put her finger on it yet. Romina, however, had figured it out a while ago.

"It's because that's Daphne favorite brand of robes."

"Ooooh, you're right!" Arden snapped her fingers. Daphne had countless magazines about the brand and she always boasted that it was the only brand she ever bought. "It's French! Hey, you're French, Romina."

"Half, but yeah," Romina nodded. "I've been digging through more and it's amazing, really. Rolf's dad is part of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures department."

"Ooh, was he in on the execution of Buckbeak, then?" Arden said.

"Almost execution," Harry was happy to remind them.

"Right," Arden thanked him for the reminder. "Lucky guy!"

"Mhm..." Harry started eating his ice cream again, exchanging a brief glance with Romina who was busy smirking.

They continued to eat their ice cream until they were all done. In the meantime, they tried helping Romina out with her problems but a lot of them involved them having her go back to her aunt and uncle to talk again. Romina didn't feel sure enough of herself to have a conversation without yelling again. At the very least, Harry suggested that she write directly to her grandparents asking for help. Romina said she would think about that.

The sun was setting when they started heading back home. Harry had started talking about some plans that Ron was making for the summer.

"Ron's mentioned that the Quidditch World Cup is this year. He's inviting us to go. Think it should be interesting."

"The what?" Arden raised an eyebrow at him. Harry shrugged. Like her, he still had some things to learn about the wizarding world.

"It's like their version of the FIFA cup," Romina explained, surprising them with her knowledge. "Unlike you two, I did have some knowledge of the wizarding world, alright? It's a huge Quidditch game."

"Oh, sounds boring," Arden promptly said then glanced at Harry skeptically. "You think the Dursleys would even let you go to that?"

"Oh, I think they will," Harry said, sharing a knowing smile with Romina.

"I'm sure you'll have fun," Romina told him. "I don't know if my uncle would let me step out of the house right now."

"It's next month, who knows how things will be by then!" Harry said, bumping shoulders with her. "C'mon, Hermione said she would go. And Ginny's going too. It won't be just us boys."

Romina shrugged. It was a possibility.

"Arden, you sure you don't want to come?" Harry soon asked the brunette girl.

Arden scrunched her face. "Eh, to be honest, the only reason I watch Quidditch games is to just follow the school spirit, you know? I think this summer I'm going to focus on my violin lessons."

"Can you ask Ms. Vallow if she still has any open spots for the summer session?" Romina startled Arden with the question.

"What? Seriously?" Arden gaped. "You want to do violin lessons again?"

Romina nodded sheepishly. "I figure I might as well try to do some of that normal stuff to help me, you know, get better?"

Arden beamed. She promised Romina that she would do everything in her power to get an open spot for her. She almost lost it when Romina suggested maybe they look up a few dance classes. It was led by the same teacher.

They parted ways in front of the girls' homes and when Romina stepped inside her house, she was surprised to find her uncle home. He usually worked late. Sage was also with him in the living room. It looked like they were waiting for her.

"I told aunt Sage where I was going," Romina said as she closed the door behind her.

"You're not in trouble, dear," Sage said and motioned Romina to join them.

"Really? Cos it kind of feels like it..." she mumbled. While her aunt and uncle sat on the long couch, she took the lone couch chair.

"Romina, I want you to be perfectly honest with us here," Lyonel said, his voice implying that there would be no chance if she were to fail and lie, "Have you been writing to Abigail and Newt?"

"What?" Romina blinked a few times until the names struck. "My grandparents? No, I haven't, why?" Lyonel held a piece of parchment out to Romina. Confused, she reached over for it and saw it was a letter.

Bonjour Lyonel and Sage Oswell,

I know it has been many years since we last saw each other but I believe this is very important. We have been informed that our granddaughter Romina has expressed interest in meeting us. You can understand that this changes everything. Romina was a baby the last time we discussed this but now it is neither up to you nor us. She is the one who gets to decide and if you do not abide by her decision, I will be forced to seek legal assistance with the Ministry.

Please do not misunderstand, I know you have taken very good care of my granddaughter and I understand why it was that you took her, but now she is ready to know more about her family. She deserves to know more of the truth. Do not deny her please. Romina would be safe while she visited, and you are more than welcome to accompany her. We do not seek to take her away from you but rather we would like the same privilege you have had having her in your life.

Please, let's discuss,

Abigail Scamander

Romina couldn't find her breath for a moment after reading the letter. She went over the letter twice more, appreciating her grandmother's handwriting. It was so elegant, so...French. And she was writing on her behalf.

When Romina looked up at Lyonel and Sage, she realized they were waiting for her confession. "What — I didn't write to them!" She tossed the letter back at them and crossed her arms.

"Did you write to anyone else, sweetheart?" Sage said. Romina felt bad watching her have to pick up the letter she threw.

"Well..." she sighed, "Yeah, I wrote to Rolf."

Lyonel groaned. "I knew it—!"

"I just told him what was going on!" Romina exclaimed and frowned. "And you shouldn't get mad. I'm not asking for something impossible! You heard my grandmother, I have every right to meet them!"

"Oh for God's sake, you don't even know her!"

Romina slammed her hands on the couch armrests as she jumped from her seat. "Because you never told me about them! I don't understand how you can be angry that I want to meet part of my family!? Like — I just don't get it! What do you intend? For me to stay alone or what?"

"Romina, we just...we don't want you to get hurt..." Sage said, glancing at her husband for some help, "We have done everything we can to keep you—"

"Shielded," Romina finished for her. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret: it hasn't worked. This whole past year, I have spent it trying to look anything but Elora and Caplan. I learned how to do transfiguration on my hair just to make myself look different!"

"You did what!?" Lyonel gaped and, like her, had jumped up from the couch.

"Because I hate where I come from, alright!? And now I have the opportunity to meet people like you" — Romina gestured at them — "who are everything that my bloody parents aren't! Please don't take that from me!" She ran into Lyonel and threw her arms around him, begging him to let her go. "Please, I just want to meet them! Just for a day, please!"

Lyonel and Sage looked at each other while Romina continued to beg. In the end, hearing her almost breaking down got the best of them...and their guilt. They did what they did for her, to protect her. Everything they did in the past had always been in the name of protecting their niece. But it seemed like today, they were the ones hurting her.

"I suppose maybe we could..." Lyonel trailed off as he met Sage's gaze again. She was nodding at him. It was the right thing to do. So, with a big breath, Lyonel finally agreed to get in contact with the Scamanders.

Romina immediately pulled away from her uncle to look up at him, her eyes wide as could be. "You mean it?" Lyonel nodded, and when Romina looked over at her aunt, so was she. "I'll-I'll get to see them? I can visit them?"

"We'd have to arrange it but...I guess so," Lyonel said, "If it's what you really want—"

"Yes, yes!" Romina exclaimed. "It's definitely what I want! Yes! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She hugged him excitedly and then reached for her aunt to pull her into the hug. "Thank you so much!"

A/N:

Book 4 is where all the real fun and drama start and these coming chapters are one of my favorites. I loved, loved, fantastic beasts and I'm still so bitter that the movie series was cancelled.

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 36: Worldwide Mayhem

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog  @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

​​​​Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know

Romina wasn't ashamed to say that she liked the act of revenge...but she also hated karma. Because karma now made it so that instead of getting letters from Draco constantly begging her to change her mind about their bet, he was now sending her letters of him boasting about his triumph over her. She owed him a favor and he was making sure that she remembered. Romina hated his guts and wished she could see him again just to smack him. She didn't stay silent, no way. She responded to each of his letters with her own comebacks and promises that she would get him back for all this mess.

Arden saw some of those letters one afternoon in Romina's bedroom. Romina was going around packing a few things in a suitcase while Arden laid on the former's bed reading the letters like they were hers.

"You guys are so competitive, truly not well for your health," she remarked.

Romina scoffed. "Stop reading those, they're not yours."

"Au contraire, mon cheri," Arden said, raising her head for a moment to flash a smirk at Romina. "Like my French?" Romina rolled her eyes and returned to her closet.

Figured I should learn some since you're French now."

"Technically speaking, I've always been French, I just didn't know about it. Now would you please put those letters away? If aunt Sage or uncle Lyonel see them, they'll find out about everything."

Arden figured Romina was right and folded the letters again. "So what have you been telling them since these letters started showing up so often now?" She slid the envelopes underneath Romina's pillows.

"Nothing specific. Lots of people write to me so it's not like they suspect anything." Romina came back to the suitcase on the foot of her bed and slipped in another pair of jeans. "The only owl they recognize are my grandparents', Rolf's and the Weasley's."

"Ooh, better for us, I guess. We'd be dead if they figured out what we made Draco do. But I guess the punishment came with it, huh?" Arden let out a dramatic sigh. "We can never tell anyone about it. Harry would've loved it."

Romina nodded but, unlike Arden, she wasn't that sad they couldn't tell Harry about it. Harry would have had a field day with the idea of Draco being forced to spend an hour in the muggle world. It was just best to keep the animosity between him and Draco as low as possible.

"So, when are you leaving then?" Arden said as she peeked inside Romina's suitcase. "Are you and Harry going together to Ron's?"

"Er, no," Romina gave a shake of her head. She left her packing and walked over to her window that gave a view into the street. She couldn't of course get a good sight of Harry's house but she still tried. "Ron's dad is coming to pick him up at the Dursleys'."

"What?" Arden made a face, confused. "Why?"

"Well, the Dursleys are already on the fence about all the magic stuff so aunt Sage and aunt Lyonel want to stay out of it. Better for me to quietly make my way to the Weasleys'."

"Guess that makes sense," shrugged Arden.

"So I'll be leaving tomorrow morning instead, stay with them for a few days and then come back home. Harry'll stay at the Burrow until school starts again."

"Oh, good for him," Arden nodded. "Make sure to tell me how it goes then."

"Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"Nah! Just have fun and definitely stay away from Pansy Parkinson if you see her."

Romina laughed.

~ 0 ~

It was too early. Way too damn early.

Why'd I even say I was coming? The same thoughts ran through Romina's head while she mindlessly ate her breakfast at the crack of dawn. You don't even like Quidditch that much! Why'd you say you were coming? She barely registered aunt Sage telling her to be on her best behavior before she was shuffled into the fireplace. It was just so early.

Yawning and with her eyes half shut, she stepped into the Weasley's overwhelming living room and right into another mess of people being woken up and yelled at by Mrs. Weasley. Apparently, a lot of the others were thinking like her in that it was too early to be doing anything. It also sounded like the twins were already up to something.

When Mrs. Weasley saw Romina standing in front of the fireplace half asleep, she greeted the girl with a tight hug and guided her to the kitchen where the others were.

"When'd you get here!?" Harry said excitedly.

"Uuh, couple...minutes ago..." Romina yawned and languidly sat down in an empty chair. "Remind me again why we have to be awake so early? I hate you for making me come."

Across the table, the twins scoffed and reminded her that she'd chosen to come.

"Shut up," Romina then said and thanked Mr. Weasley, who sat at the head of the table, for inviting her over. "I just don't like mornings...or dawn..." She said after, making the adults chuckle.

Since she had already eaten breakfast, she got to lay her head on the table and take a short nap while the others finished. She was rudely awoken when Mrs. Weasley started yelling at the twins again about some things she pulled out of them with her wand.

"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted indignantly as the little things, which looked a lot like candy to Romina, went flying straight into the trash bin.

"Oh a fine way to spend six months!" Mrs. Weasley snapped. "No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!"

"I'm confused, what were those?" Romina said, standing up as the others were doing the same around the table.

"We'll tell you later," Hermione said as she quickly pulled Romina with her.

They grabbed their rucksacks and headed out. Romina tugged her sweater closer around her because the air was still ever so cold. They had just made it over the crest of a hill when someone called for Mr. Weasley.

"Arthur! It's about time, son!"

"Amos!" Mr. Weasley greeted as he led the group towards another man waving at them. "This is Amos Diggory, everyone. He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric, right?"

"Hi," Cedric greeted them all with a kind smile. His eyes landed on Romina specifically, to which the girl smiled right back. She still remembered his kind words about her from the last time they'd spoken. Unlike the rest of the school, he didn't look at her name, just her.

"Long walk, Arthur?" Mr. Diggory asked as Mr. Weasley.

"Not too bad," said Mr. Weasley. "We live just on the other side of the village there. You?"

"Had to get up at two, didn't we, Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparition test. Still . . . not complaining . . . Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons — and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy. . . ." Mr. Diggory took a look at the crowd of teenagers around Mr. Weasley. "All these yours, Arthur?"

"Oh no, only the redheads," said Mr. Weasley, pointing out his children. "This is Hermione and Romina, friends of Ron's — and Harry, another friend—"

"Merlin's beard," Mr. Diggory's eyes widened as they landed on the brunette in question. "Harry? Harry Potter?"

"Er — yeah," said Harry, shifting on his feet. Oh, how he adored being the center of everyone's attention...

"Ced's talked about you, of course. Told us all about playing against you last year. . . . I said to him, I said — Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will. ... You beat Harry Potter!"

"Harry fell off his broom, Dad," said Cedric, who looked slightly embarrassed. "I told you...it was an accident..."

"Yes, but you didn't fall off, did you? Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman . . . but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to tell which one's the better flier!"

Cedric looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here right now.

"Think we should keep going or something," Romina cut into the conversation and tapped a finger against her non-existing watch on her wrist. It prompted the two grown men to keep leading them towards the portkey.

"Life saver," Cedric mumbled to her as he walked alongside her.

"You're welcome. You can pay me back later," she chuckled.

They eventually came to the spot of the portkey, which turned out to be an old boot.

"You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do—" Mr. Weasley started explaining to them as they gathered around it.

Even then, with all the focus in the world, their landings were less than graceful. A full cake of grass met most of their faces. But, at last, they were a massive field that stretched God knew how long. Tents by the thousands were already standing in place.

"You alright?" Cedric, who had landed on the ground perfectly like his father and Mr. Weasley, held a hand out to Romina on the ground.

"Oh yeah, no way better to start the day than with a face full of dirt..." Romina grabbed Cedric's hand and was promptly pulled up to her feet. "Does wonders for my skin. Muggles pay for that, you know."

Cedric chuckled. "No they don't."

"Yes, they do. It's called a mud mask."

Their conversation was cut short as they were once again shuffled towards some way by the adults. As they reached some cottage, the Diggorys parted ways with them. It was then that Hermione and Ginny came to flank Romina.

"Uuh, when and how did you manage to pull that?" Ginny's voice was sharp with curiosity as they watched the Diggorys' figures disappear in the distance.

"Excuse you, he's like 4 years older than you," Romina snorted. "Down, Ginny." The redhead rolled her eyes. "And it's not like that. Cedric's very nice and he was still like that while almost everyone else was making fun of me for my name."

"Yeah, but I bet it's always a pleasure to spend time with a guy like that," Hermione smirked. "You were walking very close to each other, and the whole time too!"

Romina rolled her eyes. "You couldn't be more wrong. He's cute but that's about it."

"Oh please," they heard one of the twins scoff up ahead.

"Don't start," Ginny warned them, "You're just mad that Cedric beat Harry in that Quidditch game at school."

"It wasn't a clear win and everybody knows it!" George said with a huff.

"Well, as long as you're not bitter about it," Romina muttered.

After meeting with some poor obliviated Muggle by the name of Mr. Roberts, they were set to find their rented tent in the fields. Everyone who was already there was clearly in the party mood. Music played loudly in the air, people flew back and forth above them on brooms, and there was a strong scent of various foods being prepared.

The inside of their tent turned out to be far bigger than what it appeared on the outside. It was a splash of color everywhere, almost like the entire rainbow had thrown up inside. Mismatched furniture adorned the area but it all looked incredibly comfortable.

"Girls. Choose a bunk and unpack," Mr. Weasley instructed them. "Ron, get out of the kitchen we're all hungry!"

The twins had made themselves comfortable at the kitchen table, feet propped up and arms behind their heads. "Yeah get out of the kitchen Ron!" They chorused together.

Mr. Weasley walked past them, motioning to their feet. "Feet off the table!"

"Feet off the table!" They repeated, pulling their feet off until their father left.

"I love magic," Harry remarked with a light chuckle.

"Harry!" Ron called as he made his way to the other side of the tent. "You can sleep over here!"

Harry nodded and made his way to the bunk to unpack what he had brought. From their spot, he and Ron could hear the endless giggles of the girls not too far from them.

"Listen to them," Ron said, crinkling his nose, "Bet they're going on about Diggory."

"Sheesh, Ron, didn't know you could be that jealous..." Romina had come out of their side to smirk at the ginger.

"It's not jealousy, it's annoyance," said Ron in a mutter.

"Don't know about what since Cedric's literally never done anything to you. Is there any dinner yet? I'm starving!" And with that, Romina headed into the kitchen.

In the next half hour, the rest of them came to join for some makeshift dinner. It was there that they decided to nitpick the latest news they had discovered, which, unfortunately, meant Romina had to answer a lot more questions about her new family.

"So does this mean you're going to get snooty now that you have more class, Aline?" Fred asked and before Romina knew it,George was at her side, feigning a dramatic bow.

Romina sighed heavily. "Knock it off!" She shoved George away from her and ignored their collective laugh."Shut it, both of you," Ginny told the twins and ordered them to sit down already.

"In reality, we're very happy for you, Romina," Hermione smiled at the girl. "It must be wonderful to have more family. You even have cousins now!"

"Yeah, Rolf is really great," Romina nodded. "I'm excited for this year. We get to see each other all the time and we might even make plans to visit each other at our homes. Rolf wants to see the neighborhood."

"Just keep him away from our block," warned Harry. "Dudley's a menace."

"Yeah, well, I'm a bigger one," Romina said promptly and with a wide smirk. "Besides, maybe with a little help from two certain entrepreneurs, I might get my hands on some enlargement toffees or something...?"

The twins smirked on the spot and declared that it would be their pleasure to assist her in any future plans she had.

~ 0 ~

Many things had happened by the next day's morning. For one, they had all met Ludo Bagman, aka the man who had given Mr. Weasley the extra tickets that allowed them to come. He wasn't very impressive, at least not to the girls who thought it was a waste of time placing bets and all on the outcome of the game. Since the twins had placed almost, if not all, their winnings, they promptly told the girls to mind their business. Ron's older brothers had come to join them by lunchtime. Bill and Charlie were very much cool and fascinating to the teenagers, save for Percy of course. He was still a stickler as ever.

They had also met Barty Crouch, Percy's boss. Harry had quietly made the joke to the others that Mr. Crouch looked like his uncle Vernon in the suit he was in. Before Percy could get at any of them, Mr. Crouch had called him forward, albeit by the name of Weatherby, which then made all of them, but no one more than the twins, cackle.

Once it was finally time to go, the group got themselves ready and headed out. Every other wizard on site was heading in the same direction, making an absolute chaos. The closer they got to the stadium, the more excitement could be felt in the air. Wizards were laughing, joking, and cheering all around.

Romina was momentarily drawn to the pretty lights in the air that, if anyone asked her, resembled a lot like the twins' fireworks they had talked about earlier. She wondered if they had managed to sneak those in from home. In her distraction, she'd been bumped into by several of the other guests.

"Eughl, watch it!" she scowled at the rude group of teenage girls who, as pretty as they were, seemed like the biggest bunch of—

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?"

Romina recognized the voice before she turned around. She couldn't miss the bright blonde hair hair in the midst of the crowd. "Hey," she greeted Draco with a deadpanning look.

"Lost, Oswell?"

"I know exactly where I am, thank you very much. I'm at the World Cup, aren't I?"

Draco rolled his eyes but he still had a cocky little smile on his face. "I see we're still a little, uh, pressed about that thing that happened?"

"No, I'm totally fine. I was actually heading up with my friends—"

"What a coincidence, so was I," Draco said and a few seconds later, Romina heard someone else through the crowd.

"Malfoy, what the fuck? You left me behind and for what?" Theodore Nott was quite literally pushing his way through the crowd until he spotted Draco and Romina. "Oh, Oswell, what a surprise."

"Hi," Romina gave him a weak wave. She hadn't seen him at all through break but like the rest of the boys, he'd also grown several inches over the break. "Am I to expect Blaise and Angel too?"

"Nah, Angel's gone for Brazil and Blaise couldn't come," said Theodore. "Our families were invited by Cornelius Fudge," he gestured between himself and Draco.

"Congrats?" Romina said questioningly.

"Don't be sarcastic now, I'm not your enemy," Theodore said with a smug smirk.

Romina figured Draco must have already told everyone by know about their second bet.

"But trust me, I'm your biggest fan," Theodore said, bringing a hand over his chest. "Getting Malfoy over here to actually go to your muggle neighborhood was gold. Truly never letting that go."

And just like that, Romina liked Theodore again. "Well, it was one of my finest moments..."

Draco glared at them both. "Shut it," he ordered them. "Before my parents hear—"

But just like before, Romina couldn't not spot the same bright blondes in the crowd growing closer. "If you want things to stay quiet I suggest you stop talking," she told Draco quickly before his parents caught up with them. It wasn't just them, though. Romina spotted another man walking with them — tall and with a familiar complexion. It had to be Theodore's father.

"There you are," a woman whom Romina presumed was Draco's mother said to him and Theodore. "You got too far ahead."

"Sorry mother, we just saw a friend of ours," Draco said and motioned to Romina who, for some reason, was flushing. He gave her an odd look for it but didn't point it out.

"Hello," Romina greeted the woman, and the rest of the adults for that matter. "Romina Oswell, nice to meet you, ma'am." Her eyes flickered to Theodore's father and gave him an acknowledging nod.

"Yes, we've of course heard of you," Draco's mother smiled politely at the girl. "Narcissa Malfoy, my husband Lucius and our good friend Mr. Theodore Nott."

Romina's eyebrows raised at young Theodore and just as her lips quirked upwards, she felt the subtle nudge of Draco's elbow beside her. Better not make a comment, she reminded herself. At least not until we're alone. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Nice to see you again as well," said Mr. Malfoy, with a strange smile. "I heard you're associating yourself with a new family? We didn't know you were part of the Scamander family."

"Truthfully, neither did I," Romina said nervously. She wondered exactly how far this news was reaching.

"Well, a word of advice, I would be careful where you shop," Mr. Malfoy's strange smile grew wider. "The Scamander family is renowned for its heroic acts. Unfortunately, I don't believe they would be as understanding as we are."

"Definitely not," agreed Mr. Nott. "It's about agility, Miss Oswell. Something you have yet to master."

Romina couldn't help but gulp. She looked at Draco accusingly.

Mrs. Malfoy suggested they start heading up towards the stairs with the rest of the crowd. While the adults took the lead, the teenagers lingered a few feet behind them.

Romina could only wait so long before she threw her accusations out loud. "You git—you told?"

"Don't look at me Oswell," Draco was quick to say. "I didn't know you decided to make conversation with the actual owners of Borgin and Burkes! Who does that?"

Romina pursed her lips. That may have not been her best idea, she could see that now. "But you didn't have to tell!"

"I didn't!"

"Nobody had to," Theodore said, making Romina's head flip in his direction. "Our parents do trade with the owner. He's a chatty old man."

"So he's blabbing that I went in!?"

"Well, it's not like any of your crew ever go in there, right? Nobody's ever gonna know."

"Yeah, lighten up, Oswell," said Draco. "Everyone upheld their end of the deal. Enjoy the game already. Even from where you're probably gonna watch it. You know you could've just asked, right?"

Romina didn't care much for his smirk and picked up her pace. "I've actually got a great seat. And I should catch up; I've wasted enough of my time with the likes of you." With a huff and her nose in the air, she walked faster up ahead until she was lost in the crowd.

"Does she even know where she's going?" asked Theodore curiously. "I doubt she's ever been to something like this."

Draco shrugged. "Let her get lost."

"Oh, please," scoffed Theodore, "I'm sure there'll be somebody more than willing to help her find her way again." At Draco's questioning glance, Theodore just shrugged. "She looks different, don't you think?"

"I think she looks the bloody same," Draco said flatly. "Definitely the same type of annoying."

"Well, I think Angel would agree with me," Theodore said with a knowing laugh.

Draco did not laugh, nor did he say anything else on the matter.

~ 0 ~

When Romina caught up with the rest of her friends, they were already sitting down on the first row of the top box. Mr. Weasley expressed his concern for her lack of prescence when they had first arrived, and she apologized for getting distracted.

"Please just make sure to stick with one of us, alright?" he made her promise that she would for future moments.

She scooted towards the end where Harry, Hermione and Ron were. They were as concerned as Mr. Weasley had been, curious of where she'd gotten to. Romina glossed over it and soon noticed that there was another house elf sitting at the top of the box with her hands covering her face. It sure helped move things along because Hermione started raging again about how insensitive it was to force a house elf afraid of heights to sit on the highest box in the stadium. Winky, was the elf's name, and she was adamant that she was a good elf who followed orders, unlike one Dobby who, apparently, was demanding he be paid for his service. Romina thought it was funny but didn't dare say it out loud in front of Hermione.

The box was nearly filled, amongst them with the Minister of Magic himself Cornelius Fudge, and the Bulgarian minister as well (who didn't speak English). Romina soon saw problems when the Malfoys and Notts arrived at the same box. It seemed like Fudge was oblivious to the tension between Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy as he addressed them both in casual greetings.

It was a tense stand-off between them as Fudge showed them to their seats which, of course, happened to be behind theirs. Romina looked over her shoulder as both Draco and Theodore sat down behind her.

"This is going to be a long night," she murmured.

"I'll say, your big head's in the way," she heard Theodore remark behind her, followed by the distinctive sound of Draco snickering.

She shot them both a contemptuous look then flipped her head again to face the field. She felt Hermione's hand come over hers on her lap; she was offering Romina a kind smile. It definitely helped.

The game started promptly with Ludo Bagman's arrival. The whole stadium erupted at his introduction, making it a colorful array of flags throughout the whole place. ""And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce . . . the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

"I wonder what they've brought," Mr. Weasley wondered curiously and leaned forward in his seat. "Aaah!" He suddenly pulled off his glasses and gave them a good polish with his robes. "Veela!"

At his exclaim, the teenagers saw what seemed like a hundred of these "veela" glide out into the field. Most of them had never seen "veela" before but they turned out to be very pretty women with white-gold hair and shining skin. A sweet melody started playing with their entrance.

"Woah, what the fuck are you doing, Harry Potter?" Romina didn't hesitate to rip the brunette away from the wall of the box and right back into his seat. He seemed to be transfixed by the sight of the dancing veela.

"They're so pretty Rom..." He said much too eagerly.

Romina exchanged glances with Hermione and Ginny who seemed about the only ones out of their group not to be losing their minds. Ron looked ready to make a dive into the field as well. The twins had the same stupid dreamy grins on their faces. Romina looked back at Draco and Theodore and saw them leaned forward with similar dazed faces.

"Honestly!" Hermione shook her head at them all.

Romina decided to flip her hair over her shoulders in such a dramatic way that it slapped both Draco and Theodore in their faces. "Oops!"

"What was that for?" Theodore leaned back in his seat with the biggest scowl on his face.

"Oswell being dramatic, I'm sure," Draco said and matched Romina's glare with his own. "We were having a good time, you know."

"Oh, we know," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Idiots, all of you," she murmured and fixed herself in her seat. She was very glad when the veela left the field.

"And now, kindly put your wands in the air . . . for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

Fortunately, the Irish did not have any Veela as part of their introductions. They had lovely green and gold comets zooming around the stadium that hurtled towards the goal posts. A rainbow appared to connect them and soon disappeared, leaving a great shimmering shamrock in the sky.

"Excellent!" Ron cried as the shamrock rained gold coins down on them.

The closer the shamrock was to them, the more clearly they could see that it was actually comprised of leprechauns. Everyone around the stadium scrambled to pick up the golden coins being left behind, including Ron who gave Harry a fistful of them and cried about a christmas present or something.

"Here Oswell," Draco dropped some of the coins over Romina's shoulder. "Maybe you could buy yourself one of those little dried fruits you like so much. Or maybe you could buy one for your Weasley group. They might need it more."

Romina grabbed the coin and tossed it over her shoulder, hitting him in the face with it. She could hear Harry and Ron snickering beside her. "I think I only need one coin to make 'em laugh, so thanks. Theodore, you want one too?"

"I'm good, thanks," said Theodore with his hands in front of him.

"Smart." Romina then held up another coin for Draco to see and raised an eyebrow, silently asking if he wanted another one to his face.

His response was a deep glare.

Ludo started introducing the Bulgarian team now. Ron was very happy about his favorite player, Viktor Krum. He was over the moon really. After the Irish team was brought on, Ludo introduced the referee who then officially started the game.

Though Romina wasn't a huge fan of the sport, she knew a good game when she saw one. These players were clearly professionals as they literally zoomed by after the balls, dodging them and throwing them. They were fast.

The Irish made a goal first. The leprechauns happily rose into the air again and formed a glittering shamrock for their team.

Later, the Iris had made two more goals, leaving the Bulgarians to race to catch up. And soon, they scored their own goal too.

"Fingers in your ears!" Mr. Weasley warned the group as the veela started to dance in the air.

This time, most of the boys stayed bright as ever now that they knew the veelas' tricks. Romina laughed as Harry re-opened his eyes; she supposed it was a good way to ensure that he didn't fall under the veelas' charms.

The bulgarians stayed in control of the quaffle, but now it seemed like the teams' seekers had spotted the snitch. Krum and Lynch zoomed after it like they were diving. Hermione screamed that they were going to crash down on the field. Krum pulled out at the last second, but Lynch went straight down.

It's time-out!" yelled Bagman over the stadium, "as trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!"

It was a lot of back and forth for a while, with many more fast-paced tricks from both teams. It got to the point where the referee intervened, which then caused more problems that brought on both sides' mascots. A battle enraged between them involving not so kind words from the leprechauns and more charming dances from the veela.

Romina and Hermione, and Ginny, were not impressed by the sight.

When the game was finally started again, the teams were more furious than ever with their attempts to score. Romina was sure there was a lot more foul play now than anything else. The mascots started again, with the leprechauns forming one giant hand that was very keen on showiing its middle finger.

This time, Romina couldn't help but laugh.

The veelas lost it and went straight for the attack, throwing fire at the leprechauns. Their beautiful figures morphed into very nonhuman features with cruel-beaked bird heads and scaly wings bursting from their shoulders.

While Ministry wizards tried breaking apart the mascot fight below, the game was still going on above. Back and forth went the quaffle, scores being made on both sides. However, with more foul play, one bludge slamming right into Krum's face and breaking his nose. Even then, the game still went on. At some point, the irish seeker Lynch had spotted the snitch and took a nose dive for it. Krum went after him and somehow, Lynch managed to crash into the field yet again only this time since the Veela were still around, they stampeded around him. Krum took possession of the Snitch, but the Irish had still won the game.

"KRUM GETS THE SNITCH — BUT IRELAND WINS — good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!" Bagman said what most of them were thinking.

"What did he catch the Snitch for?" Ron said in the midst of his excited bouncing with applause. "He ended it when Ireland were a hundred and sixty points ahead, the idiot!"

"He knew they were never going to catch up!" Harry had to shout to be heard amongst the applause of the stadium. "The Irish Chasers were too good...he wanted to end it on his terms, that's all!"

"He was very brave, wasn't he?" Hermione leaned forward and watched Krum land to be surrounded by mediwizards. "He looks a terrible mess. . . ."

"This was the most chaotic game I have ever seen," Romina remarked with all the tude of someone unimpressed.

"It's the only game you've seen," came Draco's remark from behind.

Romina spun around that time and swiped some golden coins off the ground to chuck at his face. With all the buzz and excitement of cheers, nobody really noticed her antics. It wasn't until Bagman started re-introducing the teams that Romina gave up and turned back with her friends to continue clapping.

And of course, once the game was truly over, and Bagman was no longer talking to the stadium, Fred and George Weasley were scrambling to his seat with wiggling fingers and wide grins.

~ 0 ~

Later on in the evening, celebrations were still going strong in almost every part of the tents. In the Weasley Tent, the twins were dancing ridiculously in the middle while Ron went on about Krum to the others.

"There's no one like Krum. He's like a bird the way he rides the wind. He's more than an athlete, he's an artist!"

"Think you're in love Ron?" Ginny snickered when Ron hopped onto a chair to make his words better heard.

The twins started mocking him with their version of a song. "Viktor I love you! Viktor!" Even Harry joined in.

"When we're apart my heart beats only for youuu!"

Hermione and Romina shook their heads disapprovingly but nobody could take away their laughter, not when Ron looked so heated.

"Sounds like the irish have got their pride on," Fred remarked after a particularly loud burst from outside.

Mr. Weasley suddenly came running into the tent looking quite frantic. "Stop! Stop it. It's not the irish. We've gotta get out of here. Now!"

The group all looked at each other in concern and with a bit of fright. What could be happening at a time like this? The more they listened, the clearer things got. It no longer sounded like cheering and singing outside. Romina heard distinct sounds of horrific screaming.

Mr. Weasley was quick to get everyone out as he threw out a handful of instructions. "Stick together. Fred, George...Ginny is your responsibility!"

"But what's happening!?" Each of them would ask until they were shoved outside and could see for themselves.

The air was filled with smoke from ongoing fires. People were running all over the place, screaming, as one identifiable group in pointed hoods and flaming torches wrecked the place.

"What are they doing?" Romina was horrified when she saw four bodies in the air being controlled by the same group. She recognized the man as the same muggle they encountered yesterday — Mr. Roberts. With him was a woman and two small children, all with the same terrified faces.

Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie and Percy emerged behind them from the tent, wands at the ready. "We're going to help the Ministry!" Mr. Weasley told the teenagers. "You lot — get into the woods, and stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"

"Romina, let's go!" Hermione called frantically, trying to tug Romina's arm.

"But—it's a family!" Romina bit on her bottom lip so hard she drew blood in a matter of seconds. The family were muggles, so the hooded group had to be…

"ROMINA!" Hermione finally screamed and yanked Romina with her in a hasty run.

Romina swallowed hard and focused on the rhythm of her running. She couldn't afford to fall and get trampled on. But with so many people doing the same thing, she was bumped and crashed into so many times it was a miracle she hadn't already fallen. She grew alarmed when she no longer saw bright red hair ahead of her anymore.

"Hermione, where are the others!?" she shrieked.

Hermione seemed to be making the same realizations as her face grew more and more pale. "I don't know!"

"What about Harry and Ron? Where are they!?"

"I don't know!"

"Great! So we don't know anything!"

"I know one thing—we need to get out of here!"

Romina would give her that point. They ran into the closest opening of the forest they could find. At least there they would have a chance of hiding and thinking of where to find the others. Though with the darkness around them, it would be hard finding anybody.

"Crazy to think that right now I would really rather be feeding my grandfather's graphorn right now," Romina said to Hermione. With the darkness, she couldn't see the odd look Hermione was sending her.

"Why? So you can complain about it later on like before?" drawled a familiar voice behind the pair.

Romina could laugh at the dumb luck they had. "Oh for God's sake—Lumos!" Her wand illuminated the immediate area and when she, and Hermione, turned around they saw Draco and Theodore leaning against a tree opposite of them. "Bit calm there, aren't we?"

They were pretty much relaxed when there was literal chaos in the area. Draco shrugged, leaning off the tree. "Not sure you're making the right choice again, Oswell. Out of everybody you've ran off with, you chose her." He made a nod in Hermione's direction.

The brunette, in return, glared. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Have you taken a look out there, Granger? Those are Muggles. What do you think I meant?"

Romina peered around the tree. She swallowed hard. The field was much too crowded to identify anyone but she could definitely see the figures in the air. She felt sick to her stomach. "They're...they're death eaters, aren't they?" Her voice shook a bit.

"Yes," Theodore answered her, making her look back at them. "So the smart choice would be to ditch your little friend before you get caught up in this mess."

"Bet you're a little happy you didn't bring King along, though," Draco said, knowing that despite her heavy annoyance she knew that he had a point. He smirked.

Romina air strangled him with her free hand. "Where the hell are your parents?"

"I got a feeling I know where," she heard Hermione mumble.

"Lost them in the run," Draco said quite calmly. "What about you? Weasleys leave you to your own luck?"

"No," Hermione snapped. "We got split up but don't worry, we'll be finding them." She grabbed hold of Romina's arm, dragging the dark haired girl a few steps away when a strong explosion rocked them all on their feet.

"Might be a little hard, Hermione," Romina admitted.

"You're better off splitting up, Oswell!" Draco called to them.

"Shut it!" Romina snapped. She racked her mind for some good options which, admittedly, weren't very many. "Draco," she called suddenly, "Where were you guys going to go?"

"What?" Both he and Hermione sent her the exact same horrific looks.

Theodore looked between with bemusement. "We're not bringing you anywhere."

"Oh, be quiet, Nott," Romina waved him off, "And get real. You two were definitely going to go somewhere—where?"

Even Hermione wasn't all for Romina's plan. She would much rather take her chances in the forest. "Romina, we don't need them!"

"Right now, we need to take anything we can get," Romina said sharply and faced the boys again, more precisely Draco. "C'mon," she sighed, putting her hands together as she walked up to Draco, "For once, just stop being a jerk and help us out. We could die out here. Would you really let that happen?"

"Not you," Draco said with all the ease in the world.

Romina glared incredulously at him. "Oh, how special I feel right now! You idiot!" Without warning, she punched his arm with all her might.

Hermione blinked in surprise while Draco stumbled back, arm clutching what was sure to be bruised later on. Theodore's eyes widened as well but he downright laughed.

"Shut the fuck up, Nott!" Draco said lividly before his eyes landed on Romina. "Who the hell do you think you are—?"

Romina had enough and shoved him away from her. "I can't believe I ever thought you had a shred of decency! Don't you ever talk to me again!" She yelled furiously at him then ran back to where Hermione was, grabbing her hand, and continuing their run together.

Neither girl wanted to admit that they had no idea where they were going but they did agree (silently) that it was going to be better than the field. They held onto each other's hands as tightly as possible because the last thing they were going to do was lose each other amongst the chaos. They bumped into all sorts of people running as well, among those Beauxbaton students who didn't speak a drop of English. They even caught Ludo Bagman who, up until that moment, had no idea what was going on out in the campsite.

Eventually, fate took pity on them and they found—crashed face first—with Harry and Ron.

"What happened to you two!?" Harry hugged Romina tightly. "We were going mad trying to find you!"

"Yeah, where'd you get into!?" Ron was about to hug Hermione but for some reason he decided not to in the end.

"Got lost, that's all," Romina said quickly, making it clear to Hermione that they were going to leave out the small moment they had with Draco. That was fine with Hermione.

