#writing words that you know sound a certain way. wizard juice

[kbergceramics]

wizard headcount: 145!!! frankly i don’t think i’m gonna stop once i fill the box, my tank is still full of wizard juice

[vibraniumwing]

imagine.

a sirius black x reader wherein the sirius discovers the reader’s hidden fear, desire and talent.

WARNING: a bit angsty at first but fluffy at the end. 

A/N: AAAA okay so mia gave me this sudden spark of an idea so i just went with what my brain could come up with. surprise surprise, i chose sirius black for this one which mean that this is the first one i’ve written for the marauders !! pls be kind because i’m a bit new to writing for them. aaa i hope you guys would like it :< this was also meant to be a very angsty blurb but this is where we are now :D

prompt/inspired by: ariana grande’s imagine, “We go like up ‘til I’m ‘sleep on your chest/love how my face fits so good in your neck.”

---

When love was the topic, you would tend to shy away, rather be talking about exams and whatnot instead of the said emotion. It wasn’t because you hated it; you were certain that you longed to be held the same way James does with Lily, but the little monster of fear withheld you from doing so.

Your eyes wandered to the Gryffindor table where you can see the infamous group — as they would call themselves — the Marauders.

Despite all of them being devilishly handsome, your eyes were only focused on one person, Sirius Black. You’ve only spoken to him once, having him partnered up with you during charms as they were forced apart by Mcgonagall due to their rowdiness. Despite him being quite arrogant, he was definitely clever—much to your surprise— and was quite fun to be around.

“Say Y/N, are you going down to Hogsmeade today?” A friend of yours asked, gulping down her pumpkin juice as she looked at you expectantly. You turned your head around and gave her a small headshake, wanting to sit by the Black Lake and read a few books despite the rather cold weather. 

Your friend shrugged and stood up, asking what you’d want back from the small village before heading off with your small friend group. As they walked away, your eyes glanced back at the table only to see the man you’ve been staring at looking your way, sending a not-so-cheeky wink towards you causing you to blush and turn away.

The rest of the day flew by as normal, with you hastily making your way to the tree you’ve made as your little nook during your quiet times like this. It had the perfect view of the castle and wasn’t too far off from the trek yet enough to keep you hidden from the prying eyes of students that wandered around the campus.

Your eyes stared at the sunlight that glistened against the Black Lake, finding it completely calming you down as you decided to sing a little song to entertain yourself. It was a muggle song you’ve heard from a shop you’ve frequented back in the summer before returning to Hogwarts for the year.

It totally captured how you felt with love; the love you’ve always long for. The unattainable kind.

---

You were a half-blood, having your dad as a wizard and your mom a muggle-born. Your home was always filled with laughter, love and just absolute happiness until one day it wasn’t. Your mother had left for a muggle man, longing for a life without having magic in it.

Within that day, you just didn’t lose a mother, you lost your father and the sense of what love really is. He became closed off and distant, leaving you to tend for yourself as days pass by.

---

The one day you wanted to love again was also the last.

It was your fourth year when you had met him, Christopher Medlar, a Ravenclaw just like you. He taught you how to love and be open, understanding you and your hesitant sentiments completely, making you feel the love and affection you’ve longed for since the day you lost your family.

You had found yourself a new found home within him, a safe space that you’ve never really been exposed to growing up. It all felt foreign and new, yet it was extremely comforting.

Everything was going well between you two until you caught him snogging with a Slytherin and made little to no effort to even talk to you. Making your heart shatter, leaving you to your own pain and despair.

And that day was the day you promised to never love anyone again.

---

Unbeknownst to you however, was the fact that the guy you were looking at earlier at the Great Hall was closely listening to your angelic voice ring out through the quietness of the woods.

Sirius was out and about with the Marauders when he had heard a rather soft voice sing, entrancing him almost immediately. James and Remus were about to speak up when he hushed them right away, fearing the fact that they might scare the person away.

“You guys go on without me, I’ll be able to find you anyways.” He whispered, waving a rather brownish parchment along his friend's way. They both shot him a skeptical look before leaving him alone, now placing bets as to what’ll be the outcome of their friends’ change of plans.

“We go like up ‘til I’m ‘sleep on your chest, love how my face fits so good in your neck. 

Why can’t you imagine a world like that?”

Your singing was interrupted by someone clapping, whipping your head to the direction of the sound, you felt your cheeks immediately flush and heat up at the sight of the male you were looking at.

How mortified were you at the moment? Nobody could ever measure that.

“Nice voice you’ve got there, L/N. Say,what song is that?” Sirius asked so casually, leaning against the tree.  You were at a loss for words, not really sure on how you would react to his compliment since no one really knew you could sing. 

“Just a muggle song I heard a few months back, Black. How long have you been there?” You asked, raising an eyebrow at him as he just shrugged, shoving his hands in his pocket as his signature lazy grin rested on his lips. ‘Merlin, he’s extremely good looking.’ You thought to yourself.

“That’s amazing. Mind telling me what’s it about then, darling?” He probed, now offering you a rather interested look as he settled down beside you.

Your heart jumped out of your chest at his sudden question, unsure on how to answer. You glanced at him, his eyes were locked on you, the same expression painted on his face as he nodded, somewhat signalling that he was waiting for your answer.

Taking a deep breath in, you faced him and said, “It’s about unattainable love. Somewhat like imagining that in this world, you are loved and is being loved in a picture perfect way; a place where no one can really hurt you, Sirius.” A sad smile rested on your lips as your mind wandered back to the horrid memories, the little monster inside taunting you more than ever.

His expression turned into a mixture of sadness, confusion and pity. He quickly caught on, knowing about how you got played by a boy in your house. Sirius had always watched you from afar, not really sure on how to approach you since you were somehow the opposite of him. 

He also feared that he might hurt you, the one thing he kept as a secret and treasured the most.

“Well, you don’t have to imagine that now, darling,” He spoke up, features now showing one of seriousness despite the erratic pace of his heartbeat. You looked at him with wide eyes, unsure of how to react to his words. “I don’t get what you’re saying, Black.”

A sighed, running a hand through his hair, “What I’m saying is why imagine that when I’m here.” He finished. It was rather flattering that he said that but you are unsure; the fear within you warning about how this would just lead you to repeat the same mistakes in the past. Besides, with his reputation, he had enough girls at Hogwarts swooning at the snap of his fingers.

“I appreciate the thought but I’m passing, Black.” You answered, showing him another sad smile as you stared off into the Black Lake. “I think I’m just not ready to love again nor I think I will ever love again. The one I wish for is unattainable, you know. Something far out of reach.” You finished, glancing at the male who had an unreadable expression on his face.

Silence fell upon the two of you until Sirius decided to break it, “But that’s why I’m here. I’ve seen you from afar, Y/N. Don’t think I can’t remember a time where you haven’t looked at me from the Ravenclaw table.” He humored, causing you to look at him with a horrified expression, surprised that he had caught on to your antics.

“Don’t apologize though, no one ever noticed except for me, of course. “I understand that you aren’t ready, but I’m willing to wait for you.” He continued, looking into your eyes as he spoke, “I’m willing to prove to you that you shouldn’t fear love, even if it means for me to wait on forever.” He finished, sighing softly as he grinned.

The monster inside of you thrashed around, wanting for you to not give a chance to Sirius, knowing that there’s a possibility for you to end up like the past but the side that has been longing for something like this is growing stronger as well, making you wish that you shouldn’t fear love in the first place.

A shaky breath escaped you, eyes shutting briefly to collect yourself as you looked at the male, who was waiting patiently. “Just promise me one thing, Sirius.” You told him, looking at him straight into the eyes as you spoke, “The fear inside of me is begging not to give in, but something about you is making me say yes. Promise me that you’ll never break my heart.”

His grin soon turned into a wide smile, nodding at the promise you wanted. “Until my very last breath, love.” as he opened his arms for you, which you looked at with a confused face, unsure on how to react.

“I’m giving you a hug, silly. Now c’mere!” He told you, pulling you into him. He smelled like sweets, a subtle hint of smoke reaching your nose as you easily melted against his touch. It was all foreign to you again yet this time, something was assuring you this would last.

With a few readjustments, you were now in between his legs, back against his chest as his arms were wrapped around you tightly, making you feel extra safe. Your head turned around and you snuggled up against the crook of his neck, eyes fluttering shut as the ambience of your surroundings eased you. He spoke up once more, the vibration from his voice causing you to cozy up against him.

“Soon, you won’t even have to imagine anything. I promise to give you everything you’ve ever wished for.”

---

TAGS: @andromedaa-tonks​ @whoreforfredweasley​

[twoidiotwriters1]

Written In The Stars XLI (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

A/N: Last chapter, time flies when you’re having fun :’) Part one of book three coming this thursday uwu

Words: 4,548

Warnings: None!

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Book III

Chapter Twenty-Three: New Discoveries.

She was definitely not expecting to see so many people inside the office. 

Mrs and Mr Weasley got up and trapped Ginny in a tight hug, both of them crying happily at the sight of the daughter they thought was lost forever.

Dumbledore's eyes were fixed on her and Harry, and he was smiling brightly at them. Fawkes flew away from her shoulder only to sit on Dumbledore's.

She was suddenly in the middle of a bear hug with Ron and Harry, Mrs Weasley leaving the tiniest space for them to breathe.

"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?"

"I think we'd all like to know that," said Professor McGonagall with a shaky voice.

Mrs. Weasley let go of Harry, who hesitated for a moment, then walked over to the desk and laid upon it the Sorting Hat, the rub-encrusted sword, and what remained of Riddle's diary.

Then he started telling them everything. For nearly a quarter of an hour he spoke into the rapt silence: He told them about hearing the disembodied voice, how Hermione had finally realized that he was hearing a basilisk in the pipes; how he, Mel, and Ron had followed the spiders into the forest, that Aragog had told them where the last victim of the basilisk had died; how he had guessed that Moaning Myrtle had been the victim, and that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets might be in her bathroom...

All sounded way more impressive than how it really was, most of what they knew was by pure luck and guessings, but altogether, they sounded better than any of Lockhart's books.

"Very well," Professor McGonagall breathed heavily, "so you found out where the entrance was- breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add- but how on earth did you all get out of there alive, Potter?"

Harry continued though his voice was growing tired, by the time he reached the part where the diary had somehow something to do with the whole thing, he stopped, giving a nervous glance to Ginny and then going back to Dumbledore, who only smiled as a reply.

Harry was hiding something, the thing that connected Ginny and the diary with the rest of the story, she just couldn't tell exactly what it was.

"What interests me most," Dumbledore said, "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."

"What?" Mel turned to look at her uncle in disbelief, "Voldemort?"

"W- what's that?" said Mr. Weasley. "YouKnow-Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not... Ginny hasn't been... has she?"

"It was this diary," said Harry, giving the book to Dumbledore. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen..."

The man took the book and examined it, Mel saw the same strange glint in his eyes she'd seen a year back when she mentioned her bursts of magic to him.

"Brilliant," he said. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen. Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school, traveled far and wide... sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."

"But Ginny," said Mrs. Weasley. "What's our Ginny got to do with -with... him?"

"His diary," Ginny cried. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been w-writing back all year..."

"Ginny!" said Mr. Weasley. "Haven't I taught you anything. What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain? Why didn't you show the diary to me or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic"

"I d-didn't know," sobbed Ginny. "I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I t-thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it..."

"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing right away," Dumbledore interrupted. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort. Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up... You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice- I daresay the basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment."

"Hermione!" Mel blurted out in excitement.

Dumbledore walked up to the door and opened it so the Weasleys could go.

"She's okay!" said Ron brightly, his mind on their friend.

"There has been no lasting harm done, Ginny," nodded Dumbledore.

The girl and her parents disappeared through the door, then the man looked back at McGonagall.

"You know, Minerva, I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"

"Right," said McGonagall, already going out. "I'll leave you to deal with Potter, Dumbledore, and Weasley, shall I?"

"Certainly," said Dumbledore.

They glanced at each other nervously, not knowing what that meant.

"I seem to remember telling you both that I would have to expel you if you broke any more school rules," said Dumbledore. "Which goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words. You will receive Special Awards for Services to the School and- let me see- yes, I think two hundred points apiece for Gryffindor."

She sat heavily on the nearest chair, shaking from weariness and relief.

"But one of us seems to be keeping mightily quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure," Dumbledore added, she looked up to see he was talking about Lockhart. "Why so modest, Gilderoy?"

"Professor Dumbledore," Ron piped up, "there was an accident down in the Chamber of Secrets. Professor Lockhart-"

"Am I a professor?" said Lockhart. "Goodness. I expect I was hopeless, was I?"

Mel laughed, catching the man's attention.

"You were," She smiled, "but you know, we worked with what we had, I like to think that we were smart enough"

"You certainly look clever," The man agreed innocently.

Ron snorted, trying to hide his amusement with a cough.

"He tried to do a Memory Charm and the wand backfired," The boy explained quietly to Dumbledore.

"Dear me," said Dumbledore, shaking his head. "Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!"

"Sword?" Lockhart tilted his head. "Haven't got a sword. That boy has, though. He'll lend you one."

"Would you mind taking Professor Lockhart up to the infirmary, too?" Dumbledore said to Ron. "Id like a few more words with Harry and Mel..."

Ron obeyed, but not before throwing a curious glance over his shoulder as he walked out of the room.

"Sit down, Harry," He pointed to the chair next to Mel. The boy obliged. "First of all, Harry, I want to thank you. You must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber. Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you."

Mel glance at Fawkes, the bird was sitting on Dumbledore's knee, comfortably leaning his tiny head against her uncle's hand.

"And so you met Tom Riddle," said Dumbledore. "I imagine he was most interested in you..."

She felt her heart race, she remembered what'd happened during her time in the chamber, the... vision she'd had, should she mention it?

"Professor Dumbledore... Riddle said I'm like him. Strange likenesses, he said..."

"Did he, now?" said Dumbledore. "And what do you think, Harry?"

"I don't think I'm like him!" Harry said, so abruptly that manage to bring her back from her thoughts. "I mean, I'm- I'm in Gryffindor, I'm..."

He glanced at Mel, and she understood he was anxious about telling his worries in front of her. She offered a hand for him to hold, Harry took it with uncertainty.

"Professor," He looked back at the old wizard. "The Sorting Hat told me I'd- I'd have done well in Slytherin. Everyone thought I was Slytherin's heir for a while... because I can speak Parseltongue..."

"You can speak Parseltongue, Harry," explained Dumbledore, "because Lord Voldemort- who is the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin- can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. Not something he intended to do, I'm sure..."

"Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?" Harry said, his hand closed tighter around hers, but she didn't mind.

"It certainly seems so."

"So I should be in Slytherin," He lamented. "The Sorting Hat could see Slytherin's power in me, and it --"

"Put you in Gryffindor," said Dumbledore. "Listen to me, Harry. You happen to have many qualities Salazar Slytherin prized in his hand-picked students. His own very rare gift, Parseltongue -resourcefulness - determination- a certain disregard for rules... Yet the Sorting Hat placed you in Gryffindor. You know why that was. Think."

"It only put me in Gryffindor," said Harry in a defeated voice, "because I asked not to go in Slytherin..."

"Exactly. Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. If you want proof, Harry, that you belong in Gryffindor, I suggest you look more closely at this."

He handed the shiny sword back to Harry, he let go of her hand in order to take the sword and examine it carefully, she peered over his shouder to see it better. There was a name engraved below the hilt.

'Godric Gryffindor'

"Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat, Harry," said Dumbledore simply.

Mel looked up from the sword and into Dumbledore's eyes. She had her brows knit together and wanted so badly to express her thoughts, yet she couldn't. It was about things that neither harry or he knew, and she didn't know how to express them. Still, Dumbledore was a great wizard for a reason, he knew Mel wanted to speak privately.

"What you need, Harry, is some food and sleep. I suggest you go down to the feast, while I write to Azkaban- we need our gamekeeper back. And I must draft an advertisement for the Daily Prophet, too," He said, deep in thought. "We'll be needing a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher... Dear me, we do seem to run through them, don't we?"

Harry stood up and waited for Mel.

"Oh, I'm staying- I need... I need to talk about- some things" She stammered.

"Okay," Harry eyed her carefully, but he started to leave without asking more questions.

Lucius Malfoy burst into the room looking furious.

Mel stood up immediately.

"Good evening, Lucius," said Dumbledore.

Mel noticed the man wasn't alone, a small figured walked in behind him, something that looked exactly like Harry had said Dobby looked like. The elf bent down and kept polishing the man's shoes, Mel'd never seen such a sorrowful creature.

"So!" Malfoy said "You've come back. The governors suspended you, but you still saw fit to return to Hogwarts."

"Well, you see, Lucius," said Dumbledore, smiling serenely, "the other eleven governors contacted me today. It was something like being caught in a hailstorm of owls, to tell the truth. They'd heard that Arthur Weasley's daughter had been killed and wanted me back here at once. They seemed to think I was the best man for the job after all. Very strange tales they told me, too... Several of them seemed to think that you had threatened to curse their families if they didn't agree to suspend me in the first place."

Mr. Malfoy went even paler than usual, but his eyes were still slits of fury.

"So -- have you stopped the attacks yet?" he sneered. "Have you caught the culprit?"

"We have," said Dumbledore, with a smile.

"Well?" said Mr. Malfoy sharply. "Who is it?"

"The same person as last time, Lucius," said Dumbledore. "But this time, Lord Voldemort was acting through somebody else. By means of this diary."

Mel moved over to Harry's side, watching the scene attentively.

Dumbledore held up the small black book with the large hole through the center, watching Mr. Malfoy closely. Harry, however, was watching Dobby, so she did as well.

The elf was doing something very odd. His great eyes fixed meaningfully on Harry, he kept pointing at the diary, then at Mr. Malfoy, and then hitting himself hard on the head with his fist.

Dobby was confessing. She remembered what Ginny had said, that she'd found the book with the rest of her books- the same day she'd gotten her school books Lucius Malfoy and Mr Weasley had fought inside the library, Malfoy had even examined Ginny's book.

This was Malfoy's fault.

"I see..." said Mr. Malfoy slowly to Dumbledore.

"A clever plan," said Dumbledore in a level voice, still staring Mr. Malfoy straight in the eye. "Because if Harry here," Mr. Malfoy shot Harry a swift, sharp look, "and my niece, along with Ron- hadn't discovered this book- Ginny Weasley might have taken all the blame. No one would ever have been able to prove she hadn't acted of her own free will..."

Mr. Malfoy said nothing. His face was suddenly masklike.

"And imagine," Dumbledore went on, "what might have happened then... The Weasleys are one of our most prominent pureblood families. Imagine the effect on Arthur Weasley and his Muggle Protection Act, if his own daughter was discovered attacking and- killing Muggleborns... Very fortunate the diary was discovered, and Riddle's memories wiped from it. Who knows what the consequences might have been otherwise..."

Mr. Malfoy forced himself to speak. "Very fortunate," he said stiffly.

"Don't you want to know how Ginny got hold of that diary, Mr. Malfoy?" said Harry suddenly.

"How should I know how the stupid little girl got hold of it?" he said.

"Because you gave it to her," Harry said sternly. "In Flourish and Blotts. You picked up her old Transfiguration book and slipped the diary inside it, didn't you?"

Mel looked at her friend with wide eyes, not believing that Harry was daring enough to say it aloud.

"Prove it," Malfoy hissed.

"Oh, no one will be able to do that," said Dumbledore, smiling at Harry. "Not now that Riddle has vanished from the book. On the other hand, I would advise you, Lucius, not to go giving out any more of Lord Voldemort's old school things. If any more of them find their way into innocent hands, I think Arthur Weasley, for one, will make sure they are traced back to you..."

Lucius only turned to his house-elf, utterly offended.

"We're going, Dobby!"

The way he treated poor Dobby, it broke her heart.

"Wish we could save him from Malfoy," Mel commented under her breath.

Harry perked up at her words.

"Professor Dumbledore," he said. "Can I give that diary back to Mr. Malfoy, please?"

"Certainly, Harry," said Dumbledore. "But hurry. The feast, remember... And Mel, please stay so we can have a few words"

"Yes," She nodded, going back to her chair.

Harry grabbed the book and rushed out of the office, not looking back at all. There was a moment of silence while Dumbledore finished his letter, then he looked up, expectantly.

"I suppose you have a lot in mind," He stated.

"A lot, Sir," She agreed, not knowing where to start.

"Most of them are doubts, I imagine," He continued, "you must be confused about how the houses really work..."

"Everyone says Slytherin is meant to be all bad, or at least, that is meant for people that don't care about what's fair and good," She explained, "but I... I've started to think that maybe we're seeing it wrong"

Dumbledore's smile grew.

"Erick Flint is a person of interest, isn't he?"

She didn't even bother to ask how he knew, of course he knew about her friendship with Erick.

"He's helped me before- and he doesn't care about blood- he's nice and wants to learn about muggles," She shook her head, "I don't understand... I'm sure he didn't choose to be in Slytherin, he always says that's where his whole family's been, that he belongs there, but I-I'm not saying he shouldn't be in Slytherin, cause I don't know... if he is a Slytherin, and he's a good person, then what does that mean?"

