#She looks like Dobby the house elf

[acannibalisticswordfish]

My dog <3

[sunnami]

❝time will tell.❞

[credits to the original artist of the photo!! can't seem to find their @ anywhere. title is taken from jane austen's persuasion, as was the first part.]

summary. ❝you are loved. and harry thinks there is no better description that that.❞

pairing/s. poly!mauraders + lily x reader.

word count. 9.5k.

tags. reader is referred to mum, with she/her pronouns[!], canon-typical violence [!], canon-typical deaths mentioned[!], very brief marauders as soldiers of the order[!], creepy old men being creepy[!], child abuse[!], pureblood arranged marriages, a minor character expresses wanting to die[!], Depressed and Traumatized Slytherins, the capital is important[!], themes of misogyny [!], teen boys fuck around and find out there are consequences to their actions, THERE IS ACTUALLY A LOT OF FLUFF, I PROMISE YOU, angst, children lose their baby teeth up until the age of twelve!! google said so!! not proofread we die like dobby the free elf

note. damn, i cried, you cried, we all crode. tbh, the first part was only intended as a oneshot, sdfkhdf, but when i re-read it, i thought that i could have expanded on more details,, so now here we are!! i love it more than the first part ueueue. thank you all so so so much for the kind comments :((( please please enjoy the second part to this installment!! part one

HARRY JAMES POTTER was only a few months old when you died at the hands of Voldemort — or as strangers have told him every time they ravaged his personal space and ogled at his scar. They said it was a quick death, better than what had happened to Alice and Frank Longbottom. But that was all they’ve ever said about your death. Unfortunate; caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, entirely different from the pedestal James and Lily have been put on by the wizarding society. 

At first, Harry had wondered if it was due to your blood relations, being the daughter of a renowned Death-Eater, heiress to the fortune of a pureblood House. Harry can’t even count the amount of conspiracy theories he’s read or heard to his face that it must have been you who betrayed James and Lily, and not Sirius Black. 

Even Hermione’s shared to him a theory that your death was faked to surrender your loyalty completely to Voldemort — of course, Hermione was eleven at the time, head full of books and her favorite theories, and Harry’s already forgiven her. But there’s a part of him that despises the way he’s never known the full truth about his parents, just bits of information dangled in front of him like bait for people [read: the Dursleys] to get him to do what they want, to act like the way they want. Until Remus and Sirius, you were a stranger to him, really.

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1976; CURRENTLY, IN THE PAST.)

IT IS RATHER UNFORTUNATE that Madam Pince has already taken her position as the unbearable librarian at this point in time. The woman gives Harry and you a pointed look as you slam the large book onto one of the tables — to Harry’s surprise, you glare right back at her. You’re awfully flushed, however, blushing cheeks betraying the fire in your eyes; it must have been from when Remus escorted the two of you to the library; he had tried to brush your hand with his pinky, to which you had responded with a startled hiss — Remus only smiled and chuckled at you, and Harry swears he’d like to forget that entire interaction because he saw literal stars in Remus’s eyes.

Jumping back in time and potentially causing chaos? Fun. 

Meeting your parents? Definitely fun, in the strangest of ways. 

But watching them pine and fall for each other? Not so fun. 

Nonetheless, he hesitantly takes the seat across yours and watches you flip through the pages until you land on a chapter with the large, bold letters: THE CURIOUS CASE OF ELOISE MINTUMBLE — Time-Travel and Its Many Dangers. He meets your gaze with a sheepish grin, mustering a look of innocence; except the puppy dog eyes only worked when he was nine — you are not amused. 

You slide the book towards him, scarily resembling Molly Weasley when she’s miffed with the twins. “You are aware, right, that just by existing here you’ve changed the future? Your future? And, that’s not even the worst thing that could happen.” 

Harry sulks. “Yes, mum.” He prefers not to think about it, actually, it makes his head hurt. 

“Don’t call me that in public!” You whisper heatedly, looking over your shoulder to check if anyone had heard him — to your luck, the library was empty, save for a Hufflepuff that was passed out on top of his books. “The less people that know about this, the better. It’s bad enough we told Potter about you. Do you even know what you’re going to do?” 

“Considering I was thrown here against my will, no.” Harry shrugs. “And to be honest, I was just going to obliviate the people who asked too many questions.”

You reach over to smack his head, scowling.

“Ow! That hurt!” Harry rubs the sore spot as he grumbles petulantly. “This is technically child abuse, did you know that?” 

You roll your eyes. “Do you at least have a plan to get home?” 

“Of course I do,” Harry retorts with a scoff, “Her name is Hermione Granger.” 

“Hopeless.” You groan exasperatedly. “Absolutely hopeless.” 

Harry only grins in response. For a brief moment, he forgets about the present — his reality where the skies are bleak and home is where he knows the feeling of loss more than the warmth of his own parents’ embrace. He lets himself forget, and pretends he isn’t the Boy Who Lived. Just some random boy who’s pestering his mother — even if she likes to deny the inevitability of being romanced by the Marauders, (except for Wormtail because Harry would eat troll slime before he ever lets that happen.)

“Right then,” You say after your tangent — which Harry tuned out when he hears the words, be responsible. “If I’m going to help you get back home—” 

Harry’s heart drops to his stomach; as selfishly as it sounds, he didn’t want to go home just yet — not to where people just took and took from him. He’s exhausted. Still, he puts up a front of being excited to be returned to his timeline. It’s for the greater good, of course, because his existence — present or past — is always somehow a threat to the wizarding society. 

“—you need to answer this one question for me.” Your voice drops lower as you stare at him intently, lips pressed firmly. 

Harry nods slowly. “As long as it’s within reason, yeah.” 

You inhale sharply. “Do I outlive Dolores Umbridge?” 

The wince escapes Harry before he can even stop it. 

That’s all the answer you need, apparently. Your mouth hangs open in disbelief, eyes nearly bulging out of your head as you slam your hands down onto the table surface, shrieking.

“That slimy bitch!” 

Needless to say, the two of you are kicked out of the library.

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1970; ORIGINAL TIMELINE.)

YOU ARE ELEVEN when your father introduces you to Ferguson, commonly known as Fergus, Bulstrode. He smiles at you with a leer, eyes hungrily dipping to the neckline of your dress. You grit your teeth as you hold out your hand for him to take — you almost shudder at the feel of his lips on your cheek. You eagerly take a step back away from him, hoping your father won’t notice the way you shy from Ferguson’s touch. You’re not dull, you fully understand the implications of this introduction and the way Ferguson is complaining to you about his third wife’s passing — as if you were the solution to his loneliness. Bile rises to your throat, and you shove it down with a forced laugh at your father’s jokes about Mudbloods. From across the room, Allegra Greengrass stares at you in sympathy, and you send her a glare — you do not need anyone’s pity. 

The corset your mother laced on too tight is suffocating you; this whole Yule extravaganza made for elitist purebloods is suffocating you; and yet, you smile and greet every red-lipped witch your mother introduces you to. For hours, you pretend, and you pretend. By the time the guests have left, you wonder if you have any more of yourself to give. 

You manage to convince your mother to let you slip away for the night. Without missing a beat, you rush outside and into the garden labyrinth, lest old Ferguson snatches you up for a dance and let his gaze wander elsewhere. For the first time since the sun had set, your aching feet finally find some relief. You drop onto the edge of the stone fountain as you toss your heels to the side. You begin working your fingers through your hair, ripping the glittery ribbons from your head. It’s not until you’re unclasping your necklace that you realize you are crying. Tears fall from your eyes, and they sink deep into the fabric of your dress. 

You barely hold back your sobs. Your chest heaves as you hiccup; your vision goes blurry as your fingers grow numb. There’s nothing you can do but cry. 

You’ve used up all your smiles for tonight. 

But then, the sadness turns into resentment and then turns into indignation. Harshly, you wipe the tears from your eyes as you rip a violent scream from your throat. 

You sink to the ground, perfectly polished nails digging into the soil as you gather patches of grass and tear them from the roots. You throw a handful of mud at the marble statues. You grab another fistful of mud, scream, then bash your head against the garden floor. You let out another cry, whimpering as you curl into yourself; shivering as a gust of wind brushes against your skin. Surprisingly enough, this is the most human you’ve ever felt. This is the most you have ever felt — period. 

When hiccups regress into soft sniffles, you lay on your back, watching the stars float above. As the last of your tears slide down your cheek, you lift a shaky hand to trace the constellation in the sky. It’s not a familiar one to you, but then— 

“That’s Sirius.” 

You sit upright in a snap, wiping away the wetness from your eyes as you muster a mean glare at the newcomer.

Sirius Black.

“Oh, none of that,” He tells you when you move to stand. There’s barely any emotion on his face and it irks you that you can’t figure out what he’s planning. What you don’t expect is for him to sit beside you, thereby ruining his expensively tailored suit. 

“You’ll get creases,” You scold him instinctively, nose scrunched — but your voice is hoarse; too tired to put up any pretences. “Your mother will be cross with you.” 

Sirius scoffs, laying his head on the dirt, making sure to smear his sleeves with grass stains. “Walburga can go fall in a ditch and die for all I care.”

You gasp. “That’s horrible!” 

Sirius gives you a look. “You don’t believe that.” 

You really don’t, but you don’t have the courage to admit it either. 

After a few moments of silence, Sirius asks, raising a brow, “So who was that?”

“Who was who?” You stare at him with knitted brows, toying with your fingers. You still can’t wrap your head around how weird this is — sitting with Sirius Black in the middle of your mother’s hedge maze, your once bright blue dress now sullied at the ruffles, eyes bloodshot and your hair a frizzy mess. (Sirius thinks you look cute, though; especially with your missing front tooth that peeks out every time you talk to him.) 

“Bald guy, older than Merlin himself.” Sirius makes a face. “Looks like a troll. Smells like one, too.”

A giggle flutters past your lips, and your hands fly to your mouth. You really shouldn’t be bad-mouthing your guests, but Sirius was right — Ferguson really did act like an ugly troll. You sigh, letting your arms fall to your side. “My betrothed.” 

Sirius nods in understanding. “My mother tried to set me up with my own cousin once.” 

You grimace. “Which cousin?” 

He sits on his knees to face you, and with a very solemn face, he says, “Bellatrix.”

This time, you laugh freely, throwing your head back as Sirius pouts at your amusement. “O-Oh, that’s golden.” 

“No, it’s not,” says Sirius, lips twitching as he watches you snort like a pig through your giggles. “It’s horrible. A literal nightmare. You should feel awful for me.” He pokes your stomach, and it just makes you laugh harder, eyes disappearing into your smile. “Oi. I said feel awful, not take the piss out of me.” 

“S-Sorry.” You wheeze, batting away his hand pulling at your cheek. “I just can’t imagine Bellatrix in a white wedding dress and saying her vows to you.”

“That’s disgusting.” Sirius gags. “You’re horrible, I hope you know that.” 

When you finally calm down and Sirius tickles your bare feet until you cry in surrender, the two of you lay on the grass as he points out each constellation to you. Later, he fishes a small box of sugar mice from his pocket and offers it to you, opening one for himself. “Here’s to shitty parents and the one day we get to decide our own future.” 

You bump your squeaky candy mice against his. “Cheers, Black.” 

“Will you go to Hogwarts next year?” He asks you once he’s bitten off the tail of his mice. 

You nod. 

Sirius shifts on his side, holding his pinky out to you. “We’ll be friends when school starts?”

Again, you nod, wrapping your pinky around his. “Friends.” 

The next September comes, Sirius finds a compartment and one James Potter in it. You sit with Allegra Greengrass and Endora Lestrange on the way to Hogwarts. You are sorted into Slytherin, and Sirius finds freedom and a home in Gryffindor. You play the role created just for you; you lift your nose at those beneath you, adorn yourself in custom-made silk clothing, and carry yourself with the etiquette of a pure-blooded lady. Perfect grades, perfect hair, perfect clothes, always picture perfect.

You pretend that Allegra doesn’t throw up in the evenings from the fear of getting married to a man twice her age. You pretend that you don’t notice Endora sleep-walking and begging for her mother to save her from her father. You pretend that under your blankets, in the Slytherin dungeon, you are safe. 

You pretend that it doesn’t hurt when Sirius looks at you in disappointment when you shove a Hufflepuff student to the ground for getting a higher score than you in Charms.

They call you an ice-princess behind your back, and you overhear some of the fifth-years calling you foul words as well, and no one steps in to stop them; there’s no defending a Slytherin, after all. But you are keeping your head above treacherous waters, and you suppose that is all that matters.) 

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1976; CURRENTLY, IN THE PAST.)

“SO ACCORDING TO THIS, Eloise was stuck in 1402 for five days until she was retrieved to the present, which means we only have four days left to figure out a way for you to get back home.” 

Harry sinks into his chair, arms crossed over his chest. The two of you had found an empty classroom to discuss your plans away from inquisitive ears. “What’s the rush?” It’s unfair, he’d only just met you, and now he’s losing time with you. 

You sigh. “Harry, Eloise Mintumble spent five days in the past and when she came back, her body aged five centuries, and she died in St. Mungos. It’s not just about altering the whole timeline, you could actually die.” 

When you are met only with silence, you close the book, frowning. “Harry? What’s wrong?” 

Harry swallows the lump in his throat, looking out the window to avoid your gaze. “What do you know about the Mirror of Erised?” 

Your head tilts in confusion. “That it shows our heart’s deepest desire.” 

“Yeah,” says Harry, nodding. “I was eleven when I found it.” 

“Oh, Harry. . .” 

It’s almost pathetic how quickly his eyes water. “Did you know, before today, I hadn’t known at all what your voice sounded like?” 

You stay quiet, and Harry sucks in a shaky breath. 

“When I looked into the mirror, I saw my parents—all of you. There I was, in the middle. You were behind me—happy.” Harry swipes a tear from his eye. “I wanted to stay in that room, stare at that mirror forever.”

“It’s—”

“Dangerous, I know.” He laughs bitterly. “Just like finally being able to meet you all here.”

“Harry, you aren’t supposed to be here in the first place,” You say quietly, eyes drooping sadly. 

“I know that!” He exclaims desperately. “But is it so selfish to just want some time? I don’t want an illusion, I want the real thing. A real family. Why can’t I have that? Bloody Malfoy gets everything he wants, and what do I have?” 

“Your friends,” You tell him firmly. “Your friends who must be worried sick that you’re gone and must be going great lengths to bring you back.” 

“I know.” Harry wilts. He’s got Remus at home, too, who probably needs him more than ever after Sirius’s death. “I know. But can’t I just have this one thing?” 

You purse your lips for a moment, brows furrowed in thought. Then, you break the silence with: “Do you want to hear a story?”

“What?” Harry croaks, peering at you through wet lashes. 

Shrugging, you say, “Stories to remember us by. I’ve got six years worth of stories and then some. I know it’s not much, and you’ve probably heard some of these already from the others in the future, but it’s better than nothing, right?” You lean against the back of your chair, glancing at the wall clock before grinning at Harry. “We’ve got time to spare, anyway.” 

Harry manages a smile, setting down his glasses before rubbing his stinging eyes with the handkerchief you offer him. He figures this is what Remus means when you’re the gentlest creature he’s ever known — just not gentle in what the world expects you to be. 

“What do you say, Harry? I give you tidbits of the past, and you tell me if you know anything about the next Triwizard champion, so I can place my bets in advance.”  

Harry snickers. “Not a chance, mum.” 

“Worth a try.” And the smile you give him is nearly blinding. 

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1977; ORIGINAL TIMELINE.)

YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND what it is about Gryffindors and their hobby of invading others’ personal space. 

A year into dating and James likes to shove his head under your shirt, claiming he loves the sound of your heartbeat — but you know really what he wants to nestle his head in between. The amount of cashmere blouses he’s ruined is absurd! Sirius has a hobby of tracing runes on the plane of your stomach. Lily prefers it when you sit in front of her, just within reach where she can wrap her arms around you and rest her head on your shoulder. Remus tends to lag behind the group when he notices you walking slower due to your leg flaring up. He kisses the side of your head and promises to chase the pain away — sappy poetic that he is. And in the moments where all five of you are together, tucked under a wide alcove, you can best believe there is no escaping what they like to call, a cuddle pile. Limbs are tangled, kisses are shared, and confessions of love are whispered. 

Before them, you hadn’t really known the different ways to love and be loved. 

Onto the pressing matters at hand, you discover that the brazen show of affection extends to their parents as well. Particularly, the Potters. After a year, you finally caved into James’s requests for you to spend the holidays at their manor, since the others have already made a space for themselves there, and James had said it would be an honor for you to feel at home with his parents, too. Honestly, you spoil them too much — one look into his bright, wide eyes and you gave in. James didn’t even care that you brought two luggages for clothes alone; he lifted each bag with delight and with ease. 

(Remus had the audacity to laugh when he caught you and Sirius staring at James’s flexed muscles, mouth wide open. 

“As I have said, Remus Lupin, I do not drool!”

“Sure, dove, whatever you say.”)

But now, you really aren’t so sure of your decision. 

“Oh, she’s beautiful, Jamie!” Euphemia encases you in a bear hug the moment you step inside the manor. You’re engulfed in the scent of cinnamon and burnt sugar. You stiffen as she cradles your face in between her palms, smiling ever so fondly at you, cooing about how precious you look, much like a mother would — and how your mother never did. You wonder if this is what you’ve been missing all along — the thought stabs you right in the heart. “Please excuse the mess, dear, we haven’t had the chance to clean up yet, Monty and I are excited to try the recipe Lily owled to us the other day, you see.” 

“I-It’s okay,” You rasp, struggling to hold back the tears. 

“Oh, what a darling you are!” Euphemia smiles and ushers you further inside. “Come, come. The others are right upstairs. You must be tired from the train ride. It is so lovely to finally meet you. Make yourself at home, dear heart — James Fleamont Potter! Give your mama a kiss this instant! Don’t think introducing your girlfriend will distract me from the fact you didn’t owl me letters for two months straight!” 

James whines as he hides behind you. “Mum, I’m seventeen, stop embarrassing me.” 

Euphemia scoffs, hands snapping to her hips. “You’re going to be my baby boy forever, now come here.” 

With a shy smile, you step away to surrender James to his mother — you don’t understand which part of this is embarrassing; you wish for a mum who’d welcome you home like that, with unconditional love and kind eyes. James squawks and calls you a traitor, just before his mum attacks him with loud, exaggerated kisses to his cheek, leaving lipstick stains all over his face. You hide a laugh behind your palm, ignoring the way your heart pangs at the sight of their unrestrained smiles. Euphemia lets her son go after a few more seconds, cackling at the masterpiece she’s created on a grumbling James, who’s rubbing his skin to erase his mother’s affections. She hugs you once more before setting you off, telling you to meet Fleamont after you’ve unpacked. 

Just as you reach the foot of the stairs, you hear a girlish squeal, then the sound of rapid footfall against each wooden step. Lily greets the two of you by jumping off the last step and wrapping each arm around yours and James’s neck. “Welcome home, Jamie!” She captures his lips with her own before doing the same to you, cupping your cheek lovingly, “So happy you made it, princess! How was the ride here?” 

You were never a fan of traveling by Floo; it made you nauseous after, and left you with a pounding headache for hours. Without hesitation, the others offered to accompany you on the train, but you insisted they Floo ahead to Godric’s Hollow — it took a lot of convincing, but they finally agreed, (they’re not the only ones spoiled; they couldn’t refuse you, too.) With the exception of James, who wanted to be there when you saw his home for the first time. You nearly cried when you saw how well-loved their manor was; rose shrubs dipped in snow, Sirius’s motorcycle parked outside, a mailbox with poorly painted shapes, the fences covered in Christmas lights, and the amount of shoes by the door. From outside, you could hear the laughter and warm conversations. 

“It was fine,” You say in a daze.

Lily sees right through you — and frowns sadly. “You alright?” 

Were you? 

You catch sight of the moving photographs of James and you finally reach your breaking point. There’s a swell in your throat that you can’t seem to push down. There’s a photo of James, Lily, Remus and Sirius; James is in his Quidditch jersey, raising the Golden Snitch high up in the air, Remus is twirling Lily, his arms around her waist, and Sirius is holding up a charmed banner that says: Gryffindor Rules! Slytherin Sucks! Except For My Darling Angel Love Of My Life Most Beautiful And Gorgeous Perfect Brilliant Girlfriend! 

There are hints of life all around the manor. Remus’s textbooks and scarf are laid by the coffee table. Lily’s O.W.L. marks are framed on the wall, along with Dumbledore’s letters to James and Lily awarding them the position of Head Girl and Head Boy, as well as McGonagall’s previous letter to Remus that came with his Prefect badge years ago. There’s a spot dedicated to Peter, filled with a photograph of him awkwardly holding his Herbology test, one that he scored a hundred and twelve percent on. It’s a wall dedicated to them, you realize. 

Then, you find it. 

Right there, up above James’s spot, and beside Sirius’s display of beyond perfect Transfiguration exam marks, and a picture of him and Remus kissing each side of your face. 

It’s a space on that wall just for you. 

James follows your gaze and rubs the back of his head, ears tinged with a shade of deep pink. “Mum left a space when I first told her about you. I-It’s yours, you can put anything you want there.” 

“I can’t,” You whisper, lips quivering as your heart cracks into a million pieces. It’s too much. 

James blinks. “Can’t? It’s yours, I promise. Mum won’t mind. You can even hang your dumb Montrose Magpies poster and I won’t tear it down — Marauders’ honor. I can help you if you want. I-I’m not good as decorating as Lily, but I paid attention to your boring explanation of color theory and I know that you hate this shade of—”

“James, I can’t do this.” 

That’s all you say before you run out of the door. 

(And you’re absolutely delusional if you think James won’t follow you out that door and into the brewing snowstorm.) 

You hear James call out to you, but you opt to ignore him and clutch your winter coat tighter around your body, shivering in the blowing wind, trudging through the deep snow through your heeled boots — designer couldn’t help you now even if you tried. You sniff, the salty taste of your tears dripping to your lips, chest tightening with a foreign kind of pain, and the frost nipping at your fingers. You give up after a few minutes, falling to the ground with an anguished cry, hand clutching the front of your chest as you struggle to breathe. 

James reaches you in a matter of minutes, draping his jacket over you, barely flinching as the cold welts his bare skin. Frantically, he wipes the tears from your eyes, a pained expression on his face as he sees you cry helplessly. “Come on, dove, it’s not safe out here. Let’s go back home, yeah? I’m sorry for upsetting you. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry — I’m so sorry, dove, please don’t cry, it’s killing me to s–see you like this.” Tears fall from his eyes, and he begins stuttering from the cold, but you can’t go back to the manor. “What did I do? Please tell me so I can fix it. I love you—I’m sorry.”

You bat his chest. “G–Go home, Jamie. I’ll just take the train back to the castle.” 

“What?” He shakes his head, grabbing onto your hands. “Y–You can’t. Not in this weather. You’ll get sick if you try to walk back to the station.” 

You withdraw from his hold as you back away from James, slipping into the ice-cold mask you know so well. 

James rises in an instant, reaching for you. “No, no, no, no, no. You don’t get to do that. Not now. Not with me. Please, just come home and I-I’ll fix it.” 

“Goodbye, James,” You tell him firmly, clenching your jaw as you look him straight in the eyes. 

He grimaces. “That won’t work on me, princess, and you know it. Don’t push me away—please.” 

“Go home, James!” You yell bitterly, pivoting on your heel as you march through the thick inches of snow, hearing Remus and Lily’s voice grow louder in the distance. “Just go!”

He grits his teeth, nails digging deep into the palms of his hand. “You’re a coward if you walk away from here—from us—right now!” James shouts through chattering teeth and stray tears. “And I hate cowards more than anything!” 

You don’t look back. 

(Later that night, James stares blankly at the fireplace, tossing twigs now and then. He’s all out of tears. Remus crosses his legs as he sits beside James and offers him a steaming mug of hot chocolate. 

“Don’t want one,” He mutters, words coarse from earlier, head turning away from Remus’s gift. “Just want her.” 

Remus sets the beverage on the ground before pulling James’s head down to his chest, gently wiping the tears from his eyes as he wraps the blanket around both of them. He presses a soft kiss to James’s hair. 

“I said I hated her,” James says weakly. “I don’t—I never will. I just hate that she’s out there spending Christmas all alone. She could be here—with us. I hate not knowing that she’s safe, or that she thinks I don’t love her anymore—that’s a bloody lie, Moony. I adore her. If anything, I don’t deserve her.” 

James finds out that he does have more tears left in him. “I miss her. Bring her back, Rem, please.”

“You’ll cry yourself sick, love.” Remus wipes each tear away. “Let’s go to bed, yeah? Mornings do have a way of bringing miracles to us.” Because after a night of excruciating pain under the moon’s command, he wakes up to sunlight, and there you all are — smiling down at him like he is deserving of love; and maybe Remus can’t fault you for running away.

You’d kiss him gently and tell him how proud you are of him for coming back to you. 

Remus only hopes you come back to them, too.)

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1976; CURRENTLY, IN THE PAST.)

“AND THAT, dear Harry, is how I humiliated Lucius Malfoy in fifth-year.” Your eyes gleam wickedly as you rest your arms on the school desk. “If he ever bothers you in your time, just mention my name—oh, I wish I could see the look on his face when he realizes I’m haunting him from my grave. Tell him, okay?” 

Harry nods excitedly. “Definitely.”

“Got anymore stories?” He asks. 

You cackle menacingly. “Boy, do I ever. Let me tell you about the one time Beckett McLaggen took me out on a date to Madam Puddifoot’s!” 

Harry grimaces. “Do I even want to hear about this?” 

“Oh, pish-posh.” You dismiss him with a wave. “You do, this story is hilarious. Now that I look back on it, Sirius was quite cross with him for the rest of the day—how strange. I wonder why.” 

Harry stares at you in disbelief. “You’re joking.” 

“I most certainly am not, Harry Potter.” 

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1974; ORIGINAL TIMELINE.)

AN EAR-PIERCING scream wakes you up in the middle of the night. You snatch your wand from under your pillow, heart thudding against your chest in fear — last year, the Prewett twins decided it was funny to break into the girls’ quarters at midnight; you get a month worth of detention for hitting Gideon with the Expulso curse and suspension from class for two weeks, while the twins get away with a slap on the wrist and have the time of their lives spreading rumors of you being a Death-Eater. 

Endora shoots up to her feet as well, staring at you in panic — then the girl screams again, and you realize it’s Allegra. 

You sigh in relief, lowering your wand before saying to Endora, “I-It’s alright. I’ll handle it.” 

“Are you sure?” Endora asks timidly, gnawing at her lip and wincing when Allegra wails once more. 

“Certain,” You respond, yawning. 

As Endora climbs back into her bed, you slip into Allegra’s side, holding her head to your chest, brushing your fingers through her hair and untangling the knots. Like most of the Greengrass women, she was of ethereal beauty — silky blonde hair, smooth and fair skin, deep blue eyes that enchant wizards and witches alike. But her cheeks have gone sallow from exhaustion, eyes devoid of any emotion, and her skin now sunken into her bones. 

“I don’t want to marry him—I can’t! He’s old enough to be my father!” Allegra sobs violently, desperate for anyone to hear her, but no one really ever hears their cries from the dungeon. “They said they’d wait until I graduated—they promised! I’m supposed to marry him this summer!” 

Your heart breaks for your friend — there’s nothing you can do but hold her until she’s cried every bit of her soul out. 

“I hate them,” Allegra whispers to you; she had been shedding tears for hours, trembling in your arms until morning finally came. 

“I know,” You say defeatedly. 

“I wish I was dead,” She replies lifelessly. “He can’t marry a dead bride.” 

“Don’t say that,” You beg as you hug her tight; afraid to lose her to the world that has worn her down. “Please.” 

Allegra sinks into her pillows, and you follow in suit, hesitantly laying your head beside hers. She stares at the ceiling dully. “The world is so, so cruel to us daughters sometimes. And it’ll be cruel to our daughters, and their daughters. When will it end?” 

“I don’t know,” You say honestly. 

Allegra hums, neither disappointed nor surprised, and turns away to lay on her side. “Pansy,” She mumbles.

“What?”

“If we lived in a better world and I married for love, I’d want to name my daughter Pansy — like the flower.”

(Later that day, you are given detention for beating Evan Rosier to a pulp. He makes a joke about dirty blood, and you snap — you are tired of laughing and pandering to the arrogant men in your life. This is the first time you publicly defy your parents, and it felt good — more than good, it was liberating. It’s like breathing fresh air for the first time. Then, you earn a second detention for storming up to the Gryffindor common room and punching Fabian Prewett in the face — because fourth-year boys had no business sneaking into the girls’ dorm in the middle of the night for some stupid prank — and you threaten him by pointing the tip of your wand deep into his neck, demanding they apologize to you, Allegra, and Endora. 

You get what you want, naturally — as princesses do. You decide then that you’re going to create a world where girls like Allegra don’t cry anymore.)

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1976; CURRENTLY, IN THE PAST.) 

HARRY TWINGES WHEN he hears the end of your fourth or fifth story of the afternoon — no wonder you had been so angered by his being in your room. “I-I’m sorry—” 

“Yesterday was hardly your fault,” You interrupt him. “There’s no controlling where magic brings you, not in your case. You didn’t know, but now you know. I don’t hold it against them — anymore. Fifteen-year-old boys can be stupid, and at least they’ve learned from their mistakes. You should have seen your mother — erm, Lily — she looked like she was ready to kill them after finding out what they had done. Even Molly was cross with the twins, and you know how loyal Molly is to her family.”

Oh, Harry knows.

And Hermione knows it all too well. 

“Others call us evil, conniving and cruel, Harry,” You tell him grimly, “But I will protect my own, no matter what I have to do.”

At that moment, Harry thinks he understands why some people come to fear Slytherin. 

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1978; ORIGINAL TIMELINE.) 

“LOOK, LILY-PAD, the princess is drooling again.” 

You open your eyes to glare at Sirius. “I don’t drool, idiot.” 

Lily chortles as she presses a kiss to your shoulder. “Of course you don’t, princess.”

Currently, you’re lying on a shabby loveseat that is too small to hold the three of you; it’s the only furniture in the new cottage you call home, where Potter Manor was right across the street. (Euphemia was ecstatic to have you all nearby — the lovely woman was sprite for her age, but you notice the way she stops to sit and catch her breath, Sirius and James hovering over her attentively; you’re good at pretending, so you pretend that the Potters will be around forever.) Some rooms are dusty with cobwebs, walls unfinished, with the floors creak under your feet, and there’s no other place you’d rather call home. 

You’re in between Sirius and Lily; your lips swollen from their kisses, cheeks flushed and the column of your throat graced with love marks. It’s the most beautiful set of jewelry you’ve ever worn, not even burmese rubies could compare. Lily’s hand rests under your jumper, Sirius’s thigh wedged between your own. While peace blankets the three of you, James and Remus have yet to come home from their task given by the Order. 