"Where are the twins and Ginny?" Hermione asked, looking around the immediate area. There was no one else but them.

"Got the foggiest," Ron said. "We're hoping we can find them when this dies down."

"How is this ever going to die down?" Romina made a gesture towards the noise of the field. "The entire Ministry is probably out there trying to get this—"

They stopped when a particular noise was just too close to them. Uneven steps were definitely close to their area. It turned out to be Winky who, despite wanting to escape the chaos, seemed to be struggling greatly to do so. It got Hermione riled up again about house elves again. They kept running, although Harry was a little slower on account of him trying to find his missing wand. They came to a small clearing that for the time being seemed safe. It was very shortlived as they thought they heard more steps.

"Who's there?" Harry called, bringing both Romina and Hermione behind him and Ron.

Nobody answered him directly. Instead, they all heard a loud scream ring through the clearing. "MORSMORDRE!"

A streak of green energy beamed to the sky. It seemed to glitter in the sky when it exploded to create a shape. They were like dancing emerald stars forming a serpent protruding from its mouth.

"What the hell…?" Romina gulped, taking a step back as if the serpent would come down for them at that very moment.

New screams erupted from the forest. Wherever it was that people had been hiding themselves was gone now.

"What? What is it!? What's going on now?" Harry looked around to make sure his friends were still with him. They were. And they were just as frightened as the others.

"Harry, it's the Dark Mark!" Hermione exclaimed. "You Know Who's sign!"

"RUN! RUN!" was all Ron's head could think of so it was the first thing that came out of his mouth. 'It didn't help that wizards were apparating only a short distance from them, each one with their wand out and aimed right at them.

Harry cried 'duck!' seconds before the wizards yelled 'stupifey!'.

Lights flashed above them, ricocheting from every angle—how none of them had yet to be struck by the lights was beyond Harry.

"STOP! That's my son!"

At the voice of Mr. Weasley, the firing stopped. The man emerged from group of wizards, looking worse for wear as he came up to group to make sure they were alright.

"Out of the way, Arthur," Barty Crouch strode up to them, wand still clasped in his hand. "Which one of you did it?" He demanded from them. "Which one of you conjured the Dark Mark?"

"You're joking!" Romina snapped out of her fear-induced trance. "We were running for our lives and you think we did that!?" She raised a finger high above her head to point at the sky. "You're out of your mind!"

"Do not lie!" Crouch said, eyes blazing with anger for the lack of the response he was searching for and for being spoken to like that by a young girl. "You've been discovered at the scene of the crime!"

"Where did the Mark come from, you four?" Mr. Weasley asked much gentler, and of course without the intention of blaming them.

"Over there!" Hermione pointed to their left. "There was someone behind the trees! They're the ones who shouted an-an incantation!"

Mr. Crouch still wasn't convinced. However, he was the only one because the group of wizards behind him didn't exactly believe four fourteen year old kids were responsible for the massive mark tainting their sky.

"You know who did it,' Romina spoke again, ignoring Mr. Weasley's look that practically begged her not to keep going. "We all do."

Crouch met her eye with nothing but disdain for her. "Oh, really?"

"I would know what that mark is—my parents had it. That's the mark of the Death Eaters. They're responsible for it, not some Hogwarts students." Romina folded her arms, mustering enough courage to keep staring at the man until he either agreed and let them go...

She would waver from a lot of things but not this. There were many pictures of Elora and Caplan around and in many of them they had the same mark tattooed on their arms. Whoever was behind all this was a Death Eater wearing the same damn mark.

The stand-off was interrupted by Cedric's father, Mr. Diggory, who in a matter of minutes managed to acquire a stunned "culprit" not too far from them. Of course when he returned with the culprit, things made even less sense. It was Winky, Mr. Crouch's house elf. And to top it off, she had a wand.

After being brought back, Mr. Diggory started questioning her.

"I — I — I is not doing it, sir!" Winky said. "I is not knowing how, sir!"

"You were found with a wand in your hand!" Mr. Diggory held the wand in question at her.

"Hey," frowned Harry as he recognized the wand, "That's mine!"

Everything stopped. All eyes turned on him.

"I dropped it!" Harry said.

"You dropped it?" Mr. Diggory said in disbelief. "Is this a confession? You threw it aside after you conjured the Mark?"

"Amos, think who you're talking to!" Mr. Weasley cut in angrily. "Is Harry Potter likely to conjure the Dark Mark?"

Thankfully, Mr. Diggory gathered his bearings and realized how unlikely that was. "Er — of course not. Sorry . . . carried away . . ."

"I didn't drop it there, anyway," Harry said, jerking his thumb behind them. "I missed it right after we got into the wood."

So," Mr. Diggory, turned to look at Winky again, "You found this wand, eh, elf ? And you picked it up and thought you'd have some fun with it, did you?"

"We're not really thinking the elf did it, are we?" Romina was not quiet at all with her scoff. "Look at her! She's scared out of her wits!"

"Winky's got a squeaky little voice, and the voice we heard doing the incantation was much deeper!" Hermione added for support. "It was a human voice."

"And a man too," Romina crossed her arms. "A grown man."

Mr. Diggory didn't look very impressed by the two girls. "Well, we'll soon see. There's a simple way of discovering the last spell a wand performed, elf, did you know that?"

"Oh, for the love of..." Romina shook her head, "Guess Cedric didn't get his smarts from his dad..." She mumbled under her breath.

Mr. Diggory performed the spell on Harry's wand and to everyone's shock, the same skull from the sky billowed out from Harry's wand like a ghost.

"I is not doing it!" Winky cried with absolute terror. "I is not, I is not, I is not knowing how! I is a good elf, I isn't using wands, I isn't knowing how!"

"You've been caught red-handed, elf !" Mr. Diggory roared. "Caught with the guilty wand in your hand!"

Winky cried about her innocence until Mr. Crouch stepped in and twisted the accusation. If Winky was the accused, then so was he and that could not be. Mr. Diggory had no choice but to let go of his accusation. Winky told the group where she had found Harry's wand which wasn't too far from them. They soon believed that whoever had used the wand had merely found it like Winky had and took advantage of it.

Mr. Crouch requested he be the one to punish Winky for her "crimes", which was not following his orders. "Winky has behaved tonight in a manner I would not have believed possible. I told her to remain in the tent. I told her to stay there while I went to sort out the trouble. And I find that she disobeyed me. This means clothes."

Winky started sobbing.

"But she was frightened!" Hermione said angrily at the same time Romina said, in a calmer manner, 'You're so delusional'.

While Mr. Crouch wasn't that bothered by Hermione's outburst, he threw a hard look in Romina's direction. "Watch your language, young lady."

"But she was literally stuck in the middle of an attack and you want to fire her?" Romina scowled. "If she had stayed back there, she would've been killed. So a dead house elf is better than this?"

"I have no use for a house-elf who disobeys me," he said coldly.

"Romina's right! You'd rather a dead house elf!" Hermione exclaimed. "Your elf 's scared of heights, and those wizards in masks were levitating people! You can't blame her for wanting to get out of their way!"

But Mr. Crouch was not swayed by either girl. In the end, Mr. Weasley stepped in to retrieve Harry's wand and get them all out of there. Though angry, Romina and Hermione followed them, leaving behind the sobbing elf and wizards. Romina gazed up at the dark sky and saw the remnants of the Dark Mark still present. She swallowed hard; she had done a great job not thinking about Elora and Caplan this summer. She should have known it would never last.

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 28: Friends, Oh Friends

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist:@ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

​​​​Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

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"I cannot believe they're actually sentencing poor Buckbeak to death," Romina said as she, Hermione, Harry and Ron went down the hill leading to Hagrid's home. The terrible news that Hagrid had sent the trio was enough to pull them out of their stupid argument to come together for Hagrid.

"I can," huffed Ron. "It's all Malfoy's fault."

"Please don't tell me that's going to be your comforting words for Hagrid."

"Guys," Hermione said once they found Hagrid. He was knee-length in the Black lake chucking large rocks to the water.

The group was cautious when they greeted him. The conversation wouldn't be pleasant, after all. Hagrid wasted no time telling them what the committee had said about Buckbeak which resulted in the terrible decision.

"But there's still the appeal," Ron tried to say with the utmost optimism that it would turn out much better the second time. "Don't give up yet, we're going to work on it!"

"Yeah, I'll try to talk to Draco too," Romina offered since she failed to do that the first time around. Too much stuff happened right after they asked her to persuade Draco to let the incident go. "Somebody has to get through that head of his."

Hagrid appreciated their intentions but he had very little hope. "S'no good," he said, "The Committee's in Lucius Malfoy's pocket. I'm just gonna make sure the res o' Beaky's time is the happiest he's ever had. I owe him that."

"We're very sorry, Hagrid," Hermione said with a long sigh. There was really nothing they could do if Lucius Malfoy had the Committee.

"'S alright," Hagrid shrugged. What more could he say, really?

The others felt the same thing. Later on when they were returning to the castle, they tried making plans amongst themselves to try and visit Hagrid more while Buckbeak was still around. It would be slightly challenging to do with all the restrictions currently in place but they were sure they would find a way.

"You could always use the Invisibility cloak and the map," joked Ron when they reached the courtyard.

"You still have those things?" Romina sent a curious look over to Harry, stopping altogether. "I understand the cloak but the map? Is that thing really safe?"

Harry thought it was. "Hasn't failed me yet."

"Yeah, it's what it got him to Hogsmeade," Ron said, still laughing with mischief.

Romina gasped, however, since this was the first time she heard about it. "What? But…"

"Don't look at me," Hermione said as soon Romina had glanced her way. "I've told him it's reckless with Sirius Black on the loose."

"I'll say!"

Harry rolled his eyes at the pair of girls. "It was fine. Besides, it helped me see a couple things." Hermione and Ron had assumed he meant the conversation he eavesdropped about Sirius Black being a traitor but Harry looked directly at Romina. He had yet to talk to her about it.

But of course his lingering gaze alerted Romina that something was off. "What?" she frowned. "What did I do?"

"Haven't gone to Hogsmeade have you?" Harry decided to ask just to see what Romina would say in front of the others.

"Well, yeah," she nodded, "I changed my mind at the last moment."

Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "Really?"

Romina's face was blank. "Yeah, why?"

"Sure nobody, I don't know, convinced you somehow?"

"I'm very confused, Harry."

"So was I," Harry said with his own frustrated frown. "When I saw Malfoy convince you to go."

"What?" Ron half laughed at the idea. "Now how the hell would Malfoy ever do that?"

Romina wanted to laugh at how absurd this conversation had suddenly turned but instead she was growing agitated . "This was ages ago, first of all, and why the hell were you eavesdropping on us?"

"It was an accident," Harry said truthfully. "But Malfoy just blackmailed you and you...you weren't even mad at him for it?"

"Well..." Romina drew in a breath, preparing herself for her friends' reactions, "He...he was trying to help—"

"Help?" It was Harry's turn to laugh at an absurdity. "He blackmailed you!"

"Into me having fun at Hogsmeade, Harry," Romina said, "I hardly think that calls for the police, do you?"

"What's a 'police'?" Ron said, and Hermione promptly shushed him.

"I hardly think you should be calm about it," Harry all but mimicked Romina's voice. "At the end of the day, it was blackmail."

"At the end of the day, it's none of your business," Romina returned the favor with a snap. "He just helped me in his own way."

"Look, let's just calm down," Hermione cut in, eyes darting between the two. "Remember, we need to try and help Hagrid here."

"Yeah, I know, Hermione," Harry sighed then looked at Romina again. "I just want you to be careful around him, Rom. You never know what he could do."

"What we need him to do is try and get him to tell his father to back off," Romina said, finally continuing to walk. They were close to reaching the castle.

"Good ruddy luck," Ron scoffed. "He milked that accident for, what, three months? He's not going to change his mind."

Romina couldn't blame him for the lack of confidence. She herself wasn't entirely sure she could convince Draco of doing anything. He was, to put it in simple terms, a wild card. "I have to at least try. I owe that to Hagrid for not doing it the first time around."

"Rom, just stay away from him," Harry insisted. "What happened to Buckbeak is done. There's nothing that we can do."

Romina sighed. "Maybe you're right...but stay away from him? Harry, we're in the same House. We have similar friends. Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. You've seen it."

"Yeah…" Harry's eyes looked over the long mane of hair over Romina's shoulders. "We've seen it." But unfortunately, they hadn't understood why she was doing all those changes.

Romina knew exactly what he was looking at and shifted. She was quick to excuse herself for some homework.

~ 0 ~

As it would turn out, Harry would end up losing the God-given map that same night. He could only take consolation that it hadn't ended in Snape's hands. At least Lupin would take care of it. Still, that left Harry with no way to move around the castle safely in secret anymore. The cloak could only do so much for him.

Romina told him that he would probably end up getting the map back in the end somehow. It was no secret that he and Lupin were close. "Just stay on your best behavior until the end of the year," she said, laughing when she earned Harry's wide-eyed look.

"You do realize that's almost impossible for me, right?" He sighed. "I have terrible luck."

Romina giggled. "That you do. But hey, I bet if you focus on the homework and Quidditch practices, you won't have time to get into trouble."

There, Harry could agree. The weeks that came were filled with both homework and Quidditch. Even Romina found herself cooped up in her common room to catch up on some work. It left little time to do anything else. The only thing that gave her slightly more time was the fact that she no longer had to tutor Luna Lovegood. It was a shame, really, because Romina came to really like Luna and her odd quirks. She only had to tutor a Hufflepuff student now but that was less days than with Luna.

"She's almost good enough not to need me either," Romina told Arden during their dinner. "And when that happens, I'll be able to focus more on my homework. Course then that means I'll have to actually understand what I'm doing now."

Arden laughed teasingly. "God, Romina, how the hell do you pass?"

Romina shrugged. "Beats me."

"I bet she cheats," Pansy's voice came into the conversation. She sat on the opposite side of the girls, two students to their left.

Romina rolled her eyes. "I mean...or maybe I'm just smart."

"Please." It was Pansy's turn to roll her eyes. "I know you're friends with the gamekeeper so there's that grade, not to mention that Scamander boy's been oh-so-helpful with you lately."

Romina lowered her fork for a moment to turn her full attention to Pansy. "Because unlike you, I can actually be pleasant to be around. I know, it's a new concept for you."

Pansy rolled her eyes again. "Please, like we can't see what you're doing? I bet you bat your eyes at Scamander to do all the work there and I've no doubt you do the same to Draco in Potions."

"Absolutely not!"

"Fine, cheating then, whatever," Pansy shrugged then flashed a smirk at Romina.

Romina opened her mouth but something — or rather someone — caught her eye. She closed her mouth, lips stretching into a smirk that didn't go unnoticed by Arden. Romina picked up her fork and continued to eat. A few seconds later, Draco strode down the table towards his usual spot. Romina calmly chewed her dinner and swallowed a few seconds later.

"Hey Draco?" she called casually. "Do I bat my eyes at you to get you to do my Potions work?"

Draco's expression was phenomenally comedic when he turned his head in her direction. "Excuse you? What the hell do you think I am? A monkey?"

"Oh no, not me," Romina said, bringing a hand on her chest. "But Pansy seems to firmly believe that."

Arden snorted into her goblet, splashing her face in the process. Pansy nearly shrieked.

"I did not say that!" she cried.

"Uuum, but you did," Romina said, "You said I was cheating using Rolf and Draco to do my work. Arden, isn't that what she said?"

"Yup," Arden popped the 'p' in her answer. She grabbed a napkin to dry her face.

Pansy's eyes widened in alarm. "I didn't — I didn't say what—"

But it was too late. Draco had heard enough and was livid with her. "Who do you think I am, Parkinson? I don't do anything for anyone! Got it?"

"Well, I — of course I know that!" Pansy fervently nodded her head, absolutely flushed with embarrassment. "I know you wouldn't—"

"Good. I better not hear you say anything like that again, got it?"

Pansy apologized profusely to Draco and throughout the whole thing, Romina ate her dinner feeling very smug. Pansy didn't continue to eat anymore and left her dinner half eaten at the table. Arden high-fived Romina and the two girls giggled together.

"Knock it off, Oswell," Draco said when the giggling got too much for him. He threw Romina a look, telling her that he knew exactly what she had done. "You will not use me to further your little war with Parkinson."

"Hey, I just wanted to inform you about something I thought you would like to know about," Romina said innocently. "And, uh," she lowered her voice before continuing, "you did lie, by the way."

"Excuse me?" Draco's eyes widened.

Romina kept her voice quiet as more of their friends began to arrive for dinner. "You did my Potions work," she reminded him.

Draco turned his head away for a moment. At the same time, a slight pink dusted his cheeks. "That was different," he muttered.

"Whatever it was, you still did it," Romina said. He could appreciate the fact that she wasn't making fun of him for it. If anyone else found out, like Blaise or Theodore, he was sure to be in for it.

"Yes, fine, but you said we could forget about it," he said quickly. "So do that."

"Okay," Romina reached for her goblet.

Draco watched her from the corner of her eye. She was eating with no intention of continuing the topic. He was just fine with that but there was something else on his mind that he hadn't been able to get rid of. And he couldn't figure out why. "You seem to be real buddies with Scamander all of a sudden."

The comment confused Romina for two things: it and the fact that he was bringing it up in the first place. It wasn't like Draco to give a damn about any of her friends. He tended to hate all of them.

"Yeah, what about it?" she said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Nothing I...I'm just impressed he actually held a conversation with you."

"Oh, thanks," Romina said heavily enough to make him wince.

"Don't get it twisted, Oswell. Scamander doesn't hold many conversations with us, alright?"

"Mm, maybe because his interests don't lie with screwing around at parties?"

Draco met her glance, startled. "He ratted us out? Figures."

Romina chuckled. "He just told me some things. I'm not surprised, by the way. But, again, what's it to you?"

"Last time I remember, you were upset with him because he ignored you. What happened to that?"

"We moved past it. Now we're friends. And he's not weird, by the way. He's actually very kind. And gentle."

"Oh, please—"

"Don't you dare say anything about him," Romina warned. "He's a really good guy. And he's been teaching me all these new things about the creatures Hagrid's introducing us to. Did you know that his grandfather is a—"

"Magizoologist?" Draco rolled his eyes, unimpressed. "Yes, yes I did know. We all do."

Romina huffed. "You don't need to be rude right now."

"And I don't need to hear about you fawning over him."

"I'm literally just saying how he's helped me. I'm not 'fawning' over him. Think you're just mad that I didn't listen to you and got to know him."

"I'm fine with whatever the hell you decide to do with your life, Oswell," Draco said shortly. "But it's Angel you should be more concerned about."

"And what the hell does Angel have anything to do here?"

Draco smirked suddenly and when he did that, Romina tended to dread what he had up his sleeve. "You're really going to pretend like you don't know?"

"Know what?" Romina made a face that only deepened when she heard Arden's 'oh boy' beside her. She flipped her head in Arden's direction. "What?"

Draco snickered. "Even King knows it."

"Know what!?"

"Oswell," Draco scooted closer to her. He seemed to be enjoying the moment way too much for her liking. He put an elbow on the table and rested his cheek on his palm. "You're seriously going to sit here and tell me you don't know that Angel has a crush on you?"

Romina's eyes widened to the brim. They might as well match the size of their dinner plates for tonight. "I-I don't...you c-can't…" She was stammering, yes she was, and it was just furthering Draco's enjoyment. "You can't...you can't just say stuff like that!"

"Why not? I thought it was always good to tell the truth and whatnot? Isn't that the shit you always tell me?"

"He's got you there," Arden remarked. She calmly ate while her best friend went through a series of red blushes.

"Don't help him!" Romina hissed. "And you, Draco, you better not say that again!"

"Why?" he smirked again. "It's true."

"Shut it!"

"That's my line—"

"Shut it!" Romina shouted loud enough to attract several eyes, even those from other tables. "Don't say that again! And quit smirking!"

"So who gets to tell Scamander that he's got competition?"

"I swear to God I might just strangle you right here!"

"Still won't change the facts."

"It's not true," Romina insisted. "It's...it's not..."

"Oswell, you're not stupid. You really haven't noticed it? I mean, who do you think gave you the Valentine's card last year, remember?"

Romina stay quiet. Draco was right in some aspects. She was not stupid. She could see things and, yes, maybe she did notice that Angel was always very nice to her. He was overly helpful, perhaps even more towards her rather than his own sister. He was always around her whenever he could be. His gifts, his words…

"Oh damn..." she whispered.

"There it is," Draco said with a smug smile. "Glad to be of service, Oswell." He moved to scoot back to his original spot when Romina grabbed a fistful of his shirt. "Hey!" he frowned.

"You breathe a word about this to anyone and I swear to God I will make you wish you were facing Buckbeak again who — by the way — is being sentenced to death because of you and your dramatics!"

"My dramatics!? I was literally almost murdered in front of the class!" Draco said incredulously. He wrapped his hand around Romina's that was holding his shirt. "Let go now!" He pulled her hand as hard as he could, ignoring her squeak from his grip, and pushed her away.

"You should be ashamed of yourself for letting that innocent creature die when you are literally 100% okay!" Romina frowned. She rubbed the back of her hand. "If you had any decency, you'd tell your father to call it off."

"Not gonna happen," Draco said without missing a beat. "Might as well say your goodbyes now."

"Now I definitely know why you and Rolf aren't friends," Romina muttered and made a show to scoot away from him. "Rolf actually cares."

Draco pretended like he hadn't heard the last of her words and he most definitely pretended like it didn't strike a chord.

~ 0 ~

Now that the game between Gryffindor and Slytherin was closer than ever, the animosity between the two teams and Houses were growing by the day. It was a sight to see a fight break out each day for no reason except for the damn Quidditch cup. Even the Easter holidays were filled with different fight scenes.

Personally, Romina couldn't wait to see the stupid games over just to get back to normal. She was sure that she wasn't the only one. Hermione had confided in her that it'd been hard to get work done while the Gryffindor common room was full of bubbling students going on about the upcoming game. Those same excited Gryffindors often came to Romina's ears.

"We're going to cruuuuush youuuu!" The Weasley twins sing-sang each time they saw Romina, no matter where it happened to be.

Romina playfully rolled her eyes at them. She was making her way towards the dungeons to finish up homework that would allow her to see the game tomorrow morning. "Get out of here you pompous buggers," she waved them off.

They laughed and sang their tune one more time before heading off in the opposite direction. Romina would admit that she was a little excited to see the game happen but she really just wanted it to be over already.

Unlike the teams from both sides, she woke up happier than ever on the day of the game. It was finally going to happen and they would see it end.

To support her House, she pulled on a long-sleeved green blouse with dark jeans. The silver serpent twinkled on her cardigan. She'd pulled her long hair into a side braid then put on the enchanted headband that flashed green and silver.

She, Arden, Angel and Carolinha got together after breakfast to head over to the field. Before they left the Great Hall, however, they wished their respective team good luck. Nobody wanted to say anything but they were looking a bit pale.

"You reckon we'll win?" Carolinha asked the group once they found their spots on the benches.

"We better," Angel said with a huff. "Everybody's giving Slytherin the looks and for what? Because we happened to have won each year consecutively?"

"Shh, they're starting!" Arden waved the twins off to be quiet.

Lee Jordan was starting the commentary. He was happy to announce the Gryffindor team, no surprise, but when the Slytherins came out, there were a lot more boo's being thrown from the audience. It got no better when the two captains were asked to shake hands before the game actually started.

When Madame Hooch blew her whistler, all hell broke loose.

The two teams rose into the air and zipped for the Quaffle. Gryffindor took the lead almost immediately, something that had audible booing from the Slytherins. Angelina made a record score. Of course her win was cut off when Marcus Flint "accidentally" crashed into her.

"Oooh, that had to hurt," Romina crinkled her nose as the poor Gryffindor was nearly thrown off her broom. The booing that erupted from the other Houses were justified in her opinion.

Course then Fred took it upon himself to retaliate in a seemingly accidental chuck of his Beater's club at Flint.

"Might as well put them in a wrestling match," remarked Arden. Both she and Romina laughed together.

"Could you imagine that?" Romina shook her head. She knew for sure that Draco and Harry would have some terrible goes at each other.

The game resumed after Madame Hooch forced both teams into penalty shots. It was back and forth for a while until Gryffindor nearly made another goal...before the Slytherin chaser grabbed her head instead of the Quaffle.

"What the hell!?" Romina shrieked. Katie Bell went cartwheeling in the air without letting go of her broom. "It's like our own team wants to lose!"

It would cost Slytherin another penalty shot that the Gryffindor team actually made.

Back and forth went both teams when the game started anew. After a deadly collision between two Slytherin Beaters, the team managed to score their first goal. The entire Slytherin House cheered loudly on the bleachers.

But it would be the only score they made for a good while. The game was shifting into a game that Romina had never seen before in her three years. She was horrified to see both teams resorting to old fashion cheating. "Accidents" happened on both sides, making Madam Hooch's head nearly roll.

And yet, Gryffindor was scoring goal after goal. It all came down to Harry now because he found the Snitch, the cup was theirs.

As soon as he spotted the Snitch, Harry took off in chase. He would've reached it had Draco not literally grabbed onto the end of the Firebolt. It cost Slytherin another penalty. However, being so furious at the cheating, the Gryffindors didn't make the goal. In fact, they were beginning to lose their winning streak as the Slytherins began scoring.

It was another back and forth but Gryffindor was getting its hand back in their goals. Harry and Draco fought for the Snitch again, making a few close calls for both sides.

"There they go again!" Carlinha pointed when both Seekers dove down for the golden Snitch.

"Almost colliding," Romina said as she chewed on her bottom lip. If those two had it their way, they would collide fists with each other's faces.

"Ooh, Harry's almost got it!" Arden had her hands clapped to her face. "If he gets it, we lose!"

Harry went as far as to take both of his hands off his broom to get the damn Snitch before Draco. And in the end, he did.

Slytherin had lost and Gryffindor would now take the Cup for the first time in over almost a decade.

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 24: Damage

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic

​​​​Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

The next time Harry saw Romina, he dared not bring up the fact he heard how Draco basically convinced her to go to Hogsmeade after everyone's failed attempts before him. Besides, he had a lot on his plate anyways. That same Hogsmeade trip was also the place where he learned the truth behind Sirius Black. That kind of rage left little to no clear vision about anything else.

"You need to calm down before you explode," Romina watched Harry with concern while the boy in glasses balled his fists over the dining table. "Someone can question you over it and then what would you say? That you snuck out to Hogsmeade and purposely eavesdropped on a teachers' conversation?"

"We've been telling him that," Ron said from across them.

"It's not that easy, is it?" snapped Harry, putting both Ron and Hermione in a silent state. "Black was supposed to be my parents trustee. He was supposed to be their friend and he betrayed them!"

"...he told my parents where yours were," Romina said quietly, managing to calm Harry for the moment. That'd been one of the worst parts for her to hear. Sirius Black confided in the Oswells where the Potters were. They, in turn, notified Voldemort where the Potters were. Romina never felt more ashamed of her family then.

"No one is blaming you for anything," Hermione once again reminded Romina after she'd gone quiet.

Harry's gaze softened when he saw Romina staring at her lap. He could only imagine how Romina was feeling about all this too. Her parents helped Voldemort murder his, and there was nothing either of them could do to change things. "Rom, it's not on you. You're as much a victim as I am—"

"No, I'm not," Romina shook her head. "They live and your parents are dead. I'm sorry." She decided to head back to her own House table before she cried there and then.

"Rom!" the three Gryffindors called after her but it was no use.

By the time Romina took her usual spot beside Arden, she was sniffling with teary eyes.

"Oh, look, something new to cry over today?" Pansy was the first to notice Romina's state. "What is it now?"

"Sod off, Parkinson," Arden snapped then looked at Romina. "What's the matter? You were fine yesterday and—"

"And now that she's gone and visited those little friends of hers, she's gone and reverted back to her depression," Draco spoke from his seat. "You should just stay clear of them, Oswell."

"Oh, like you do," Angel snorted. "Always finding time to come up with new insults for Harry and the others - that sure seems the way to stay clear." Draco rolled his eyes and went back to eating his breakfast.

"Rom, what is it?" Arden asked again, hoping the others would just be quiet and allow Romina a chance to speak.

Romina was aware of the attention she was getting and preferred to end things there. She rubbed at the corner of her eyes and looked up. "N-nothing. I just heard something sad, that's all."

"What'd you expect after talking to those kinds of people?" Pansy gave a nod towards the Gryffindor table.

Romina rolled her eyes and started getting up. "I'm not so hungry anymore."

"Oh no, you can't go without breakfast—" Arden tried to hold onto Romina's arm but the girl pushed Arden away. "Romina!"

Romina didn't listen. She hurried out of the Great Hall and made a beeline for the dungeons, only to bump into Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood. The first thing she noticed was Luna barefoot and for some reason, it just really ticked her off even more. "Again!?" she gestured to Luna's pale feet. "Jesus what is it with these students!?" Her loud voice caught the attention of some passing students and of course she called them out on it. "Yeah, you! Do you just enjoy taking shoes!?"

"They didn't take my shoes," Luna said, the utmost calm as usual.

"Luna there's a game going on with your shoes," Romina sighed, rubbing her forehead. She heard Ginny whisper "I knew it!" on the side.

Luna tilted her head at Romina, studying the older girl. "You're distressed. What's wrong? It's not about my shoes, is it?"

Romina dropped her hand from her forehead. "No…" Her hand gesture on the side was particularly confusing for the two girls since they didn't know whether or not Romina was angry. "Although it's very annoying."

"I'm sorry—"

"No!" Romina cut Luna's apology off. "You're not the one who should be apologizing!"

"What's bothering you?" Ginny was the one to ask. "My brother hasn't done anything stupid lately, has he?"

At that, Romina managed a short laugh. "Which one?"

"Aline, you wound us!" Fred Weasley had come up from behind and swung an arm around Romina's shoulders. George came up on Romina's other side, feigning an offended face with arms crossed and a pout ready to go.

Romina groaned and smacked Fred's arm off her. "Never call me that!"

"Who's Aline?" Both Ginny and Luna asked at the same time, curious of course.

"No one! Go have breakfast!" Romina ushered the girls towards the Great Hall then turned on the twins. "Never call me that!" The twins laughed at her as usual, making her groan again and leave.

"Oh what's the matter, Aline?" Fred was hot on her trail, as was George, which of course further irritated her.

"Leave me alone, Weasleys!" Her hiss was an indication there was something wrong alright. Romina entered the gardens and was striding down with no particular destination in mind except to be the hell alone.

Fred and George exchanged an agreeing glance then rushed after Romina. Before Romina knew it, she'd been hoisted by the twins, each one taking hold of one of her arms, and then promptly headed back to the hallways.

"What—put me down!" Romina's feet kicked in the air as she shouted. "Fred! George! I'm not something you pick up—"

"On the contrary, you're quite light," Fred chuckled with his brother.

Romina had a cold glare on the two when they finally put her back on her feet. "That was not okay!"

"You know what's not okay?" George crossed his arms, settling a good look on her. "The fact you've been completely reserved and...acting plain weird, even for an Oswell." Romina rolled her eyes but remained silent.

"See, that right there would have gotten an easy comeback from you," Fred gestured at the silent girl.

"We're worried, Romina," the twins admitted.

Their seriousness novelty for Romina, and quite endearing. She hated to be causing so much trouble like this, but it was difficult speaking to someone about it. "Thank you, both of you. I'm just...dealing with some things. Family things." The twins looked at each other again. Romina sighed and made wild hand gestures to get their attention again. "I'm going to work on it, I promise."

"Really?" they both asked.

"Because we're not afraid to carry you again," Fred warned, though the hint of a smile made Romina feel like they were returning to their usual playful ways.

"Yeah, you're actually pretty light, we might turn it into a game," George's smile was devious enough for Romina to dread their newest game.

"No, you will not," Romina's warning flew over their heads as they started to think about possible score charts for their new game. She groaned and waved them good-bye, not that they noticed very much.

She had to admit their little skit did lift her spirits a bit. She missed that feeling of happiness, even when it was something as ridiculous as this. It was what made her feel normal again, and definitely not like the daughter of two evil people. These thoughts carried with her into the dungeons and into her dorm.

She crawled up on her bed and pulled out the photograph of Elora and Caplan from underneath her pillow. She shuddered a breath as she met the gazes of the two. "Why did I have to be yours? Out of all the parents in the world, why did I have to be yours?"

Elora's tantalizing smile made Romina's skin scrawl. There was something positively evil radiating from Elora Oswell, even in picture form. Romina was scared enough thinking one day she would end up smiling like Elora, apart from looking just like her.

Suddenly, the dormitory door flung open and startled Romina. "Did you see Lovegood without her shoes!?" Pansy was laughing while she and Millicent Bulstrode ran inside.

"What an idiot!" laughed Millicent.

As Romina hurried to get her picture under her pillow, Pansy looked up and drawled an "ooooh". "What are you doing, Romina?"

"N-nothing!" Romina quickly settled herself in a sitting position on the side of her bed. Pansy's gaze lingered on Romina's pillow, but at the same time Romina noticed the pair of shoes Pansy was holding. "Those aren't your shoes."

Pansy's face went flat. "It offends me that you would think these would be mine. I have better taste than fried up apple seeds." She dumped the shoes underneath her bed and dusted her hands off. "No, these are Loony Lovegood's shoes. The chain passed it onto me."

"Again?" Romina scowled.

"I'm a good keeper."

"Wait till it's my turn," Millicent smirked.

"I'd rather not," Romina got up from bed, wearing an even deeper scowl. "You need to stop messing with her! Don't you have anything better to do?"

"What's it to you?" Pansy set her hands on her hips. "It's a game—"

"Yeah, which Luna didn't create! Honestly," Romina walked over and got on her knees to fish out Luna's shoes from under Pansy's bed. "Maybe if you spent less time playing ridiculous games, you'd have better grades."

"Maybe you should quit butting your nose into things that don't involve you," Pansy shot back but it didn't appear Romina cared. One of Luna's shoes seemed to be stuck on a nail or something. Pansy's scowl almost matched Romina's from before. "Honestly, Romina, you're getting even more annoying than Arden and that's saying something. What's even more annoying is how everyone caters to you every time you're in one of your moods. Don't think I've forgotten you had Draco doing your homework for you!"

Romina stopped trying to reach for the shoes under the bed and looked up at Pansy. "I never told Draco to do anything for me and once I found out, I stopped it. I don't need anyone doing my work for me."

"Good, because I won't be doing anything for you," Pansy spat.

"Funny enough, I wasn't expecting you to..." Romina stretched an arm underneath the bed and finally pulled Luna's shoe out. She then got up from the ground and grabbed the other shoe. "I'm going to go return these to Luna and God help you if I ever find out you play this game again." She swung Luna's shoes behind her shoulder and turned to leave.

"Now what are we going to do?" Millicent huffed. Pansy was fuming in her spot that Millicent swore she saw smoke coming out of the girl's ears. "Let's just go see if someone else has another pair we can hide."

"Oswell's been getting on my last nerve lately," Pansy crossed her arms, scrunching her face. "For some reason, people love bending over backwards for her and for what? They've barely known her. I think it's time she learned her real place."

"Like how?" Millicent leaned on a hip, curious of what Pansy had in mind. As far as anyone knew, there wasn't much known about Romina despite having most of the Oswells' dark nature recognized by society.

Pansy scoured Romina's side of the room until her eyes landed on Romina's pillow. A smirk started making its way across her face. She hurried over it and threw the pillow to the side, revealing a face down photograph. "Whatever Romina's got going on, I'm sure it has to do with that. She's been hiding something all year...and it looks like I'll have the pleasure of finding out."

~ 0 ~

By the time Romina found Luna Lovegood again, she and Ginny were out in the courtyard with a couple other second years. "Luna! Look what I've got!" Romina was happy to wave Luna's shoes in the air.

The girl in question gasped. "Oh, those were one of my favorites!"

"Yeah, well, with any luck, no more roommates of mine are going to be taking them," Romina handed the shoes over to Luna. "And really, if anyone else takes them, let your head of House know, okay?"

"I keep telling her to," Ginny called from her spot on the ground. "But she won't listen!"

"Things have a way of working out in the end," Luna smiled in that lazily, hazy, manner of hers.

Romina chuckled but nonetheless worried over the ongoing game she was sure was nowhere near over.

"You're so nice, Romina," Luna smiled and surprised Romina with a big hug.

"Uh, thanks," Romina hugged back. She awkwardly said her goodbyes and headed back for the dungeons when she was stopped by Harry, Hermione and Ron. The three looked so distraught Romina wondered what happened since breakfast.

"You have got to help Hagrid!" Hermione was the first to exclaim, Harry and Ron quickly followed with pieces of sentences Romina couldn't quite understand.

"Hagrid's been notified—"

"Buckbeak's in danger by—"

"—Malfoy's father has the whole committee—"

"—and he'll get axed!" Ron finished with a loud shout.

Hermione whacked both boys into silence, something Romina was grateful for. The bushy-haired girl explained everything in a much more calm manner so that Romina knew exactly what was going on. Hagrid received a letter notifying him of the need to present himself and Buckbeak the Hippogriff to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. Apparently, Lucius Malfoy's complaint had stirred things into a real problem, something Hagrid was completely destroyed over.

"It's bad, I get that," Romina assured, because as much as the creatures Hagrid loved were scary, she knew the man meant only good. "But...what am I supposed to do? I've got no pull with the Ministry."

"The boys and I are going to look into previous cases with similar situations," Hermione began to explain again, making faces Romina didn't understand yet, "And, well, despite us being totally against it, you seem to get along a little better with Draco, so...maybe if you talked to him—"

"Oooh," Romina rolled her eyes. "You want me to ask him to call things off. So it's bad whenever I speak to him but the one moment where it might actually benefit you all, it's suddenly okay?" The three fidgeted under her flat stare. Romina sighed. "Yeah, alright, I'll...see if I can dig for some human decency in Draco—"

"That'll take eons which we don't have..." Ron mumbled under his breath.

"Thank you, Rom," Harry honestly said, glad to have her on board with one of their plans just like old times. She seemed to be looking better than earlier in the morning.

Romina seemed to guess his thoughts and smiled kindly at him. "I'm sorry for acting so weird, Harry. It's no excuse but I've got family things to deal with and...I guess it's taking a toll on me."

"We've been worried over you," Harry said, getting Hermione and Ron to nod in agreement.

"Yeah, I've heard from the twins and my other friends," Romina sighed, feeling guilty over their attention. Perhaps Pansy had a point somewhere in all her angry spats. "I'm going to try and get better, just watch."