"It means that he's a remarkable boy," Dumbledore said, "I know his family, they're not the loving kind, and this boy took me by surprise during his first year, he's well-mannered and intelligent, with an interest in the muggle world... I guess there's always a black sheep in every family, I remember during your father's year, there was a boy that was a lot like Erick," He said with a sad smile, "he could've done so much good to our world, yet the war changed him, it poisoned his soul... if this boy is reaching out to you, asking for your help, by all means help him. You never know when you could be saving someone's life by showing kindness"

She nodded, Erick was a good boy, she wasn't planning on breaking their friendship just because others thought differently, which reminded her of another thing she wanted to talk about.

"Professor?" She asked. Dumbledore remained silent, "People... my friends- my teachers- they're always saying they're expecting great things from me, but I don't think I have it in me. They think I'll be like you, Sir- which isn't bad if it turns out to be true, but it certainly does put a ton of pressure on me... it's hard to make a decision when they've already planned my future without knowing who I really am."

"And who are you, Mel?"

"I'm a little girl," She replied worriedly, "I don't know what I want to be as an adult, not yet. I don't even know the extent of my own abilities... something happened again, while we were waiting for Harry and Ginny to return"

Mel was aware that it sounded crazier now that she was saying it out loud but she kept going, determined to clarify her doubts. Maybe she was imagining things, but she thought she'd seen a triumphant expression on her uncle's face.

"And it stopped after a moment?"

"Like it never happened"

"I see," He examined her features carefully.

Mel felt too self-conscious, she lowered her look and stared at Fawkes, her mind somewhere else, uneasy.

"Fawkes is a marvelous creature," She said after a while, "he brought us back"

"He's a Phoenix," Dumbledore stroke the bird's head, "a magical creature, loyal and with infinite qualities... your father loved them very much as well"

"My father?" She looked up in amazement.

"He seemed to understand Fawkes, there was a bond between your father and him, I never dared to ask what it was... Dear girl, I think I've postponed this talk long enough, it's clear that you've inherited abilities that only the women in our family can get, and I shouldn't keep asking you to try and push them back without help. Would you agree, if I offered you help with that?"

Mel frowned, not fully understanding.

"Like... extra lessons?" She wondered, "To help me handle my temper?"

"It would help you with more than just your temper, dear. The lessons could help you in case of emergencies, you'd be able to control your magic, to gain control"

No more powerless moments. No more sitting and waiting for things to just happen.

"Yes," She said without a second thought, "I want to learn, I... I want to help"

"Perfect," The man said, "I'll give you some books that you can take home so you can start studying during summer, get acquainted with the subjects we'll see. We can start next year when you're a bit older and well rested"

"Okay," She said, trying to hold back her excitement, "can I talk about this with my mother and uncle? I think they'd love to hear the news- oh! Can I tell Harry?"

"I don't see why not," Dumbledore smiled, then he added, "your uncle... I haven't heard of him for a long time."

"Well, he lives a bit far from us as well, I don't see him often," Mel said, thoughtfully, "he got ill during my first year, he often gets sick... but I believe he's alright now"

"I should send a letter his way soon," Dumbledore mentioned casually as they walked out of the room, "I would like to hear what he's been doing for the past eleven years..."

"I can't believe you freed Malfoy's elf!" Mel laughed wholeheartedly, "I wish I had seen his face! That was brilliant, Harry!"

"Dobby deserves a better life, that's all," Harry shrugged, blushing lightly.

"You solved it! You solved it!" Their heads snapped to the sound of the voice.

Hermione was running towards them, the biggest smile on her face.

"MIONE!" Mel yelled, standing up in a hurry and meeting her friend half-way, hugging her and crying, "You're back! I'm so happy- I've missed you terribly!"

"Hermione!" The boys also hugged her, though their hugs were shorter than hers.

The feast continued its course, and several people approached Harry to apologize and thank him for all he'd done and did the same with Mel and Ron- Hagrid appeared as well and hugged them tightly, almost breaking several bones in the process.

The exams got canceled and Gryffindor won the house cup again- things were going just fine.

Erick managed to pass beside her table and deliver a tiny note saying he was happy they'd found the heir and saved everyone, and he couldn't wait for the next year so she could join him in Hogsmeade at least once. Mel read the note quickly and looked up to see Erick already sitting back on his table, the tiniest smile threatening to light up his face.

"He's a Slytherin," Someone said beside her.

Mel jumped, hurriedly hiding the note in her pocket.

"What?"

"Erick Andrews is not a Ravenclaw," Hermione said seriously, "you thought I wouldn't notice? I knew about a week after he introduced himself... when I saw him enter the great hall and sit next to Daphne Greengrass"

"In my defense, he wasn't supposed to talk to me in public, I don't know what got into him that day when he talked to you..."

Hermione just stared at her.

"Are you mad?" Mel asked shyly, "I know how all of you feel about Slytherin, but I promise- I swear he's not like that at all"

Hermione wasn't happy, but she didn't give her a lecture either.

"I just hope you know what you're doing, I don't want you to get hurt"

"I won't," Mel assured her, "our friendship it's odd, but it's based on trust- I know things about him... He won't hurt me."

The girl just nodded, it was obvious she didn't feel comfortable with the subject.

When Dumbledore announced Lockhart wasn't going to be back for next year though, she forgot about all her problems.

"Ah, perhaps we'll get a better teacher this time," She sighed in bliss.

"Shame," said Ron. "He was starting to grow on me."

Fred and George found their way to sit next to Mel, one on each side so she couldn't ignore them.

"I think we owe you an apology," George started.

"To me?" She frowned.

"What we did on Valentine's was wrong, I guess," Fred sighed, "it was a masterpiece, but you didn't do anything to deserve it, you were only watching after of our sister-"

"We came to the realization that we might not be doing a good job as older brothers at all-"

"On the other hand, you did it perfectly- you saved our sister, brought her back-"

"Harry did that, I just-"

"Yeah, but we don't like Harry as much as we like you," Fred shrugged, "I mean, is it true that you threatened Lockhart by telling him you were going to feed him to the monster?"

"I... yes." The twins laughed.

"You're something else," George stood up and ruffled her hair.

Mel huffed, trying -and failing- to brush her hair back to how it was before George's attack. Fred stood up as well, pulling her in and kissing her temple in a very exaggerated manner, handing her the piece of paper where they'd originally written her poem.

"Bugger off!" She giggled, putting the poem inside her pocket.

"You know," Ron said, watching as his brothers went back to sit with Lee Jordan, "you may not have a crush on them, but now I'm starting to believe they fancy you"

Mel almost choked on her drink.

"Ron!" Harry and Mel yelled at the same time.

She stared at her friend in surprise.

"I know you hate it when he says that, I don't think it's funny anymore," Harry explained casually.

"'Course you don't," Ron said with a grin.

Harry made sure to kick him in the shin while Mel wasn't paying attention.

"Ginny - what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell anyone?" Harry asked as they approached King's Cross, they were almost back home, and Mel couldn't wait to see her mother again.

"Oh, that," said Ginny, giggling. "Well - Percy's got a girlfriend."

"What?" Fred and George asked at the same time.

"It's that Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater," said Ginny. "That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom one day. He was so upset when she was- you know- attacked. You won't tease him, will you?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Fred, and it didn't sound convincing at all.

"Definitely not," George smirked.

When the train stopped, Harry hurriedly pulled out ink and parchment, along with a quill.

"This is called a telephone number," he said, giving the paper to Ron and Hermione. "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..."

"What about me?" She teased.

"What if you go with your uncle for the rest of the summer?"

"Fair enough," Mel sighed.

"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they, Harry?" asked Hermione once outside of the train. "When they hear what you did this year?"

"Proud?" Harry snorted. "Are you crazy? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious..."

"I'm proud!" Mel put an arm around his shoulders, "I'm sure my mum's too, bet she'll give us tons of cake and cookies once we get home, as a reward for our bravery, you know?"

Harry tilted his head.

"Don't you think she'll be furious you almost got yourself killed again?"

"Oh, absolutely- she'll kill me. I'm just trying to imagine a happier story so I can survive her scolding."

"Good luck with that..."

Next Part —>

Taglist.

@tiphareth2018 @vampiregirl1797 @siriuslysirius1107 @celestialhayi​  @mikariell95​ @omiwashere​ @thesuitelifeofafangirl​ @tomshollandz​ @steve-thotgers​ @kylosleftbuttcheek​ @reverse-hxlland​

[justhereforseverus]

A Rose by any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet

Miserable_toad

Chapter 15: A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury.Summary:

You and Severus spent an intimate night together and he seems to open up to you more and more. The morning comes with a rude awakening and you can't hide your frustration with Dumbledore anymore.

Notes:

This took AGES. I’m so so sorry. Partly, because life is.. strange. Also due to my complete inability to write anything smut related. Sorry for the cringe in advance. There’s also fluff in there. And angst. Basically, a full package.

As always, thank you so much for reading, for your kudos and comments! :3 Comments are always appreciated.

Chapter Text:

We went through the empty hallways, down the staircases to the dungeons. When we stepped into his office, he locked the door behind us and led me to the fire. I sat on the couch after I had hung my jacket to a nearby hanger and put off my high heels. I could see that Severus carefully removed the handkerchief with the lily, looked at in thought for some moments and then put it on a small table near the couch, before going to the kitchen to get some tea. He came back, offered me a cup and then sat beside me. He was still smiling while putting his arm around me. I felt so warm and glowing with love and happiness. I sighed happily and put my hand on his knee. I asked him: “That handkerchief is pretty. Why a lily though? I know they are flowers of purity and virtue but seems very specific.”

His eyebrows furrowed and he drew in a long breath before saying: “…I bought it on a wimp many years ago. As a reminder.”

“Of what?” Wait, maybe I shouldn’t pry into this….I quickly added: ”You don’t have to tell me further. Just...”

He interjected: “No, it’s fine. Remus didn’t tell you anything about Lily Evans then?” I shook my head. “She was.. IS James Potter’s wife and I’m sure you’ve heard that name before.” – he said with a rather dismissive undertone.

“Yes, I think I’ve seen a picture of him in the Daily Prophet at some point because he was promoted or something? He was the guy who defeated Voldemort. I think Remus and Sirius are also friends of him. He lives in the US, doesn’t he?”

Severus nodded weakly: “I think so, yes. Lily and I.. We’ve been childhood friends, neighbours in a way. Went to Hogwarts together. I… liked her… a lot. She broke contact at some point. She was justified in doing that. I was an idiot but it still hurts.”

I think I’ve started to understand..in the end I commented “We all were idiots when we were young.”

“Maybe but I called her a terrible slur and I shouldn’t. Especially, because she was trying to help me when her precious future husband and a certain Mr. Black had me hanging from my ankles in the air.”

Oh Sirius… what an idiotic bully you’ve been. I only replied: “Ouch….you didn’t deserve that.”

“Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t but it’s not like anyone but her cared. It doesn’t matter now. I know I did wrong. I know I was at fault. She never spoke another word to me after that and it’s fine. It’s long over now. I bought it to remind me of not doing that mistake again. But I don’t think I need that reminder anymore. At least, I hope so.”

“What.. slur was it?”

“You know.. mudblood, which in retrospective was pretty stupid. Thinking about the fact that I’m a half-blood myself.” - he said with a tired smile.

I gasped: “The head of Slytherin a half-blood?! Wow Salazar must turn in his grave.” I chuckled. “The person obsessed with pure-blood ideology has someone so brilliant and beautiful as a leader, who isn’t fulfilling his first requirement of ‘good’ wizards.” I kissed him on the cheek.

He smiled again,“That’s a secret though. Don’t tell my students.”

“But you’re the change they might need. So never tell me you’re useless again. And we’ve all said things that in retrospect were… shit. Like really shitty. We regret and learn from them. Some people forgive us and see our growth.. others don’t. In the end she married a bully so I guess she changed together with him, too. It’s sad she didn’t give you another chance though.”

Sadness cloudes his features: “I think I was always difficult to handle, especially back in those days. It was difficult to fit in a house that was full of rich and arrogant purebloods. But yes, you’re right. We’ve all changed, I hope. That’s the difference. In the end, it’s ok.. I think. I don’t look for her anymore, haven’t for years.” He exhaled and pulled me closer to me before adding cheekily: “I have to disagree with one point though, I don’t think Salazar would be particularly interested in the looks of his followers.”

I puffed: “Hello?! Have you seen his portrait?! He was certainly obsessed with his own looks. That cloak is extremely fancy and his pose so over the top.”

Severus laughed and I was relieved to see him happy again. Though, I had the desire to be closer to him now, to do more. With an unexpected rush of bravery, I saddled him on the couch. His eyes widened with surprised. I started to kiss him, softly at first but then more passionately. I could feel his hands wandering over my knees and thighs up to my back. I also wandered with my kisses to his neck until I could feel his hands tightening on my dress and an ever so quite moan escape from his lips. I liked hearing the ever so tight and controlled professor in a weaker position. But before I could expand on this new experience, he flipped me on my back in a swift movement and positioned himself between my legs regaining control. Unfortunately, the couch was a bit too short for that and we had to take care not to fall to the floor. He laughed and smiled, his face over mine, his long black hair falling softly around me. He said: “I think, we should continue this in a more comfortable environment.” I nodded, and to my surprise he carried me up in his arms like a bride to the bedroom. He cautiously laid me on the bed, continued his position from before and started kissing me passionately. I was completely lost. He smelled so nice and I loved feeling his weight on me, his hips on mine, his hands that slowly wandered down my sides. At some point my dress really started to bother me though. I couldn’t reach the zipper on the back like this nor was my wand in close proximity. So, I whispered: “My dress... Could you..”

“I understand.” He said and got to the side. I sat up and he helped me out of the dress by pulling the zipper down. I rather awkwardly moved out of it and he started kissing me on my neck and shoulders and I melted. He put his arms around me and tightly pulled me to his chest. “Oh, Severus – what are you doing with me?” I said softly with a shaking voice. He replied by whispering in my ears: “Let me worship you, darling.” And his hands wandered down to my bra, unlocking it, while getting rid of his shirt and pants. He leaned over me and I took a good look at him. He was mesmerising. I could see some scars on his hips and chest and made a mental note of asking him about them later but for the moment… I was enchanted and just drowned in his eyes. He looked like he felt the same before diving into another series of deep kisses. I could feel his hands on my chest, exploring, sending shivers to my core. His kisses wandering down and down, until he kissed the inside of my thighs, looking at me for consent. I nodded and he made me truly feel worshipped with his tongue and fingers until I fell apart. But I wanted more. He moved up to my mouth again to kiss me, removed his underpants and mine before lying on me. He gave a last questioning look before I confirmed again and then pushed deep. I could hear him panting, moaning quietly, a deep and holy sound in my ear, while he moved inside of me and my mind went blank with passion. Everything was just feeling, a fire moving between us until we both reached the peak.

Sweating and panting we laid in the darkness. I put my head on his naked chest and he ran his fingers through my hair before saying: “I…. sorry.. I feel like I can’t speak properly right now but.. shower maybe?” I answered with a heartily yes.

His bathroom was painted green and black and the walls were windows looking unto the Hogwarts lake. It felt like being under water as fish and other creatures swam by. Severus explained to me that the walls are not see through from the other side. He admitted, it’s weird at the beginning to get used to it. It was kinda cool though. Like showering in the sea. We went under the shower and the warm water felt fantastic. He pulled me close to him again and kissed me caringly.

When we went back to bed we just cuddled and I laid my head on his chest, hearing his heartbeat while he ran his fingers through my hair. After he sighed contentedly, he whispered: “I’ve never had such a pleasant Yule Ball night. Usually I leave the ball room early, punish some student couples who hide outside to do their frivolous activities and then go to bed early.”

“Oh, these nasty students” I laughed: “But yes, I agree. Thank you for the wonderful evening.” He kissed me again and after we talked for a little bit further we both fell into a peaceful sleep.

The next morning, I felt myself rather reluctant to do anything. In the end, most staff and students would probably sleep out their hangover, so this Saturday was intentionally left without events. Severus seemed to feel the same. He woke up earlier than I did but brought the breakfast on a big dinner tray to bed. He was very cute, sitting in his pyjamas with legs crossed on his bed, eating a croissant carefully over his plate. I took a sip from my orange juice and said: “I somehow didn't see you as the type to eat breakfast in bed.”

He smirked and scoffed: “Oh, what should I do then? Sitting on the fully set table, smoking a pipe and reading the newspaper every morning?”

“Would be very stylish indeed.”

“No. As reserved as I am, I rather don’t have breakfast at all or like that really. My family didn’t have a breakfast tradition anyway. I was glad to get a slice of toast on the way out on some days.”

“I’m sorry to hear that… though I often don’t have breakfast, too. I’m very bad in getting out of bed. It was different during my childhood though. My parents insisted on the morning ritual. I’m sorry to hear you that you didn't Is that the reason why you don’t talk much about your family?”

His expression dulled while he replied: “My parents were poor, my father was an incompetent and very angry fool. My mother suffered much. There is not much to say. It’s a boring story.” He shrugged. I told him that, independent of that, it’s part of him and I wanted to know if he wants to share. He told me afterwards that they died a couple of years ago and I said my condolences. He replied sharply: “Don’t be. It was probably the best for both of them. Though I’d wished I could have told my father what an asshole he is. I’ll never forget what he did to my mother in his rage.” I didn’t want to press further but it was certainly good to see him opening up bit after bit. He looked thoughtfully towards the ceiling.

A bell rang and disrupted our peace. Severus went to the door and told me to stay in the bedroom. He put on a morning gown and left. I could hear Filch speaking through the door: “I can’t find her. Her room is destroyed and Dumbledore sent me to you. Do you know where she is?”

Severus replied cold and distant:“...I do. Go to Dumbledore, we all meet up in his office.”

Severus explained to me that there was another break in. This time not in my classroom but my office. They were unable to break the spell protecting my private quarters but my office was turned upside down. Books destroyed, desk in half.. it was a sight. When I was standing in the middle of my destroyed office surrounded by Filch, Albus, Minerva, Sprout and Flitwick, I couldn’t hold in my anger anymore: “How did they even come here?! I thought Hogwarts was so protected?! You promised me that it wouldn’t happen again?!” I yelled in anger. I was frustrated and unreasonable and frankly, I didn’t care.

Dumbledore said in an overly calming tone, which kinda annoyed me: “They must have help from the Ravenclaw house” – here Flitwick looked to the floor ashamed – “The portrait hasn’t reported anyone not being a student of her house coming in but there are ways to conceal oneself. At least the protection on your private quarters worked. Of course, there is also a possibility that they didn’t want to go that far just to intimidate someone.” The headmaster got closer to me, grapped my shoulders in a comforting gesture before saying: “I’m sorry that happened. I truly am. I promise you we’ll find a solution and a punishment for the perpetrators. But if they were only students. they must have some help from someone who knows how to get around these spells. This isn’t taught at Hogwarts.”

I was devastated: “So, what?! It doesn’t matter! We knew who it was that did this to my classroom. What will you do now, headmaster? This has to end!”

“I know” – he said. “I’ll do my best. I’ll talk to him personally. To son and father. I’m sorry.” – he said sadly and turned away from me. That wasn’t as satisfying for me as it should be. I was disappointed and still angry. Minerva interjected before I could say more: “I don’t feel good with you returning to your quarters, darling. Maybe you should stay somewhere else for the time being. I wouldn’t feel safe knowing that someone was so close to my bed. Albus, you really have to consider that this was a direct attack on all of us. Please.” She petted my shoulders and looked at me with a pleading half-smile. I couldn’t be mad at her and she was right. I’d feel unsafe sleeping here for the time being.

“She stays with me.” – Severus interrupted sharply. Everyone looked at him and didn’t dare to challenge him on that proposition.

“Very well, Severus” – Dumbledore replied before adding “Under the proposition that Professor [y/n] wants that, too.” I nodded “yes, that’s fine with me. Thank you, Severus. I’m sure they won’t dare to break into your office.”

“And if they do, they’ll see what messing with me really means this time”, Severus said while looking closely at Dumbledore.

[rvnclwrites]

Romania 1999 Pt 3 (Charlie Weasley x Female MC)

Summary: AU where MC is an American who attended the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry instead of Hogwarts. Set eight years post graduation (1999) when she finally gets the nerve to travel abroad and follow her dream to be a Dragonologist in Romania. Check out my master list for parts 1 and 2.

Notes: So first of all, I suck and this is set eight years post graduation not nine. I for some reason had a stroke when I wrote part 1 and thought MC graduated in 1990 instead of 91. Oops. Also, I couldn't find any info on whether magical creatures can see Thestrals or what the rules are so what I wrote may not be accurate, but it worked for my plot line so idc lol.

Word Count: ~8000 (No, I’m not kidding. Sorry not sorry 😅)

(Y/N) had started visiting the owlery nearly every morning the following week in hopes of hearing back from one of her friends. Finally on Wednesday, her heart leapt as she cracked open the door and saw Pearl, one of the Sanctuary's beautiful barn owls, with a letter addressed to (Y/N) clamped in her beak. She tore into the envelope as fast as her fingers would allow, leaning against the cool concrete ledge behind her as she began to read.