“You need a haircut, my love,” You mumble drowsily, pulling at one of the dark ringlets — it’s gone past his shoulders now. He captures your hand and leaves a delicate kiss on your fingertips. 

Lily buries her nose in your hair. “She’s right, Siri.” 

“I’m always right.” You pout. 

Sirius, love-sick fool that he is, smiles as he tilts your chin with his finger and ensnares you in a kiss that leaves you breathless. “Course you are — our girl’s bloody brilliant, isn’t she, Lily-pad?”

“Without a doubt.”

You roll your eyes at their antics, rolling around so that your back is pressed to Sirius’s chest — they’re not fooled, however; Lily sees the way your eyes flicker in amusement and the way your lips threaten to curve up into a smile. She traces the swell of your lips with her thumb, to the dip of your nose, and to the apples of your cheek. Sea-green eyes beam at you.

“I love you,” says Lily, committing every inch of you to her memory as she wears a melancholic smile. “I don’t know who told you that you don’t deserve to be loved, but they were wrong. You are so precious to us, dove, you don’t even know how much. This right here is real — and nothing could ever change that.” 

As it turns out, you did have more smiles to give — only the happy ones; not the fake, courteous smiles that you had given to your mother’s friends in the past. You come to intertwine your hand with Lily’s, the one that had been resting on your cheek, tenderly wiping the tears that pooled within your eyes. Your heart could burst from your chest. They had a habit of wringing every emotion out of you; of making love feel real, not just a myth from a Muggle storybook. And you find, that you didn’t mind this particular habit of theirs. In the comforts of the place you call home, where you irrefutably belong, you are free to seek their arms and fall into their love, and the best part is where you get to love them right back. 

How lucky you are. 

“Let’s get married,” You blurt out, holding your breath, feeling Sirius’s hand on your waist stiffen. 

“What?” Lily gasps breathlessly. 

You smile up at Lily. “Let’s get married. All of us. I don’t care where, o–or about the rings, let’s just get married. With the war going on, we deserve s–something good.” 

Lily sobs as she nods excitedly. “Yes. Oh my Gods—we’re getting married!” 

Sirius stares at you in wonder. “Bloody hell, dove, give a guy some warning, would you?”

You grin. “Is that a yes?” 

“It’s a yes — forever.” Sirius dives in to kiss you senseless. “Couldn’t get rid of us now even if you tried.” 

“I don’t think I’d want to, anyway.” 

Right then, the rickety door slams open, and you hear the loves of your life calling out for the three of you. Followed by the heavy thud of Dragonhide boots plunking down onto the floor

“We’re home!” James announces in the entryway. 

Lily wastes no time in shooting up from the sofa and welcoming them home with quite a unique greeting:

“We’re all getting married!” 

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1976; CURRENTLY, IN THE PAST.) 

“That ring is an heirloom passed down to the children in our family,” You tell Harry, pointing to the band around his finger. “It’s meant to symbolize our loyalty and duty to our House. My mother said I would have earned it only when I became a wife to Ferguson Bulstrode.” You chuckle at Harry’s perturbed grimace. “No, I didn’t marry him — thankfully. After Allegra. . . I—I. . . I couldn’t bear it. If I was going to marry, it would be on my own terms, and it would be for love, nothing less. Then, if my child wanted it, I’d give them this ring. I want to leave behind a legacy that I created. When I was younger, I’d resigned to a fate that was forcefully carved by someone else’s hand.” 

You shake your head. “I want to die being remembered by those who loved me. Otherwise, I was never truly alive.” 

Harry won’t let that happen, he won’t ever let your name be forgotten. He’ll share of your kindness to his friends, of your bravery and loyalty. Hermione will love your fondness of Muggle musicals and how you stood up to Lily’s defense in a world that ostracized her for being different. He’ll remind Remus of your love for him, that he had brought you hope in times of despair. Harry is going to make sure the world knows you had been so full of life with endless love to give. You are going to be remembered in the way Voldemort never will. 

“What do the words mean?” He stares at the writing: Tempus Edax Rerum.

You smile. “Time, devourer of all things.”

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1978; ORIGINAL TIMELINE.)

“REMUS—THE MUGGLES ARE stuck in the telly again!” 

Remus snickers as he takes the vacant space beside you on the loveseat, now sewn up with care and spattered with knitted quilts and throw pillows — still too small to carry three people but hasn’t given out yet, anyway. He takes Lily’s legs over his lap, swiftly stealing a kiss from your lips. “It’s a film, dove, they’re acting.” 

You purse your lips. “They’re trapped inside, then?” 

Lily snorts into her tub of chocolate fudge ice cream. “Not quite, princess, it’s recorded. Movies are like moving photographs — but they’re an hour long with sounds.” 

“Oh.” You turn your attention back to the screen, back to the film Lily had been watching. You had to admit — the story of Sandy and Danny was an interesting one. “Lily-pad, she’s singing — again.” 

Sirius hushes you from where he was cuddling James on the other couch. “She’s supposed to sing, dove, it’s a musical.” 

“Well, yes,” You begin, and James groans into Sirius’s chest, “But they should just talk instead of singing all the time — Sandy’s got a lovely voice, though. I just don’t understand why Danny’s treating her like that! Truthfully, I don’t like any of Sandy’s new friends, other than Frenchy — she’s harmless. If I was Sandy I’d move on from Danny — but then again, that hair and those muscles, and his leather jacket! I can’t blame her.” 

Sirius glowers at you. “You like his leather jacket?” 

“His hair?” James exclaims in horror. 

Remus chuckles as he tucks you in his side, kissing your temple. “If I were you, dove, I’d be quiet and just watch the film.”

“Oh, no, no.” Sirius barely glances at the television as he pauses the film and stands up to point an accusatory finger at you. “Since when were you into leather jackets? Do you think those are cool? Since when? Jamie, should I get one? Let’s unpack this, right now. And his muscles, really?” 

Your eyes roll to the back of your head. “Play the film, Black, I want to see the end of their love story.” 

“I’m telling Euphemia on you!” 

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1976; CURRENTLY, IN THE PAST.) 

“—and then we realized that we accidentally locked Hermione in with the troll.” Harry’s arms flail about as he shares some of his adventures with you — it had only been fair. He felt like a young boy again, entering Hogwarts for the first time as he watched you listen to him intently, gasping at tale of the vanishing glass and scolding him when he says he and Ron had decided to go searching for Hermione, and by extension, the troll. 

Your eyes grow wide. “A troll? In Hogwarts? They can’t have, not unless—”

“Someone let it in—I know!” Harry grins. “You’re not going to believe who let the troll in the castle.” 

You snap your fingers, “Malfoy, the older one. I know that lump’s got something to do with this. Can’t have been Snape or Quirrell.”

“Just you wait.” Harry’s eyes twinkle with mischief. “—and so, Professor McGonagall finds us, and can you believe it? She awards us for dumb luck! Then. . .” 

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1979; ORIGINAL TIMELINE.)

IT HAD COME AS A surprise when you volunteered to join the Order of the Phoenix. You wanted to scoff at their shocked faces — was it so surprising that you wanted to protect your family? They let Severus Snape join their ranks, and you’re fairly certain that you’re a better fighter and survivalist than him — not the better liar, however, he can have that one. The week before, you and the others had an argument that lasted for the whole day. They did not want you in harm’s way, and you would rather die than stay at home, waiting idly for them to return, when you could be out there alongside them. 

(“It’s not some game out there!” Remus runs through his hair in frustration — he had always been so careful to never raise his voice at you, but this one time, he needed you to back down. “Every time you step into a raid, there’s a possibility of you dying, don’t you understand that? And even if you survive — you’ll have blood on your hands, and it does not wash away no matter how many times you try, trust me, we know.” 

“So what?” You throw your hands up in the air, equally aggravated. “I just stay here like some. . . some pet waiting for their owners to come home?” 

“Yes!” Lily angrily replies. “That is the whole point of us joining the Order — so you get to live another day. So we all have a chance at this new world without a war. Let us protect you!”

You grind down on your jaw. “You have got another thing coming, if you think I’m not going to fight tooth and nail for my future.” 

James slams a fist onto the kitchen counter. “There are horrors out there you can’t even imagine. I-It’s worse than we thought. It’s our every nightmare come to life.” 

You raise your chin defiantly. “Then we face it together.”)

Each day, you survive, and each day the five of you return home — scarred and bruised, but safe within the arms of one another. When you collapse and crumble, it is only for the walls of your home to witness. 

Now a month into autumn, you are on your first task without Sirius, James, Lily or even Remus. Instead, you are assigned by Dumbledore to Knockturn Alley along with Peter Pettigrew and Gideon Prewett. How strange time was, years ago you’d never associate with the proud Gryffindors, and now you had to trust them to guard your back. Everyone had to grow up quickly during war, even pranksters. 

The alley was quiet — too quiet for your liking. You had been on alert since the moment you apparated into the area, wand at your ready. The back of your neck prickled with goosebumps as you kept an ear out for any sign of movement. 

Peter shivers and you glance at him — he’s become far too skinny, constantly shrinking into himself out of fear. And while you want to comfort him, you keep your eyes up ahead. Still, there's a nagging feeling that you can’t quite make out. It’s different from all the other times you’ve been asked to search and rescue. 

“Don’t you feel like there’s something wrong?” You ask Gideon, eyes snapping to the flock of crows flying overhead. 

“Dunno, kid,” Gideon says, nudging your shoulder with pressed lips. “Everything about this is freaking me out. The place is too empty.” 

“I get what you mean,” You reply, swallowing your own nervousness. Without waiting for the rest, you speed up your pace. “I’ll scout ahead, who knows what’s been here before us. I don’t want to risk any of our lives, so let’s be careful. Gideon, ward the area while I check for any cursed objects, last time you almost got your arm cut off by a newspaper of all things. And Peter, could you. . . Peter?” 

When you turn to check behind you, it all happens so fast. 

“Avada Kedavra!” 

You scream as Gideon’s deathly pale body falls to the floor. 

“No!” 

You aren’t given a moment to rush to his side — someone digs their wand in the side of your neck, and you stiffen in their hold. It’s not until they hiss in your ear that you recognize the voice. 

“Rosier.” You spit, biting down on your lip when he presses the tip of his wand further into your flesh. 

“Stupid witch,” He taunts, eyes dilating with vengeance. “Where are your lovers now?” 

“Jealous?” You claw at his arms, chest heaving up and down. “We don’t have room for one more, sorry.”

“Shut up!” He pushes you to the ground in blind rage, and that’s all the opening you need. 

“Expulso!” 

Each curse you send his way lands on his cloaked body, sending him staggering backwards. With ease, you deflect each spell he counters with. You’re winning, he is growing tired, and perhaps that is why you let your guard down. 

“Accio wand!” 

The magic fizzles out, and the spell dies on your lips. As you swivel your head to find out who’s stolen your wand, you expect to find another Death Eater — except it’s Peter. Just Peter Pettigrew, quivering in his boots with tears and snot dripping down his face, your wand in his free hand. You furrow your brows — it doesn’t make sense. 

“Peter?” You call out. 

“Crucio!” 

The curse finds its home in your body — and it sinks deep into your flesh, grinding your bones until you slump to the ground, wriggling as you draw blood from your lips, refusing to let them hear an ounce of your pain. Blood trickles down your nose as you hear Evan Rosier dancing around you in glee. You know this curse well; the sound of your father condemning you gleefully echo in your head. You crawl over to Gideon — hand desperately reaching for his shirt. 

“Crucio!” Rosier grabs you by the hair and howls with laughter. “Scream for me again—Crucio!” 

It’s as though someone had begun to rip you in half. Your bones shift and crack with every uttered curse. The veins in your eyes have popped and through bloody vision, you see Peter cowering away from you.

“You—fucking—traitor,” You gurgle, throat welling up with blood that’s risen from your stomach. “They’ll—never—forgive you—never.” 

“Crucio! Crucio! Crucio! Come on, witch — SCREAM! Look at her go, Pettigrew, crawling like some pathetic worm.” 

You lay in your owl pool of blood, wearing a body that is marred and lacerated. But you see something in Gideon’s hand. I’m sorry, you want to tell him. I’ll get you home to Molly, you promise, please lend me your magic this once. With every last bit of your strength, just as Rosier directs another curse at you — one you know you won’t survive — you snatch the wand from Gideon’s hand and tear the last of your magic from your throat. 

“Defodio!” 

You wait with a bated breath as silence fills the alley; lucky to have remembered Professor Flitwick’s quick remark as to how the slight difference in pronouncing a charm could alter its effect. Rosier stands on shaky legs, a stream of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. You watch as he looks down to his chest, where a gaping hole now lies instead of where his ribcage and heart should be. As Gideon had done before him, Evan Rosier crashes to the ground. 

That just leaves one more problem. 

Peter scurries to your side the moment Rosier can hurt him no longer. “I-I’m sorry—I’m sorry. I had to. . . T–They killed my mum, they killed M–Mary, and t–they said I would die too if I d–didn’t do this. I’m sorry. Y–Your father was there, too. He said he would take you in, let you l–live if you joined us. W–We can live, t–there’s still a chance for us to survive.” 

Your fingers are bent at unsightly angles, the remnants of the Torture Curse still flowing through your veins, but your face contorts in anger as you let your hand curl around his neck. He sobs louder, and though your grip is weakening — you make sure he looks into your eyes, that he feels your touch.

“I’d rather—die.” You say through gritted teeth, nails drawing blood from his grimy skin. “You’ll die too—you’ll feel my blood on your skin—everywhere you go, Peter.” 

Peter shakes his head, now clumsily pushing his wand down to the center of your chest. “Y–You were the only o–one who d–didn’t laugh at me. N–Not like the others.” 

“When they find out—you’re dead, Pettigrew.” You laugh darkly as more blood exits your body through your lips. “There’s nowhere you can hide—you’re a dead man.” 

“P-Please die,” Peter cries out, each killing spell coming out as a garbled whisper. “Please die,  s–so I can live. I c–can’t fight anymore, I’m tired.” 

Your vision goes a hazy shade of white, Peter’s silhouette fading away to the familiar scenery of your cottage in Godric’s Hollow. 

Oh.

Dying is less painful than you had expected it to be. It’s like coming home after a day’s work. 

You just wanted to rest now. 

The world caves in on you, and you barely hear Peter’s next words. 

“Avada Kedavra.” 

(It’s past midnight when Peter Pettigrew arrives at Grimmauld Place, where it’s been altered to host the members of the Order, Lily sobs in relief and gathers him in her arms. 

You’ll feel my blood on your skin.

You’re a dead man. 

Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. 

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re home safe — welcome home — thank the Gods you’re alive,” Lily blabbers through her tears, checking his face for any major injuries. “Merlin, what happened? There’s too much blood on you. It’s on your shirt and your face.” 

“It’s not mine,” says Peter hoarsely. 

Sirius’s gaze darkens, arms crossed over his jacket as he leaned against the wall. “Where is she?” 

Lily nods, standing on her tiptoes to search for any sign of you. “Peter? I–Is she alright? Has something happened to her?” 

Peter stays silent for a moment too long, and he finds himself slammed against the wall behind him, Sirius snarling in his face as he seizes the front of Peter’s soiled shirt. “Where the fuck is she, Pettigrew?” 

Peter begins to weep. “I–It was an ambush. None of us saw it coming. Gideon r–ran. She was taking on two Death-Eaters at once and I–I was too far away.” 

Lily collapses to the ground with a heart-wrenching scream.

Sirius growls as he drives his fist to the wall, inches away from Peter’s face. “Where is her body?” 

“It was a disintegration spell.” With Severus Snape — brought to the Malfoy Manor to be made as an example of what happens to blood-traitors. 

James pushes Sirius out of the way and grabs a hold of Peter, knocking his head against the concrete. “It should have been you—” James snaps at Peter. “If it came down to you or her—you should have saved her!” 

“W-What?” Peter stammers, eyes wide. “She chose to save m–me.” 

James sneers at him. “You should have just died.”)

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

(1996; CURRENTLY, IN THE PRESENT.) 

ST. JEROME’S GRAVEYARD had exactly one visitor. Remus Lupin sits in between James and Lily’s graves, a bottle of firewhiskey in his hand — four empty at his side. He must be going crazy. There’s no funeral for Sirius as there’s no body to actually bury, Harry is presumed missing after an attack in Diagon Alley, and your name stares back at him mockingly. He tries not to dwell on your passing — there have been too many holes, too many details left unsaid; and he knows just the rat who has all the answers. Unfortunately, Wormtail won’t come out of whatever hole he’s crawled into. Either him, or Severus. 

He sighs, rubbing the temples of his head to ease the growing pains. 

You are the first to be buried of the five. Like Sirius, there had been no recovered body to lay to rest, but they asked for a compromise instead. Your name is engraved under Euphemia’s in her tombstone, and Remus figures it’s the fitting place to leave you be — with your mother, welcoming you home with open arms. He hopes you’re at peace, wherever you are. (Because, honestly, at this point, he might just fucking follow you.) 

Remus takes another swig of his alcohol, laughing bitterly to himself. He glances at James’s headstone and raises his bottle to him. “Not even in death, huh?”

He downs the last of the drink, rising to his tremulous legs. Remus gathers the flower bouquets he had bought earlier this morning; lilies-of-the-valley for Lily, white carnations for Euphemia, forget-me-nots for you, and for James — Remus leaves a moving photograph of him and Sirius; it’s a snapshot taken by Lily during the wedding as James dips his head low to kiss Sirius. Remus thinks it’s a wonderful memory to remember them by. 

“Take care of them for me, Jamie.”

And that is all the goodbyes Remus has the strength for. 

end note. i think i was crying the whole time i was writing this part, LMAO. i should be able to wrap things up in the next one. important!! there is actually a scene i was hesitant to include, but i ended up writing anyway. it's the whole part where allegra greengrass breaks down, and it was difficult for me to decide because i knew the implications; that i had a strong underlying message in that part, and i don't want it to be misconstrued or anything. pls pls tell me if it comes off as offensive, i definitely don't want to hurt anyone. nevertheless, thank you again so so so much for reading!! if you spot a plot hole, no you didnt!! i hope the time-jumps weren't too confusing! again, thank you so so much for reading!!

[theosbutterfly]

the best thing at this party — t. nott

❝ fighting in only your army frontlines, don't you ignore me i'm the best thing at this party ❞

pairing: jealous!theo x malfoy!reader

context: at yours and draco's annual back-to-hogwarts bash, a pair of weasleys show up uninvited, much to theo's dismay.

words: 2.3k+

warnings: jealousy, somewhat possessive behavior, reader's kind of a bitch, theo's kind of an asshole, marijuana use, alcohol use, vomiting, a little fluff, mainly angst

"so where's the principessa?" you hear theo bring you up in conversation as you and pansy descend the stairs to join the boys in the foyer. "taking extra time to fix up her hair?"

"é un dato di fatto, lo ero," as a matter of fact, i was. you lean a hand against the banister, stopping on the last step, eyes focusing on theo. there's a chance you may or may not have learned italian just to make sure he couldn't insult you without your knowledge—not that it stopped him, but at least this way, you could defend yourself. "it takes time to look this good. but glad to know you noticed my absence."

"ooh, she got you there, mate," blaise chuckles, placing a hand on theo's shoulder, who shrugs it off.

"whatever," he spat, rolling his eyes. "i need a drink."

"finally something i can get on board with," mattheo points a finger at him, and they both turn to head towards the sitting room, pansy trailing closely behind them.

"is pans still trying to get with matt?" enzo asks, tilting his head up at you as they walked away.

"beats me," you shrugged, stepping down the last step and glancing between them. "now, why are you two standing here like a bunch of statues? last i checked, party's over there." you point your thumb towards the parlor, which appeared to be glowing green.

"the gate's still open," blaise shrugs. "draco wants us to watch for 'undesirables'."

"undesirables?" you repeat the word just so he could hear how ridiculous it sounded. "has he gone mad?"

"he wants to make sure no one from the other houses show up," blaise clarifies.

"fuck that," you shake your head. "come on." you link your arms with one of blaise's and one of enzo's, waving a finger up in the air. "colloportus!" the spell causes the front door and front gate to seal shut, as you begin walking with blaise and enzo towards the music. "now, where's dobby?"

your house elf immediately appears in front of you at the sound of his name.

"dobby is here, miss y/n," he looks up at you. "what can dobby do for you?"

you unlink your arms from blaise and enzo's and crouch down to be eye level with him. "fetch me the good liquor from the cellar downstairs, and then come find me when you've got it."

he nods. "dobby is on it miss y/n!"

—

"what are you doing standing here all alone?" daphne greengrass saunters over to theo, who was leaning against the bar, a drink in hand.

"daphne greengrass," theo greets her. "i'm surprised you're here. wouldn't the head girl disapprove of rowdy parties as such?" he waves his drink towards the crowd that had turned the malfoy's parlor into a makeshift dance floor, and she chuckles.

"i'm turning over a new leaf," she shrugs, taking a sip of her own drink. "it is our last year, after all."

"thank merlin for that," you walk between them, and lean over the bar to reach for four shot glasses.

"y/n," daphne's voice is strained as she clears her throat. "nice to see you."

you stand up straight after retrieving what you were looking for and turn your head towards her. "i'd say the same, but i'm not a liar."

theo shifts his eyes between the two of you, slightly amused at the way daphne takes a deep breath to keep her composure while you throw her a close-lipped smile.

"where'd you get the bottle, y/n?" he cuts in to prevent a cat fight from breaking out between you and daphne, and eyes the bottle of fire whiskey in your hand.

you look at him. "i had dobby fetch it from the cellar," you say. "pans and i are gonna drink it dry."

"just the two of you?" he raises an eyebrow, condescension painting his features. "does draco know about that?"

"why?" you challenge. "are you gonna go run off and tattle on me?"

before he could reply, another voice cuts in. "oi, malfoy! are we getting pissed or what?"

you turn your attention away from theo to the one of the weasleys you'd found lurking around the corners. "well, you're quite the impatient one, aren't you, freddie?"

heat rises in theo's chest when he gets a better look of the guy under the green light, and realizes its a weasley. what the hell was he doing here? and why were you allowing it?

"time is of the essence, darling," fred tells you. "george and i are trying to get a taste of this drink you've got before we inevitably get kicked out of here."

"what are you doing here, weasley?" theo speaks through gritted teeth, and looks at you. "you invited them?"

"of course not," you shrug. "they snuck in."

theo's eyes narrow at you. "and you're offering them a drink instead of throwing them out?"

"they ditched their house colors to don ours for the night," you tell him, eyes focused on fred. "i think that deserves them a little taste of slytherin."

theo doesn't miss the way fred's eyes trail over your body, and rolls his eyes. "maybe even more than a little," fred smirks.

you giggle at his words, but before you could walk away with him, theo grabs the back of your arm, pulling you close, his lips right above your ear. "cosa fai?" what are you doing?

you tilt your head up to have your eyes meet his. "mi sto divertendo," i'm having fun. "dovresti provarlo qualche volta." you should try it sometime.

you yank your arm out of his hold and don't give him a chance to respond, waltzing away towards the crowd.

"merlin, she is fit," fred comments, watching the way your hips sway as you walk away. "is she seeing anyone?"

"if she was, it certainly wouldn't be you," theo tells him.

"we'll see about that, mate. excuse me," fred throws him a smirk, before walking away to follow you across the room.

theo watches as he does, bringing his glass up to his lips to finish of his drink.

"do you-" daphne starts, but he doesn't let her finish, slamming his glass down on the bar and walking off.

—

"you all look pissed," pansy stumbles over to the guys, who were seated in a secluded area of the manor that was somewhat devoid of all the noise from the party in the parlor, passing around a joint.

"not as much as you, it seems," mattheo chuckles as she falls beside him, head falling against his shoulder. "where you been?"

"drinking with y/n," she says, eyes slowly fluttering close.

"that was your first mistake," enzo tuts, taking a long drag and inhaling. "that girl can drink double her weight in alcohol."

"mhm," pansy hums, eyes fully closing as her body falls limp against mattheo.

"alright," mattheo shifts, just enough to wake her and get her up on her feet. "look like someone's had enough for the night. come on." he begins to the guide pansy out of the room, his eyes telling the guys that he'd be right back.

"what the bloody hell did they even drink?" blaise asks, shifting his eyes between theo and enzo.

"fire whiskey," theo blows smoke out of his mouth and takes another drag. 

blaise's eyes widen. "and they didn't think to share? bloody wankers."

"they were too busy sharing it with y/n's new conquests," theo replies bitterly, passing the joint off to him.

"seems to me she's sharing more than that," enzo cuts in, raising his silver flask to point at you and fred on the opposite side of the room, where surely enough, you were tucked between him and the wall, one hand beside your head and one hand on you waist.

"oh, bloody hell," theo rolls his eyes, pulling a chuckle out from enzo.

"who is that guy anyway?"

"fred weasley," theo grits out.

"you're bloody kidding," blaise snickers, leaning forward to flick off some ash from the a joint. 

"oh, i'm bloody serious," theo nods. "he's been eye-fucking her since she showed him the tiniest bit of attention. it was quite pathetic, if you ask me."

"what's with the bitterness, mate?" enzo asks, attention shifting to theo. "you jealous?"

theo scoffs. "jealous? please. non durerà in alcun modo." no way that's gonna last. you weren't exactly the "relationship" type.

enzo shakes his head. "no clue what that means, but it didn't sound nice."

"you know how y/n is," theo tells him, hand motioning towards you and fred across the room. "it's nothing but a game to her."

"so what?" blaise asks, handing the joint over back to enzo. "you bitter she won't let you play?"

"who won't let who play?" mattheo rejoins them, and sits back down beside theo.

"theo's jealous fred weasley's got his claws in y/n," enzo catches him up.

"alright," theo stands from the sofa, no longer wanting to hear anymore of it. "i'm done with this shit."

—

unfortunately for theo, the second he headed for the bar and away from the boys, you were also already there with fred.

"alright, freddie, what's it gonna be?" your body was bent over the bar counter, fred's eyes trailing over it as you tried to reach for two different bottles. "rum or brandy?"

"oh, i'm in the mood for something much tastier, love," fred flirts, causing theo to roll his eyes.

"bloody hell," you hear theo mutter, and stand up straight after taking a hold of the two bottles you were looking for. "can't you two do this elsewhere?"

"well, no one's forcing you to stand there and watch," you retort, eyes shooting him an ice cold glare.

"for merlin's sake," he groans, clearly frustrated. "if you wanna fuck him, at least do it in one of the many private rooms upstairs so you can at least keep some of your dignity."

the words fall out of his mouth before he can stop them, making you scoff and set both bottles down before getting close to him to make sure he hears you loud and clear. "fuck you."

you walk away from both of them and head for the corridor, while fred looks at theo.

"that-"

"don't fucking say anything, weasley," theo cuts him off, and leaves him behind, legs immediately following after you.

"y/n, wait!" he takes grab of your wrist and pulls to make you stop and turn to look at him.

"get off!" you shake his hand off your wrist, arms crossing in front of your chest as you looked at him.

"oh, smettila di essere una tale stronza," oh, stop being such a bitch. he tells you.

"you know what theo-" you start to give him a piece of your mind, when an uneasy feeling suddenly creeps into your stomach and slides up the back of your throat. 

fuck.

you immediately push past him to head for the nearest bathroom and he follows, as your knees hit the cold tile floor and reminiscents of what you ate before you started drinking came pouring out into the toilet in front of you.

"alright," theo winces, crouching down beside you to take a hold of your hair and gently rub a hand up and down your back. "let it out."

—

"ugh," you complain, swinging your bedroom door open and proceeding inside as you tucked your now messed up hair behind your ears. "this was not how this night was suppose to go."

theo chuckles behind you, closing your door and tossing your heels down on the ground beside your dresser.

"oh, i'm so glad you find this amusing," you spat, undoing your hair and placing the bobby pins down on your vanity.

"i just find it funny that even after two years of drinking, you still can't hold shit down," he says, taking a seat at the edge of your bed.

you mimic his words, but don't actually say anything. "ugh!" you groan loudly when it suddenly becomes much harder to tug your dress off. "why is this not-"

you stop when you feel cold fingers trail across and down your back, your skin feeling like over a hundred degrees. "hai dimenticato di aprirlo, farfalla." you forgot to unzip it, butterfly.

your eyes threaten to flutter close at the deep sound of his voice, goosebumps rising upon your skin, as he slowly unzipped the back of your dress. "theo���"

his hand lingers above your lower back, as he leaned down, lips just right above your ear. "potresti fare meglio di weasley, lo sai?" you could do better than weasley, you know that?

his breath on your ear makes a shiver run down your spine, as your head tilted back against him. "mostramelo meglio allora." show me better then.

to anyone else, this would seem odd. but to the two of you, this was just how you worked. one second you were bickering, and the next, whispering sweet nothings. it was a dance that you both knew all too well.

though the thread he used to keep you at a distance threatened to snap, theo holds himself back—you were draco's baby sister. he wasn't suppose to want you. he couldn't.

"dovresti dormire un po'," you should get some sleep. he lets himself stay beside you for one more moment, before finally pulling away—to your disappointment.

"you're not gonna stay?" you grab at the sides of your dress to keep it from falling down as you turned to look at him.

"non posso," i can't. he shakes his head at you, despite your forming pout. he didn't know what he'd get himself into if he stayed, and a part of him was afraid to find out. "buona notte, farfalla."

good night, butterfly.

part 2 coming soon!!!

re-entering my slytherin boys era bc tension with theo is the BEST kind of tension, and hopefully this didn't disappoint.

reblogs and comments are deeply appreciated <33

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tags: @helendeath @freshlypickledpancakes

[cobaltperun]

Move the Mountain - Get off my Back

Hermione Granger x Female Reader

Story Summary: From what you heard going to Hogwarts wasn't supposed to be anything out of the ordinary. Homework, grumpy teachers, easy-going teachers, followed by a slice of teenage drama in later years when emotions start getting messy. Whoever thought that's how your years at Hogwarts would go forgot one crucial point. Two words, actually one name. Harry Potter.

Chapter summary: You had a simple plan, get to school, study enough to do well, graduate, help your great-grandmother in her shop. Things never go as planned, and now you have a professor keen on drilling all the potions into your head.

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Word count: 9.1k

- I think it's time you better face the fact get off of my back-

Forged by Thunder wasn't exactly the kind of place one would expect on the edges of the Diagon Alley. It stood on the edges of the light, closest to the darkness of the Knockturn Alley, perfectly placed as an unofficial border between two sides. Products and the services the shop offered teetered on the edges, often at least flirting with the dark side, and on select occasions diving deep into it.