"We're counting on it," Hermione smiled at the girl.

Romina smiled back then noticed Angel and Carolinha walking by, probably towards the dungeons, and decided to walk with them. "I promise I'll have a word with Draco," she whispered to the trio then hurried to catch up with the other twins.

They were more than happy to see her more cheery than before. Carolinha heard of Romina's moment at the dining table and of course assured Romina she was there if she ever needed to talk to someone. Romina chuckled and said she would think about it. When they entered their common room, they found most of their friends around the fireplace, either messing around or taking some of their free time to catch up on work.

"Is that my Supergirl comic?" Romina spotted Arden on the floor, back against the couch just beside Daphne Greengrass' legs.

"Oh, uh, I borrowed it," Arden grinned at Romina. "Is that okay?" Romina's smile was answer enough. "Glad to see you're better!" she then buried her nose in said comic.

"Who's Supergirl?" Carolinha curiously walked over.

"Only one of the best superheroes of all time!" Arden was all too happy to give the background on the iconic character when Carolinha joined them.

"Would you two keep it down?" scolded Draco from the opposite couch. He and Blaise were some of the students catching up on work. "No one cares!"

Arden rolled her eyes and continued explaining to Carolinha, despite the double sets of glares she was getting from the boys. Theodore, who was sitting next to the boys, shushed them as he read out of a Potions book.

"We're going on break tomorrow, are you sure you'll finish in time?" Angel went over to the couch to get a peek at the work between Draco and Blaise.

"We got some notes off, Nott," Draco nodded over to the brunette. "So we should be good."

"How is it that Theodore managed to finish all his homework and you two didn't?" Romina sat on the couch's armrest where Daphne sat.

"Because I'm clearly the superior one in this group," Theodore said with a clean smile on his face, causing an uproar of indignation from the rest of the group.

They all quieted down as Pansy emerged from the hallway with Millicent at her side, both girls holding a pile of papers in their hands and hollering for everyone's attention.

"We thought all students should get a reminder of who we have sleeping with us!" Pansy announced, waving one of the papers - which turned out to be a photograph - in the air.

"Can you keep it down!?" Arden was the first to shout back.

Pansy pointed her wand at Arden, and just when Romina thought Pansy would attack her with a spell, Pansy shot forwards one of the photographs with her so that it would smack Arden on the face. With a smirk, Pansy went back to her announcement. "I just thought you should all know what's got our dearest Romina in such a foul mood lately."

Romina paused at that, eyeing Pansy with suspicion.

"Hey…" she heard Arden saying. The girl peeled off the photograph from her eyes and examined the photograph. "Wow...hey, she kinda looks like…" Her eyes widened and quickly found Romina.

Romina's heart began to race as more murmurs started around the common room. Those who had the photographs were whispering and looking at her. "No…" she slowly got up from the couch's arm rest and looked to see Pansy and Millicent distributing more photographs. "Pansy, what did you do?"

Pansy came by their group and handed out more photographs.

"Hey, I know them," Angel said after looking at his copy of the photograph.

Even Draco's eyes had widened. He straightened up on the couch, eyes glued to the photograph. Pansy slipped a photograph on Theodore's book, forcing the latter to stop reading and look at it.

Angel still hadn't caught up yet, but the others were beginning to. "That woman kinda looks like—"

"Shut up, Paes," Draco said without thinking then snatched the photograph from Angel's hands. He did the same with Blaise's but it was too late for the others.

"Romina's parents," Carolinha slowly looked to Romina with a saddened face.

Romina felt all eyes landing on her, the room even feeling like it was shrinking. "I-I — why'd you do this!?" she rounded on Pansy, her eyes filling with tears. "Why would you do this!? How did you - why!?"

Pansy's smirk widened seeing her work gone so well. "I just thought we should all get a glimpse of the famous Oswells who helped the Dark Lord murder Potter's parents."

"You had no right!" Romina's voice shook.

Arden didn't know a lot about Romina's parents, but even she knew those two people were one of you-know-who's closest followers. Romina carried that shame with her - even if it didn't fall on her - every day, and here was Pansy showcasing it to the entire House. "Parkinson, you've finally taken it too far!" Arden jumped to her feet, letting her comic fall to the floor.

Pansy rolled her eyes at the girl. "Sit your ass down mudblood, this doesn't encumber you!"

Arden angrily whipped out her wand from her boot and pointed it at Pansy. "Stupefy!" Before Pansy knew it, her entire body was knocked backwards without the ability to move.

But even then, it was too late. Everyone else in the common room had made the connections and were whispering and murmuring about Romina, pointing and looking at her. Romina breathed in and out hard, tears blurring her vision.

"Romina!" Angel called after the girl as well, but Romina had already ran into the corridors.

The damage was done.

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 25: A Quiet Christmas

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

​​​​Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

Christmas with the Oswells was once again quiet and sullen. Since the previous year had Romina staying at Hogwarts, Sage and Lyonel both wanted to give their niece a good Christmas just like they used to! So, when Romina returned home for the holidays with an even deeper reservation...things got tough. They truly believed that returning to school would have helped Romina get out of that funk she'd gotten into during the summer. They didn't know it could get worse.

First of all, they were shocked to find her hair completely changed. Lyonel had raged about it, and Romina had argued back. Eventually, Sage calmed the two and allowed Romina to keep her hair…at least for the time being. But in the end, neither Sage nor Lyonel could understand what brought this sudden desire to change herself…until Arden told them what happened at Hogwarts. And she did not keep it clean.

"That bitch Pansy Parkinson distributed pictures of Rom's parents to our entire House!"

The girl sat in the kitchen with Sage and Lyonel listening to the story. Romina was up in her room, probably sleeping or just laying in bed as she'd done for the past days. It didn't matter who she would hear, Romina never came down.

"I didn't think kids could be so cruel," Sage straightened herself up in her chair. "But then again, the Parkinsons were always a stingy family always looking for a quick way into the spotlight. Seems inheritance was strong in this girl."

"Parkinson was always annoying and rude, but this act was just...cruel," Arden continued with her story. "None of us knew that Romina looked a lot like her parents...but Pansy made sure of that."

"Romina must have found that photograph of her parents in the attic," Lyonel said, vividly remembering him being the one to send her up there last summer in the first place.

"Had she never really seen her parents before?" Arden asked them.

Sage and Lyonel glanced at each other, uneasily.

Arden's eyebrows raised. "Seriously?"

"Romina's always been very adamant that she does not want anything to do with her parents," Sage explained. "We thought that giving into her way would be better for her."

"If you ask me, she got the shock of her life last summer then," Arden said, blowing out a breath, "Because she looks a lot like them — especially her mother."

"We need to figure out a way to help Romina," Sage put her hands together and pressed them against her lips. She was worried sick over her niece and afraid of what Romina might do in a desperate moment.

"It's going to be really hard," Arden admitted with a sigh. "The whole school probably got a glimpse of the pictures before we burned them. I'm sure Pansy made copies for the train ride back."

"Burned them?" the two adults had not listened much after those words.

Arden nodded. "Mhm, burned them. Daphne, Carolinha and I collected the pictures in our common room and then Draco, Angel and myself burned them afterwards. I made sure to give Pansy a good punch across the face before leaving. Theodore had to sort of pull me back. That Blaise just watched and laughed."

"Oh...Arden…" Sage said, probably meaning to scold but the smile twitching at the corner of her lips gave her away.

"Thank you for everything," Lyonel said, admittedly feeling guilty for questioning where some of those friendship associations of Romina's might lead to. While the Parkinson girl didn't surprise him much, the Malfoy boy did.

Arden pushed her chair back and got up. "Can I see Romina? It's Christmas, afterall...maybe I can get her to come down and open presents like last year."

"You are more than welcomed to try," Sage said, motioning Arden to the living room where the staircase was. "Her presents are all untouched underneath the tree."

Arden rubbed her hands together, taking it as a challenge. "She's coming. I promise!"

~ 0 ~

Romina was laying down on her bed, still in her pajamas, facing up at the ceiling. She was listening to Arden's incessant knocking on her bedroom door but she ignored the calls.

Didn't anyone understand she wanted to be alone? She wanted to relish in the peacefulness of her room before she had to return to the hell that was Hogwarts.

Arden was not one to give up so easily. "Forget the wand!" she cheered proudly to herself after opening up the bedroom door. "All you need is a bobby pin to get into places!"

Romina reached for her blanket and pulled it over herself. "Arden, go away!"

Arden frowned at the sight of the messy room. "Romina, come downstairs. There's a load of presents for you to open!"

"I don't want them - I don't want anything!"

"And that's code for you definitely want friends and family," Arden went up to Romina's bed and crawled over it. "And since most of our friends are at their own homes, I'm going to have to fill in the role for them!" She grabbed the blanket Romina was holding onto and pulled it.

Romina's grip on it was pretty strong, and maintained a fight for a few minutes. "Arden, go home! Go celebrate Christmas with your family!"

"And leave you to rot under your covers? I think not!" Arden pulled harder, even hearing some of the threads ripping a bit. "C'mon, Romina! Don't give Pansy the satisfaction of ruining one of the best holidays!"

Romina let go of the blanket so suddenly that Arden fell off the bed with the blanket. "But that's just it, Arden!" Romina sat upright, "Pansy ruined my life!"

"As much as I hate Pansy - and I really do - she didn't ruin your life," Arden got back on her feet and left the blanket on the floor. "So she showed people your parents, big deal."

"Big deal?" Romina repeated with indignation. "Those...people…" she swallowed hard. "Those people are responsible for so many horrendous acts. It embarasses me to be their daughter."

"I understand that it's hard—"

"No, you don't understand because both your parents are good hearted people who couldn't even hurt a fly!"

"You're right about that last part - Andrew's the one who has to kill the spiders," Arden mumbled. She went to take a seat at the edge of the bed again. "But listen, the photograph thing is going to die down, just like everything else tends to do. School is a site of gossip and the next day you're going to see that people are obsessed with other news."

"But I'm never going to forget their looks," Romina's eyes shimmered with fresh tears. "The fearful, scrutinizing looks from everyone. It's like my first year all over again except this time I really do look like them!"

"And just like the first year, it's all going to fade away," Arden gently reminded. "Look, it's true that you look a hell of a lot like your parents but so what? You also look a bit like your uncle. And guess what? It doesn't matter what you look like. You, Romina, are a kind and funny girl. I mean, think about it, if you were evil would people still be your friends? Harry's written me countless letters asking about you because you won't answer his! What does that tell you?"

Romina still seemed unconvinced.

"You should have seen us working like a pack of dogs getting rid of those pictures for you!" Arden continued, and sure enough drew her friend's attention with that. "Angel was burning those things faster than I could count! And I'm sure that Theodore accidentally burned Draco's thumb - that was funny."

Romina shook her head and hid her smile behind her hands. "You shouldn't have."

"See? We all still like you and I, personally, really hate to see you like this because Parkinson decided to screw around," Arden gently pulled on Romina's arm. "Come downstairs and let's open presents like we always do. I brought mine over…"

Romina eyed the open doorway with some curiosity of what was waiting for her downstairs. She hated that she was making her aunt and uncle's Christmas surprise go bad too…

"Just...just for a little bit."

Arden squealed and promptly yanked Romina off her bed. "Let's go!"

~ 0 ~

Sage and Lyonel truly loved having Arden over. The girl was able to bring their niece downstairs for the first time after days of hassling Romina on their own. Romina was graced with warm hot chocolate while Arden started passing out presents.

"Oh look! This one's from Hermione!" Arden handed the present over to Romina. "She gave me this cute little ragdoll meant to look like me!"

Romina chuckled and unwrapped her present. She found she'd also gotten an enchanted ragdoll. As soon as she picked it up, the ragdoll morphed to look just like Romina.

"Those are really adorable," Sage came by with fresh new cups of hot chocolate for everyone. "I remember seeing them in Diagon Alley."

"I'll thank her for it when I see her," Romina said before moving onto the next ones. She'd opened up the Weasleys' present which included the famous sweater with an 'R' knitted on the front, along with a box of jelly beans she was sure came from the twins."

"How do you know?" Arden asked, leaning closer to see what made it stand out.

"Because there's a sticky note…" Romina cleared her throat and read it out loud. "We heard what Parkinson did to you and these are sure to help. One taste and she'll be breathing out fire for a week! Stay strong, Aline!" Everyone had laughed together, even Romina in the middle. "I hate them so much," she shook her head.

"It's a beautiful middle name," Sage said after Romina moved on to other presents. "It's French. You're part French, after all."

Romina paused after opening Harry's present, eyes wide. She met her aunt's gaze (and missed the way Lyonel had looked at Sage as well in the process) "I'm French?"

Sage seemed to recognize her mistake, especially when she saw Lyonel. "Uh, well…" Her face tinted red in a matter of seconds. "I meant…the name is French."

"Yeah, but you just said that I'm French too…" Romina said, swallowing hard, "And I know that you guys aren't French, so neither was my da— Caplan. That means that Elora was French."

"You didn't know that about yourself?" Arden found it hard to believe that such a basic detail about one's history could be that hidden, and for what reason too.

Romina looked down, growing self-conscious about things she hadn't really thought about until now. "So Elora's family, they're all French…do they live in France?"

"Uh…" Sage looked to Lyonel again, this time for help.

"I think they live around these parts but I'm not sure," Lyonel said curtly.

"They live here?" Romina gaped, as did Arden. "How are they? I mean…what kind of people are they? Are they good…? Or…not?"

"I, uh, don't know," said Lyonel with a shrug. "I don't keep up with them. Not since the war. It was just better that way."

"And so they…they really cut ties with us too, huh?" Romina wondered if that part of her family ever bothered to check up on her. Despite everything, she was the only child Elora ever had. Did that count for something?

"Well, open up Harry's present, dear," Sage said encouragingly, wanting to lift the spirits before they were completely gone again.

Romina's lingering look on her aunt and uncle was noted by the three in the room. It was clear she wanted to learn more about these family members who were seemingly alive. It was only fair she knew all of them, right?

"Oh look, Harry bought you those red lollipops you liked from Hogsmeade," Arden said after Sage practically opened the present herself. "Man, those were good," Arden huffed when she remembered the one she was munching on that was stolen by air.

"I guess I'm not getting anything from Pansy this year," Romina recalled the last gift Pansy had given her and wondered if she should burn it tonight or right now.

"That cow never deserved anything! And I'm more than happy to burn the scarf you got her her too!" Arden went for another present and immediately "oooed" about it. "This one's from Angel!"

Romina rolled her eyes as she took the present. "Leave it alone, Arden." She opened the present up and discovered it was a nice photograph of her, Angel, and the rest of the crew minus Pansy. She peeled off the sticky note on the corner of the portrait.

"Oh I remember that," Arden said after taking the portrait. "Theodore and Draco were trying to prove to me that they knew more about Divination than me. Idiots."

The photograph had Romina, Daphne and Carolinha trying to fit in a puzzle on the common room floor. Draco, Arden and Theodore were on the couch arguing over something, but it looked like Arden was winning judging by the smirk on her face. Blaise and Angel were the only ones who seemed decently involved in their studies.

"This is a wonderful picture," Sage noted after she and her husband got a glimpse. "Who took it?"

"One of the older students did," Romina recalled the moment too. "It was for a muggle studies class and I guess we fit the role." She looked back at the note still in her hand and read it out loud.

Romina, I know you're worried about your family so I thought this might be a good present. It's you, Romina, doing what you always do: being a friend. We love you.

Angel

Romina made a note to send a letter back to Angel. It was a really sweet gesture from him that she didn't want it to go unnoticed.

Daphne had gifted her a couple of bracelets that were charmed to match whatever outfit the person wore. Arden's present was another comic, this time of Poison Ivy! She was Romina's favorite villain of all time. Even Luna Lovegood had surprised her with homemade jewelry that made Romina's heart swell. The last one was a rather small, squared one that made Romina wonder what it could be.

"That one came in this morning," Lyonel remembered the particular arrogant owl who almost pecked him over the head for a treat. "Bloody owl - I'll have him if he comes back." Sage laughed and soothed him with some more hot chocolate.

"Who's it from?" Arden curiously wondered as Romina looked it over.

"From Draco," Romina said with decent surprise. "That's certainly new."

"I'll say," Arden frowned for a moment. "He's another one that never sends anything either!"

Romina playfully rolled her eyes and went ahead to open the present. It turned out to hold a single tie up headband that was a plaid green and blue. "It's...pretty," Romina admitted as she picked it up and tried it on. The moment she did, it changed patterns and colors to match her pajamas.

"Oh it matches like Daphne's bracelets did!" Arden pointed out with a gasp.

"That's good, since you seem to love those things a lot," Sage smiled. "Now you won't have to buy anymore."

"Very thoughtful of Draco," Arden said, though the face she was making seemed like she wasn't believing it. "Didn't know he had that quality...nor that he was capable of it."

Romina saw a note on the box and picked it up to read.

I remembered you liked those things Granger gave you so I thought one of them - an actual good one - might help you after Parkinson's trick. I still don't know what they're called but you look nice in them. Maybe one might remind you that while our parents leave legacies behind, we're not always meant to take them on.

Draco.

Arden watched a smile spread across Romina's face. It wasn't the same one she gave to all her other presents. "Um...Rom…?"

Romina snapped out of her trance and looked around, suddenly realizing she'd gotten lost in thoughts. With the three curious gazes she was getting, she felt a warmness rush through her face. "U-um, yeah. He just thought it might cheer me up," she quickly took off the headband and placed it back in the box before Arden had a chance to see the note. Not that it should matter - why would it matter?

"You okay?" Arden asked, and the fact she was close to smiling made Romina dread what was running through her mind.

"Y-yeah, aunt Sage, is there anymore hot chocolate?"

"Of course there is." Her aunt was always one to make things better.

"Why don't you open the last one from your aunt and I?" Lyonel pointed to the last gift under the tree.

"I'll have to send out gifts to everyone," Romina blushed with embarrassment again when she realized she still hadn't sent out any presents. She'd said she would switch to muggle chocolates the time she went to Hogsmeade but after Pansy's trick, Romina forgot all about it.

She pulled the last present, which turned out to be a little heavier than the other presents. She unwrapped it and found a large black box underneath. When she pulled the lid off, she gasped so loudly even her aunt heard from the kitchen.

"Romina!?" Sage came rushing back into the living room.

Romina was staring wide-eyed at the brand new violin sitting inside the box. "Oh my...God…" she gently picked it up and examined it, "This is so beautiful!" She put it back in the box and rushed to go hug her aunt and uncle. "Thank you so much! Thank you!"

"We thought you could play some of your tunes again," Lyonel said as Romina hugged her aunt. "And perhaps return to your classes over the summer?"

"I know they miss you," Arden quickly said. "Victoria won't stop talking about it!"

"I wouldn't go that far," Romina came back to her violin with an honest smile. "But I do miss playing."

She missed everything, as she always came to realize. This upward and downward spiral of hers was so difficult to manage. Seeing all the presents her friends took time to buy for her made her heart swell. She glanced at Arden, just one example of her good friends, then she looked at her aunt and uncle.

"You know, Romina," her uncle began, "The block here is having a Christmas party at night. We weren't going to participate because we wanted a quieter dinner, but...maybe it could be fun if we did join."

"Oh, yes!" Arden was the first to exclaim. "My parents are in charge of making bread pudding! Victoria's parents are bringing karaoke! Rom, say you'd come, please?"

Romina looked unsure about the whole ordeal. The idea of spending time with her muggle friends did sound appealing, and they did always make her forget about her problems. Plus, just because she was sour didn't mean her aunt and uncle had to come down with her.

"Maybe...maybe just for a little bit…"

"Yes!" Arden clapped happily and lunged on Romina for a hug. "It's going to be so much fun!"

~0~

That night, almost the entire block was out on the street celebrating Christmas night. Many long tables had been set out on the road and were stock-full of food and drinks. Victoria Connelly's parents did bring out a karaoke machine for those interested. Many of the kids were zooming up and down the block using their new toys. It was a perfect muggle Christmas.

Romina watched the procession from her bedroom window. By her aunt's insistence, she'd changed into something more in the Christmas spirit. She wore a shimmering green jumper with the pattern of snowflakes. Since it was long, reaching to her knees, she matched them with black leggings and black flats that had green gemstones on them.

"Hey!" Arden surprised her by coming in with their muggle friend, Victoria, into the room. "Are you ready?"

Romina glanced over her shoulder and smiled warmly, more for Victoria's sake than anything. She didn't want (and really couldn't)to explain about her recent moods. "I guess."

"Your aunt and uncle are already outside," Victoria came up to the window to point them out, not that Romina hadn't caught them before. "We promised them you'd be down in a couple minutes."

"They look like they're having fun," Romina remarked. She caught sight of the Dursleys coming towards the party and rolled her eyes. "And here come the Dursleys to ruin it."

"Ugh, that Dudley gets ruder with each year," Victoria crinkled her nose. "I still think it's abusive to keep Harry away for Christmas."

Arden's hum made both girls look back to see her rummaging through Romina's presents. "I think Harry's enjoying himself." Upon seeing Victoria's curious look, she quickly added, "Uh, you know, being away from the Dursleys is present enough!"

Victoria bought it judging by her laugh. Romina still warned Arden with another look to watch what she said.

"Oh, by the way Romina, you look so pretty!" Victoria gushed over Romina's jumper. "You know, I got one almost like it this morning! We could've been twins!"

Romina's laugh was a genuine one, which just served to show she was in the mood for something better than shutting herself up. Arden cleared her throat from Romina's desk. "If we could just take that hair of hers...but with what?" she tapped her chin in feign thought then raised the new tie up headband Romina received in the morning.

Romina shook her head, about to remind Arden it was enchanted - meaning Victoria couldn't see it - when Arden wrapped the headband around Romina's head. Surprisingly, it didn't change colors. It remained in its white color.

"Huh, I guess it's a fail safe in case of muggles," Romina whispered to Arden.

"I guess Draco thought of it all. Still surprising," Arden stepped back to see if the headband was on right.

"Who?" Victoria came by to stand beside Arden. "That's a pretty headband! Where'd you get it from?"

Arden crossed her arms and smirked at Romina. "Yeah, Rom, where'd you get it from?"

Romina's death glare was pretty hard even for a fourteen year old. "Let's go out to the party," she suggested instead. She did mumble 'I'll get you for this' to Arden before leaving the room though, something that just made Arden laugh.

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 33: Out in the Country

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

​​​​Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

Romina never thought it would be possible to feel both heavy excitement and a heavy urge to throw up. Things were actually working out for her — like actually working. Rolf's parents, her uncle Adric and aunt Gemma, had come to their house to talk about the situation and what they hoped would be the arrangement. Romina was surprised that her uncle Lyonel managed to keep calm about the whole thing. Of course she'd already warned him that if he ruined this in any way, she would never forgive him. Blackmail, perhaps, but it worked.

At the end of the visit, it was agreed that Romina would visit her grandparents accompanied by Rolf and his parents. Neither Lyonel nor Sage felt prudent to come along for obvious reasons. Romina also suspected that Lyonel did it to avoid any conflicts during her visit, an act she would thank him for later.

"You have everything you need, right?" Sage was fixing Romina's primp curls and adjusting the collar of her blouse.

"Yes, auntie," Romina nodded fervently. It wasn't like she had checked her duffel bag over and over for the last day.

"Now remember," Lyonel stepped towards her, "If you feel bombarded or if you just want to come home, tell them. They understand that this can be difficult and they just want to make sure you're comfortable. Don't be afraid to tell them, okay?"

Romina nodded again. "Yeah."

A short moment later, their fireplace spit out the familiar face of Rolf Scamander and the semi-familiar face of his father, Adric.

"Romina!" Rolf beamed at the sight of her. "Hi!"

Romina could at least relax seeing him and knowing that he was going to be around for most of the visit. Still, when she met Adric Scamander's gaze, she drew in a shaky breath. "H-hi," she said dumbly. It was very hard accepting the fact she had another uncle.

Adric Scamander was a tall man with dark brown hair that tousled on the back. His eyes were a dark brown and the more Romina looked at him, the more she paid attention to some light freckles sprinkled over his face. "Hi Romina," he greeted her kindly. "Are you ready to go?"

Romina had no idea why she looked up at her aunt and uncle. She felt like a child who had no idea what to do. Way to stand your ground!

"Whenever you're ready, sweetheart," Sage said

Romina bit on her bottom lip. Her fingers curled tightly around the strap of her duffel bag. "I'm ready," she said, trying to act like she wasn't a nervous wreck at the moment.

"C'mon Romina," Rolf was eager for the both of them, "Grandpa's going to show you the bowtruckles—those are my favorite!"

"What's a bowtruckle?" Romina asked. Suddenly the ten times she had read their grandfather's book disappeared from her head.

Rolf chuckled and reached for his cousin's hand. "They're these little green looking creatures. Kind of like walking plants."

"I think...I think I remember reading about them…" Romina said, letting Rolf walk them back towards the fireplace. Her head would need an extra minute or so to think for just about anything right now.

The adults smiled at the pair. Lyonel felt a little more relaxed seeing Romina more willing around Rolf. Then he felt the guilt for having robbed her of the relationship. He tried reminding himself that he'd done everything he could to make sure she was safe and happy.

"We'll have her back by tomorrow," Adric told him. "Unless you all decide otherwise."

Sage nodded. "Thank you. This means a lot to her."

Adric smiled. "Believe me, it means a lot for our family too. It's like Elora isn't completely gone." The mention of his older sister was bittersweet for both sides of the family. "Alright you two," he said, turning for the teenagers, "Ready or not…"

The flames erupted in the fireplace again and in a couple seconds, Lyonel and Sage saw their niece disappear with the rest of her family.

~ 0 ~

Romina was pretty much like a statue as soon as she left the fireplace. She was well aware that she was in another home, a nice home by the looks of it, and there was also a dark haired woman waiting for them.

Gemma Scamander, Rolf's mother, was eager to meet Romina and didn't hesitate to pull the girl into a tight hug. "Oh, you have no idea how much Rolf's talked about you in these last years!"

"Mum," Rolf said through gritted teeth. "She gets it, trust me."

Gemma winced and let Romina go. "Sorry, I tend to get a little overexcited."

"I'll say," Adric came around.

Gemma lightly whacked his arm. "Anyways," she said, though her gaze lingered on her husband for a moment before she continued, "Everyone's waiting at the house but I've reminded them that it may be a while before we get there. Romina, how are you feeling?"

Romina smiled lightly. "So far, so good." I haven't thrown up yet. She had yet to release the firm grip around her duffel bag's strap too but that was something else. "Um, have I met everyone here, though?" The house was rather silent but she had no idea if Rolf had any younger or older siblings.

Adric chuckled when he presumed Romina's thoughts. "It's just us, dear. Your aunt Kassia, though, you'll want to see her."

"Then let's," Romina said, drawing in a breath. It was basically now or never.

Adric and Gemma were more than happy to get them going. As they readied to re-enter the fireplace, Romina heard Rolf's comforting words that everything was going to be fine. Everyone was waiting anxiously to meet her. There was no reason to worry about anything.

Romina had no idea what to think nor feel when she entered the fireplace and came out once again in a whole new house. The living room was beyond spacious and had a touch of vintage to it? Romina took note of the warm colors and immediately thought of autumn for some reason. She spotted several portraits on the wall, a lot of them being awards of some type.

"We're here!" Adric's loud yell made Romina flinch in her spot.

Beside her, Rolf chuckled. "Yeah, Dad's got a big voice. You should hear him when I'm in trouble."

Romina cracked a smile at him. "That's my uncle Lyonel," she said and they both shared a laugh.

"I didn't expect you to be here so soon!" They heard a woman say and before Romina could decide on who it would be, a slightly younger woman than Gemma walked into the living room. Romina's eyes widened.

She had soft blonde hair and blue eyes, but what took Romina's attention was the fact that she was very pregnant.

"Oh wow," the woman breathed when she saw Romina. "Adric, she's got Mum's—"

"I know," Adric said with a small chuckle. "First thing I thought of when I saw her. Romina?" The girl stepped forwards as soon as he called. Adric placed a hand on her shoulder. "Romina, this is your aunt Kassia. And that—" he pointed at her pregnant belly, "—is the future Willow."

"Another cousin," Romina smiled slowly.

Kassia chuckled and nodded. "Oh yes, and a rowdy one judging by the kicks."

"Oh, is she kicking again?" Gemma moved over to test her luck and see if she could feel the baby's kicks.

"Oh!" Kassia huffed. "Hasn't stopped since last night! I can't wait for her to get out!"

"Romina, we can take your stuff to the guest room," Adric said, holding a hand out for the bag. "That way you can go outside." He glanced at his sister. "I imagine that's where they are?"

Kassia scoffed. "You know Mum, everything has to be perfectly decorated."

Romina's heart skipped a beat at the mention of her grandmother. "What is she decorating?" the question left her lips before she even finished thinking it.

Kassia smiled at her. "Why don't you come out and see?" She extended her hand towards Romina and waited patiently for the girl to decide whether or not she would want to take it.

Romina wanted to meet everyone in the house so badly that she didn't think twice about handing over her duffel bag to Adric then taking Kassia's hand.

"We'll be outside, Adric," Kassia said before he took off for the stairs. "C'mon then, better get a headstart. I'm a little slower than usual."

"How long till you have your baby?" Romina found herself asling. If Lyonel or Sage had been around, she was sure to have been scolded for such an imprudent question.

Kassia merely chuckled, however, easing Romina's nerves. "About a month now. Her father and I are so excited."

"You're married?"

"Yeah, your uncle Oliver is off in France, I'm afraid. Business trip."

Kassia led the group out into the biggest yard that Romina had ever seen. In fact, it was just a big ole field. It reminded her of the country houses she sometimes saw in movies where the characters went to "get away from it all". A high wooden gate was set around the house but there was truly no need for it. There wasn't anything around them. Beautiful plants adorned both sides of the gate and at the end there was a door to the outside. The plants didn't stop by the gates, though, they were pretty much everywhere! Twinkling lights were draped in the form of curtains over the gates. A wooden table, a big one at that, resided at the center with empty plates. And for some reason, there were half dressed mannequins and others that were right empty set sporadically around. It was funny but at the same time, Romina recognized them as the special mannequins that proper designers would use.

And finally, Romina spotted a tall woman with wavy blonde hair below her shoulders that seemed to be gray in some areas. She was using her wand to prop up a brand new set of twinkling lights near the gate door. She was humming something and it took Romina a moment to realize the woman was humming something in French.

Kassia cleared her throat and called out to the woman. "Mum?"

The woman dropped the twinkling lights when she looked back and found her visitors. "Oh!" Her eyes widened.

Romina felt like she might pass out when the woman looked directly at her.

"Bienvenue!" She lowered her wand and left it carelessly on the table. She took a long stride towards the group.

Romina immediately noted the elegant robes she wore all in pastel colors. Her face was wrinkled but there was a timeless beauty to her. Her lips were pink and stretched into a wide smile.

"Grandma! It's her!" Rolf exclaimed and immediately felt his mother's hard grip on his shoulder. She wanted him to be calm right now? Of all times!?

Romina swallowed hard when her grandmother chuckled. She even laughed softly and elegantly. How does one even do that?

"Oh, I know," the woman said, "You don't think I'd recognize my own eyes?"

Romina's hand ghosted around her eyes then. "Your eyes?" she repeated.

Her grandmother chuckled. "Well of course. I suppose you could have gotten them from your father but I hardly think so. They're mine. Same shade of brown. And big." She heaved a long sigh and gave Romina a look that the girl couldn't describe. "It is very nice to meet you, Romina. I'm your grandmother, Abigail."

"Yeah, I...I heard," Romina awkwardly smiled.

Abigail chuckled. "I suppose you have. I know Rolf has been talking to you. He is quite the talker. Didn't get that from this family."

"Hey," Gemma laughed. "I don't talk that much. And you should hear Adric, he gets going sometimes."

"I suppose he does," mused Abigail. She met Romina's stare and smiled. "Trying to picture me as grandma?"

"Kind of," Romina admitted. "I'm sorry—"

"Don't be," Abigail cut her off quickly. Her smile dropped to be replaced by an earnest face. "You take all the time you need, alright? We will all respect your boundaries, whatever you want them to be."

"Th-thank you…" Romina bit on her bottom lip, "Can I...could I...um, could I hug you?" She felt an insane heat blossom over her cheeks as soon as she croaked the question out.

Luckily for her, Abigail laughed. "That was definitely your grandfather. Come here!"

Romina practically jumped on the opportunity. Her hands wrapped around her grandmother tightly.

Abigail hugged her back within the second. "Welcome home, Romina."

Romina could feel stinging tears in her eyes so she decided to shut them before they decided to escape. She focused solely on the sweet hug her grandmother was giving her. She smelled so sweet—an elegant perfume no doubt. The anger she initially felt when she learned about their existence seemed to fade in that moment. Romina wouldn't wonder if it was going to come back, not right now.

"There, there," Abigail rubbed Romina's back. "From now on, if you'd like of course, you can have all the hugs you want."

"You're not going to pinch her cheeks?" Rolf asked and Romina heard the distinct sound of his hiss. His mother had just whacked him upside the head. "What?" He huffed. "I was just asking!"

Abigail shook her head. "My grandchildren," she slowly unwinded her arms and allowed Romina to take a moment. "My grandchildren."

"You really are French," Romina said, chuckling at her grandmother's light French accent.

"Oui!" Abigail bopped Romina's nose. "Born and raised."

"Is that why you design clothes?"

Abigail chuckled. "No, I've always liked creating things, not just clothes you know. I used to create things all the time when I was younger. Out of anything too."

"Mum, why don't you show her your room?" Kassia suggested. "While Dad finishes downstairs."

Abigail pointed at her daughter. "That's a good idea! But you might need to go downstairs and pull your father out. You know how lost he gets sometimes."

Kassia scoffed. "Just a little."

"What's he doing?" Romina asked, unable to stop the light feeling of disappointment that couldn't meet her grandfather right now.

"Taking care of his creatures, what else?" Abigail sighed with a chuckle. "But don't you worry, he's coming up for lunch. He's as excited to meet you as everyone else is. C'mon." She held her hand out for Romina. "I've got many things to show you. Kassia, Gemma, will you finish for me down here?"

"Of course," Gemma said. "Rolf, you can help."

"Can't I just go downstairs with grandpa instead?" Rolf said with a scrunched nose. He really didn't feel like decorating.

"Nope! Your father's going to help too! Go!"

Romina smiled when Rolf begrudgingly walked with his mother. She took Abigail's hand afterwards and walked with her back into the house.

"Are you well, my dear?" Abigail asked as they headed for the stairs. "Because you are more than welcome to tell me if you need some time or space…"

"I'm good, promise," Romina nodded. She was still nervous but the joy in getting to meet all of them was slowly winning out.

Abigail smiled and led her up the stairs. "Is there anything you want to know about me? Or anything you want to know in general?"

Romina could think of at least a thousand things she wanted to ask. It was hard deciding where to start. "If you're French, how'd you end up living in the English countryside?" That was probably the stupidest question of all but for some reason it was the easiest one to start with.

"After everything, your grandfather and I decided that we both wanted some peace. The cities are fine but I was always accustomed to living in these solitary houses and besides, I needed space and quiet to design. Your grandfather needed the space for his creatures."

Romina hummed. She eyed the portraits on hallway walls. Even the decoration upstairs was vintage-like. "Did you design this place? Style it?"

"Yeah, I have a knack for it, you could say." Abigail met Romina's gaze and shared a chuckle with her.

"Just a bit," Romina said, mimicking her aunt Gemma's tone from earlier. "My friend Daphne Greengrass is one of your biggest fans. She loves your clothes."

"The Greengrass family, yes," nodded Abigail thoughtfully. "They're avid clients of mine. What about you? Have you ever bought any of my creations?"

Romina shook her head. "No. I've lived in the muggle world all my life so I only really have muggle clothing, sorry. Bloomingdales and all."

"Don't apologize, Romina. It's nothing to be sorry about. From now on, though, you do have access to any of my designs. Your aunt Kassia has several of them too."

Romina smiled. "Thanks, although, I don't really attend any wizarding parties or balls."

"I also make casual robes, my dear," Abigail reminded her.

"Right…"

Abigail soon stopped them in front of a closed door. It was her designing room—a place where the magic literally happened. Romina faced a large room full of fabrics and sewing machines, half finished or half started creations. To her wonder, there were even half finished jewelry sets lying around.

"I am typically a neat freak but when it comes to designing...I have a different system," Abigail admitted with a sheepish chuckle.

"This is amazing!" Romina exclaimed. She zipped from one spot to the next to examine the robes that were being made. "You really work here?"

"Most of the time, yeah. Sometimes I meet Kassia at the factory but...I like my little workshop here."

"Grandma, this is incredible!"

Abigail's face softened when Romina addressed her that way. "Thank you," she whispered.

Romina stopped by a table with several different portraits. "Is this you?" she picked up one portrait of a moving blonde woman who was far younger.

Abigail moved up to see the frame. "Yes," she nodded. "That was my 17th birthday. My parents threw my a grand celebration for my coming of age. I had just graduated from the Beauxbaton Academy."

"The what?" Romina glanced at her grandmother curiously.

"The wizarding school in France, my dear. That's where I studied."

"Oh." Romian felt stupid. Abigail had said she was born and raised in France! "You look so pretty."

Abigail 'aw'd'. "You're too sweet."

Romina set the frame back in its place and moved onto another one. She recognized Abigail's young face this time and beamed when she saw who she stood beside. "That's him—that's my grandfather!"

It was her grandparents' wedding picture.

Abigail mused. "Yes, it is. Happiest day of my life."

"You guys do look so happy," Romina mumbled. She was studying every last detail of the picture. "Hey, Rolf kind of looks like him."

"Yes," Abigail chuckled. "It's funny how strong the genes can be sometimes."

Romina gazed over the picture for another minute then placed it back down on the table. Her eyes roamed over the next frames and curiously noticed her grandmother with another man, a shorter and chubbier man, and in the next frame she was in the middle of two women who were dressed to the nines in fancy robes. "Who are they?"

"Ah," Abigail scooted closer to her granddaughter, "You will of course be meeting them as well. They are my best friends in the entire world. That right there—" she pointed at the man, "—could technically be your uncle Jacob. He is like my brother, and for a while I truly believed he was."

Romina noticed the distant look that had suddenly settled over Abigail's face. "Grandma? Are you okay?"

"Yes, sorry," Abigail waved it off. "Part of a bigger story."

"I can listen to it," Romina immediately said.