(Y/N),

I am so proud of you!! I can't believe you're actually in Romania. I don't know what gave you the final push to make the move, but I am SO glad you did. I think this will be great for you, especially considering it's the one job you've talked about since we were third years. How long do you plan on staying? I hope indefinitely- if anyone deserves a place to settle down it's you.

Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you. Things have been hectic since I took on this new teaching job. Can you believe I'm actually a potions professor? Professor Haywood does have a nice ring to it if I do say so myself. Don't worry though, I still have plenty of time for my shop on the weekends. Just let me know if you need any Felix Felicis to help you take on those crazy beasts you're working with. (Or perhaps a small vial of Amortentia if settling down is actually a possibility?? Only joking… sort of.) How's everything been at the Sanctuary so far?

I miss you so much and hope to hear back from you soon. Bea sends her love too!

Love, Penny

(Y/N) sighed as she finished reading, drawing the parchment against her chest. It was nice to know Penny was proud of her. The beautiful blonde had always known what she wanted to do and had her life as a Potioneer planned out since their very first day at Ilvermorny. (Y/N), on the other hand, had been interested in so many different careers in the wizarding world she struggled when it came to narrowing down her options and feeling confident with her decision. Funny how that ended up working in her favor with the way everything turned out...

(Y/N) shook her head clear, not wanting to think about that right now. Reaching out, she stroked Pearl affectionately, realizing this was her first encounter with a magical creature that wasn't a dragon in over two weeks. That was (Y/N)'s only complaint about working at the Sanctuary so far. She was well aware before she accepted the job that owls and Thestrals were the only other creatures permitted on the grounds, but it was an adjustment after having spent nearly two years bonding with all the different creatures back at the Reserve. (Y/N) frowned, feeling the ache in her chest grow, and decided she would have to write back to Penny later. Right now she needed a reminder of just how much she enjoyed being here at the Sanctuary, and maybe she could visit the Thestrals later.

Working alongside Charlie and Hank did just the trick at first. She had purposefully worked through the next two days to keep herself distracted, and it was working fine until now. (Y/N) stilled as Ventus bowed his head to her and flapped his green wings once, creating an all too vivid parallel in (Y/N)'s mind with her favorite Hippogriff back at the Reserve.

"Hello? Earth to (Y/N)?" Hank said, waving a hand in front of her face.

(Y/N) pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempt to ease the sudden pounding in her head. "Sorry, what'd you say?"

"I said I think Ventus here is growing quite fond of you."

(Y/N) forced a smile, admiring the dragon in front of her. "Yeah. Probably helps that he's the nicest one of the bunch." She felt Hank's inquisitive gaze linger on her for longer than she felt comfortable with, so she added, "We should probably get back down for dinner."

Both Charlie and Hank agreed, and the trio followed the path back to the village, joining Scott at their usual picnic table.

"Did you hear that the Wasps got owned by Puddlemere yesterday?" Scott asked as he piled his plate with a second helping of mashed potatoes.

Hank snorted. "No surprise there. I would'a bet twenty galleons on it with how rubbish Wimbourne has been this year." The forty-three year old who had already downed his dinner grabbed a piece of pie from the tray. "Hey Charlie, didn't you play with some bloke on Puddlemere's team?"

Charlie, who was seated beside (Y/N), nodded. "Oliver Wood. He became captain for Gryffindor after I left. Pretty good Keeper."

"Wait, isn't your friend Andre a Keeper too?" Scott asked.

"For Pride of Portree, yeah."

"Bloody hell," Hank said through a mouthful of pie, "and your sister may start playing for the Harpies? With all these connections, you better damn well get us tickets to the next World Cup."

The men carried on with the Quidditch conversation, but (Y/N) was distracted by the mention of Charlie's sister. So far she had only caught wind of a brother named Bill, and now an unnamed sister, presumably younger if she's just now joining the Harpies. Since (Y/N) didn't want to ask about anyone's family outright, she had resorted to making mental notes whenever something was mentioned. Hank had a sister named Chloe, but Scott had never mentioned family, only a friend named Steven.

"How's Andre doing?" Scott asked. "He should come visit again sometime."

"I haven't seen him in awhile actually. I'll probably send him an owl when I go home for Christmas."

(Y/N)'s stomach lurched at the thought of going home for the holidays. She hoped it wasn't uncommon for people to stay here around Christmastime.

"Awh man, you're going home this year?" Hank asked, disappointment etched on his face. "I was hoping Molly and Arthur were gonna come back here for a change. We haven't seen 'em since your siblings stayed at Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament."

Molly and Arthur, (Y/N) repeated in her head, adding who she presumed to be Charlie's parents to her mental list. She was surprised to find herself a little disappointed too. She would have liked to meet them.

"Seriously, that cake she made was the best I've ever had," Scott added, patting his stomach. "Plus it's always fun to get the scoop on Charles' childhood."

So his parents were still together and his mom was a great baker, maybe even a housewife since he apparently had so many siblings. From the sound of it, Charlie seemed to have a big, happy family. Of course he did.

"Are your parents gonna visit, (Y/N)?" Scott asked as he refilled his glass of Pumpkin Juice.

An anxious chill scattered across (Y/N)'s neck, traveling all the way down her back and legs. She hoped to God she didn't look as alarmed as she felt, and she shrugged in an attempt to ease some of the tension between her shoulders. "No, my parents and I aren't that close." She kept her tone casual, not wanting anyone to think it was a big deal. "But I'm sure my friends will sometime," she added for good measure. Even though her parents would never come here, Penny, Rowan, Barnaby or Jae might visit her someday.

"Don't you have any siblings that wanna come?" Hank asked, forking the last of his pie into his mouth.

(Y/N) stilled, feeling the color drain from her face. She shouldn't have been surprised. In all honesty, she was more surprised she had managed to make it this long without it coming up. For a split second, she considered lying- it's not like they would know the difference if she said she was an only child. But these guys were her friends, and she didn't want to lie to them.

Swallowing, (Y/N) looked down at her plate and scooped the last of her mashed potatoes onto her spoon. "Unfortunately my brother passed away several years ago."

"Oh shit," Hank said, his blue eyes going wide. "Sorry to hear that."

(Y/N) offered a smile, not wanting anyone to feel uncomfortable. That was always the worst part. "Don't worry about it. It was a long time ago."

Hank wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Were you two close?"

"About as close as your average siblings. We loved each other but did our fair share of arguing," (Y/N) said with a laugh. To her relief, Hank and Scott joined in laughing.

"Chloe and I used to torment each other all the time," Hank began before diving into a story of the best prank he ever pulled on his younger sister. (Y/N) let out a breath, grateful that they hadn't made a big deal of it. She was surprised, however, when she turned and found a certain dragon lover's gaze piercing right through her. Had Charlie been staring at her this whole time? Why was he looking at her like that?

(Y/N) kept her focus on Hank and Scott but could feel the redhead's eyes on her for the remainder of dinner. As Hank got to his feet, (Y/N) quickly followed, feeling oddly vulnerable. She desperately hoped her mentor wasn't about to start treating her differently- or worse, about to start asking questions.

"Anyone up for a game of Gobstones or Wizard Chess?" Scott asked, downing the last of his Pumpkin Juice. When his eyes flicked to (Y/N)'s, she shook her head.

"Sorry, but I'm actually going to fly for a bit before it gets too dark. I'll be up in the west wing if you guys need me."

Hank and Scott waved as (Y/N) went to retrieve one of the brooms from the storage shed by Aro. She made a point to not look at Charlie, not wanting to know if the confusing redhead was still staring at her like that.

As (Y/N) disappeared up the hill, Charlie reflexively glanced toward the west wing, the winding pathway and herds of workers just barely visible in the distance.

"Would you look at that," Hank said, stepping up beside him. "Yet another thing in common. You're running out of excuses, Weasley."

Charlie remained silent. He hated whenever Hank was right.

"That nagging voice in the back of your head asking if you should go talk to her?" Hank continued, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah, you should try listening to that for a change."

-

(Y/N) loved flying, but the real reason she was heading to the west wing was to see the Thestrals. The manufacturing team used them to pull carts and even flew on them occasionally since dragons couldn't see them.

As the creatures' resting spot came into view, (Y/N) lowered her broom handle, dismounting gracefully onto the secluded clearing. The area was easily one of the most beautiful and serene that (Y/N) had found at the Sanctuary so far. The sound of water from the creek greeted her ears, the steady stream leading into a dense forest ahead. Not many dragonologists seemed to approach the Thestrals when they were off duty. Whether it was because her coworkers couldn't see them or because of the bad omen myths about them, (Y/N) wasn't sure, but she was more than grateful for it.

Five Thestrals were there, two laying in the grass while the other three stood idly by, stomping their hooves and flapping their bat-like wings occasionally. (Y/N) didn't hesitate to approach the nearest one, watching closely for any sign of protest before stroking it's long, bony muzzle. The Thestral nuzzled his head against her hand, and that emptiness in (Y/N)'s chest vanished in an instant.

She stayed there for awhile, sitting in the grass and petting the creature, letting her mind wander to the Reserve for the first time since she'd been there.

"There you are."

(Y/N) whipped around, startled from her reverie and even more startled to see Charlie come into view, the matching Nimbus 2008 clutched in his right hand.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, assuming one of the dragons needed help for the redhead to come looking for her. "Norberta's wound didn't break open again, did it?"

"No, she's fine." He set the broom down beside hers and pushed his messy hair back away from his face. "Mind if I sit?"

(Y/N) blinked at him, wondering momentarily if she had fallen asleep and was dreaming- not that she had ever dreamed about dragon boy before. "Uh no, of course not."

He sat beside her, resting his forearms on his knees, and (Y/N) became far too aware of just how close he was. Sure, Charlie usually sat by her at the picnic table now ever since their trip to the pub, but it was a big table with plenty of room between the two. As (Y/N) stared down at the redhead's beat up jeans, she estimated less than seven inches between their legs.

"So why'd you come here?" Charlie asked, reaching forward and running a hand along the Thestral's back. "I could have sworn you'd be up on the landing. Took me awhile to spot you down here."

(Y/N) blinked again, her eyes following his hand before darting up to meet his curious gaze. He could see them. He could see the Thestrals. She bit the inside of her cheek hard, using all of her willpower to stay silent. She wanted to know more than anything, but how do you politely ask someone who they had seen die? You didn't.

"I like visiting the Thestrals," she admitted, glancing back to the creature resting on the ground. "Don't get me wrong, I love dragons, but it's an adjustment only seeing one type of creature everyday." (Y/N) frowned as the image of her Hippogriff returned to her mind. "I, uh, left a lot of creatures back in America."

"Oh. Do you miss home?"

A scoff fell from (Y/N)'s mouth before she could stop it. As far as she was concerned, home was wherever she was working, meaning the Sanctuary was her home now. She looked up at Charlie and wasn't sure why, but something in those big brown eyes made her confide in him. "This is my home now. Closest thing I've got to one anyway."

Unmistakable sadness flashed across Charlie's features. His eyes were fixed on the Thestral, but (Y/N) could tell his mind was elsewhere. "I lost one of my brothers too," he said quietly.

(Y/N)'s attention snapped back to Charlie and guilt swirled around in her stomach as she recalled her earlier assumption. A big, happy family. No wonder Charlie had been staring at her earlier. He may have had a bigger family, but it was broken just like hers.

"Oh." Her mind filled with questions, but (Y/N) knew the first one to ask. "What was his name?"

"Fred." He went quiet for a moment, and (Y/N) understood- she struggled saying her brother's name for an entire year after losing him. "Yours?"

"Jacob." She waited a minute before asking another question, not wanting to overwhelm him. "Was he older or younger?"

"Younger." The redhead rubbed his forehead with his palm before saying, "He and my brother George were twins. I can't even imagine what he's going through."

(Y/N)'s insides twisted, not only at the inconceivable thought of losing a twin, but also at Charlie's choice of words. I can't even imagine what he's going through. How recently had Fred died? "Can I ask what happened?"

Charlie looked down at her, and the sadness in those eyes made (Y/N)'s heart crumple. "Battle of Hogwarts."

(Y/N) sucked in a breath, her jaw dropping slightly. It had only been a little over a year since the battle. She had read about it of course. Even in America, Voldemort's defeat was all people talked about for months. After Grindelwald, Ilvermorny ensured students knew about Harry Potter and the history of one of the darkest wizards of all time for fear of him invading America. But she had never imagined coming so close to it all. Charlie's brother was amongst the fallen who had fought and died for the rest of the wizarding world. She suddenly felt stupid for not putting the pieces together sooner. Charlie had gone to Hogwarts after all. "Did you fight in the battle too?"

The redhead nodded. "My whole family did."

(Y/N)'s gaze flicked back and forth between the Thestral and Charlie. "That's why you can see them," she whispered, reaching a hand out to stroke the creature's muzzle again. "Did you see him- I mean did you see Fred-" (Y/N)'s voice cracked and she looked away, blinking away the tears gathering in her eyes. She hoped he knew what she meant because she didn't think she could get the words out.

"No," he said, and a wave of relief washed through her. "I saw a lot of people die that day, but not my brother. I came in halfway through. I didn't even know he had died until it was all over."

(Y/N) fell silent, unsure of what to say, before deciding to take a risk. She placed her hand on top of his forearm and squeezed, letting her thumb brush comfortingly across his smooth, freckled skin. "I'm really sorry. It's one of the worst feelings in the world and I know nothing I say will make it any better."

Charlie attempted a smile. "You sure? Because talking to you has made it a little better."

It was possibly the worst thing he could have said to her. Butterflies gathered in her stomach and she pulled her hand back, feeling stupider than ever as a smile tried to reach her lips. This conversation was definitely not helping her put an end to the idiotic crush she had begun developing for the redhead.

To make matters even worse, Charlie nudged the side of her knee with his own, causing a cluster of goosebumps to break out down her leg. "Your turn," he said, nodding towards the Thestral.

(Y/N) knew what he meant, but the answer approached dangerous territory. She didn't want to tell him anything, but how could she not after Charlie had finally opened up to her? She just wouldn't tell him the full story.

"My brother was a Curse-Breaker," (Y/N) started, continuing to pet the Thestral. "He went missing while he was at Ilvermorny, and I started looking for him once I got there. It took me awhile to find him, but I eventually did." (Y/N) let out a breath, trying her best to keep the flashbacks from her mind. "But he wasn't the same. He was obsessed with these Cursed Vaults around Ilvermorny and the last one killed him."

Charlie's forehead creased with worry. "You saw him die?"

(Y/N) nodded. "I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen. By the time I caught up with him-" (Y/N) broke off and cleared her throat. "Let's just say I wish I hadn't." The sound of thunder began pounding in her ears, and she shut her eyes, giving her head a slight shake as she forced the miserable memory away.

"Life really isn't fair sometimes," he muttered.

"No. But I still think everything happens for a reason."

"Yeah?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

Charlie let out a sigh, and he was quiet for another moment before whispering, "Does it ever get any easier?"

She looked up at him, wanting him to see the honesty in her eyes as she nodded. "Yeah, it does."

"Good. I'm sorry about your brother, and I'm sorry you had to leave all those creatures behind. I couldn't imagine leaving these dragons."

(Y/N) smiled. "You guys make it a little easier."

That brought a smile to the redhead's face, one of his genuine ones that lit up his eyes and tugged on (Y/N)'s heart. "What creature do you miss the most?"

(Y/N) frowned. "My Hippogriff Sirius. I'd never admit it to the other creatures, but Hippogriffs have always been one of my favorites."

"Sirius?"

She internally cursed herself for mentioning the Hippogriff's name. "Uh, after Sirius Black. I was a bit obsessed with him when his whole story came out. Couldn't imagine being in Azkaban for twelve years as an innocent wizard."

Charlie laughed. "I'm technically related to him."

(Y/N) blinked at him, completely astounded. "What?"

"My dad's mom was a Black."

"Oh," (Y/N) muttered, feeling suddenly embarrassed for some reason. "Small world."

"Yeah, I never got to meet him, but my siblings did because of the Order of the Phoenix and since he was Harry's godfather."

"You mean Harry Potter?" (Y/N) asked rhetorically. She knew that's who he meant because it had been all over the papers how tragic it was that Sirius never got a chance to be the father figure that Harry Potter deserved, but she couldn't resist a laugh. "You talk about him like you're friends."

Charlie seemed the least bit fazed by this. "Well, he is my brother Ron's best friend and has been dating my sister for over two years."

"What?" (Y/N) gaped at him, completely dumbfounded. "You mean the Harry Potter might be your brother-in-law one day and I'm just now hearing about it?"

Charlie laughed. "Sorry, I'm so used to him hanging around my family I forget how some wizards see him."

(Y/N) wanted to understand where he was coming from but just couldn't. It was Harry Freaking Potter they were talking about. That would be like saying meeting Newt Scamander was no big deal. She shook her head, still bewildered. "You're insane."

The pair sat there for a little longer as the sun began to set. When Charlie remained quiet, (Y/N) gave into the question that had been nagging at her since he had told her about Fred. "So does this mean we're friends now? Because to be honest, I feel like I've been getting mixed signals for the past two months."

"Sorry about that," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Hank's been telling me for weeks I need to get over it, but ever since Fred died it's been hard to let people in."

"A lot of people don't understand," (Y/N) said empathetically. "Nobody, not even my friends, knew how to act around me after my brother died."

"Yeah," Charlie agreed, a sad smile reaching his lips. "It's nice to finally have someone who gets it. And yeah, I'd say we're friends now."

(Y/N) smiled, feeling jitters dance around her stomach. She paused for a moment before peering up at him. "Well then as your friend, can I ask you a personal question?"

Charlie's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What?"

"So I know you love dragons and all, but you're not like into them, are you?" She bit back laughter at the look on the redhead's face.

He shook his head, laughing a bit too. "Funny. Real funny. Did Hank tell you to ask me that?"

"No…" She bit her lip, unsure how truthful she should be. "A certain blonde may have accused you of being more attracted to dragons than women."

The redhead rolled his eyes but didn't seem the least bit offended. "I swear my dating life- or lack thereof- has been of more interest to people around here than I would have ever imagined."

(Y/N) laughed, and luckily stopped herself from saying, "Can you blame them?" The last thing she was going to do was to admit to Charlie just how good looking and talented he was. "You don't have to talk about it. It's really nobody's business."

Charlie shrugged. "There's just not much to tell. I was pretty much consumed by dragons at Hogwarts. I didn't even have a crush on anyone until my last year."

That wasn't weird. People were allowed to be picky or have other priorities. "Did you two end up dating?"

"Yeah. But it was pretty stupid because I knew I was going to Romania and she was staying close to home."

"Ah."

"So then I came here and was primarily focused on work. And it's not like there was an abundance of options around."

(Y/N) nodded slowly, arguing internally on whether or not to ask the next thought that popped into her head. After a moment, she decided to go for it. "And what about Sydney?"

Charlie shrugged again. "She's nice, I just never felt comfortable around her. She didn't really understand the whole dragon obsession. This is just a job for her. Probably why she made that comment."

(Y/N) wanted to ask if he felt comfortable around her but realized how it would sound in that context. The last thing she wanted was for Charlie to think she was flirting with him. She was not about to ruin their new friendship. "Well, she doesn't know what she's missing. This has easily been the best job I've ever had."

"How many have you had?" Charlie said with a laugh, sounding surprised. "I thought you were a Magizoologist before this?"

(Y/N)'s smile faltered. "I was, but only for the last two years. I, uh, moved around a lot after my brother died. Had quite a few different jobs after graduation."

"Like what?"

"Healer, Potioneer, Wandmaker, and a couple others," (Y/N) muttered with a shrug.

"But you graduated the same year I did. Did you really have a new job every year?"

(Y/N) felt nervous being put on the spot. "No, I told you I spent two years at the Reserve." She elbowed him playfully in attempt to lighten the mood, but he frowned.

"So the longest you've ever stayed somewhere is two years? Does that mean…" Charlie didn't finish the sentence but he didn't have to.

Stomach acid churned in (Y/N)'s belly at the thought of leaving the Sanctuary. "I don't know to be honest. Like I said, this is the best job I've ever had, so you might have a harder time getting rid of me."

This seemed to reassure the redhead. He smiled at her, and (Y/N) knew she was doomed because all she could think about was that it seemed like Charlie didn't want her to leave, and that thought made her way happier than it should have.

Eyeing the darkening sky, Charlie said, "Race you back to the village?" Before she even responded, he was standing up and picking up his broom.

"Hey, you cheater!" (Y/N) called as the redhead kicked off the ground just as she reached her broom. She darted up after him, heading back home, and couldn't help but think that this was going to be the start of one of the best friendships she would ever have.

-

October and November came and went even faster than the previous months, and (Y/N) couldn't believe how much fun she was having with team. She felt entirely comfortable around all of them now and hung out with Charlie all the time. She was sure, however, to set specific boundaries for herself, not wanting her ridiculous crush to get out of hand. She was hoping it would disappear altogether soon enough and there would be nothing to worry about.