And with such practices came scorn of the righteous and ridicule of the nefarious. Belonging to neither side left them with no protection, and yet, despite tragedies, they persisted. At least the old woman, the last carrying the Wolzard family name, did. It was a sad fate, truly, that a pure-blood family as old as Wolzard was vanishing.

It hardly mattered though. Lucius Malfoy wasn’t here to dwell on the tragedy of one family, he was here to do business. Ignoring the ‘closed’ sign hanging from the doors, he commanded his house-elf to push the heavy doors open. The nerve of the old hag; if she wanted heavy doors she shouldn’t have enchanted them with protection from magic, and he wasn’t about to put an effort into opening the doors.

The house-elf, Dobby, obediently stood by the doors, for once behaving like he should. The moment Lucius stepped inside the air became thick with magic flowing from the artefacts kept under tight locks and plenty of seals, the hag’s specialty. From weapons to rare ingredients, to rare books, powerful potions, and dangerous items, it was all here, and none of it was cheap. And if these items couldn’t solve a problem, and one didn’t want to turn to the less legal options, there was always the owner of the shop. Valeria Wolzard, a witch well over a century old, hardened by wars and battles.

And despite all the magic flowing in the room the air suddenly became so heavy he ever so slightly hunched because of the pressure. “Money made you illiterate, Malfoy?” her harsh voice boomed throughout the room as she stood on the floor above him. It felt like the air was crackling with energy, and cold sweat washed over him. “The shop is closed,” the old hag wasn’t informing him, she was ordering him to leave and he nearly crumbled under the pressure and left with his dignity and pride shattered. Not that many would ridicule him for leaving when ordered by Valeria Wolzard. He dared to look at her. Valeria Wolzard, even as old as she was, was still a visage of power. Tall, though age did take its toll on her posture, a glimmer of metal shone just below her silky olive-green robes, her prosthetic leg, replacing flesh decades ago. And then there was her face, wrinkled from age, and scarred from battles, but the ones that stood out the most were two scars across her left eye, going diagonally from her forehead close to her upper lip.

Lucius swallowed, reminding himself why he was here. "Perhaps you could hear me out, it's a good deal for you," he tried to tempt her with money, forgetting who he was talking to. The glare alone made him involuntarily take a step back.

“I came down here to deal with an intruder, I’ll give you one last chance to leave before I actually do it,” she openly threatened, and while he did need her products there were other ways to get them, and he wasn’t about to risk his well-being.

“Right, I apologize,” he felt sick to his stomach for having to bow his head to the woman, but power, especially in the hands of those not afraid to use it, had to be respected, no matter who wielded it.

~X~

You yawned, woken up by your great-grandmother throwing a bit of a fit. Probably someone making a ridiculous request at the shop. Well, it had nothing to do with you, so, you turned to your side, trying to fall asleep again, but before you could return to the land of the dreams a light weight landed on your pillow and you groaned, covering your head with the blanket, only for the persistent owl to climb up onto your shoulder and peck you through the blanket.

“Go away Bird Sixth of the Fourth,” how was that name less of a mouthful than ‘Bird Forty-sixth’? Besides, someone really needed to make Valeria put some effort into naming her owls. She just liked messing with people, nothing could convince you otherwise. Especially when the eagle owl hooted. “Fine, fine, I’m getting up,” you sat up in your bed against your will and just slumped back into the bed, consequences be damned.

Surprisingly, there were no consequences, and when you went downstairs after another hour of sleep you saw Valeria in the kitchen, which wasn’t the usual occurrence. “Morning,” you greeted her and peeked from behind her. Pancakes? You grinned a bit, she was actually going to miss you, she just wasn’t vocal about it.

“Say it properly, brat,” she scolded you.

“Good morning,” you groaned and went to the table, still not quite awake. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the shop?”

“We’re closed,” she simply informed you as she put the pancakes on the plate and drizzled homemade syrup and a bit of powdered sugar over them. As usual she wasn’t using magic, saying tasks like these helped her stay mobile in old age.

It took a moment for your brain to process the information it was given. Forged by Thunder was never closed, not even when you first came here two years ago. “Aww, you do care,” you grinned like a fool as Valeria glared at you.

“Take the plate and go pack!” she barked at you, trying to act tough, and sure, she was tough, but there was a bit of softness buried deep under all that toughness.

You saluted jokingly and swiftly grabbed the plate, already taking a bite of one of the pancakes. “Yes, Ma’am!” you exclaimed and ran upstairs.

“It’s ‘grandma’ not Ma’am, you brat!” she shouted after you and you laughed. You were going to miss her.

Especially since you were going to Hogwarts, and that was where Dumbledore was. The thought of being at the same place as the man whose word allowed the people who hurt your family to avoid punishment made you wish Valeria would send you to some other school, anywhere else in the world, but she wouldn’t risk it. And, as she put it, if you intended to take over the shop one day you needed the connections Hogwarts offered.

~X~

The next day you genuinely wished you were already at Hogwarts, not because you were excited about Hogwarts itself. You just wanted to avoid taking the train there. You had a bit of a motion sickness which wasn’t too bad on the brooms, but trains and cars were the worst. Headache, feeling like you were going to throw up, occasionally throwing up, you just wanted to find an empty compartment, or at least one that wasn’t completely full, curl up and sleep.

“Try not to look outside,” Valeria reminded you and you were happily going to take her advice. She was walking by your side, getting attention from the witched and wizards even if they were here to say goodbye to their children. It made you a bit uncomfortable and all of a sudden you felt the weight of your family ties to her. The shadow the great witch was casting was so large you doubted you could ever be capable of reaching that level. Even with all the effort she was putting into preparing you. You were never too young to learn how to defend yourself, or at your age escape from danger.

“Will you write?” somehow you haven’t talked about that, sure, she’s given you an owl, appropriately names Bird Seventh of the Fourth despite your protests, but you haven’t specified anything about letters.

“When I have time,” well, that meant not as often as you may like, but it was a promise of a handful of letters reaching you during the school year.

“Right, how generous,” you said sarcastically.

“The sass is appreciated,” and in a rare display of affection Valeria ruffled your hair and then nudged you toward the train. “Go on, off to school,” she ordered before you could protest, and you turned around seeing a hint of a soft smile on her face. Yeah, she’d miss you, probably even more than you’d miss her.

~X~

In the end you did find an empty compartment and quickly got comfortable, intending to try and sleep through the train ride. The doors of your compartment suddenly opened and you saw a girl, you guessed she was about fifteen years old, lean in a bit. She was already wearing her robes, her light brown hair was long, nearly reaching her waist and her eyes were a striking emerald-green.

"Hey, you looked lonely," she said, smiling at you.

You remained silent, mostly due to the surprise, the last thing you expected was for someone to come in here like that. And you were a bit disappointed that you didn’t get to fall asleep before the train left the station.

The girl raised an eyebrow at the lack of reaction. "That wasn't a great way to open a conversation, huh?" she said sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head. "I'm Gemma Farley, nice to meet you," even as she acknowledged how abrupt her entrance was she still just strolled in and offered you her hand.

You blinked a few times before finally accepting the handshake. "Y/N L/N, nice to meet you too, Gemma," Valeria was your maternal great-grandmother, so you didn’t share the last name, which, you hoped, would give you a bit of anonymity at school.

She smiled, apparently satisfied with your answer, and sat down on the seat in front of you. "And yet you came with Valeria Wolzard,” right, most people did see you with her.

And the anonymity you hoped for flew out the window like a crazy witch on a misbehaving broom.

You nodded. "She’s my great-grandmother," you replied, with a hint of a smile on your face that was strikingly similar to Valeria’s. "And I wasn't lonely."

Gemma smirked. "Please forgive me for assuming, I didn't see all these people around you," she was definitely being sarcastic.

You stared at her, not quite used to being on the receiving end of sarcastic remarks, eventually you huffed and looked outside just as the train began moving. Which was a mistake as you felt like your stomach twisted and you quickly turned your attention to Gemma. "And what about you? You're on your own as well.”

Gemma leaned back into her seat, she looked relaxed, completely unbothered by being on her own. "I don't really feel like listening about O.W.L. before the year even starts. Besides, since I’m a prefect it's not a bad idea to check up on new kids," she explained. "Also, everyone is going crazy about Potter being here and I wanted a bit of a break from that."

"Not a big fan?" you asked curiously. You didn’t have much of an opinion on Potter, positive or otherwise. You didn’t know him.

Gemma shook her head. "It's not that, I just don't feel like the boy needs to be suffocated by all that attention. And you?"

"Don't really care,” you shrugged, though you guessed you did feel sorry for him for losing his parents before he even got a chance to know them.

Gemma nodded "What house would you like to get sorted into? Slytherin like Valeria?" she changed the subject.

Well, your entire family on your mother’s side was sorted into Slytherin, so it made sense. “I guess,” you’d be glad, but it wasn’t like your heart would break if you weren’t in Slytherin. Besides, you weren’t smart enough for Ravenclaw, kind enough for Hufflepuff, and you definitely weren’t reckless enough for Gryffindor, so that left only Slytherin.

The girl smiled at that. "Well, future housemate, I look forward to our next year."

The two kept talking, much to her horror you lacked any interest in Quidditch, you were about as informed about it as muggle-borns, only without curiosity to learn about it. They were constantly flying on the brooms and that was enough to turn you away from it, and anything related to flying really. "Brooms are for cleaning and anything without wings should just stay on the ground," you said it with such conviction Gemma couldn't really find the will to argue, regardless of how ridiculous your statement was to her.

As the train slowly came to a stop you looked to the side, realizing time passed in a blur while you were with Gemma. Even your motion sickness wasn’t that bad! "Thanks, talking with you was fun," you admitted, though you found it difficult to look her in the eyes after you said that.

Gemma laughed as she noticed how embarrassed you were and patted you on the head. "Don't mention it, I had fun too."

~X~

As he and the rest of the first-years anxiously waited for their sorting to take place Draco Malfoy searched for a familiar face. He couldn't see you, but he knew you were there, he stopped observing the crowd and turned his attention to the walls and there you were, just leaning against the wall. You always were a bit of a loner; it ran in your blood from what his father had told him when he advised him to try and at least be civil with you if he couldn’t form a proper friendship. He strolled over to you, confident in himself, with Crabbe and Goyle right behind him.

"There you are," he crossed his arms as he reached you. Despite knowing you weren’t big on socializing, he expected you to seek him out, after all, Valeria sometimes worked for his father, but perhaps you simply weren’t as gifted for recognizing valuable friendships as he was.

You tilted your head to the side as if you were confused by Draco's approach. "Draco," you acknowledged with a nod. "Lackey #1, Lackey #2," neither Draco nor Crabbe and Goyle knew which of the two was #1, it did annoy the two nonetheless.

Draco, however, wasn't concerned about that. "Where were you?"

Your confusion seemed to grow with each passing second. "Away from you; I don't think I could take riding a train and being with you at the same time."

That did annoy Draco, not to mention how the two of you talking was getting the attention of some of the other students. "Y/N," he bit his tongue before he could bring up Valeria.

The warning in his voice did get your attention and you glared at him, silently warning him to back off.  "Look, we'll likely end up in the same house, so how about a deal? You leave me alone and I leave you alone?"

Preferably this conversation would have ended a bit differently, but he wasn’t stupid. You were too stubborn for your own good. "Sure."

As he said that, Professor McGonagall came back. "Now, form a line and follow me," she said and the students did as they were told.

~X~

You were, much like you predicted, sorted into Slytherin, and damn near instantly as well. Gemma grinned at you, welcoming you into the house as you took a seat at the Slytherin table and waited for the sorting to end.

When sorting was over Albus Dumbledore stood up and beamed at the students with his arms open wide. "Welcome," he began warmly, so warmly one would be shocked to know he helped cover up a crime. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" he sat down and everyone clapped and cheered for whatever reason.

You raised an eyebrow at that and glanced at Gemma; she just shrugged, as if to tell you you’d eventually get used to it. ‘Definitely not what I expected,' this was different from the man you saw once, back then he was cruel, acting based on what was more useful to him, and here he was acting almost like he was just a kind and powerful old man. Then you noticed the food that appeared out of nowhere, courtesy of house-elves if you had to guess.

Your stomach growled at the sight of the food, reminding you of how hungry you were. And you were famished since you haven’t eaten anything on the train and barely had anything for breakfast to avoid throwing up. So, you dug in, and it actually tasted good! As the dinner came to a close Dumbledore stood up again. "Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well," Dumbledore's eyes briefly focused on the Gryffindor table, and you figured he likely had someone in mind when he said that.

After that brief pause, he continued. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year; the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Of course, that man could so casually talk about death. Your eyes narrowed just a bit as you watched the old man. You forced yourself to relax, not wanting to draw attention to yourself, even though you could have sworn Dumbledore looked you in the eyes just for a split second.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" Dumbledore's sudden exclamation made your eyes widen. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words. "Everyone pick your favorite tune and off we go!" the man said and the entire hall began singing quite loudly.

Your eyebrow twitched at that, especially when you saw the words you were meant to sing. "Not a chance," you wouldn't be caught dead singing, anything, especially not a song that started with: "Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, teach us something please, whether-"

It was embarrassing. Plain and simple too silly.

No, no way. None of that. You were not going to sing. And judging by either reluctance or downright refusal to sing you saw in some of the students you figured you'd love it in Slytherin.

~X~

Waking up without the usual magical pressure Valeria and items in the shop exuded felt strangely disturbing. You remembered how long it took you to get used to Forged by Thunder, and now you were actually missing that feeling. Not that there wasn’t something different about Hogwarts as well, the air felt charged with magical energy, but in a different way and you couldn’t quite put your finger on it. Either way you figured you should take a stroll through the castle to get more familiar with it.

You would simply pick a path and walk without actual destination in mind, and if you ended up someplace interesting then that would be great, if not, better luck next time.

Honestly, you were mesmerized by the castle, somehow it just felt warm and welcoming. When you first saw it you thought it would feel empty and cold, mostly due to how big it was, but it turned out you were wrong. Actual cold aside, which seemed to be permanent for at least the dungeons, it just felt right, soothing even.

"Oooh! Looky what we have here!" you heard a voice and assumed it was one of the ghosts or portraits since you didn’t see anyone right away, but then you saw him, looking exactly like your parents described him while they were telling you about Hogwarts. Peeves, the Poltergeist.

You barely evaded chalk pelted at your head. "What? You thought the color would suit me?" you complained; not fond of being attacked for no reason. Though, you guessed no one was fond of that. Peeves cackled and pulled the rug from underneath your feet, forcing you to jump a few steps to avoid falling.

Peeves pelted another chalk at you and you murmured a ‘thank you’ to Valeria for drilling all the exercises into your routine as you jumped up and grabbed the stairs railing above you. The poltergeist cackled and grabbed a bucket filled with water just as you were pulling yourself up and over the railing with great effort. "Wouldn't want to get soaked, now, would you?" flying had a lot of advantages, as you figured the moment you saw Peeves above you ready to pour the water right on top of you.

You just barely lunged forward over the stairs and up to the next floor, it wasn't far, barely four feet away from where you previously stood, but it ensured only a few drops actually reached you. Smirking, you began running up the next staircase, shifting your weight from left to right to avoid the chalk ricocheting all around you. A bunch of papers obscured your vision as you ran through them up the last staircase only to barely avoid an armor that was promptly placed in your path. "Good one Peeves, nearly got me!" what you didn't count on was professor McGonagall appearing around the corner, you yelped, desperately moving aside and crashed through the doors into a broom closet instead of her.

"Miss L/N, what do you think you're doing?" she sounded like she was just about to take your points, but then she notices Peeves. "Peeves! How many times do I need to warn you not to put students in danger?!" oh, she was really pissed and you weren’t so keen on staying there.

As you tried to silently walk away, hoping she’d be distracted by the poltergeist, the older witch turned around. "Miss L/N," she sternly said your last name and you flinched and stopped. You did make a mess in the broom closet.

"Sorry about the mess, professor?" you asked, not sure what else to say.

She understood what you were worried about and with a wave of her wand the closet was cleaned up. "Did you get hurt?" she asked, she still sounded strict, but you could tell she wasn't angry. She was actually worried. Well, you did crash into the closet.

“Oh, no, I’m fine. Had worse,” you shrugged it off.

Professor McGonagall seemed amused by that. “Valeria?” she assumed, meaning she was probably more than aware of your great-grandmother’s methods.

“Tough love,” you grinned a bit, though, if dodging Peeves proved anything it was that her methods were effective. “Counting on spells to keep you safe all the time is asking to be hurt, or so she says,”

She nodded, clearly familiar with the phrase. "Good, go to madam Pomfrey if you feel any pain," she told you, and seeing as you seemed to be fine she moved on to wherever she was going before you nearly collided into her.

You ran your fingers through your hair, relieved that went about as smoothly as it could, and she even got Peeves to stop. There was still a good chance Peeves would come back so you really needed to get out of there.

As you continued your exploration of the school you saw something fairly amazing when you stumbled upon the library. A stack of books shakily levitating out of it.

You tilted your head and curiously approached the books, only to realize the books weren't levitating. A girl with incredibly bushy hair that was peeking from behind cover of books was trying to take what looked like a tower of books that obscured her vision out of the library.

"Let me help you with that," you offered and ran over to her. There was no way she'd be able to get to her common room with all those books without an accident.

"I'm fine," her voice was bossy and stubborn, but it also sounded strained, she was definitely struggling.

"Don't be so stubborn," you pleaded, definitely not wanting to watch her get buried under a pile of books, but she wasn’t budging, she even took a step to the side to send a clear message. "What do you need all these books for, anyway?" you were genuinely curious; as far as you knew the library was available at almost any time. And you also hoped continuing the conversation would give the girl a chance to at least consider letting you help.

The girl sighed, as if annoyed by her situation. "I wanted to read tonight and wasn't sure what to pick first," she explained and sure, you understood being indecisive but this was taking it too far.

“And you couldn’t narrow it down to, I don’t know, fifteen books instead of,” you did a quick count. “Thirty-seven?” if the girl could see you, you were sure she’d be glaring at you.

“This was narrowed down,” she was amazing, frightening, but amazing. The girl took a few trembling steps forward, then a few more, and then came to the stairs. Shockingly, she did climb up a few steps and you wordlessly followed after her, it was only a matter of steps by this point, because as stubborn as she was there was only one way this could end, and you wouldn’t feel right if you just let it happen.

The stairs chose that moment to shift which nearly caused her to fall. You reached forward, steading the books from the side with one hand while helping her hold them up with the other, though a couple of books still fell from the top of the book tower. “That went better than I expected,” you said sheepishly, "You okay?" you asked.

You still didn’t get to see her face, but the prolonged silence implied she nodded before realizing you couldn’t see her. "Yeah, thanks."

You smiled, picking up the few books that fell and taking about a dozen from her pile, and now you could finally see more than her hair, though half of her face still remained behind the books. You still recognized her as one of the girls from your year. “I'm Y/N, nice to meet you."

"I'm Hermione," she smiled back shyly. "You really don't have to help me; I don't want to bother anyone."

"Don't worry about it, I was just walking around aimlessly anyways," you assured her as you once again began climbing up the stairs. It was much easier for her now that she could actually see what was in front of you, but it also meant it was now more difficult for you, since you were carrying books. Well, you figured it was worth it.

It was a pleasant walk, though the two of you mostly remained silent, the classes didn't start yet so neither of you could come up with something to talk about. And a couple of surprised stares didn't help either, after all, you weren't just from different houses, you were from houses that hated one another.

~X~

As eager as Hermione was to learn it felt like she would hit her limit if she didn't get back to bed soon. She spent the past three days mostly reading and barely got enough sleep, she was that excited; but now that she needed to focus on the Astronomy class she felt the sleep deprivation catching up to her.

It was only natural, really, she was still a child and she needed her sleep. Yet everything about Hogwarts, about her being a witch, felt so surreal, she needed to take it all in as quickly as possible.

She wasn't the only sleepy student though, in fact, most of her classmates looked like they would rather be in bed. She persisted through the lesson, doing her best to answer any questions Professor Sinistra had.

As the class came to an end she packed her things and began walking down the stairs, since her chat with you she hadn't really talked with anyone yet. If anyone talked to her it was to ask about something from class, and even that only happened twice so far. It looked like she’d have the same issue here as in her old school. No one wanted a bookworm like her as a friend. But she still hoped that finally being in a place she belonged in, surrounded by people just like her, would change that.

"Hey, good job answering that question about Jupiter," she was a bit startled when she heard a voice coming from behind her and paused as you caught up to her.

She instantly recognized you and was honestly happy to see you again. Gryffindor and Slythein didn’t really share classes until tonight, and you’d share Potions as well, so, there weren’t many chances to talk. “Hi, Y/N," she smiled.

"You look like you're about to fall asleep," you noticed with a small hint of a teasing grin on your face.

"I've been reading," Hermione huffed, a tiny bit defensive even if she could see you meant no harm.

You raised your hands in surrender. "Sorry, I shouldn’t have teased you. If it wasn't this chilly most of us would probably fall asleep right here," you told her, and Hermione couldn't help but agree. "How were the books you took from the library? Anything particularly interesting?"

Hermione halted for a moment, not really expecting the questions. "I read most of them,” the incredulous look on your face was actually kinda funny, and she just shrugged, as if asking you what did you expect. “It's amazing really, everything about magic. Hogwarts, A History, is the one you should start with, it's my favorite so far."

You didn’t look nearly as excited by the title of the book as she was. You even looked a bit bored with it. "History really isn't my thing; I don't think I'll enjoy it half as much as you did."

Yet, it didn't bother her, at the moment she was just glad she actually talked with someone. "Say, would you like to go to the library with me?" yet as she asked that she felt unsure, this was only your second time talking and you were in Slytherin so she-

"Sure, I'd like that,"

-expected you to refuse. "Right, I guessed you-" and then it dawned on her that you accepted. "You would?"

You just grinned at her. "Of course. I don't see why I wouldn't want to," it was that easy. And it would remain like that over the next couple of years, always easy to find solutions, even if it sometimes took a bit of time.

If Hermione knew how the later years at Hogwarts would go, she would have stocked up on some of this ease instead of using it all up while it mattered significantly less.

~X~

The first week was slowly but surely coming to an end and it wrapped up with Potions, a class taught by the Head of the Slytherin house, Severus Snape. And to say that it was an eventful class would be an understatement. It was more than that, it was a mess, with Snape’s dislike, or even hatred for Potter being more than apparent, and another one of Gryffindor students messing up his potion. All in all, things happened.

And unfortunately for you, as the class came to a close and Snape inspected your potion he looked at you, long and hard and frankly worrying you that you messed something up.

“Name,” he demanded after way too much time had passed.

“Y/N L/N!” you exclaimed, surprised by the sudden question.

“Additional potions, I want to see you here every Tuesday and Friday,” he ordered, leaving you flabbergasted.

But before you could respond Snape had already moved on to another student.

And you were left there, not even sure if those additional classes were because you were so awful at it he had no other choice, which was kinda ridiculous since your potion did not explode and make a mess.

Or, just as unlikely, Snape saw some potential in you and wanted to push you to get better immediately. Which was actually worse than the first option!

~X~

It was the worse option, and you found yourself staring at the potion ingredients you were meant to mix. “Do I have any choice in the matter?” surely you could say no to extra classes, right? That would make his life a lot easier as well!

“No,” yet Snape crushed those hoped like you were going to crush the ingredients for the potion.

You dropped your forehead onto the table. “Get off my back,” you muttered to yourself.

“What was that?” Snape must have heard you and you, as alarmed as you were, got up, yelling ‘Nothing, Sir’ like your life depended on it.

Maybe it did, he did seem to immediately decide he would make Potter’s time in the potions class as miserable as he possibly could.

So, figuring it would be better to pick up and get good at the skills Snape was offering, you began coming to the extra potions classes twice a week.

~X~

It was during one of the nights after extra Potions that you found yourself in the common room looking at the instructions on how to transfigure a match into a needle for what felt like a hundredth time as if this time something would just click.

"Hey, Y/N, what's up?" Gemma sat down on the sofa next to you and looked over your shoulder at the book you were reading.

"My blood pressure," you complained as you motioned at the match McGonagall gave you.

Gemma reached out for her wand and effortlessly transfigured the match "Just concentrate, make sure you envision it, feel it change shape. You need focus, didn't Professor McGonagall teach you that?"

You glared at the feather as it came down back to the table like it owed you money. "She did. I'm just having trouble imagining a match changing into a needle. If I can envision it, I can do it, or at least that's what I think."

"Try this then. Imagine a match on one side and a needle on the other side. Close your eyes,” you followed her instructions, figuring you might as well take advice from a fifth-year student. “That's right, now merge them and leave only a needle, now give it a try," Gemma explained.

You nodded and took a deep breath; you closed your eye, imagined what she just told you, and touched the match with the tip of your wand forcing the match to change shape. When you opened your eyes the match was different, it was a bit dark and definitely not as sharp as it was meant to be, but you figured it would pass for a sort of a wooden needle.

Yeah. You needed to work on that. A lot. But, at least you weren’t still looking at a match.

“Eh,” Gemma clearly wasn’t all that impressed, but some progress was made. “Could use more work, but it’ll do for tonight. Go on now, go to sleep,” she patted you on the head, which was an annoying habit she got into.

“Fine, fine,” you groaned, getting up to avoid her hand and went downstairs to the dorm rooms followed by Gemma’s laughter.

~X~

The gist of the flying lessons? You sucked at them, and Draco was being Draco, which ended up giving Harry Potter a place on the Gryffindor quidditch team. And now that was all you could hear in the common room as several students, especially Draco, laughed about how desperate Gryffindor must be to accept a first-year onto a team. Though some, again, Draco, complained that Potter was getting special treatment.

You? You didn’t care one bit. You had extra Potions and you were really tempted to openly tell Snape to get off your back when he increased the number of lessons from twice a week to three times a week.

~X~

About two weeks later, on Halloween, you were on your way to the herbology class, which you were mildly interested in because of the potions. So, while you weren’t that enthusiastic about it, you knew it was necessary. As you were making your way to the class you saw Hermione running down the hall, which immediately made you stop. Hermione rarely ran, especially looking that distraught and. "Hermione!" you called after her and surprisingly she stopped. When you caught up to her you realized she was wiping her face. Was she crying? "What's going on? Why are you running?"

Hermione took a deep breath and turned around, she was definitely crying just now and she was clutching on her beloved book like it was her lifeline. "Can I ask you something?" she whispered, her voice cracking, she sounded like she has had enough, like she was at her limit.

You nodded, not really sure what else to do. “Of course you can.”

“Are we friends?” the question caught you off guard entirely, so much so that you weren’t entirely sure how to answer.

Friends? Were they? She wasn't a stranger, that much was certain, and you guessed that after several days spent together in the library, she wasn't just an acquaintance anymore. Still, a friend was too personal. Too much and too quick for you right now. "Friends? Uh… sort of, we're not friends, friends, but we're more than not friends," you had no idea what you just said, it didn’t make sense and was entirely caused by being around an antisocial woman for the past two years and not quite learning how to deal with these types of questions. "I guess we're getting there?" you offered.

Apparently, that wasn't the answer Hermione wanted or was hoping for because a tear slid down her cheek quickly followed by another. "You can't stand me either, can you? That's why we're just hanging out in the library, right?" she didn't wait for a response, instead she ran off in tears.

You could only look at her as she ran off, flabbergasted by what she just said. Was there even another option for hanging out? It was getting colder outside and just aimlessly walking around the castle felt pointless to you, even if you did do it on your first morning here. The two of you couldn't go to each other's common rooms, you wouldn't be welcomed in Gryffindor and she wouldn't be welcomed in Slytherin. Grand Hall was an option but that was just too crowded and not- "Oh, come on, why am I analyzing it now of all times?" you threw your hands up in the air, exasperated by your own thought and ran after her. "What was that about? Can't stand her? Hermione, wait!" you turned around the corner, but she was nowhere to be found. As you helplessly tried to figure out where she went, a single realization hit you. "I made a terrible mistake," you berated yourself and slumped against the wall.

Needless to say, the rest of your day was horrible, you kept trying to locate Hermione and the divided attention made you lose focus on the classes you had for the rest of the day. Not even the feast interested you as Hermione wasn't there and you didn’t have the chance to fix your mistake. You had no idea where to look for her, you had no idea who to talk to. So, you pretty much glared at the steak in front of you.

"You look awfully distracted," and absolutely the last person you wanted to talk to, chose that moment to speak up.

"Read the air, I don't want to talk right now," you warned and somehow Draco got the message.

Mere moments later Quirrell came sprinting into the hall with a clear picture of terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped. "Troll, in the dungeons, thought you… ought to know," he then proceeded to faint.

An uproar followed his announcement, and it took some firecrackers from Dumbledore himself to bring silence into the hall. "Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

You blankly stared at the man. “Slytherin dormitories are in the dungeons… thought you should know,” you dryly pointed out to no one in particular.

~X~

It was the day of Harry's first quidditch match and Hermione was more than a little excited about it. For the first time she had true friends, someone to hang out with that didn't think she was weird.

No, not the first time, she had one friend before. Or at least she thought you were her friend until you pretty much said you weren't. She should have guessed something like that would happen, after all you weren’t even a part of her house. She knew about the rivalry between your houses; it just looked strange now that she thought about it. Thinking about you was making her huff as she found the book she was looking for - 'History of Wizarding World: A short guide'. Hermione took it and made her way to her regular table in the corner of the library. As she made her way there, she saw you sitting there, slightly hunched forward as you were reading something. 'Just walk by her, she's focused on the book,' it was likely a book on potions so the chances of you actually paying attention to your surroundings were minimal.

It was all going according to plan, you didn't seem to notice her and she was happy to just be on her way. The book you were reading was much bigger than the regular potion book you so obviously cherished and she slowed down, unable to suppress her curiosity. The moment she recognized the book she froze on spot.

'History really isn't my thing, I don't think I'll enjoy it half as much as you did.' That was what you said. Yet here you was reading 'Hogwarts, A History'. "Y/N?" mentally, she kicked herself for not calling you by your last name instead.

You didn't turn around. "Hm? I'm reading, be quick," why was she even surprised by how frustratingly uncaring you were. And then you straightened your back so quickly she nearly dropped her book. "Hermione?!" you turned around and blinked a few times, ignoring the glares from the students around you. "Uh… hey," what, no regular remarks on this or that? That was a new one.

"Mind if I sit next to you?" she didn't know what got into her, maybe she just wanted to have a friend back. Even if you didn't think you were friends.

"Never," you paused for a moment and slapped your forehead. "I mean I don't mind, you can sit wherever you'd like," you scratched the back of your head sheepishly as you avoided looking her in the eyes.

Hermione sat down not entirely used to the idea of you being even remotely nervous. "I remember you said history wasn't your thing," she reminded you.

You frowned a bit at that. "It isn't. But since I'm not going to hear what's so great about it from you, I figured I might as well read it."