"I'm not sure you're quite ready. At least not right now. All you need to know is that Jacob Kowalski is your uncle. Now those two women over in that one—that's Tina and Queenie Goldstein. Queenie's actually married to Jacob. They are my best friends and the reason I'm actually still here."

Romina sensed that this unknown story was pretty big and not every part of it was a happy one.

"They're like your aunts, Romina."

Romina nodded and looked at the last frame. It was the first frame she'd seen when she approached the table but she knew that getting to it would mean the happiness and giddiness would soon fade.

Adric, Kassia and Elora all smiled at the camera.

Romina didn't dare pick it up.

"It's alright, Romina," Abigail whispered. "Those questions—you're more than welcomed to ask. I just cannot guarantee that you'll like them."

Romina continued to stare at the picture, and Abigail noted the disdain in her granddaughter's eyes.

"She's got brown hair here..." Romina said suddenly, bringing Abigail's attention back.

"What, dear?"

"Elora, she's got brown hair there," Romina pointed.

Abigail silently noted the fact Romina did not call Elora her mother; she couldn't blame the girl.

"Every picture I have of her she has black hair."

"Yes, well, Elora was never fond of her hair. She dyed it as soon as she was old enough."

"Even when it's dyed hair, I still look just like her," Romina said, chewing on her bottom lip. "I have Caplan's eyes and hair but I still look like her." My dumb luck.

"You do," mused Abigail. "I imagine that it hasn't been easy coping with everything about her...and your father…"

Romina stared again, silently. Elora was smiling so genuinely in the picture, almost like she was happy and actually loved her siblings. "What happened?" She finally asked the question that had burned in her skull the moment she learned what her parents had done in the past. The only difference now was that she was with the woman who could possibly shed some light on Elora Oswell. Romina turned to her grandmother. "Why did my mother do everything that she did? What...made her become that?"

Romina had never found someone who was just as despondent as she was about Elora. Abigail's face contorted with deep pain. Her eyes fell on the frame of her children. "I don't know," she admitted. "Elora was always a bright child. She was my light before Adric was born. She...we gave her everything. Your grandfather and I, we had to fight a lot for this world and when everything was finally done, when we were finally able to settle down and enjoy our family, Elora was our everything."

"So...you spoiled her?" Romina asked. She could think of many kids who had been spoiled—Draco and Pansy came to mind first for some reason—but that would never explain how Elora ended up in Azkaban. Spoiling a child didn't make them horrendously dark.

Abigail shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe? I don't know. We disciplined her when we thought it was right. We taught her everything we knew, told her the stories of the fights that we had to face in the past just so she and every other child born after could live peacefully and without fear. For a while, Elora was fine. And then she went to Hogwarts. She started to change. She had already met your father but it wasn't the people around her who changed her. I think...I think it was always just her. It was something that had been locked away until she started doing dark magic. She found she was very talented at it. There was no stopping her from becoming who she did."

Romina felt like she was right back where she started. There was no clear answer about how Elora turned to the dark side. She would never get the answer — it wasn't like she would ever get to ask Elora directly.

"Romina, I feel like we owe you one huge apology," Abigail said, prompting Romina to look at her, "When Elora had you, we should have taken you. But we had hoped that you, her daughter, would be able to change her, but nothing was going to do that. We should've never placed that kind of job on you."

"Why didn't you come for me?" Romina blurted. Before coming, she had tried to plan on how she would ask the harder questions but the necessity to know why this part of the family had chosen to leave her be was much stronger than being "organized".

"Your uncle Lyonel took guardianship before we were able to find you," Abigail sighed. "By the time we caught up with what had happened, you were already legally under his care. He chose to take you away from this world and, as painful as it was to let you go, we knew that Lyonel would take care of you. A lot of people would have loved to get retribution against the Oswells and you, a toddler, would be an easy access point."

Romina stepped away from her grandmother, eyes downcast as the next question slipped from her. "Why didn't you try to see me when Rolf found out about me at Hogwarts? Things were calm by then."

"Fear," Abigail chuckled sadly and shamefully. "We had no idea who you turned out to be, but we knew that whoever you were was because of Lyonel. We didn't know if you knew about us, if you even wanted to see us. We didn't want to complicate your life."

"Could've helped me a lot, you know," Romina said. "I spent 14 years thinking none of my family wanted anything to do with me. I thought you gave up on me."

"We never gave up on you," Abigail shook her head. "We were afraid, I guess, that you would hate us."

"Hate you?" Romina said incredulously. "For what?"

"For what your mother did."

"What Elora did has nothing to do with you. I would have loved growing up having my grandparents in my life."

Abigail bit on her lip slightly, eyes shining with tears. "We could have, huh?" She exhaled a shaky breath. "I'm really sorry, Romina. If you would have us now...we would really like to be part of your life."

Romina didn't think twice before nodding. "I want to know who I am beyond that of an Oswell. I have cousins, aunts and uncles and...grandparents…" She made a weak gesture towards Abigail. "And god knows what else."

Abigail nodded. "We'll tell you everything you want to know, I promise. In the meantime, how would you like to help me finish this little necklace I'm working on."

Romina nodded. Working with her grandmother for the first time seemed like a great start to a new life. "Yes, I would like that."

Abigail motioned the girl to follow her to a table. Romina was dazzled with all the pretty stones and chains. It was an outright mess but somehow Abigail made it feel organized in her own way. She knew where everything was, even those smaller stones hiding under the bigger ones. While they worked, Romina got to learn more about Abigail.

She had lived in France for most of her life except for a short period in New York—this is where she had met that Kowalski man, the Goldstein sisters and of course her now husband. Romina noted that there were a lot of parts Abigail was purposely skipping over but for now, she thought it was best not to ask about it.

"So you're an only child like me," Romina said, ears perked up for any of the smallest details Abigail had to say. She held onto a silver wire for the unfinished necklace. Abigail was rummaging through a series of blue stones on the table.

"Mhm, I have a close cousin. She lives in France. You can meet her later on." Abigail flashed her granddaughter a smile, one that Romina immediately reciprocated.

Abigail Gejel belonged to an important pureblood family in France but as it turned out, they weren't part of any of the "nonsense muggle hatred" as she had put it.

Romina was relieved to hear that. She was also delighted to hear how Abigail had created the now exclusive fashion designing line. "You're a businesswoman!" Romina laughed. "Super cool! And back in the day too!"

Abigail hummed. "It was a challenge but I had the right support." She had finally found the right topaz stone she'd been searching for.

"You built your own business, that's really cool. And your designs are too. No wonder Daphne loves them!"

"You said Greengrass right?" Abigail used her wand to find the other topaz stones. She'd grown tired of manually searching for them. "Her mother is always upfront with the new lines. She pays in advance, you know?"

Romina chuckled lightly. "That sounds like Daphne would be. They're all about fashion."

"And you?" Abigail asked, pausing for a moment to glance at her granddaughter. "What are you about?"

Romina shrugged. "I don't know. I like fashion but not nearly as much as Daphne. I play violin—it's a muggle instrument—"

"I know," Abigail said, smiling at Romina's bashfulness. "Such a calming instrument." She prompted Romina to up the two ends of the wire then used her wand to slip the stones in. Romina was dazzled with the entire process and happily watched Abigail mend the sides to create a beautiful choker. "There we are," Abigail sighed contently. "It should match you well."

"What?" Romina blinked. "Me?"

"Well of course," Abigail said, turning to her with the choker in hand. "It'll match your headband. Beautiful shade of blue, by the way. Although, I may have added a stone that doesn't quite match—may I see it?"

"Huh?" Romina barely registered the question before she saw her grandmother's wand being waved again and the headband around her head untying. "Oh, wait!"

As soon as the headwrap was off, it reverted to its default silver color.

"Oh…" Abigail was naturally startled with the change.

"Yeah, I was going to tell you that…" Romina apologetically smiled. "It's charmed, you see? It's set to match whatever outfit I'm wearing. I chose blue today so…"

"It turned to blue," Abigail understood, "That's smart. I've heard of these but they kind of put me out of business, you know?"

Romina laughed with her. "It's cool but it'll never beat what you can make."

"These are high in the fashion world…" Abigail said, looking meaningfully at Romima. "You share you don't have an inkling for the fashion business?"

Romina shook her head. "Not really, sorry. It was a gift from a friend."

"Ah, well then, maybe she has the inkling."

Romina scrunched her face, her lips just barely holding back a laugh. "He has never mentioned that but, um, it would be fairly interesting." There, she had to snicker. She seriously doubted that Draco would ever have any type of desire to learn about fashion.

Abigail gave her granddaughter a sharp look. "Ah, is this friend a, um, special—"

"No!" Romina was quick to say. "It was Christmas, we all sent gifts to each other. Besides, if you ask me, I'm pretty sure his mother had to give him some pointers. When have you ever met a guy with good taste in accessories?"

Abigail's laugh faded into a hum. "Your grandfather has given me some peculiar things in the past."

"Yeah, I'm 90% sure that Narcissa Malfoy used her connections for all of us girl friends."

"Oh that woman," Abigail said with another hum, "She is our toughest customer but a wiz at events."

Romina snickered. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

Abigail still switched the topaz stones around to perfectly match the hair wrap. It was when she had finished that they heard a sharp 'Mum!' from downstairs. It was followed by 'He's done it again!'.

"Is something wrong?" Romina immediately asked, wondering if somebody had an accident of some sort. She relaxed slightly when she saw Abigail shaking her head with a light smile.

"Nothing I haven't dealt with before. Come on, I suspect you'll find it amusing." Abigail held a hand out for Romina and was soon leading them out of the room.

Romina had no idea what to expect but if Abigail wasn't nervous nor concerned, then she shouldn't be either. Voices started drifting towards them the closer they came downstairs.

"...I should say it's my turn!"

"Rolf, go help your aunt Kassia outside!"

"I am quite alright, just a bit of an accident…"

Romina hadn't recognized that voice. She stopped at the bottom step with Abigail and saw the commotion in the living room. Adric and Gemma, with a persistent Rolf, were standing around an older man whose back faced Romina and Abigail.

"Oh mon amour, what have you gotten yourself into now?" Abigail chuckled to herself as she walked over to the group. Rolf and his parents backed up a couple steps at the same time.

"Just—it was an accident," the older man continued to say, coughing afterwards.

"I'll say," Abigail mused over something on his face. Romina couldn't quite see. "What happened?"

"Long story short: wrong jar."

"Dad, you should really start labeling them," Adric said, causing a round of snickering from the rest.

"Stand still," Abigail said, pulling out her wand. "Tergio!"

Romina watched a light flash from the wand and felt even more curious to know what on earth had been cleaned off. She heard Lyonel and Sage often produce that same spell to clean the house faster.

"Honestly," sighed Abigail, "Did you plan on meeting your granddaughter with a soot-covered face?"

"Not precisely, no," her husband shook his head.

"Aha," Abigail mumbled. "Romina," her sudden call made Romina stiffen in her spot, "Come over here and meet your grandfather before he decides to get caught up in another mess." She flashed a smirk at her husband. "Not very unlikely, you'll come to find out."

Romina took slow steps towards the group, her wide eyes glued on the adults. She had no idea where to stop so she decided to come stand by Abigail. She soon met the gaze of her grandfather: a tall, slim man with tousled brown and gray hair, green eyes and freckles splayed over his wrinkled skin.

"Look at you—they're your eyes, Abby," he said in an out of breath manner. His eyes briefly flickered to Abigail who smiled sweetly in return. "It's always been your eyes going down the family line."

Romina couldn't help but flush. It seemed like that would be a common remark about her from now on. "Hi, um, I'm Romina…"

"Yes, I'm Newt, your grandfather." He had a lopsided kind of smile that seemed to just fit with his face. It gave Romina a sense of warmth. "It is very good to meet you at last."

Romina nodded. "Yeah. It's good to meet you too. I've, um, I read your book—again. I didn't know who you were during my first year so I didn't pay a lot of attention…"

Both Newt and Abigail laughed. "That's alright," Newt assured her in the end.

"I liked it, though," Romina went on, "Definitely learned a lot. Don't get me wrong, there are some creatures that I'm kind of afraid of, but it's still nice to learn about them."

"You don't have to be afraid of them, most creatures can be misunderstood. For example, most creatures large in size tend to be the ones most misunderstood."

"Oh! Like Buckbeak!" Romina exclaimed, glancing back at Rolf who agreed with a nod.

"Who?" Adric asked.

"The Hippogriff I told you about, remember?" Rolf said, "He scratched Draco Malfoy on his arm. He had it coming."

"Rolf!" His mother scolded him. "You know what? Didn't I tell you to go help your aunt outside? Let's go!"

"But Mum—"

Gemma wasn't letting him get away with it this time. She personally ushered Rolf out of the living room and a moment later, Adric decided to follow as well.

"He is right, though," Romina said, meeting her grandparents' gazes, "Hagrid, the, um, professor technically, he told us from the beginning that we had to be very careful when we came in contact with a Hippogriff."

"Hippogriffs are very proud creatures," Newt remarked. "It's all about showing them respect and knowing the boundaries. Most people fail to understand both concepts, I'm afraid."

Romina half smiled. "Yeah," she agreed. "I honestly thought they were kind of scary but I ultimately saw he was really loyal." Buckbeak was so loyal that he had helped Sirius Black escape death.

"I'm glad you did," Newt smiled at her with what Romina would like to think was pride. "It's all about the handling, really. You make one mistake and…" He made a gesture to his face for some reason.

Abigail chuckled beside him, understanding what he was trying to say. "You can end up with some cranky salamanders, eh?"

Newt tilted his head to the side. "It was an accident…"

"Oh, I have no doubt about that, mon amour. It wouldn't be the first time you came out of there with a soot covered face!"

"You have salamanders here?" Romina asked, eyes raking the room as if she would catch one of the lizards on the wall.

"That and more," Abigail said with a knowing smile.

"Where?" Romina couldn't see the place housing anything but a regular dog or a fish. Newt cleared his throat, gaining her attention, and pointed a finger down. Romina followed it to the floor and frowned. "What? You have a basement? Hardly the place to keep salamanders."

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed but your grandmother here is an expert decorator…" Newt made a gesture at the room, "I see myself skilled in maximizing space."

Abigail burst into laughter, starting Romina. Apparently, there was a joke she had missed or something. Newt seemed at a cross of pride over his words and embarrassed at the same time.

"A story for dinner, maybe," Newt told Romina when he saw her desperately trying to figure out why Abigail was laughing so much. "How about we have dinner and then afterwards, I can show you some of the creatures downstairs? Would you like that?"

Romina didn't hesitate to nod. "Aha!"

She followed them out of the living room to the backyard. The twinkling lights that Abigail had been working on were now completely finished, as was the table. Everything was set to eat. Romina sat down beside Rolf at the end of the table. On her other side was Abigail followed by Newt. Kassia was opposite of the teenagers followed by Gemma and then Adric. Romina eyed the mix of muggle and wizard food on the table with surprise. Even her own home didn't have that type so blatantly.

"It's good, I promise," she heard Abigail say.

Romina's cheeks flushed red with everyone's eyes on her. "Oh no, it's not that I didn't like it, it's just odd that there's all this food and…" She wasn't explaining herself very well and she knew it. "I think I'll just stop talking now."

The table shared laughs.

"Sorry," Romina said, biting on her bottom lip. "The only times I eat at a big table is when we're at Hogwarts but other than that it's just uncle Lyonel, aunt Sage and me. Guess I gotta work on my manners." She relaxed when everyone assured her she was doing just fine. They seemed to mean it so why shouldn't she believe it?

Lunch wrapped up way longer than it probably should've taken them. Romina found conversation with everyone and with such ease. For a while, she forgot about all the nerves that had been with her all day. She focused on the details she was learning about her family. Her aunt Gemma, for example, worked for the Daily Prophet. Her grandparents had long "retired" from their respective jobs but neither seemed to actually be able to stick to it. In fact, it was like they hadn't.

Romina soon felt the nerves start up again when her grandfather asked if she still wanted to go "downstairs" and see some of the creatures he had. She agreed but it was clear to everyone that she was a little reluctant. Perhaps she would've felt a little better if Abigail had accompanied them because she distinctly remembered Rolf mentioning that she was still a little frightened sometimes too. However, Abigail was a little preoccupied reprimanding her own son for something that Romina couldn't understand.

The woman was speaking incredibly fast and in French.

"She sounds really mad," Romina whispered as she and Newt headed for the living room. "And very...French…"

"Adric does go poking where he shouldn't," Newt said, sighing when they stopped and heard Abigail's distinct yell.

"REPOSEZ CE PLATEAU!"

Both Newt and Romina winced when they heard the shatter of a tray.

"Je vous ai dit que cela arriverait!" Abigail said in an exasperated cry.

Newt's lips were pulled into a knowing smile. "Adric also likes to think he's incredibly strong."

"Do you speak French?" Romina suddenly asked him curiously.

"Enough to know when she's upset," he said, making Romina giggle. "If the words are not 'mon amour', I am in trouble. Alright then, ready?"

Romina nodded and followed closely behind as he moved towards a study. She took note of all the books that filled the shelves and, of course, more family portraits. Before she inched close to any of them, she heard a creak and saw that her grandfather was pulling a part of the floor up, like a trap door!

She grinned. She should have figured that's what they had meant. They both went down the stairs and Romina then figured out another thing. Her grandfather was really good at maximizing space. "It's bigger on the inside," she remarked, earning a good laugh from him.

"Sort of, yeah," he nodded.

She shouldn't be surprised with it, really, but living in a perfectly normal muggle house in the muggle world sometimes made itself really present in her life. This basement didn't even look like a basement. There were waters as if there was an actual ocean within the house...with a sun! She couldn't tell where that sun was but it was strong! Grassy plain fields also filled some of the rooms—that's what she could tell from where they stood. She had yet to move. Along with the spacious rooms she heard the mix of several, and she meant several, growls from creatures.

"Romina?"

The girl blinked. She'd been staring at everything for too long, hadn't she? She straightened up and moved closer to her grandfather. "They're not...they're not going to bite me are they?"

Newt smiled and brought a hand to her back. "Remember what you said about the Hippogriff in Hogwarts?" She nodded. "Well, just apply that here. Rolf says you've dealt with creatures already and you always passed the assignments."

"W-well yeah but...that was at school," Romina said, unknowingly leaning closer to his side. "Hagrid's really good at supervising, you know? That whole mishap with Malfoy was a fluke. We didn't really handle anything dangerous."

"I don't have anything dangerous here, Romina, I promise," Newt said. He smiled at her encouragingly. "No creature is dangerous. It's all about the handling, remember?"

"Yeah," Romina said. She read that over and over in his book and it did make sense. Everything and everyone had to be treated with respect in order to forge a good relationship, that included big creatures.

Sensing she was still slightly frightened, Newt suggested they look at something small. "I think you'll like this one," he promised as they moved further through the basement.

"How do you know?" Romina said. She'd clasped her hand around his tightly.

"Because your grandmother went through the same thing when we first met. Once she got to know him, everything else sort of fell into place."

"What is it?" Romina grew curious the more they walked.

Newt said nothing and instead stopped by what seemed to be a regular tree. Romina knew better than to believe that. Still holding onto her grandfather's hand, she leaned closer and gasped when she saw green moving.

"The Bowtruckles!" she exclaimed, proud of herself that she remembered them now. Rolf's reminders definitely helped! "You have a whole bunch of them!"

Newt gently pulled her slightly back. With his free hand, he reached for the tree with one finger sticking out. "Romina," he said as one particular Bowtruckle started climbing over his finger, "This is Pickett." Romina's eyes widened when he drew his hand back and the Bowtruckle was left between them. "He has been with us for a very long time. Your grandmother warmed up to him first."

"Hi there Pickett," Romina felt silly wiggling her fingers at the little green creature. She gasped when Pickett threw a raspberry at her. "Well!"

"Hey now," Newt turned slightly from Romina, giving the bowtruckle a stern look. "She's not a stranger. Abby's not going to be happy if you're not kind to our granddaughter."

Romina was fairly bemused when Pickett quickly climbed over Newt's arm, over his shoulder and to his other arm that was right in front of her. She giggled. He was trying to mend his behavior.

"I had him before I met your grandmother but two minutes with her made him absolutely adore her," Newt said, watching Pickett attempt to launch himself from his hand to Romina's arm. "...to the point of choosing to hide out in her pockets instead."

Romina giggled. She finally made it easier for the poor bowtruckle by raising her hand and allowing him a much safer passage. He didn't think twice in crawling over. "Hi there, I'm Romina," she introduced herself again. "You're kinda cute."

"Oh, that's exactly what Abigail said—I'll have to check your pockets before you go," Newt said, "He will hide if he gets the chance."

Romina laughed at the idea of bringing Pickett home only for Sage or Lyonel to find him creeping around the house. "You would definitely frighten aunt Sage."

Newt watched her toggle with Pickett for a minute or so. It was uncanny how stories repeated themselves. From Abigail...to Elora...to Romina.

Romina raised her gaze to him. "Can he stay with me while we're here?"

The story definitely repeated itself. Newt nodded, saying a clear 'of course'. He doubted Pickett would actually want to go back anytime soon anyways.

On their stroll, Romina got to see several other creatures. She saw some strange looking snakes that, to her awe, would turn to ash as soon as they laid some priceless eggs. She didn't say it but she figured that her grandfather already knew muggles would be all over those eggs. She wandered a little to follow an orange creature that looked incredibly a lot like a butterfly. When Newt caught what she was following, he told her it was a Flitterby moth.

"Why couldn't they just call it a butterfly?" Romina asked. She glanced at Pickett who had come to sit on her shoulder. He shrugged his leafy arms at her.

"These are not like butterflies, Romina," Newt said as he led her into another field-like room.

Romina was awed by the dozens of butterfly-like creatures. "Why not?" she asked.

"Well, for starters, they do that," Newt pointed to a couple of the moths whose wings were glowing scarlet.

Romina gasped. "Oh, that's pretty. Definitely not like butterflies."

"They also hum a little when they're flying—listen." Newt put a finger over his lips and motioned her to stay quiet. As soon as they had and got past the flapping of wings, they heard a few hums here and there.

Romina grinned. "Wow! They do! It's like they're laughing!"

"Yeah, that's what many people like to say."

"You know, I think Hagrid might have a few of these now that I'm thinking about it. I should probably visit more and then I'll see for real."

"You like the gamekeeper, then? Sorry, professor, right?"

"Mhm," Romina nodded. "He's kind of like you. He loves creatures, even the ones that most people would be afraid of. He's friends with this big spider—a king spider from the forest."

Newt smiled. "I would tell you to stay away from the forest but my reputation would laugh at me."

Romina side-glanced him. "You're still incredibly smart," she said, knowing full well from Rolf that their grandfather had been expelled from Hogwarts. For what reason, she didn't know and she didn't think she needed to know.

Newt thanked her for the compliment. "It'll be nice to see my grandchildren graduate, both of them at the same time."

"Even if, um, we're not both in Hufflepuff?" Romina asked sheepishly, bringing her hands together in front of her.

"Your mother was in Slytherin," Newt reminded her. "And I loved Elora."

"But she...she did a lot of bad stuff," Romina said, biting on her bottom lip.

"But not because of her House," Newt said, sighing much like Abigail had when they started talking about Elora. "I had a very good friend once and she was in Slytherin. She made a few mistakes but she was a good person. Your House does not define you, Romina. It certainly didn't with your mother."

"I know that every House has its bad apples but I feel like people just automatically see Slytherins as bad people. It has certainly made things harder for me sometimes. Many of my friends are in Gryffindor. The friends I have in Slytherin—most of them are good but there's others…" She balled her fists as soon as she thought of Pansy.

"I understand, Romina, trust me. I know what Hogwarts could be like. It's why sometimes I can't say I really missed going there. Everyone I met were people outside of it, really far from it actually."

Romina found the energy to smile. "Grandma showed me pictures in her room and all of your friends are Americans. Plus, grandma's French. How'd you meet?"

Newt's eyebrows raised as he thought of the story and how long it would be to tell it all. Plus, like Abigail, he thought she was too young for it anyways. "I was making a trip to New York and it so happened that your grandmother was living there for a while."

"Odd place to meet a French woman, especially in the 20s," Romina said, scrunching her face. "And, I guess, the love of your life…"

"You'll never know when something like that can happen so don't go knocking on it," Newt warned playfully, "You never know."

"Yeah, I doubt that whatever happened to me will happen to me," Romina said, "Unless you want to tell me the full story so I know how to avoid something like that?"

"There's no story," Newt said far too quickly.

Romina then glanced at Pickett. "What do you think? You were there."

"Pickett," came Newt's warning call. "Abigail wouldn't like it."

Pickett "decided" to crawl down Romina's cardigan to slip into her pocket. Romina snorted and looked at Newt. "You're not very good at lying, are you?"

Newt bobbed his head. "It's not one of my stronger suits, no."

"Well, if I ask you something one more thing, you'll tell me the truth?"

"I suppose I would." Newt looked at her while she decided how to ask her questions and when he thought she'd gone through enough, he helped her out. "We did love you, Romina. From the moment we knew about you, we loved you. Our hope was that you would be able to help Elora come back." Romina ducked her head; it was like her grandmother had said. "You were so young when Elora was captured and...Lyonel beat us, I guess."

"You could have looked for me," Romina said quietly.

"We knew that you were safe and at the end of the day we just...we didn't want to put you in the middle of two battling families. You deserved stability, you deserved a home filled with love and nurture."

"Away from the wizarding world," Romina pointed out with a long sigh to follow. "Because that's how I was raised. Away from everything, in a small little neighborhood."

"But were you loved?"

"Well, yes, but—"

"Then it wasn't all for nothing," Newt said. He sighed and brought a hand down on Romina's shoulder. "But I understand your anger towards us. It's been in my experience that families are not always easy to be with. Please know that we never forgot you. The moment Rolf told us you were attending Hogwarts, we've been present."

"So I guess you know all about my challenging years, then," Romina said, unable to look at her grandfather out of shame.

"Once again, I am no stranger to hard years at Hogwarts. And I also know that you have come out each time better than before."

"I'm not good," Romina whispered. "Rolf's told me about your past, how you fought in wars...I'm not good like that. I've hurt those who hurt me."

"To kill?"

"Course not, just...well..." Romina groaned just thinking about the stupid things Pansy had done to her in the past. When she told her grandfather about them, he offered her a comforting smile.

"At the end of the day, you're all still children. And with such raging emotions. You are not bad, Romina. Don't ever think otherwise."

Romina swallowed hard before meeting her grandfather's gaze. "I'm glad I met you guys. I don't want to lose any of you again."

"You won't," Newt assured her. "You're finally home with us, and if you're still interested, I'd love to show you more of my creatures."

Romina nodded at the idea. "I'd love to."

"You're not afraid anymore?"

"I have my grandpa with me, I'll be fine."

Newt smiled fondly at her. He watched as Romina curled her arm around his then excitedly asked him what else they could see. He was more than happy to show her around.

At the end of the day, Romina would eagerly ask her aunt and uncle if she could please stay for the night. And when they gave her permission and it was time for bed, Romina found that she had a roommate. A small, leafy green roommate.

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 27: The Bonds We Make

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist:@ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

​​​​Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

Romina trudged along the path for Care of Magical Creatures. She admitted that the longer mane of hair on her back made the simplest of things a bit more of a challenge. She eventually slowed down and, with a huff, let her things drop to unbutton her dark sweater.

"Are you mad!?" Carolinha was quick to say when she spotted Romina's sweater hanging over her shoulder. "It's freezing cold!"

"It's really not," Romina dug her hands into her long hair, not even feeling Carolinha swiping her sweater from her shoulder.

"It's because of that damn hair of yours!" Carolinha went around Romina to gather her belongings. "Honestly, what do you gain from these exuberant changes?"

Romina was quick to braid her hair and tuck a few strands under her enchanted headband that was currently the color of green and silver. "That's my problem, Carol."

"Hey Romina," Hermione stopped by the pair with a warm, yet awkward, smile. "Hi, Carolinha." She felt out of place and more around Slytherins she didn't know...which was almost everyone.

Romina knew that Hermione was struggling with her ongoing fight with Harry and Ron. Those two boys were as stubborn as ever with that broom. Honestly! It wasn't that big of a deal! Now Hermione was left to doddle on her own or, sometimes, take up a talk with other Gryffindors. It turns out, she was not that great at making new friends on her own.

Romina grabbed her stuff from Carolinha and stuffed her sweater into her bag.

"Romina, you really should wear a sweater or you'll get sick," Hermione said, and Carolinha agreed with a hum.

"Think I've faced much worse things than a cold," Romina mumbled and continued her walk.

When the entire class was set for the first lesson of the new semester, Hagrid introduced the Fire Salamander. There was a huge campfire burning in the middle of the clearing where they could all see the little creatures running up and down the logs of the fire.

"Ugh, they're horrible!" Pansy was the first to say, or shriek, when she caught sight of one much too close for her liking.

"They're actually quite harmless," a Gryffindor boy with chestnut brown hair said, much to Pansy's annoyance. The boy didn't seem to mind her narrowed eyes on him, or he didn't notice - nobody could tell.

Romina's eyes flickered to the boy who turned out to be very familiar. She remembered his freckled face and soft smile when they crashed into each other in the library. It felt like that had been ages ago.

"Exactly." Hagrid caught one salamander drifting away from the campfire and let it crawl from one of his palms to the other. "Fire Salamanders are classified as beasts but, just like many others, they are harmless."

"Unless you provoke it," the same Gryffindor boy added.

"Well, just like anything else," Hagrid agreed. "Fire Salamanders are born out of salamander fires and can live for as long as their flames burn."

"So all it takes is for someone to snuff out the fires for them to die?" Pansy's lips curved into a smirk and seeing that made Millicent do the same.

Romina rolled her eyes. At this point, Millicent would cease to ever have a personality and would become a simple drone to Pansy. Like Crabb and Goyle. Her eyes flickered to the two boys standing behind Draco. Neither of them would move until Draco gave the word. Morons, Romina thought of the drones.

"You can all get closer if you'd like," Hagrid motioned to the curious students. "Be gentle with 'em and you'll be fine."

"I am not getting close to that!" Pansy put her nose up to the air and turned her head away.

"And, er, those of you who don't' feel comfortable can bring dry wood and leaves for the fire!"

"C'mon Pansy," Daphne came by for Pansy and Millicent, looking weary of the two girls with their noses in the air.

"Daphne, the war hero," Romina gave a mock salute as the three girls headed in search of wood. Beside Romina, Hermione snickered.

"She just likes keeping the peace," Carolinha explained, "That's how she always is outside of school when our families get together."

"If you ask me, she's wasting her time with that one," Angel came up behind his sister with a scowl. "Pansy's a menace and Daphne just pretends like there's still hope for her. She needs to follow the right crowd and — wait a minute…" He finally noticed Hermione's presence and couldn't help the confusion that crossed his face. "You don't usually hang out with us?"

Hermione could only give an awkward smile.

"Lay off," Carolinha shoved her brother to the side and offered Hermione a kind smile. "Excuse him for being...a guy."

For the first time that day, Hermione had laughed. Angel glowered at his sister and muttered something under his breath about her being plain rude.

Little by little, the students gathered around the fire - those brave enough anyways - and watched the fire salamanders scamper around the flames. They were stark red which sometimes made it hard for the students to be able to separate them from the flames.

Hermione and Carolinha moved to retrieve the wood needed for the bonefire and while Romina lingered behind, she ultimately decided that she would rather collect wood than touch the salamanders. She was just about to start walking when she felt a salamander crawling over her shoe. She let out a small noise akin to a whimper. She wasn't afraid of bugs but she didn't like having them on her either and that included fire salamanders. She squeaked as the salamander crawled up her ankle. "Agh! No—!" Her first instinct was to throw her foot up when she heard someone tell her 'stop!'.

Chestnut brown hair boy came rushing to her and, just like Hagrid, gingerly picked up the salamander from her ankle. "Don't worry about this guy," he tended to the salamander with the utmost care, "They really are harmless."

Romina was bewildered with his sudden decision to interact with her and for a minute or two, she stayed frozen in her spot. The boy brushed his fingers over the salamander, truly looking quite at home with the creature.

"This one just drifted too far away from the flames. Did you know they can only survive six hours away from the flames? And that's if you feed them pepper." The boy had a small smile on his face when he looked at her again.

Romina shook her head silently. What the hell is going on? Why is he talking to me all of a sudden? It didn't make any sense. Don't even bother putting yourself in this situation. You don't need another one. Bearing that in mind, Romina turned around to leave.

"No, wait!" To her shock, the boy had grabbed her arm.

Romina whipped her head back, brows furrowing together angrily.

"I know you're upset with me—"

"Don't flatter yourself, I'm upset with many people these days," Romina spat and pulled her arm out of his grip. "You're just one of the crowd to me, honestly."

"I'm sorry!" The boy said just as Romina made to leave again. It being the first time someone apologized to her in a long time, Romina found herself looking back at him again. With a sigh, he lowered the salamander to the ground and watched it crawl away. "I'm, uh, I'm not the best with my words."

"You've been speaking very fine this whole class time," Romina muttered.

The boy met her gaze and half smiled at her. "Just about the creatures. It's my favorite subject."

"Mm..."

"You're the Oswell girl, right?"

Romina's expression flattened at the question. Here we go again. "Is there another Oswell girl around this school? Because if so, let me know. I'd love to seek advice from her."

The boy scratched the side of his head, seeming nervous the way his eyes kept flickering to the ground. "I, um, I'm...I'm sorry...about before."

"Before?"

"At the library. And after. I don't...I don't make a habit of ignoring people...or running from them. I'm sorry about that. My name's Rolf." He stretched a hand out to shake with Romina. "Rolf Scamander, nice to meet you."

Romina's eyes widened. Her dumbfounded state was enough to leave her like a statue all over again. Truthfully, she had not been expecting this. She had mentally prepared herself to ignore people's talks, their stares and pretty much everyone in general. She never thought about someone apologizing to her and actually wanting to move past this situation...at least not this early.

"Uuh..." Romina had to initially force herself to move her hand, still too shocked for a proper reaction, and shook hands with Rolf. The action lit up Rolf's face and Romina saw the way his freckles seemed to connect like constellations with the bright grin he wore. Romina didn't know if she was imagining things but there was something about his smile, so kind and inviting. "R-Romina Oswell..."

Rolf chuckled. "Yeah, I know."

"Right..." Romina pulled her hand out from his and cleared her throat, "Well, thanks, uh...for apologizing. Wasn't expecting it, honestly."

"I'm...I'm really sorry about that. I swear it wasn't your fault. I, um, there's just some things that — never mind. I'm glad you forgive me."

Romina was honestly so surprised that he was that happy she'd accepted his apology.

"What do you think about the salamanders?" Rolf asked excitedly. "Aren't they amazing?"

"'Amazing' isn't exactly the word I'd use to describe them..." Romina said, gazing at the salamanders gathering around the fire that the students were setting up. "But you sure seem to know your way around them. How do you know all about them?"

Rolf spotted another salamander crawling on the ground and picked it up with ease. Romina's nose crinkled at the creature now crawling from one of Rolf's hand to the other. "My grandfather told me," he replied and led her towards the fire. "He tells me a lot of stuff about creatures."

Bemusement flashed across Romina's face. "All my grandfather tells me is to stay away from bugs." She turned her attention to the bonfire, missing the strange smile on the boy's face. "He's kind of afraid of them. We buy all that Raid stuff."

"Raid?" Rolf made a face at the unfamiliar word.

Romina chuckled. "I take it you're not familiar with the muggle world." It was easy to see the flush on Rolf's face. "It's an insect repellent."

"Oh!" Rolf bashfully smiled at her. "Uh, no, I don't know much. I mean, my grandmother tells me things but both my parents are—"

"Purebloods, I know," Romina nodded. "Your entire family are purebloods, I've heard."

"Hm, I wonder who could have told you stuff about me..." Rolf said as he lowered the salamander to the bonfire. He straightened up and gave her a smirk. "Whatever your crowd told you about me, they exaggerated."

"My crowd?" Romina scrunched her nose.

"Yeah, the elite of the Slytherins."

"Elite?" Romina snorted. "They're anything but that."

Rolf chuckled lightly. "Well, they seem to think it."

"Honestly, they didn't tell me much about you," Romina said, "In fact, they didn't even tell me your name. Don't know if it was their way of solidarity with me or just another way to irritate me."

"Or maybe just a way to screw with me," Rolf said. "I don't exactly talk to them despite the fact we've ran in the same social circle since we were in diapers."

"Why is that?" Romina found herself asking. Luckily, Rolf didn't seem to mind and he answered her almost right away.

"We just have different interests. I like creatures, they like to screw around behind our parents backs."

"And you've never joined them in these shenanigans?"

The smirk on Rolf's face said it all. Romina laughed.

"At some point, all purebloods end up being the same. It's the lifestyle, if you ask me. Too boring. You need a little excitement every now and then."

"Yeah, well, your friends take it very seriously."

Romina could not argue that. "They're stupid but they are about the only people, save for a few others, who haven't turned their backs on me."

"I'm sorry that-that you're going…through all this stuff. But if it helps, those are just gullible people. Not everyone thinks the same."

"I've heard."

"So then stick with that. If you focus only on the ones that do, you'll never find peace. In fact, you'll be giving them power. And isn't that what everybody wants?"

The first thing that came to Romina's mind was Pansy. She's the reason all this happened in the first place. Pansy wanted her to suffer and each day that Romina felt like dying, she was giving Pansy the satisfaction.

But it's just so hard to let it go.

One way or another, she needed to figure it out or else she was going to go crazy.

~ 0 ~

For the next few days, Romina tried to listen to her thoughts and to Rolf's words, but it was easier said than done. She changed tactics and took it day by day, focusing on just getting through the more important bits, like her work. And she got a reminder of one of those important bits on a fine Thursday morning.

"Hello Romina," Luna Lovegood's dreamy voice stopped Romina in the hallway. It was early in the morning and yet Luna looked lucid as ever.

"Morning Luna," Romina covered her yawn with a hand over her mouth. "How are you?"

"Good, and you?" Luna tilted her head, letting her straggly hair slowly fall to one side.

"Uh, okay I guess."

"I like your hair," Luna's clear eyes gazed over the one-sided braid Romina sported that morning. "The red pattern is nice, but it's not very like you. I liked the curls."

Romina smiled and brought a hand over her braid. "I decided for a change."

"Oh. Will you be changing it again?"

Honestly, if Romina didn't know Luna by now she would've assumed that the Ravenclaw was insulting her...but Luna could never do such a thing, which was why it was so funny. "I'm not sure," Romina answered with a smile on her face.