When the first snowfall of the season came one December morning, (Y/N) couldn't wait to visit the dragons and see just how glorious the Sanctuary's scenery looked.

"Hurry up," she groaned as Scott and Hank took longer than usual to get going. Charlie, on the other hand, didn’t disappoint and seemed as ready as he always was. He was definitely a morning person.

"I thought we agreed to start later in the winter," Scott grumbled mid yawn, pulling a hat onto his head and rubbing his hands over the sleeves of his coat. "It's bloody freezing out here."

"The sooner we start, the sooner we get hot cocoa," Hank pointed out even though he too looked less enthused about working.

They started with Gertie and Aro first, feeding them and making sure they had enough areas to stay warm. Most dragons could handle the severe weather due to their love of mountainous regions, but they weren't entirely immune to illness and overall irritation from the drastic change. Certain breeds in particular seemed to handle the frigid climate better than others, and that became clear as they approached Odie, the Antipodean Opaleye.

"Boy he's cranky," Hank said after dodging a second blast of fire from the agitated beast. Odie was refusing to let anyone feed him or even step within 50 feet of him.

Charlie laughed as he guided the raw sheep meat back onto the ground several yards away from Odie. "You probably would be too if you were from Australia."

"True." Hank stepped away from the rock he had hid behind, his eyes never leaving Odie in case another burst of flames came his way.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," (Y/N) began, eyeing the purple patch covering the dragon's right ear, "but I think it's more than him just not liking the weather. I think he's developed frostbite from it."

"Shit," Scott grunted as his gaze followed (Y/N)'s. "I told you guys we should have made them wait until Spring to ship him here."

Hank slid his wand back into his pocket and turned to Charlie. "Guess I should go nag the research team to help us stun him. Should I get Logan or Felix to heal it?"

Charlie looked from Odie's ear to (Y/N). "Can you do it?"

(Y/N) craned her neck to see the full span of the injury. "If I can somehow get within five or so feet of him then yeah."

"Five feet?" Hank pointed out, quirking an eyebrow.

(Y/N) groaned in exasperation. They loved mocking her American ways. "One and a half meters, whatever. I think you should use the freezing charm instead though."

"Are you mad?" Scott spat.

"If we stun him we risk him not eating for another hour. Dehydration and starvation will only make the frostbite and his attitude worse."

"Can't we use the body-bind curse instead?" Scott asked. "I'd feel far better about you getting so close if he was more restrained."

"And traumatize him while he's hurting?" (Y/N) asked, flinching at the idea.

Scott turned to Hank, clearly looking for backup, but the forty-three year old shrugged and started toward the pathway. "It's your funeral, darlin'."

Five minutes later, Hank came back with Logan and Dave to help with the charm. "Six of us should do it, don'tcha think?"

The rest of them nodded. Half a dozen were usually plenty to subdue a more timid breed like Odie.

"You sure you want to do this?" Charlie asked, handing (Y/N) his gloves. "It's not exactly the safest task in the world."

She smiled at him, sliding the brown material over her hands. "If I wanted safe, I hardly would have picked this career."

He chuckled, seemingly satisfied with her answer. "I've got your back."

(Y/N) hated when Charlie made comments like that. They were crossing far too many of her boundaries and made her insides tingle in a way she wished it wouldn't. Still, she put on another smile and withdrew her wand. "You better."

The six of them lined up and waited for Odie to lay down. As soon as he was comfortably resting on the snow-covered ground ahead, they all shouted, "Immobulus!"

(Y/N) darted forward, unsure of exactly how much time she had, and moved to the dragon's right side, staying as far away from his mouth as possible. With a complicated wave of her wand, she used the hot-air charm first, letting a gentle mist of steam warm the affliction. As soon as the proper pearl color returned to Odie's ear, she performed two healing charms on the injured ear and one charm on the opposing ear to prevent it from facing the same fate later.

"Hurry up," Scott warned. "Or we'll have to do it again."

"No, I'm good," (Y/N) said, catching sight of the slightest movement of the dragon's arms. Just as she stepped back, Odie unfroze completely, standing up and flapping his wings. (Y/N) was almost out of the danger zone until his giant white tail flicked once behind him, hitting her thighs and sending her falling backwards. She winced as her back hit the ground, knocking the wind out of her momentarily and shooting her wand into the air. Luckily, the snow helped ease her fall and she recovered quickly, automatically reaching her hand out and saying, "Accio wand."

Big mistake. Odie's gaze hungrily followed the wand as it flew through the air, clearly mistaking it for potential food. As the wand landed in its owner's hand, Odie's eyes darkened, just now spotting (Y/N) and how close she was.

Knowing no one would be able to subdue or distract him in time, (Y/N) moved faster than she had ever moved before, scrambling behind the only boulder in sight as the Antipodean Opaleye sent a rush of flames her way. She overheard the men in the background attempting to extinguish the blast, but they could only manage to lessen the blow. She ducked as close to the snow as humanly possible, but she was so worried about her head, she forgot to move the hand resting against the rock. Pain seared the back of her left hand as the flames reached the glove, and she jerked it away, tucking her whole body behind the boulder. When she heard Scott and Hank taming Odie, she relaxed, sitting up and yanking off the glove to examine the reddened, already blistering skin. Their gloves protected them as much as possible but could only do so much against such direct contact with fire.

A familiar head of red hair came into view as Charlie crouched down beside her. "You okay?"

"Almost," she said before letting out a sigh of relief as she rested the back of her hand into the snow. She couldn't help but laugh a little, still feeling jolts of adrenaline course through her body. "Would you think I'm utterly insane if I said I'm even a little excited about my first potential scar here?"

A grin spread across Charlie's freckled face. "Not one bit." He stood back up and extended a hand to her. "Come on, let's get that cleaned up."

(Y/N)'s hand started feeling better after burn-healing paste was applied. She continued working for the rest of the day while Hank and Scott profusely commended her readiness and ability to stay calm.

"I could have sworn you were gonna lose your eyebrows like Scott did his first year," Hank had said, ruffling Scott's hair while Scott jerked away.

"It was only one eyebrow and that only happened one time."

The team retired early and (Y/N) was in her kitchen, enjoying a cup of tea and trying to ignore the occasional twinge in her hand, when there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," she called, and she was instantly annoyed by the flip in her stomach as Charlie's silhouette came into view. He was wearing a knitted crimson sweater she had never seen before with a dragon embroidered in the middle. None of them wore nice clothes much since they were usually out on the field, and she tried to avert her eyes, not wanting to admit to herself how well it suited him.

"Figured you could probably use some more of this," he said, closing the door behind him and setting a fresh bottle of the burn-healing paste onto the table.

"Thanks," she said, smiling up at him. "Want a cup of tea?" His eyes glanced uncertainly to the auburn liquid steaming in her teacup and she laughed. "Relax, I have milk and sugar if you want it."

He smiled. "Sure then."

"You Brits are weird," she muttered, moving toward the kettle as Charlie took a seat on the wooden loveseat off to the left and let his eyes wander around her place. The pair had hung out a lot, but not so much in each others' houses, and (Y/N) suddenly felt nervous.

She poured a second cup of tea and grabbed the burn-healing paste from the table before joining Charlie in the section of the room that would be considered the living room. She did, however, decide to sit in the chair adjacent to the loveseat. Boundaries.

"Thanks," he said, accepting the mug from her and leaning back into the cushioned seat. "You did really great today."

"All in a day's work," she said casually, feigning boastfulness with a shrug of her shoulders.

He laughed and set the teacup down on the coffee table in front of them. "You gonna put more of that on or am I going to have to do it for you?" he asked, indicating the bottle next to his mug.

Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries, (Y/N) repeated over and over in her head. As much as she hated to admit it, the tiniest part of her understood what Sydney had meant. Charlie was a little clueless when it came to how words and actions could be interpreted. "Okay, mom."

"I just know how much it hurts going on at first."

He wasn't wrong. It stung like a bitch the first time she applied it after the incident, but she wasn't about to admit that. She had a relatively high pain tolerance and was a little too prideful when it came to her resilience. "It's not that bad."

"Oh really?" He picked up the bottle and offered it to her. "Go ahead then."

She stared at it, trying to convince herself that it was like ripping off a bandage, but in the end she didn't want to do it.

Charlie grinned. "That's what I thought." He opened the bottle and poured some of the potion onto his palm.

"What are you doing?"

The redhead moved in front of her, sitting on the edge of the coffee table before reaching for her hand. "Doing it for you. We need your hand better before Monday."

The word BOUNDARIES blared in (Y/N)'s head like a siren, complete with flashing red lights, bells and whistles. She pulled her arm away, attempting a laugh. "I can do it myself," she insisted, trying to snatch the bottle away from him.

This didn't seem to deter him in the slightest. He just stared at her, a half smile on his lips. "And people say I'm stubborn."

She kept her eyes locked on his, refusing to be the first to break eye contact.

"Technically it's only fair,” he added, “considering I let you help me.”

Shit. That son of a bitch cornered her. She glowered at Charlie, feeling defeated as she pulled her sleeve up and extended her left arm.

"Was that so hard?" he asked right as he brushed the potion across the back of her hand, making (Y/N) wince as the orange paste fought to heal her burned flesh. The pain lasted no longer than a minute though and was soon replaced by jolts of electricity at Charlie's touch.

It was less than five minutes before Charlie screwed the cap on the potion and set it back onto the table, but (Y/N) was more concerned with the fact that he didn't return to the couch. Instead, he pointed to the scar along her forearm. "I've wondered how you got that for awhile now."

"Oh, I had to fight off a Chimera once. He got a good slash in but don't worry, I won." Her gaze instinctively flicked to his eyebrow. Her rules were screaming at her to resist the urge, but he had touched her hand first. It was only fair. She reached up, briefly brushing the pad of her thumb across the small scar that separated his left brow. "Your turn."

The redhead cracked a smile, raising his own hand up to touch the scar. "Why does everyone have to ask about this one? It's actually the least exciting of them all."

"Try me."

"Okay… my brother Bill and I wanted to try and play Quidditch once when we were little. He started teasing me, saying there was no way I could ride an adult broom, so I took it from him. Needless to say I fell, but I actually would say I did fairly well considering I was only five."

(Y/N) laughed, unable to ignore how cute a stubborn five year old Charlie had to have been. "No fair. I can't believe you got to ride on a broom that young. My mom would have had my head."

Charlie laughed. "I never said I didn't get in trouble for it."

The pair talked for a little while longer before (Y/N) said, "I like your sweater by the way."

Charlie arched a brow, following her gaze and pinching the knitted material between his fingertips. "You mean jumper?"

"Ugh, whatever." (Y/N) let her head fall back against the chair and Charlie chuckled. At least it wasn't as bad as finding out Brits thought you were talking about underwear when you said pants. (Y/N) had reiterated the word trousers until it stuck in her mind for good. “Where’d you get it?”

The redhead looked a little embarrassed. "Uh, my mum made it."

That was probably the cutest thing (Y/N) had ever heard in her life and she didn’t know which was worse- the fact that Mrs. Weasley was perfect enough to knit her children sweaters or the fact that Charlie was the type of son who actually wore them. "When are you leaving to go see them?"

"Probably a few days before Christmas. I usually stay for about a week."

(Y/N) hoped her disappointment didn't show on her face. She knew Hank and Scott were going to be there, but she was going to miss Charlie.

"Are any of your friends coming to visit you?"

(Y/N) frowned. "Not until early next year. A lot of them are stuck at work or visiting their own families."

Charlie nodded and looked like he had something else he wanted to say.

"What?"

He peered up at her, and if (Y/N) wasn't mistaken, a subtle tinge of pink highlighted his freckled face. "You could come to the Burrow with me if you want."

(Y/N)'s heart stopped. As her mind caught up with his offer, she waved a hand at him. "Oh no, that's okay. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine here."

Much to her dismay, however, Charlie didn't let it go like she thought he would. "It really wouldn't be a big deal. There's already nearly a dozen of us so there's always plenty of food. And to be honest, Christmas is a bit dismal here at the Sanctuary."

(Y/N) had no doubt that Christmas would be disappointing here, but this was exactly the sort of cluelessness she had been referring to. Charlie was just being a nice friend, she told herself, refusing to let the offer go to her head. But why was he asking her and not Hank or Scott?

No. She was overthinking it. Maybe he had asked Hank and he had said no because Chloe was visiting. And she already knew Scott said he would hang back to help Hank with the dragons. Maybe he asked the team every year and it was no big deal.

"Uh, I don't know… I'm not sure I could handle meeting Harry Potter. I'd probably embarrass the hell out of myself."

Charlie laughed. "If either of us stands to be embarrassed it would be me. My siblings live to humiliate one another."

(Y/N) fell silent, trying to ignore just how much she would love a chance to meet his family.

"Are you really going to say no to me two days before my birthday?"

"Hey, that's not fair," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I think it is. Think of it as a birthday present."

Why was he being so persistent? This was crossing dozens of boundaries. The last thing she needed to do was fall in love with his family. "What if I already got you a present?"

Charlie's eyes narrowed. "I told you guys not to."

"No, you told us not to buy anything," she corrected before standing up and walking over to her dresser. She opened the bottom drawer, withdrawing a neatly folded sweater before returning to Charlie. "My team gave me this after the Bludger I hit stopped the other team's Seeker and won us the House Cup." She held up the striped blue sweater, showing off the Snitch darting around the center of it. "I never wore it much because let's face it, two Bludgers moving around on it would have been much cooler, but I thought you might like it. I was going to turn it red for Gryffindor and use the enlargement charm on it."

Charlie stared at her, smiling one of those damn smiles- the ones she had become strongly opposed to because of the way they made her feel. "Can I see it on?"

(Y/N)'s eyebrows narrowed inquisitively, but for some reason she obliged, tugging the sweater on over her long sleeve shirt. "Well?"

"I have one word for you," Charlie said, his appreciative smile replaced by an alarmingly playful expression. "Run."

(Y/N)'s eyes grew wide and she darted toward the front door, swinging it open just as the redhead started after her.

After managing to somehow not kill herself on the slushy porch steps, (Y/N) ran toward the west wing, knowing the exact path to take to avoid any dragons. "You're insane," she called as she heard the redhead’s footsteps behind her, but she couldn't restrain a giggle. Pushing past a tall patch of brush, (Y/N) made her way toward the manufacturing team, passing by crates full of dragon-hide gloves and boxes of dragon heartstrings. She tried to slow him down by knocking a couple empty boxes back toward him, but Charlie easily sidestepped them.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that," he said, laughing as he gained in on her.

(Y/N) was panting hard by now, not used to breathing the cold air into her lungs. She kept running though, set on where she was headed, but her plan came to a screeching halt as the path she was intending to follow was covered with a pile of shoveled snow.

Before she could start running again, Charlie caught up with her, and just as she had anticipated, he tackled her onto the powdery mound of snow.

Neither could stop laughing as they landed in the pile, which was nearly deep enough to consume them both. It wasn't until (Y/N) had wiped the snow from her face and opened her eyes that her laughter died out.

"Gotcha," Charlie said, grinning down at her. He was bracing himself on his forearms to prevent from crushing her, and his face was so close- less than five inches from her own, making her go slightly dizzy. She dropped her head back into the snow, letting her eyelids flutter shut as she tried to steady her racing heartbeat- which was only racing because of all the running.

"Fine, you win," she said, and (Y/N) was more than relieved to feel the twenty-six year old collapse onto the ground next to her. She chanced a glance at him, but it wasn't much better. She still felt every urge to kiss him. "I'll go with you."

The redhead grinned at her, still panting slightly from the running. "Good. I prefer the jumper on you anyways."

(Y/N) knew Charlie just enjoyed messing with her and showing off his Seeker abilities, but that didn't stop her from wishing he meant something else by that.

Yep. She was completely and utterly doomed.

[aidanchaser]

Harry Potter and the  Half-Blood Prince: Everyone Lives AU

Table of Contents beta’d by @ageofzero, @magic713m, @ccboomer, @somebodyswatson, and Aubs

Chapter Eleven Hermione’s Helping Hand

Hermione Granger was easily stressed, and this year’s lessons were exacerbating that particular flaw of hers. Each day felt as if she was cramming weeks of content into her head, and the subject matter itself was more complex than she was used to. Transfiguration theory was growing far more challenging than her Arithmancy classes, which were already complex enough. Nonverbal spells were expected in all lessons, which while challenging, was not as frustrating as Harry’s new-found success in Potions.

Hermione believed in concrete, factual, evidence-based research. It was why Divination had been such a struggle for her. Divination created patterns where there were none and broke rules it created itself. It was why Hermione loved Arithmancy, because all theories were observable and provable. Potions was supposed to be more like Arithmancy. She followed the instructions, she learned about ingredients, their properties, and how those properties interacted with each other. To find that this Half-Blood Prince, and by extension Harry, suddenly knew more than she could learn from her textbook did not make sense to her. This was why Harry’s success bothered her. It had nothing to do with jealousy nor frustration that her usual position as top of the class was crumbling beneath her.

At least, despite her struggles to keep up with Harry in Potions, Slughorn had easily picked her out as one of his best students. It felt nice to be recognized for her hard work in Potions, for a change. The tradeoff was that Defense Against the Dark Arts was more challenging than ever, but Hermione was slowly getting a grasp of nonverbal spells, and a lot of her success was a result of Harry’s teaching. It was surprising to see Harry struggle in Defense, a subject he was usually at the top of. Hermione was certain that it had less to do with a nonverbal spell-block and more to do with a Snape-block.

Snape wasn’t the only professor they were having issues with. Hagrid was no longer speaking with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. At least, he pretended not to hear their greetings at mealtimes. None of them had yet gathered up the courage to tell Hagrid they hadn’t had an interest in taking Care of Magical Creatures at the N.E.W.T. level, and it had clearly upset Hagrid.

“We’ve got to go and explain,” she said at breakfast that Saturday morning.

Ron made a noise of protest around his orange juice. He swallowed and said, “We’ve got Quidditch tryouts this morning. And we’re supposed to be practicing that Aguamenti Charm from Flitwick! Anyway, explain what? How are we going to tell him we hated his stupid subject?”

It was Hermione’s turn to whine in protest. “We didn’t hate it!”

“Speak for yourself, I haven’t forgotten the skrewts. And I’m telling you now, we’ve had a narrow escape. You didn’t hear him going on about his gormless brother at the Welcome Feast — we’d have been teaching Grawp how to tie his shoelaces if we’d stayed.”

“I hate not talking to Hagrid,” said Hermione, looking upset.

Harry, eyes focused on his plate and studiously ignoring Ron and Hermione, managed to interject with, “We’ll go down after Quidditch.” He put his fork down and ran his hands through his hair suddenly. “But trials might take all morning, the number of people who have applied. I dunno why the team’s this popular all of a sudden.”

Hermione, though she could tell how nervous he was, rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, Harry. It’s not Quidditch that’s popular — it’s you! You’ve never been more interesting, and frankly, you’ve never been more fanciable.” She glared briefly at Ron as he choked on a foolishly large bite of his kipper. “Everyone knows you’ve been telling the truth now, don’t they? The whole Wizarding World has had to admit you were right about Voldemort being back and now that they’re calling you ‘The Chosen One’ — well, come on, can’t you see why people are fascinated by you? And you’ve been through all that persecution from the Ministry when they were trying to make out you were unstable and a liar. You can still see the marks on the back of your hand where that evil woman made you write with your own blood, but you stuck to your story anyway —”

“You can still see where those brains got a hold of me in the Ministry, look,” Ron interrupted.

“And it doesn’t hurt,” Hermione pressed on, “that you’ve grown about a foot over the summer either.”

“I’m tall,” Ron said.

Before Hermione could remind Ron that it was Harry who needed cheering just now, the post arrived. Two square brown packages thudded to the table in front of Ron and Harry while a rolled up copy of the Daily Prophet arrived for Hermione.

As she unrolled her paper, she saw Ron peel back the brown paper to reveal, Advanced Potion-Making.

“Oh good!” said Hermione. “Now you can give that graffitied copy back.”

Harry laughed. “Are you mad? I’m keeping it! Look, I’ve thought it out.” He pulled the wretched and abused cheater’s guide to Potions out of his bag and tapped the cover of his book with a muttered spell. The cover fell off neatly, and Hermione strangled a gasp. Then he did the exact same thing to his new book. He swapped the covers, said a quick, “Reparo!” and had two books sitting neatly in front of them, undamaged. One with a pristine cover, straight from Flourish and Blotts, but with insides scribbled on and marred with ink, and the other looking worn and battered, but with freshly printed insides.

“I’ll give Slughorn back the new one,” Harry said, tossing both books into his bag. “Now he’s got a brand new copy to lend to students, and I can keep this old thing.”

Hermione wished that she had power as a prefect to take the book away, but short of telling Slughorn — which she would never do — she could not stop Harry. With as much distaste on her face as she could muster, she disappeared behind the Daily Prophet.

“Anyone we know dead?” Ron asked, as if he were asking her to pass the pitcher.

Hermione hastily scanned the front page. Only one name jumped out at her. “No — but there have been more dementor attacks. And an arrest.”

“Excellent,” said Harry. “Who?”

“Stan Shunpike.”

“What?”