Hermione's jaw dropped slightly. Thinking back you did try to talk to her, on more than one occasion, ever since Halloween. She didn't want to hear it, not now, not when what you said hurt more than what Ron said, more than any teasing, at least she didn't consider those that teased and insulted her to be her friends.

"I was a jerk, I'm sorry for what I said," you apologized, you didn't offer any excuses, you just apologized with as much sincerity as you could muster.

Mostly on impulse, Hermione wrapped her arms around your neck, hugging you tightly. She felt relief flooding her and it felt like this day couldn’t get any better.

You slowly wrapped one arm around her shoulders. "I didn't think hanging out only in the library would bother you. To be honest, I have no idea where else we could hang out, I don't know if you'd be cold outside," you muttered, explaining your reasoning.

She didn't consider that as a possibility, that you simply didn't think too much about it. From what she learnt about you it did make sense that you’d figure out the more practical solution and just stick with it. "So, I guess we could take a walk one of these days?" she suggested as she pulled away from you.

You nodded enthusiastically. "Whenever you want, wherever you want to go," you paused for a moment and she could see a bit of hesitation in your eyes. "You've got to tell me what made you cry that day. I mean aside from me," still, as hesitant as you were, you were also curious, that much was obvious from the tone of your voice. For a moment she thought that she had your absolute attention, and it was a nice feeling, if she was being honest.

Hermione wasn't entirely sure she should tell you what really happened. though If things went her way all three of her friends could hang out with her at the same time and you would all get along. She didn't want you to get the wrong idea and misjudge Ron. Still, she figured being honest was the best option. "We had Charms that day and after the class ended Ron said I was a nightmare, that no one can stand me."

Much to Hermione's horror, you stood up abruptly, looking ready to go and fight Ron.

"I think it's about time I have a chat with some other Gryffindors," the moment you said that Hermione grabbed your hand and pulled you back down.

She looked you in the eyes, pleading silently to just calm down. "Wait, please. Ron was just frustrated after class and he and Harry saved me from a troll. They're both my friends now, Y/N, they're my best friends and I don't want you to fight with them."

"Are you sure? Because I can punch really hard," she was sure you was exaggerating, they were kids, they couldn't possibly punch, as you had put it, really hard.

"No, no, that's – just barbaric. Especially for no reason," luckily, you didn’t bring it up again and she could relax. Though she made a mental note not to put you in the same room as Harry and Ron anytime soon.

~X~

As the day went on you were sure nothing could ruin your mood. And of course, as if you were tempting fate, Draco, with a surprisingly angry look on his face, took a seat right next to you in the Slytherin common room. You’ve done it now, you were too happy, too pleased with yourself and now you had to deal with Malfoy throwing a tantrum.

"You weren't at the match," it was a statement and you could tell it was merely a prologue of a long speech.

"I don't care about quidditch," you tried your best to end it before it even had a chance to begin, but all your efforts were futile. This was Draco Malfoy you were trying to stop from ranting after all.

"Well, you should! Anyway, can you imagine what Potter did? He ended up with a snitch in his mouth and it counted. I feel so cheated right now," Draco complained, droning on and on about how it wasn't fair. How Slytherin was winning and all that.

The best solution would be to just get up and leave. Unfortunately, it would only antagonize the boy next to you, and while you didn't really care it would still make your life easier if you and Draco were on relatively neutral terms. So, you sat there and half-listened half-stared at the water above you. It was relaxing, seeing the lake from below.

"Preposterous! That's what it was! He damn near swallowed the snitch!" both you and Draco turned around to see Gemma complaining about what happened at the match. Her friends, a couple of other fifth-year students rolled their eyes at her.

"We're going to study, join us when you cool off," one of them told her and the group separated from her.

"Sure, sure," it was obvious Gemma was searching for something to do or someone that shared her passion for quidditch.

"Hey, Farley! Over here!" Draco actually called her to come over.

"Tell me you've seen that ridiculous match, I mean come on!" she dragged out the last few words and rolled her eyes at the memory of Potter catching the snitch.

"Seriously what was that all about?! Potter just keeps getting rewarded for breaking the rules," Draco eagerly joined her in their mutual complaining about a quidditch match.

"You're supposed to catch it. Catch it, not bite it," Gemma made sure that whoever somehow didn't get the word of it knew exactly what Potter did to obtain the snitch.

"Isn't there a phrase catching the flies or whatever?" you asked pretty much out of nowhere.

Gemma raised an eyebrow at that. "Uh, yeah, no idea why that would be relevant though."

You smirked, a tiny bit too eager to mess with her. "Well since in that case, you do catch them with your mouth I guess Potter didn't do anything wrong," you just had to do it.

Gemma swatted your shoulder and Draco glared at you, which only ended up amusing you. It was a nice payment for having to half-listen to Draco for what felt like eternity. "I'll hit you with a book if you say that again."

The smirk never vanished from your face, it even grew larger. "Such an inspiring role model. Perfect prefect, no doubt about it."

Gemma rolled her eyes again and went back to complaining about the match with Draco. It caught you by surprise, but they hit it off fairly well, really well actually. Though, you guessed people could bond over mutual annoyance.

~X~

And so, the year continued. Thankfully, without much additional excitement on your part. You and Hermione saw each other every now and then, usually once a week, either studying together or just relaxing. She even helped you out with Transfiguration and you desperately needed that. It did make you realize how much you sucked at socializing because what you had with Hermione was closest to an actual friendship.

With your own housemates? Aside from Gemma? You were civil at best. Other houses? Didn’t even bother trying to get close to them. You were really acing this whole school life thing.

Either way, the time for exams came and went, and while you weren’t all that interested in most of them you did excel in Potions and… that was about it actually. Everything else you ended up being about average. Granted, you probably would have put more effort into Defense against the Dark Arts if it wasn’t for… well Quirrell’s teaching.

A week passed and the end-of-year feast was upon them. When you walked in you saw the Great Hall decked out in the Slytherin colors, green and silver, your house had won the house cup, the seventh year in a row as well. Or at least that's what it seemed like.

Dumbledore arrived and the silence enveloped the room as the students looked at their Headmaster.

"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. And you pretty much chose to ignore his speech until the Gryffindors began cheering and you looked around to see your fellow Slytherins seething.

“There goes the house cup,” you guessed, maybe a tiny bit more annoyed than you expected you’d be.

"Second, to Miss Hermione Granger, for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points," yeah, it was over. He was handing the cup over to his former house.

"Third, to Mr. Harry Potter," Dumbledore caused the room to go deadly quiet as if this would end in any other way. Gryffindor was winning. "For pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

The score was now only five points apart. "Wait for it," you muttered knowing Dumbledore had a way to hand Gryffindor the victory, he was just building anticipation or whatever.

Dumbledore raised his hand. "There are all kinds of courage," Dumbledore was smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I, therefore, award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."

You let out a sigh, Draco who was, for whatever reason, sitting next to you, looked absolutely horrified, the victory slipped out of their fingers, but what annoyed you more was that he was preaching about standing up to friends, when he covered up crimes of his own friends or whatever they were to him.

"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause. Even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin. "We need a little change of decoration," he clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet, and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished, and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place.

"Well, whatever," you leaned against the table. For the first time, it was truly clear to you how much the Slytherin house was on one side while the other three were on the other one. The entire school was celebrating their downfall. Oh, and Dumbledore just gave you another reason to dislike him.

A/N: So... Taglist?

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Don't you think it's a little weird that only Hermione (and even Harry to a certain extent) are the only characters who show any sort of sympathy to house elves throughout the books? It's understandable that purebloods and halfbloods don't see it because they are raised in a world that is deeply brainwashed by such prejudices. So, counting them out, but what about the muggleborns who know and understand what slavery is? Surely, some of them would be aware of it considering that Fred and George did too and the Hufflepuffs are said to live very close to the kitchen as well. Hermione also went around vocalising her cause to many people so they would have learnt about it at least then. Do you think that's just poor writing on JKR's part or are there deeper reasons for this?

Hey, Ron and Sirius also show sympathy for House Elves:

“You mean we ought to get them fighting?” asked Harry. “No,” said Ron seriously, “I mean we should tell them to get out. We don’t want any more Dobbies, do we? We can’t order them to die for us—“

(DH, Ch31)

“Hermione, will you give it a rest with the elf!” said Ron. Sirius shook his head and said, “She’s got the measure of Crouch better than you have, Ron. If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

(GoF, Ch27)

Don't take their characters away from them (yes, Sirius isn't nice to Kreacher, but that is personal).

And, I talked about this in literally my first post on here, but there aren't that many muggleborns in their world.

Like, in Harry's year we have Hermione and Justin, and we have Dean (who thinks he's muggleborn, though he's technically a half-blood, but we'll count him anyway) while everyone else in Harry's year is implied to be pureblood or half-blood. That means each year has, let's say 2-4 muggleborn students. If a year is 40 students, that's 5%-10% muggleborns. If the number of students per year is 100 like some of the "hundreds of students in the hall" lines imply, that would be 2%-4% muggleborns a year.

From the reactions of the Order members who come to pick up Harry, they all seem to have been raised in the Wizarding World. Lily seems to be the only muggleborn in the Order the first time around (and second, depending on if you count Hermione as an Order member).

The number of muggleborns in the Wizarding World is less than 5% of their population. So, the number of people who see house-elves as slaves is already really low (because it's not that purebloods/half-bloods don't know slavary is bad, they just don't think of house-elves as slaves). And we don't know what Justin or the Creevey brothers think about house elves. They might just not be interested in SPEW for reasons unrelated to their thoughts of house-elf slavery (it is a very flawed method to go about house-elves' rights. But also Hermione is 14, so it's understandable).

Hermione took a jam tart. Then she said, “Did you get all this from the kitchens, Fred?” “Yep,” said Fred, grinning at her. He put on a high-pitched squeak and imitated a house-elf. “ ‘Anything we can get you, sir, anything at all!’ They’re dead helpful . . . get me a roast ox if I said I was peckish.” [...] “Going to try and lead the house-elves out on strike now, are you?” said George. “Going to give up all the leaflet stuff and try and stir them up into rebellion?” Several people chortled. Hermione didn’t answer. “Don’t you go upsetting them and telling them they’ve got to take clothes and salaries!” said Fred warningly “You’ll put them off their cooking!”

(GoF, Ch21)

Fred and George know about the kitchens and the elves there, and they fall into the same line of thinking as almost every pureblood character we see, including Ron, until the last book: "They like being slaves. It's how house-elves are"

(The exception to this is Sirius and perhaps Regulus)

The line I bolded is the general opinion of students on SPEW. They laugh at Hermione's idea. That's because of the statistics I mentioned above, over 96% of Hogwarts students were raised with the belief that house-elves are happy as they are. Of course, they wouldn't see it as a problem; they don't really see them as slaves, and Hermione repeatedly fails to explain the actual problem since she's too aggressive and completely ignores the actual house-elves she is trying to help because she thinks she knows so much better. She is just as condescending towards house-elves, just, from a different angle.

And even the 2%-4% muggleborns might not see as much of an issue. Remember, they are taken into the Wizarding World at 11. Hermione is very stubborn and tends to think she's always right (especially when younger), but a lot of 11-year-old kids, if all their friends and the adults around them tell them "house-elves like serving us, and it's fine, they're not slaves", they would eventually believe it, or at least, act like they do to not stand out and be ridiculed (as happens to Hermione).

[wisteria-lodge]

Fem!Harry Potter AU

The orginal ask post was getting petty long and unwieldy, so I put my breakdown of Books 1-5 up on A03 for easier reading:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63681217/chapters/163243519

And now to continue!

Book 6 starts with both sides regrouping. Dumbledore will still have tried to put on the ring and cursed himself, so he knows he’s only about a year to live. But with Snape’s help he makes a recovery from the despair-potion he drank in the Inferi cave, and reads the note left inside the locket. So now he knows that it’s a fake horcrux, and Regulus Black took the real one. 

The only people who might possibly know what Regulus did with that horcrux - where he put it, if he managed to destroy it - are his house elf Kreacher and his brother Sirius. Getting to either of them is kind of a problem, because Kreacher is in Grimmauld place, and in order to open up Grimmauld Place… Dumbledore is going to need Sirius. 

The way I see the inheritance law working here, which best explains how Sirus is able to inherit the house free and clear despite being disowned (when Bellatrix is right there…) is that Regulus un-disowned Sirius right before he died, and wrote him back into his will. Regulus saw the error of his ways and was trying to fix as much as he could in the time he had left, so I think this fits. (Regulus also died after his father, so would’ve been head of the family for a few months there.) 

Dumbledore is giving a little more thought to the Black brothers than he has been up till now. He didn’t know that Regulus had a change of heart right there at the end… so learning that he did forcing him to consider that he might have been wrong about Sirius as well. The top priority has now become find Sirius Black. Dumbledore puts Remus on the case as well: Sirius tried to make contact with him once, he might try to do it again. 

So why is Dumbledore’s priority not rescue Harriet? First, he’s got Snape on the inside, giving him real time updates that Voldemort is away on some secret mission and  Harriet is awake, being loud and annoying, and bored enough to actually start reading the stack of Lockhart books Snape threw in after her. She’s not in any immediate danger. Snape could get her out any time, but it would blow his cover and… it’s more important to keep Snape where he is, slowly becoming Voldemort’s right hand man. Malfoy Manor has to be pretty much impregnable, in order for Book 6 and Book 7 to make sense. It’s where they keep high-value hostages like Olivander and Luna. If a handful of Order members could have snuck in, grabbed them and left, they would’ve done that. 

(It’s actually kind of a plot hole and definitely a deus ex machina when Dobby shows up just teleports people out. Like if Dobby could do that the entire time, did he just not care about Luna? Not want to help the Voldemort war effort?) 

So in this, I’m just going to say that Barty gave that basement even better wards than it had in canon. I mean, he kept Moody locked in his trunk for a year right underneath Dumbledore‘s nose and reprogrammed the Goblet of Fire. I bet he could Dobby-proof the Malfoy dungeons.. (Especially since Lucius Malfoy should honestly be a little terrified of Dobby at this point. He might come back, mess with him or his family the same way he messed with Harry. Dobby might spy on him, or gather evidence against him… If I were Lucius Malfoy, I would have spent Book 3 making sure Dobby could not get in my house.)

Dumbledore is definitely looking for ways to get into Malfoy Manor, but nothing is immediately magically obvious. (Another excellent reason to get your hands on Sirius: he found a way out of Azkaban. Maybe he can find a way into Malfoy Manor.) Dumbledore loves Harriet, but at the end of the day he’s all about the greater good. Going into this, he knew that her death was 100% a possibility. Worst case scenario - Voldemort kills Harriet, and Dumbledore’s magical theories are wrong and she isn’t able to magically come back. In which case Voldemort has destroyed one of his own horcuxes, and the war continues. 

Back to Voldemort. He’s kidnapped Olivander and demanded he explain what’s going on with him, Harriet, and their wands. 

Olivander is kind of intersting. A little creepy, a little amoral. On some level he just wants to see cool magic and doesn’t care that much which side does it. (“After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things. Terrible, yes. But great.”) This is why I think Voldemort is willing to work with him, and trust his advice. 

But when it really comes down to it, I don’t think Olivander wants Voldemort win. I say that because when he’s kidnapped (during the end of Book 6? Beginning of Book 7?) - he could have given Voldemort a very straightforward explanation. Voldemort and Harry have wands with twin cores, which trigger weird magical effects when the wands fight. All Voldemort has to do is snap the holly wand, and he’ll be able to fight Harry completely normally. 

(I actually don’t think he’d be able to kill Harry at this point. He brought himself back to life losing Harry’s blood, and so is tethering Harry to life the same way a horcrux would. They’re both each other’s horcruxes, that’s what “neither can live while the other survives”  means. But, he’d be able to do anything else to Harry, no problem.)

But my point is, canon Olivander doesn’t tell Voldemort any of that. He starts talking about this mythical extra-powerful wand, and watches Voldemort’s eyes get huge. I think Olivander was buying the opposition time, sending Voldemort on this wild goose chase overseas and keeping him away from the war effort in England. So that’s what will happens in this AU too.

Voldemort has slightly more information, and he’s got questions. Is this wand Lily Potter‘s wand? No? Then why did my spell bounce rebound off Harriet Potter when she was a baby? Why does my wand not work against her wand properly? Why doesn't any wand I’m holding not work against her properly? 

Olivander tells him about the Deathly Hallows. He already kinda does in canon by telling him about the Elder Wand, and he definitely knows about the rest of them. Olivander is going to see the Cloak Harriet brought to the Manor and say no, that’s not a normal invisibility cloak. Harriet Potter is master of one of the Deathly Hallows. She inherited it from her father and now has its loyalty. 

The longer he talks, the more things actually start to make sense to Voldemort. He realizes what the ring he turned into a horcrux actually was. And instead of feeling stupid, Voldemort’s going to feel kind of cool.He’s the master of the Ring. Harry’s mistress of the Cloak. They both have one Hallow, that’s why they can’t fight properly against each other, the Hallows are canceling each other out. Voldemort needs the Wand as a tiebreaker. Then it’ll be two Hallows against one, and he’ll win. Also, it’s the world’s most powerful wand, so actually he’ll be unstoppable. Voldemort leaves to track it down. He’ll talk to Grigorovich, then Grindelwald, and eventually realize that Dumbledore has the wand. But that’s going to take him a non-zero amount of time, and in the meantime he’s going to leave Harriet in the Malfoy dungeons, guarded by Narcissa, Draco, Barty, and whatever Death Eaters stayed out of Azkaban. Greyback’s started lurking around, which isn’t good. 

But what would be wild, if you really were writing this as a book, is that all this is going on in the background. Our viewpoint characters don’t understand this yet, they’re only catching glimpses. Harriet is in the Malfoy dungeons hearing garbled bits of conversations, and trying to piece together an escape plan.

[spideyanakin]

Spidey it's like you WANT me to collapse to the floor and just sob this isn't okay stop hurting love of my life sirius

it's the tragic beauty anon again I am giving myself a flower because I know I will be back

(seriously though you've got me obsessed w this series it's so good)

❀

omg hihi im so sorry 🤭 (idk if i am actually)

Im so glad you like it! I have so much planned for these two, so I’m happy you’ll stick around for it 🙈🙈 I’ll give you some hurt/comfort to attempt and mend your heart!! ft. dobby

summary - malfoy + slytherin! reader, you heal sirius after a fight with his father, ft. dobby and regulus

warnings - mention of child abuse, regulus helping dobby (I thought it was cute), mention of blood

all I think about now - masterlist

His father has done it again. It had all gone too fast to comprehend. One second Sirius had replied to him, some dumb thing when you thought about it. A mention of dumbledore’s new achievement with the ministry of magic, and suddenly it had Orion Black shouting insults at his eldest son.

Sirius didn’t even mean to reply, but his father had forced an opinion out of him, and suddenly the two of them were arguing over the delicate china plates and crystal glass.

You had to watch, hand firmly resting on your silver fork as Walburga attempted to calm her husband down, ultimately sending fiery words towards her son as if he had been the actual cause of it all.

The mashed potatoes, vegetables and roasted boar your elves had prepared over the watchful eye of your gouvernante and your mother were long forgotten, but you now feared that they would suddenly remember diner and start throwing it at each other.

Great.

It had only been a few hours since the Black’s had been arrived at the Malfoy manor for their yearly stay, and like every year as you attempted to have a welcome diner, the Blacks proved once again they couldn’t stand being in the same room as each other.

Like every year it took Walburga a decent amount of time and strength to get the two of them out of the dining room and out of the way. Like every year your brother mumbled something about Sirius not being good enough for you before retreating with your father to his study, and like every year you sat in the kids drawing room with Regulus (which you begged your mother to redecorate but she refused too, as soon enough ‘you and Lucius will have kids of your own’.). Naturally you were still kids to them, so into the kids drawing room you were trapped until further notice.

The two of you would play wizards chess, until eventually Sirius would join you. He’d melt into your side, and you’d kiss his forehead as he muttered a tired and worn out "who won".

"Regulus."

It was always Regulus.

But this year, things hadn’t happened like usual.

You saw the flash of colors before you heard the screams.

You and Regulus shot up from your seats, and ran out of the room. You followed the sounds, Walburga shouting something before her and her husband disappeared into another corridor.

Only when you reached the entry hall did you see him. Sirius, desperately clutching to his arm, wincing in pain as he was hunched over a chair, Dobby by his side, jumping and squealing incomprehensible words at the sight of you.

"Dobby only wanted to cross to the kitchens miss! Dobby didn’t mean to intrude!"

You watched, confusion written all over your face as you tried to make sense of his words.

And that’s when you realised, Dobby was clutching his arm too; he had been hurt.

"Please, please don’t tell the master," he pleaded as he walked over to you, clutching at your skirt.

"It’s fine, I won’t tell father," your voice was gentle as you snapped out of your daze. "Regulus will take care of your hand," you eyed the boy at your side who looked at you with wide eyes before scurrying off with the young house elf.

"My love," you approached Sirius with careful steps, crouching down to his level and gently placing your hands on his knees. "Let me take care of you."

Sirius wiped his tears away as he tried to straighten his back to meet your gaze.

And that’s when you saw it; the blood trickling down his cheek.

"I don’t what spell he used- he-"

"Shh, it is alright darling," you moved a strand of loose hair away from his forehead. "Can you walk?" He nodded as an answer. "Let’s go upstairs."

So Sirius trailed behind you, your hand tightly holding his as you walked him through the dark corridors of the manor. He was glad you knew this place like the back of your hand, purposefully avoiding the places you knew you would cross yours or his family.

You closed your toilet seat and sat him there, before scavenging for things in your bathroom cabinets.

Bandages, desinfectant potions, anything that could help the bleeding boy in front of you.

"Salazar, I wish we could use magic in these circumstances."

"You could do anything and get away with it, dove. The minister of magic and Dumbledore love you."

"That’s a lie." You rolled your eyes before continuing your scavenging.

A few frustrated huffs later, you finally reached for him with a warm towel.

"This might sting."

"Ow."

"I told you it would sting."

"Like the singer?"

"Pardon?"

"He’s a famous muggle, you wouldn’t know him." You blinked in confusion, watching as Sirius’s grin took his entire face.

"You are really an enigma sometimes, Black."

"You love me for it, my future wife," he squeezed the small of your back where his hand had been resting.

"Surprisingly, I do. Future husband."

You missed the smile on Sirius’s face as you looked at his wound—visibly wincing. It was lodged right between the arcade of his brow and his temple. A little closer and it would have hit his eye-blinding him and leaving a nasty scar.

"That bad?"

"Nothing I cannot fix." You smiled at him, kissing the crown of his head before continuing to clean it and readying the bandages. "How is your shoulder?"

"Thought he dislocated it, feels better now," he hummed as he patted it.

"Do you remember the spell he used?"

"No," he shook his head, biting his lip at the memory. "Felt nasty though… dark. Sounded weird too, like some weird muggle medication or something."

"Muggle medication?" You raised an eyebrow.

"Muggle remedy, like potions for us. They call them with Latin names like spells. They are some really funky ones."

"Right." You chuckled at the sheepish look on his face. "And where did you learn that?"

"James."

"Sirius, James is a pure blood."

He looked at you like a child caught with his hand in the candy jar.

"We sneaked into a muggle university two weeks ago."

"What?" Your eyes went wide. "Sirius-"

"He wanted to know what science was! Lily mentioned it before we left for the summer break. And plus he’s taking muggle studies next year."

"And you followed him?"

"Yes."

You didn’t really know what to reply. You didn’t know if you should be mad, or curious about his finds in the muggle world. The part of you that grew up taught to hate muggles and non pure bloods wanted to scold him, but another part of you genuinely admired the courage Sirius had to defy the world you were born into.

He didn’t care for pure blood manners. He didn’t care to be proper. He didn’t mind muggle borns when you still struggled even speaking to some.

You had made efforts with Lily, and he seemed to be proud of you for it.

But the mere thought of walking through a muggle riddled street made your entire body shiver with something you weren’t familiar with. You didn’t know why. It wasn’t something that came as easy to you as it did to Sirius. It didn’t mean you were totally against the thought of speaking to muggles, but the mere thought of voicing it made fear prickle at your stomach, and the images of Sirius being mistreated, scold, bullied and hurt by his parents flashed before your eyes.

You were terrified of your brother enough as it was, you didn’t need to give him a reason to be mean to you.

A faint knock broke the turmoil of your mind, you turned around to see a familiar set of eyes and the tip of one of his big ears poking out the door.

"You can come in Dobby," you smiled as you watch him wobble through the doorway.

"Dobby wanted to thank Miss," he proudly showed you the bandage around his wrist. "Master Regulus was very kind." He nodded. "Dobby wondered if you needed anything."

"We are good Dobby, thank you."

But the elf shook his head. "Dobby needs to thank Miss, Dobby wants to thank Miss."

You looked at Sirius’s wounds before looking back to the house elf.

"Well, I am not allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts, and i know you have been taught healing spells as of recently." You bit your lips and Sirius’s lips curled into a smile as he read your mind. "I am sure Mr. Black would be pleased if he did not have to walk around with those ghastly cuts on his face and horrible ache in his shoulder"

Dobby’s eyes seemed to light up as if you had personally given him the holy grail. He bounced closer to Sirius, nodding to you with the biggest smile as he flicked his fingers towards Sirius.

In a flash of warmth and sparks, the bandages you had so carefully placed upon him disappeared, and the cuts were closing by themselves. The only trace left of the night being the faintest scar across his temple.

"Speak of this to no one alright?"

"Promise miss!" And with a flick of his fingers, the elf was gone.

"Well, look at you, all healed and handsome," you grinned as you brought your lips to his.

"I like him. When your parents kick the bucket do you get to inherit Dobby?" Sirius grabbed your hand, guiding you to sit on his lap, peppering your neck with kisses once you did.

"Unfortunately no…" you sighed, relishing in the feeling of his lips on you. "Lucius is heir to… um.. well most things here." You frowned upon the realisation, Sirius stopped to look at you, by the look in his eyes he could tell you had never really given it a proper thought.

You’d never thought of what would happen once you graduated. Once you were officially Mrs. Black and your time at the Malfoy Manor would become a distant memory. He watched you realise that everything you thought you owned was a mere illusion.

"Well, if it’s any reassurance we get to inherit Kreature?" Sirius winced as he mentioned his grumpy house elf who was never really fond of him, and you chuckled at the look on his face. "If that old twat is still alive by the time my parents finally decide to do us all a favour and die, or frankly scratch that, if im still alive by the time we graduate."

"Sirius!"

"What?" He chuckled at the appalled look on your face. "At this rate it will be a miracle I’m alive for our wedding, and don’t you dare say you haven’t thought about using an unforgivable on my father!"

You didn’t reply to his accusation. You’d never dare to voice such a horrible thought the way Sirius did, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t right.

He took the smile you were trying to bite down as an answer and pecked your lips in recognition.

"I’ll always be here to save you, Siri."

"Promis?"

"Promis."

[cyandreamsinwords]

Okay, but in all seriousness, I've made some decent progress these last two weeks, and while I'm still nowhere near done, I felt like sharing something small.

Warning: minor spoilers for the upcoming plot, and no snippet is guaranteed to make it into the final draft if changes call for it to be cut.

Harry nodded, his interest going elsewhere though. “You mentioned Fudge is taking action against house elves. Why? I know that what Winky did for Crouch was bad, but she’s just one free elf.”

“A free elf who was employed by Dumbledore," said Mr. Weasley.

“Sure, but so is Dobby, the Malfoy’s former elf. He’s been free for years now and he’s practically harmless!” Harry blanched, thinking back to his own experience with the elf. “Well…he’s well meaning.”

“That’s two freed elves that have flocked to him now, one of which is a major concern to the ministry and public safety. Winky killed a number of aurors that night, Harry. And she did so of her own free will.” He held a hand up to stop him from interrupting. “We both know it is more complicated than that, but they are looking at just the immediate facts. Besides, an enslaved elf is capable of just as much danger, as much as their masters request.”

[gossipontheasphalt]

Top 10 Favorite Harry Potter Characters

Do you believe in magic? This is a topic that has been debated amongst mankind for centuries. There are those that think it’s all a hoax and that people who believe in it are stupid, while others claim to have seen things that are out of the ordinary. Magic is something that is used in several pieces of fiction, and without question, the best example of this is Harry Potter. Arguably the most popular book series in the world, and one of the most successful movie franchises of all time. The number of people that grew up with this series created by J.K Rowling is way too many to count. Today, I’m going to go over who I think the best characters to ever come out of this franchise are. This is a list of my top 10 favorite characters from the Harry Potter franchise.

10: Jacob Kowalski

I think I’m in the minority when I say that I’m a fan of the Fantastic Beasts movies. Yes, they have massive plot holes, that is something that irritates me. While at the same time, they are able to have really interesting plots, with really good worldbuilding. It does not stoop down to the level of the cursed child. The best character in this franchise is definitely Jacob. The concept behind him is absolute genius. In the original series, a muggle (Or a no-maj, depending on how politically correct you want to be) was never this heavily involved in the main plot. And despite not having magical powers, Jacob is not useless, and he helps the other characters. He at first seems put off by the idea of their being a completely different race of magical people, but he gradually begins to accept and appreciate the magical world around him as the series progresses. He also has some of the funniest moments, I was laughing my ass off during certain scenes. I think the funniest moment is when he tells Nicolas Flamel, who is a 597-year-old man, that he doesn’t look a day over 375 LOL XD. Without a doubt, the best non magical character in the series.

9: Dobby

This is the best non-human character in the franchise. Dobby is a representation of chaotic good on the moral alignment chart. He starts off by doing things for the right reason but goes about doing it the wrong way. However, he is fully aware of the difference between good and evil, based on his background. Dobby is a house elf, which means that by law, he is a slave. He cannot be free unless he is given clothes. The family he serves is the Malfoy family, and this family abused the crap out of him. Harry Potter eventually frees him by giving him a sock and Dobby returns the favor by helping him throughout the series. In the end, it all comes full circle when Dobby rescues Harry and his friends from Malfoy manor, the place that was hell for him. Unfortunately, Dobby ends up losing his life in the process. Dobby was a good man, and he died as a hero. R.I.P Dobby, a free elf.

8: Hermione Granger

Yeah, every school has a student like this. But Hermione is more than just a nerdy stereotype. She was born with muggle parents, being the first member of her family to have magical powers. Muggleborns in the Harry Potter series are often discriminated against, due to where they came from. There is an offensive slur used to describe Muggleborns, Mudblood. Most muggleborns have trouble adapting to their new life, now that they know they have magical abilities. But Hermione adjusts into the world quite well and is easily the best student in her year at Hogwarts. She is also not self conscious about her position as a muggleborn and isn’t irritated when someone calls her a mudblood. Her intelligence does more than make her seem like the typical nerdy stereotype, as she uses her intelligence numerous times to solve situations. If it wasn’t for Hermione, the boy who lived, would have been the boy who died.