Luna nodded in acknowledgement. "I was wondering when we could pick up my Transfiguration lessons again?"

"Oh, right," Romina blinked when it dawned on her that she'd neglected her tutoring lessons since they got back from break. McGonagall hadn't mentioned it to her either and it made Romina wonder if it meant that it was up to her now to decide. She would not mind spending more time with Luna. "Uh, well...anytime really."

A smile spread across Luna's face. "Can we start tomorrow afternoon?"

"That sounds good Luna."

Luna beamed and skipped off into the Great hall for breakfast.

"What did Looney Lovegood want from you?" Draco's voice startled Romina behind her. He came up to stand beside her and watched as the last glimpse of Luna's long hair disappeared in the Great Hall.

Romina threw him a mock glare. "Her name is Luna."

Draco looked at her with an expression asking her if she was sure. "You have met her, right?"

"Yes, unlike you and everyone else who insists on calling her that. She's a year younger than you - that is just lazy bullying!"

"So what you're saying is that I should switch gears to say, Potter?"

Romina's hand reached towards him as if she were about to touch his face but instead she curled it as if she were going to strangle him. "You know what, I'm not doing that. I've been meaning to talk to you, actually."

Draco scrunched his face and audibly groaned. "What for? I haven't called Arden a mudbl—"

"It's not that but keep it up please." Romina sighed and started before she completely lost him. "I wanted to thank you for giving me my headband." She made a quick gesture to the headband sitting on her head. Today's color was a shiny silver and white striped. "I love it."

Draco tried his best not to look so surprised and certainly not awkward. It didn't help that Romina was smiling so big. Who even smiled like that!? It wasn't a big deal! It wasn't…

"And the letter you wrote," Romina went on, keeping her voice quiet as more students began to walk past them for the hall. "It really meant a lot."

"It wasn't...Oswell, I just wrote something. It's not a big deal!"

Romina's smile softened out of amusement. "If you say so. I just wanted to say thanks when there was no one around. I know you wouldn't like it if I said it in front of the group."

Draco's look was indescribable but if Romina had to guess, it was a cross of gratitude for not saying these things in front of others and the other part was the side of him that didn't know what to do with himself. Both sides were funny, and maybe adorable.

But Romina would never admit that to him. She would never hear the end of it. "Let's go get breakfast," she suggested when she thought he suffered enough from mushy feelings.

"Please," he rolled his eyes and started walking with her but just when he thought it was all over, she added one more thing.

"I didn't know you were capable of meaningful words…"

Draco groaned. "Seriously!?" Romina burst into laughter. "That is the last present I ever send you! I'm done!"

Romina patted his arm. "Yeah, let's just focus on the big Quidditch game you have today."

That worked like a charm. Draco started going on and on about how Slytherin would crush Ravenclaw this afternoon. It kept the entire table occupied for the entire breakfast. But every now and then, Draco would discreetly look over to Romina and her headband. Despite her constant changes, she'd kept that? Out of everything?

~0~

Romina took it as a personal offence when Harry crashed straight into her and his Firebolt hit her smack in the face. "Just because Slytherin won the first Quidditch match doesn't mean you get to take it out on me, Harry!" She groaned as she shoved the broom to the side.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Harry scrambled up to his feet and pulled Romina up.

"It's fine." Romina adjusted her uniform while Harry reached for the Firebolt on the ground. "Hey, what's the demon broom doing out of its cage?"

"Not funny," Harry deadpanned her.

"So, what's it doing in your hands?"

Eagerness spread over Harry's face in a matter of seconds. "Mcgonagall just gave it back to me! I'll be able to use it for this week's game to crush Slytherin - I mean…"

Romina rolled her eyes as Harry stammered to find an amendment for his words. "Right, well, does that mean it didn't have any jinxes and curses on it?"

"Yeah!"

"Hm, then I guess you can now use it without the least bit of concern over your safety. It's almost as if Hermione wanted this all along…"

Harry's eagerness deflated at the thought of his friend whom he hadn't spoken to in weeks. "Right…"

Romina tilted her head at him, eyes boring into his. "Hermione doesn't do things to make you suffer, you know. Ron should get that through his thick ginger head too. She did you a favor."

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Harry sighed. It'd been tough not speaking to Hermione when they practically lived together. Plus, he kind of missed her.

"You should go talk to her, you and Ron," Romina suggested and re-opened her book. "And let me know how it goes. I have to get to the library to do my research."

"Research?"

"Muggle studies. 'Why do muggles need electricity?'" Romina laughed lightly. "Sometimes these essays are so ridiculous but, I suppose for someone who didn't grow up in the Muggle world...it's novelty." She rolled her eyes playfully then moved around Harry. "Let me know how it goes!" She was already heading to the library and what was worse is that she had agreed to meet up with Rolf to do the assignment together.

The next day, Romina and Rolf were just about finished with their Muggle Studies essay, when Hermione came into the library with an unusual loud huff. She startled the two when she dropped into the empty chair across them.

"Ron thinks Crookshanks ate Scabbers! Just because he found ginger hair strands near some blood! Honestly, Crookshanks is everywhere! That could've been there since Christmas break!"

It was the first time ever that Hermione Granger was shushed in a library. Madame Pince herself even looked incredulous after she lowered her finger from her lips.

"Uum...okay..." Romina met Rolf's confused glance and apologetically smiled. "Hermione, have you met my new friend Rolf?"

"Yes, hi," Hermione crossed her arms tightly, eyes glued on a bookshelf to her left.

Romina's eyebrows rose with the short greeting. Who is this and what have they done to Hermione Granger? "Okay," she cleared her throat and glanced at Rolf again, "You wanna pick this up later?"

Rolf chuckled lightly. "Yeah, that's fine."

They both started to gather their things off the table and stuffed them into their book bags. Romina was sure Hermione would still have many more things to say and they would not be said quietly so she hurriedly said goodbye to Rolf and got Hermione out of the library.

"Okay, you wanna rewind and start from the top?" Romina said once they were safely away.

Hermione had no problem starting all over again. "Honestly, we were just getting over the Firebolt nonsense and now my poor cat is being accused of eating that rat!" she raged as the two girls walked down the hallway. "It really could've been anyone!"

Romina made a face but kept it hidden from Hermione. It really did sound like the cat had eaten the rat: a tale as old as time. But it sounded like Hermione was more upset at the fact Ron had basically screamed at her. Romina thought if she'd been in Hermione's spot, she would feel the same way.

"Why don't you guys just try looking for the rat?" Romina suggested but Hermione scoffed.

"After that whole fiasco!? I think not! But I can't wait for Ron to find Scabbers and realize that he was wrong!"

Romina's eyebrows raised together. For a brief moment, she was happy that she wasn't in Gryffindor. She got to avoid all the useless tension there. Poor Harry.

~0~

Over the next weeks, Romina would find that she too was being sucked into the 'Crookshanks ate Scabber' ordeal and unlike Harry who was too kind to both sides, Romina was more on a short fuse.

"Ron, I swear to God if you don't shut up about the rat, I'm going to feed you to Crookshanks!" She finally cracked one afternoon. She, Ron, Harry and the twins were doing some work in the Great Hall.

Ron, who sat across from her and the twins, was downright offended with her threat. "Weren't you listening!?"

"Were you listening?" Romina countered. Her hands fell with a thud against her textbook. "Ron, I'm sorry about Scabbers but he's gone and I don't think my ears should suffer any longer."

"I mean, it would be nice if you gave it a rest already, Ron," Fred said, not even bothering to look up from his essay. "What's it been? A week?"

"Two weeks," George said automatically. Unlike his brother, he looked straight to Ron with a smile. "So please, give it a fucking rest."

Ron was even more offended than before. "Scabbers was part of the family! Plus, c'mon, he bit Goyle! That has to make you love him!"

Indeed it did because the twins, and Harry, all snickered at the reminder. Romina raised her eyebrows at the trio. It was the first she heard of this. She wouldn't mind hearing the entire story later on.

"It was his finest hour," Fred said with a low chuckle. "But seriously Ron, why don't you just go down to Hogsmeade and buy a new rat?"

Ron decided to end the conversation and leave altogether. He stuffed his work inside his textbooks and got up from the table with a huff. He stormed out soon after.

"He is not getting over this rat thing quick enough," Romina said, eyes landing on Harry. "How do you deal with that? Does Hermione do the same thing?"

Harry half shrugged. He'd been stuck between the two's argument for so long now that he was beginning to learn how to live with it.

"Isn't there something we can do to get them to make up already?" Romina asked. She was open to any and all ideas at this point.

"If you find out, let me know," Harry said. "I don't have much time to do many things these days. Now that I have the Firebolt back, Wood's making me practice like crazy. I only have one night to do all my homework."

"Wood's not that crazy to do that to you," Fred said, face scrunched in confusion. "You got anything else going on or what?"

Harry said nothing but Romina knew that it had to be the secret lessons he was taking with Lupin. As far as she knew, those weren't going so well either which led to an increase in lessons. That, coupled with the Quidditch lessons, would definitely leave Harry with very little time to do homework.

"Well, whatever you need, if I can help, let me know," she said.

Her offer pulled a smile from Harry. "Thanks, Rom."

"Well don't go thinking that being so nice is going to make us want to crush Slytherin any less," George warned her. She rolled her eyes. "Because as much as we love you, we are going to crush you."

"To do that, you first have to defeat Ravenclaw," Romina smiled sweetly. "And if you do that, you'll have to then defeat our team."

Fred snorted. "C'mon, even you know that your team is no match for the Firebolt."

"All I'm saying is that miracles can happen," Romina shrugged. "Don't get all cocky because that might be your downfall."

All three snorted at her.

"We'll see," Fred said.

~ 0 ~

When the final game between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw finally came up, everybody was either frantic or bubbling with excitement. Romina found her House team looking slightly off their game that morning. Usually they were beyond confident that they would eventually win when it became their turn to play but given the fact that the Gryffindors now had an incredible advantage, there was a slight reason to worry that Ravenclaw wouldn't make it.

"I bet it's fake," Romina heard Draco say to the team and the others that morning in the Great Hall. "It has to be."

"Yeah, gotta be," Goyle repeated after him and, of course, Crabbe.

"Or, and here's a thought," Romina interjected without sparing any of them a glance away from her book, "It's actually real."

For some reason, Pansy thought it was her turn to speak in the same conversation. "Course not. He can't afford it."

"How would you know? You don't know what he has." Romina carelessly passed the page of her book. With one hand, she grabbed a spoonful of oatmeal to eat.

Draco couldn't sit there and not find out whether or not the damn Firebolt was genuine. He started getting up from his seat, ordering Crabbe and Goyle to stand up as well.

That got Romina to lower her book for a second. "What? Draco, don't go over there…" He was already gone in a stride. She sighed. "And he's gone."

"Don't even bother," Arden said beside her. "He's never going to learn."

Romina hummed. She continued to read until she heard a prominent round of laughter from the Gryffindor table. Judging by the scowl on Draco's face when he stormed back to their table, things had not gone well.

"So, what did we learn this morning?" Romina asked as soon as he was sitting again.

"Oh shut it, Oswell!" He snapped.

Romina smiled to herself as she turned the page of her book.

~0~

The game was riveting. Harry's Firebolt took the show away. Even the commentary was all about the damn thing. Several people giggled each time a Mcgonagall to interrupt Lee Jordans history lesson about the Firebolt.

Romina, and her friends, including Hermione, were all sitting together at the benches. The weather was clear which gave them a perfect view of each player in the air.

"I mean, to his credit, it is a cool broom," Angel remarked. Harry was whizzing in the air, leaving poor Cho Chang to try and follow.

"Yeah, it is, innit?" Romina, who had never really taken much of an interest in broom flying, found herself drawn towards the Firebolt. It reminded her of those wicked roller coasters that she and Arden would ride at the fairs. "Maybe Harry can give us a turn on it afterwards."

"Would he really?" Carolinha raised an eyebrow. "Don't think he'd be too keen on us getting near him."

"Harry's not like that," Hermione said, offering the twins a kind smile. "Really, none of us should be like that." She had learned quite a lot about the twins and Arden recently, things that made her feel guilty for her prejudices against Slytherins.

Angel was sweet and funny, very friendly but most of all funny. His sister Carolinha was slightly more serious and very shy. They were good students in general. Arden was the only one who had a bit more roughness to her personality but nothing that made her unfriendly. Hermione could now understand why Romina took to that group when she wasn't with her and the Gryffindors.

"Hey, what the hell is that?" Arden's sudden question made everyone around them gaze to the field.

Black hooded creatures were gaining on Harry—Dementors?

"I thought they weren't allowed in the field anymore!?" Carolinha panicked first. She clung to her brother's arm.

"They're not," Hermione said with a frown. "Harry!"

Luckily, Harry had seen the Dementors and aimed his wand at them. Why he had his wand at that precise moment, nobody knew but thankfully he did. He used it and to the audience's awe, a silvery white jet of energy emanated from his wand. It engulfed the Dementors, sending them to the ground.

The game continued and in a short minute, Harry caught the Golden snitch. The audience, especially the Gryffindors, erupted into cheers. They were quick to start flooding the fields to congratulate the team.

"Wait till Dumbledore hears about this," Angel said, still concerned about the Dementors.

Arden had yet to take her eyes off the creatures and for that matter, she saw it first. "Oh my God—they're absolutely nuts!"

Romina stopped cheering to see what Arden was talking about. Her face fell flat. "You have got to be kidding me."

Hermione shook her head. A prime reminder for her that unfortunately, not every Slytherin were like Romina's friends.

~ 0 ~

"Fifty points! Your stupid joke cost the House 50 points." Romina said as soon as Draco had come into the common room. He, Crabbe, Goyle and Marcus Flint had no doubt gotten an earful out of McGonagall at the field. Nobody wanted to know what Snape or Dumbledore had to say after that.

"Again, shut it Oswell." Draco didn't seem the least bit concerned with the points system.

"I think the one who cost us 50 points should shut it right now," Angel came around the couch where Romina sat. Draco rolled his eyes at the pair of them. "Seriously man, what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking it would be hilarious to see Potter fall of his stupid broom!"

"Mm, and how'd that turn out for you?" Romina raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're both insufferable."

"And you cost us 50 points! You deserve some insufferable torture right now."

Draco preferred not to waste his time with either of them at the moment. He was already going to be wasting his evenings in detention, he would not give them one of his free nights too.

"He's so stupid," Romina laughed when he'd left the common room. "He really thought he would get away with it. What did he think was going to happen afterwards!?"

Angel hummed. "I would give my entire allowance to see what runs through his head."

"Ooh," Romina's eyes widened, "That would be interesting."

"Yeah?" Angel chuckled.

"Yeah!"

"He's all talk and no bark, you know that."

"Most of the time, yeah," Romina pushed herself up from the couch. "Though sometimes I worry one day, he might accidentally go too far. I don't think he could handle it."

"Really?" Angel seemed very unconvinced with what Romina assured. "This is Draco we're talking about."

"I know," Romina said just as certain, "Which is why I'm saying it. Look," she pushed some hair behind her ear, "Draco's not the kindest around here but to be something more, something...dark, that's not him either. Hell, it's not even Pansy. One day, they'll get it."

"Oh Romina, you dare to believe that?" Angel watched her nod her head without a moment's hesitation. "Hopefully you're right, then."

"I am."

~0~

Gryffindor's victory lasted very little because that same night, Sirius Black nearly attacked inside the castle again. Word spread like wildfire that Ron Weasley had nearly been knifed in his own bed. Instead of being afraid, however, Ron seemed to bask in the attention he was getting everywhere. Romina didn't even bother asking if he was alright—she couldn't even get through the crowd to talk to him. She instead discussed the matters with Hermione, though that may have been a bad idea seeing as the two weren't talking to each other.

"He seems alright," Hermione begrudgingly said on their way to their Muggle Studies class.

"Yeah, that much I can tell," Romina muttered. Her eyes lingered on the Filch who'd been tasked to cover up any possible entrance into the castle, no matter how small. The security was definitely being tightened up.

"How are you, though?" Hermione asked, pulling Romina's attention back to the conversation and just in time because she would've crashed into another student had she not looked ahead.

"Hmm," huffed Romina. "Well, unlike Ron who's getting all positive attention, people are now asking me if I stole the passwords from Neville to then hand over to Black. "It's frikin lovely, I tell you."

Pansy had a field day with the jokes. Some people truly believed that she had a hand in Black's appearance inside the castle. No matter what logic Romina used, it didn't change their minds.

"I'm sorry," Hermione apologized as if it was her fault.

"Don't be, I'm going to have to live with the fact that people won't separate me from my parents."

"Hey Romina?" The two girls head the distant call. Rolf Scamander was approaching them. "You heading to Muggle Studies?"

"Yeah," Romina nodded, gesturing to Hermione for an introduction. "You remember Hermione?"

Rolf chuckled. "Course. Hey, Hermione, feeling better?"

Hermione flushed with embarrassment. Now that she was more cool, she realized how awful she'd acted around the stranger. "So much for first impressions, sorry about that."

Rolf smiled at her. "Don't worry, I know a thing or two about bad impressions." He exchanged glances with Romina who sheepishly smiled in return. "So can I walk you girls to class?"

"Of course," Hermione smiled at his politeness. The trio continued their walk down the hallway for their class. "Did you two finish your essays?"

"Yeah, it was fairly easy," Rolf shrugged his shoulders. "Especially when you're friends with a witch who lives with muggles."

Romina laughed. "Some would say it's cheating but I think it's smart. This class is a breeze compared to the rest of my classes. And don't dAnd don't even get me started on Hagrid's assignments."

"Oh, do you need help with those?" Rolf asked, sounding dangerously excited like Hermione when it came to homework. "I love that class!"

"You do have all the experience," Hermione remarked, drawing Romina's attention.

"What do you mean?" Romina knew she'd missed out on something when Hermione started looking at her crazily. "What?"

Hermione let out a short incredulous breath. "Romina, seriously?"

"Seriously what?"

Hermione looked at Rolf with what could only be described as an 'I'm so sorry about her' type of look. "Rom, his grandfather is the Magizoologist author of our first year book. 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' — remember? Newt Scamander?"

Romina was embarrassed to say that her first year was rather fuzzy when she thought about it. "I have no idea what books we read now," she said. "Much less who wrote them. And more so books in our first year!"

"Honestly," Hermione put a hand on her forehead and apologized to Rolf on Romina's behalf.

Rolf took it all with an amused laugh. "It's fine. Grandpa doesn't really like the limelight."

"Well, it's pretty cool that he wrote a book," Romina said, genuinely meaning it. "Is that why you're so good with the creatures too?"

Rolf shrugged his shoulders with an innocent expression. "I don't know. I just like them. My grandmother says it runs in our blood but I don't think that's true."

"Why not?"

Rolf smiled mischievously. "Because she says she's afraid of some of them. My mum's definitely afraid of all of them."

The two girls snickered with him. He had plenty of stories to tell them about the various times he'd pulled one over his mother and grandmother. By the time they went into class, Romina had long forgotten her troubles and even Hermione found solace in the new friendships she was forging outside of Harry and Ron.

A/N:

As always, I have Fanfic/Wattpad accounts under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 26: Vengeful Potions

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist:@ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic @kmc1989

​​​​Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

Romina tugged on the ribbon bow of her high pony-tail. She turned her head towards the window of the compartment and looked at her reflection. She shouldn't have done it, but she did. And in secret again. Using transfiguration as soon as she stepped on the Hogwarts Express, Romina changed her hair all over. Instead of it being incredibly short, it was now incredibly long. Bright red shined on the tips of her hair. She'd done her best to look as different as possible from her mother.

According to Pansy, it had not been enough.

"Oswell," Pansy Parkinson proved to be a pain once you were on the recipient side of her wrath. She had Milicent Bullstrode on her side, also proving they were getting thick as thieves. "You decided to come back? And with a new hair-do? It's not going to work. You'll always look like Mummy-dearest."

Romina looked into Pansy's eyes, searching for anything that would give a sign of doubt, or at least regret, but there was nothing. Pansy now looked at her the same way she looked at Arden: with hatred. They were no longer friends. A part of Romina did lament the fact but she wouldn't let herself fall, especially to the likes of Pansy.

Romina did a small nod as she accepted the new reality. "So that's how it's going to be, then?" Pansy raised an eyebrow, not quite sure where Romina was going with the question. "Fine," Romina shrugged. "Hate me. But if you're going to do it, then be prepared for a good game because I'm not going anywhere." Pansy smirked, but it appeared she was more amused than threatened. "And fair warning, you do anything like what you did before Christmas again, and I might just have to live up to my parents' reputation."

"You? Okay!" snorted Pansy. Even Millicent snickered behind.

Romina didn't let that make her falter. Instead, she just smiled. "And just remember that I do also live with muggles so I've picked up on a few things that can and will make you hurt in a different way. Starting with…" she brutally stomped on Pansy's foot, making the girl shriek. "Scuse me!" she then moved around the girls, making sure her black suitcase knocked them against the glass door of a compartment.

Yeah, that kind of felt good.

All the way towards Hogwarts, Romina had spent it alone. No one wanted to sit with the daughter of Elora and Caplan Oswell apparently. It was fine. It gave Romina more hours to accept what might be waiting for her at school. When the train finally stopped, she got her suitcase and headed for the horseless carriages waiting for the students. Despite her best efforts to be aloof, she couldn't help notice that everyone passing by would give her a certain look, along with hushed whispers.

Romina had never felt so alone in those few minutes...

"Hey Oswell, I thought you weren't coming back?" Romina heard behind her, pulling her out of her darkening thoughts.

Draco had recognized her bright red ombre tips a mile away. He picked up his pace to catch up with her and seeing this, she stopped walking.

She rolled her eyes as the young platinum blonde came up beside her. "You'd like that wouldn't you, Malfoy?"

"Well, it does sound rather appealing. No more constant badgering for my more-than-clever Muggle jabs and Potter insults. Would make my life a lot easier, frankly."

Romina rolled her eyes and looked away as a smile crossed her lips. His playfulness was heartwarming. He chose to ignore everything and still treat her the same. There were no overwhelming questions like the "are you okay?" or the damned "how are you feeling?" one she hated the most. He chose to be himself with her. His rude, snarky self but himself nonetheless.

That's all she wanted.

"As if," she shrugged casually, though her smile was growing by the second. "Then who'd you have as a potion's partner? Dare I say…" she pretended to gasp, and even stopped for dramatics, "Hermione!"

The utter disgust that etched across Draco's face was both amusing and offensive on behalf of Hermione. "Don't ever say that again, Oswell. Ever."

"I would honestly pay to see who would kill each other first," Romina chuckled. Hermione was a force to be reckoned with all on her own.

"It's honestly insulting that you would ever entertain the idea Granger would stand a chance against me," Draco looked away, missing Romina rolling her eyes. He should be grateful she was entertaining this whole conversation at all. According to Arden, Romina had done everything in her power to avoid her friends. "And what the hell did you do to your hair now?"

Romina shrugged. "I just...tweaked it."

"Tweaked it!? Gave yourself a whole new look!"

"Using Transfiguration — again — so you can go ahead and be impressed now."

"Romina!" Arden's loud call startled the two into an abrupt stop. Arden was coming in a sprint towards them, along with Angel and Carolinha.

"Rom!" Arden threw her arms around Romina. "We missed you on the train!"

"I didn't feel like being with company," Romina said honestly as she pulled away from Arden.

"You didn't write back," Angel added when he gave Romina a hug, though he did it with no hint of reproach.

"It wasn't as if she was going to write to anyone," Draco bluntly said, missing the whole 'gentle' point. He didn't see any reason why they should be treating Romina so delicately, honestly. She didn't need it. If anything, they were probably annoying her with all their mushy behavior.

"I just wasn't in the mood," Romina continued, still attempting to play things off. She could really do with moving things along. "What Pansy did...it really messed me up, more than I already am anyways. I just needed some time."

"You can't let her do this to you," Carolinha warned. "We'll get her back."

Normally, Romina would say that there was no point in revenge, that it was wrong. But this time, she felt a different type of rage towards Pansy that couldn't be quelled with a simple muggle get-back.

"By the way, what did you do with your hair now?" Arden asked.

~ 0 ~

It was quite surprising for Romina to find out that the golden trio weren't right with each other. Romina found Hermione sitting outside in the courtyard with a book in hand. Once she questioned Hermione where the boys were, Hermione spilled the story of the firebolt present Harry had mysteriously received for Christmas. She started normally but as she got to explaining how she gave the firebolt to McGonagall despite Harry's and Ron's refusal, all of Hermione's words tumbled out together. Romina struggled to separate each of her words, but she ultimately got the jist.

"I mean, I just did what was right," Hermione said twice now since the girls started walking. She was back to speaking normally since she needed air. "I had to tell McGonagall about the present. It could've been sent by Sirius Black as a trap! You agree with me, don't you?" she looked to Romina for some well needed support she clearly hadn't gotten from the boys.

"I guess so," Romina scratched the back of her head. She probably wouldn't have thought that the Firebolt was a trap like Hermione did, but she supposed they should be grateful Hermione had. She was thinking reasonably, unlike the others. "Better safe than sorry."

Hermione seemed relieved to have at least one person on her side. She sighed in relief and gave Romina a quick hug. They continued to cross the courtyard shortly afterwards. "And McGonagall told Harry he could have the Firebolt back if it was safe, so...things will turn out fine. He'll get it back."

Romina knew Hermione was saying it to feel less guilty about the situation. Romina nodded her head, reassuring Hermione she'd done the right thing. "Harry will get over it because he knows you were only trying to do the right thing."

Hermione hoped she was right because it had been a rather quiet, lonely vacation after Christmas. She was glad school was starting again to at least see other friends. "You seem to be doing better," Hermione commented after a brief moment of silence between them. "Though I guess you changed your hair again because of what Pansy did? I'm so sorry about that."

"Pansy will get what's coming to her," Romina said as she came to a stop and turned to face Hermione. "She and I are no longer friends."

"I imagine so," Hermione could tell from Romina's face she'd meant every word. "But how do the other Slytherins treat you? I know Arden's okay...but the others?"

It'd never really been established what kind of relationships Romina had with the rest of the Slytherins. Neither Hermione, Harry or Ron had made any assumptions past the fact they were all Slytherins and they needed to be cautious around them.

"Honestly, so far, it's kind of confusing," Romina folded her arms and thought about the common room as of late. "Angel, Carolinha and Daphne say it's nothing to be ashamed of. My parents are not who I am."

Hermione smiled. "They're right."

"Theodore and Blaise just laughed and shook it off. And then Draco, believe it or not, has been helpful too. I think he gets me more than the others because of his own parents."

There, Hermione's smile faded. "I wouldn't believe Malfoy so easily, Rom."

"I know your problems with him, and I get it, but it's a bit different between us."

Hermione visibly cringed. "I'm sorry."

"Mhm," Romina dropped her arms to her sides and sighed. "Should I even ask what talks go on in the Gryffindor common room about me?"

Hermione smiled once more because she got to relieve Romina's fears about that. "Most of them are understanding. They know you and they know you'd never hurt anyone."

"I'm glad," Romina locked eyes with a few Ravenclaws walking past them. "I hope it's the same in the other Houses."

"I'm sure it will be," Hermione patted Romina's arm and coaxed her into walking again.

~ 0 ~

"We're doing this one," Romina presented Draco with a small parchment paper. She didn't necessarily wait for his reaction since she took off to go retrieve the needed ingredients for their potion.

Snape commanded the students to create a simple (in his perspective, anyways) potion that class period to demonstrate that they had indeed been listening to his lectures. The idea was for each pair of students to choose a potion falling under a minimum of five ingredients for its creation.

Draco's face had scrunched after reading the name of the potion Romina chose for them, and when she came back he made sure to voice his opinion on it. "You want us to create a measly Bulgeye potion?"

"It's not measly," she said calmly as she laid their ingredients on their desk. "I chose it with great care."

"It's boring," Draco slammed the parchment on the desk, gaining several looks from the other students as well as Snape who, after a few seconds, dismissed it and went back to his desk.

"It won't be, I promise."

Draco studied the girl who continued to calmly prepare things. "You're up to something, Oswell." Romina only raised her gaze for a couple seconds, but it was all Draco needed to see her hidden intentions. "It won't be boring?"

Romina smirked. "Not at all."

Draco tilted his head and shrugged. "Alright then, let's begin."

The two worked quietly throughout the class period. They were actually good partners and after a long year of Romina being detached and distant, Draco was glad (and relieved) to have his partner back. He did, however, wonder how long this would last. It wouldn't be the first time Romina duped him and everyone else into believing she was completely back to normal.

"That looks wrong," Pansy stopped by one hour into their work time. Her eyes disapprovingly looked over the brewing cauldron. "I'm so sorry, Draco, that you got stuck with her."

Romina secretly side-glanced Draco and made a 'shh' noise under her breath. Oh, he wanted to know what she was up to now. She looked very certain of herself.

"I'll have you know we're doing pretty good unlike yours," Romina sent a nod in Pansy's desk where her cauldron was spewing some type of odd color.

Pansy sourly smiled at the girl. "It would be a shame if something happened to yours, then, wouldn't it?"

Romina leveled Pansy's look with her own, a plain blank one. "I suppose." She waited a few seconds before glancing at Draco. "We need more of the sac fungi. Can you help me?"

"...sure…" Draco said slowly, knowing full well she most certainly didn't need help carrying the tiny portion they required.

Romina made a show of leaving a few ingredients neatly cut beside the cauldron. She flashed Pansy a sour smile, like the girl had before with her, and walked away.

"What the hell are you doing?" Draco hissed as he was forced to walk along with her.

"Teaching Parkinson a lesson, that's what," snapped Romina. She yanked him towards the table of ingredients and made sure he wouldn't move from there.

"What are you up to?"

"Shh," Romina put a finger over her lips. She looked over her shoulder to catch Pansy examining their desk. "She's so goddamn predictable," she whispered.

Because when no one was supposedly watching, Pansy picked up several ingredients Romina left on the desk and started tossing them into their cauldron.

Of course when Draco saw Pansy, he became infuriated. "I'm going to—" Romina had to yank him back before he stormed over and ruined it.

"Just wait for it," Romina turned him back to the table but continued to watch over her shoulder.

Just as Pansy was about to drop the last bit in her hand, the cauldron bubbled and suddenly threw its contents directly at her face. The girl's scream froze everyone in their spots.

"IT HURTS!" Pansy wailed as she staggered away from the cauldron. Her face was growing blotches of bubbly green while other clear parts were swelling up.

Snape was the one to storm over, but he showed no sign of sympathy for the girl. "Well of course it does! You're covered in toxic fungi! Just what were you doing here?"

Pansy didn't know if it hurt more to put her hands on her face or let everyone see her face covered in fungi. Course when she saw Romina smirking from the ingredient table, she knew exactly what happened. "It was Oswell's fault!" she immediately pointed an accusing finger in Romina's way. "She did something!"

Romina was fast to stop smirking and hold her hands up. "But I was only getting ingredients we needed. How could I do something to my own work? And what's more, how could I do something all the way from here? I don't have the skills for that...do I?" she glanced at Draco innocently.

"Well, no not really," he was completely honest.

Pansy's eyes were almost bug-eyed from rage. "I know it was you! You did this! You did-"

"Parkinson, this wasn't even your desk," Snape stopped her from going any further. "Perhaps instead of dilly-dallying you should have remained at your own table working like I instructed you to."

"But can't you see? Oswell tricked me," Pansy all but stomped her foot like a child would when they weren't getting their way. And she wasn't getting her way.

"I don't think so," Snape took one look at Romina's and Draco's desk to see the remaining ingredients. "I do, however, believe you two" — he said for Romina and Draco, — "have mistakenly added some ingredients that don't belong here."

"Maybe that'll stop Parkinson from sticking her nose where it doesn't belong," Romina said all too proudly for the rest of the class not to snicker.

"Silence!" Snape commanded. "Parkinson, get to the infirmary now. Oswell and Malfoy, you better get this cleaned up if you expect to make my deadline on time."

Romina nodded and started back for their desk. She met Harry's and Ron's face with a proud smirk. They both knew this had not been any accident. The only one who seemed a bit disapproving was Hermione, but that was no surprise.

"You planned all of this, didn't you?" Draco was careful to whisper while they started cleaning up.

"Is it my fault Pansy is so nosy and sadly so predictable?" Romina innocently shrugged. "Maybe next time she'll think twice before messing with me," she said in a darker tone.

"Harsh," Draco paused for a moment to think it through. It was clearly the reason why she chose such a simple, boring potion. And yet, it turned out to be the funniest thing ever. She wore her victory with a proud smirk while she cleaned up, and he rather liked it. "Keep that up, will you? You might get more interesting."

Romina smirked. "Thanks. Now let's hurry so we can make the actual potion."

~ 0 ~

Word spread about Pansy's unfortunate accident and while Romina did feel an unusual satisfaction from it, there were others who now looked at her a bit differently because of it. She didn't think about what the other students would think about it and perhaps she should have. If people murmured about her before, now they didn't even bother hiding it.

"I'm not gonna hex you!" she hissed at a couple second year Hufflepuffs in the hallway who, in response, rushed to get away from her. "Geez, it was a simple prank."

Not a second later was she picked up from her arms by the Weasley twins.

"And what a genius prank it was, my dear Aline!" Fred said proudly.

"Would you hush before someone hears you?" Romina snapped. "And would you put me down!?" Her legs flailed in the air while the twins held her and brought her down the opposite end of the hallway.

"Course," George snickered. They stopped at the courtyard threshold and put the girl down on her feet.

"Now what was that all about?" Romina crossed her arms over her chest.

"We just want to commend you on your fabulous prank today," Fred dramatically flapped his hands in the air.

"Yeah, you've proven you can be a sly, sneaky prankster," George added.

"Great…" Romina looked between the twins without much understanding. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"That in the near future we might ask you to join us," Fred replied with an air that indicated she should be proud as well.

Romina couldn't help but chuckle. That made both twins grin.

"There's Romina! Glad to see you're doing better!" George took her in for a surprise hug.

Of course it only took Romina a couple seconds to figure out the purpose of this odd conversation. They were trying to see how she was doing in their own subtle way. Her prank was an indication she was doing better than before. And she even looked better.

"Thanks boys," Romina smiled softly at them and hugged them each. "But what have I said about carrying me like that?"

The twins each grinned mischievously.

"I've no idea," George shrugged. "Do you know, Fred?"

"Why, I don't believe I do, George."

Romina rolled her eyes while the twins went back and forth oh-so-innocently. That's one game she wouldn't be able to put a stop to.

~0~

As DADA came to a finish, Romina saw firsthand how Harry, Ron and Hermione interacted with each other. It truly was a sight to see when they all bickered, well mostly Ron and Hermione. They were arguing at a full level outside the classroom.

"Whatever, she just wants us to talk to her again," Ron said after Hermione had stormed away.

"You're so nice, Ron," Romina stepped into Hermione's spot, flashing the ginger boy a glare.

"Well…" Ron gestured after Hermione but his sputtering didn't exactly make the best defence.

"Please don't fight either," Harry quietly pleaded. He looked at Romina with a different type of expression, one that Romina recognized straightaway. It was the same look most of her friends gave her at the return of vacation.

"I'm good, Harry," Romina offered him a small smile. "Better than I had been anyways."

Ron snorted. "Well, with what you did to Parkinson who wouldn't be better?" Romina rolled her eyes but her smirk did indicate some agreement from her part. "How'd you pull that off, anyways?"

"She's predictable," Romina proudly pushed her hair over her shoulder.

Ron eyed the long mane of black hair peeking around her body. "Have I mentioned your hair is kind of weird?"

Romina looked at Harry. "And then he wonders why he gets into arguments with Hermione?"

"What?" Ron frowned while Harry shared a smile with Romina.

"Look, Hermione told me about the Firebolt incident…" Romina lowered her voice to a whisper though as soon as she mentioned the Firebolt, Ron went into a fit.

"The blasphemy! How dare she do that!? It was a Firebolt for God's sake—"

"Ron," Harry hissed for him to be quiet. "We don't need the entire school knowing McGonagall is in possession of it."

"You don't look as mad," Romina took note of Harry's rather calm exterior. "Must mean you understand what Hermione felt she had to do."

"Oh you cannot be taking her side!" Ron pointed a warning finger at Romina.

"I'm not, I'm just saying that what Hermione did was out of precaution. And judging by Harry's attitude, it looks like he might be agreeing too."

"He's not!" Ron immediately said but then wondered if Romina had a point. He turned to Harry with a questioning look. "Are you?"

"No, well...I mean…" Harry sighed, "I was upset but then...I don't know...I guess it wouldn't hurt if McGonagall took a look at it. What would I do with a curse Firebolt anyways?"

Ron looked like he'd heard the end of the world.

Romina clapped a hand on the ginger's shoulder. "And there you have it. Now you don't need to be so mean to Hermione. Now let's move onto why you talked to Lupin after class, Harry. You seem so buddy-buddy with him."

"Am not," Harry was quick to say.

"Really? I'm not an idiot. You want to try again?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "He knew my parents, alright?" Romina stiffened at the mention of his parents. It was just a plain reminder of what happened to them and by who. "And he's going to teach me how to defend myself against the Dementors."

"Oh…" the black-haired girl bit her lower lip. "I'm sorry, Harry. I-I didn't know."

"You're okay," Harry smiled at her.

"Can I ask why you waited this long to learn from him?"

"He hasn't been feeling well. You've seen him."

"Yeah," Romina had to agree. Anyone with eyes could see Lupin's deteriorating health a mile off. "What do you think is wrong with him? Has to be something chronic but I don't know what."

"Well, Hermione seems to know," Ron shrugged. "It's what she was saying earlier. I don't think it's true, though."

"Oh Ron," Romina chuckled. "Never doubt Hermione Granger. She's the one who saves your life." Ron huffed and looked away. "So Harry, when are you going to take these lessons from Lupin?"

"Tonight. So don't tell anyone."

"Never," Romina raised her hands in defense. "Who knows, you might be able to teach us a thing or two afterwards." Harry chuckled with her.

For a moment, it was almost as if nothing had happened to either of them.

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 21: The New Tutor

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag​​​​ @arrthurpendragon​​​​ @anotherunreadblog​​​ @maaaaarveeeeel​​​​ @stareyedplanet​​​​ @foxesandmagic​​​​

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

After the first DADA class, it was like Romina regressed back into her summer mood where she was extremely silent and reserved, only showing her face when absolutely necessary. News about the odd Boggart she'd face (and ran out on) had spread like wildfire amongst students, no matter the years. Even Lilah King had asked Arden what exactly happened to Romina. Arden wished she could know too, because Romina wasn't much about talking these days. The only ones who were there either didn't know - as was Harry's, Hermione's and Ron's cases - or simply refused to speak. This was solely on Draco, and no matter how many times Arden bugged him for a right answer, the blonde refused to give it out.