Hermione read the article to them. “‘Stanley Shunpike, conductor on the popular Wizarding conveyance the Knight Bus, has been arrested on suspicion of Death Eater activity. Mr Shunpike, 21, was taken into custody late last night after a raid on his Clapham home.”

“Stan Shunpike, a Death Eater?” Harry’s voice was still full of disbelief. “No way!”

“He might have been put under the Imperius Curse,” Ron suggested. “You can never tell.”

“It doesn’t look like it,” Hermione said, though she wished she could deliver Harry better news. “It says here he was arrested after he was overheard talking about the Death Eaters’ secret plans in a pub. If he was under the Imperius Curse, he’d hardly stand around gossiping about their plans, would he?”

“It sounds like he was trying to make out he knew more than he did,” said Ron.

“I dunno what they’re playing at,” Harry said, his disbelief taking on a darker tone, “taking Stan seriously.”

Hermione chewed on her lower lip. “They probably want to look as though they’re doing something. People are terrified. You know the Patils’ parents want them to go home? And Eloise Midgen has already been withdrawn. Her father picked her up last night.”

“What!” Ron gaped at her. “But Hogwarts is safer than their homes, bound to be! We’ve got Aurors, and all those extra protective spells — and we’ve got Dumbledore.”

Hermione, though she largely agreed with Ron, glanced at the staff table and Dumbledore’s empty chair. “I don’t think we’ve got him all the time. Haven’t you noticed? His seat’s been empty as often as Hagrid’s this past week. I think he’s left the school to do something with the Order. I mean… it’s all looking serious, isn’t it?”

Harry and Ron looked down at their plates, and Hermione wished she’d chosen different words. Of course to them it had been serious for much longer, hadn’t it? Their parents were in the Order. She may have spent a summer at Grimmauld Place and a summer with Ron, but she didn’t spend her year worrying that Death Eaters would attack her parents in the middle of the night or while they were out shopping. Caught in a Muggle attack, perhaps, but not targeted. It would be nothing like what happened to Mr Weasley last Christmas or to Mr and Mrs Potter last summer. Or to Hannah Abbot, who had just been pulled out of Herbology because her mother had been found dead.

Their meal was quiet after that. Hermione decided to abandon her homework and support Ron and Harry at Quidditch tryouts that morning. She felt it was important to stay with them, even if she would end up sitting in the stands alone.

On their walk through the light rain, they passed Lavender Brown, who paused her conversation with Parvati to give Ron a wide smile and a wave. The dour mood of breakfast hardened into sharp relief and Hermione glared at the stadium ahead of them in lieu of glaring at Ron’s foolhardy strut or Lavender’s overly giddy smile. When they reached the Quidditch Pitch, she left the boys for the stands without comment.

Hermione did not count the number of applicants on the pitch, but it seemed to her that at least half of Gryffindor had turned up, and even a handful of non-Gryffindors. At least this year the Slytherins hadn’t turned up to heckle the players.

Harry quickly whittled through the hopefuls by giving them a basic flying test. First years, a few Hufflepuffs, a pair of Ravenclaws, a group of giggling girls comprised of all three houses, and a handful of incompetent fliers were sent from the pitch without getting their feet up off the ground.

The stands, which had been occupied by just Hermione, the Patil twins, Lavender, Sophie and Sally, and a few seventh years who might have been friends with Katie Bell, quickly filled with the removed competition. The giggling of girls each time Harry blew his whistle never ceased.

Those who had been deemed flight-capable stood on the edge of the pitch, just below Hermione’s bench. She could hear each of their hopeful comments and a few gushing comments about Harry’s brilliantly green eyes. She had her own opinions about who was right for Harry, but she at least trusted that Harry had the sense to know who was wrong for him.

She also overheard Cormac McLaggan make several comments about Ginny as she flew in the first group of Chasers that made Hermione’s ears red. They were mostly connected to how she rode her broom, and other things she might ride. He wasn’t terribly kind about Ron, either, nor the Weasley’s reputation for sympathizing with Muggles and struggling with money. Hermione thought that if Harry was sitting beside her, he would have hexed the mouth off of McLaggan.

It took Harry nearly two hours, but he managed to work his way through the group of players with relative efficiency. He took them in groups: first the Chasers, from which he selected Katie Bell, Demelza Robins, and Ginny Weasley; next the Beaters, which he narrowed down to Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote; and finally, the Keepers.

Hermione wished Harry had done the Keepers first, but instead the stands had filled with not only the dismissed applicants but also plenty of other students who had found that they had nothing better to do after a late Saturday breakfast than heckle the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

To make matters worse, while each of the other applicants saved perhaps two goals out of the five chances they were given, Cormac McLaggen was on track for a perfect record. Ginny, Demelza, and Katie lobbed Quaffles at the hoops and McLaggen blocked the first, the second, the third —

When he saved the fourth, Hermione decided to lend Ron and Harry a hand. For the sake of her friends and for the sake of the Gryffindor Quidditch team she was not about to let someone like McLaggen through the tryouts. The trouble was that she wasn’t great at silent spellcasting, not yet. Perhaps it wouldn’t even work. But she was at least going to try. She put her hand on her wand, aimed as subtly as possible, and concentrated.

McLaggen shot off in the opposite direction of the Quaffle.

Hermione let out a sigh of relief and tried not to look like she was cheering too hard as she clapped along with the crowd who laughed and booed in equal measure. She leaned forward as Ron took his turn. He looked so pale and unsteady on his feet, she was about to call out some encouragement to him, all coldness forgiven, when Lavender Brown, in an overly-cheerful voice and a dramatic wave shouted, “Good luck!”

Hermione buried her face in her hands.

She lifted her head just in time to catch Ron saving the first goal. She was on the edge of her seat for each one, praying, hoping, desperately for Ron to save all five. She knew Ron would be utterly miserable all year if he did not make Keeper, but more than that she wanted Ron to succeed. She may not have understood Quidditch or appreciated it the way Harry and Ron did, but she knew it was important to them, and she wanted them to be able to enjoy it, especially since last year had gone so dismally.

When Ron saved the fifth goal, Hermione was so relieved she rushed onto the Quidditch pitch.

“You did brilliantly, Ron!” she shouted.

She reached a very proud Ron, just as Harry, after a brief confrontation with McLaggen, was confirming with all of the team that their first practice would be the following Thursday. Then, as Harry had promised, the three of them headed down to Hagrid’s.

While they walked, Ron had a bounce in his step, and seemed, somehow, taller than usual.

“I thought I was going to miss that fourth penalty,” Ron said. “Tricky shot from Demelza, did you see, had a bit of a spin on it.”

Hermione could not help but grin with him. “Yes, yes, you were magnificent.”

“I was better than that McLaggen anyway. Did you see him lumbering off in the wrong direction on his fifth? Looked like he’d been Confunded.”

Hermione tried to maintain her smile, but her cheeks grew very warm. She let Ron carry on about each of his saves, just as he had after his successful Quidditch match at the end of last year. She’d known what she was getting into when she’d helped him get on the team.

Ron was still describing his fifth save when Hagrid’s boarhound, Fang, let out a loud bark that carried across the grounds and bounded over to them. His enormous paws nearly knocked Ron to the ground, and Hermione had to use her scarf to wipe his slobber from her cheeks.

“Oi!” shouted Hagrid, coming around from the back of the hut. He wore a flower-print apron over his rugged groundskeeper robes and his thick, dark beard was full of stray leaves. “Yeh mangy mutt — oh. It’s you lot.”

Hagrid took in the sight of the three students approaching his garden, then strode into his cottage without a word. He let the echo of his door slamming shut speak for him.

“Oh dear,” Hermione said. She knew Hagrid was upset with them, but she had hoped he’d at least hear them out.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Harry. “If I can talk Sirius round from one of his tantrums, I’m sure I can manage Hagrid.”

He strode up to the door and knocked as hard as he could. “Hagrid! Open up. We want to talk to you!”

Hagrid did not answer, not even as Fang barked.

“If you don’t open the door, we’ll blast it open!”

“Harry!” Hermione said, shocked to see him actually pull out his wand. “You can’t possibly —”

“Yeah, I can! Stand back!”

But before Harry could throw a spell of any kind at Hagrid’s door, Hagrid yanked the thick wooden door open. He towered at least five feet over them and glared down at them from beneath thick, bushy eyebrows

“I’m a teacher!” he shouted, though they were right in front of me. “A teacher, Potter! How dare yeh threaten ter break down my door!”

“I’m sorry, sir,” said Harry, throwing an unusual emphasis into the “sir.” Despite his cheek, he did put his wand away, to Hermione’s relief.

Hagrid was as still as if Harry had cast a Stunning Spell. “Since when have yeh called me ‘sir’?”

“Since when have you called me ‘Potter’?”

The growl in Hagrid’s chest was deep, low rumble, like distant thunder. “Very clever. Very amusin’. That’s me outsmarted, innit? Alrigh’ come in then, yeh ungrateful little…”

Whatever he was going to call them was lost as he turned away from the door to give them space to enter. Hermione’s lip trembled as she hurried in after Harry. She’d known Hagrid would be upset with them for not taking Care of Magical Creatures, but she had not expected this kind of cold treatment.

“Well?” Hagrid said as they sat down in the oversized chairs that had been squeezed into the one-room cottage. “What’s this? Feelin’ sorry for me? Reckon I’m lonely or summat?”

“No,” Harry said. “We wanted to see you.”

“We’ve missed you!” said Hermione, and she could hear her voice crack as she did.

“Missed me, have yeh? Yeah. Righ’.” Hagrid continued muttering to himself, but despite his irritation with them, he was the same host he always was. He grumbled as he took the kettle off of the fireplace and poured dark, bucketfuls of tea into enormous mugs. Hermione knew from experience that it was exceptionally bitter, but she sipped it to be polite, especially because she knew she would risk breaking a tooth if she tried one of his cakes.

“Hagrid,” she said, “we really wanted to carry on with Care of Magical Creatures, you know.”

He snorted, loud enough that Fang lifted his head from Harry’s lap to see what was the matter.

“None of us could fit it into our schedules!” she insisted. Which was, at least for her, very true. And Harry and Ron were terrible enough with time management, especially with Quidditch in their schedule.

“Yeah. Righ’,” Hagrid grunted

Hermione wanted to protest again, but a strange squishing sound in the corner distracted her. When she saw the giant barrel of slimy, wriggling, enormous pale maggots she could not help but scream. Even Ron jumped from his chair and moved to the other side of the table.

Harry was the only one who did not seem bothered. “What are they, Hagrid?”

“Jus’ giant grubs.”

Ron raised an eyebrow. “And they grow into…?”

“They won’ grow inter nuthin’,” Hagrid grunted. “I got ‘em ter feed ter Aragog.” And then he burst into tears.

“Oh! Hagrid!” Hermione hurried to his side and put an arm around him. She hardly could reach around his shoulders, but she patted his back. “What is it?”

“It’s… him…” Hagrid said between large, gulping sobs. “It’s Aragog…. I think he’s dyin’. He got ill over the summer an’ he’s not gettin’ better…. I don’ know what I’ll do if he… if he…. We’ve bin tergether so long….”

Hermione had never met Aragog, but she’d heard about him and his children from Ron and Harry, who had braved the Forbidden Forest while she was Petrified in the hospital wing. Aragog may not have tried to kill Ron and Harry, but he hadn’t done anything to stop his vast numbers of enormous spider children from trying to kill them.

“Is there — is there anything we can do?”

Ron, terribly pale, shook his head, desperately trying to avoid a commitment to helping Hagrid. They’d smuggled a baby dragon for him, raised Blast-Ended Skrewts, and tried to reason with his giant brother — not just giant in size, but a literal giant. Hermione did not blame Ron for not wanting to help with this, but Hagrid was their friend, and it seemed the polite thing to say.

Thankfully, Hagrid did not ask for their help.

“I don’ think there is, Hermione.” He wiped his cheeks with his floral print apron and blew his nose into it. “See, the rest o’ the tribe… Aragog’s family… they’re gettin’ a bit funny now he’s ill… bit restive…”

“Yeah, I think we saw a bit of that side of them,” Ron grumbled.

“... I don’ reckon it’d be safe fer anyone but me ter go near the colony at the mo’. But thanks fer offerin’ Hermione…. It means a lot….”

Hagrid blew his nose again, and they chatted about their lessons. Hermione was glad to know that there were some students at N.E.W.T. level, and Ron was eager to recount his success at Quidditch tryouts. Harry was quieter than usual, even when Defense with Snape came up. He did not mention to Hagrid that he’d earned himself a detention on his first day of lessons.

When they left Hagrid’s that evening, Harry moaned that he was starving. “And I haven’t got much time for dinner, before detention with Snape tonight….”

They walked as quickly as they could, hoping Harry could stuff something into his face before heading down to the dungeons. As they walked through the enormous castle doors, Hermione caught sight of Cormac McLaggen attempting to walk into the Great Hall. He ran into the wall on his first attempt, stepped away, puzzled, and reoriented himself to walk in. Hermione’s face grew warm and she looked at Ron, but Ron only laughed and headed into the hall himself.

Hermione, relieved, went to follow, but Harry caught her arm.

“What?” she snapped, perhaps more sharply than she’d meant to.

“If you ask me, McLaggen looks like he was Confunded this morning. And he was standing right in front of where you were sitting.”

Hermione considered lying to Harry, but though Harry was a terrible liar, he was rather gifted at knowing when he was being lied to.

“Oh, alright then, I did it,” she hissed. “But you should have heard the way he was talking about Ron and Ginny! Anyway, he’s got a nasty temper — you wouldn’t have wanted someone like that on the team.”

“No, no I suppose that’s true. But wasn’t that dishonest, Hermione? I mean, you’re a prefect, aren’t you?” But his tone wasn’t accusing. His grin said he was teasing.

“Oh, be quiet,” she snapped.

Ron reappeared in the doorway, none too happy with being ditched. “What are you two doing?”

“Nothing,” they said at once, and hurried after him.

They were nearly at the Gryffindor table when Professor Slughorn appeared so suddenly that it was as if he had Apparated, though Hermione knew he couldn’t have done.

“Harry, Harry, just the man I was hoping to see!” he said. “I was hoping to catch you before dinner! What do you say to a spot of supper tonight in my rooms instead? We’re having a little party, just a few rising stars. I’ve got McLaggen coming and Zabini, the charming Melinda Bobbin — I don’t know whether you know her? Her family owns a large chain of apothecaries — and of course, I hope very much that Miss Granger will favour me by coming too.” Slughorn even gave her a polite little bow, though he ignored Ron entirely.

“I can’t come, Professor,” said Harry. If he had meant to sound regretful, he had failed spectacularly. “I’ve got a detention with Professor Snape.”

Slughorn’s pleasant smile turned crestfallen. “Oh dear! Dear, dear, I was counting on you, Harry! Well, now, I’ll just have to have a word with Severus and explain the situation. I’m sure I’ll be able to persuade him to postpone your detention. Yes, I’ll see you both later!”

Harry shook his head as he, Ron, and Hermione finally took their seats in the hall. “He’s got no chance of persuading Snape. This detention’s already been postponed once. Snape did it for Dumbledore, but he won’t do it for anyone else.”

Hermione could not help but whine. “Oh, I wish you could come. I don’t want to go on my own!” She did not know Melinda, but she knew McLaggen, and she was not interested in spending an entire supper with him.

“I doubt you’ll be alone,” Ron grumbled. “Ginny will probably be invited.”

Hermione thought about saying something comforting, but the Evening Prophet arrived. She quickly buried herself in its contents while she ate.

“Anything new?” asked Harry.

“Not really…. Oh!” she flattened the paper out on the table. “You’re dad’s in here, Ron — he’s alright — It just says he’s been to visit the Malfoys’ house. ‘This second search of the Death Eater’s residence does not seem to have yielded any results. Arthur Weasley of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects said that his team had been acting upon a tip-off from the Auror Department.’”

“So she did say something!” said Harry. “I told Tonks about Malfoy and that thing he was trying to get Borgin to fix. Well, if it’s not at their house, he must have brought whatever it is to Hogwarts with him.”

“But how could he have done, Harry?” Hermione folded up the newspaper. “We were all searched when we arrived, weren’t we?”

Harry raised his eyebrows. “Were you? I wasn’t.”

“Oh — of course you weren’t — I forgot you were late. Well, Flich ran over all of us with Secrecy Sensors when we got into the entrance hall. Any Dark object would have been found. So you see, Malfoy can’t have brought in anything dangerous.”

“Someone’s sent it to him by owl, then” Harry suggested. “His mother or someone.”

Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Harry’s persistence. “All of the owls are being checked, too. Filch told us so when he was jabbing those Secrecy Sensors everywhere he could reach.”

Harry looked to Ron for help, but Ron still looked sullen, and when Hermione followed Ron’s gaze, it ended on Lavender Brown. She buried herself back into the Evening Prophet.

“Can you think of any way Malfoy —?

“Oh, drop it, Harry,” Ron snapped.

“Listen — it’s not my fault Slughorn invited Hermione and me to his stupid party. Neither of us want to go, you know.”

“Well, as I’m not invited to any parties, I think I’ll go to bed.” Though it was ridiculously early for such a dramatic pronouncement, Ron abandoned the dinner table and left the Great Hall.

Hermione considered, briefly, going after him, but if he wanted to be hurt by something she and Harry had no control over, that was a choice he could make for himself. She and Harry ate in silence, her poring over the paper and Harry, she assumed, still trying to puzzle out how Draco Malfoy was planning to do the Dark Lord’s bidding here at Hogwarts.

When they finally got up to leave, they ran into Atalanta Shafiq, a third-year Slytherin and former member of Dumbledore’s Army.

“Harry?” she said, a little shyly.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve got a message for you.”

“From Professor Slughorn?”

Though Harry had said he didn’t want to go to the party, Hermione noticed the hopeful note in his voice.

“No — from Professor Snape. He says you’re to come to his office at half-past eight tonight to do your detention — er — no matter how many party invitations you’ve received. And he wanted you to know you’ll be sorting out rotten flobberworms from good ones, to use in Potions and — and he says there’s no need to bring protective gloves.”

“Right. Thanks.”

[oswaldsirius]

The Little Things

Title: Little Star

Summary: Just a quiet, happy moment with his new family and a bit with the old.

Pairing: Sirius Oswald/Celeste Morreaux, Harr Silver/Zeta Oswald

Word Count: 1440

Warning: None

A/N: This was written solely because I wanted fluff and the best way for me to do that is to write babies. This is set in AU I’m picking away at with @kashimalin where certain events of the past didn’t happen so Cradle’s recent history unfolded very differently for a trio of friends. Namely, one doesn’t become an outlaw and the other continues running his family’s flower shop. This is set so far down the road for this AU, but...I’m having baby feels so I need to post it. The only other major thing to point out is that Celeste is actually from Cradle instead of London in this. For reasons.

~ 

            Pausing in the doorway, Sirius felt his heart begin to pound as he looked at the scene in front of him. Celeste was tucked into the corner of a couch in the sitting room, blankets wrapped around her to keep her warm. Although, between the fireplace and the magic crystals in the room, there was no possible way she would catch a chill. Neither of them would.

            She was completely absorbed in the bundle in her arms and he didn’t blame her. Their little star had joined them two days ago and both of them were smitten. He was glad his family had filled the house to help because neither of them were interested in more than their daughter right now.

            His shoulders slumped even as he smiled as Celeste cooed at her, the sound full of love and happiness. But the soft noises being made back to her melted his heart.

            Crossing the room, he carefully sat beside her and returned her smile. “Your juice,” he said, holding the glass out to her.

            She hummed her thanks, shifting Adhara to one arm. “What are they doing?” she asked, sipping at it.

            “Making dinner. Mother seems to think they’ll come tonight.”

            “The meetings are important. Harr can’t just leave them no matter what Loki thinks.”

            The young wizard had been ecstatic when they’d told him before he’d immediately decided he had to get Harr. They hadn’t been able to stop him before he’d disappeared in a flash of bright light. “You’re forgetting that Zeta went with him and if anyone could convince him to leave the summit, it’s her.”

            “Sirius, the summit is important!”

            So was the first Oswald grandchild. Speaking of, he leaned over a little to see his daughter. Big eyes found him and he smiled at the sight of her. “Hello, little lady,” he murmured, reaching out to stroke a chubby cheek.

            He couldn’t stop his grin as she pursed her lips, pushing her tongue between them for a moment. Her little arms waved before falling back to her blanket.

            “If you’re going to rile her up, you can hold her.”

            “Gladly,” he said, carefully scooping Adhara up. “Come here, little lady.”

            Celeste gave him a look as he got the baby settled in his arms. “You did that on purpose,” she accused.

            “I did.”

            She laughed, setting aside her glass and leaning against his shoulder.

            He turned to kiss the top of her head. “I love you, my lady,” he said softly.

            “I love you, too, Sirius.”

            Her weight leaned into him more and he didn’t need to look to know she was falling asleep. He stayed as still as he could, letting her catch what sleep she could.

            Focusing back on Adhara, Sirius watched her legs curl up before stretching out. The hesitation he’d felt at holding her after she was born had passed, leaving only wonder and love behind. He’d grown so used to holding her and, if it wasn’t Celeste, he’d been slow to give her to anyone else. Even his family.