7: Ronald Weasley

Ron Weasley had a troubled childhood. Not because he was abused or neglected, in fact his entire family loved him. His problem is that he grew up with 6 siblings, and he was the second youngest. With his family being that large, his family is poor, and he doesn’t often get the best things in life. Most of his things are hand me downs from his five older brothers. This is something a lot of poor people from large families can relate to. Because of his position, Ron often feels overshadowed, and self-conscious. His insecurities can sometimes cause him to lash out against others when he’s angry and leads to him making some insensitive decisions. But despite his problems, Ron is still one of the most selfless characters in the series. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to help those he cares about, even if it involves putting his life on the line. He is a true Gryffindor.

6: Mad Eye Moody

This is someone who has absolutely been to hell and back, too many times to count. Alastor Moody was an auror, a dark wizard catcher. With his dangerous job, he has been in numerous dangerous situations, which led to significant injuries. These injuries happened during the first Wizarding war, when he was fighting alongside the Order of the Phoenix against Voldemort and his death eaters. He lost his leg, eye, and a large chunk of his nose. His eye was replaced by a magical one, that allowed him X-Ray vision, along with 360-degree vision. This got him the nickname Mad Eye. While fighting for what was right, he never killed if he could help it. He always tried to make sure the person he was bringing to justice survived.

After Voldemort’s first downfall, Mad Eye retired, not being able to go through hell anymore. He ended up suffering from massive PTSD and preferred to stay isolated from the rest of the world. He wasn’t sure he could trust anyone anymore. But when Voldemort returned, he came out of retirement without hesitation. He unfortunately died during the battle of the 7 Potters, and to this day, nobody knows what happened to his body. The only thing they found was his magical eye. Mad Eye constantly put his life on the line to save others and died as a hero. He will never be forgotten.

5: Rubeus Hagrid

In several pieces of fiction, I’ve always had a soft spot for gentle giants. Technically speaking, Hagrid isn’t 100% giant, he’s half giant. His father was a regular human, and his mother was a giantess. Wait a minute, I just realized something. This means that a regular human had relations with a giantess. That is an image I will never get out of my head, thanks for scarring me J.K Rowling. Despite having giant blood in him, Hagrid has a kind heart and is always willing to fight for what’s right. He also has a massive soft spot for animals, particularly the ones that are the most dangerous.

Sadly, due to being a half giant several people in the wizarding world are prejudiced against him, and think he’s a danger to society, even though he would never hurt anyone. Tom Riddle exploited this in his third year, when he framed Hagrid for opening the chamber of secrets and got him expelled from Hogwarts. 50 years later however, Hagrid would have his name cleared, now he is a Hogwarts teacher. He is also notable for being the first friend Harry Potter ever had and was the one who introduced him to the wizarding world. Hagrid is the friendly large man that you want to hug, even though he might accidentally crush your ribs with his weight.

4: Remus Lupin

Remus Lupin had a rough childhood, being bitten as a young boy during the full moon, by a werewolf named Frenrir Greyback. This means that Lupin is now also a werewolf. A werewolf is a person that spends most of their life as a regular person, but once a month during the full moon, they turn into a hideous monster. They completely lose control over their mind and develop a craving for human flesh. We now come to another kind of person that is unfairly criticized in the wizarding world.

A werewolf is only a danger during the full moon, they are harmless in their human form. When Lupin went to Hogwarts, he discovered that there are people who care, and don’t hate him for his condition. James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. All four of them were best friends, until Pettigrew betrayed them and became a death eater, f***ing coward. Lupin would eventually have another friend that he would be close to, and this friend would be like a son to him, Harry Potter. He would also begin to develop romantic feelings for a beautiful girl, Nymphadora Tonks. But when Lupin found out she reciprocated his feelings towards her, he thought she was in denial. Who in their right mind would have feelings for a werewolf?

But he would eventually realize that the way Tonks felt about him was genuine, and the two of them would get married. They would then have a son named Teddy. Sadly, Lupin and Tonks would die during the battle of Hogwarts, leaving baby Teddy as an orphan. Lupin completely broke the stereotype that claims that all werewolves are bad and was one of the bravest and most selfless  characters in the series. Gone, but not forgotten.

3: Harry Potter

And now we have come the main character of this entire franchise, it’s the boy who lived himself. What is not to love about this hero? All 7 books are mostly told in Harry’s POV. At the age of 1, his parents were murdered by Voldemort, and his only living relatives left were the Dursely’s. The Dursely’s were an abusive family, and mistreated Harry badly. But when he turned 11 years old, he was finally free, when he found out that he was a wizard and was going to Hogwarts. For the first time in his life, Harry was happy and made friends. But he would eventually realize that the wizarding world isn’t 100% perfect, there are evil people in this world.

Left and right, several of Harry’s friends kept getting killed, and Harry himself kept finding himself in serious danger. Ultimately, he would be the one to end all the horrible things that happen in the wizarding world, by being the one to kill Voldemort. Gradually throughout the series, Harry continues to learn more and more new things about the wizarding world. As the readers, we are also learning new things. Every single horrible thing that he goes through, the reader is right there alongside him. He is one of the greatest protagonists in the history of fiction, and it is very easy to root for him. This boy was in the childhood of millions of children. There was absolutely no way I was not putting him on this list.

2: Severus Snape

This is the most divisive characters in the entire franchise. There are fans who consider him to be one of the best characters in the series, while others see him as nothing more than and asshole. The side I am on is the former. For most of the series, he is an angry and bitter man. He has a massive disdain for Gryffindor students, especially Harry Potter. There was also a point in his life when he was a dangerous criminal, being one of Voldemort’s death eaters. This may make him seem like a horrible person, but there are reasons behind his actions. When he was a student at Hogwarts, he was constantly bullied by Gryffindor students, they made his life hell. The worst bully of all was James Potter. James was the most popular and arrogant student at Hogwarts, and this gave him a massive ego. Because of this, Snape developed a massive hatred towards Gryffindor. But there was one Gryffindor that was the exception, Lily Evans. Lily was the thing that Snape cared about more than anything else, he was in love with her. Unfortunately, Lily did not feel the same way. Now let’s pause for just one second, what do you expect to happen most of the time in situations like this in several pieces of fiction?

Most of the time, when character A has romantic feelings for character B, and character B does not feel the same way, character A goes down a dark path. They usually begin to develop an unhealthy obsession with character B, and they begin to come off as a creepy stalker. Snape’s feelings for Lily is an exception. Snape is not a stalker, it is not a creepy crush, he genuinely loves Lily. And ultimately, his heart is broken when she marries his number one enemy, James Potter. This causes Snape to go down a dark path and become a death eater. This is a decision that he would regret for the rest of his life, upon finding out that one of the people Voldemort is targeting is his beloved Lily. Snape then switches sides, upon realizing that the people he was working with were horrible. Then, Voldemort murders Lily. The person that Snape cared about the most was taken away from him.

He would resent Harry for the rest of his life, as Harry was the offspring of a relationship that never should have happened. Despite that, Snape continued to protect Harry, knowing that his mother would want him safe. Had it not been for Snape acting as a double agent collecting information from the death eaters, Voldemort would not have died. Up until his death a whopping 16 years later, Snape never forgot about Lily. For the rest of his life, long after Lily died, Snape still loved her. When I watched the scenes of his memories during the Deathly Hallows part 2 movie, I broke down crying like a five year old. That is the most I have ever cried while watching a film, and I rarely ever cry while watching movies. Severus Snape is without question, the bravest man in the Harry Potter series.

1: Albus Dumbledore

Several stories have a calm and wise old mentor figure, and Dumbledore is not an exception. Dumbledore has been the voice of reason numerous times in the series and constantly led Harry away from making bad decisions. But like most mentor figures in fiction, he didn’t start off that way. He used to be a very evil man, and sought to take over the world his boyfriend, Gellert Grindelwald. He was obsessed with power and would do anything to seek it. In reality he was blinded by love. He didn’t actually have these beliefs. He was just going along with them because Grindelwald had them. The turning point for him was when there was a three way duel between him, his brother Aberforth, and Gridelwald. One of the spells in the duel ended up hitting Dumbledore’s sister Arianna and killed her. To this day, there is no canon answer as to which of the three of them cast the spell that killed her.

Arianna was already suffering, with her being an Obscurial. She was already living her life in pain, and this final hit was what finished her off. Dumbledore felt responsible for what just happened and ultimately realized that his lust for power was destroying him. Reluctantly, he went against the love of his life and defeated him to save the wizarding world. Several decades later, although he never showed signs of it, he was in a deep state of depression for potentially causing the death of his sister. Years after he defeated Grindelwald, despite how horrible of a person he was, Dumbledore still loved him. He had decided that with it being the thing that destroyed him, Dumbledore would never seek immense power ever again. Numerous times, he was offered the position of minister of magic but turned it down.

In a rare act of carelessness, he disregarded the fact that the Gaunt’s family ring was cursed and put it on his finger. The resurrection stone was attached to the ring, and he was hoping to use it so he could see Arianna again and apologize for what he put her through. The cursed ring seriously deteriorated his body, and he only had a year left to live. Knowing that he was going to be dying regardless, he decided to use the situation to his advantage. He instructed Snape to be the one to kill him in order to make it seem like he was still loyal to the death eaters. Dumbledore would ultimately die at the top of the astronomy tower, having gone through over a century of hell. At least now, he will get to see Arianna again. A tragic tale of a man who was blinded by love, leading to his mental state being destroyed. This is why he is my number one favorite Harry Potter character.

There you have it, who are your favorite characters? Feel free to let me know in the comments.

[jomiddlemarch]

And whilst our souls negotiate there  

Chapter 8

“Oh, Jean’s no trouble at all, not like some,” the nurse at Hermione’s bedside said, fussing with the edge of the blanket. There was affection in her tone, the relief at being assigned an easy patient, one who wouldn’t scream or bite, upend the tray of food or hurl the Yorkshire pudding and the gravy at the wall. One who wouldn’t require clever application of charms, defense spells, vigilance. “Jean’s easy, a dear, sweet little thing—”

Draco had never heard a less apt description of Hermione Granger in his life.

“Get out,” he said, watching surprise and anger twist the nurse’s mildly pretty face into something too ordinary to be ugly. “Please,” he added, mollifying her enough that she left with only a sniff and a flounce, nothing muttered under her breath. 

“Hag,” he muttered under his breath, though a real Hag was far more impressive than the nurse. And the nurse hadn’t said anything so terribly objectionable, unless you were one of the last people in the world who knew Jean was Hermione Granger and one of even fewer who hoped to bring her back so she could, in very short order, disabuse the nurse of her misconceptions.

He sat down in the chair next to Hermione’s bed, marveling again at how uncomfortable it was when it could easily have been luxurious, then angled himself so he could see Hermione’s face. Her color was a bit better and her hair had been tended to but there were shadows beneath her eyes, as if she hadn’t slept for days, which was possibly ironic, given how long she’d been in what appeared to be an enchanted sleep.

Or perhaps it wasn’t ironic. Draco would be the first to admit his ability to discern irony accurately was markedly limited.

“You’d know what to do if the situation were reversed, domina,” Draco said. He made an effort to speak to her just as if she were awake and regarding him skeptically, which was the best response he’d ever gotten from her. He suspected she would said her best response was when she punched him in the nose and he’d bled all over his robes because Crabbe nor Goyle were both so shocked neither could muster a credible Epistaxio. “To be fair, it wouldn’t have been as hard to retrieve me. I’d never have added that fourth layer of enchantment and Metonic equations have always been beyond me, you wouldn’t have had to wrestle with those.”

Hermione, unsurprisingly, was silent.

Draco would have sighed, if sighing was something he did.

“Neville thinks I can get you out. Bring you back. Whatever you want to call it. Theo does too. Their confidence is…annihilating,” he said. He looked down at his hand, loosely clasped in his lap. He wore the Malfoy signet under duress, because if he didn’t, he’d lose access to the Manor library and it would be a major inconvenience for Fizzy to manage Draco’s lodgings. His mother would stop talking about her rose garden and instead endlessly whinge on and on about the family name and what she’d sacrificed for him, as if he hadn’t wished with all his heart to take Hermione’s place when Bellatrix was torturing her, except that he would not have been saved by Dobby or any other House-elf.

“Potter doesn’t. Not really. But he can’t bear coming to see you, so I’m to be here in his place. Wanker. He expects it’ll take years for me to give up. Maybe decades. And that’ll be enough time to make his peace over losing you,” Draco said.

Draco had refused to see a Healer after he’d been through the required clearance due to his legal proceedings and his medical training. He’d refused to see the lheear-lhee Luna Lovegood had mentioned dreamily but repeatedly, though he’d never been rude enough to tell her to stop telling him, given how little he’d done for her when she’d been held captive in his family’s cellar, far less well-cared for than the Burgundy. He used Pensieves very judiciously, aware that he risked losing something critical each time he dissolved himself into the silvery brume, the reassembly of identity ever more risky.

Harry would come to terms with his grief. And Draco would go mad.

“And that’s not on,” he said, as if he’d been speaking aloud his thoughts. As if she were listening and about to interrupt, to mount some passionate rebuttal. “Potter’s too sane to know what he’s asking, he’s been able to cast a bloody Patronus since before he could grow a beard—he doesn’t know there’s something worse than death, what torments lie within us. But you do, Hermione. I’ll do what I can. I’ll do everything I can. But I can’t lose myself the way you are lost, to no purpose. That’s not karma or redemption or vengeance. It’s a fucking waste—”

He stopped talking. Would go mad? He was already ranting at a witch who hadn’t uttered a word in over a year, who’d been written off by Lalibela.

He reached over and touched her left hand where it lay on the blanket. She preferred to cast with her right hand, he remembered that, and he remembered what he’d read in Padua, how the hand that was used less held more potential magic, some reserve that was only rarely accessed. For a moment, her hand was cool, limp, and then there was a surge of feeling, something he recognized without being able to name. Without thinking, he grasped her hand in his and the next wave felt like Lughnasadh dawn over the horizon, like breaking the surface of the Black Lake, the first breath after nearly drowning.

He felt her, at a great distance. 

An impossibly great distance.

That was, however, just what magic was for.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Do you think there's a way to keep House Elves in the Harry Potter series without the whole... slavery thing?

Like, make it so they House Elves are like Brownies from British folklore. They like wizards and they like helping them out, but it's clear they can leave whenever they want and if you insult or abuse them they can make you regret it.

It's just the Pureblood families like the Malfoys or Blacks that have found a way to exploit their House Elves but they keep it under wraps so no one else knows about it.

I mean, there's "mysterious things that help you out and you leave milk for them and shit, and you never really see them, and they may or may not do the odd household chores when you're not looking" and there's "live in visible servants who have to follow your every command and aren't given clothes to wear and physically punish themselves if they fail orders because of weird binding contracts".

JKR could have had brownies but those are very different than what she described and what she clearly wanted in her books. (This isn't the first time of this, JKR is dead set on the basilisk being a snake instead of, you know, a rooster-dragon-toad-snake thing, we missed some real chances for Harry to hear mysterious clucking noises from inside the pipes).

As it is, if she did what you describe, then the plot JKR would want to talk about (Harry derp) would get derailed by "oh my god we have to do things about the house elves" which is admittedly what happens in book 4, and Hermione is told to shut the fuck up and sit down already.

JKR clearly wanted house elves to be what they're depicted as, have them as major plot elements in the way she had, but never actually do anything to address this giant societal problem or even admit it is a problem beyond "Dobby died a free elf" (as Dobby dies in a conflict that has nothing to do with him).

I just don't see how we could have a non-problematic house elf plotline. You guys are just going to have to let Dobby go.

[adminbryantsaki]

Draco Malfoy and the Family Curse(repost)

Naga! Draco Malfoy x Slytherin! Female! Reader

(I do not own Draco Malfoy. J.K. Rowling and Warner Brother Studios.  If this isn't your cup of tea, blend of spices, or brew of coffee, please feel free to move along. Reader discretion is advised)

TW:, Arranged marriage, Family curse, hybrid transformation(dragon and naga), Reader is a half dragon hybrid, Au where Sirius didn’t go to Azkaban, Lucius is nice, pain, animal transformation.

WC: 28,025

You’re spending the summer at Malfoy Manor with your dads, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black as you usually do. It’s the year before you’re expected to get your acceptance letter to Hogwarts and you’re sitting at the breakfast table in the kitchen next to Draco, Remus and Sirius are making themselves plates of food while Lucius and Narcissa are sitting across from each other next to Draco. You look up and hear the owls chirp. They come through the window and land on the perch on the dining table, holding two letters from Hogwarts in their beaks. “THEY CAME!” Draco exclaims as he stands up from his seat and grabs his letter from the snowy owl and grabs yours from the dark grey owl the hand it to you. You see the aged parchment of the envelopes and the Hogwarts school crest stamped into the red wax sealing the letter. You’re quietly buzzing in excitement as you look up at Remus and Sirius watches you with a gleam of excitement in their eyes. You opened yours just as eagerly as Draco was, tension filling the air as the both of you read your letters. “I got in!” You exclaimed and hugged your dads as Draco read over his too. You looked over to Draco and read over his shoulder to try and see what his letter said too.

“What does yours say, Draco?” You asked him as you tried reading his letter too but he pulled it to his chest.

“I’m not gonna tell you.” He spoke, his smug grin playing across his lips.

“Kidding, I got in too, Y/n.” He told you a moment later and gave you a hug as he was happy that the two of you would be going to the same school together and hopefully you would join him in Slytherin when the two of you went to Hogwarts. Lucius looks happy that the two of you were going to Hogwarts together but you caught the man pushing his chair out and looking to your dads as if it were time that the three of them to discuss a subject that had since long since been delayed when you and Draco had been born. Remus and Sirius had both wiped their mouths and thanked Narcissa for the food before following Lucius out of the kitchen and into his study.  Narcissa helped Dobby, their house elf clear the plates before looking to the pair of you.

“Run along, why don’t you? Your fathers need to discuss something important.” She spoke and looked to Dobby. “Watch over the children. I’ll care for the dishes, Dobby.” She spoke and the house elf nodded.

“Of course, Mistress.” He spoke and followed you and Draco out of the kitchen and into the living room that connected to Lucius’s office where you could hear the muffled voices of your Papa and Dad talking to Lucius. You began walking over to the door to try and eavesdrop when Draco grabbed your wrist.

“Don’t. Father doesn’t like it when I try to eavesdrop. I don’t think he will like it when you do either.” He told you and pulled you to the carpet in front of the fireplace, Dobby tending to the fire to make sure it was warm enough with the poker, and smiling a little when you and Draco approached.

“I hope the fire is hot enough for Miss y/n and Master Draco.” He spoke before hopping down to assist the two of you with whatever you needed. Draco got up on a stool to reach a shelf where he pulled a chessboard down from a shelf and set it up in front of you. “The fire is perfect, Dobby, thank you.” You told him before going to Draco and setting up the white pieces.

“Do you know how to play?” He asked as he pulled out the pieces and set up the board. You nodded and helped him set up the different pieces that went into Wizard Chess. You shifted your back uncomfortably as you set up the pieces and Draco noticed. “You know you don’t have to hide them around me. I really like seeing them.” He spoke and you gave out a sigh of relief as you let your majestic black leathery wings unfold your back, your powerful tail show from under the back hem of your shirt and flick around, a pair of pale, spiraling horns grow out from your dark curls, and patches of scales on bronze and black show on your skin, a patch appearing on your neck and stopping just at the corner of your mouth as you allowed yourself to fully transform.

Draco and Dobby watched you in awe as you looked at them with your golden eyes. “Miss Black looks lovely.” Dobby says before Draco says to get them both some hot chocolate and the elf scurries off to make the drinks for them since Draco wanted to be alone with you. He reached out to touch your wing before pulling his hand back, remembering he needed to ask before touching your dragon features.

“May I touch your wings and horns?” He asked, shoving his hands under his arms.  You chuckled and nodded, tilting your head to him. Draco reached over and touched your horns gently, as if they were made of porcelain. “They aren’t gonna shatter at your touch, Draco.” You reassured him and he sighed. “They look so pretty though.” He told you and ran his fingers over the ridges that showed the layers of growth.

“Thank you.” You told him and moved your wings forward so Draco could touch them.  Draco reached out and touched your wings gingerly, treating them as if they were as fragile as ancient parchment and to treated with the most delicate care that he could muster. “Draco, I’m not made of glass. I’ll be okay.” You reassured him as he spread your wing a little to see just how large the wingspan is. “They’re huge! Have you tried flying with them yet?” He asked as he looked back at you. “No… I’m too scared and there isn’t much room to fly around at home without Muggles noticing.” You told him and he looked a little sad and nodded in understanding.

“You know you could try flying here. We have plenty of space here and father always makes sure to keep the grounds cloaked and we’re far enough away that no Muggles will ever find out. You’d be safe here and we would support you.” He whispered as he pressed his forehead to yours, holding your hand in his as he ran his thumb over your knuckles, showing you support, only looking up to you to place a gentle kiss on your forehead. He finished setting up the chessboard and the two of you began playing the game, occasionally looking to the door to Lucius’s study.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Draco asks.

“Dunno. Work maybe.” You respond as you move your chess piece on the board. You  look up when you hear the door to the office open, seeing your dad, papa, and Lucius all exit the office. Sirius, your papa walks over with his gentle smile on his face and gleam in his eye. Sirius holds his hand out to you and you stand up. “Come with me into the kitchen, love. You and Draco can finish your game in a moment, you, dad, and I need to talk about something important.” He told you as your hand was in his.

Sirius led you into the kitchen with Remus trailing behind the pair of you. Once you were seated at the kitchen table, Remus handed you a chocolate chip cookie and a cup of tea before both he and Sirius sat across from you, watching you enjoy your cookie as you dunk it into the mind tea that complimented the chocolate of the cookie. Remus nudged his partner as Sirius was hesitated telling you the important news.   “Y/n, as you know, your dad and I have been talking with Mr. Malfoy. I’m sure you and Draco have been curious as to what we have been discussing.” Sirius began as he watched you happily eat at your cookie and listen to him speak.

“I have been curious what you and Mr. Malfoy have been talking about for hours at a time all locked away in his office. What is it, Papa?” You ask as you take a bite of your cookie. Sirius sighs, looked to Remus who gave him a reassuring nod, and turned his gaze back to you, relishing your youthful innocence before speaking. Sirius took a deep breath before speaking.

“You have been arranged be married to Draco Malfoy when both you an him turn eighteen and have graduated Hogwarts together. Its for your own good and we want you to be happy.” Sirius spoke. You felt like a bomb had been dropped as your life had been planned for you without your say in the matter. The rest of your cookie was dropped to the table as you slid off the bench and ran out of the room, you had felt like the room was suffocating you and you needed to get out of there.

You went into the dining room where Lucius and Narcissa were talking with Draco whose eyes were wide as saucers. Arranged? You were eleven! You were going to Hogwarts in the fall with Draco as your best friend, not your future husband! You run to Draco in the dining room and hug him, not wanting this revelation to be true.

“Please tell me that it’s not true.” You ask as you pull away and look him in the eyes. Draco’s happy face falters when he sees your distraught expression and he cupped your cheek with his hand as he matched your gaze.

“It’s true, y/n, we’re arranged to be married when we graduate Hogwarts.” He says, a little happy. You look terrified at his words and you pull away as the room suddenly feels stuffy and you couldn’t breathe. “Th-this is seven years from now, Draco.” You tell him as you try to wrap your mind around the situation. Your body showing more stress as you felt the walls of the manor closing in on you. You saw Draco’s face express concern as you gripped his hands and you felt your papa’s hand rub your back comfortingly.

“Pup, I know you’re nervous, but we wanted to ensure you’ll be happy. You know we won’t be here forever and with your hybrid status, your dad and I wanted you to have a husband.” Sirius told you. You gripped Draco’s hands harder before letting them go, your pupils dilating to slits before staring up at your papa.

“This is because you don’t think I’ll find a husband on my own? You really think I won’t because of my appearance? You decided who I will marry for me? How could you!” You exclaim before shoving your papa’s hand off your back and you storm out of the manor with Remus and Sirius following you. Lucius grab’s Draco’s arm as he stood up to try and go after you. “Let her go cool off, Draco. Her fathers will hopefully speak some reason into her.” He spoke and Draco nodded, he wanted to go after you so badly as he hated seeing you distressed like this. You went outside and unfolded your wings a little as you ran off into the maze of the rose gardens. You didn’t want this.

You didn’t want to be forced to marry Draco. You wanted to marry him of your own volition. Not because some pureblood tradition was in place. You let tears stream from your face as you found a water fountain near the center of the garden with stone benches that you could hide under as you heard your dad’s voices, Draco’s and Lucius’ voices get closer.  You slipped under one of the stone benches as you heard your dads’ voices get closer. You wrap your wings around yourself to hide yourself better as the adults walked past the fountain area but you saw Draco’s shined shoes stop in front of the bench where you were hiding and he bent down, seeing your black, leathery wing just peeking out of the shadows.

“I know its you hiding under there. What are you doing down here?” You heard him ask as he got on his hands and knees and crawled under the bench with you. You unfolded your wings to enclose him in your hiding spot in case the adults circled back around. “I’m hiding.” You told him as he pulled himself up to hug his knees to his chest so he could fit inside of your wings as you pulled them around him. “Why do we need to hide?” He asked. “I don’t wanna marry you under arrangement.” You told him and he looked a little upset but he held your hands in comfort.  

“What are you saying? You don’t want to get married to me at all?” He asked as concern crosses his face as he didn’t want to lose you. He had grown to love you, arrangement or not. “I didn’t expect my dads to tie me off to someone just because they were afraid, I’d never find a husband because of my appearance. I’d want to marry you, arrangement or not.” You tell him, frustration lacing your voice as you tug your legs closer to your chest. Draco laced his fingers with yours and held your gaze as he was surprised you still wanted him.

“You still want me?” He asked quietly. Your golden eyes snapped up to his and you nodded. “But I don’t want to be pushed into a marriage right out of school. I to have a job and a life.” You told him as you looked panicked and worried as you felt your dreams being taken away from you. You looked into his silvery eyes as he had a spark of curiosity as to what you wanted to be when you graduated Hogwarts. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” He asked with awe and wonder in his eyes.

“I want to study Magizoology and be a teacher at Hogwarts. Dad and Papa have told me so much about the school and their adventures there when they went to school that I love it so much and want to live there all the time.” You tell him, Draco nods as he wants this dream of yours to come true. He pressed his forehead to yours and locked eyes with you. “I don’t mind waiting. I want you to achieve your goals just as much as you do, Y/n. I understand not wanting to rush into a marriage. I don’t want to get married right out of school either. I want to be a potion master when I grow up. But I also must live up to my father’s expectations too.” Draco confesses as he holds your hands, gripping them tightly and rubbing his thumbs across the back of them in reassurance.

You took deep breaths and closed your eyes until you heard your dads’ footsteps and the footsteps of Mr. Malfoy and that walking stick of his approach and Draco holds you close. “We have to come out of the bench, Y/n.” He told you and you whined, not wanting to leave the safety of your hiding spot just yet.  Your whine, however was the thing that gave the two of you away. You felt the tap of Lucius’s stick and you flinched, hissing and drawing away from where Lucius was standing You were going to try and slip out from the back end of the bench before you heard your dad defend you.

“Don’t hurt my daughter like that. Its your proposal that sent her running in the first place. She doesn’t need to be tapped with a stick to come out of her hiding spot just because you found her.” Remus said to Lucius in a firm tone. “She doesn’t need to hiss like some feral animal when I try to encourage her out of her… unusual hiding spot. Draco. Come out from under there, you’ll get your clothes duties if you haven’t already.” Lucius spoke and Draco hesitantly left your side and scrambled to his feet, brushing the dirt from his pants. You reached for Draco as you wanted his comfort but all he could do was help you to your feet, helping you brush the dirt off your clothes too and holding you close. Lucius forces a smile when he sees you and ignores the protective glares from Sirius and Remus.

“Ah, there you are, Y/n. I’m glad to see you’ve come back to join us.” Lucius says to you and gestures for you to talk to him off to the side. You glance to your dad who nods to you, you leave Draco’s side to follow Lucius a small distance away from your dads and Draco. “Are you alright? I didn’t mean to hurt you when I tapped you with my cane, Y/n.” He said in a hushed tone as he looked at your wings for any sign of injury. “I am fine, Mr. Malfoy. Your gesture just caught me off guard.” You told him in the formal tone you had practiced with your dads. Lucius’s gaze softened.

“Good. I am glad you’re not harmed. Let’s head back, shall we?” He spoke and led you back to where your dads and Draco were waiting. You went to Draco’s side and he looked you in the eyes. “Are you alright? I know my father can be harsh. “I’m fine. Let’s just go back in and tell them that we want to prolong things.” You told him and walked back inside the manor with Draco, behind your dads and Lucius, holding hands as you did. Once inside, Draco led you to stand in front of the fireplace and looking to the men that had taken seats in front of you. “You two look like you have something you’d like to tell us.” Sirius pipes up after a moment of silence. Draco grips your hands and looks at the men.

“Y/n has told me that she wishes to prolong the marriage so she may pursue her dream of being a magizoologist and become a professor at Hogwarts.” Draco speaks for you, knowing you were too nervous to speak for yourself right then. You looked up from staring at the faux fur rug at your dads who were aware of your dream, Lucius, your future father-in-law wasn’t too happy with your wishes. “You should be lucky I even offered for Draco to be arranged to you, now you want to go and have a job instead of marrying him right out of school? You ungrateful-.” Lucius began as he stood up and approached you.

“I will still marry Draco. Just not right away. I am grateful to be arranged to him.” You told him as you found your voice and stood between Lucius and Draco. You held your hands behind your back, letting your golden eyes lock on Lucius’s grey ones. “I wish for you to respect my wishes. It is a job that I can do even while married to Draco. If you haven’t heard, your son wishes to be a potion master. I believe if he pursues this dream, he may even be potions professor at Hogwarts.” You tell him, letting your tail flick warily as you waited Lucius’s answer. Lucius found his composure and waved his hand of the matter.

“Are you sure of this? I’m sure you’re aware of my family’s wealth. You don’t need to work to make money, Y/n.” Lucius said as he was trying to change your mind of what you wanted. “I am well aware of your wealth, Mr. Malfoy. Think of this as a hobby then that I’d get paid for. Same for Draco.” You respond. Lucius pinches the bridge of his nose as Sirius chuckles at your boldness, getting swatted on the arm by Remus. Your eyes flicked to them before going back to Lucius as he recomposed himself. “Very well then. The both of you may pursue these careers. Once the both of you have secured jobs at Hogwarts with a decent pay, then you will be married, is that understood?” He spoke sternly and you nodded, keeping eye contact with Lucius who gave you a curt nod before retiring to his office for some fire whiskey with your dads.