"I'm waiting for something," he would tell her before insulting her to get away from her.

Others, like Carolinha, Angel and Daphne, would try to talk to Romina when she'd grace them with her presence for meals. When they weren't attempting to talk to her, Harry, Hermione and Ron were.

"Just leave me alone!" Romina would end up shouting at them until she left or they did.

Even when the first trip to Hogsmeade rolled around, Romina paid no attention to it despite having her grandparents' signatures on the permission slips. Everyone was excited about their first trip to the winter wonderland place they kept hearing so much about...all except for Romina.

"But c'mooooon!" Arden whined like a child as she followed behind Romina in the common room. "I hear there's this incredible sweet shop we have to go to!"

"Then you go and please don't bother telling me about it afterwards," Romina stopped by a bookshelf to retrieve a book she knew Pansy had hidden from her two days ago. For some reason, Pansy was acting even more rude towards her - and that was saying something considering she usually only battled against Arden. To say, even Pansy was teasing Romina about the Boggart incident.

"Well you don't have to be rude about it," Arden huffed and noticed the Transfiguration book Romina was cradling in her arms. "But it would be incredibly fun to go and just try everything!"

Romina once again shook her head. She left the bookshelf to return to the writing desk she'd been working at. "I'm not going and that's that."

"To Hogsmeade?" Angel's voice made both girls look at the hallway for a second. He was already dressed for the first go in warm clothing complete with an orange beanie. "You're going, right, Romina?"

Romina gave him a dead serious look. "No. I told you this both yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. I am not going."

Angel moved over to the desk. "We can go to Zonko's, you know? You could use a laugh! Or," he quickly blocked Romina from getting away, "we could go get some nice butterbeer I hear is really good."

Romina sighed and looked around, honestly feeling like the extra attention was too much. "Guys, what's the big deal if I don't go? Besides, I have to go see McGonagall anyways. She's been calling me since yesterday and I'm afraid what she'll do if I don't show up today."

"Okay, then we can stop by her office and then head over to Hogsmeade afterwards!" Angel insisted. "C'mon, Romina, I think this would be very good for you."

"Sounding a bit desperate there, Angel," Pansy came into the common room fixing her jacket. Behind her came Carolinha and Daphne.

"Least she's got someone asking her to go with him," Arden snapped. "Last time I checked, you're more alone than a dog."

"Least I'm not desperate enough to have someone do my work," Pansy shot Romina such a nasty look that the latter was frozen with surprise.

"Pansy, what are you—?"

"Don't talk to her like that!" snapped Arden.

"Oh, shut up, Arden. I'll hex you. I've been learning."

"Leave the hexing for the outside, please," Draco came in, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle as was per usual. "Preferably while I have a drink in hand."

"In your dreams," Arden pointed at him first before continuing with Romina. "Rom, please, let's just go out."

Romina shook her head. "I just don't want to go. What's the point in going somewhere if I'm just going to be sour all the time?"

"But why be 'sour'?" Carolinha put air quotations around the keyword. "It's about that Boggart thing, isn't it?"

"Leave it alone, Paes," Draco suddenly warned. Romina shot him a suspicious look, one that was followed by Angel's and even Pansy's. "If Oswell doesn't want to go then let her do whatever the hell she's got planned…" he then eyed the Transfiguration book on the desk, "...no matter how boring."

Romina rolled her eyes. He had yet to speak to her directly and then he comes out with that? It didn't help that Pansy, in all her excitement, dragged him away. She slammed her book shut and got up from her table. "I'm gonna go see McGonagall," she muttered and walked out shortly after.

~ 0 ~

With most of the school gone for Hogsmeade, it was a lonesome and quiet walk down the hallway. She headed up to McGonagall's office where she was sure she was already being waited on.

"Come in," the professor motioned her to take a seat at her desk.

"Am I in trouble?" was the first thing that flew out of Romina's mouth. Suddenly, her 'I don't care' attitude seemed more like a facade than anything else. This, McGonagall saw.

"Do you think you ought to be?" she asked the young girl. "You have not turned in any of my assignments since the term started. To be quiet honest, I'm concerned with your grades however, your head of House doesn't seem to be as concerned as I am. Seems his class is the only class you bother to turn in assignments."

"Potions?" Romina said, her nose scrunching. "I haven't been turning anything in..." She knew for a fact she had yet to turn in one single assignment for any of her classes. The fact that it was McGonagall who had caught on to her streak was perhaps the most expected thing. Still, that left the matter of where these so-called potions assignments were coming from.

"Normally, this is a conversation you would be having with professor Snape seeing as he is, of course, your head of House but I took the liberty of stepping in because I have something that might help you out," McGonagall said. He moved a plate of biscuits on the desk towards Romina. "Eat."

Romina silently reached for one of the biscuits and took a bite. Admitting just to herself...they were kind of good. "What...exactly do you mean by that?"

"Before this term, it was my understanding that you had an affection for Transfiguration. Your skills certainly showed that. I have no doubt that if you continue like that, I'll more than likely see you in my N.E.W.T. class in the future. In the spirit of making that happen, I am assigning you tutoring."

"Tutoring?" frowned Romina. "But you just said that I was good at—"

"You misunderstand, Miss Oswell," McGonagall cut her off. "I am assigning you to be the tutor."

"Huh?" Romina blankly stared at the woman. "Come again?"

"Since it seems like my lessons no longer interest you nor challenge you, I am giving you the responsibility of replicating these lessons with another student." McGonagall was nothing if not stern with her words. What she said was law and even Romina wouldn't be able to get out of it. Still, Romina was going to try.

"But professor, I'm just a 3rd year! I can't teach anyone!"

"Oh, I'm sure that you can teach a 2nd year student," McGonagall shrugged. "She's very smart if not slightly misguided about the art of Transfiguration. I'm sure you'll be able to help her. All she really needs is to practice."

"But—"

"It's either you tutor her, or I gather up your professors and we all communicate with your aunt and uncle about this. I haven't seen Sage or Caplan in many, many years."

Romina was done with her biscuit and returned the leftovers to the plate as an act of defiance. She leaned back in her chair, very much put out with the circumstances.

"Of course..." McGonagall lowered her head, her eyes looking up from her glasses, "Should you wish to talk about whatever is bothering you, we can also do that too."

Romina crossed her arms. "I am not bothered by anything." Lie. She was bothered by many things at the moment.

"Very well," McGonagall said, "She's already waiting for us in my classroom."

"Already?" Romina's eyes widened. "Who's — I don't know what I'm supposed to teach her!"

"It'll be fine," McGonagall stood up from her desk, "Follow me. I'll introduce you to her and give you some instructions on the way."

Romina let out a huff as she got up from her chair and followed the professor out. They walked together to her classroom and sure enough, Romina learned that the second year girl was to learn some specific transfiguration lessons. What irritated Romina the most is that they were lessons that she did know how to do which meant that she could teach the girl something.

"Miss Lovegood," McGonagall said as she led Romina inside the class, "I've brought your new tutor."

Romina saw a petite girl standing at the front of the classroom with the longest, straggly, blonde hair she had ever seen. She had bright blue eyes and a sort of lazy smile about her. She was a Ravenclaw too.

"Hello," the girl greeted and Romina wondered if her voice was naturally soft.

"Miss Oswell, this is Luna Lovegood, one of my 2nd year students," McGonagall introduced, "Miss Lovegood, this is Romina Oswell, your new tutor. Twice a week you will meet here to gain a little more practice on our lessons. Is that clear?"

"Mhm," nodded Luna, her eyes still glued to Romina.

"Better get started then," McGonagall said, specifically eyeing Romina. "Let me know how it goes."

Romina begrudgingly nodded and watched the woman leave. She sighed. "Well, it's nice to meet you Luna."

"It's nice to meet you too," Luna said, "Although, I already know you."

"You do?" Romina eyed her curiously. She was sure she would remember Luna.

Luna leaned forwards and whispered. "You're the girl afraid of adults."

Romina swallowed hard. It seemed like nobody had realized what her boggart had taken to making up theories instead. Being the the girl afraid of adults was just fine with her.

"It's okay, though," Luna continued calmly, soothingly, "I find most adults have a troubling aura around them. We just need to be careful."

"Uum...right…" Romina looked down and noticed Luna wasn't wearing any shoes. "Um, Luna, where are your shoes?"

Luna glanced down at her bare feet and shrugged. "They've mysteriously disappeared."

"Uuh...shouldn't you tell your head of House?"

"That's okay. Last year the same thing happened and they were returned by the end of the year."

Honestly, Romina could tell this would turn out to be an interesting session. At the very least, it would be entertaining enough to distract her for a while. Luna turned away from Romina and faced the golden goblet McGonagall had left behind for them to work on.

"Professor McGonagall was most kind when she said you would help me with transfiguration," Luna began to say while Romina opened up Luna's Transfiguration book on a desk.

"Yeah, well, don't be fooled. I'm good but...I'm pretty sure that Hermione would be a better tutor than me..."

"Professor McGonagall knew what she was doing," Luna said matter-of-factly. "She probably thought you could use a distraction from your Boggart problem."

At that instance, Romina whirled around. "Luna, you can talk about whatever you want but not that, alright? Anything else is fine. Seriously."

Luna gave a nod, still smiling warmly. It sort of made Romina feel guilty for her sudden lash out. Luna was, after all, a year younger and completely innocent of any problems Romina had.

"Why don't we just get started?" Romina decided then. "Professor McGonagall said that you were having trouble transfiguring certain objects." Luna raised the golden goblet from the desk, her eyes blinking exceptionally slow. "Right, like that."

"I keep telling professor McGonagall that we might be hurting them."

"Hurting...what?"

"What we're using to transfigure, of course."

"Luna, that's just a goblet. I can see where you're getting at with the animals but professor McGonagall had told us that it doesn't hurt the animals."

"But how do we know for sure? Have we asked them?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Then should we really be using them for our lessons?"

Romina was left speechless for a minute. Smiling, Luna carefully settled the goblet on the desk between them and waited for Romina to give an answer.

~0~

The school was still stark quiet when Romina called it a day with Luna. It turned out the girl was rather eccentric, a bit funny but Romina liked it. Luna offered a pure distraction and, plus, she was a sweet girl who cared about the oddest of things. In her thoughts, Romina didn't spot Harry coming out of professor Lupin's office and bumped into the boy.

"Harry?" Romina spoke his name, confused by his presence.

"What are you doing here?" the two asked each other at the same time.

"No permission slip for Hogsmeade," Harry answered first and waited for Romina to go next.

She bit her lip and gave a nervous shrug. "Didn't feel like it."

"What? You didn't want to go to Hogsmeade?" Harry incredulously said. You shouldn't even be surprised. Romina had been way too depressive ever since the boggart incident. It was obvious that Hogsmeade wouldn't be on her to-do list.

"Why would I?" Romina shrugged again. "Better off here where nobody can see me. Besides, I just had a tutoring session."

"What, you're being tutored?" Harry blinked. "By who?"

"Other way around," Romina motioned a 180 movement with her finger. "I'm the tutor in this equation. McGonagall put me to tutor some second year girl because apparently I'm good at it."

"You are," Harry said. "I know you've been slacking off this year but you were really good at that. Better than Hermione, honestly."

"Oh, don't let her hear that," Romina said, making a face. She loved Hermione but nobody could deny how defensive the girl got if she wasn't the best at everything.

Harry half smiled. "I'm glad you're doing something academic again. It's weird seeing you not even try with your work. You're brilliant, Rom."

"Thanks," Romina said, and suddenly she was looking at Harry curiously.

"What?" asked the boy, confused.

"Have you been turning in my Potions assignments, by any chance?"

Harry didn't laugh in her face out of sheer politeness. "Are you kidding? I can barely keep up with my workload, let alone someone else's! Besides, Snape hates me. He'd know if I did someone else's work. Why?"

"It's just..." Romina was even more confused than before, "When we were talking about my classes and homework, McGonagall said that the only class I wasn't slipping in was Potions. And I know that can't be right because I have not been turning anything in to anyone. And it's like you said, Snape would know if someone was doing my work."

"Not if it was another Slytherin," Harry said without a second thought. "It's no secret that Snape favors those from his House. Maybe it was Arden."

"No, she would've told me by now and made a big deal out of it too."

"Well, maybe Angel then," Harry said, shrugging, "He seems to really care about you."

"Yeah, but I feel like he would've—" Romina abruptly stopped talking. Something had flashed across her eyes and Harry wasn't sure what it was.

'Least I'm not desperate enough to have someone do my work'

Pansy's words were on repeat inside Romina's head. What's more, she remembered something one of the their early Potions classes.

Draco had started cutting the uneven roots — all of them — with both of his hands.

"Oh, he wouldn't have..." Romina mumbled under her breath. The idea was laughable...and yet...

"Rom!" Harry snapped his fingers in front of her face, startling her. "Hey? You okay?"

"A-aha," Romina swallowed hard. "I have to go see somebody. Scuse me."

"What?" Harry turned after Romina, even more confused than before. "What's going on?"

"Nothing! It's — it's stupid!" Romina called back. "See you later, Harry!" She dashed off.

~ 0 ~

Truth be told, and this Romina would admit later on, she probably should have thought longer about what she was going to say. However, at that moment, she was just so fed up with all the confusion and erratic behavior of Draco Malfoy. She was going to find him and make him explain himself. That came after all students were to come back from Hogsmeade for dinner. She was pacing back and forth in her dorm when the rest of her friends started walking in.

"You're back!" she stopped midway.

Each of the girls were pink-faced from the cold day, but that didn't stop them from being giggly messes and carrying their shopping bags.

"Romina! You would love Hogsmeade!" Arden said as she dropped a bag on Romina's bed. "I got you some sweets—"

"Are the boys back too?" Romina cut her friend off and even looked at Pansy and Milicent for an answer.

"Yes, with the others in the common room, messing around," drawled Pansy, "Why?"

"Don't worry about it," Romina said sharply. "Is Draco around?"

"Why?" Pansy frowned.

"Normally I'd disagree with anything she says but in this case, she's right," Arden said, "Why?"

"Because he owes me an explanation!" Romina left it at that and stormed out of the room. She went straight to the common room, eyes scanning through the groups of returning students. It didn't take long to find him and when she did, she stalked right over and grabbed Draco by his uninjured arm and pulled him aside.

"Hey, hey, hands off!" He ordered her immediately.

"Shut up and listen!"

"What, gonna ask if I bought you anything like King did? Or Angel?" Draco's smirk was shortlived when Romina smacked him repeatedly. "Hey!" He frowned and grabbed both her hands. "Stop it!"

"You stop it!" Romina said frantically. "Stop being so fucking confusing! It's either you're mad at me or not!"

"Right now, I'm more or less concerned for you," Draco said, annoyingly calm which just made things worse. "Is there any reason why you're acting even more insane than usual?"

"Because of you!" Romina pulled her hands out of his grip and pointed one sharp finger at him. "I'm gonna ask you something and if you know what's good for you, you'll answer with the truth. Have you been turning in Potions assignments to Snape as if they were mine?"

"Yeah."

"You better answer—" Romina froze when his answer registered. Little by little, her face scrunched. "Wait — you have!?" Draco nodded. "Why? Why would you — aren't you mad at me?"

"Yeah, but that's one thing and what you're doing in your classes is a completely different thing," he said, explaining as if it were completely obvious to even the dumbest person.

"You should come with a translation book because I don't get a thing that you're saying right now!"

Draco scoffed, about to laugh at her. "Nu-uh, you're insane but you're not stupid. You know exactly what I'm talking about. And I know exactly what you're doing. That boggart you ran away from — we both know who it is."

And just like that, the color drained from Romina's face. "Shut the fuck up right now," she warned.

"Not until you admit that those two were—"

"I said shut up!"

"—your parents!"

"They're not my parents!" Romina argued and only kept his voice low so as to not draw any attention to herself. "I don't know who the hell that boggart turned into and you shouldn't be turning in any of my assignments! If I want to fail, that's my business!"

"A business you'll regret when you get out of this funk," Draco said, continuing with his calm streak. It was even more infuriating for Romina. She was unraveling and she knew it but by God she would not admit it. "I'm doing you a favor, Oswell."

"A favor that I'm sure you'll get me back for," Romina said without missing a beat. "Because that's how you operate. I know you demanded that Arden do your History homework last year in exchange for that paper in Hermione's hand when she was petrified. If you do this for me now, you'll just ask for something in return later so I would rather go to Snape right now and tell him what's been going on!"

Draco turned her right back around when she made a move for the entrance doors. "I think the fuck not!" He squeezed her arm to keep her in place. "If you do that, then we're both goners. I will not have my record tarnished because you're having an episode of denial."

"Denial!?" Romina grew more outraged by the second.

"Yeeeees!" Draco said sharply and loudly, much to Romina's alarm.

"Shut up!"

"You're completely in denial about who your parents are and the fact that you look remarkably like your mother—"

"I said to the shut the fuck up! You are — let go of me!" Romina pulled her arm out of his grip. "I don't know what you're saying. I have no mother!"

For a minute, they stared at each other, neither one with the intention to back down. Draco's expression was a flatout 'you're in denial'. He never thought he'd see Romina like that, honestly. She was usually so calm and collected but this was a whole other side of her.

"Stop turning in work for me!" Romina said again. "You're going to get caught! How you haven't is beyond me!"

"That's kind of flattering—"

"Oh my God, it's like talking to the wall! Do you hear any of my words when I say them!?"

At the question, Draco scoffed. "I think the whole bloody castle can hear your words. You're very loud when you want to be."

"Then listen! I don't know what your game is but I don't want to play! Besides, last time I checked, you don't consider me a friend anyways!"

"Again with that—"

"YES!" Romina couldn't help herself and yelled. Why was he being so calm about everything? "Don't you remember? You humiliated me in front of our friends and for what? Because Pansy told you that I laughed? In case you didn't know, Blaise and Theo laughed too!"

"Yeah, but there's a difference," Draco said flatly. "They'll laugh at anything. I laugh at them. You, however, wouldn't have laughed if it had been your precious Harry Potter on the ground."

"To be fair, Harry wouldn't have gotten himself into that situation in the first place," Romina blurted out and immediately saw the ire that flashed across Draco's eyes. "Sorry, okay!" She exclaimed quickly. That one was on her. "I just meant — Harry listened to what Hagrid told us. You didn't. And yes, I did laugh, and I felt guilty so I came to see you and apologize but you never even gave me the chance. You just...kicked me out." The anger which nowadays seemed permanent on her face disappeared for a moment.

In the three years that Draco knew Romina, he could not count on one hand the times he had seen her look remotely sensitive about anything. It just wasn't her. So now he had no idea what to do with this version of her in front of him.

Romina sensed that she had overshared her actual feelings on the matter and acted quick to brush it off. "But don't you worry, I don't intend on letting you embarrass me like that again. And if I want to drown, then you let me. Maybe that's what I want."

Draco watched her turn to leave. He didn't know if she had heard him or not but he spoke nothing but the truth. "Well, it's too damn bad that I just don't listen." With that, he took off after her, seized her arm and pulled her right beside him and continued the walk towards the dorms.

"What are you doing!?" Romina immediately tried prying his hand off her arm. "Let go of me!" She tried pulling away from him, feeling rather smushed at his side.

"Either you walk with me or I tell everyone right now who the boggart was," Draco made the threat quietly and calmly.

"You wouldn't dare." As soon as the words left Romina's mouth, Draco stopped walking, gave her a look and then turned back to the common room. She panicked the moment he opened his mouth. "Okay, okay, okay!" she said quickly, her hands in front of her. "Don't— please don't!"

Content that he had gotten her full cooperation, Draco grabbed her arm again and walked her into the hallway.

"I said I'd come. You don't need to grab me like this," Romina muttered, still trying to pull out of his tight grip.

"Can't have you running on me," was his simple response.

"Why does it matter?"

"Because you're not one to let yourself drown. It's actually pathetic, really."

Romina scoffed. "Oh, well, thanks. Guess I can't even do that right."

Draco let her go when they reached her dorm. "No, you can't," he said bluntly, "And to make it clear, you're doing it all wrong!"

"Yeah, I got that, thanks—"

"No," he pointed at her. She shoved his finger away from her face. "Between you and me, we can agree that we both know what that boggart was."

It physically pained Romina to admit to it. The strain was all over her face. "I don't know them," she insisted.

"No, guess you technically wouldn't but the thing is, the whole world knows about them. You want to make it clear that you're not their daughter? Act like yourself again, not this ruddy brainless doll you've become."

"Hey!" Romina frowned.

"You're floating but if you keep it up, you're going to fall. You're going to dig up a hole that you won't be able to climb out of. Start doing your fucking work, start talking again, and start arguing again! I miss that!"

Romina blinked at him. To his credit, Draco's gaze did not waver. He knew exactly what he said and he was not going back on it.

"It's boring," he said in the end.

"...admit you were wrong then," she said suddenly.

The surprise was too much; Draco laughed. "What?"

Romina crossed her arms. "I don't think you get it. You kicked me out in front of our friends. You humiliated me and all for some stupid girl who fed you lies. Admit that you were wrong about that."

"The best I can do is give myself 30% of the fault," Draco shrugged. "You did laugh at me."

"No fucking way! The best I can do" — she mimicked his voice — "is give myself 30%. You kicked me out."

"Yes, so you keep saying. How about 50% then? You laughed, and you let King insult me too."

Romina didn't budge. "Thirty percent. You let Pansy brainwash you!"

"Did she lie about you laughing?"

"Well, no, but—"

"You're more upset that I listened to Pansy than you," Draco said as if he just noticed the fact. He leaned a little closer to her face, smirking. "Why is that, Oswell?"

Romina could not take his smirking face. She paid him with the same coin. "Why'd you go up to the creature in the first place?"

There was a brief period of silence that followed after the two questions. Neither one could answer the question without slightly incriminating themselves with ideas that would not bode well for either side.

Finally, Draco spoke. "Fine. Take your 30% then."

Romina smirked victoriously. "Pleasure doing business with you."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Does this mean that you'll go back to doing your work?"

"Maybe," Romina shrugged. "I am a little bit behind in all my classes..."

"Little bit?" Draco had the suspicion that it was not a 'little bit' at all. "You should get help with that."

"Maybe I will," Romina nodded. "And by the way, you can get rid of the sling now. Think you've made it very clear that you're hurt."

"Nah, it's getting me some good attention."

Romina scoffed. "No!" She sighed, her eyes falling over the infamous sling. "Hey, want to see something cool?"

"From you?" Draco scoffed. "That'll be the day."

Romina shoved him away, ignoring his laugh. "Give me a second!" She said then disappeared in her dorm.

Inside, her friends were surprised to see her so excited as she searched for something in her trunk.

"Romina, are you feeling better?" Arden called from her bed. "You want to try some of those sweets now?"

"In a sec, Arden! Aha!" Romina had found what she was looking for and dashed out of the room again.

"What are you— hey!" Draco had not expected Romina to grab his arm and pull him away from her dorm. The last thing she wanted for some nosy people to listen in on them.

"You know what this is, right?" Romina twirled a black marker between her fingers.

"Yes," drawled Draco, "What are you doing with it?"

"I wanted to show you a little muggle tradition they have, sort of to make a person who got hurt feel better," Romina pointed to his sling, "And despite the fact you are not actually that hurt…"

Draco scowled. "You want to go back to 50%?"

Romina laughed and made a gesture that she would stop. "So anyways, when a muggle gets a cast or something along those lines, other people usually write a little something on their cast or sling."

"What for?"

"To make it fun, I guess? Can't be that fun wearing a cast or a sling I imagine. Like one of my friends back in my neighborhood, Nadine, she loves basketball. I mean, this girl breathed, lived and sweated basketball—"

"What's basketball?" It seemed like Draco was losing her track more and more.

"Irrelevant but it's a muggle sport. Anyways, Nadine got hurt one time and her entire leg had to be in a cast so while she was downm the rest of us wrote little positive messages on her cast. Others doodled and left something funny for her to see every time she got sad."

This time, Draco followed but his face was unsure. "And...that's what you want to do...to me…?"

"If you let me," Romina shrugged. "I won't write anything mean if that's what you're worried about. I'm not you."

"Wow, looks like you want to go up to 60%..."

"Alright, alright, so can I?"

"What are you going to write?" Despite sounding unsure, Draco had already let her take his arm in the sling closer to her, and by extension him as well.

"Something simple," Romina pulled the cap off the marker and scooted closer. Her curls sticking out mildly tickling Draco's face.

He watched her lean forwards and began writing something on his sling. It was a little difficult but she managed to get the ink to stay. Draco tried to see what she was writing but her head was covering it. Her scent filled his immediate area and he discovered she carried a faint rosy-like scent with her.

"There!" Romina raised her hand to reveal small words.

Happiness is a warm puppy - Romina.

"What is that?" Draco didn't know whether to laugh or get mad. He did, however, considered taking the sling off now.

"It's a Charlie Brown line, stupid!" Romina groaned. "You cannot go in life not knowing Peanuts."

"I know what 'peanuts' are!"

Romina made a motion of frustration but took a breath to calm herself. "That's not the peanuts I was talking about!"

"This is ridiculous," Draco concluded after re-reading the message.

"But you're smiling…" Romina pointed at him with the marker in her hand. "See? It works."

"Yeah, well you're smiling too," Draco directed the marker back at her face.

"Not the point!"

"Quiet!"

"You can't just tell me 'quiet' because you're losing!"

"'Losing'? Losing at what!?"

The two began going back and forth with pointless arguments. And all was well with the world again.

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 16: Waking Up

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag​​​​ @arrthurpendragon​​​​ @anotherunreadblog​​​​ @maaaaarveeeeel​​​​ @stareyedplanet​​​​ @foxesandmagic​​​​

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

The end of the year feast had arrived, and this time it was worth celebrating. Harry had kept good on his word to Arden that he would bring down the Basilisk terrorizing the school, though Arden would never know that the real reason the Basilisk was after them in the first place was because of Lord Voldemort - in the guise of Tom Riddle - was the owner of the diary. Harry thought that was information that Arden didn't need in her life. Besides, Tom Riddle was gone and so was the Basilisk. Ginny Weasley, who turned out to have been under control by Tom Riddle, was safely returned to normal and was once more happy as could be, especially since those who were petrified were being revived that night.

Arden would spend a whole night of anguish wondering what the hell it was that Harry would be doing to get Romina (and everyone else who'd been petrified) back.

"Arden, what did you do with the scrap of paper?" Angel asked her in the evening at dinner.

Arden chewed on her bottom lip. She could already feel Draco's burning eyes on her warning her to keep quiet. Under no circumstances did he want anyone else finding out he had to go up and near Hermione Granger.

"I, um, gave it to the rightful owner," Arden said in the end.

"What do you expect Potter to do with it?"

"I don't know, something at least? All I know is that last year, Harry was able to discover that a longtime professor was really working for You-Know-Who so I'm hoping he'll have the same luck and bring Romina back to us. Or, at least he'll put a stop to whatever did that to her."

"Why are you so interested in it now?" Theo asked Angel afterwards and brought on a whole new conversation. "We're leaving tomorrow and so far, I don't really see anyone being unpetrified, do you?"

"Madame Pomfrey said that the antidote would be ready tonight," Daphne chimed in with a smile from ear to ear. "I'm hoping Romina can come downstairs tonight. I really miss her, doesn't anyone else?"

"Debatable," Blaise said, causing Theo to snicker, "I mean, it has been quieter lately, really."

"Blaise, don't even start," Angel said, shaking his head. "What happened was horrible. Nobody should be petrified."

"Oh calm down everyone," Draco cut in, rolling his eyes. He could already see Carolinha's face growing red from alarm at the conversation. The girl really was too squeaky for his taste, or anyone's taste for that matter. "The antidote is working so like it or not," he glanced at Blaise who was eating with a smirk on his face, "Oswell will be back tonight."

Blaise looked up from his plate and, still smirking, looked at Draco. "You excited too?"

"Maybe," Draco's casual answer brought on the shocked faces of his friends until he added: "If only to see you have a meltdown."

Blaise's smirk vanished as the rest of their friends began to laugh.

~ 0 ~

It was strange being petrified. One moment, she was looking at a horrible creature in a compact mirror and the next thing she saw was that the night wing ceiling could definitely use some new paint. It was almost like she had gone through a period of time at light speed...but almost.

Romina found it strange that even though she was not awake, and she could not speak, she could still hear every now and then. Granted, it was warped and mostly chipped and no doubt distorted, but she could hear sounds. It was not comforting at all. Being not awake but almost awake is about the worst kind of torture in her opinion. When Madame Pomfrey and Professor Sprout gave her an antidote, Romina actually felt like everything was too loud. Madame Pomfrey assured her that her sensibility to hearing was completely normal given the situation and that it would go away in a few days.

Hermione, on the other hand, woke up completely fine. "I told you it was a Basilisk!"

Romina winced with Hermione's voice. She brought her hands to her ears for a moment. "Could you please not yell."

"I'm not yelling," Hermione said as she hopped off her bed. "I would never yell that I knew exactly what kind of secret creature lay in a secret chamber." She was, in fact, keeping her voice very hushed. She cocked her head to the side. "Are you alright?"

"No," Romina said sharply, bringing her hands down on her lap. "It feels like everyone is yelling."

Hermione's brows knitted together as she looked around the night wing. There was commotion, yes, as the rest of the petrified were being given the antidotes but nothing out of this world. "I promise you that no one is yelling."

"I bet," Romina sighed. "Do you think they solved the mystery, though?"

"Only one way to find out," Hermione grinned. "You think you can manage leaving the night wing altogether?"

Romina would love to say 'no' but since she spent way too much time in the night wing, it felt like she needed to get away. She slipped out of bed and very slowly tried to keep her hands on her sides.

"Girls, you can stay as long as you need to," Madame Pomfrey said when she saw Romina struggling to walk with Hermione.

"I'm okay," Romina nodded, making sure that her hands did not move from her sides at all.

Madame Pomfrey didn't seem so convinced. She told the girls that it was the last day before students were to return home. The Great Hall was filled with loud commotion that certain ears would be sensible to. Romina acknowledged the warning as she walked out with Hermione.

The two girls hurried down the stairs, reaching the Great Hall in just minutes. Hermione was all for running in and seeing her friends but she stopped at the doors when she noticed Romina was still at the steps, covering her ears.

"Romina, are you alright?" Hermione turned away from the doors altogether. "Is it — is the noise too much?"

With a groan, Romina came to take a seat on the last step, covering her ears. "It's alright, Hermione. You can go in. Bet you're hungry. We haven't eaten in ages."

Hermione hurried back to the steps and sat down with Romina. "The same goes for you. Bet your friends are missing you too."

"Mm," Romina scrunched her face. "Maybe. It's complicated, that lot. Most of them aren't exactly the expressive kind. Well, maybe Carolinha but that's only because she can't hide her feelings at all." Hermione gave a light chuckle. "Like I said, you should go."

"I'm not leaving you out here," Hermione motioned to the empty hallway. "We were petrified together. Kind of bonds us for life." This time it was Romina who laughed. "Besides, I think your friends really do miss you. More than you think."

Romina lowered her hands when the noise settled a bit more. "What do you mean?"

Hermione made a face as if she were still debating whether or not she had spoken more than she should have. "When you were petrified, did you hear anything? See anything?"

Romina shrugged. "A little bit of hearing. No sight whatsoever. What I heard were moments of Arden, I think? Angel too. I think they were the ones who came to see me most, if not the only ones."

"They weren't the only ones," Hermione said, swallowing thickly. "I don't even believe it yet."

"What?"

Hermione seemed ready to talk when someone zoomed past them down the stairs.

"Oi! You two!" It was Justin Flint-Fletchley, another fellow petrified student, who stopped a few feet away from the girls. "Aren't you starving!? Being petrified works up an appetite! C'mon!"

The girls exchanged glances and ultimately Romina agreed that she was indeed hungry. They stood up together and headed for the Great Hall. Romina was reluctant to walk in at first, and it took a bit more seconds for Hermione to finally convince her to go in with her.

Celebrations were going everywhere. Romina winced every now and then as some yelling became too much. She didn't notice that Hermione had led her to the Gryffindor table, although it wasn't very surprising. What did she expect? That she be walked to the Slytherin table?

Harry and Ron were excitedly waiting for them and hugged each girl tightly (at the last moment Ron decided to shake hands with Hermione, for some reason), profusely apologizing for what had happened to them.

"If I say it's alright will you stop yelling?" Romina said, once again bringing her hands to her ears.

"Well, that's rude!" Ron exclaimed.

"She's experiencing some sensibility to sound," Hermione explained, "So lighten up already."

"Oh Rom, I'm sorry," Harry made a face. The Great Hall probably sounded like it was exploding in Romina's ears.

"Don't worry about it," Romina waved a hand and slowly lowered the other one from her ear. "I'm just happy you guys did it. Whatever it is that you did."

"It was not easy," Ron made clear to the two. "Nearly died back there. And by the way, Hermione, professor Lockhart was a total farce!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. Ron went into a ramble about how Lockhart had admitted to stealing other people's stories and then obliviating them to keep them quiet.

"It doesn't matter," Romina said in the end, "Like I said, I'm just happy you guys did whatever it is that you did."

"With loads of help from you," Harry said, then added, "And from Arden. She's the one that saw the slip of paper in Hermione's hand."

Hermione looked uncomfortable though, as she was about to add more. She looked at Romina again, wearing the same expression she had when they were outside on the step. "Erm, well, Arden may have seen the paper but it was actually Malfoy who got it out of my hand in the first place."

Ron nearly fell forwards. "What!? I'm thinking that petrifying condition must have confused you, Hermione!"

Even Romina seemed a little surprised. "Seriously?"

Hermione nodded firmly. "I heard Arden, and then I heard a conversation between Malfoy and Angel Paes."

"And what did they say?" asked Romina.

Hermione bit on her bottom lip. The conversation she heard had not been for her ears and because Angel was pretty nice, she didn't think telling his secret was the best way to be a friend to him. "I-I don't remember everything...but I know Malfoy was mad he couldn't get the paper out of my hand at first."

"Interesting," Romina said, a smile growing across her face. "Maybe I was wrong."

"Wrong about what?" Ron scowled.

"Nothing," Romina said with a wave of her hand. "Let's not worry about the details. I'm hungry. And I would really like to see my other friends now." She gave the Gryffindors each a hug and then hurried towards the Slytherin table. She was subjected into a second round of welcomings from her friends, none stronger than Arden's hugs though. Well, Angel could rival her.

"I have never been so grateful to Harry! He did whatever it is he usually did and got rid of that Basilisk thing!"

Romina laughed and patted Arden's back. "Well, I hope you know that Madame Pomfrey and Professor Sprout told us that Dumbledore has issued 100 points to those who helped Harry and Ron in the first place." And as she spoke these words, she sent Draco a significant look that made his eyes widen in horror. It was clear he didn't want his name anywhere near the spotlight. It confirmed Hermione's story. "Don't worry, I heard he's awarding them in silence."

Arden, thinking Romina was still speaking just to her, laughed and said she didn't care about the points. Romina shot Draco a knowing smile and started to eat.

"What was it like?" Daphne asked her out of sheer curiosity. "Being petrified?"

Romina was piling on dinner on her plate pretty fast. "I mean, at times I could hear things. Actually, my hearing's a bit sensible right now. It's like being in slow-mo for ages. My ears have to catch up to real time now."

"Really? You could hear at times?" Draco drawled suddenly, meeting Angel's gaze with a smirk. The brunette stiffened in his spot. "Did you happen to hear anything interesting?"

Romina was none the wiser about their little secret. "Not really. The pieces that I did hear were just that: pieces. Everything was kind of slowed down, you know? Hard to make out a conversation."

Angel visibly relaxed but his sister shot him an odd side-glance. "Well, we're just really glad that you're back, Romina," he said.

Romina briefly paused to smile in his way. "Me too."

"But you know," Pansy started and it wasn't far fetched to believe that the next thing that would come out of her mouth was a sort of 'I told you so', "I bet if you hadn't been with Granger, you wouldn't have been petrified in the first place."

"Wow, the first time Parkinson said something smart," Blaise said, "But if you wanna keep hanging out with her and getting into all sorts of situations like that, by all means go for it."

Romina shot the boy in question a sour smile. "I missed you too, Blaise."

"No, but I think Pansy might have a point there," Daphne spoke up, "You should stay clear of her and Harry and Ron. You don't want to get into more trouble like that."

"I have known Harry my entire life," Romina said, "So has Arden. We're not splitting up for anything. And besides, it wasn't Harry's fault."

"No, it was probably your fault for sticking your nose where it didn't belong, huh?" Draco asked her.

"I missed you too, Draco."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Sarcasm was not missed. And I'm telling the truth, aren't I? Tell us right now that you didn't get yourself petrified because you were doing something you shouldn't have been doing?"

Romina put her fork down on her plate and turned her body in Draco's direction. "You know, that's a lot of talk for someone who always sticks their nose where it doesn't belong. I had to learn it from somewhere, didn't I? What, with it coming with the 'pureblood' label, right?"

"Yeah, things are definitely back to normal," Arden said with a beam on her face. Meanwhile, Romina and Draco were stuck in a glare-off.

McGonagall interrupted them shortly afterwards to gather their attention at the front table. Dumbledore rose from his centered seat and began addressing them. "Before we begin our feast, let's give a round of applause to Professor Sprout and Madame Pomfrey, whose Mandrake Juice has been successfully administered to all those who had been petrified."

Of course everyone gave an applause.

"Also, in the wake of recent events, as a school treat, all exams have been cancelled."

The entire room burst into a new sense of applause.

The front door burst open to reveal Hagrid coming in. Everyone silenced but Hagrid sheepishly smiled. "Sorry I'm late. The owl deliverin' my release papers got all lost 'n confused. Some ruddy bird named Errol."

Romina giggled remembering the old owl Ron was always embarrassed over. Soon, however, they were drowned out on account of almost the entire school clapping and cheering for the return of Hagrid. Needless to say, the night was full of joy and lots and lots of food.

~0~

When it came time to leave for the Hogwarts Express, no student was left in deception. With no work and all friends returned, who could bother to be sad? All the way back on the express, talking was incessant. Among the topics was being petrified. Hermione surprised Romina with the information that she heard a lot more than Romina had for some reason. That was how Romina found out who had given her the secret Valentine day card.