            A helpless smile crossed his face as Adhara yawned, the action huge before she smacked her lips. “You can sleep too, little lady,” he murmured. “I’ll keep you both safe.”

            She blinked up at him and he watched as she slowly fell asleep as well.

            Pride filled him at that. Both of his ladies trusted him enough to sleep with him like this. He let his cheek rest on top of Celeste’s hair and closed his eyes. He’d thought he’d known happiness before, marrying Celeste and running the business. But having Adhara in their lives now was a blessing he never could have fully imagined. And it had only been two days.

            Noises from outside the room had him opening his eyes. A glance at the clock showed that twenty minutes had passed and he frowned. Had he somehow dozed off? He knew he hadn’t slept much the last few nights but he’d gone longer and not fallen asleep before. Straining to hear what was going on, he nearly laughed when he recognized the voices. “Good job, Loki,” he murmured.

            After a few moments, the two people he was expecting came into the room, Zeta quicker than Harr.

            “Shh,” he said as she came up to the couch.

            “Oh, Sirius, look at her,” she breathed. “She’s perfect!”

            Harr came up behind her, looking over her shoulder with a faint smile on his face. “Loki didn’t tell us her name,” he said quietly.

            “Adhara,” Sirius said.

            “After great-grandma?” Zeta said, looking up at him for a moment before back at the baby. “That’s lovely.”

            Sirius watched as she gently stroked the dark hair on Adhara’s head, cooing softly at her when she squirmed.

            “She looks good on you, brother,” Zeta said. “When are you having more?”

            He snorted and Celeste stirred beside him. He kissed the top of her head as she pushed away from him, sighing deeply.

            “Sorry, Celeste,” Zeta murmured.

            “Oh!” she said in surprise. “Oh, you two! You’re not supposed to be here!”

            Harr laughed under his breath. “The summit happens every year. You don’t have a baby every year.”

“They could.”

“No,” Sirius and Celeste said together. He didn’t care if he did want more children with her; he was waiting a good long while before he put either of them through labour again.

She pouted at them before smiling. “I suppose I can forgive you. Since she’s so cute.”

He was expecting it but he was still slow to pass Adhara to her when she held out her hands. “Be careful.” He wasn’t sure if it was a warning or a plea.

“I will,” she promised, all teasing gone as she cradled the baby to her chest. “She’s my first niece after all and so very precious.”

Sirius glanced at Celeste when she moved, watching as she picked up her juice again and making sure she wasn’t pushing herself too much. When she settled back against him, he wrapped his arm around her and let her cuddle into him.

“You two are so cute,” Zeta said, pulling their gazes back to her. “I don’t know why you waited so long to get together.”

He rolled his eyes and didn’t answer her.

“And you’ve made the cutest little baby,” she continued. “Look at her, Harr. Don’t we have the cutest niece?”

He smiled faintly at her, nodding, before his eyes widened when she held the baby out. “Ah, no, I’m fine, Zeta. You hold her.”

“Harr, she’s your niece too. You have to hold her before people not from the family start to.” Zeta looked at him. “Other people haven’t held her yet have they?”

“No. She’s only two days old, Zeta. We aren’t in the mood for visitors.” Although that was a lie. Lancelot has sent a letter saying he would be coming tomorrow to see them but he was practically family so he didn’t count.

“Good. Hold out your hands.”

Sirius saw the same panic he’d felt when Celeste had passed Adhara to him the first time cross Harr’s face. He started to say something when Celeste squeezed his leg. She was smiling at him as his gaze dropped and shook her head once.

Looking back up, he watched Zeta not take no for an answer and instruct Harr how to hold his hands. She was careful as she passed Adhara over, checking he had her before pulling away.

Harr stared down at her, holding her close to his chest. “She’s very small.”

“Actually she’s a little bigger than average,” Celeste said.

“...She feels very small.”

Both women laughed but Sirius agreed. Neither him nor Harr were small men and Adhara felt positively tiny in his hands. She tucked right into the length of his forearm like she was meant to be there, but that was still so little space to take up.

Harr stiffened when a burble left Adhara before a smile crossed his face as he watched her go back to sleep. They could just see one arm moving above the blanket before her hand smacked into his chest. Her fist closed on the material and Harr pulled her even closer to him.

Watching as Zeta stepped in so she could see as well, Sirius bent slightly to murmur in Celeste’s ear, “How long before she tells us she’s pregnant?”

Blue eyes were dancing as he pulled away. “Not long at all.”

Sirius grinned and stole a kiss from her while he could. It wouldn’t be long at all if Zeta has convinced Harr to return from an overseas summit just to see her.

[huffleypuffy]

I Dare You...

Draco Malfoy x reader (any house besides Slytherin sorry i luv u) smut

Warnings: smut!!! lots of it!! smutty smut!!! hot Draco

Word Count: 3946 (how??????)

It was Friday night and the Slytherins were throwing a party. They never invited any other house except for themselves. But you were invited, and you were a Y/H. You heard that some other fellow housemates had been invited too. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been invited as well. No one really knew who invited the "outsiders" but you didn't really mind. All that mattered was that you were invited to your first party at Hogwarts!

You wanted to look good, just in case any handsome wizards were there. You knew Draco Malfoy would be attending since it was his house party, but he was the one you were aiming to look good for. You didn't have a crush on him, but you kind of fancied him. No one else knew and you wanted to keep it that way.

You put on a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a purple tank top. Your shirt showed just the right amount of cleavage. You were preparing for anything to happen. You wore some basic flats on your feet and attempted to do something with your hair but it wasn't really working. You used a spell to make it wavy. That was better. You shrunk your wand and stuck it in the pendant on your necklace, just in case anything were to happen, like you did anytime you had no where to put it.

You looked in the mirror rethinking your outfit choice. Was it good enough? Or was it too much? You had to make a decision, so you decided to just stay in what you were wearing.

You made your way to the Slytherin common room. A Slytherin was standing there allowing or denying people to go in. He saw you and let you in right away.

You looked around inside to see a very chaotic atmosphere. There was music playing and people jumping and screaming. You hadn't seen anyone you were close friends with so you walked around awkwardly looking for someone to talk with. You spotted Hermione across the room and made your way over.

"Hey, Hermione! Did you just get here?" You asked.

"Oh hi, Y/N! Well I got here a few minutes ago and I was suppose to meet Ron and Harry but obviously they haven't arrived." She sighed.

"Oh I'm sorry about that. I didn't see them while I was on my way here, but I'm sure they'll be here soon." You assured.

"I sure hope so. There have been many talks about playing dare or dare. I do not need to get caught in that. Someone even mentioned a muggle game called spin the bottle! Have you ever heard of it?" She went on.

"Maybe. I just really don't know what you do. Is it that kissing one?" You asked sounding so innocent.

"Yes, very dreadful I've heard. Do you know who invited you here?" She asked.

"No idea. I was just about to ask you. All I got was a note in green writing." You answered.

"I got the same thing. I'm starting to regret coming here. Where even are th- oh there they are! Finally! I'll see you later, Y/N! I've got to go yell at them." She smiled running away towards Harry and Ron.

Alone again. This would be a long night. You saw a bunch of butter beer, pumpkin juice, and a couple other drinks on a table near by and made your way over. You picked up a butter beer and opened it and took a sip. Butter beer wasn't your favorite but there weren't many options to chose from.

"Enjoying yourself?" You heard someone ask.

You turned around to see a very handsome blonde in all black, of course, smiling at you.

"Hello, Draco." You smiled, "Yes I am having a nice time, thank you. Needs a little bit more excitement though, don't you think?"

"I would agree, yes." He said. "You look good tonight."

You felt your cheeks get a little red. You needed to hide any sort of feelings you had for Draco. Can you imagine what people would say or think? You didn't want to find out or even imagine. But you couldn't help it, his charming voice got you every time.

"Thank you." You smiled, "You don't look too bad yourself."

"Thank you, dear." He said taking a sip of his butter beer.

"Any game you would like to play tonight?" He asked moving a little closer to you.

"I don't really know any, never really go to these things." You replied.

"So what made you come this time?" He asked.

"A few things: first party, mysterious letter, and a certain person caught my attention. So I thought I'd give it a try." You tried to hide your smile.

"Oh really? Very interesting." He said. "And who might this person be that grabbed your attention?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Just a dashingly handsome guy. He's very smart." You leaned against the wall as he got closer and continued. "Very charming. Makes me melt."

He smiled at you. "Sounds like a guy who suits you." He got closer to you and rested his arm above your head. He still held his butter beer in his other hand.

"Well, you would know." You smirked looking down to his lips.

You really wanted to kiss him. But you didn't know if he did. His eyes kept going from your eyes to your lips.

He smiled and said, "Maybe."

What did he mean?

You waited for him to do something but all he did was look into your eyes and at your lips again. You tried to give a few more hints so he would finally kiss you, but it didn't seem to be working. Either he didn't understand, he just didn't want to kiss you, or he was a tease. All seemed possible. You bit your bottom lip and stared at his. He smirked at you and chuckled a little.

"I'm glad you came." He continued to smirk and set his butter beer on the window sill next to you. He ran his fingers across his lips.

A tease. Definitely a tease.

"I'm glad I did too." You couldn't take your eyes off of him. "Did you plan this?" You asked.

"Me? I could never pull this off, by myself at least." He confessed.

"So who invited me then?"

"It was originally Slytherin only, minus a few. But Blaise thought it would be a genius idea to invite others in. Not really wild about the idea but it'll add more excitement into my life." He laughed.

You were about to ask him if he invited you since he had dodged the question but someone had yelled that they were starting a game of dare or dare. Draco turned to see everyone running over to sit and looked back at you.

"You've gotta play this one! Real fun!" He smiled over the game.

Draco immediately rushed over and you followed behind. You saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione across the room looking terrified yet bored. You shrugged at them and sat down in the circle in between a Hufflepuff and a Slytherin.

"What's the matter, Potter? Scared of an ole game of dare or dare?" Goyle snickered.

Usually Draco would be the one to make these remarks.

Harry rolled his eyes and looked over at Ron and Hermione. Hermione looked disgusted with even the thought of joining and Ron didn't really know what to do. Harry and Ron sat down a few people down from you and Hermione rolled her eyes and joined in.

"Now it's a game. Whose first?" Blaise announced.

Blaise made Crabbe go first and the game went on for a couple more rounds before anyone acknowledged you.

"Hmmm... Y/N..." Pansy Parkinson said evilly.

Oh how you loathed Pansy. Everyone loathed Pansy though. It was a silent, mutual agreement.

Hermione looked worried for you. You were worried for you.

"I dare you to... hm." She paused to think. "I've got it! I dare you to kiss Harry Potter!" She squealed.

You saw Draco out of the corner of your eye turning red. He seemed pissed. He looked over at Pansy, glaring. When you looked at him, he saw you and immediately looked down at the ground. Harry looked confused. You didn't know what to do. Kiss Harry Potter? What good does this do anyone?

"Um... okay." You sighed.

"Not a quick peck either! Five seconds long at least!" She ordered.

Ugh.

You walked over to Harry who had no emotion on his face. You couldn't tell if he was scared or relieved that it wasn't someone else.

"She must be getting off to this..." Ron said making you and Harry laugh.

"Okay, let's get this over with." You whispered to him.

You both kissed for what felt like an hour, but you were counting to five in your head so you knew it wasn't. Finally, it was over. You walked back over to where you were sitting hearing everyone howling and screaming.

Draco was so red. You didn't understand what had him so upset. Maybe it was Pansy, she was a real bitch.

"Okay your turn!" She yelled at you.

"Okay, Pansy." You started off. "I dare you to leave the party."

As soon as you said this a laughter erupted from Harry, Ron, Hermione, a few others, and surprisingly from Draco as well.

She looked very angry at you.

"That is the worst dare ever." She complained. "Dare me to kiss Draco or something!"

Draco shot a glare at her again.

"Bloody hell!" Draco scolded. "Never!"

"Um, no one wants to see that. I'm not taking it back." You crossed your arms.

She humphed and stomped off into a hallway.

"Thank Merlin!" Ron yelled.

"Ronald!" Hermione said laughing a little.

"So who goes now?" Someone asked.

"I'll go." Blaise volunteered. "We're going to make this more exciting now."

All of his friends smiled at each other exchanging laughs and jokes.

"Draco... I dare you to go snog Y/N, in a random closet in a hallway until the party is over or until someone catches you!" He laughed.

You turned red. Could they have found out that you fancied him? The golden trio looked extremely sorry for you. You weren't sorry, just nervous.

Draco looked over at you smirking and shrugged. He saw you were red and winked at you. His cheeks were a bit pink too.

"Go get her, Draco." Blaise patted his back.

You both stood up and left the room to find an empty closet.

"Wild dare, isn't it?" He said trying to start a conversation.

"Yes. Very unexpected." You replied.

"Are... are you nervous?" He asked.

"Um... kind of." You said honestly.

"Don't be." He smiled grabbing your hand.

You smiled at him and he kissed your hand. What was happening?

You walked into a small, vacant closet. Draco closed the door and turned to you. He pushed your hair behind yours ears and cupped your face. You looked up into his beautiful eyes. You couldn't believe it was happening.

"Y/N, I have a confession to make." He whispered with your lips only an inch apart.

"Yes?" You edged him to go on looking into his eyes.

"I kind of always have fancied you... I never thought you were interested, though. I always thought of you as beautiful. You are so beautiful." He smiled.

You couldn't believe this was coming out of his mouth. You blushed and bit your lip trying to hide your smile.

"I have a confession too. I always thought you were so handsome and beautiful. I watched you from a far because I never thought you noticed me. But you're so... so captivating, Draco." You said making him smirk.

He still has your face between his hands. Your lips were still an inch apart. He grazed his lips over yours. You bit your bottom lip and looked down to his lips. He was staring at your lips barely touching them.

"Kiss me, please." You whispered.

He pushed his lips onto yours. Finally. You moved your hands to rest on his chest. He pulled you in closer and moved back against the door. He tugged on your bottom lip with his teeth making you whimper. He smirked and let out a quiet giggle. You giggled back.

"Why are you giggling?" He asked smiling at you.

"Never thought I'd be so luck to kiss you." You smiled against his lips, "Why are you?"

"Because kissing you is even better than I had imagined it being." He smiled kissing you again.

You felt your cheeks become warm. You felt treasured by Draco because of what he said.

He flipped you against the door and picked you up. His hands resting on your ass as yours cupped his face. He moved his tongue into your mouth and played with yours. You let out a soft moan. His kisses felt amazing after waiting for so long. It was like a monsoon after a drought. He put you down but kept you pressed against the door. He moved down to your neck and sucked on it.

"You're gonna leave a mark." You warned between groans.

"That's the point." Draco smirked up at you.

You rolled your eyes but couldn't help but smirk at him. He attached his lips back to your neck and sucked in a different spot. You looked down at him but he was looking at you already. He moved to a different spot keeping eye contact. He had left two marks already and was going to leave another. Your hands rummaged through his hair as you moaned softly. He released your skin from his mouth and stood up against you. Three marks.

You moved your lips against his and kissed his jawline. You moved him so he was against the door now. He was looking at you as you moved down to his neck. He chuckled a little as you left the first hickey. He groaned more as you sucked harder on the second spot. He bit his lip to try to control himself. You moved to a third spot and began sucking again. He let out another groan. You took off your lips and saw your third spot on his neck.

"We match now." You smiled against his lips.

He smirked at you and kissed you slowly. His lips were so soft. His hands moved down to your ass and he squeezed it making you jump a little. He snickered against your lips. You needed more of him. You started unbuttoning his shirt and started kissing his chest.

"Y/N, you don't have to." He began saying.

"No, it's okay. I want to." You said.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes, Draco. I want to." You answered.

He slipped out of his shoes and tossed them aside. You took off your shoes as well. You kneeled down in front of him and unbuckled his pants. He was staring down at you watching your every move. You pulled down his pants and took them off of him. You could see him bulging through his boxers. You stood up to kiss him on his lips while grazing your hand over his growing bulge and he pulled off your shirt. He ran his hands over your secured breasts. You kneeled down again. Your mouth was placed perfectly in front of him and you pulled down his boxers. His dick sprang out in front of you. You licked his tip and Draco groaned. You started pumping him in both of your hands. You stuck your tongue out and let his tip touch your tongue as it bounced out of your hands. You stuck him in your mouth and squeezed your cheeks together.

"Fuck." Draco cursed. He threw his head back against the door in pleasure as you pumped him in and out of your mouth.

You swirled your tongue around and continued sucking in your cheeks. You tried to take him in as much as you could without gagging. You could feel him twitching in your mouth as you sucked and licked every inch of him. His moans were getting louder and deeper. His voice became raspy.

"Oh fuck." He let out, "Baby girl I'm close, talk to me."

You smirked at his request.

"You like that, don't you?" You ran your hands along his length as he whimpered. "You like my lips against your long cock?"

You drug your tongue along him.

"Yes. Yes I do." He was trying hard to contain himself.

"I bet you can't wait to fuck me. Your dick pumping in and out of my tight body." You took him in your mouth and pumped him in and out.

He let out one last loud moan and released in your mouth. You licked him clean and came back up to his lips. He moved you against the door as you felt his hot breath against your ear.

"I can't wait to fuck you." He growled into your ear.

Draco had gone from soft, caring Draco to intense, frustrated Draco.

"Well do it then." You dared him.

As soon as you said this he tore your bra off and attached his lips to your nipple and pinched the other in his hand. A sensation of sweet pain went through your body. You moaned as he lightly bit your nipple. He broke off and kissed your lips. Both of his hands were still tugging at both of your nipples. He pulled them and made you groan into his mouth letting his tongue get in. It didn't last for long because he began placing kisses down your chest and ending at the hem of your jeans. He turned you to face the door. He tugged them down and placed a kiss on both of your ass cheeks. He pulled them off of you completely and threw them aside. He grabbed your ass in his hand and squeezed it. You let out a squeal that turned to a giggle. You turned your head as far as you could and saw Draco smirking. He pulled down your panties and threw them aside. You felt his hands push you to spread your legs apart. He licked down your slit making you wet. He flicked his tongue against you as you started breathing heavy. He licked his fingers and inserted one into you going slow.

"Next time I won't be that gentle." He warned making the hair stick up on the back of your neck.

He pumped a little faster and added a second finger in. You gasped as he immediately picked up the pace. He stood up still pumping his fingers and pushed up against you. You felt his cock on your ass and his smirk against your shoulder.

"Oh fuck, Draco." You groaned as he kept a steady, fast pace.

"You like that, baby girl? You like how I'm making you feel?"

All you could do was whimper. You couldn't speak because of your heavy breathing. He knew he was getting to you. You arched your back pushing your ass into him more. He snickered at the sight of you crumbling under his control.

"Fuck me." You begged.

"What was that?" He asked even though he clearly heard you.

You rolled your eyes at him and he pumped his fingers faster making you jump.

"Fuck me, Malfoy. Fuck me so hard that I can't walk." You yelled at him.

"As you wish." He pulled his fingers out and licked them.

He flipped you around to face him and said, "I want to see your face when you melt under me."

You smirked at him, remembering your comment from earlier. He picked you up and shoved himself inside of you. You yelled as he looked pleased with himself, staying true to his word. You clenched around him and he let out a groan. Your mouth gaped open still as he thrusted in and out. His hands cupped your ass perfectly. You dug your nails into his back as he went deeper. He felt so good going deeper and harder with every thrust. He groaned at the same time as you.

"Shit, you're tight." He said panting.

"Draco," You began saying.

"Yes?" He asked between grunts.

"Oh fuck, I want..." You were struggling to get words out.

He snickered at you and went faster.

"I want to ride you, shit." You finally managed to say.

You felt him jolt inside you. He smirked at you.

"My room?" He asked slowly thrusting.

You nodded as he placed you down. He pulled out his wand and the two of you apparated to his room, forgetting your clothes.

You both looked around to make sure no one was there. You pulled him over to his bed and pushed him down. He looked eagerly at you. You climbed on top of him and kissed his chest, dragging your wet spot along Draco's dick. He let a soft moan escape his parted lips. You placed him in your entrance and began bouncing up and down on him. He placed his hands on your hips to help you. The moonlight from his window was shining on you two only. His torso glistened. You began gasping as you found the right spot. You tried to hit the spot with every bounce and he did his best to help. You ran your hands up your body and squeezed your breasts.

"Keep doing that." He demanded.

You pinched your nipples as Draco helped thrust into you. You ran your hands over them, carefully massaging them. He couldn't look away from you. He was whispering profanities to himself as he watched you. You moaned from the sensation of him perfectly finding your spot with every thrust and also at your hands. You pinched them again causing Draco to throw his head back in pleasure.

"Mmm, baby girl I'm so close." He warned.

"Me too." You said stretching out the 'too' into a moan.

"Get me there." He whined.

You smirked at him, always so needy.

"Do you like the way I ride you, baby?" You groaned.

He bit his lip trying to ease his way into his high. You placed your hands on his chest and bounced more.

"Oh, baby. You feel so good in me." You moaned.