You looked to Draco as you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding in. He hugged you as Sirius walked up behind you. “You were great, darling. You did so well speaking for yourself. Your mother would have been proud.” Sirius says as he puts a hand on your back for a moment before leaving you and Draco alone to join his husband and in-law in the study. “I was proud of you too, Y/n. Its amazing how bold you can be when you put your mind to something.” Draco spoke as he held you close and the two of you went back to your chess game that the two of you had yet to finish.

~~~Three days later~~~ You and Draco were holding hands, walking down the uneven brick road of Diagon alley with Lucius trailing behind you both and keeping a close eye on the pair of you. Since your fathers had been called away for business, Lucius offered to pay for your school things, knowing that he would allow his future daughter-in-law to have only the best. You however knew your dads had secretly been called to attend an Order meeting back at Grimmauld Place. You would never tell Lucius or Draco that you and your dads were apart of the Order of the Phoenix. You instead kept your eyes on the piece of paper in your hands that held the list that you and Draco would ne ed for the upcoming school year.  You gripped Draco’s hand as you read off the list.

“We need: Three sets of plain black work robes, one plain black pointed hat for daytime wear, one pair of dragon hide gloves, one winter cloak that’s black with silver fastenings…we need wands.” You say nervously and look to Ollivander’s Wand shop. Draco followed your gaze and held your hand. Draco reassured you. “I’m sure they will be able to slip away to watch you get your first wand, Y/n.” Draco reassured you, rubbing your shoulder and making sure you stick close to him as he guided you to Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions to get your robes, cloak, gloves, and hat.

While the two of you were in the store, Draco had found some dress robes that he thought would look good on you. “What do you think of these, Y/n?” He asked as he held up an emerald green crushed velvet dress with silver accents to you, wondering if you liked them, trying to distract you from the fact that your dads weren’t there with you. You gave him a fake smile as you touched the fabric of the dress.

“It’s pretty.” You told him before you let the fabric of the dress leave your hand and you turned to some of the other dresses on the rack. The dress he was showing you didn’t quite fit your taste as it reminded you of all the other dresses the women would wear to the stuffy, old fashioned parties the Malfoy family would throw throughout the year and you’d attend them with your dads. “Not your taste,Y/n? Tell me why.” He spoke as he was interested in what you liked and didn’t like. He put the emerald green dress back on the rack before looking to you, curling a finger under your chin and tilting your head up to him so he could look you in the eyes. “There’s those pretty golden eyes, I could get lost in them, you know. Now tell me why you didn’t like the dress.” He asked again.

“That dress reminds me of the stuffy parties that your family would throw all the time. I’d rather have something like this.” You tell him as you pull out a girl’s suit that had a galaxy pattern displayed all over the fabric with black accents that moved when you shifted the suit around and held it up in front of you.

“You would look beautiful in that.” Draco told you, leaning in and whispering into your ear as his father came over to check on the two of you. Lucius looks to the suit you’re holding up and raises an eyebrow. “That’s an impressive suit, Y/n. But isn’t it a …bit bold and unconventional?” He asked as his eyes flicked to the emerald green dress on the rack that Draco had shown you only moments before. “Yes, but I still like it. Papa says I am a bold and unconventional person.” You tell him and add the suit to the pile, knowing Lucius couldn’t do a thing since he was paying for what you wanted to get for the upcoming school year and any events that you were to attend at his manor throughout the year as Draco’s date. Lucius pinched the bridge of his nose and pulled out a pouch of coins for you and Draco to pay for your robes before moving onto the next store. Draco helped you with the amounts and paid for his own robes before handing the leftover coins to his father and taking your hand and leading you out of the store.

“Where would you like to go next, Y/n? Flourish and Blotts for our books? The apothecary to get our items for potions? Or do you want a break and have me spoil you with some ice cream at the Parlor?” Draco whispered into your ear. Lucius came up to his side and tapped him with his cane. “Don’t be so close in public, Draco.” He scolded gently. “Yes, Father.” Draco spoke as he gripped your hand and led you to the ice cream parlor with the name Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream parlor above the door. Draco held the door open for you and followed you inside, Lucius staying outside the shop as a familiar face had walked up to him and began talking. Draco guided you to the counter and leaned into your ear.

“Pick whatever you like. Father gave me enough to spoil you a little.” He said into your ear, which made you blush. You went about picking what you wanted, watching Draco do the same and paying for both before walking with you to a nearby table and eating your sweet treats.

Once the treats had been consumed, Draco stood up and helped you dispose of your napkins before rejoining his father outside.

“Did the two of you enjoy yourselves?” Lucius asked as he finished a conversation with a coworker of his.

“Yes, we did, father.” Draco spoke, holding the pouch of coins up to his father. “Hold onto it for now. That’s for you to buy things for Y/n.” You hear Lucius whisper to Draco before the two of you walked on to Flourish and Blotts, wanting to save the wand shopping for last, hoping your dads would come to see you get your first wand. It was a bit far-fetched but you could only hope to wish that they would arrive. You led the men into the bookstore and went about looking for your school books, Draco sticking close to you and grabbing copies of the same books in silence. Draco did leave your side for a moment, going to the empty journals and trying to pick one out that he though you would like. He eventually settled on a brown, leather-bound journal with a dragon etched into the cover. Lucius approached and looked over his son’s shoulder at what he had selected for you.

“Does she keep a journal, Draco?” He whispered into his son’s ear as he put his hand on Draco’s shoulder. “She does. Her current one is almost full.” He spoke as he looked at you as you were picking your copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. “Good option then. Just know its an invasion of privacy to read her journals unless she asks you, Draco.” Lucius says before walking around the store and checking on you, keeping you distracted about what your favorite creatures were while Draco purchased the journal and left his school books at the register for his father to pay for before he walked to you, holding the journal behind his back. “I’ll go pay for your books and Draco’s, Y/n. You two go outside and I’ll find you after.” Lucius spoke as he gave a knowing look to Draco who smirked as his father walked off. Draco guided you outside the store and pulled you off to the side, away from the main crowd. He presented the journal to you.

Your eyes widening and you accept the journal, thanking him and telling him that your current diary was almost full. Draco smiled, not letting you know that he had known that for a while now. You hugged him and he returned the hug. As you pulled away, Draco pecked your cheek, leaving you flustered. Draco held your hand as Lucius found the both of you.

“The last thing on both your lists is your wands. Are you ready?” Lucius asked. Draco’s eyes lit up but you were unsure. Your dads hadn’t shown up yet. You wanted your dad and Papa here with you to experience you getting your first wand but you figured they were super busy with Order work which you understood but still found it unfair. Lucius knelt to your level and met your gaze.

“I know you want your fathers here, Y/n. We can wait outside the store for a little while. I’m sure they will show up.” Lucius says before he stands and guides the both of you to a small table near Ollivander’s wand shop, sipping on some cream sodas while you waited. You hardly touched your soda while you gazed at the worn-down brick of the road before you heard the pop of apparition. Your head snapped up and saw your dads standing outside Ollivander’s wand shop, looking around before their eyes landed on you. They both seemed a little out of breath and slightly disheveled, receiving a raised eyebrow from Lucius as they approached the three of you.

“Did you get your wand already?” Sirius asked as his eyes met yours, Remus standing beside him. You shook your head.

“No, we were gonna go in soon though. But Mr. Malfoy let me wait for a bit because I wanted you and dad to be here. You and dad always told me that the moment a wand chooses the witch or wizard is important.” You told them. Remus smiled and Sirius had that familiar twinkle in his eye that always gave you a warm feeling in your chest. You finished your soda and hopped off the chair, going into the store with Draco. Mr. Ollivander walked to the front of the store and greeted you both.

“Well, hello there! I see that Mr. Malfoy and Miss Black finally came to my shop. I was wondering when the two of you would arrive.” He spoke and glanced up to the window, seeing Remus, Sirius, and Lucius looking in at us. “Ah yes, I remember when both your fathers came in here for their first wands. Now, lets have Miss Black go first, shall we?” Ollivander spoke and handed you a wand first. You flick the wand, something in the shop breaks, Ollivander takes the wand away, and hands you another. You test that wand and green sparks shoot from the tip.

“Not quite. Hmmm. Maybe a different core to match your mother’s hybrid status, yes. How about this one?” He asks, handing you a lovely wand that you take in your hand and test out on a partially dead flower on the counter that’s immediately brought back to life. It’s the perfect one. “Excellent, This wand was made from hornbeam wood, with a dragon horn core, twelve and three-quarters inches. Resilient. A perfect fit for you, Miss Black.” Ollivander spoke, letting you hold onto the wand before turning to Draco and studying him for a moment. Mr. Ollivander taps his chin before going to the back of the store and coming back to the front with a black wooden box in hand. He set the box down and took the lid off, presenting the wand to Draco.

“Hawthorn, unicorn hair, ten inches, reasonably springy.” Ollivander says as he hands the wand to Draco, glancing up to Lucius who was watching his son receive his first wand, then back down to Draco who flicked the wand at a nearby candle, lighting it on the first try. His eyes lit up and he looked to you before looking to his dad for approval, a forced smirk on his face. He looked down to his wand and stared at it in awe. His eyes flicked up to meet your gaze again. He gave you a genuine smile before turning to his dad who was followed by your fathers as they had quietly entered the shop after Draco had gotten his wand.

Lucius had stepped forward to Ollivander to pay for the wands as you hugged your dads and showed them your wand, glancing to Draco as he stood by his father who was looking for a wand holster for Draco. You turned your attention back to your dads who had knelt to your level as you were bubbling with excitement as you told them about how you felt when you waved the wand and saw the flowers come back to life. “You did such a good job, darling. Make sure to take good care of your wand. Why don’t you go pick a holster for your wand?” Remus suggested and walked with you to the display of different holsters for your wand and helping you settle on a black one that Lucius insisted on paying for. You hugged your dads again as they had to leave again, saying they had to get back to work. You were sad to see them disappear into the crowd of witches and wizards attending their errands. Draco stood by your side and held your hand, placing a gentle kiss on your temple.

“They will be back tonight, Y/n. Don’t worry. Now what’s left on the list?” He asked, wanting to distract you from you missing your dads. He wanting nothing more but to get you back to Malfoy Manor and comfort you. “Well, we can either get owls or not get them. I’d rather just use the owls there at school to send letters.” You told Draco and he agreed. The two of you wrapped up the list, going to the apothecary to complete the list, Lucius rewarding you both with butterbeers at the Leaky Cauldron as he had some business to attend to. You and Draco had dropped off your school items in your rooms before going down to the tavern. Lucius had the pair of you sit at a table, ordering the two of you butterbeers while he went to another table in the corner, keeping the two of you in his sight. Draco took a sip of his drink and watches you take a drink out of yours.

“Tell me something, Y/n. Are you just as nervous about going to school as I am?” he asked and looked at you as he gripped the handle of his mug. You looked down at the foamy surface of your butterbeer before looking up to Draco. You were nervous and you were happy to know that he was nervous too.

“I am nervous. What if we’re sorted into different houses? Then we wouldn’t be together as often.” You said with a pout.

“Don’t stress it. I’m sure we will both end up in the same house.” He reassured you by holding your hand.

“Which house do you want to be in?” You asked. Draco looked back to his father then to you.

“I hope to end up in Slytherin, like my mother and father did. As for you, I’d hope you’d be in Slytherin with me but I’d still like you no matter what house you ended up in.” He told you as he rubbed his thumb over the back of your hand. You felt a little relieved that he said that as you secretly wanted to be in Slytherin too since you had known that every other member of the Black family was in Slytherin but your father. You mother had been in Ravenclaw. You didn’t know what house the hat would put you in so you’d have to wait until the two of you got to the school and were sorted. You drained your butterbeer and stood up with Draco after he finished his drink too before the two of you went up to your joined rooms. Draco pulled you into his room and laid on his bed, pulling you close to cuddle you close while Lucius finished up his business downstairs.

Lucius finished up his business downstairs before coming up to Draco’s room and finding you asleep in Draco’s arms.  Lucius smiled softly and let the two of you sleep before going to his own room to work.

Draco woke up before you did, watching you sleep peacefully before you stirred. He ran a hand through your hair gently, enjoying your curls that matched your papa’s. Lucius knocked on the door before opening it and saw the two of you. “I’m sorry to have to wake her but its time for us to head back to the manor. She can rest in your room with you when we get home, Draco.” Lucius spoke and Draco shook your shoulder gently to wake you. You grumbled and opened your eyes to look at him.

“There you are, Y/n. Time to go home.” You heard Draco say as he stroked your hair and you blinked a couple times before sitting up and climbing out of bed, feeling ashamed as you had been caught close to Draco. Lucius saw your expression and stepped inside, a smirk on his face.

“You’re fine, Y/n.” Lucius spoke and gave you reassuring smile. You climbed out of the bed, straightening your clothes, and grabbing your school items, tucking them away in your trunk before wheeling it out of the room, Draco and Lucius following behind you as the three of you went to the floo system in the Leaky Cauldron to go back to Malfoy Manor.

Once you had set your trunk in your room, Draco pulled you to his side and guided you to his room. “Draco? What are you doing? I want to read my Fantastic Beasts book!” You protested as he pulled you into his bed with him. “You can read that later. Right now, I think you need to be held and I want to hold you.” Draco spoke and wrapped his arms around you, holding you close to his chest. You held him back and rested your head on his shoulder. “Talk to me. Tell me about yourself.” You asked as you looked up at him. “Well. I am looking forward to spending the school year with you. I’m excited to fall in love with you, learn about potions. I hope I’ll have time for drawing.” He tells you as he rubs lazy circles on your back. “You like to draw?” You asked him and he nodded, pulling away from you to grab his sketchbook. He handed it to you. you flipped through it and there were many different designs of dress robes, school uniforms, and casual wear. A lot of them were for women and winged hybrids like you. from button up backs, lace up backs, and Velcro backs, there were all kinds of fixture for clothing accommodating hybrids like you. A set of dress robes that was a hybrid of a suit top and the skirt of a women’s dress that looked to be made with your species in mind. Draco had drawn the structure of your wings spread slightly perfectly and with intense detail. “This is amazing, Draco. I didn’t know you drew so well. I love them all.” You told him as you looked at other designs.

“You know I could make you anything you wanted to wear, Y/n. Just say the word and its yours.” He whispered into your ear. You blushed bright pink and cuddled into him. He held you close as he showed you other designs and talked to you about how he was excited to learn potions. He even got his potions book from his pile of school items and showed you his favorite potions that he was looking forward to learning about like the draft of the living death and the wiggenwield potions. He paused on Amortentia and looked to you. “I wonder what you’d smell with this one, darling?” He asked as he showed the page to you and smiled softly.   “Maybe I’d smell you? I don’t know yet.” You responded, unsure of what you’d actually smell. ~~~ At King’s Cross Station~~~ You were pushing your trolley down the walkway with Draco right next to me. Lucius, Narcissa, Remus, and Sirius following behind us. We approach the pillar that separates platforms nine and ten and Sirius bends to your level. “Now, all you have to do is run right at the pillar between platforms nine and ten, love.” He tells you, letting you run to the pillar and disappear on the other side. Draco appears next to you a moment later with a smile on his face. The two of you push your trolleys out of the way of the entrance to watch his parents and your dads appear through the pillar. Lucius has his hand on the small of Narcissa’s back as he walked through and smiled when he saw you standing next to Draco. You smiled when you saw your dads walk through the doorway holding hands.

“There you are, love.” Sirius spoke and let go of his partner’s hand to approach you and guide you to the bright red and black train engine sitting on the tracks warming up for the long trip to the school in the Highlands of Scotland. You go get checked into the train and pull your trunk and other suitcases off the trolley and into the storage compartment of the train before you turn back and run to hug your dads, wrapping your arms around Remus’ neck. “I’ll miss you when I’m at school.” You tell your dad. “We will miss you too, Y/n. You behave yourself while you’re gone and make sure to keep up with your studies, alright? Send letters every week to check in on you, okay?” Remus tells you as he holds you. You hug him and bury your nose into his neck to pick up his scent again before you leave for school. You pull away and go to your Papa and hugging him too.

Sirius held you close and rubbed your back, giving you comfort. He pulled away and set you down. He knelt to your level and made you look at him. “I know that both your dad and I have told you this repeatedly as you grew up, but I want to tell you this again before you go on the train and head of to school. Both your father and I love you no matter what house you end up in. Your mother would’ve loved you no matter what house you ended up in Your house doesn’t define you are still a good person no matter where you’re sorted.” Sirius told you as he looked you in the eyes, hoping the importance of the matter would sink in. Remus nodded and put his hand on Sirius’ shoulder as he agreed with his husband.

“You will be fine, pup. We will be proud of you no matter where you end up. Just focus on becoming a great magizoologist and don’t get into too much trouble.” He told you before giving you one more hug before watching you board the train with Draco who led you to the front of the train where some booths were set up. Draco pulled you into one near the door and held your hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of your hand, enjoying your company for a little while longer as the train filled up with students of all years headed to Hogwarts for the upcoming school year. Draco went to his messenger bag and pulled out his sketch book when the train pulled out of the station and began working on a previous sketch he had been working on. You tried peeking at what he was drawing but he closed his sketchbook.

“Not yet, darling. You’ll see when its done.” He spoke and you pulled out the new journal Draco gave you in Diagon Alley. He was curious as to what you were writing as he saw that the few pages already written in and his grey eyes flicked up to see what you’re writing. “What are you writing?” He asked. “Stories. But this one isn’t done yet. You can read it when its done. I think you’ll particularly like this story.” You say as you write some things down in the book. Draco smiled, happy that you’re using the journal he got you as he went back to working on his sketch. His mind wandered with what you could be writing in your journal as he focused on his drawing. A few minutes passed and he set down his pencil, holding his sketchbook to his chest.

“Ready?” He asked. You nodded and handed him your journal as he handed you his sketchbook to see what he was drawing. He had been working on some early fall clothing that again, was made with your half dragon species in mind. He had gone for a button up or zippered fastening for some of the sweaters he designed. He even drew a design of a pull-over sweater for you. making sure to alternate the colors of the sweaters since he didn’t know what house you’d end up in. He had drawn different school uniforms for you, with and without the robes. Making the back of the skirt a bit longer in the back and higher waisted to accommodate for your tail to appear under the skirt instead of growing over the top and being uncomfortable.

“You really thought of everything, didn’t you?” You told him as you looked at other designs he had drawn with you in mind. You kept looking through the sketchbook and saw that he had drawn pictures of you sleeping or reading a book. One picture caught your eye and it was you enthusiastically eating a bowl of your favorite dish the night before as a special sendoff dinner that Lucius and Narcissa held for you both. You showed him the picture. “What’s this about?” You asked but you saw that he was in the middle of reading one of your stories about a dragon that was on an adventure of their own. He looked up at you when he finished the story and grew flustered that you had seen the picture.

“Oh, you saw that. You looked so cute eating your food, I couldn’t help it.” He told you before snatching the sketchbook back and returning it to his bag. His head snapped up to the hallway when he heard the trolley witch pushing her cart laden with all kinds of sweet treats for the children on the train.

“Want anything, love?” He asked. “Chocolate frog please.” You requested. Draco got up and approached the cart, coming back with two chocolate frogs and a box of Bernie Botts every flavor beans. He handed you a chocolate frog and opened the box of beans for the two of you to share. “Thank you.” You told him and opened your frog, snatching the animated chocolate in your hand before it got away. You read your card as you had gotten a duplicate.

“Who’d you get?” Draco asked as he ate his frog too. “Duplicate. I get Merlin. Who’d you get?” “Circe.” He spoke and showed you the card featuring the powerful sorceress. You flashed him a smile as you read the card before handing it back to him and going for the blue and green beans in the box. A girl who introduced herself as ‘Hermione Granger’ peered into the compartment that held the booths and spoke as her eyes landed on you.

“Have any of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost his toad.” She asked. Her eyes widened when she saw your golden eyes and pale horns peeking out of your hair. She walked forward and leaned into you. Draco didn’t like that a stranger was getting so close to you. “You’re a half dragon, aren’t you?” Hermione whispered. You nodded and she looked like she had about a hundred questions for you when Draco interjected. “We haven’t seen the toad and yes, my friend here is a half dragon. This is a private section. If you tell anyone my friend’s secret, I’ll make you regret it.” He spoke rudely. Hermione looks annoyed and a little offended as she left the compartment. You didn’t like how rude he was to a girl who looked genuinely interested in your appearance and didn’t look like she was a threat. You grabbed your bag that had your robes stuffed into them and went to the changing room on the train.

“Y/n! Wait.” Draco spoke as he got up and stumbled after you, pulling his own bang that held his change of clothes. You glanced over your shoulder at him as you walked down the corridor to the changing room. Draco caught up with you and grabbed your wrist to pull you back and look at him. “Don’t walk away when I’m talking to you. Why are you so upset with me all the sudden?” He asked as he met your disappointed gaze.

“You were rude to that girl for no reason. You shouldn’t have been rude.” You told him before going into the empty changing room with Draco going into a separate compartment to change too, a small vent between the two of you, near the top of the changing room so the two of you could still talk.

“She was the rude one! she interrupted us, Y/n. I wanted to be alone with you. She also saw your horns and eyes. They are beautiful but you should keep them hidden when we’re in public for your own safety.” He spoke as he began to change too. You felt a little hurt as you thought Draco loved your dragon features and your dads had told you that you should be proud of your draconic heritage. But Draco was right. There were people in the world that would see your horns and try to take advantage of you. Hermione, however didn’t seem like that kind of a person that would hurt you.

“You didn’t have to snap at her like you did. She was only asking about a lost toad that Neville had lost. She also seemed genuinely interested in my horns and eyes, Draco. She didn’t seem to have any malice in her voice either. You need to not be so judgmental of others.” You told him.

“Why should we care if some random boy lost his pet toad? He should really keep a better eye on his belongings.” Draco told you as he fastened his trousers before going to his shirt. “Helping others is a way to be nice and make friends, Draco.” You told him as you finished getting changed, putting your shoes on before pulling the neutral school sweater over your shirt and began fiddling with your tie, struggling to remember how your dads taught you how to tie a tie but you couldn’t remember all the steps and the thin, slippery material wasn’t behaving.  You groaned in protest as you let the tie hang around your neck. “Are you decent, Y/n?” You heard Draco ask as he stood by the entrance to your changing area.

“I am.” You tell him and he enters, all dressed in his uniform. He sees you struggling with your tie and pulled your hands away from your next attempt to get the tie right and he tied the tie for you, pulling it snugly against your throat and letting his fingers linger over the embroidered school emblem that was now facing him. “There you go. Next time just ask me to help instead of grumbling to yourself, no matter how cute it is.” He told you as he helped gather up your travelling clothes and hand them to you to fold and place back into your travel bag. He grabbed his bag too and held your hand as the two of you went back to your booth. You slid back in across from Draco and began picking out the beans out from the box in the colors you liked and wanted to try. Draco took a mental note of the colors you liked and dared you to try a green one. You picked it up and placed it in your mouth, chewing slowly. The strong taste of mint overwhelmed your senses but you swallowed it anyways.

“What flavor did you get?” He asked with a curious interest. “Mint. Super overwhelming too.” You spoke. Draco grinned and ate one too, immediately spitting it out. “What did you get?” “Liver.” He spoke and took a drink out of the thermos of pumpkin juice he brought with him to wash out the flavor. You giggled and felt the train slow to a stop at Hogwarts station. Your eyes light up with excitement as you grabbed Draco’s hand, the leftover beans, and your travel bag before lining up to get off the train. You stare in awe as a half giant man who introduces himself as Hagrid, is instructing all the first years to follow him. You and Draco hold hands as you’re led down to the Black Lake and get into boats. You remembered your dads telling you about that the First years got a special ride over the Black Lake to the castle. Draco guides you to sit in a boat together and a boy named Theodore Nott joined you shortly after so all the boats would be full.

The three of you crossed over the lake together, exiting the boat, and entering the castle. You stuck close to Draco’s side and followed him up the various staircases, looking at all the paintings in the staircase, stopping at the floor that held the Great Hall. You saw a tall woman clothed in a green velvet dress and a tall, black pointed hat waiting for you first years to arrive.

“Welcome to Hogwarts. The start -of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. While you attend school here, your house will be like your family. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own history and each has produced its own amazing witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, and any rule breaking will result in loss of points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.” You hear the lady known a Professor McGonagall explained to you.

“The Sorting Ceremony will take place momentarily. This will take place in front of the other houses and the rest of the students in the school. I suggest you all compose yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.” She added before disappearing into the Great Hall. You watched Draco leave your side, grinning smugly. He approached a boy with messy brown hair, round glasses, green eyes, and a lightning bolt scar above his right eye with two boys that were following Draco. You recognized them as Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini. You watched Draco introduce himself to the infamous Harry Potter.

“It’s true then, what they were saying on the train, Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts.” Draco speaks. There’s a murmur amongst the students that Harry Potter is there. You watch as Draco pushes off the railing and walks closer to Harry, now standing in front of him. “This is Nott and Zabini, and back there is Black. She’s my girlfriend. I’m Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.” He spoke, a boy with red hair laughed quietly after he spoke. Draco turned to him.

“Think my name’s funny, do you? No need to ask you yours. Red hair and a hand-me-down robe? You must be a Weasley.” Draco tells the boy with red hair standing next to Harry. Draco turns his head back to Harry. “You’ll soon find out that some Wizarding families are better than others, Potter. You don’t want to go around making friends with the wrong sort.” Draco says, looking back to the Weasley boy. Draco looked back to Harry and held his hand out. “I can help you there.” Draco says. You watched as Harry looked down to his hand then up to Draco’s eyes.

“I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks.” Harry says and Draco looks disappointed. McGonagall walks up and taps the scroll in her hand on Draco’s shoulder. He looks back to her then back to Harry and walks back to you, sulking that he couldn’t recruit Harry to apart of his friend group. You remembered seeing Lucius pull Draco of to the side before the both of you boarded the train to have a talk with him. You wondered if this was one of the things Lucius talked to Draco about.

“We’re ready for you now.” McGonagall spoke and led all of the ifrst years into the Great Hall, up the center aisle and to the stage where the teachers were all seated, and a stool was standing with an hold hat that you thought the folds formed a face. there were two tables on either side of you, holding the members of one house each, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff on your left with Gryffindor and Slytherin on your right. You held Draco’s hand as you kept your eyes down while the two of you stopped in the center aisle.

Draco leaned into your ear when you stopped walking and squeezed your hand “Look up, Y/n. We’re almost there.” He whispered into your ear. You look up and see the stool and Sorting hat like your dads told you about repeatedly as you grew up.

Before the sorting ceremony begins, Headmaster Dumbledore says a few words to start the ceremony, telling the first years that the Forbidden Forest is off limits and that all Students should know that Filch has asked him to remind all the students that the third-floor corridor is off-limits which piques your interest. You see McGonagall stand before the first years and speaks.

“Now when I call your name, you will come up, sit on the stool, and I will place the hat on your head to be sorted.” She explained and began listing of names from the piece of parchment in her hand in alphabetical order. You gripped Draco’s hand nervously as you knew you will be sorted before he was. Draco gripped your hand as you braced for the Professor to call your name. “Black, Y/n.” You heard her say and another ripped of murmurs spread throughout the room that another member of the Black family had come to Hogwarts after so long. You let go of Draco’s hand and walked up to the stool, pulling yourself onto the seat. McGonagall said and placed the hat on your head, immediately coming to life.

“Oh my, another member of the Black family. How interesting. A long time since one of you have been here, where shall I put you? In Slytherin like the rest of your family or in Gryffindor like your father? Or even Ravenclaw like your mother? You have the courage and bravery like your father, the brains like your mother, but a desire, a want to prove yourself.” The hat spoke to you. You gripped the edge of your seat and looked up to the hat nervously. “Nervous? Not very Gryffindor of you.” The Hat spoke as it drew out it’s choosing of where to place you. 

“I can tell you don’t want to disappoint your papa by ending up in Slytherin like the rest of his family even though he said he wouldn’t be upset where you ended up, yet you know your boyfriend will end up in Slytherin and you want to be with him. How sweet.” The hat spoke as thoughts of Draco crossed your mind as you shut your eyes tightly to block out any distractions that would be in the room in front of you.

“Papa and Dad told me that they would be proud of me no matter where I ended up. If I focus on my studies, I’ll be okay.” You muttered just loud enough that the hat hears you and you reassure yourself. You focus on the deep emerald green of Slytherin and the house crest before you open your eyes and lock on Draco. You feel the hat shift on your head and readies to call out your sorting.

“Very well then, I know just where to put you, SLYTHERIN!” You hear the Hat say and you smile. You hop off the stool and keep your eyes on Draco as all the houses clapped and cheered as you walk over to Slytherin table and slide in next to an older student. You keep watching as the Hermione girl is sorted into Gryffindor. Nott is sorted into Slytherin and he slides in across from you. He gives you a sly grin and looks back as the next student is called up.

“Malfoy, Draco.” McGonagall calls and you watch as Draco comes to the stool, hopping into the seat. The professor lowers the hat to place it on his head. You watch Draco keep eye contact with you. The hat doesn’t even touch his head when it calls out:

“SLYTHERIN!” You watched as Draco gave you a smug grin as a wave of relief crosses his eyes when he heard the sorting. That’s when you knew Lucius had been putting pressure on Draco from the very beginning. You watched as Draco sauntered over and slid in next to you, putting his arm around you. He held your hand as the two of you watched the rest of the sorting. The whole room went silent and everyone seemed to be holding their breath as Harry Potter sit on the stool. Even Headmaster Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair as the hat was placed on Harry’s head.

You watched as Harry remembered what the Weasley boy had told him back in the hall that Slytherin was known for producing some of the darkest witches and wizards. Harry looked conflicted as he begged the hat to not place him in Slytherin, despite the hat telling him that he would do well in Slytherin. The Sorting Hat finally placed Harry into Gryffindor. All the houses but Slytherin cheered as they were disappointed that they didn’t get The Boy who Lived in their house. The sortings continued, the Weasley boy being put into Gryffindor with the rest of his siblings and Blaise Zabini being one of the last students sorted into Slytherin.

The headmaster came to the pulpit again and announced that the feast would commence, watching as trays, plates, and platters piled high with food suddenly appeared on the table like your papa and dad had told you repeatedly when you’d beg them to tell you about Hogwarts as you grew up. You began reaching for the food to fill up your plate with food as Draco watched. You only pulled a small amount of all the dishes that looked good to you on your plate before you began to eat, noticing that once you had finished a bit of food on your plate, something else had taken its place. You caught Draco sneaking a bread roll or another piece of turkey or some vegetables on your plate. He noticed you slowing down after a while and leaned in.

“Getting full? I’m surprised. You usually eat twice as much when we’re at the manor.” He whispered into your ear.

“I’m not that hungry.” You spoke and he flicked his wand at your food, bundling the leftovers up in some plastic wrap and handed it to you with a smile on his face.

“Save this for later. I know you’ll be hungry later and we can’t leave the common room at night.” Draco told you and went back to eating his own meal. He occasionally stealing glances at you while you digested your food. He held your hand with his free hand, rubbing his thumb across the back of your hand while he ate.

Soon the feast was over and the prefects of each house stood up to guide all the younger students to their respective houses. You stood up and followed the rest of Slytherin house, sticking to the back of the groups as you were taking in all the paintings around you. Draco walked the same pace as you did, holding your hand so you knew you weren’t alone. Nott and Zabini brought up the rear and acted as bodyguards for you and Draco.

Draco gripped your hand, making sure you ddn’t get lost as you were taking in all the new scenery as the four of you followed the rest of your house stairs down the many, many flights of stairs to the dungeons. “You’re very distracted, we will have time to take in the sights later.” He whispered into your ear. “I wonder what old secrets this castle holds? Maybe we can sneak out later this week and search around together?” He offered. “You said we weren’t allowed of our common room at night?” You reminded him.

“Besides, why would we do such a thing? We’d get in trouble and risk losing more house points then gaining them.” You told him and quickened your pace to walk ahead of him as you didn’t want to be close to him right now. Draco watched you walk ahead as your house filed into the common room. You walked over the threshold as the prefects told everyone the password in case some of the members didn’t hear and gathered in the main room that had a fireplace off to the left with a couch, a chair, and a loveseat all in quilted black leather a round wooden table just behind the seating area and a couple bookshelves framing the magically-reinforced windows that showed the Black Lake. Off to your right was a corridor that led to the boys’ and girls’ respective dormitories.  The prefects gave instructions on to where the dormitories are and where any of the students could find them in the case of an emergency or needed to ask them something. You listened and began to follow the other girls to the first-year dormitory until Draco, who you didn’t know had joined you by your side grabbed your wrist before you could get too far away.

“Trying to leave me without saying goodnight, Y/n?” He asked as he held you back to give you a hug goodnight, before allowing you to join the other girls as they went up to the girl’s dormitories. You sat on the bed that your trunk was set next to and pulled the food out of your pocket and placed it under a stasis spell on the chair before looking at the other girls in the first-year room. You recognized one of them as Pansy Parkinson. You settled on your bed and found a note tucked under your pillow

“Sweet Dreams- Draco” It read. You smiled to yourself and fell asleep.

The next morning you wake up and find your school uniform laid out for you on the foot of your trunk. You climb out of your bed and get changed like your roommates do. You look at your schedule before shoving the books you’d need for the morning classes into your bag and headed down to the common room.

 You didn’t see Draco there, thinking he already went with Theo and Blaise up to the Great Hall for breakfast. You decided to go up to the Great Hall with your roommates, finding your boyfriend there with his buddies, shoveling food into his mouth. Theo nudged Draco and he looked at you, smiling, and moving to stand up to greet you. You walked over to greet him and gave him a hug.

“Did you find the note I snuck under your pillow?” He whispered into your ear before he pulled away.

“I did, thank you.” You told him and sat down next to him at Slytherin table. You began filling your own plate with breakfast foods. “Did you sleep well?” He asked as he watched you begin to eat. “I slept okay.” You responded before you took a bite of the eggs. “I’m glad.” He muttered and began eating his own food. You went about the rest of breakfast in quiet.

After you ate another food-filled plate, you and Draco stood up and he gestures for Theo and Blaise to follow behind you and Draco as the four of you walked to your first class of the morning: Transfigurations. You held Draco’s hand the whole way, smiling to yourself.

When you arrived in the classroom, Draco pulled you to sit with him in one of the desks near the front. “Why do you want me to sit with you?” You asked as you took a seat and pulled out your textbook.

“I want us to spend every possible moment that I can with you. I also think youre very smart, pretty, and I want the other boys in our year to know that you’re taken by me.” He spoke into your ear as Professor McGonagall entered from her office and began the class. You looked over to the one empty desk and didn’t see Potter or Weasley there at all. The Professor gave instructions for the students to write out the information she handed out to the class before morphing into a cat and perching on her desk to watch the students as they did their work. Moments later, the door to the classroom opened and two boys entered.

You looked up to see Harry and Ron, muttering something about being lucky that the professor didn’t see them or they’d be in a lot of trouble. You rolled your eyes and kept your head down as you heard the pair saying that they had gotten lost before finding their way to the class, taking a seat before getting to work on filling out the worksheet that the Professor had given you. The rest of the morning classes went smoothly otherwise, Draco sticking close to you like glue, Theo and Blaise always following behind the two of you like guard dogs.

The four of you sit through the first Potions lesson, learn that Professor Snape shows favoritism towards the Slytherins that he is in charge of as Head of House and calls out Harry by asking him what would happen when one was to add powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of wormwood, where one was to find bezoar, and what is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane. Harry didn’t know any of those answers but you saw Hermione fervently raised her hand as she knew all the answers. You knew the answers however but you kept your hand down, writing down the information as Professor Snape kept drilling Harry. The four of you looked back as Professor Snape walked down from his pulpit and approached Harry, sitting down across from him.

“For your information, Potter, Asphodel and Wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful, it is known as the Draft of the Living Dead. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and is known to save you from most poisons. As for Monkshood and Wolfsbane, they are the same plant also known as Aconite…. Well, why aren’t you all copying this down?” Snape asks as he looks around his classroom before going back to his desk, taking five points from Gryffindor for Harry’s cheek, and resuming the class.

When the four of you went to lunch, the first rounds of mail came. You recognized your family owl, making your eyes light up. You grab the letter and give the owl a treat before letting it fly off. You open the letter and read it. Dear Y/n. Your Dad and I are so proud to hear that you made it into Slytherin. We want to remind you that because you made Slytherin, you’re not destined for a path of evil and your house doesn’t define you. You can be the first Slytherin Magizoologist. We love you so much and can’t wait to hear about your studies and adventures at school. Don’t get into too much trouble, okay? Love, Papa and Dad. You smiled at their words, knowing they would’ve said more if you had ended in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. You folded the letter and tucked it into your bag. You mulled the words the Sorting Hat had said to you only the night before while you tried to eat the sandwich Draco had put on your plate before handing it to you. You began overthinking the hat’s decision and regretting wanting to be in the same house as your boyfriend, you began to bounce your leg and take a bite out of your sandwich. Draco noticed your nervousness and discreetly places his hand on your thigh, trying his best to ease your worries.

 “Don’t worry yourself, Y/n. We will be fine and succeed together.” Draco said as he reassures you and sneaks a bread roll onto your plate. “You need the energy. We have flying class next.” He told you and you felt your heart sink. You were afraid of flying. You never had flown on your own with your wings or even on a broom. Your dads had tried exercising your wings as you grew up and even encouraged you to try flying at home but you were too scared to fly. Your dads even tried showing you how to practice on a broom but you feared that too.  Now you had a full-on class where you had to be on a broom, levitating in the air… No way. You sighed and ate the extra bread that your boyfriend gave you and noticed Draco sneaking an extra chocolate pudding cup onto your plate before eating his own. He leaned in and pecked your cheek.

“Eat up.” He told you and watched you eat for a moment while he would feed spoonfuls to his own mouth. He finished his own food and stayed with you until you finished your food. He then got up and walked with you to flying class, holding your hand as the two of you walked to flying class together. The two of you stepped up to brooms and you were shaking like a leaf. Madam Hooch approached you and placed a hand on your arm, kneeling to your level. “You look nervous, love. Can you tell me what’s going on?” She asked you. “I-I’m scared to fly… I haven’t flown with my wings either.” You told her and her eyes widened. “Oh, you poor thing. You don’t have to do much, okay? Just summon the broom to your hand, mount it, and kick off a little bit. I believe you can to it okay?” Madam Hooch spoke, trying to reassure you. You gulped and nodded as the other students from Slytherin and Gryffindor arrived at the lesson. Hooch patted your shoulder and went about giving instructions to the other first years as they approached the brooms. Hooch gave instructions about getting your broom to rise unto your hand. You watched as all the other first years have their own issues commanding the brooms to their hands.

You watched your boyfriend, Draco say the command once and the broom flew up to his hand, another smug grin spreading across his face. You glared at him before saying the command ‘up’ a few more times before the handle flew into your grasp. Your eyes widened and your hands shook a little as you held the broom firmly. Draco noticed your nervousness and put his hand on yours for a moment before Hooch told you all to mount your brooms and kick off from the ground, go in a circle and land back on the ground like she had told you only a few moments ago. You took shaky breaths and shut your eyes, trying to tell yourself that you’d be okay and its just a few feet off the ground. Draco inched closer to you and put a supportive hand on your back as you were in a white-knuckled death grip on the handle of the broom. Draco saw your hands and leaned into your ear.

“You don’t need to be strangling the broom Y/n, it didn’t do anything to you.” He told you in a soothing manner. “It will be okay. I’ll help you when we’re done here.” He spoke and you nodded, keeping your eyes shut as you kept your feet firmly planted on the ground. You heard Draco giggle at your expression as Madam hooch walked over to have you step off to the side to practice kicking off without the other students watching when Neville shoots into the air while straddling his broom, His broom now out of control, shooting across the courtyard and falling off his broom, injuring his arm. Hooch takes him to the infirmary, leaving the students alone on the field with the instructions for everyone to keep their feet firmly on the ground.

Moments after Hooch leaves, Draco leans down and picks up the Remembrall that Neville had gotten only that afternoon at lunch, and picked it up, egging harry on after he showed the trinket to the boy. You watched as Draco took to the skies with the item in hand, Harry going after him as you and Hermione tried to get them both to stay on the ground.

“Draco! Don’t! you heard the professor!” You called after him but he wasn’t listening. You watched Harry take to the skies after him and catch the Remembrall right in front of McGonagall’s office. You go after Draco, not realizing you were flying on your broom and you confront Draco.

“You are such an annoying pain!” You tell him once you’ve caught up to him and he’s grinning at you. “What are you grinning at?” You say frustrated. “Not to alarm you Y/n, but you’re flying on a broom.” He told you, a little proud of you for overcoming your fear. Your eyes widened and you gripped your broom as panic set in. Draco held your arm as you began to panic.

“Look at me. I’ll guide you down, okay?” He spoke and you looked up and locked eyes with him as he helped you down to the ground. You land and Draco helps you get off the broom as you’re shaking like a leaf. Draco kisses your temple and smiled, pulling you close and hugging you.

“You did well. That’s something your dads will be proud of for sure.” He told you, making you smile as you sought comfort in your boyfriend. ~~~

Later that week, you and Draco are studying together in the library. “I can’t believe Potter got onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team. No First year gets into any of the Quidditch teams. This isn’t fair. I should tell my father about this, maybe he will do something about it.” He complains to you as you’re trying to read about Occamies. You perk up when you hear Hermione talking to Ron and Harry about a ‘Sorcerer’s stone’, ‘Nikolas Flamel’, and a ‘curse’. Draco hears them talking about curses too and he looks at you uncomfortably before shoving his nose into a book he was reading. While walking to your next class, you notice Draco wasn’t holding your hand. He was walking a few steps ahead of you with his head down. You struggled to keep up with him but you eventually caught up with him and grabbed his wrist, pulling him back to face you.

“What’s gotten into you? Why are you so off?” You asked then looked around before leaning in.

“Did you hear something that those three said that put you off? Draco, talk to me please.” You said quietly to him, searching his face for some kind of expression that he would let you in. Draco pulled his wrist out of your grasp and looked upset. “None of your business, Black. Thank you for your concern.” He told you coldly and turned away, walking up the hallway to Charms class. He never called you or referred to you by your last name. You felt hurt but you followed him into the classroom, still sitting by him which he allowed. He didn’t talk much to you however during the class as the two of your learned Wingardium Leviosa. After the class, Draco walked by your side, taking your hand in his again. You smiled as you knew he couldn’t be angry at you forever. ~~~ Halloween comes around and you grow excited for more pumpkin flavored items come across the table that week. Draco notices and flashes you his infamous smile. He would make sure to sneak more pumpkin hand pies and pumpkin cauldron cakes to you between classes and make sure your cup was always full of pumpkin juice at mealtimes. Draco would try to sneak off to explore different parts of the castle with you whenever he could, despite your protests of wanting to study and not get in trouble or in detention.

During the Halloween feast, while Draco is sneaking a fourth pumpkin cake onto your plate, the doors to the Great Hall burst open as Professor Quirrell runs in, yelling that there’s a troll in the dungeons, saying that all of us should know before promptly fainting in front of everyone. All the students in the Great Hall begin panicking, especially Slytherin and Hufflepuff houses as their common rooms were in the dungeons.

You panic and grip onto Draco as he begins pulling you out of the Great Hall to get you to safety. Before the two of you can leave, Headmaster Dumbledore tells everyone to be quiet and remain in the Great Hall while the Professors and himself take care of the troll. You watch as Harry and Ron sneak out to go find Hermione as she was seen crying in the girl’s bathroom earlier that day. You bounce your leg nervously as your mind wandered to the idea of the school being infiltrated. Your dads had told you that Hogwarts was one of the safest places in the wizarding world besides Gringotts. 

Draco noticed your unease and gripped your hand in his trying to help you calm down “Relax, Y/n, we are safe here with the other professors. They will keep us safe.” He whispered into your ear, trying to hide his own fear of the threat and stay strong for you. Soon the troll is defeated and word is spread that it was Hermione who defeated the troll while others said it was Ron and Harry. Draco rolled his eyes and grumbled. “Of course, Potter had to go and be all brave and save Granger from the troll. How very Gryffindor of him.” You heard him mutter as you were given the all clear and led down to your house by your head of house, Severus Snape. ~~~ When the first Quidditch match of the year starts, you and Draco are standing next to each other in the Slytherin section of the stands to watch your house play against Gryffindor. You weren’t that interested in Quidditch but it was worth at least seeing the first match of the year with Draco. You saw how enthused Draco, Theo, and Blaise were all cheering on the Slytherin team while you were thinking of the Bowtruckles you had been given to care for. Your train of thought was interrupted when you heard a loud cheer from Draco, seeing him grow an interest for the sport.

“I think I’ll ask father to help me get onto the Slytherin team next year? What do you think, y/n?” He asked as he looked back at you as the match played out. “I Think you should try out.” You told him as you watched Harry fall to the ground and catch the snitch in his mouth and win the match for Gryffindor. Draco grumbles and pulls you away from the Quidditch pitch. As the two of you were walking up the path to the castle, Draco stopped and looked back to you. “Would you come to watch me play? I know father would, but I’d want you there. I know you don’t care much for the sport but it would mean a lot to me.” He spoke as he held your hand. “Of course I’ll come. I’ll still support you, Draco.” You told him before the both of you went back to Slytherin common room.