"That was sweet of him," Romina said with a small smile. Apparently, she was the only one out of everyone who didn't get the memo about Angel's crush. Hermione didn't have the courage to tell her at that moment either.

"Okay, guys," Harry suddenly changed topics and had taken out a quill and parchment. Hermione and Romina recognized a number, more importantly that it was Harry's phone number.

"This is called a telephone number," Harry said for Ron's benefit. "I told your dad how to use a telephone last summer — he'll know. Call me at the Dursleys', okay? I can't stand another two months with only Dudley to talk to. . . ."

"Hey, thanks," Romina sarcastically waved a hand.

"You know what I mean," Harry said as he handed his number to Ron and Hermione.

"Well, in that case, I'll give my number to Hermione and Ron, and not you," Romina stuck her tongue out at Harry.

"Rom, I already have your number."

"Shut up, Harry."

"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" Hermione asked when they got off the train and spotted the Dursleys with their grim faces. It was nothing compared to Romina's cheerful grandparents waiting just behind them.

Harry snorted. "Proud? Are you crazy? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious!"

"What a lovely world it is at the Dursleys'," Romina apologetically patted Harry on the back. "Don't worry, Arden and I can keep you company. Speaking of, I should probably go find her. I can't trust that she and Pansy won't try to kill each other by the end of the train ride. How they manage to survive without me is beyond me."

"You're like the peace mediator, then?" Harry mused. He knew Romina all too well. She had a kind heart but could also be a bit of an instigator as well. It was all fun when she did it to Dudley - hilarious, actually.

Romina's smirk was promising. "Something like that."

A/N:

End of Book 2! Once again, Book 3 will continue within the same story ;)

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 14: Valentine’s Day

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag​​ @arrthurpendragon​​ @anotherunreadblog​​ @maaaaarveeeeel​​ @stareyedplanet​​ @foxesandmagic​​

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

When school began, everyone noticed Hermione Granger's absence in classes. It was blatantly obvious considering she was always the first one in class. Rumors of what could have happened to her were quick to arise, but since she was still moving and talking within the nightwing, students had to rule out the Heir of Slytherin had struck again. Romina, Harry and Ron were just grateful Hermione's cat-like appearance wouldn't be permanent. It was quite a sight seeing their friend turned half cat thanks to the mix up with the polyjuice potion. Romina felt monumentally guilty for never mentioning Millicent had a cat. Maybe that could have spared Hermione from the tail.

In the night wing, Hermione accepted the new pile of books each friend brought her. She was doing her best to keep up with every class and the respective assignments.

"Madam Pince asked that we relay a message to you, Hermione," Ron grumbled as he rubbed his wrists after setting down his portion of the book piles, "She'd appreciate it if you'd leave a few books for the rest of the school."

Hermione rolled her eyes and passed another page of her Transfiguration book. "I've got to keep up, haven't I?"

"Honestly, at the rate you're going, I think you're weeks ahead of us," Romina scratched her head. Her eyes swept over the mountain of books on the bed. "Maybe several years."

Ron spotted Hermione's tail twitching from behind. "Is that thing ever going away?"

"Any day now, according to Madam Pomfrey. I'm just thankful I've stopped coughing up fur balls. Now. What about the Chamber of Secrets? Any new leads?"

"Nothing," Harry bitterly responded. They hit a dead end after getting nothing from Draco.

"And has it gotten any better? I mean... is anyone speaking to you?"

"Neville asked to borrow a tubeworm in Potions yesterday. I suppose that's something."

Ron had spotted something poking from Hermione's pillow and pulled it out. It turned out to be a get well card from Lockhart. "To Miss Granger. Wishing you a speedy recovery, from your concerned teacher Gilderoy Lockhart.'" Ron made a gagging motion. "You sleep with this under your pillow?"

Hermione flushed a deep read and snatched it from him. "Of course not. I don't know how that got there. Now go. I still have six hundred pages to read in Transformation Through the Ages."

"C'mon, boys," Romina smirked at Hermione as she pulled the two boys out of the room.

"I know Hermione's mental, but can you believe she falls for that smarmy nonsense of Lockhart's?" Ron was still complaining even as they headed for the staircase.

"He's her celebrity crush, Ron," Romina shrugged. "We're all fools for one person in this world of higher ranks."

"Yeah, and who's yours?" Ron inquired curiously.

Romina would have answered had it not been from the splash she heard below. There was yet another flood overtaking the hallway and it wasn't long before they listened to Myrtle's moaning from her bathroom.

"Looks like Myrtle's flooded the bathroom," Harry crinkled his nose. He turned for the bathroom and led the other two in.

When they entered the restroom, they saw all the taps were running and streaming down water like there was no tomorrow. Myrtle's moans filled the room but stopped the moment she heard them coming in.

"Come to throw something else at me?" she asked in a childish, squeaky voice.

"Why would we do that?" Romina made a face.

"Don't ask me. Here I am, minding my own business, and someone thinks it's funny to throw a book at me…" Myrtle raised a hand to her head.

"But it can't hurt if someone throws something at you. I mean, it'd just go right through you, wouldn't it?" Ron cluelessly asked.

Myrtle was outraged and offended. "Oh sure! Let's all throw books at Myrtle, because she can't feel it! Ten points if you can get it through her stomach. Fifty points if it goes through her head!"

Romina elbowed Ron in the ribs, muttering, "Way to go."

Harry tried to cut in before Myrtle entered another screaming fit. "Who threw it at you anyway?"

"I don't know. I didn't see them. I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death and it fell through the top of my head."

Harry looked around the girl and noticed a small, black book lying on the ground.

"Fifty points if you can get it through her nose," Ron had the genius idea to say.

"I HEARD THAT!" Myrtle lost it and screamed at them.

Terrified, the three students ran out of the room as fast as they could.

"Way to go, Ron!" Romina smacked the ginger upside the head.

Harry looked the book over, much more calm than the other two. "This is a diary. And it's old…"

Ron rolled his eyes. "It's a diary, it's old... and was most recently in a toilet, Harry." Harry didn't seem to mind since he was opening the book. "Are you mad? That could be cursed. Dad once told me about a book the Ministry confiscated that burned the eyes out of anyone who tried to read it."

"I'll take my chances…" Harry said, and Romina swore she saw a hint of mischief in his eyes.

As soon as he opened it, Harry cried out. "MY EYES! MY EYES!"

Ron gasped, completely terrified but Romina bit her lip to not laugh. Harry stopped to flash a smile at his ginger friend, almost to the point of laughing. He caught Ginny, however, at the end of the corridor, looking terrified.

"Ginny!" Harry called but the girl had ran off so fast it was impossible to catch her. "I was only joking — brilliant. Even your sister thinks I'm the monster now."

"Who doesn't by now, honestly?" Romina took the diary from him and read the name on the first page. "Tom Marvolo Riddle. That's such a weird name."

Ron snorted. "This coming from Romina Aline Oswell." He received a punch in the arm. "Listen Ronald, you don't want to play a game you'll lose at."

Ron rubbed his arm and glumly looked down at the book for a moment. His eyes widened after a couple of seconds. "Tom Marvolo Riddle? Hang on. I know that name. The night I had detention...my job was to polish the silver in the trophy room. I remember because I kept burping slugs all over Tom Riddle's trophy. I must have wiped slime off his name for an hour."

Romina passed pages and pages, a frown quickly making its way across her face. "Well, there is nothing here. It's empty."

Harry snatched the book to see for himself. "That's odd. He never wrote in it?"

"Who's this guy anyways?" Romina glanced at Ron for a better understanding.

Ron gave a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't know. I just know he won the award like fifty years ago. Least that's the date on the trophy."

Deciding it was better to see Hermione again to consult with her over the book, the three headed back to the night wing. Of course Hermione was still deep in her transfiguration book.

"You said fifty years ago?" Hermione asked from Ron, now skimming the book herself. "Don't you remember what Malfoy told you? The last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened was—"

"Fifty years ago!" Harry soon remembered. "That means—"

"Tom Riddle was here, at Hogwarts, when it happened," Hermione confirmed. "What if he wrote about what he saw? It's possible he knew where the Chamber was, how to open it, even what sort of creature lives in it. If so, whoever's behind the attacks this time wouldn't want a diary like this lying around, would they?"

"That's a brilliant theory, Hermione. With just one tiny little flaw," Ron tapped the empty diary in her hands. "There's nothing written in this diary."

"I was thinking it could be invisible ink but I was wrong," Romina sadly said.

"Well...I think we should definitely be careful with this," Hermione gave the diary back to Harry. "Something tells me Ron might be right. It could be dangerous."

"You don't think I'm dangerous, do you, Hermione?" Harry genuinely asked. "I mean, you're not scared. Of me."

"Harry, we're afraid, but not of you."

~0~

Weeks flew by and since there hadn't been any more attacks from the Chamber's beast, things sort of simmered down in terms of rumors. People still hardly talked to Harry more than they had to, but it was a start that rumors were quieting down. Still, many people were taking precautions and being extra quiet. One wrong word or move and the beast could be unleashed on them.

In Lockhart's mind, this called for his 'help'. The fourteenth of February saw the grand master plan of his to help the students. It all started with the Great Hall…

"What the hell…?" Arden took a sharp intake of breath at the sight of the pink decorated room. Pink flowers covered the four walls and from the ceiling fell heart-shaped confetti.

Even Romina was taken aback by the sight. The two girls were mesmerized by the hall that they slowly slipped in and walked to their designated table without even noticing.

"Isn't it sweet?" Carolinha asked with a dreamy sigh once the girls joined them for breakfast. "I hope they do this every year."

A couple seats down they all heard Angel's loud snort. "If that happens, make sure to kill me." Beside him, even Draco was looking horrified as he peeked into his goblet that held a pile of confetti. Blaise and Theodore looked no better.

"It's safe to say Lockhart is behind this," Romina said once she caught sight of the blonde wizard in ludicrous pink robes.

"I don't know if I like it or I want to throw this confetti-covered oatmeal at his head," Arden muttered.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart began the daily announcements. "And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards!"

"Alright," Angel shot a look to every girl around him, "Which ones of you did it?"

"Oh you're just mad cos you haven't gotten any card," Carolinha shushed him and continued listening to Lockhart.

"Yes, Carol, thank you for your confession," Angel shook his head and said something about disowning her.

Their attention was taken by the surly-looking dwarfs matching into the place. They were all donning the traditional Cupid golden wings and harps.

"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" Lockhart declared happily. "They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"

"How ridiculous," Arden declared once they were allowed to continue eating.

"King is the first to make sense, that's a sight to see," Draco gave her an odd look, just to make sure it had been her who said it and not someone else.

"I don't know, it sounds kinda fun…" Romina shrugged and reached for a piece of toast. She had to dust it off to get rid of the confetti.

"It is!" Carolinha agreed with a smile. "I'll send one!"

"To who?" Pansy curiously leaned forwards to catch sight of her.

"None of your business," Carolinha blushed. It was clear she had a person in mind.

"You're all ridiculous," Blaise concluded and began to eat.

"Oh c'mon, just because no one will send you a card doesn't mean it'll be the same story for everyone else," Romina shot him a smirk. "If you'd like, I'll send you one."

That was enough to put Blaise on high alert. "You do that and I'll kill you!"

Romina burst into laughter.

"I mean it! I'll kill you!"

Romina twirled her fork in the air, pretending to write the card for him. "Dear Blaise, I think it's so lovely when you nearly self-combust each time I annoy you…"

Blause pulled out his wand but, much to his shock, Draco pushed it down. The blonde was busy laughing with Angel and Theo to notice Blaise's murderous looks.

"You'll regret that, Oswell," Blause got up and stormed off.

"Counting on it," Romina finally dug into her breakfast to eat, though with her laughter it was a bit tricky.

~0~

The day passed slowly but surely interestingly. There were thousands of interruptions in each class from Lockhart's cupids handing out Valentine cards. It had been exceptionally funny for Romina to see Arden receiving one from a mysterious sender. Although, Romina was sure it had been Pansy who sent it as a joke since Arden fumed for the rest of the day about her "biggest embarrassment ever!". Romina had to give Pansy her proper points for that one.

Carolinha wouldn't tell anyone who had been her mysterious sendee but assured that she had indeed sent a card to someone anonymously. Romina was sure Hermione sent Lockhart a card but the brunette refused to admit it.

"Your face is red, Hermione. You suck at lying about these things," Romina laughed as they walked down the hallway for Charms. Her laughter was short-lived when a dwarf called out for Harry and, just to get to the boy, elbowed Romina in the ribs. "Ah!" she fell into Hermione.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Hermione helped Romina stand straight again.

"Looks like Harry's about to get a card…" Romina smirked then hurried with Hermione to see the spectacle.

It appeared Harry was trying to flee from the site, failing miserably as the dwarf turned out to be way stronger. His backpack fell from his arm and dumped all of his belongings onto the floor in the process.

"I don't think this could get any worse," Hermione leaned on her hip, sighing at their friend who seemed to be walking thin on the lucky department.

"What's going on here?" Draco pushed past several of the first years in the way.

"You just had to say that didn't you?" Romina shot Hermione a mock accusing glance to which the brunette meekly shrugged.

The dwarf paid no attention to Percy Weasley trying to get everyone to move and began to sing Harry's valentine message.

His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad, His hair is as dark as a blackboard. I wish he was mine, he's really divine, The hero who conquered the Dark Lord."

Despite knowing how badly Harry must be feeling, Romina and Hermione snickered behind their hands. The message was too funny to ignore.

"Off you go, off you go, the bell rang five minutes ago, off to class, now!" Percy ushered the students, though some of them were laughing so hard it was impossible to move in that moment.

"Oh no, Romina, look," Hermione pointed Romina to the black diary that Draco was now picking up from the ground. "If he gets a look…"

"It's empty," Romina reminded her calmly. "Even if he wanted to make fun of Harry - which at this point I find completely pointless - he wouldn't get anything out of it."

"Wonder what Potter's written in this?" Draco let Crabbe and Goyle see over his shoulder to the diary he'd yet to even open.

Harry balled a fist on his side and quietly asked for the book back.

"Hand it over, Malfoy," Percy held a hand for the book.

"When I've had a look," Draco promised, waving the book in the air.

"As a school prefect—"

Harry had no patience to hear another perfect lecture. Using his wand, he yelled 'Expelliarmus!" and re-acquired the diary in a snap.

"Harry!" Percy turned to the boy. "No magic in the corridors! I'll have to report this, you know—" But Harry bolted from the scene without looking back.

Draco was furious and because he couldn't let the score go unevenly, he called to Harry one last time with, "Hey Weasley," he looked at Ginny, the girl so terrified she was pale, "I don't think Potter liked your valentine much!"

Ginny whimpered and dashed into her class, presumably.

"We should go too," Hermione shook her head at the scene. "We'll be late for class."

"Believe me, after this there won't be much paying attention in Charms," Romina muttered as they continued on their way.

The day passed with many more interesting sights of people receiving cards in the middle of classes, hallways, courtyards, even lunch! Romina used a free period to look more into the possibilities of the empty diary in Harry's possession. She figured there had to be something in that damn book but because of their lack of knowledge, it was staying a secret. She was just coming out of the library with a 'Vanishing Ink' 101 book in her arms when a dwarf stopped her.

"Oh no, you are not singing anything to me," she warned him with a wagging finger. "I have a book and I will use it on your head."

"It's a card, sweetheart," the dwarf replied in a sourly tone. He pushed the red card into her hand then went on his way.

"So much for the Valentine spirit," she rolled her eyes and continued walking. It was indeed a card but it was full of mushy compliments that at times she laughed.

She brought the letter over to dinner, still laughing when she sat down in her usual spot. "Alright, you know what, I'll give Zabini props for his attempt of revenge but he shouldn't have given me such mushy compliments."

"What are you talking about, Oswell?" Draco stopped eating for a second. "Blaise up in the night wing." And yet he didn't look very concerned.

"You got a card!" Carolinha reached over the table and snatched the letter from Romina's hands to read it herself. Even Pansy leaned over her shoulder to get a glimpse. "Aw, how romantic!"

"It's stupid," Romina laughed again. "Honestly, I don't know if Blaise was aiming to embarrass me or make me think I have a secret admirer. Either way, he loses."

"Oswell, I am telling you it wasn't Zabini," Draco reiterated, "He got sick. He couldn't talk, much less write. It wasn't him."

"But if it wasn't him...then who was it?" Romina now made a face and took the card back from Carolinha, re-reading the words. Her face suddenly went warm now that she knew the compliments were very much real.

Arden and Angel joined them a moment later and as Arden was sitting down beside Romina, she noticed the Valentine card. "Oh God, not another one!" Pansy snickered under her breath.

"Who's it from?" Angel asked as he began to put food on his plate.

"I don't know but whoever it was...has some good writing, I guess," Romina shrugged and put the card down beside her plate. "But low move not writing their name. I'm not much for secret admirers."

And she wouldn't dwell on the secret writer. Earlier that day, Ron received one too, but it was soon found out to be a joke from Fred and George who now wouldn't stop teasing him over it. Just because it wasn't from Blaise didn't mean Romina's letter wasn't a joke from someone else.

~ 0 ~

The next day, Harry would come to his friends with astounding news of the Chamber. He told them how he had spoken to some sort of version of Tom Riddle and how he had been sucked into the past - literally - and allowed to see for himself who had opened the Chamber fifty years ago.

"It can't be Hagrid. It just can't be," Hermione couldn't finish processing what she hears.

"Honestly, that idea is just as laughable as when you thought Draco was the Heir," Romina waved her hand at them.

Even Ron agreed with them there. "We don't even know this Riddle. He sounds like a dirty, rotten snitch to me."

"The monster had killed someone, Ron. What would any of us done?" Harry asked the three.

"Look," Hermione stopped in the middle of the courtyard. "Hagrid's our friend. Why don't we just go ask him about it?"

"Hermione I can't believe you just asked that," Romina was flatly staring at her. "You really think just asking Hagrid straight up if he's been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately would be a conversation topic?"

"Mad an' hairy?" Hagrid's voice startled them all. "Wouldn' be talkin' 'bou me, now would yeh?"

"No!" went the students in the next second.

"What's that you've got, Hagrid?" Romina asked once she eyed the canister in his hand. They needed a quick subject changer and she was great at those.

"Flesh-Eatin' Slug Repellent. Fer the Mandrakes, yeh know. Accordin' ter Professor Sprout, they still got a bit o' growin' up ter do, but once their acne clears up, we'll be able to chop 'em up, stew 'em, an' get those people in the hospital un-Petrified. 'Til then, you four best watch yerselves, all righ'?"

"Go ahead Hermione, ask him," Romina spoke after Hagrid had gone. Hermione shot her a look, understanding this hadn't been her best idea.

"Harry! Harry!" Neville came running towards them out of breath. "Harry, I don't know who did it, but... you'd better come."

"Come where?" Harry asked, confused, yet a tiny gut in his feeling told him it would be better to stay right there lest he want to be blamed for a new attack.

"To our room! Someone's gone through your stuff - they ransacked it!"

"You should go," Romina motioned the Gryffindors, getting a feeling of what could possibly have led someone to do that sort of thing. "Tell me afterwards at dinner."

With nods, the Gryffindors left with Neville. Two hours later, Romina would come to learn that Tom Riddle's diary had been stolen from Harry.

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 13: As Slytherins

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag​ @arrthurpendragon​ @anotherunreadblog​ @maaaaarveeeeel​ @stareyedplanet​ @foxesandmagic​

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

Word that Harry Potter was the Heir of Slytherin was all anyone could talk about school. No House was excluded, and no person was either. Now it was Harry who suffered loss of friends and any general contact with other students. No one even wanted to talk to him during their study period. Only his closest friends pulled through.

Hermione and Ron sat with him but even their talking didn't do much. One day, Harry couldn't deal with it anymore and so he gathered his belongings and trudged out of the library. As he walked down the hallway, he could hear murmuring from a group of people. As he got closer, he began to identify the voices. A group of Slytherins sat on a staircase gossiping.

"I don't know but it sounded like Harry was egging the snake on or something," Arden King was saying. "It was...creepy."

"Oh Arden, I thought everyone was stupid here but you," Romina sighed dramatically. "Harry would never do that and you know it." Harry smiled a little, grateful that Romina was still on his side.

"How would you? No one knows anything about him except for what the papers tell us," Pansy reminded smugly.

"Yeah, there could be things we don't know," Angel agreed. "Look, Potter always seemed a bit...odd. Now we find out he's a Parselmouth? Everyone knows that's the mark of a dark wizard. Have you ever heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes? They called Slytherin himself Serpent-tongue."

"You're all idiots and I'm deeply sorry for it," Romina sharply said. "You should feel ashamed that the only one with a brain turned out to be Draco. He doesn't believe it either."

"Oh please, he just doesn't want to admit it," Angel nearly laughed.

"Guys this is serious," Carolinha took a seat beside Romina on the staircase. "I heard Justin is hiding out in his dormitory because he's scared Harry might do something."

"That doesn't even make sense! Why would Harry want to attack Justin, hm?" Romina sounded to Harry like she was about to get angry. On some level, it did Harry good knowing her Slytherin friends hadn't swayed her from the truth.

"Because Fletchley is a Muggle born," Pansy said, like that would solve the mystery.

"Well by that logic, I'm next," Arden snapped.

"With any luck…"

"What?"

Harry sighed and decided to keep moving. He didn't want to hear anymore and much less an argument between Arden and Pansy.

The remaining students on the staircase entered a state of different bickerings. Romina finally got up with her books and told them all they were idiots and headed for the common room. She would never know that Harry listened in. It was all nonsense to her, really, how easily someone believed in stories without actual evidence. When she entered the common room, there were only a few students working there. Most of them were taking advantage of the study period offered in the library to get the extra help they needed in their materials.

"Watch out, she's got that face," Blaise murmured to Draco on the couch. The two were seemingly working on something but Romina didn't bother to check. She was more interested in the 'face' she was apparently making?

"What face?" she frowned at them.

"We've been calculating the most predictive person in the House, and congratulations you win," Draco flashed her a smirk. "See right now you've got the face that says you either a) just finished defending Potter as usual or b) you just insulted peoples' intelligence."

Romina seethed underneath. "I am not predictive!"

"So you weren't doing one of those things right now?" Blaise raised an eyebrow.

Romina's eyes darted from them and her arms clutched her books even closer. "No...I was...I was doing…" But the boys kept smirking at her, getting under her skin. "Shut up!" she threw them each a book. "How's that for predictive?"

"Not good for your case," Draco said, watching Blaise gather the thrown books, "Theodore's sneaking some food over but he was the one who said you would throw things. Guess he wins."

"That was just desperate in my ipinion," Blaise said. "And unnecessary." Romina rolled her eyes and walked over to retrieve the books when Blaise pulled them behind his back. "Apologize?"

Romina sneered. "What do I look like?"

Blaise looked her over with that snarky face he always had on. "Well…"

Romina snatched the book from him and hit him over the head with it. "Moron." She was sure Blaise was threatening her with curses under his breath while she went to the other couch.

"Hey, where are you going?" Draco frowned as Blaise started to leave, still furious with Romina. "You said you would show me the history lesson."

"Not with her in the room! Have Nott show you!"

"I'm doomed."

Romina smirked and pulled her legs on the couch, getting comfortable to stay there a decent time. "Then I guess you're not coming out for the rest of the night."

Draco was not amused by their argument. "You owe me a history of magic homework."

"Stop being lazy and do it yourself."

"Hey, just because you're up to your neck in Potter problems doesn't mean I have to change my ways."

"There wouldn't be problems if everyone would just shut up about these Heir rumors. Harry's not it and everyone knows it!" Romina grabbed a book beside her a little roughly.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Draco muttered and reached for a parchment beside him.

At his words, Romina slowly lowered her book and gave him a significant look. "Do you...know who it is? The Heir of Slytherin? Do you know?"

Draco rolled his eyes and had a laugh. "If I knew, I would have already mentioned it, don't you think?"

"To stop them, right?" Romina asked, slowly.

A smirk played on his lips. "Whatever you want…"

She put her book down on her lap and now seriously looked at him. "You wouldn't help anyone petrify the students."

"Maybe...maybe not...I—"

"No!" she cut him off, determined to get a real answer from him. "You're a jerk, fine, but you're not a murderer. You're twelve—you can't even do simple history homework on your own!"

"Are you insulting me or complimenting me?"

But before Romina could clarify her intentions, the entrance wall grumbled with incomers.

"There's been another attack!" A first year came running before the group. Romina shifted on the couch to see and hear better. Draco leaned forwards on his seat, also interested in the new story. "Justin Flint-Fletchley was attacked! It was Potter!"

"What?" Romina jumped to be on her knees over the cushion. "Why would you—"

Angel pushed aside the first year, looking quite distressed himself. "It's all over the school. McGonagall found Harry with Justin's petrified body, and Nearly Headless Nick."

"No, that's crazy! He wouldn't do it!"

"Tell that to Fletchley," Carolinha shuddered, "Poor boy. You should have seen his body."

"Yeah," snorted Pansy, "There's an image I'd like out of my head."

~0~

As Christmas vacation finally neared, it was time for Romina to come up with an exceptionally good excuse for Lyonel and Sage on why she needed to stay at school for the holidays. It was a really good thing that neither had yet to hear about what was going on in Hogwarts, or else she was sure that they would be bringing her home by the ear. With her letter ready to go, Romina sprinted towards the Owlrey to get it sent fast. As she was walking by the hallway, she could hear the Weasley twins back at it again with their teases about the Heir of Slytherin. While the school was dead scared of Harry, both twins treated it as a game.

"Make way for the Heir of Slytherin!" Fred called behind Harry, Ron and Hermione. George was at his side and ready to continue the charade.

"Seriously evil wizard coming through!"

"Aline! Best to stay away now," George pretended to shoo Romina away from Harry. Ron seemed totally amused by his brothers but Harry looked worse for wear.

"You're idiots," Romina then shooed them away. The twins simply laughed as they went on their way.

"Where were you headed?" Hermione asked before she spotted the parchment in Romina's hand. "Are you writing home?" She was aware of Romina's endeavor to come up with a good excuse for her aunt and uncle. It was the same battle Hermione had with her parents, only for her it was easier since they were muggles.

Romina gave a curt nod of her head and explained for Harry's and Ron's benefit. "I had to tell my aunt and uncle I joined some club that helps me with my History of Magic lessons. They know I did awful in it last year so they definitely won't question why I had to stay over the vacation."

"You shouldn't have to do that, Rom," Harry spoke quietly, looking already guilty.

"And leave you to sneak into my common room while disguised as my House mates?" Romina snorted. "Please, Harry Potter."

"This isn't a joke," Harry nearly snapped at her. He was frustrated but no one could understand why!

"Believe me, we get that," Romina exchanged agreeing nods with Hermione and Ron. "I know what it's like having almost the entire school think you're nothing but a villain."

"Yes, but in my case they might just be right!"

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed in horror.

"What? I didn't know I could speak Parseltongue. What else don't I know about myself? Maybe you can do something... even something horrible... and not know you did it."

Hermione went back to speaking normally for Harry's sake. "You don't believe that, Harry, I know you don't. And if it makes you feel better, I just heard Malfoy's staying over for holiday, too."

Ron gagged. "Why would that make anyone feel better?"

"Because, in a few days, the Polyjuice Potion will be ready. In a few days... we may truly know who is the Heir of Slytherin."

~ 0 ~

Christmas day came faster than the group of students were expecting with their problems. With the Great Hall beautifully decorated with frost-covered Christmas trees and shiny ornaments, one could almost forget that a polyjuice potion was about to be taken that night.

Hermione, Ron and Harry were midway through their Christmas dinner when Romina walked up to their table.

"Alright, here," she pushed two different vials of hair into Ron's and Harry's chests, making it seem like she was handing out pieces of candy for anyone else that might have seen. "I snagged hairs from Crabbe and Goyle like you asked."

"We didn't ask…" Ron examined the vial in his possession, his face contorted to disgust.

"We need it," Hermione reminded them and dutifully thanked Romina for her efforts.

"I was going to take some hairs from Milicent's brush but she caught me and I had to make some excuse…" Romina sighed, "Point is, I'll get it for you a bit later-"

Hermione raised a hand for Romina to stop. "Don't worry. I got mine already. That's what happens when she keeps pushing past people."

Romina smiled and took a seat next to Ron. "Well, Milicent's going to be in the library till curfew. But I don't know about Crabbe and Goyle…"

"Taken care of," Hermione set down two small cakes on the table and pushed them to Harry and Ron. "Since neither boy can burst in on us while we're interrogating Malfoy, I've filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. Simple, but powerful. You know how greedy Crabbe and Goyle are. They won't leave the Christmas Feast until every last drop of trifle is gone."

"Sounds about right…" Romina spared the two boys a glance from the table, seeing them practically devouring anything in their sight.

"Now, once they're asleep, hide them in a broom cupboard," Hermione finished instructing their two boys. "All right then... I'm going to check on the Polyjuice Potion."

"I'll head up with you," Romina stood up as well and walked off with Hermione.

After a while of gathering the last minute requirements for their plans, Harry and Ron entered the abandoned lavatory with reports of their successful attempt against Crabbe and Goyle. Their excitement, however, faltered when they caught sight of the polyjuice potion in the cauldron. It resembled dark, bubbling mud that was boiling.

"I'm sure I've done everything right," Hermione reassured, though neither boy still looked any better. "It looks like the book said it should. Once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly one hour before we change back into ourselves."

Ron took out his vial that contained Crabbe's hair and frowned. "Now what about these?"

"Now you put those into your cups," Romina said with a clean smirk on her face.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"

Romina gave a shrug of her shoulders. "I truly saw no point in doing this because you're wrong, but hey...you keep doing you." She pushed the Slytherin robes she'd acquired earlier. "And I'll just watch."

After getting changed into the robes, each Gryffindor added the bits of hair into their vials. The potion then garnered a different yellow-brown tinge to it. Romina grimaced when the three drank it down. At that moment, she was extra glad to have already been placed in Slytherin.

"Think I'm gonna be sick…" Ron did look a shade of horrible green before he ran into a stall.

Harry looked no better as he leaned into the sinks to keep himself standing. Even Hermione was looking a bit sick.

"Something's wrong…" she pulled the sleeve of her robe to see her arm, and although neither Romina nor Harry saw, it was enough to make Hermione run into another stall.

Romina stepped one step back as each of her friends underwent the transformation. She wasn't sure of this was the moment to get Madame Pomfrey or if it was all just going according to plan. At least with Harry still in her view she could, in the end, see the potion was actually working.

Harry now looked exactly like Goyle.

"Wow…" Romina breathed in, truly awed.

A second later, a stall opened up and out came Ron...looking exactly like Crabbe. "Harry?"

Harry/Goyle turned around and was just as stunned as Romina. "Ron?"

Romina blinked. "You guys still sound like yourselves. You need to work on that and fast."

"Bloody hell," Ron tried in a deeper voice but Harry and Romina still disagreed.

"Lower," Romina indicated.

"Bloody hell…?"

"Less intelligent," Harry instructed.

"...bloody...hell?"

Romina laughed. "Think that fits."

"Hey...where's Hermione?" Ron looked around, for they were missing one friend before they had to go.

"I - I don't think I'm going. You go on without me," Hermione's voice shook with an unusual distress.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Romina thought she should go over and see, but Hermione snapped.

"Just go! You're wasting time!"

Figuring she was right, Romina turned back to the two boys. "Okay, uh...let's go, then?" Suddenly she wasn't as amused with the plan before.

She led them down to the dungeons with no problem, but it was clear that both boys needed a quick reminder of who they were. "Harry, don't swing your arms like that. Crabbe holds them sort of stiff."

Harry tried following as best as he could he held his arms more stiffly.

"Better," Romina decided and kept going.

But just around the corner they found Percy Weasley roaming around as well.

"Uh, what are you doing here?" Romina asked before one of the boys behind her could. She was sure they would blow their covers.

Percy adopted his authority time and marched up to the three. "I happen to be a prefect. You, on the other hand, have no business wandering the corridors at night. It's not safe these days."

Romina knew she couldn't hate Percy without knowing him, but his attitude was sure making it hard to at least tolerate him. "Just because you're a prefect doesn't make you immune to whatever is attacking us. You think it's gonna go 'hey, that one's wearing a funny badge, let me just skip over him'."

Behind her, Harry and Ron tried their best not to snicker. Wait, maybe because they were Crabbe and Goyle they were supposed to snicker?

Percy looked close to being outraged. "What's your name again?" Just as Romina opened her mouth to respond, someone else cut in.

"Crabbe. Goyle. Where have you been?" Draco was now coming towards them, practically ignoring Percy for the moment. "Pigging out in the Great Hall all this time?" Neither Harry nor Ron knew what to say, lest they blow their covers right there and then. "And what are you doing down here, Weasley?"

"Mind your attitude, Malfoy. You want to show a little bit more respect to a school Prefect!" Percy retorted.

"Not this again," Romina muttered under her breath.

"Come on, boys. Weasley thinks he's going to catch Slytherin's heir single-handed," Draco pushed past the older boy and, without his knowledge, Romina motioned Harry and Ron to hurry behind him.

"Don't look surprised!" She hissed at them once they'd entered the common room. Of course it was a natural thing to be surprised by the new room they were in, but it wouldn't bode well for them if Draco saw.

"By the way, Oswell, thank you for the history homework. I'm sure it'll help once classes are back on," Draco passing remarked.

Romina blinked and looked at the table where she'd been working on her homework before heading up for dinner. "You looked at my homework without my permission?"

"Your fault for leaving it out in the open," Draco shrugged, not appearing to be bothered at all.

"You're horrible!" Romina ran past them to her desk. "That was mine!"

"You copy off of Angel all the time," Draco remarked, "And you let others copy off your Transfiguration."

Romina's eyes flickered up from her open homework and glared at Draco. "That's because I'm actually good at Transifguration unlike others."

Harry and Ron were unsure of what to do and simply sat down on the couch. It was unusual for them to see common interaction between Draco and anyone else who wasn't them. Then they began to realize that Romina had to do this on a daily basis — interact with Draco Malfoy and basically every other Slytherin — and suddenly felt very sorry for her.

"Listen to this…" Draco returned to them with a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hands, forgetting about Romina. "'Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, was today fined fifty Galleons for bewitching a Muggle car. 'Weasley has brought the Ministry into disrepute,' said Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts. 'He is clearly unfit to draw up our laws and his ridiculous Muggle Protection Act should be scrapped immediately."'

Romina plopped down at her table and tried to look like she was focusing on her homework; she prayed to God her friends wouldn't blow this so quickly.

"Arthur Weasley loves Muggle so much he should snap his wand in half and go join them," Draco sneered, much to Romina's dismay. She didn't need to look up to see Ron practically having to sit on his hands to restrain himself. "You'd never know the Weasleys were purebloods, the way they behave. Embarrassment to the wizarding world. All of them." Ron nearly growled, but it was enough to catch Draco's attention. "What's up with you, Crabbe?"

"Stomachache…"

"Well, go to the hospital wing and give all those Mudbloods a kick in the arse for me! You know, I'm surprised The Daily Prophet hasn't reported all these attacks yet. I suppose Dumbledore's trying to hush it all up. He'll be sacked if it doesn't stop soon. Father always said Dumbledore's the worst thing that's ever happened to this place—"

"You're wrong!" Harry/Goyle suddenly shouted. As soon as he did, Romina looked up and met Harry's eyes, begging him to hold himself.

Draco scowled. "What? Did you say that I was wrong? You think there's someone here who's worse than Dumbledore?"

Unsure of how to respond, Harry's eyes automatically flickered to Romina. The girl was pointing at him, mouthing 'you' repeatedly.

"H-Harry Potter," he spoke his name, and it was like the antidote for the problem.

Draco grinned, like nothing had happened. "Good one, Goyle. You're absolutely right."

Both Harry and Ron relaxed, but then Harry began to feel a little weird that Romina could know the answer so quickly.

"Saint Potter. He's another one with no proper wizard feeling, or he wouldn't go around with that Mudblood Granger—OW!" Draco forgot about everything as he picked up the book that had collided with the side of his head. He turned around to shoot Romina a wide-eyed glare. "Oswell!"

Romina remained calm at her table, something that couldn't be said about Harry and Ron. They were fighting incredibly hard not to laugh.

"Use that word again, Draco, I dare you," Romina said with a hardened face, "I told you it was off limits." She returned to her work shortly after. "Oh, and I'm going to need my book back," she added a moment later.

Naturally, Draco snapped. "You can come get it! You're insane!"

"Oh, just go back to complaining about Harry already," she retorted. She knew the polyjuice wasn't going to hold for much longer. She could always bicker with him later. "You know people still think he's really the Heir, right?"

Perfect words.

Draco nearly laughed at the absurdity. "As if he could ever be."

Harry took his chance fast before the conversation got away from them again. "Then you must have some idea who's behind it all?"

"You know I haven't, Goyle. How many times do I have to say it? But my father did say this much: It's been fifty years since the Chamber was opened. He wouldn't tell me who opened it - only that they were expelled - but I know this: the last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood died. So it's only a matter of time before one of them's killed this time. As for me...I hope it's Granger."

"I do have more books, you know," Romina remarked as she wrote a new answer on her parchment, "And I am not afraid to use them."

"Oh shut it, Oswell! I don't know why you always get on my case! They're asking for it!"

Romina looked up from her essay. "How?" She challenged him for a good answer. "All Hermione does is do her work and do you know what? You don't seem to complain much when Arden passes you her notes."

Draco huffed and looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Do I need to throw another book at you to jog your memory?"

Harry and Ron would have laughed if they hadn't started feeling rather odd. They exchanged similar glances. Ron rubbed his stomach wearily. Neither Draco nor Romina noticed their states.

Draco had picked up the book Romina threw at him earlier. "You know Zabini and I had a bet going on, right?" Romina raised an eyebrow at him. "He said you'd throw something at me after I read that bit off the Daily Prophet."

Romina scowled. Without thinking, her arm reached for something more to throw at him. At the same time, Harry and Ron jumped from the couch and made a break for the entrance. Romina stopped for a moment, figuring that the potion was beginning to wear off.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Draco called, frowning at them.

Almost a second later, he was victim to another object thrown, this time it had been a small glass vase. Romina thought it was a win, win since it would defer from Draco following the other two and she would scare crap out of him.

"Did you just throw a vase at me?" Draco turned right around, his face a mixture of offence and a bit of impression.

"How's that for being predictive?" Romina smirked.