He flipped you on your back and thrusted in fast and hard. His eyes were filled with nothing but lust. He was groaning at your comments.

"Shit, you look so good laying beneath me under my control." He said as you felt him release in you. You let yourself go and arched your back. He ran his hand down your body and pulled himself out. He collapsed down next to you pulling you in to cuddle.

"How did we get here?" He chuckled placing a kissed on your shoulder.

"A wild dare." You smiled and rolled over to face him.

"What about now? What do we do now?" He pushed your hair away from your face.

"Well, right now we're just going to lay here together. But I think we should do this more often." You suggested.

He raised an eyebrow at you, "Maybe throw in a few dates?"

You nodded and smiled at him. He pulled the sheets over you two.

"Goodnight, love." He kissed your forehead.

Neither of you realized it but your clothes were still in the closet. When morning came, you had to wear a set of Draco's clothing so you could return to your dorm. The exchange of looks between students as you walked by was awkward, but Draco didn't seem to mind. He found it quite amusing.

[obsidianarchives]

To All The Wizards: The Corridor

“A boy zone. Are you sure?”

“Boyzone. It’s an Irish Muggle boy band,” Hermione corrected Seamus, not for the first time.

“Okay and a boy band is…?”

“Mate, we’ve already explained it,” Dean said, not looking up from the letter in his hands.

“Right, a bunch of lads, singing without instruments. I just wanted to be clear…and Padma likes them?”

Hermione didn’t know whether to laugh or throw her toast at Seamus. They’d gone over this plan with him a dozen times. Being the originator of it, she was quite proud and didn’t want him messing it up. “Yes. Parvati and Padma love Muggle boy bands. Parvati is partial to the American variety, but Padma loves Boyzone. Ronan specifically. Which, like I said, Boyzone are Irish. It’s a piece of culture you can bond over! She’ll tell you about the concert she went to last year in Dublin and you’ll say ‘Oh, my grandmother lives in Dublin, I go there all the time. Boyzone is huge there.’”

Watching his cereal grow increasingly soggy, Seamus sat pondering her words for a moment. More chatter filled the Great Hall than usual. There had been more disappearances in the last week, some being relatives of their classmates. Earlier in the morning, Peter Davis had left school with his mother after it was reported that his father had gone missing.

Sighing, she glanced at Dean. Over the past week she had caught herself doing so often. The edges of his dark hair were freshly clipped, making him look even more distinguished. His dark eyes flicked back and forth across the page, lost in the contents of the letter. Without warning, he looked up, his eyes meeting hers. Quickly, she looked away, feeling a light flutter in her stomach.

“Alright, I’ve got it. But I don’t want her to date me just ‘cause I’m Irish like the boys in this band,” Seamus said.

“She’s not going to date you because you’re Irish. She’s going to date you because you finally got up the guts to start a conversation with her and it turns out you’re a good bloke. Plus it won’t hurt that you look like that Ronan guy.”

“Do I?”

“A bit,” Dean said, quickly dropping his eyes back to his letter.

“I feel like you’re having me on.”

“Merlin’s beard, just go,” Hermione said insistently. She looked to the Ravenclaw table where Padma was now finding a seat. She was glowing, her dark hair pulled back in a long plait, a soft pleasant expression on her face.

Seamus was not intimidated by her prettiness, rather he seemed to be emboldened by it. He shot up from his seat, face pale but eyes blazing. Looking back at them, he gave them a final nod and was gone.

Hermione heaved a sigh of relief. “I don’t think I’ve ever talked about Boyzone so much in my life.”

“You don’t chat about boy bands with your friends very often then?” Dean asked jokingly as he folded up the letter and set it next to his bowl of oatmeal.

Chewing on her last bit of buttered toast, she chuckled in response. She washed it down with a tart swig of freshly squeezed orange juice. Often, she pondered at the magic of house-elves. Even when certain produce was out of season, they were always able to prepare food as if it were fresh.

“My family says hello,” Dean said, taking a bite of his oatmeal.

Hermione grinned to herself at the thought of his colorful family. “That’s nice of them. Tell them I said hello back.”

In between bites of oatmeal he added, “They’ve asked you to visit during the Easter holiday.” Hermione choked slightly into her goblet of orange juice. “Well, Mum asked. The twins have all but insisted. They apparently read some books you recommended to them and they’re dying to discuss them with you.”

Lying to his family in person had been hard enough the first time. They had been so hospitable, it didn’t feel right for her to spend another full evening lying to them.

“Dean, your family is lovely but we couldn’t possibly! What will they all think when we do break up? Or worse, what if they find out?” She ignored his eye roll and pressed forward. “Besides, I’m not going home for the break. I have a lot of schoolwork to be getting on with, which will be easier to accomplish here.” Schoolwork was one way to put it, further investigating Horcruxes was another.

“Sounds like it’s settled then. I wasn’t planning on going home either. It’s too difficult to get homework done in a Muggle house full of siblings. I just haven’t written yet to let them know.”

“Why didn’t you start with that?” Hermione asked in relief.

“Because I thought you’d be pleased to know they really do like you.” He looked at her for a moment as she bit her lip, nervously. Setting his spoon down on the table, he took her face into his hands, forcing her to look at him. “You need to stop worrying so much. Everything’s fine. No one is going to find out. My family will go on liking you just like they have been, if I have anything to do with it.”

The warmth of his hands masked the heat of her own cheeks that was only increasing as his dimples peeked out at her from his comforting smile. “Yes, but—“

“Stop. You keep overthinking this,” he said, cutting her off. “We have a contract only you and I know about. We have our goals.” At this he glanced down the table, where she knew Ginny was sitting. She was wearing the blue jumper Mrs. Weasley had knitted her for Christmas. It had a golden broom on it, which Ginny had stylishly enchanted to fly around the sweater. Coming back to his senses after a moment, Dean continued, “We’ll break up amicably. In fact, it’ll be so amicable no one will even be upset by it.”

His thumb gently grazed her cheek in a way that she knew was meant to be calming. Instead, his thumb felt as if it was searing her skin, leaving a trace of tingles in its wake. Trying to hide her embarrassment, she took a deep breath, and finally said, “Of course. You’re right.”

His smile widened as he dropped his hands, but not before pinching her cheek and saying, “That’s my girl!”

All of the heat left her face and the fluttering in her stomach dissipated as she swatted his hand away. “Watch it, or maybe we won’t break up so amicably.”

Holding up his hands in surrender at the sight of her glare, he laughed, “Got it. No cheek pinching. Might have to write that one down too, so I don’t forget.”

She shook her head and took another drink of her orange juice to hide her smile.

—

Seamus had both made progress and not made progress with Padma over the next couple of days. On the one hand, she didn’t seem opposed to his attempts to approach her. On the contrary, she had happily engaged him in conversation about Ireland and where the various members of Boyzone were from. On the other hand, she seemed more amused by his antics than she was intrigued. Dean and Hermione had decided to treat this as a net positive and to continue to encourage him.

Of course, others in their year had started to notice. Harry was walking with Hermione back from dinner on Thursday when he brought it up.

“What was up with Seamus attacking Padma in Potions?”

“He didn’t attack her,” she said defensively. “He just asked her if she wanted to study with him for the test on Monday.”

“More like screamed it at her.”

“He didn’t mean to. I imagine his ears were ringing from the loud pops that kept coming from his cauldron.” Thankfully, Seamus still hadn’t had any major accidents in class that would embarrass him in front of Padma. However, in Potions he had made a rather noisy potion that appeared to conduct something similar to electricity. Loud metallic cracks and pops kept issuing from the cauldron, eventually sending a couple of students to the Hospital Wing complaining of ringing ears.

Harry looked as if he was stifling a laugh with a look on his face that said “whatever you say.”

“At least, he’s trying to get to know her, unlike some boys I know when they like a girl.” She gave him a sidelong glance.

A flush crept up his cheeks. He diverted his attention to the portrait of an old man picking grapes, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, trying to hide the redness. “It’s probably more complicated for some guys than others.” He glanced at her and quickly looked away, embarrassed.

They rounded the corner into a large domed corridor. She was about to reassure him that if he just spoke with Ron regarding Ginny everything would work out fine, but before she could say anything of the sort, Harry suddenly grabbed her arm, pulling her into the nearest empty classroom. There were no torches lit inside, and no windows. But for the shaft of light pouring in from the crack at the bottom of the door, it was nearly pitch black.

“Harry! What on Earth–“

“Shh!”

Lumos, she thought, with a quick flick of her wand. Her wand tip illuminated the room. It was a smaller classroom and had apparently been in disuse for many years. Only a few damaged desks remained piled in the corner. Cobwebs adorned the walls and dust crunched beneath her feet as she shifted her weight.

She turned back to Harry who had now pulled out the Marauder’s Map and was furiously unfolding it. Paying her no mind, he positioned himself next to the door, straining to listen. Curious, against her better judgement, she peered over his shoulder. On the map she could see their dots standing next to each other in Classroom 505. Outside, walking past in the opposite direction were Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle.

“Dammit, I can’t hear them. I should have brought Extendable Ears. It looks like they’re heading back to the dungeons,” he said mostly to himself as the dots made their way down the staircase around the corner.

“You can’t be serious. Even if they were up to something, do you really think they’d just discuss it in the corridors for anyone to hear?”

“Snape and Malfoy did at Slughorn’s Christmas Party.”

“But you had the Invisibility Cloak! This corridor isn’t that long. There’s no way they didn’t see us come in here. You aren’t going to catch anything.”

He wasn’t listening to her. Instead his focus was directed intently at the map, his brow furrowed.

She groaned in frustration. “I don’t have time for this. Move.” Her attempts to shove him away from the door were easily thwarted.

“You can’t just leave. Then they’ll know we were up to something!”

“We!?” Her voice came out in a shrill whisper. “I didn’t shove me into this dark classroom. You did!” She was prodding him with her lit wand to emphasize her point.

He sighed looking down at the map. The three Slytherins’ dots had now rounded the corner and were making their way towards the stairs at the other end of the corridor.

Frustrated, he tapped the map with his own wand muttering, “Mischief managed.” For a moment, he stood pinching the bridge of his nose. Hermione watched, incredulous at her best friend’s behavior. “He keeps disappearing. I just can’t figure out where he’s been going. You don’t reckon the map’s broken?”

She stared at him, her arms now crossed.

Not waiting for her to answer he continued, “Ron thinks he might be leaving the school. But he can’t be using the secret tunnels, I’ve been watching them.”

“Oh well if Won-Won is interested in your little investigation, why don’t you talk to him about it?” Hermione sniffed indignantly.

At the mention of “Won-Won” Harry looked at her, his expression now exasperated. “Hermione, couldn’t you just—“

“I’m not the one that needs to apologize, Harry.”

While Ginny seemed to be unaffected by her and Dean’s Valentine’s outing, Ron had returned to being just as ill-tempered as he was before the holidays. It wasn’t necessarily as mean spirited, but he had commanded a lot more of Harry’s time, while still resolutely avoiding her. If it had not been for Dean and Seamus, this would have left her nearly friendless.

With a wave of her wand she put out the light and reached to wrench the door open. Exhaling a resigned sigh, she looked at him. He was being absurd, but she was too tired to deal with it today. “Last I checked, Malfoy’s hair isn’t long enough nor red enough to command this much of your attention. Maybe try focusing on getting Slughorn’s memory instead, or on Quidditch, even.”

A deep cherry hue overcame Harry’s skin. She patted his shoulder as she moved past him and out into the corridor.

—

This school year she was spending more time irritated with Harry than not. At breakfast the next morning, she gave him a cold stare as he walked past them to join Ron at the other end of the table. Generally, this look would have been withering enough to at least make him a bit remorseful. Instead, he pretended not to notice. Fine, she thought, if he wants to be that way, then the Prince, Malfoy, and Ron can help him with his Transfiguration essay.

Thankfully, Dean had made it a point throughout their fake-relationship to stay out of matters regarding her friendship with Harry and Ron. He did pick on her for fancying Ron when he was such a prat, but about serious matters he stayed out of it completely. Instead, he took the opportunity to serve as a distraction from her irritation.

In other matters, however, he wasn’t so keen to take an inactive approach. Outside of Defense Against the Dark Arts, while waiting for Snape, Dean noticed a cluster of Slytherins a few feet away, Pansy and her cronies, giggling and whispering while pointing at them.

“What’s this lot on about, then?” he asked with a sneer on his face.

Hermione, who had noticed their behavior earlier on their way to Charms, merely shrugged, not looking up from her tattered copy of Hogwarts: A History.

“They keep pointing at us.”

“Leave it,” she said, almost bored. “If I had a Knut for every time Pansy laughed at me I’d be richer than Malfoy.”

“It doesn’t bother you?” He hadn’t taken his eyes off of Pansy and their group. They didn’t notice the intense glare he had fixed them with.

“Why would it bother me? She’s either commenting on my cheap shoes, laughing at my blood status, or speculating how anyone could possibly date me. Pansy isn’t particularly creative.”

“How anyone could date you?” he asked incredulously. Hermione shut her book, finally looking up at him, amused. Pushing himself off the wall on which he had been leaning he said, “I’m going to say something. They can’t just talk about my girlfriend like that.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry and Ron approach. Confronting them would cause a scene, and if Harry or Ron noticed, they would definitely jump at the opportunity to hex some Slytherins. Harry was looking for a reason to provoke Malfoy, who in this instance, was standing idly by, not listening to the chatter around him.

“Leave it,” she said firmly, placing a hand lightly on his forearm. Gryffindor couldn’t afford the points it would inevitably cost for Harry, Ron, and Dean to get into a duel with the Slytherins.

By the look in his eyes, she could tell he wasn’t going to drop it.            

To her relief, Professor Snape arrived just a moment later, putting an end to whatever schemes Dean had for the snickering Slytherins. Gryffindors, she thought as she shook her head.

—

By dinner that evening, she had mostly forgotten the incident. A few Slytherins had smirked at her while whispering amongst themselves as they passed her in the corridors, but nothing else had come of it.

The enchanted ceiling overhead was full of shifting grey clouds. They churned above so vividly that Hermione thought she could almost feel the cold wind blowing in through the windows. Her mind was far away. She had spent her free period in the library, trying once again to find any mention of Horcruxes. Even after altering her search methods, she still turned up empty handed.

Between Harry’s inaction and the library failing her possibly for the first time, she felt stuck. She knew this must be important information and not having it made her feel vulnerable. Of course, Professor Dumbledore would surely reveal it in due time, but what if it was too late? Too late for what, she wasn’t sure.

“Did you hear me?”

Blinking, she looked away from the ceiling, almost startled to see Dean sitting next to her. Most of the Gryffindor table had cleared out or was finishing eating. The mahogany table was littered with crumbs and half-empty platters of food.

“I asked if you were ready to go.”

“Right, sorry. Yes. I was just thinking about my paper on British wizards’ arrival to the colonies.”

Nodding, Dean stood up from the table. His raised brow betrayed his skepticism, but he didn’t push it any further. Wordlessly, he held out his hand and helped her up from the table.

The corridors were fairly lively, with it being a Friday evening. Various portraits seemed to be hosting dinner parties to welcome in the weekend. Hermione stifled a giggle as they passed a portrait of what looked like two medieval jousters taking bets from the surrounding portraits for the upcoming Quidditch match—Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff.

Dean and Hermione’s clasped hands swung between them, fingers interlaced. It had become quite natural for them to hold hands, even when no one was around. Hermione had grown accustomed to his hand’s firm warm grip around her own. In fact, come to think of it, his hands were always warm. They were warm when he tucked an errant curl behind her ear, and they were warm that time on the way to Herbology when she had forgotten her gloves and he had taken her hands in his own and stuck them in his cloak pockets.

“It was like you said, by the way. Pansy isn’t very creative.”

The slight smile that had formed on her face while she was lost in thought, fell. “I told you to leave it. She’s really not worth your time,” she said knowingly.

“She and her friends found me. Well, me and Seamus. We were on our way back from the Quidditch pitch.”

“So which insult was it? Was I right?” she asked.

“Yes and no. I believe her words were ‘The Chosen Potty and his Mud—‘”

“Ah, yes. One from the vaults. Used to be one of her favorite insults and rumors to spread,” she said with an eye roll for emphasis.

They turned down a quieter corridor, a shortcut that took them away from the better trafficked halls. She couldn’t remember if it was her or Ron who had found it second year after a rogue staircase had shifted whilst they were climbing. The shafts of moonlight from the paned windows and the warm glow from the torches played against each other.

Dean was staring straight ahead, somewhat lost in thought. After a moment, he began nonchalantly, “You were also kind of right because she did call me ‘filth,’ a pure-blood classic.”

She nodded emphatically, “Mmm, an old one but a good one.”

“Specifically she said although I was ‘filth,’ she did feel a little bad for me. If it was her, she wouldn’t leave me and start sneaking around in deserted classrooms with ‘Pothead.’”

He was now looking at her with a raised eyebrow. There was no accusation in his voice, but he was acting strangely. The flickering light of the torches cast shifting shadows over his face so that she was unable to tell if he was serious or not. He had to know that she had never snuck around in classrooms with a boy like that, and certainly not with Harry. Maybe Pansy was more creative than she gave her credit for.

“You don’t seriously believe that load of—“ she began, before breathing an “Oh!” as realization washed over her. She had, in fact, spent time sneaking around in a classroom with Harry just a few days ago. Specifically, it was to unwittingly spy on Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. Draco must have told Pansy he saw them. He might have even hoped for this outcome, knowing that Pansy might start a rumor, as a way to warn Harry to back off. She felt a twang of remorse.

“I mean, we did sneak into a classroom alone, but I swear it wasn’t anything like that!” It was beyond her why she even felt the need to defend herself. Of course, Pansy was lying. And besides, Dean wasn’t her real boyfriend and he knew full well at this point that Harry and she were nothing more than friends.

They passed through an arched opening at the end of the corridor, into a small moonlit breezeway. The wind whipped around them, throwing her curls wildly around her face. Dean walked up to the railing and leaned against it, turning to look over at her with a smirk.

“You don’t think I know that?” His robes flapped behind him in the wind. She came to lean against the rail next to him. He stared out onto the grounds as the moonlight brightened and dimmed, the clouds passing over it, obscuring it for moments at a time. “Everyone did seem to think it was a laugh, though. That really doesn’t bother you?”

She thought for a moment. Those rumors specifically hadn’t affected her in a long time, not since Harry had set the record straight with Mrs. Weasley. They were all made up and mostly based on Rita Skeeter’s original article on the matter. “To be honest, no. Anyone that matters knows they aren’t true. I suppose I could be more adamant in discounting them,” she paused, contemplating her next statement. As she did so, the moon emerged from behind a rather large dark cloud, illuminating the swaying trees of the forest in the distance.

“To be quite honest, I think I left that rumor alone partly because Pansy and Malfoy are going to say what they want anyway. But mostly, because it helped me hide the truth—that I liked Ron. I didn’t encourage them, obviously, but if people wanted to believe them, that was less people who were likely to find out my secret. It was a good cover.”

With a shrug she looked over at him, expecting him to crack some joke digging at Ron as he usually did when the topic came up. Instead she was surprised to find him staring at her, that telltale mischievous glint in his eye.

“Oh?” he said as he stepped towards her. Not fooled by his innocent voice for a moment, she took a step back, her back hitting the post behind her. “Is it a better cover than this has been?”

The moonlight highlighted his broad nose and the dimples from the smirk on his lips. He was staring down at her, daring her to answer. “No.” To her surprise, her voice came out soft and dazed.

Whatever answer he had been expecting, it hadn’t been this. Something in the air changed. It was as if all her nerves were standing on end. His smirk melted away, the glint in his eye was now gone, replaced by something else. She knew biting wind was whooshing past them, but her body was on fire. His bergamot scent swirled around her, making her brain buzz.

“Well then…” his voice was deep, barely above a whisper. She could feel his warm breath brush across her face.

Suddenly she was overtly aware of his hand on her hip, the other on the railing next to her. When had that happened? She busied her mind, trying to recall how many times he’d placed his hand on her hip and whether it had ever felt like this, whether she had felt this prickling anticipation before.

She watched as his eyes dark eyes searched hers, a question hanging between them. What question, Hermione didn’t know. She felt her breath catch in her throat as she realized he was leaning toward her. If he leaned any closer they would—

“Hermione!”

It was as if everything had snapped back into place. They jumped apart. The moon retreated behind the clouds. Her heart felt as if it was trying to escape from her chest.

“Hi Hannah!” she tried to say as casually as she could manage to the approaching Hufflepuff prefect. Her voice betrayed her though, shaking slightly.

Not noticing anything amiss, Hannah smiled at Dean in greeting before turning to Hermione. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Professor McGonagall has requested we head down early to her office before patrol. She wants to go over some new security procedures with us.”

“Erm, sure! We were just heading to the common room, but I can come with you now.” She turned to Dean for his approval and found him standing a few steps back from her, hands in his pockets, back to his casual relaxed self. She stared at him, bemused for a moment before saying, “I’ll, erm, see you later?”

“Of course. Do your duty,” he said, grinning at both of them, waving them off. He then turned on his heel, leaving the breezeway.