~~~

“I’ve had enough, Draco!” You yell at him before storming out of the common room. Draco had jinxed Neville to bind his legs together because he thought it would be funny. “Y/n, please! We can talk this through!” He spoke as he walked after you. “No, I will not stand for you pranking the students because you think it’s funny or because they aren’t another pure blood or because they’re friends of Harrys. I need to go cool off.” You tell him and leave the hallway and decide to go down to Hagrid’s to cool off and talk things through with the half-giant. You sat in the giant’s chair and he gave you a cup of tea and some freshly baked scones for you to enjoy and process the argument you had with Draco. “Tell me what happened, Y/n.” Hagrid spoke as he sat across from you with his own mug of tea in his hand.

“He jinxed Neville Longbottom again, binding his legs together, then laughing at him. He’s been pranking anyone who’s openly known as a half-blood or less, hybrids like myself, and anyone that’s not in Slytherin either. Its sickening and I’m tired of it. I can’t leave him either because I’m arranged to him.” You tell him, your voice trembling as you speak. Hagrid’s eyes widen and he takes a drink of his tea while he contemplates what to say next.

“Maybe you could distance yourself for a little while? Everyone sees you two together wherever you go, why not take a break? Learn a hobby, focus on your studies on your own. I could use some help training some Bowtruckles I just got in and help get them settled in some pine trees in the forest.” Hagrid suggested, a familiar twinkle in his eye as he knew you loved magical creatures and wanted to pursue Magizoology while at Hogwarts and further a career in the job.

“That sounds like a good idea.” You tell him and sip at your tea, biting on a scone before you hear Hermione’s voice approaching the hut. “I should get going.” You say and drain your teacup. You stand up when the door opens and you see Hermione, followed by Harry and Ron as usual. “Is this a bad time?” Hermione asks, looking to you then to Hagrid. “Not at all Hermione. Miss Black is a friend of mine. What do you lot need help with?” Hagrid asked. Harry’s green eyes looked to you as he didn’t trust you.

“She’s Malfoy’s girlfriend. We can’t trust her.” Harry told Hagrid and that stung a little. You set your cup down and grabbed your bag that was resting at your feet. You pulled the strap over your shoulder and begin to walk to the door to get out of there. Hagrid stopped you. “I think they can help you too.” He told you. “How can a Slytherin like her be trusted? She’s just gonna tell Malfoy whatever we tell her.” Harry says as he steps forward and looks down at you. You look him in the eyes.

“If you’d stop judging me and listen, I don’t want to hang out around Malfoy right now. I’m tired of him pranking other students just because they’re a hybrid, a half-blood, a muggle-born, or not even in Slytherin. I’m Sick of it and I need something to fill my time. What do you need help with?” You asked. All three of them look at you with mixed looks of surprise and shock. Harry looked up to Hagrid and spoke. “We want you to tell us why Professor Snape was trying to get past the three- headed dog on Halloween? I saw him limping in the Great Hall.” Harry said to Hagrid and your golden eyes flicked to Harry in disapproval. “He would not. Professor Snape is one of the professors protecting what’s hidden on the third floor.” Hagrid spoke and You still looked to Harry in disapproval. “Professor Snape is a good person.” You said, trying to defend your Head of house.

“Oh, is it because he’s favoring Slytherins like you? He tried to cast spell on Harry’s broom during the Quidditch match, making him almost fall off and hurt himself badly.” Hermione told you.  “Professor Snape was muttering a counter curse.” You told her and she looked surprised. “Of course you’d defend him. He’s your head of house.” She spoke, a little snarkily. You rolled your eyes and walked past her and Ron, going to the door.

“The only thing in the third-floor corridor that Fluffy, my three headed dog, of course is confidential information between Professor Dumbledore and his friend, Nikolas Flamel.” Hagrid spoke.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked puzzled. Your eyes widened as you knew who Nikolas Flamel was as you had heard Draco gushing about him when he was learning about alchemy and potions. “Who’s Nikolas Flamel?”  Ron asked. “I have no idea.” Hermione responded. “I know who he is! I can help you all if you’ll let me.” You offered and fiddled with the strap of your bag. The trio of Gryffindors look at each other then at you.

“We will let you help. I think we can trust you even though you’re a Slytherin.” Harry spoke and walked past you. Ron immediately followed while Hermione stayed back. “What do you know about Nikolas Flamel?” She asked. “I’d check in the potions and Alchemy section in the library. There should be information on him in there.” You told her with a small smile forming on your face. ~~~ You keep your interactions with Harry and his friends secret from Draco, but you tell him about the creatures that Hagrid is helping you learn about. “The Bowtruckles are settling in nicely and the Nifflers finally got their nests established for the winter.” You told him as the two of you were eating in the Great Hall.

You and Draco were sitting together, enjoying the food that the house elves prepared for lunch, was listening to you gush about all the new magical creatures you were learning about with Hagrid and Professor Kettleburn. Draco listening to what you were telling him about what you were learning as the two of you ate. When Draco had finished his food, He showed you a letter with a broken wax seal bearing the Malfoy crest.

“Father wants us both to come home for the holidays. What do you say, love?” He asked. “That sounds like an excellent plan. Wonder what we will do over the holidays?” You asked. “Explore the manor, walk in the gardens, have fun in the snow? I don’t know. All I know is that we can spend Christmas there.” He spoke and let you skim over the letter. ~~~ You rest your head on Draco’s shoulder as the two of you ride the Hogwarts express back to King’s Cross station. Once the two of you arrive, you see your dads, Sirius and Remus waiting for you along with Lucius trailing behind them. You hugged your dads  before walking with you off the platform and into the Malfoy family coach after your trunks and other belongings were put on the carriage before riding to Malfoy Manor that had been decorated wonderfully for Christmas in green, silver, and black. When the carriage stopped in front of the manor, Draco got out first and held his hand out for you to take as you stepped down from the carriage.

You took his hand and stepped down from the carriage and took his arm to walk into the manor with your dads and Lucius following behind you. Draco led you into the manor where you were greeted by Narcissa who had baked some cookies for you and Draco.  You thanked her and the both of took one cookie each off the plate before Dobby, the house elf helped get your trunks up to your rooms. The manor was decorated in green and silver with accents of black for Christmas and several trees on display throughout the Manor. You and Draco spend that afternoon settling back to life at the Manor, spending lunch with your parents, and playing another game of chess before dinner that night.

After dinner that night, Draco had snuck you a note saying that he wanted to meet you at the private section of his family’s library to study some more dangerous magical creatures. You knew this was a partial lie just by the look on his face at dinner when he slipped you the note.

You knew he had been slacking in Care of Magical Creatures at school, and he needed to study more on basic Creatures like diricrawls and flobberworms, the easy, basic things and he was talking about creatures like Dragons and Thestrals. You meet him at the library hours after your parents and his had gone to sleep.  You were worried about your parents or even the servants finding the pair of you out of bed after you were supposed to be asleep but you wanted to help Draco with his studies, even if they weren’t for Care of Magical Creatures.

“Draco! What are we doing here? Why did you want to meet in the middle of the night in the library. You know you can ask me to study Care of Magical Creatures during the daytime, right? Not sneaking around at night when we could into trouble.” You tell him and he grinned. “I know. That’s the thrill of it. Now c’mon I need you to help me find something and it’s not for Care of Magical Creatures. I overheard my father talking to your dads about some kind of ‘curse’ that I’ll get by my next birthday and I want to know what it is. You’re the only one I could think of to help me. I tried looking all throughout the Hogwarts library about a Malfoy family curse but I couldn’t’ find anything, even in the Restricted section. Our family library is the last place I could think of to find the information and I want your help.” He told you and took your hand to enter the library.

“But we shouldn’t be out of bed! Our parents could find us or one of the house-.” Draco’s hand flew to your mouth to keep you quiet. He checked around the corner to see if anyone was coming in your direction. When he saw no one. “Will you please be quiet? I don’t want anyone to find us either. Father also brought up the curse the last time he visited the headmaster. Who else should I ask but my partner in crime?” He asked as he gave you a smile; rubbing his thumb across the back of your hand to reassure you, and pulled you into the library.

“What are we looking for exactly?” You asked.

“A book titled ‘The Great Twenty-Eight Family Curses.” Draco spoke and you began searching the titles on the shelves. You walked to the ‘g’ section of the library and began scanning the titles.

“Great Dark wizards, no. Great Rulers of the Medieval Age, No…Ha! Draco! I found it!” You said in a raised whispered when you found the book and you heaved it off the shelf and setting the tome onto the desk nearby. Draco walked over to you with interest as you opened the book to the table of contents and looked for the page number for the Malfoys. You found it and began flipping to the page. You paused when a page opened to the Black family and their curses and protective spells.

You read that when your Papa went off to Hogwarts and was the first member of your family to not be sorted into Slytherin and instead Gryffindor, the family house elf you knew as Kreacher had placed a protective spell over your papa, your aunts, Bellatrix, Andromeda, Narcissa, and your uncle Regulus so that no harm would come to them or whoever they were married to or the future generations to come. Your eyes widened, Draco read your expression and looked you in the eyes.

“Y/n? what’s wrong?” He asked.

“Nothing for now.” You spoke and kept flipping the old pages until you landed on the page about the Malfoys.

“Here we are.”

“What does it say?”

“Be patient, I’m reading.” You told him and began reading:

“When the men of the Malfoy line turn twelve years of age, this curse that is serpentine in nature will take effect. It is advised that the men go on suppressants as to keep the scales under wraps and keep a decent appearance in social circles. Symptoms of the transformations are: increasing itching of the inner legs, increased irritability, flashes of silvery snake-like eyes, the tip of one’s tongue forking like a serpent, irritation of the skin where silver or white scales may form, and the ability to understand and/or speak parseltongue.” You read out loud, nervous about the symptoms and how they would affect your best friend. You pulled the journal he gave you earlier that year and scribbled down the symptoms so you could keep track of them in the last six months or so before Draco would fully transform.

“You’re always writing everything down. That’s why I trust you to help me with Care of Magical Creatures when Finals come around.” Draco said with a smirk and grabbed your hand to lead you back to his room before Dobby found you both out of bed. The next morning is Christmas morning. Draco wakes you up gently from your sleeping form in the bed next to him. He kissed your head and pushed a strand of hair out of your face.

“Wake up, Y/n. Its Christmas.” He spoke and kissed your forehead again. Your eyes snapped open and he smiles, happy to see your golden orbs once more. You grin and both you and Draco go check the Christmas tree in the living room if Saint Nick came to visit and leave some presents. There were some new gifts under the tree from last night. You and Draco split up, nodding to each other, and running off to opposite sides of the manor where your parents slept. You burst through the doors to the bedroom to see your dads still asleep. You crawled in on Sirius’s side, being wary of your dad as he was still recovering from a full moon. You watched them sleep for a moment before snuggling into Sirius’s arms, and resting your head on his arm when you felt your Papa’s arms wrap around you as he woke up.

“Good morning, darling.” He said sleepily, not even opening his eyes yet. You poked his cheek to try and get him to open his eyes. When you didn’t succeed, you let out an exasperated huff. “Wake up, its Christmas.” You whispered, as to let your dad sleep. Remus was attuned to your voice however and not matter how quiet you were trying to be his wolf ears still perked up when he heard your voice. He opened one eye to you and pulled his arm closer around Sirius’s waist.

“Is it Christmas already, little pup?” He asked, still groggy from sleep.  You looked at him, climbing over Sirius and looking at Remus with the excited sparkle in your eye. Remus chuckled at your excited expression and rolled away from his mate, crawling out of bed and pulling a shirt on as Sirius pulled you down and kissed your head, earning a squeal of excitement from you. “Let’s go!” You spoke, pulling Sirius out of bed.

“Alright, alright, pup, we will be down in a few minutes, why don’t you go check on Draco and see how he’s doing on getting his parents up.” Sirius told you and you hugged him again before running out of the room and down the hall to Lucius and Narcissa’s bedroom and knocked on the door. You heard footsteps approach the door and the door opened. You saw Lucius looking down at you with a small smirk on his face. He turned back into the room at his wife and child dozing peacefully.

“We will be down in a few minutes, Y/n. Draco fell back asleep with Mrs. Malfoy. I’ll wake them soon. Merry Christmas.” He spoke with a smile. You nodded and went down to the kitchen to see Dobby beginning on breakfast. You helped Dobby make breakfast even though you didn’t have to. Dobby protested but you insisted on helping because you wanted to. Dobby let you help and he let you do easier tasks like cutting fruit or whisking eggs for some scones. You looked over when the kitchen door opened and your dads entered and took seats at the table while Dobby used his magic to pour them cups of coffee without even asking. You sat down with a cup of hot cocoa as the Malfoys entered the kitchen. Dobby handed tea, coffee, and hot cocoa to them before finishing up breakfast and serving plates to all of you.

“Merry Christmas!” The house elf said before he went to clean up the dishes while the six of you ate. You and Draco seemed to be racing each other to see who would finish their food first to go inspect the presents under the tree first. “Whoa, whoa, hey, no one’s gonna take it from you.” Sirius spoke as the two of you wolfed down your food. Draco finished first and you soon after he did.

“Let them have their fun, Sirius.” Lucius spoke as Draco scrambled off the bench and ran for the door with you right behind them. The adults ate their food before they followed you and Draco out into the living room where the two of you were sorting out the gifts already to see who got what from who. You handed boxes to your dads from yourself and each other, watching them unwrap their gifts. Draco handed boxes to his parents too before he held a jewelry box to you.

“Y/n, this is for you.” He said and you accepted the gift. You opened the box to see a silver bracelet decorated with emeralds set into the metal. You let Draco help you get the bracelet on your wrist before placing a kiss on your temple. You hand Draco a wrapped present that he opened to reveal a new sketchbook.