"Honestly, it's nice to see you doing something interesting." Draco tossed her book back on the couch and made way for the boys' hallway.

Romina found it hard to keep herself from yelling after him. You should go check on Harry and Ron instead. That sounded like the safer idea for herself.

[saiilorstars]

Ch. 12: The Opened Chamber

Fandom: Harry Potter (Hogwarts years 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag​ @arrthurpendragon​ @anotherunreadblog​ @maaaaarveeeeel​ @stareyedplanet​ @foxesandmagic​

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know! 

For the next few days, everyone was cautious when it came time to Defence Against the Dark Arts and, generally, of Lockhart himself. It was clear as day (to anyone with brains) that the man wasn't as gifted as one would think when it came to magic. It also meant that since Lockhart wasn't necessarily teaching DADA lesson concepts, anyone actually interested in the class had to go about it on their own.

While Ron overlooked the Quidditch stand rails, Hermione sat beside him engrossed in a book. Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors were meant to practice for the first time that year.

"Have they started yet?" Romina called from a distance. She and Carolinha Paes were making their way towards the two Gryffindors.

"No, not yet," Ron glumly took a seat beside Hermione.

"What are you reading?" Romina curiously asked Hermione, but the bushy-haired girl didn't respond. Rolling her eyes, Romina came closer. "Hermione, c'mon, are you actually still mad with me?"

Hermione's dark eyes briefly looked up from the book. Her hand passed the page and she went back to reading. She had not forgiven Romina for protesting the points Lockhart awarded her on their first day of class.

Romina thought it was ridiculous. "If roles were reversed, you would have definitely said something about how stupid it was!"

"Maybe we should sit somewhere else," Carolinha suggested, trying to keep the peace. She didn't really like confrontations.

"Hermione, let it go!" Romina exclaimed, completely ignoring Carolinha for the moment. "It was just one of my usual lash outs! I never said you didn't deserve to be awarded. I only said that the situation in which you were awarded in was unfair. The class is Defence Against the Dark Arts, not an 'All about Lockhart' course!"

"Why keep arguing?" Ron looked at the two girls with a crazed expression. "The man's loony. Let's leave it at that."

Carolinha shook her head. "I think he's a total idiot."

"Yes, exactly!" Ron made a 'thank you' gesture at her before doing a double-take at her. "Who are you?"

Carolinha sheepishly smiled. "Carolinha Paes. I'm Angel's sister."

"Right…" Ron distractedly said then looked past her and Romina to the field. He'd seen something interesting.

"Hermione, c'mon," Romina plopped down on the stand. "You know I didn't do it with bad intentions."

Hermione considered the words and tentatively looked up from her book. "I know that…"

"So then why are you mad at me?"

Hermione grudged and snapped her book shut. "I'm not mad, merely upset, that you would protest my points for my House. If I didn't know any better you were trying to make sure Gryffindor didn't get points at all."

"Okay, now you're exaggerating," Romina playfully rolled her eyes.

Hermione shared a blip of a smile with her.

Carolinha had turned to the fields as well with Ron. "I thought your House was supposed to practice?"

"We were," Ron frowned. There were shades of green robes filling the field instead of the Gryffindor scarlet.

"What's going on?" Romina watched Ron hurry down to the fields.

"I think Slytherin is going to practice now," Carolinha answered calmly. She sounded more curious, actually. "Well, at least now it's going to be interesting."

"What's she talking about?" Hermione whispered to Romina.

"Look," Carolinha continued, "I think the Weasley twins are about to go down on Flint. They're always so funny to me."

"My twins?" Romina sighed and got up. Hermione did the same and without saying it, they agreed it was time to head down to the field.

"Romina, where are you going?" Carolinha called after the girls. She had stayed in the bleachers, looking out to the field.

"If the twins are there, then you know there's going to be trouble!" Romina exclaimed.

"What? They wouldn't do anything — oh, look, I think that's Draco too."

"Oh yeah, definitely trouble now!" Romina exchanged a worried look with Hermione. The two girls rushed towards the field then, leaving Carolinha to watch on her own.

"...I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," Draco was in the middle of informing, probably towards Ron who was gaping with a mouth open. "Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father bought our team. Good, aren't they?"

For Harry, Romina and Hermione, the 'new brooms' really only seemed different in that they were silver.

"But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them."

The entire Slytherin team burst into laughter.

Hermione scowled at them all and decided to clap back. "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent."

Everyone stopped. Draco set a cold look on Hermione. "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood!"

"Hey!" Romina growled. "You don—"

Both Fred and George didn't do the 'words' and instead lunged towards Draco. Oliver Wood and some of the other Gryffindors tried holding them back while the Slytherins protected their new Seeker. Romina pulled Hermione a couple steps back, actually afraid of what would happen next.

"How dare you!" Ron whipped out his wand. Since the Whomping Willow accident, his wand hung by a string of its core. To keep it together, Ron had tied a piece of tape around it, or rather Hermione had done it. "Eat slugs!" Something green shot out from his wand...but from the wrong end. Instead of hitting Draco, Ron suffered the blow. His body was thrown backwards, landing flat on his back on the ground.

"Ron!" went both Romina and Hermione. They scurried over to see Ron actually belch out a slug from his mouth.

"Eugh," Romina took one step backwards.

Two more slugs dropped from Ron's mouth. Hearing the Slytherin laughter, Ron stood up as if to argue with them, but instead began to belch again.

"We'd better get him to Hagrid's, it's nearest," Harry told Hermione. They took Ron down the field, towards the gamekeeper's hut. Behind them went a first year with a muggle large camera in hand.

"Are you quite done?" Romina remained on the field, tapping her shoe and crossing her arms. The Slytherins had yet to stop laughing. The Gryffindors were beginning to walk away, and seeing that her fellow 'housemates' weren't going to be paying attention to her, she did the same.

"Sorry you have to deal with the lot every day," Fred thought to say as they walked together back to the castle.

"They're actually not bad people—" Romina barely got to say when George scoffed on her other side. "Look, I don't speak for Marcus Flint nor the rest of the older Slytherins, but the people in my year...they're not awful. We're twelve!"

Both twins chuckled.

"Oh Aline, you have a lot to learn," George swung an arm around Romina's shoulder. Hearing her loathed middle name, Romina punched him on the arm.

"Never call me that!"

~ 0 ~

More weeks passed and nothing got better in terms of DADA education. Romina was beginning to dread each time they had to walk into Lockhart's class. She preferred to focus on the other classes that weren't jokes. The homework certainly wasn't.

Romina, Arden and the Paes twins sat in the common room trying to finish their homework on time. Things were going relatively fine until...

"No, if you were to add in that ingredient you'd blow your head off, literally!" Romina leaned over Angel's parchment of potions homework.

"Would not!" the brunette boy argued.

"Would too!"

"You're not going to do this again are you?" Carolinha, sitting across them on the other couch, looked up from her own work.

"Do what?" both Romina and Angel frowned.

Arden, who'd taken her usual spot on the floor, answered their question. "Argue! You've been doing that all afternoon!"

Romina rolled her eyes and went back to her own parchment. "Not my fault Angel's too stubborn."

Hearing her mutter, Angel retorted, "Well it's not my fault Romina's an academic know-it-all."

"Ah!" Romina gawked, letting her quill fall. "How dare you!?"

Angel chuckled at her.

"I-I can't do this anymore," Arden gave up on her homework thanks to the two. She collected her things off the floor and stood up. "I'm going to dinner."

"We'll be there in a bit," Carolinha reassured.

"Yeah, don't be too long. It's my turn to pick on Pansy," Arden walked off with a smirk on her face.

"Is that just something they do for fun?" Angel asked once Arden had gone.

"Well, no, I think Pansy truly despises Arden now," Romina said carelessly. "Before I thought she just found Arden annoying. And because Arden knows this information she has some fun and argues as much as possible with her."

"That's some complicated relationship," Carolinha sighed and began to get up. "But nothing we're not used to. It's the same between Pansy and Daphne, honestly."

"Basically Pansy with anyone," Angel said with a smirk, causing the girls to giggle.

"I'm hungry. Let's go to dinner?" Carolinha asked the two hopefully.

Agreeing, Romina and Angel desisted on their homework for the night and followed Carolinha to the Great Hall. There were great discussions to be had since the first Quidditch game was just around the corner, not to mention Halloween was right behind it. Still, while the discussions went on - and an argument here and there happened - Romina took notice of the Gryffindor table where Harry was once again missing.

She crossed glances with Hermione and Ron but it was easy to tell that neither of them knew where Harry was either. Romina somewhat relaxed when Hermione and Ron got up to -presumably - look for Ron.

"Why do you always stare at that hideous table?" Pansy Parkinson brought Romina out of her thoughts. "One could say you would rather be there."

"If it's away from you then I'd love to join them too," Arden didn't fail to remark. She bit into a biscuit after.

"It's because she wishes she had been sorted into Gryffindor," Draco made his own input, throwing Romina a brief glance. "Isn't that right?"

They sat next to each other so it wasn't that hard for Romina to ignore his look. "Well if it means I get to be away from you, then sure." Arden beamed at her used comment. Best friends did think alike.

"You're still mad?" Draco raised an eyebrow at Romina.

"Mad at what?" Pansy looked between the two suspiciously.

"The word you're not allowed to use—he used it," Romina explained, maintaining eye contact with Draco. She surprisingly had an intense stare. "On Hermione."

"What word?" Arden innocently asked while she munched on a pastry.

Theodore Nott snorted. "I wouldn't ask."

Of course that only made Arden even more curious. She looked at the rest of the group, hoping that someone would give her the answer. Blaise Zabini seemed to be the one until Angel purposely cut him off after one word.

"It's a word that real high class people shouldn't use." He looked directly at Draco.

And as if to defy him, Draco went ahead and answered Arden's question. "I said 'mudblood'."

Arden still remained in the dark. "What does that mean?"

"It means—" Draco was about to explain when Romina punched him on the arm. "Ow! What? I was only trying to explain!"

"Oh yes, and I suddenly have the power to fly," Romina sarcastically retorted. "You're awful, you know that?"

This made no effect on the boy. "What's the big deal?" And just when Romina opened her mouth, Draco decided to keep going lest he want a lecture in the air. "I say things all the time. Don't act so surprised."

"This time you went too far," Romina frowned.

"So you're just going to stay angry with me?"

"Yup."

"Why can't you move on?"

Romina didn't bother to answer. She found much more happiness in her dessert. There was pudding!

At last, the feast came to an end, and the students began to file out of the Great Hall. In all the meanwhile Romina had eaten, neither Hermione nor Ron returned. But she didn't even get to think much about it when they heard some commotion up ahead.

"What the hell!?" Pansy was the first to give signs of trouble. She was crumbling her nose because her shoes had been submerged under water that was covering the hallway.

"Ew," even Arden was agreeing this time. "Sewage water."

The students grew closer to the source of the true problem, and found Harry, Ron and Hermione standing at the front of it all. Mrs. Norris the cat was hanging upside down from a torch bracket with her eyes open and a permanently frozen face. What really drove things home was the cryptic message written across the wall.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED ENEMIES OF THE HEIR... BEWARE.

"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" Draco flashed a malicious grin at Hermione.

Romina stomped hard on his foot. "That! That is why we can't move on!"

Filch had arrived to disperse the band of students and thus interrupted what was sure to be an interesting scolding. "What's going on here? Go on now! Make way…" But the man came to an abrupt stop when he saw his precious cat stunned. His eyes quickly rounded on Harry. "You! You've murdered my cat! I'll kill you! I'll—"

"Argus!" Dumbledore interrupted. He, McGonagall, Lockhart and Snape were right behind him. As soon as Dumbledore saw what was written on the wall he began to send the students away...except for Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Needless to say, the center of conversations for all students became the message on the wall...and just who was the "heir".

"It's definitely a pureblood," Arden was giving her voice of opinion later that week. She and Romina were passing the courtyard to get to their respective classes. "It's got to be. Who else would come up with something as sinister as a 'Chamber of Secrets'." She rolled her eyes at the idea. Since the whole 'mudblood' ordeal last week, she had made it her personal mission to learn more about the wizarding community. She was disgusted with some of the old fashioned thoughts of some people, specifically those who called themselves pureblood families.

"If you think like that then you're no better than purebloods looking down on muggle-borns and half-bloods," Romina said bluntly. "It's a tricky things, these ways. A lot of these customs have dated way back. It's very hard to change people's minds about them."

"When did you get so knowledgeable about this stuff?" Arden wondered.

Romina preferred not to answer with 'Draco taught me' as it would lead to a conversation she didn't want to have. Now more than ever, she was determined to keep her brief pureblood lessons with Draco a secret. She would take it to her tomb, if possible.

"So...who do you think is the heir?" Arden waggled an eyebrow at Romina. The two stopped at the intersection where their classes would separate them.

"I have no idea," Romina truthfully replied, shrugging her shoulders. And she really didn't. Everyone at school were just students who barely knew how to cast spells. The older students probably didn't have the guts and the professors had no reason to 'open' this chamber after such a long time being at the school.

"Hm," Arden's eyes looked to the side. "I'll have to Sherlock Holmes it."

Romina caught sight of the common trio of Gryffindor and hurriedly said goodbye to Arden to meet up with them. She had yet to properly talk with them since the message appeared.

~ 0 ~

"We don't know who did it either," Harry grew tired of repeating himself. He'd already been asked thousands of times before Romina did. "We just found things like they were!"

"You have some luck, you know," Romina made a face. "But that voice you said you heard...are you sure you heard it? You didn't just imagine it or something…?"

"I didn't," Harry also was tired of saying. Ron and Hermione hounded him with questions about it the same night of the question.

"But you also said Lockhart didn't hear it," Hermione reminded, till seeming unsure herself.

"Well, no—"

"But maybe Lockhart was lying," Ron interrupted and sent the girls a sharp look.

Romina scoffed before Harry could get a word in. "Oh please. Lockhart would take anything he could use for his own advantage. Hearing voices in the air would definitely be his number one story by now."

"Plus, neither of us heard anything, remember?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at Ron.

"But it is strange that soon as Harry heard this 'voice'—" Romina made quotation marks with her fingers, —you found the stupid cat petrified? It's just—"

"Hey!" Harry finally got a word in, even going as far as raising a hand to remind his friends he was, in fact, still there and listening. "I want to clarify that this voice I heard is in fact real and I didn't imagine it. Though now I'm thinking I should have told Dumbledore about this that night."

"Are you mad!?" Ron nearly lost it.

"In what world does hearing voices no one else can ever turn out good for that person?" Romina challenged Harry to think about it. "Whether it's the muggle world or the wizarding world, hearing secret voices is not good."

Harry sighed...but ultimately agreed. People were already beginning to form their own assumptions and if word got out that he was hearing strange voices there was no doubt he would become the prime culprit of it all.

~ 0 ~

Transfiguration would be having the students attempt to change their animals into water goblets. McGonagall performed her own example - changing a bird into a crystal water goblet - and then picked Ron to follow. Nervously, Ron tapped his rat, Scabbers, with his broken (but taped up) wand. Scabbers ended as a goblet with a tail.

"You must replace that wand, Mr. Weasley," McGonagall changed Scabbers back into himself.

Hermione's hand suddenly raised a hand. Romina gave her a significant look, knowing that Hermione had understood perfectly the lesson...so what exactly did she have a question about?

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

Hermione seemed hesitant to go ahead and ask her question, but she ultimately spoke up. "Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?"

McGonagall took a step back, as if the question had physically forced her to. Around the class, the students fell over with silence. Everyone's eyes were glued on the professor. "My subject is Transfiguration, Miss Granger."

"Yes, Professor. But there seems to be very little written about the Chamber of Secrets," Hermione spoke from her endless nights at the library searching for anything having to do with the Chamber. "For those of us with a personal interest in the subject, that is... disturbing."

McGonagall looked at the rest of her students, and seeing that literally no one was planning on listening to her lecture unless she spoke about the Chamber...she spoke. "Very well. You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Three of the founders co-existed quite harmoniously. One did not."

Ron snorted and whispered to Harry, "Three guesses who?"

"Salazar Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. In other words, purebloods. Unable to sway the others, he decided to leave the school. According to legend, Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in this castle, known as the Chamber of Secrets. Shortly before departing, he sealed it until that time when his own true heir returned to the school. The heir alone would be able to open the Chamber of Secrets and unleash the horror within, and by so doing, purge the school of all those who, in Slytherin's view, were unworthy to study magic."

"Muggle-borns," Hermione understood and was dissuaded from questioning further.

"Yes. Naturally, the school has been searched many times for such a chamber. It has never been found."

There was utter silence until...Romina raised her hand this time. "Professor, what exactly does the legend tell us lies within the Chamber?"

"The Chamber is said to be home to something which the heir of Slytherin alone can control. It is said to be home...to a monster."

After that, no one dared to ask anymore questions. After class, though, there were many things to be discussed.

"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony," Ron spoke first on their way out of class. "But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his House if you paid me—"

"Ahem?" Romina shot him a glare that made him gulp.

"You know you're the exception…"

"Mhm," Romina rolled her eyes.

"Hiya, Harry!" first-year Gryffindor, Colin Creavey, rushed up to the group. "Harry — Harry — a boy in my class has been saying you're —" But because of the crowd around, he was taken along with them and never got to finish his statement.

"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione asked curiously.

"That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect," Harry glumly responded. Students had already begun to turn the other way when he was around.

Romina scoffed. "Please."

"People here'll believe anything," Ron agreed with Romina's disbelief. He stopped for a moment to think. "D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?"

"I don't know," Hermione murmured. "Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be — well — human."

"Not to mention the fact every single professor has got this face" — Romina made a gesture to hers — "that makes you want to shiver. They're worried. And if they're worried...so should we."

"Because if there really is a Chamber of Secrets, and it's really been opened, that means…" Harry would rather not say it outloud, but Hermione didn't hesitate.

"The Heir of Slytherin has returned to Hogwarts. The question is, who is it?"

Ron nearly laughed at how naive they all were. "Let's think," he sarcastically began, "Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?"

Hermione didn't answer, but she was following Ron's gaze up to Draco up ahead. Soon, Romina and Harry did the same.

"If you're talking about him—" Hermione began, but Ron cut her off.

"Of course! You heard him: 'You'll be next, Mudbloods'!"

"What? No!" Romina actually had a good laugh. "That is probably the most ridiculous thing I have heard up to date. And I've heard plenty."

"Oh, c'mon, Romina," Ron argued, even stopping to get his point across.

"What? I'm being serious," Romina turned to him too, slowly sobering from her laughter. "I mean, I get that you hate him—he's given you good reasons to—but to say that he opened up a secret chamber—" her eyes widened for dramatic effect, "—to get rid of all muggle-borns...that's just hilariously stupid."

Ron huffed and crossed his arms.

"Maybe Ron's right," Harry put a hand on his friend's arm, ignoring Romina's irritated scoff. "I mean, look at his family. The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin for centuries."

"Hey," Romina pointed at him suddenly, her playfulness gone and replaced with a warning look, "I will not let you disrespect my House like that. By thinking like that you're basically saying that I'm going to grow up to become some dark witch. And—" she spoke just as Harry and Ron opened their mouths presumably to tell her she was wrong, "—don't you dare tell me that 'I'm the exception' because that's just a joke. I'm going to remind you that both my aunt and uncle were also in Slytherin and, contrary to the people who birthed me, they are the kindest people I know."

Hermione looked between the three, unsure of where to speak for and against. "It wouldn't hurt to try and see whether or not Malfoy is the Heir…"

Romina sighed and stepped back, appalled. "You too?"

"We won't call him out, we can just find another way."

"Fine, if you want, I can just ask him and be done with it," Romina turned around to just that task when the three Gryffindors yelled 'no!' and grabbed her back.

"Are you mad, woman!?" Ron nearly shook the girl. "Like he'd ever tell you!"

"See, this is where my name actually does me some good," Romina shrugged. "Oswells have the famous reputation of being evil. For once, that could work in my favor."

"We're not taking that chance," Harry shook his head.

"We don't have to," Hermione said with a new light in her eyes - she had an idea. "We can get Crabbe and Goyle to tell us. They must know the truth."

"Are you implying that Draco would rather tell those two bozos than me?" Romina frowned.

Now both Harry and Ron made horrible faces. "Why does that seem to bother you?" Ron asked with an edge in his voice.

Romina blinked, as if just realizing herself, then shook her head. "No! I just meant...well, Draco does spend a lot of time with Blaise and Theo too."

"Yeah, but trust me, it would be a lot easier to get Crabbe and Goyle," Hermione said with a strange smirk. It caught everyone's attention.

"Why do you say it like that?" Romina raised an eyebrow at the girl. "What are you thinking about doing?"

"I'm thinking that we're going to impersonate those two and in the process break about fifty school rules. Also, it would be very dangerous."

Romina, Harry and Ron all exchanged glances with each other. Had they heard right?

None of it seemed to matter because in the next second Ron demanded to know when they could start.

~ 0 ~

At night while most students were having dinner, Romina was led into the Gryffindor common room by Harry, Ron and Hermione. There was no one in there which created the perfect chance to really look at the book Hermione had swiped from the library's forbidden section thanks to Harry's invisibility cloak.

"Are you sure I'm allowed to be in here?" Romina took in the scarlet and golden room. It seemed very comfortable but...a bit messy with all the furniture and draping curtains. The only thing she envied was the view they got from their windows.

"I've checked—" Hermione said dutifully, "—and there is no explicit rule forbidding students to go into common rooms not of their House."

"Rule-abiding Hermione isn't going to make a visit right now is she?" Ron curiously asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes and excused herself for a minute to retrieve the book they needed from her dorm. She returned two minutes later with it and walked over to the couch. Together they began to skim the book for the potion Hermione talked about and with luck they found it within ten minutes.

"Those are some...interesting pictures…" Romina crinkled her nose at the disturbing illustrations on the pages.

Hermione was much more interested in the instructions. "Properly brewed, the Polyjuice Potion allows the drinker to transform himself temporarily into the physical form of another...'"

Ron had to stop her right there. "You mean, Harry and I drink some of this stuff and we turn into Crabbe and Goyle?"

"Yes."

"Wicked! Malfoy'll tell us anything!"

"Exactly. But it's tricky," Hermione warned. She kept passing her finger down the instructions. "I've never seen a more complicated potion. Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed. And, of course, we'll need a bit of whoever we want to change into too."

Now Ron's excitement faded right there "Hang on now. I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it."

"Y'all want to play Sherlock - that's the punishment," Romina said with a clear trace of satisfaction in her tone. "I told you that it would be a lot easier for me to just ask or at the very least try to impersonate Blaise and Theo."

"They're pretty smart," Hermione said, "We can't run the risk of using them and getting caught. Besides, don't you think it Malfoy was the Heir, he would tell someone who wouldn't say a soul? Can you see Blaise and Theo keeping it a secret?"

"No...guess not..." Romina thought that in a moment of spite, either one of the boys would betray Draco. Maybe even just for a joke. "Alrihgt, I get the point."

"How long will it take to make?" asked Harry.

"A month," Hermione answered after re-checking the instructions.

"A month?" Harry gaped. "But if Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin...he could attack half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!"

Romina rolled her eyes, but Hermione took a bit of the warning to heart. "You didn't have to tell me that."

~ 0 ~

The day of the first Quidditch game was a disastrous one from the start. As soon as Romina woke up, she could hear her House chanting for their team, so sure they would win. Romina knew with the brooms they had, it was very plausible. However, here came the problem. If she cheered for her House, her fellow Gryffindor friends would take it as a traitorous behavior because her best friend was their seeker.

"Ron, what am I supposed to do? Not cheer for my own team?" Romina was angrily demanding to know the right answer. She, Arden, Hermione and Ron were making their way towards the audience stands.

"Yes!" Ron didn't hesitate to answer, and with a loud shout. Both Romina and Arden glared.

"Not happening. I can cheer for both," Romina held her nose in the air and walked ahead with Arden.

"She's mad? How can she be mad?" Ron incredulously asked.

"I can't imagine her position is easy," Hermione tried to see through Romina's perspective. "On the one hand, she's a Slytherin and it's only natural she'd want to cheer her own team."

"On the other hand, Slytherins are cheaters. Malfoy just bought them their winning ticket. How could she cheer for that?"

Hermione could understand both sides. Unfortunately, even her quick wits weren't enough to find a solution for the problem.

Romina and Arden found spots beside Carolinha, Daphne and Pansy near the first row. Blaise, Theo and Angel were on the bleacher below them.

Noticing Romina's face, Arden gently bopped shoulders with Romina. "Don't mind what Ron said. I don't know him as well as you do, but he's got a big mouth that says things he usually regrets later."

Romina could agree there. Ron was always saying things he usually only meant in that moment. He wasn't evil, nor rude, but was very impulsive and just not a great listener. "You're right," Romina gave a small nod of her head. "I'm just going to have fun cheering for both teams."

Arden grinned, but Pansy - overhearing - had to comment on similar things that Ron had said. At least with her, Romina could easily deflect such words by simply ignoring her. What Pansy said was not in her care line.

When the game started, it was almost impossible for the Slytherins to see their team. They were like little blurred spots that zipped from one place to the other. The brooms were sure working their magic. Gryffindors were, at times, left wondering how it was that the ball escaped their clutches.

Into the game, Romina noticed something truly strange. She borrowed Angel's binoculars to get a better look at the field. "Is it me or does that bludger seem to have a thing for Harry this game?"

"His team is just not good at fighting them, that's all," Pansy didn't fail to make a shot at the Gryffindors.

"Yeah, but I think Romina might have a point this time…" Angel's head followed the movements of the bludger.

"You're going to make me dizzy," frowned Blaise. "Stop!"

Romina rolled her eyes and continued to watch the game through the binoculars. "Something isn't right," she mumbled. George had smacked a bludger away from Harry, but almost a second later it was back in Harry's direction. Is it possible the bludger had been tampered with?

"Oh, now I see it," Arden commented when Harry performed a series of quick witted moves with the broom to avoid the bludger. "Poor Harry."

"Who cares! Look!" Pansy pointed excitedly. "There's the snitch! And it's so close to Draco! He's sure to catch it now!"

"Something tells me he won't…" Arden snatched the binoculars from Romina to have a look now.

Carolinha tilted her head, confused like usual. "I don't get it. Why isn't Draco grabbing it yet? He doesn't have to move much."

"Because the idiot is probably more focused on insulting Harry," Romina sighed.

Arden was giggling. "You should see Flint's face right now."

"He's bound to get in trouble now," Daphne said, making a face..

"I think...both…" Romina was making a face of terrible fear because now Harry and Draco were flying for the Seeker, fighting each other of course, and somehow one winded up nearly hitting the wall while the latter spiraled out of control after hitting a beam.

With Harry, the bludger finally met him just as he caught the Golden Snitch. He lost control of his broom and went down to the pitch field as well. But, as if that wasn't enough, the bludger appeared to not have been finished with its work.

"Are you serious?" Romina rubbed her eyes just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. But of course hearing Pansy's laughter indicated this was very much reality.

Thankfully, someone from the Gryffindor stand acted fast and cancelled whatever spell that bludger was under.

Arden lowered the binoculars, revealing widened eyes and a gaping mouth. "What...a...game…"

~ 0 ~

Thanks to Gilderoy Lockhart's incessant endeavor to play hero, Harry had ended up in the night wing with absolutely no bones in an arm. Madame Pomfrey sure had her evening cut out for her.

"Will Harry be okay?" Carolinha stopped by the desk Romina was working at in their common room.

The black-haired girl looked up from her work with a smile. "I couldn't get in but I think he will be. I know there's a spell to get bones back in the arm."

"Painful one, probably," Pansy almost sing-sang as she walked by them. Both girls rolled their eyes.

"Hey, you lived," they heard Arden suddenly say.

Those in the common room glanced at the entrance to see Draco coming in with a dazed look, yet there was a gleaming scowl spreading on his pale face.

"Ten points Flint got to you already?" Theo stopped by the blonde with an eager face. "How bad was it?"

The look on Draco's face said it all.

"What can I say, you're a good player if not a bit easily distracted," Angel clapped him on the shoulder.

"Angel I'd take three steps away from him…" Romina had never seen Draco look so mad. She feared for anyone around him.

"Don't touch me, don't speak to me —don't even breathe around me," Draco pushed past him and headed for the boys' hallway.

"Hm...you got off easy…" Theo said to Angel, sounding a little disappointed.

~ 0 ~

In order to do their polyjuice potion, a decent, conserved room was needed. Thankfully, Hermione had found one long before that requirement.

Romina walked in with Harry and Ron and immediately noticed the abandoned features of the bathroom. Walls were from looking, sinks were chipped to the point of falling apart, and the mirrors were slashed. Even the candles lighting it up were guttering. Despite the conditions of the room, the boys were more focused on Harry's recent findings on the chamber of secrets thanks to the house elf Dobby.

"Again? You mean, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?" even Hermione had looked up from her smoking cauldron on the floor.

Ron's eyes widened with realization. "Of course! Don't you see? Lucius Malfoy must've opened it when he was at school here, and now he's told Draco how to do it."

"If Draco had known, don't you think he would've opened it last year?" Romina thought logically.

Even Hermione had to concede at that point. "We'll have to wait for the Polyjuice Potion to know for sure," she motioned to the cauldron that was billowing smoke.

Ron somewhat simmered from his excitement. "Enlighten me. Why are we brewing this potion in broad daylight, in the middle of a girls' lavatory? Don't you think we'll get caught?"

Hermione shook her head calmly. "Never. No one ever comes in here."

"Why?"

"Moaning Myrtle."

"She's real?" Romina blinked. She suddenly began to look around, but neither Harry nor Ron knew who they are talking about. "I thought Arden was making it up to scare the crap out of Pansy." She laughed. "It worked by the way."

Before anyone could say anything in response, a loud screeching made them look up in time to see the ghost of a girl appearing through the wall. Her pigtails floated with the nonexistent air and her clothing - while gray and transparent like her - were that of the school uniform.

"I'm Moaning Myrtle!" her squeaky voice rang in their ears. She stopped just in front of Ron, giving the ginger quite a scare. "I wouldn't expect you to know me. Who would ever talk about fat, ugly, miserable, moping, moaning Myrtle?" the girl sobbed and dove into one of the toilet stalls.

All three shocked, Romina, Harry and Ron turned to Hermione. The brunette girl merely shrugged and continued with the potion.

"She's a little sensitive."

~ 0 ~

Days later saw the first student attacked by the Chamber's beast. Colin Creevey - Harry's practically number one fan - had been found on the floor, holding his camera to his fact, petrified. The news spread like wildfire amongst the students. Of course with it came higher desires to find the "Heir".

Rumors started here and there, and most of them were delirious…

"It's ridiculous, really, but amusing to what extent some of these idiots will go to just to 'protect themselves'," Arden told Romina after witnessing a student in their Care of Magical creatures class purchase a talisman meant to ward off any beasts.

Honestly, the thought made Romina want to laugh as well.

"Guys!" Angel called them over to a parchment posted on the wall. He and Carolinha, were already bursting with excitement over whatever the new announcement was.

Romina and Arden came to stand just beside them and both looked up to see a Dueling Club was being formed.

"Can you believe it? A Dueling Club!" Angel exclaimed.

"Could be useful nowadays," Carilonha said with exceptionally wide eyes. With the latest on the Chamber, she had become more cautious and nervous.

"It's eight o'clock," Arden finished reading. "Well, I'll go. If anything, I can see Pansy getting cursed or something."

Before eight o'clock, Romina managed to get the word to her Gryffindor friends about the club. She figured it would be a good idea to learn some defensive stances and spells just in case they actually ran into the Heir.

The Great Hall had been the site for the first meeting that night. Only one long table had been left in the center to serve the professors' platforms.

"Gather round!" Lockhart was, of course, at the center of the platform. "Gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent." He took a long, dramatic pause before speaking again. "In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Dueling Club, to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works."

"My God, he's a walking advertisement." Romina rolled her eyes.

"Well, at least Professor Snape will be there, look," Arden pointed to their Head of House coming up the platform. All Slytherins were excited as Snape came by Lockhart, but of course none of the other Houses agreed.

"Let me introduce my assistant Professor Snape…" Lockhart began.

"He is joking, right?" Blaise's voice drew the girls' attention behind them. He, Draco and Angel were pushing their way through the crowd to be upfront. Assistant? Snape?"

"Like Ron said, the man's loony," Carolinha mumbled, causing the girls to snicker.

Lockhart and Snape were meant to give the group an example of how to de-arm each other. Lockhart jokingly promised to leave Snape alive. Snape threw Lockhart back before the blonde wizard could even finish his spell.

All Slytherins cheered for their Head of House.

Lockhart got up to his feet with the fakest smile possible. "Yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy…"

Snape seemed like he didn't want to bother wasting air pointing out how that was indeed not true. "Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, Professor."

Lockhart agreed and between the two put the students in pairs. Things were going fine until Lockhart put Arden and Pansy as partners.

"Professor that might not be a good idea…" Romina tried inputting an opinion but was, of course, not taken into consideration.

"That should be interesting," Draco moved up to stand beside her.

"You mean murderous. Actually, it'd be like if you were paired up with—"

But Snape called over to them and finished Romina's thought without knowing it. "Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter."

Draco's eyes lit up with a new sense of excitement, "Honestly, Oswell, I might just consider you as a lucky charm!"

"N-n-n-no, don't…" Romina tried to say but Draco happily marched towards Harry, forgetting all about her. "Dammit!"

"Miss Oswell, you can partner with Weasley," Lockhart came by to take the girl to the named partner.

"So it's just killing night, got it," Romina mumbled...because she remembered what happened with Ron's broken wand the last time he tried using it. "Please don't use that on me," she kindly requested from Ron once they were in position to begin.

Ron could only respond with a sheepish smile.

"And bow!" commanded Lockhart once everyone had been put into partners. "Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents — only to disarm them — we don't want any accidents — one . . . two . . . three—"

Everything that happened after that went so fast no one could pinpoint the exact time things went awry. In two minutes, Snape had to shout 'Finite Incantatem!' to stop everyone's spells.

Harry could finally stop dancing because of the charm Draco had put on him. Draco, in turn, could finally get up and stop laughing from the tickling charm put on him. Pansy's cries echoed in the room at the last moment when Arden blasted her against a wall. Hermione was in a headlock with Millicent and seemed to be needing some help.

"I'm sorry!" Ron's words caught some attention. Romina was sitting up with a face full of ash but otherwise unharmed.

Other students were actually bleeding from whatever their partners had cast on them. All in all, it was a disaster.

"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," Lockhart quickly thought of, probably to make up for the gigantic error they'd made. "Let's have a volunteer pair — Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you—" but of course that would not be.

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," Snape interrupted and came over. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox. How about Malfoy and Potter?"

How that could be any better Romina would never understand. As the two boys in question walked up on stage, the rest of the students started gathering near the stage. Of course when Harry and Draco walked up to each other for the traditional bow, some of the students who knew them wondered if taking a step closer was a good idea.

"Scared, Potter?" The aura of superiority around Draco seemed to burst in that moment.

Harry would not falter against his confidence. "You wish."

The two boys walked to the edges of the stage then turned around, wands ready.

"I can't watch," Romina thought she had whispered until Arden gave an excited 'I can!' beside her.

It came as no surprise that Draco started the fuel before Lockhart even finished his little countdown. Harry blasted backwards and was only down for a second when he jumped back and directed his own spell.

"Rictusempra!" His wand released a silver light that shot directly at Draco, causing the boy to double over in pain.

"I said disarm only!" Lockhart seemed tired of the same mistake, but Romina thought he had it well deserved for being so naive again.

"Serpensortia!" Draco delivered the final spell of the duel when a long, black snake erupted from his wand. All the students' jaws dropped at the sight of it.

"Don't move, Potter. I'll get rid of it for you," Snape supposedly meant well and started for the snake when Lockhart cut in.

"Allow me!" the blonde wizard moved his wand about but instead of getting rid of the snake, he flew it into the air.

Justin Finch-Fletchley came to be the next target of the snake. The boy was stuck to his spot while the snake slithered towards him. Everyone around him literally jumped to the sides to avoid the snake. But suddenly, Harry called to it...or at least that's what the others thought he was doing. A strange whisper and hissing was coming out of Harry's mouth that no one could understand.

The snake paused to look at Harry but then continued for Justin. Harry once more called to it in the strange language before the snake finally desisted from Justin. Everyone was stunned, as far as Harry could see, and he didn't know why.

"What are you playing at?" Justin demanded from Harry but didn't get any close to the boy

Harry frowned, confused of course, because he had just saved Justin from the snake. But then he started noticing the different looks he was getting from the others. Draco seemed shocked, Neville and Seamus were afraid, Romina was confused, and Ron and Hermione were concerned.

What had he done?

~0~

Because Romina could not catch up with Harry, Ron and Hermione after the dueling club, she was forced to return to the Slytherin common room with the rest of her friends. That didn't mean she wouldn't be learning of the true problem that night.

"I can't believe Potter is a Parseltongue," Angel was discussing it with Draco and Blaise ahead of the group. "I should have seen it coming!"

"Don't be ridiculous, it was a trick, obviously," Draco said, far too fast for anyone who was so confident in their thoughts.

"Funny, you didn't look like that back there," Blaise smirked.

The conversation went on as they walked into the common room. Theo was already in their usual spot, doing homework, but happily put his quill to the side to hear about how Harry Potter had spoken parseltongue. He howled with laughter.

Romina stepped in front of the boys, absolutely confused, and demanded to hear some answers. "What the hell is a parseltongue?"

"You really don't know much, do you?" Blaise raised an eyebrow with a condescending look on his face.

"Shut it and answer my question."

"Romina, a parseltongue is someone who can speak to snakes," Angel gently explained to her much kinder.

"P-p-parseltongue?" Romina repeated the soapy word in her mouth. "That sounds like a kind of cheese. What's the problem? Why is everyone either freaking out or laughing?" She threw eyes at Theo who still had tears in his eyes from his laugh.

"Oswell, the only person known who could speak to snakes was you-know-who," Draco explained and waited for her to reach the same conclusion that everyone else already had.

Romina's mouth parted from her shock, but she immediately rejected the idea. "That's — no! You never know. If there's this stigma around parseltongues then it's natural maybe some people don't admit they have the talent."

"Look, you don't have to convince me. As if Potter could be the Heir of Slytherin," Draco rolled his eyes at the absurdity. "Next joke please."

But as he began to leave, Angel let it slip that the only other person known to speak to snakes was Salazar Slytherin himself. Anyone within hearing distance would now make the connection that Harry could very well be his heir.