Hermione shivered and Hannah tapped her on the shoulder. “Shall we go?”

—

There were quite a few updates to the security procedures at Hogwarts, as recommended by the Ministry Aurors, in light of the increase in disappearances. Hermione had heard none of it, of course. Her mind was still reeling.

“What was that about?” Hermione whispered to herself an hour later. Her mind kept replaying the same images; Dean’s brown eyes boring into hers, searching for something she couldn’t figure out, his hand firmly on her hip, and the almost imperceptible shift he’d made to lean forward right before Hannah arrived.

Surely he hadn’t meant to kiss her. “That’d be ridiculous,” she said, scoffing to herself. She looked around, relieved to find herself alone. If Peeves had heard her muttering to herself, he’d be serenading the whole castle with a song about “barmy, brainy Hermione Granger babbling to herself” tomorrow.

The memory of how his smirk had fallen and his jaw had clenched, his mood suddenly serious, made her face hot. Detouring to the girl’s bathroom, she rushed to the porcelain sink and turned the knob to splash cold water on her face.

Slowly, she looked up, her reflection staring back at her, a mop of brown curls on her head. As if struck, a sense of déjà vu hit her. It was at a sink just like this that she had been trying to calm down about a different boy under different circumstances just a few months ago.

Laughter bubbled out of her. This year was proving to be far too dramatic, and she had The Boy Who Lived for a best friend. Hadn’t Dean told her specifically to stop overthinking things? It’s not like this was the first time he had teased her. That’s why she was so well attuned to the warning signs—the glint of his eye, the smirk.

Grabbing a paper towel, she patted her face, satisfied with her reasoning and a little embarrassed by how worked up she had been. She paused, remembering the look in his eyes after she had said “No.” Had that been teasing, too?

The creak of the door opening echoed across the bathroom, tearing her away from that train of thought. Panicked, she ducked into the nearest stall. As soon as she shut the stall door behind her, she began berating herself. Why was she suddenly acting like some sort of lunatic? She didn’t have to hide. She was a prefect. Prefects had every right to be in the restroom past curfew. Rolling her eyes at her own antics, she began to unlock the stall to let herself out when she heard voices.

“Shh, if you’re not quiet we’ll get caught,” said a high-pitched voice.

“I can’t believe Mary really pulled through for us!” said another, more mature sounding girl.

“I still don’t see why she couldn’t bring the Wizards Wheezes stuff to us rather than having us risk our necks down in the dungeons,” said another girl, her voice more nasally than the others.

“Let’s just be happy we have them. Have you thought about who you’re gonna brew yours for?”

“Anthony Goldstein has been looking quite cute lately.”

“If you’re going to brew a love potion, you should dream bigger than that,” said the more mature girl. “I heard Romilda Vane tried to slip one to Harry Potter!”

Giggling ensued.

“Well, of course. He’s the ultimate catch! But we should think more practically.”

“I dunno about ultimate catch,” said the high-pitched girl. “That Dean Thomas in Gryffindor is quite fit.”

“Oh yes!” the nasally voice said emphatically. “Ever since he got on the Gryffindor team as an alternate he’s been looking right fit.”

More giggling. Hermione suppressed an annoyed groan. She supposed these were lower year girls who didn’t know he had a girlfriend. Again she moved to unlatch the stall door. It was her job as prefect to send these girls to bed and confiscate whatever Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes contraband they had.

“Ugh, but isn’t he dating that awful Hermione girl?”

Hermione froze, hand on the latch.

One of the girls gave a great sigh. “That’s right. What an odd match. She’s supposed to be really smart and she’s nice looking, I guess.”

“A right know-it-all I’ve heard.”

“It is strange that he went from Ginny Weasley, who is easily the prettiest girl in our year to her,” the mature girl lamented.

“She isn’t half as pretty as Ginny, for sure. You’re much prettier, Kat. Pretty as Ginny, I reckon.”

“Thanks,” the mature girl said to the nasally one. “I suppose it’d be a bit too cheeky to slip a love potion to a boy who already has a girlfriend wouldn’t it?”

Hermione was fuming. Who did they think they were? Love potions? They’d have to be mad to attempt something so reckless. Of course she was used to girls swooning over Dean. They had been all year. But that was her boyfriend, as far as they were concerned at least!

Without warning, Hermione wrenched the stall door open, letting it bang back against the wall. The girls jumped, spinning around to look at her. It was a group of fourth year Ravenclaws, as she had suspected.

“You would think that if a group of Ravenclaws were going to sneak around, they’d be smart enough to keep their voices down,” she said, her voice dangerously steady.

The one with a smattering of freckles and short brown hair spoke up, her voice high-pitched, “We didn’t realize…we thought the bathroom was empty!”

“I’ll bet you did,” Hermione said, now outright glaring at the girls. She turned to the one with the long black hair and blue eyes. She was, in fact, pretty, Hermione thought, amused. Holding out her hand to the first she said, “Hand them over.” As she held out her hand, she made sure that her golden bolo bracelet was poking from her sleeve, heart clasp clearly visible.

The girls groaned and one-by-one handed their three magenta bottles with the signature Weasleys’ Wizards Wheezes “W” embossed on them.

“We’re sorry i-if you heard, erm, anything,” the blonde one with the nasally voice said, finally.

Hermione ignored this. “Is that all?” she asked looking knowingly at the girls.

The pretty one, Kat, groaned and handed her an opened box from beneath her robes full of Fanged Frisbees, snack boxes, and other various Weasley goods.

“Well then,” Hermione said finally, after writing down a list of the items in her notepad that she always kept on her during patrol, “I’ll need you to write your names here. And I suppose your supplier was a girl named Mary, probably in your year, Slytherin?”

The girls nodded solemnly, looking thoroughly chastised as they wrote each of their names in Hermione’s notebook. After she took the notebook back from them, she noticed the blonde girl, Celia, subtly rolling her eyes to Kat.

“I’ll be turning this contraband into your Head of House,” they cried out in protest, “and I think I’ll take a point for each minute I had to listen to you lot plotting your use of love potions. So that’s about what, 10 points, each?”

“30 points!? Are you crazy? Our Housemates are going to kill us! Oh Anthony is going to be furious.”

“We can make it 15 each if you’d rather a nice 45 points?”

The mature girl immediately apologized on behalf of her friends and pushed them out the door, eager to put distance between them and Hermione.

Pulling the door open, she smiled ruefully to herself, as she stepped into the corridor. I wouldn’t mind this rumor spreading. Might teach girls to stop gushing over him in the bathrooms all the time like I’m not there, she thought. With that happy thought, she finished the remainder of her patrol route with a slight pep in her step.

—

The morning dawned late for Hermione. Staying out later than usual for a patrol night left her more tired than normal. She had to stop by Professor Flitwick’s office to hand over the information and contraband. It was only out of a sense of mercy for her naïve schoolmates that she convinced Professor Flitwick not to send the information to Mr. Filch. Their fates would have been worse had he been involved.

A fog of sleep still hung around her as she trudged into the Great Hall. The sounds and smells of breakfast overwhelmed her senses. The tantalizing scent of coffee wafted over to her. She needed coffee. Mindlessly, she moved forward towards the Gryffindor table, greeting people with empty “hellos” and “good mornings.”

She spotted Dean eating with Seamus towards the end of the table. They locked eyes. The memory of last night flooding her brain, a hand on her hip, his warm breath tickling her cheeks. Any haze of sleep remaining was cleared out. She took a steadying breath, reminding herself of his smirk and the glint in his eye. He was teasing you, like he always does, she thought, taking a step forward.

The nagging point of that shift in his expression before he had begun to lean in tried to enter her thoughts, but she shook it away. If she acted funny because of him teasing her, how would that look? No. Everything was normal. Nothing had changed. She just needed to be herself.

Before she could reach the pair, Padma Patil called to her, marching up the table.

“I heard about last night. Professor Flitwick mentioned it this morning,” she said as she approached, her brow looking stern.

“That was quick,” Hermione said surprised. “Sorry about all of that.” Some prefects felt disrespected when others outside of their House deducted points, preferring the issues to be worked out between prefects. Furthermore, it was rare they had to correct Ravenclaws in such a severe manner, much less older students.

“Oh don’t apologize! I was coming to thank you for being lenient with them. I would have taken double what you did.” There was a sly smile on her face as if they were sharing in some sort of secret.

Hermione laughed in earnest. She didn’t know Padma as well as her sister but they got along well enough. They had even studied together a couple of times third year before Hermione had become completely inundated with schoolwork and time-travel. “Well hopefully they aren’t getting piled on too much. I know how it feels to lose so many points in one go for your House.”

“I think they’ll be alright,” she said, glancing towards the Ravenclaw table, glaring at the girls in question. “Anthony and I talked to them this morning. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know it’s been taken care of.”

With that she walked back to the Ravenclaw table, her dark long hair swishing behind her.

“What’d Padma want?” Seamus asked, feigning indifference once Hermione had joined them.

“Nothing important. Just prefect stuff.” Reaching for the carafe of coffee, she grabbed a mug and poured a healthy amount.

“You slept late,” Dean said, glancing up at her over his goblet. His voice was casual, but his eyes were guarded.

Did he think she was avoiding him? Act normal, she reminded herself before correcting herself, thinking, everything is normal. “Yeah, it was a late night.” She indicated vaguely towards the Ravenclaw table. “Like I said, prefect stuff.”

She regaled them with the story of the girls in the bathroom, leaving out the parts about Dean specifically.

“Love potions? Are those even legal?” Dean asked aghast, the tension between them forgotten.

“I mean most wizards aren’t crazy enough to actually use them. Everyone knows it’s not real love,” Seamus said.

“They’re not illegal, but they should be.” Hermione said with a grumble.

“Where do Fred and George get off selling something like that? In the hands of teenagers, those are dangerous.” Dean was beside himself.

Hermione understood his perspective. In the Muggle world there were laws against rape and assault, and clear legal definitions of consent. In the wizarding world, there were some laws regarding the theft of agency in some instances (i.e. the Imperius Curse), but not in others. Early on, Hermione had accepted that you can’t always apply Muggle logic to the magical community.

A cup of coffee later and they were still debating the nuance of the crime and whether the severity of punishment should correlate with the strength of love potion.

Dean was laughing incredulously. “Wizards have no logic!”

Not knowing any other world but his own, Seamus took offense to this. Before Hermione could defend Dean’s position, a voice came from behind her, “Ms. Granger. Please come with me.”

She turned to see Professor McGonagall towering over her. Dean looked at her questioningly. She shrugged as she quickly got up to fall in step with Professor McGonagall. She wondered if this was about the incident last night. It was a case of contraband, which generally resulted in detention, but lately those were a dime a dozen with Fred and George launching new lines of products every few weeks. A meeting with the Deputy Headmistress seemed a bit severe.

They came to a sudden stop a few feet further down the table, leaving Hermione to almost stumble over her green tartan robes. “Ms. Weasley, you should come along as well.”

Ginny shot Hermione a curious glance, confusion displacing the recent coldness between them. Hermione shook her head, indicating that she didn’t know what was going on. Ginny’s face paled as she walked along with them. Hermione realized that the last time Professor McGonagall had pulled her aside was probably when her father had been attacked by Nagini. The slew of disappearances in the papers suddenly filled her mind and she felt a pit form in her stomach. As they stepped out into the entrance hall, that pit began to grow.

Professor McGonagall looked down at them, her pursed lips trembling slightly.

“I’m afraid it’s about Mr. Weasley. He has been poisoned.”

To Be Continued…

[hogwarts1850s]

SPELLS LIST - Year 5 Electives (DC 15 to Succeed - Unless otherwise stated)  DIVINATION - Mayan Arithmancy = You know the day when you’ll next be attacked by a spell. +1 to AC for the first spell to try to hit you. - Scrying = Learning to scry on an individual known to them. You can see and hear a particular place you choose and communicated with anyone there. Requires flame, water, or a mirror on both sides. - Centaur Astrology = Learn how to divine large events/groups of people. Roll a Divination Knowledge check. If successful, roll the astrology dice. DM will tell you the results. - Luna Placidus = You divine ways to lay suggestions on a sleeping target for maximum effectiveness. You are limited to two sentences. Target must make a wis save against your intentions. In this manner you can persuade the target things that would normally be impossible or have a very high DC. Or you can roll insight to ask them personal questions. - Grim Portent = Combining Arithmancy and Divination you get clues about a target and their day. Gain advantage on intimidation as your vague clues are eerily accurate. Do this many times, and a target may become permanently afraid of you. RUNES - Portaberto = Found while deciphering Runic text. Leaves a smoking hole where a key goes, or obliterates the locking mechanism entirely. Works on doors that have the Anti-alohamora Charm.  Advtg on knowledge about Magical locks. - Proteaus Ligo = Very old magics. Links several things together. Usually used for items. Once they are linked, if you alter one of them – you alter all of them in the same way. With advanced skills, it can also be used to link tattooed skin on creatures. Medieval witches and wizards would tattoo runes. - Fallacia Mortem = An ancient wizarding spell, found all over the world and yet not widely known – reserved for the elite. Feigns death for 1 hour. Can be used on self or a willing creature. - Lapis Verso/Silva Verso = Mold a 5ft cube of stone or wood into any simplistic shape you could sculpt, lasts one hour. May be be permanent if you carve the runes into the stone themselves. - Erasing Runes = Write these runes on a surface, say the incantation, and erase all traces of communication on the item – works on one surface. Write it in ink, and it is permanent, write in chalk and it is temporary until you wipe away the chalk enough to disturb the rune’s shape. Combine with an obliviate spell, and anyone who has read the text has the memory of it erased as well. HISTORY OF MAGIC - Wizarding Law Knowledge = Can roll for things others can’t, get bonuses for commonly known ones. Gain advantage on intimidation or persuasion if laws could be relevant. - The Unbreakable Vow = Results in death if you willingly and knowingly break it. - Centaurs and other Beings = Centaur rebellion of the 1700s. Offered “being status” since 1811, but declined it because they didn’t want to be associated with Vampires and Hags. Mer made the same decision. Advtg on knowledge checks about Beings, lower DC when persuading them. - Arresto Momentum and Locomoter = The history of the use of these simple charms separating the wizarding world from the muggle, and how simple convenience spells reveal witches and wizards. Locomoter=Only 1 will fail, but must roll physicality for aim. Arresto Momentum= 10+ to succeed, slows falling for up to 60 ft to land safely. ASTRONOMY - Inhancing Magics = Every magic can be affected by the position of the moon and stars. If you’re willing to wait, any magic you plan on preforming can have a lower DC or higher potency depending on the correct time to preform it. - Ritual Magics = Learn how to cast spells or create potions as a ritual, requires minimum 2 people. Set up the casters at points that line up with the heavens, lending power to the process. This will lower the DC/increase the potency/or alter the spell depending on the DM roll. - Learning by the Stars = While looking at the transits and positions of the planets the next day, you realize which exact timing might help you with a spell you’re learning. DM rolls a D4 for the spell you get advantage on learning the next day. - Moon Potions = Track the phases of the moon in relation to what potion you are crafting to determine the best day and time to finish it. Gain advantage on crafting the potion unless it has a very high DC, if you make it on the right day. - Celestial Footing = Your knowledge of the heavens at the time allows you to know the best placement to gain advantage with your dueling spells. Roll a knowledge check, if successful you get to add proficiency to your initiative and your saving throws. HERBOLOGY - Drying Technique = More bang for your buck with some potions, you can pick out the better ingredients or make your own. Roll to make twice as much when brewing a potion (same DC as potion). - Galanthus Nivalis, Common Snowdrop = Treats Alzheimer’s for Muggles. Brew a Wiggenweld Potion with this instead of the main ingredient, and you have a Memory potion. Used to recall forgotten things, can break weaker Obliviate spells. - Germander = Germander is a herb that is used in the food industry for the production of beverages or a herb considered by some to be helpful with medical problems. It is closely related to wood sage and is a member of the mint family of plants. With a rose to lavender coloured blossom. Add to fruit juice to make a simple healing tonic (1d6+Healing mod), or add to another healing potion to add an extra 1D6 to the potency. - Scorching Nettle = A magical sentient breed of stinging nettle similar to bowtruckles. Its hair brambles can be plucked and hurled at targets to do 2d6 damage. Students must take a bush with them everywhere, as the creatures are temperamental and need watching over. The larger the plant, the more bramble clusters they have which can be thrown.  - Magical Venomous Plants = Learn how a select few work, how to recognize their effects, how to treat them, and where to find them. ALCHEMY - Aqua Vitae = Distilled mildly alcoholic tincture. Used in some potions, but has powerful magical properties all on its own. Two undiluted drops can cure exhaustion, and give you your day’s nutrition. It also acts as a refiner, making any potion distilled into a smaller amount – making it easier to hide in food and more potent. - Magical Tincture = Store a spell in a small vial. Lasts until you can counter-enchantment, or when it is triggered. Vial’s contents can cover an area no bigger than 5 ft. Choose the trigger (time, a specific word spoken near it, being touched by a creature, breathed on, sunlight, etc). You can also set it to only react to certain types of creatures, a certain age or gender, etc. Any of your known spells can be the triggered response. Roll to successfully cast it during the process of making the tincture. Takes 2 days to create. - Liquid Shadow = Distill darkness in a small vial. Pour on your skin and appear to be made of shadows for half an hour. Gives advantage to stealth and sleight of hand unless in bright light. Can also be applied to items. - Essence of Duro = Learn how to permanently change an object to stone/crystal, until you apply the antidote. There is a small chance that the item can never be restored. - Essence of Permuto = Learn how to permanently switch to objects, or pieces of two objects. Antidote is not taught this year. MAGICAL CREATURES - Hippogriffs = Learn how to approach them properly. Breeding them is an established wizarding career, as well as breeding winged horses. Feathers, talons, and even eyes can be used as magical ingredients. Feathers may be used as wandcores, but it is highly recommended that the user of the wand knows – and is approved of by – the hippogriff. They are fiercely loyal and protective of the people they like. They may be used as transportation, but must have a disillusionment spell cast on them. Advtg on Animal Handling them. - Winged Horses = Often bread for transportation, and to race in competitions. Thestrals = Thestrals are, undeservedly, known as omens of misfortune and aggression by many wizards because they are visible only to those who have witnessed death.  Highly intelligent, and their tail hairs can be intensely magical ingredients, but almost impossible to receive.  - Mooncalf = a shy creature that only comes out of its burrow during a full moon. Once the Mooncalf is in the moonlight, it performs complicated dance moves while standing on its hind legs. It creating geometric patterns in wheat fields that confuse Muggles. Mooncalf dung, if harvested before the sun rises, will make magical plants grow fast and strong. Also, if it gifts you with its feathers, you will be immune to the need for sleep for 2 days. - Ashwinder = A serpent that is created from the remains of any magical fire that is allowed to burn unchecked. The Ashwinder is thin and pale-grey with glowing red eyes. They rise from the embers of the dying fire and slither off into a dark corner to lay their eggs, leaving an ashy trail behind. Ashwinders only live for an hour and will collapse to dust when they have laid their eggs. Ashwinder eggs are red and give off intense heat. If they can be frozen with a Freezing Charm, they can be used in a Love Potion or eaten whole as a cure for Fever or Burns. Flarewinders are larger Ashwinders, which live for many years, and only lay eggs when they are in danger or growing old, as the process turns them to ash. They are made when you take 3 Ashwinder eggs and place them in magical fire.  - Jobberknoll Bird = The Jobberknoll is a small, blue speckled bird that never makes any noise until the moment before it dies. It then lets out a long scream, which consists of every sound it ever heard backwards. Jobberknoll feathers are used in Truth Serums and some Memory Potions. If a person has a Jobberknoll feather on their person, they have disadvantage on Deception rolls. - Magical Creature Healing = Learn how to treat common magical illnesses and diseases in creatures. Learn how to alter your healing potions to work on animals. Increases target creature’s AC and HP by 1 each. SPELL THEORY - Alter Verdimillious or Periculum = Change the colour of the sparks. Change Periculum effect to Deafen, Fatigue, or Paralysis. Change Verdimillious to sense wands, pulses if they have recently cast a spell. Or sense people, pulse if they have ill will towards you (wis save for target) - Tenuo Schema = The Gaseous Form spell. Most common spell to have a unique version of, but difficult to use practically. Lasts up to 1 hour. You turn to some type of mist, you may be able to teleport to spots you can see, but must roll physicality for aim. You have resistance to damage, and advantage on saving throws. You can pass through small openings. You cannot fall, speak, or do magic while in this form. You must roll Int to end the spell early. - Vola Respiratus = Breath Potion. Choose an element. Does 2D8 Damage as a cone, targets must roll to dodge.  - Enchanted Objects = Choose any non-magical object. You can permanently alter it so that it so it creates a magical effect. Must be sensory, not harmful. Examples: Creates a specific noise, it alters near by flames or lights, can close doors or windows, appearance alters under specific conditions. Ask the DM, who will set the difficulty roll to create it. -Alter Incendio = Change the colour of the flames, and give it a different element: Cold, Poison, Lightning, Psychic, Stone, etc. The new element will interact with things in a new and different way.