“I figured your current one was getting full with all the drawings you’ve been making.” You told him and he hugged you to say thank you.

~~~ After the Christmas festivities were over, Draco pulled you away to his room to play some board games or read over the homework you had been assigned for the winter holiday. He showed you a book that he had found while the both of you were in the library last night titled ‘Malfoy Maladies’ and wanted you to help him translate the text since he didn’t understand the magizoologist jargon. You took the book and opened it to the serpent curse that the two of you read about only a week or so ago. You had been taking notes of Draco’s behavior since then and comparing them to that of a juvenile Naga male, and noting the similarities. Lucius knocked on the door and checked on you.

“Draco, Y/n? Are the two of you okay in there?” He asked before opening the door, seeing you both laying on Draco’s bed looking over the ‘Malfoy Maladies’ book. “What do you have there?” Lucius asked. “A book for the winter homework, Mr. Malfoy.” You told him as he approached the room and looked at the book that the two of you were studying so intently.

“Why would you want to be studying a curse? I know Draco will transform when he turns 12 in a little under six months. When his symptoms begin showing, he will be put on suppressants either before is 12th birthday or on the day of depending on how severe his condition is. I will not have my family name tarnish by my son being uncontrollable and an unsightly monster.” Lucius spoke. You felt anger boil in your veins as you slid off the bed and approached the man.

“This is inexcusable! It would be better for Draco to process the transformation naturally, instead of forcing it down and risking an injury! Just because he’s going to form a snake tail and inhabit snake-like qualities, doesn’t make him an ’unsightly monster’ to quote you. If you put him on suppressants, that will only make him more hostile not just towards me but towards anyone who he interacts with and become even more of a danger to himself when he’s taken off them for any long period of time. You told him, defending your partner. Lucius looked taken aback at your retortion towards him.

“I will not have Draco be seen in public in such a disorderly and unkempt state. I am his father and what I say goes. Draco will be put on suppressants the moment his first symptoms of the curse set in.” Lucius added in a firm tone. “Who’s going to be put on suppressants?” You heard your Papa say as both he and Remus were now standing in the doorway watching the scene unfold in front of them. Lucius turned to face the pair.

“Draco will be on suppressants as of his 12th birthday if not sooner. I will not have my son shame my family by showing off our family curse and any unsightly behavior that would disgrace to my name and will not stand for it. He will keep a sense of order and decorum like any member of my family does.” Lucius spoke. Remus and Sirius grew angry and looked to the pair of you huddled on Draco’s bed before looking to the man. You now realized just how much pressure Lucius was putting onto Draco. You held Draco tightly when you noticed his grip You looked to your dads silently pleading for help. Remus caught your gaze and nodded before looking to Lucius.

“Your son can stay with us then if you won’t support him through what only comes naturally at his age. We can send a letter to Dumbledore for private accommodations to be made for them so Draco is never seen in that state and that our daughter will have a safe place to be with Draco to observe his transformations and care for him when he is in his Naga form. I also believe that my daughter is a very capable young witch in caring for her friend as she still wishes to pursue Magizoology. She can watch his behaviors and study them for her classes. Anonymously, of course.” Remus said, backing you up and giving you a wink after he had finished speaking. Lucius’s face hardened and he agreed to the terms. “He will need to stay for a week here at over the summer for the Trace to renew properly. But he may stay with you otherwise. I will not see him in such a monstrous state. I only hope that his betrothed is up to the task of caring for him.” Lucius says and looks to you.

“Young lady. Tell me what do you know of the Malfoy curse.” You look at him deadpan in the eyes and channeling your papa’s personality. “When the men in your family turn twelve years of age, you develop a tail resembling that of a snakes, which is quite fitting with every member of your family being sorted into Slytherin.” You tell Lucius, keeping your expression neutral as you held eye contact with the man.

“What else?” Lucius asks. “Before the transformation, you can grow more aggressive and irritable,  The tips of your tongues split into a fork, flashing of silvery eyes, irritation of the skin where patches of scales form, also the ability to understand or even speak parseltongue is another symptom… and I heard that the irritability and inner leg itching is horrendous. Draco hasn’t shown all of these but he has been a little more irritable around other students that aren’t in Slytherin. How are you dealing with that, Mr. Malfoy? Are you including Mrs. Malfoy in this or are you on suppressants too?” You ask as you tilt your head to the side.

“None of your business. Very well then, I’ll contact the headmaster before the two of you are to return to school to see the necessary accommodations are provided.” He spoke before leaving the room, walking past Sirius and Remus, and disappearing into another part of the Manor.

~~~ In the weeks before going back to school, Draco would walk with you in the Malfoy Rose gardens while his parents would walk behind you at an appropriate distance but still not letting the pair of you out of their sight while your dads went back to working at the Ministry and attending to secret Order of the Phoenix meetings. Draco held your hand as the two of you were walking through the gardens again. You had noticed that he had been filling out his clothes and you been helping him gain the appropriate amount of weight for winter as all reptiles have a natural urge to do so during the colder weather.

“Tell me, Y/n. What are you looking forward to the most when we go back to school in the new year?” Draco asked as the two of you walked amongst the roses. “I’m looking forward to caring for the creatures I’ve been helping Hagrid with again. I miss working with them.” You tell him. “That’s interesting. Tell me more about them. Which one is your favorite?” He asked as he looked at you.

“I like the Bowtruckles, Pickenn and Locket.” You said and he chuckled at your play on words at the names of the animals. “That’s cute. I was wondering if you’d could help me with that class as I’m struggling with that subject. I’ll help you with potions.” He offered. “Of course I’ll help I want you to pass.” You told him and the two of you kept walking through the rose gardens. ~~~ School begins and you spend the first few days’ spending time following Harry, Ron, and Hermione around the school, learning what they did over the winter holiday, learning that Hermione went home to be with her parents while Ron and Harry stayed in the castle, researching the Sorcerer’s stone, and playing wizard’s chess.

“That’s nice. Where are you three headed of to now?” You asked. “We’re going down to Hagrid’s to ask him about the Stone and how we could get past Fluffy.” Hermione spoke and let you join them as you went down to Hagrid’s hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. You didn’t know that Draco had been following the four of you from a distance so you wouldn’t notice him. Harry knocks on the door and Hagrid opens. He looks a bit harried and he’s wearing a leather apron.

“Oh, you lot. Now’s not a good time. I’m not open to entertaining guests.” He spoke and began to close the door. “We know about the Sorcerer’s Stone!” Harry, Ron, and Hermione say in unison. Hagrid sighs and lets the four of you inside his hut and seated in or around his large armchair. Hagrid is seen going back and forth from his fireplace and making sure the four of you are settled with refreshments before something rattles in a pot over his stove. He goes back and with a pair of tongs, He picks up a shiny, grey egg and brings it over to his wooden table and moments later, a tiny baby dragon hatches which has you completely fascinated.

As the baby dragon, now named Norbert by Hagrid imprinted on the half-giant, Draco peeked through the window at you interacting with the newly hatched dragon in a loving manner. He loved watching you interact with your creatures and he was curious as to why you had been so distant from him after spending so much time together over the winter holiday. Hagrid looked up and saw Draco in the window.

“Who’s that?’ He asked and the four of you turned to look at him. You locked eyes with Draco and he jumped. “DRACO! DAMMIT!” You curse as you watch him run and you ran after him as he darted up the path to the castle to rat on the four of you to McGonagall. You catch up to him and grab his wrist and yank him back to try and delay him from snitching on the three of you. Draco pulls you off to the side, hiding in the shadows to throw the Gryffindors and Hagrid.

“Don’t tell on us, please.” You begged him. He looked at you smugly and leaned into your ear, his eyes looking to Harry and Ron, who were followed by Hermione Had stopped just outside of the alcove where you and Draco were hidden. “Why don’t you make me, Y/n?” He whispered into your ear, making your face flush bright red and you let go of his hand and step away. “You’re aware that you’re gonna get detention too if you rat on us, right Draco?” You asked him and tilted your head to one side. Draco stiffened his resolve and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Professor McGonagall would never do that to someone reporting Potter and his lackies for suspicious behavior.” Draco says, smirking before bolting off into the castle with you chasing right after him, racing to get to McGonagall’s office. Draco stays ahead of you. another symptom of his curse: Boosted stamina and speed that nagas have, to either get away from danger or speed up to tackle their prey. In this case, he was racing you in an unfair fight. Draco beat you to the Professor’s door and grinned at you. “Thing you could outrun me? I’ll always be faster than you.” He whispered to you as you were panting to try and recover from chasing your friend through several corridors and up a couple flights of stairs.

“I… Hate… you.” You panted and shot up glares to Draco who went inside and began telling the Professor about the four of you being out of bed as Harry, Ron, and Hermione caught up with you and entered the office as well. “I believe it would be the five of you, Mr. Malfoy. You too are out of bed and wandering the halls.” McGonagall spoke. “All five of you are to have detention with Hagrid tomorrow night.” She spoke and went back to grading papers. “My father will hear about this.” You hear Draco mutter under his breath. Harry, Ron, and Hermione went back to Gryffindor Tower while you and Draco went back to Slytherin common room down in the dungeons. Draco had a firm grip on your arm as the two of you were now alone in the Common room. He looked you in the eyes. “Why have you been avoiding me? I thought we were growing closer over Christmas break.” He spoke.

“I have my own classes and my own life that isn’t revolved around you, Draco.” You spoke and tried pulling away from him. “Don’t even think about it. I’ve been watching just how much time you spend with those three Gryffindors. I won’t allow it. You are to stick with me, always. Between classes and at mealtimes. Is that understood?” He told you, tightening his grip on your arm. You whimpered as his grip hurt and he pulled away from you, realizing what he was doing and he let go of your arm. This was another symptom of his curse. Irritation and aggressiveness to anyone he interacted with, even you. You looked a little upset and walked away, before Draco could say anything and pull you back, going to your dormitory before Professor Snape found either of you out of bed, and punished you further.

~~~~ The next night, you walked ahead of Draco as the two of you met up with the trio of Gryffindors in front of Hagrid’s hut. The half-giant sat on his small porch with a crossbow in hand. “How, you lot gather around. Tonight, we’re going into the Forbidden Forest. Something out there has been attacking and murdering the unicorns in the forest. Firenze has asked me to help find the source.” Hagrid says.

“Now I’ll group you all up. Potter with Malfoy and Weasley with Granger and Black.” Hagrid says. Draco looks to you as you walk away from him and go over to Hermione and Ron. “If I can’t be with my girlfriend, then I want Fang.” Draco spoke and looked to you. “Fang’s a bloody coward. I don’t know how he will be of much help to you.” Hagrid spoke. You went into the forest with Hermione and Ron into the forest, talking about their classes and how everything was going being with Draco.

“It’s okay, for the most part. He is getting more tense and aggravated. But I think that’s just tension with what’s going on at the Manor and the pressure that Draco feels from Lucius.” You tell them as the three of you walk in the forest together, looking for any signs of unicorns or distress from unicorns. The eerie silence of the forest is broken when you hear Draco’s scream and see him running through the forest, trying to find his way out. You caught the wave of his dark robes as he ran through the forest. You caught up with him and grabbed his arm. He whipped around and looked at you with fear in his eyes. But his eyes weren’t the normal grey. They were a shimmering silver and the pupils were slitted to that of a snake’s eyes. Draco was panting and you could see that his fangs were elongating slightly. He relaxes when he realizes that its just you who caught up with him.

“Thank heaven its you. Potter and I saw a scary monster over a unicorn, a dead one. The creature looked up at Potter and began floating to him. I ran as I didn’t want to end up like the unicorn.” He says and scratches the insides of his legs.  Your eyes widened at both the description of the monster and the sight of Draco in his distressed state. He was still in a fight or flight mode from seeing the monster but he had calmed down a little bit. He grabbed your arms and led you out of the forest. You ask Draco for more details on what he saw, hoping you could try and figure out what the monster could be that was attacking the unicorns. “It was big, cloaked, and its face was covered. It didn’t seem to have legs either. All I could see was silver liquid dripping from its chin.” Draco told you as he held you by your arm and wouldn’t let you out of his sight as the two of you approached Hagrid’s hut, now emerging from the forest.

“It could be either a Lethifold, or a Dementor. But neither creature needs to directly feed on another living being’s flesh, especially a unicorn.” You told him and saw that his eyes were still a bright silver. “Draco, your symptoms are getting worse. We need to at least tell my fathers about your progression. We can’t let Lucius find out or he will put you on suppressants.” You asked as you were concerned for him. You rubbed your thumb over the back of his hand as Hagrid and the Trio came out of the Forest as well, Harry telling Ron and Hermione too about the same creature that Draco had seen. Hagrid noticed the slight changes in Draco before looking to you. “You two can go, I’ll make sure these three get back to Gryffindor Tower safely.” Hagrid spoke and you guided Draco away before any others could see his eyes.

“I know.Its been getting harder and harder to resist. The itching only gets worse and it’s bloody torture.” Draco tells you once the two of you are far enough away that no one else would hear you. “I know it is I’ll ask my dads if they have anything that can help with the itching that couldn’t raise suspicion to your dad.” You spoke, pulling out the beaten-up journal that was the same one Draco had given to you at the beginning of the year. The journal was now mostly full of notes on various magical creatures including a list of the curses’ symptoms and several journal entries after the list as to when he had shown any of the symptoms. You pulled out a pen and began writing down the list of symptoms he showed tonight.

“Subject showed increased fear when triggered by a potential threat in the Forbidden Forest. Increased symptoms such as itching between the legs and arms. Eyes turned silver with snake-like pupils, canines were elongated slightly, and subject was itching inner thighs.” You write with Draco looking over your shoulder. “The itching is annoying… but I’ll try to hide it, I swear.” Draco spoke and scratched his inner thighs again.

“Scratching and rubbing is only going to make it worse. I’ll try to get you a salve or something to help alleviate the itching for now… But it’s only gonna get worse, Draco.” You told him, finished your entry, shoved your journal back into your robes pocket, and took Draco’s hand, guiding him back to Slytherin common room. When the two of you got to the dungeons, Draco shuddered at the thought of his dad forcing him to go on suppressants so soon. “I know what my father would do and I find it sickening… He can’t know about any of the things you’ve written about.” Draco spoke as he looked to the pocket you held the journal.

“Understood. I’ll send a letter to just my dad. He may be able to help.” You told him. Draco smiled and guided you into the Common room.

You began writing up a letter to Remus and Sirius, telling them about Draco’s symptoms and your concern for him. You tell them about the incident in the Forbidden Forest and the partial transformation before you send the letter off to them. You then pulled Draco down the small hallway off the main room to the common room and into your private room that Lucius had funded. You figured Draco would want you close after what had transpired in the Forest tonight.

You pull him to the bed and he follows, taking his outer robes off, leaving his clothes on, and laying on the bed with you. Draco pulled you close and nuzzled into your neck, falling asleep soon after. ~~~ The following weeks after the incident were filled with you studying about nagas and their behavoirs, getting advice from your dads, and helping Draco study as the symptoms got worse. The two of you were in your room as you were trying to help him with his Care of Magical Creatures assignment when he stood up and growled in frustration, itching at the red, irritated patches on his arms and torso and on his lower legs.

“This itching wont stop!” He complained. “It’s making it hard to focus.” Draco whimpered after he shoved the book away and scratched furiously at his thighs, arms, and sides. “Draco! You’re just gonna make them worse if you keep scratching. Why don’t we focus on Arithmancy or potions to help distract you?” You spoke in a calming manner, hoping to soothe him a little in his distressed state. Draco shook his head and held it in his hands as he sat down again.

“I don’t think I’m gonna make it, Y/n. The itching is unbearable.” He spoke as he tried to keep his legs apart so they wouldn’t meld together and form a tail prematurely. You saw him bouncing his leg in a distressed manner.

“Is the salve even helping? Are you even using it?” You asked as you placed a hand on his shoulder. “No to both of those questions.” He whimpered. You looked around the Slytherin common room before looking to Draco. Who looked back at you, worried if the few people mingling around in the common room had heard him whimper. Thankfully, there were only a few people in the room who were busy with their own studies.

“Gather up your books and get into our room now. I have an idea.” You told him as you gathered up your books and led him into your privately shared room. Once the door had clicked shut, Draco set his books down and slid into his den that he had made earlier that week. “What is your plan, Y/n?” He asked and looked at you as he stood near the bed. You had him the half-used jar od salve that your dads had sent in their last care package to him. “Put this on now.” You told him and turned with your back to him to let him apply the salve on his own. A few minutes pass and you hear him lay on the bed with a quiet groan.

“Can I come closer?” You asked, turning to see Draco laying under his blankets. He nodded and you laid on the bed next to him, holding his hand to give him some comfort as he drifted off to sleep.

~~~

Over the next few days, you kept Draco company and let him hold your hand or rest his head on your shoulder during and in between classes. Draco was practically hugging on your arm as you guided him down to Hagrid’s Hut.

“Why are we going to Hagrid’s?” Draco asked as you led him to the door. “You’re still struggling in Care of Magical Creatures. I asked Hagrid to help you learn about some creatures.” You said and knocked on the large, heavy, wooden door. Hagrid opened the door and stepped out. “You two ready?” He asked as he’s excited to show the both of you some of the creatures he’s gathered up. “As I’ll ever be.” Draco spoke, not letting go of your arm as you led him into the forest, following behind Hagrid as you entered Professor Kettleburn’s outdoor classroom where several creatures were milling about and a couple approached you as they recognized you. You saw the Bowtruckles, fairies, knarls, Nifflers, and porlocks approach you excitedly. Draco gripped your arm as they walked closer. 

“They’re not gonna hurt me, are they?” Draco asked as the Niffler approached you and nuzzled into your foot. “No, they wouldn’t I wouldn’t just expose you to a dangerous creature your first time.”  You reassured him and bent over to scoop the Niffler up and show him the creature. “Ah! Get that thing away from me!” He spoke as he stumbled backwards out of fear. You looked concerned and so did the Niffler in your hands as it was genuinely excited to meet a new person until it saw that Draco was afraid of the tiny creature. “Draco, Its not gonna hurt you.” You reassured him, letting the Niffler climb onto your shoulder and ride there as you approached your boyfriend.

Draco stood up and held still as you approached him with the Niffler clinging to your shoulder. “They like shiny things. Remember the sickles I gave you earlier?” You asked him. Draco nodded and pulled the silver coins out of his pocket. The silver glinting in the sunlight sent the Niffler scurrying down your shoulder and into your hand as it reached out to the silver coins that Draco held in his hands. “Go on, let Sam have them.” You told him and Draco cautiously gave Sam the Niffler the two sickles which he snatched and stuffed into his pouch, beaming happily, and smiling at Draco who now was calming down a little.

You watched as Draco stepped forward and let Sam sniff him before he petted the creature’s head. Sam squealed in delight and nuzzled into Draco’s hand. You introduced him to all the other creatures in the grove that Hagrid had gathered up and showed Draco how to take notes on each of the creatures and fill out the homework that the both of you had been assigned. The sun had begun to set and you noticed Draco getting tired so you guided him back to the common room and into your private room.

“I think you did great today, Draco. I’m proud of you.” You told him as the both of you changed into softer pjs Remus had sent as a care package before he slid into the bed. You slid in after Draco and checked his lower legs again. It was the end of May, his first full transformation was only mere days away, patches of scales had been fully forming, and you had been showing him how to let them appear and disappear.

Today, a day after the both of you had finished your last classes of the year, however, there were larger patches of silvery-white scales with an iridescent sheen that shown in the light of your shared room, Draco was writhing in pain as this was the worst his partial transformations had been. The scale patches were surrounded by red ring of irritation around the patches that you regularly applied the salve to the reddened areas gingerly as Draco lets out hisses of irritation and pain.

“I know it hurts, Draco. Just hold still.” You said in a soothing tone as you tried to clean the reddened areas of his skin before you applied the salve “It stings, Y/n! Why must you torture me like this?” Draco groaned into a pillow. “I’m not torturing you. If I don’t clean your irritated areas, they can get infected and the scales could get impacted and would need to be removed before you even have your first transformation. Is that what you want?” You asked firmly as you pinned him down as he was acting like a petulant child.

“No. I don’t want to have them removed! Just please… be gentle. They’re sensitive.” He pleaded with you as he looked at you from where his head rested on his pillow, silvery snake eyes looking down at you. “I’ll be gentle. You can trust me.” You tell him and he nods, burying his face back into his pillow as you tended to his baby snake scales on his sides, arms, and lower legs. with how delicate they are. He felt you delicately wipe the scales clean with the cloth before lathering them in the thick salve that soaked into the scales and soothed the irritated skin.

“It would be better if we could get you a bathtub to soak in that would be a better way to soak the scales and get you hydrated.” You told him as you kept caring for him. “Maybe we can get one in here for next year.” Draco suggested. “I’ll try talking with your dad, telling him its something to help with your tail and scale patches.” You spoke as you finished up applying the salve and let him stay still for the medicine to soak in. “I hope he will help. I don’t like that he’s been so distant with me recently. I’m worried that he won’t want anything to do with me once I transform, Y/n.” He spoke as you laid next to him in the den. “I think he’s just as nervous as you.” You told him, trying to give him some semblance of peace. Draco sighed and you changed the subject.

“So, do you think we passed the finals? I’m worried I didn’t pass anything.” He told you, looking up at you as he began to relax, his eyes turning back to the normal stormy grey color that they normally are and the patches off scales sinking under his skin again. “I think we both did great. We will get our results in a day or two. You just need to relax. Our birthdays are coming up soon. Yours is only a week away and mine is only ten days after yours. We get to go to the manor the night before your birthday to spend the day of there. I’ll be with you the whole time.” You told him. Draco looks at you as he pulled you closer.

“I’d want you there anyways. I don’t want to be alone when I finally turn into well… a monster. You’d be the most understanding out of all the people we know.” He told you as he gripped your shirt as if you were the only thing keeping him human. “You’re not a monster, Draco. Now or even when you transform. You’ll be a beautiful Naga. Do you want me to show you more of what other Nagas look like and do?” You suggested to try and ease his fears. He shook his head and held you tighter. “Okay, okay. You can just hold me for now if that’s what you need.” You told him and stroked his hair. Draco fell asleep in your arms with you following him soon after. ~~~ Two days before Draco’s birthday, You are reading the results of your finals when Draco got a letter from your dads at Grimmauld Place. “What’s that?” You ask as you look up from your grade results to see Draco having paused in his irritated pacing and now reading the piece of paper in his hands. “Its an invitation from your dads for me to come spend the summer at your house. They want to help me learn about my naga habits in a healthy manner. I still need to stay a week at my house though for the Trace to renew properly.” Draco spoke and fidgeted with his fingers.

“I’ll come with you. I won’t let Lucius do anything to you. I’ll ask if one of my dads can come too. Just to keep your dad from interfering.” You told him reassuringly. Draco took a deep breath, gripping the fabric of his pants to resist the itch that now was unbearable. You walked over and held your hand out to him. “C’mon. We have the Finishing Feast and the House Cup to be given out. I hear your favorites will be there.” You told him after putting your black, pointed hat on and helping him adjust his on his head, letting him cling to you as he was walking stiffly beside you as the two of you made your way up to the Great Hall for the End of Year Feast.

You and Draco sat at the end of the table closest to the double doors in the moment that Draco needed to leave if he couldn’t stand the stimulation of the Great Hall, even though it was decorated in the green, silver, and black of Slytherin House. He bounced his legs in anticipation of the food arriving You gripped his hand in yours as you could feel his anxiety oozing off of him. Dumbledore came up to the pulpit and talked to the student body and staff.

“Another year gone and as I understand it, the house cup needs awarding. The Points stand thus. In fourth place is Gryffindor with 312 points, in third place is Hufflepuff with 352 points, In second place is Ravenclaw with 426 points, And in first place with 472 points, Slytherin House.” He speaks, pausing between each announcement to let the houses clap and cheer as a sign of good sportsmanship. All the houses but Slytherin. As you hear the standings, you watch as Draco perks up a little, realizing that Slytherin has won. His infamous smug grin has returned, the transformation and the pestering itchiness of his thighs momentarily forgotten. The rest of the students in Slytherin cheered when it was decided that their house won.

“Yes, yes, well done Slytherin, well done, Slytherin. However, Recent events must be considered and I have a few last-minute points to award. To Miss Hermione Granger, for the cool use of intellect when others were in grave peril, fifty points. Second, to Mr. Ronald Weasley, for the best played game of chess that Hogwarts has seen these many years, fifty points. And third, to Mr. Harry Potter, For pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house, sixty points.” You hear Dumbledore say, each dealing of points to the students in Gryffindor makes Draco slump and his frown comes back. He begins idly rubbing and scratching at his legs, arms, and sides as more and more points are given to the Gryffindors.

“We’re tied with Slytherin!” You hear Hermione say from where you’re seated next to Draco, now noticing him scratching at the irritated places on his body. You have to pin his arms down so he doesn’t irritate them any longer. Draco begins squirming in his seat. “Y/n. I can’t stand it much longer. I don’t know if I can sit through the feast.” He whined. His grey eyes flicking between you and the giant wooden doors to the Great Hall.

“We can wait for the last of the points to be announced. We could still win.” You try to reassure him even though its highly unlikely.

“And finally, it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends. I award ten points to Neville Longbottom. Assuming my calculations are correct, I believe a change of decoration is in order.” Dumbledore says and claps his hands, making the banners hanging from the ceiling change from Slytherin colors to Gryffindor colors. When all the other houses but Slytherin erupting into joyous Cheering, Draco covered his ears and ran out of the Great Hall, you following close behind him.

“Draco! Wait!” You call after him as he is running down the stairs to Slytherin Common room and straight into your private room. He pulled the sweater over his head and flinging it to the floor. He was scratching all over his body and growling in frustration as he was in pain. You entered the room a few moments later and saw him in distress.

“We need to get to the Manor tonight.” You told him when you saw him and help pack his things. Draco’s eyes flashed bright silver and his head snapped to you, fear emanating from him. “Why should I transform at that stuffy old place? I’d rather transform here.

“You can’t Draco. Not at the castle. This will be your first transformation and you still have the Trace on you. You need to be at your family’s manor for the Trace to renew in the proper way. After that, you will be able to transform whenever you want. We will spend your birthday at your house then we will go to Grimmauld Place for my birthday. Then the both of us will spend the rest of the summer at my house and get our 2nd year items with my papa and dad.” You told him, as kept packing your trunk and his trunk too. Draco let out a huff. “Fine.” He said and went to the bed to rest and sulk a little that Slytherin had lost the House cup. ~~~ The two of you had made it to the train home, finding a compartment near the back of the train where the two of you could cuddle in peace before the stress and pressure of Malfoy Manor and one Lucius Malfoy. You had sent a letter for your Papa and Dad to be at the Manor to help Keep Lucius away from Draco while he had his first transformation as you didn’t know how pushy Lucius would be with the suppressants even after the talk your dad had with him a long time ago.  When the two of you arrived in King’s Cross station, you were relieved to see Remus and Sirius standing on the platform waiting for you with Lucius standing off to the side, watching you and Draco leave the train with your trunks floating behind you. Draco was shaking slightly and clinging to you for dear life to keep himself grounded Lucius raised an eyebrow at the state of his son and bent to his level.

“Draco, you don’t seem to well. Let’s get you home.” He spoke and offered for Draco to take his hand. Draco refused and clung to your arm tighter. “I want to stay with Y/n.” He spoke and looked up at his father. “Very well, Draco. Come along. Dobby, get their trunks.” Lucius ordered the House elf to tend to the trunks. You led Draco behind his father with your papa and dad bringing up the rear, praising you slightly for taking good care of Draco and that you were doing a good job. You stayed by Draco’s side the whole ride back to Malfoy Manor. He hid his face into your neck and clung to your arm. You kept a mental note of his condition like how warm he was and if his breathing was getting labored yet. Lucius looked at how affectionate Draco was on you.

“Tell me, Y/n. Have you been keeping up your research on Draco’s symptoms like you said you would?” Lucius asked as he kept his eyes on the pair of you. You pulled your notebook out and handed it to the man who flipped through the pages and was impressed at how detailed your notes were on his son’s condition and the Malfoy family curse.

“You have done a good job of recording the symptoms of the curse. What do you intend to do when he transforms fully?” Lucius asks. “I intend to be by his side the whole time like he’s requested me to be. I plan on still teaching him the appropriate behaviors that a young naga like himself should be and he will not be in any form of suppressants to hide what he truly is.” You told Lucius, telling him Draco’s wishes as well. Lucius looked surprised at your boldness and stayed quiet for the rest of the carriage ride back to the Manor. “The two of you have the rest of today and tomorrow to get settled on the third day, we will be having a quiet celebration for Draco here at the Manor. Y/n, please make sure Draco is decent enough to make it through the interaction.” Lucius requested of you. You nodded and guided Draco upstairs with Remus and Sirius trailing behind the pair of you.

Once in Draco’s room, you helped him onto the bed before addressing your papa and dad. “How is he holding up, Y/n?” Remus asked as he approached the bed with a concerned look on his face. You were helping a whimpering Draco out of his travelling clothes and finding some summer shorts for him to put on instead. Both Remus and Sirius gasped when they saw the irritated patches of skin and smaller patches of scales on his lower legs and creeping up into his torso when he pulled his shirt over his head. “I didn’t think it would get this bad. Doesn’t help that he keeps scratching and rubbing at the inflamed areas.” You tell your dads as you let Draco change in privacy.

“Has the salve helped at all?” Remus asked. “Its helped a little but with the transformation only two days out, I don’t think it will do any good. I hate seeing him in pain like this.” You spoke as you folded his clothes and put them in his dresser. Sirius walked over and put a hand on your shoulder. “You’re doing your best, Y/n. You’re doing the right things even though he may be in pain right now but that pain will soon be over.” Sirius reassured you as you began unpacking both your trunk and Draco’s. You heard Draco shifting around in his bed to get comfortable. You set the stack of books from his trunk on his bookshelf and watched him in amazement as he dragged the bedding from his bed and looked around his room for a suitable place to begin building a place to transform safely. You had heard and read about this too. About some nagas building a nest in a dark, quiet corner where they would feel safe enough to transform. You walked over to him, exchanging a glance with your dads as they were curious as to what Draco was up to.

“Draco, where would you like to nest?” You asked him as you could see several places in his room that you thought was suitable for a nest but this was Draco’s nest, not yours. Draco’s head snapped from his bed, a corner in his room near a window that was across from his fireplace, and his walk-in closet. “I don’t know where to nest. The bed would be the most comfortable for the both of us, the corner by the window would be cozy and warm if we kept the fireplace going, and the closet would be the most hidden.” He told you and kept looking between his bed and the corner near his fireplace.

“This is your first nest. Do the one that feels the most right.” You told him and he went to the closet, setting the bedding down outside the door and going inside the closet to begin making room for his den. He moved the shoes and boxes that littered the floor up to shelves and his dresser. He then pulled his duvet into the closet first, to line the floor and make the floor of his nest comfortable. You stood outside the closet, making notes of his nesting habits and writing down all the steps Draco took to make his den. You watched as Draco made several trips back to his bed to retrieve the pillows, occasionally sending you down the hall to get some extra items from the linen closet as he wanted them for his den. On the third trip to retrieve nesting materials, you were stopped my Lucius.

“What’s all this for, Y/n? We have a room for this purpose that is well stocked.” Lucius explained. You held the stack of folded sheets and a couple blankets “It’s Draco. He’s making his nest in his room. Its where he’s most comfortable and I don’t want to disrupt him.” You explained and Lucius nodded, allowing you to have access to the nesting room to retrieve the materials there.

“Thank you, Mr. Malfoy.” You spoke and Lucius bowed his head to you, leaving you to still help Draco. You enlisted the help of your dad and papa to carry the bedding back to Draco’s room so he would have all the options available to him for making his nest. Once he had the nest all set up, he poked his head out and pulled you into the nest.

“I need you close. I’m scared. What do you think of the nest?” He asked as he fidgeted with his fingers, waiting for your response. You were amazed on how soft and pillowy the nest was and you laid out on the floor of the nest, taking notes of how he nested. “It’s so comfy, Draco. I don’t think I’ll ever want to leave.” You told him, seeing Remus and Sirius looking in from the outside. Draco looked at them warily, not entirely trusting them. “Don’t worry, Draco, we’re here to help. Neither Sirius or I will hurt you or Y/n.” Remus spoke, trying to reassure the young man. Draco watched them and nodded, letting them stay outside of the nest as he pulled you into his arms for him to hold as he needed your comfort for now. ~~~ Two days later, June 5th. Draco’s twelfth birthday. You are laying next to Draco, watching him whimper in pain as he was waking up from the previous night’s rest. The itching between his thighs was now an uncomfortable burning and his forehead is covered in the sheen of sweat. His body was fighting off the transformation and he was being stubborn, refusing to let go, and allow himself to transform. He had been irritable to his father and your dads too whenever they got close to him or you, always snapping at anyone who got too close to him or you. You wake up and see his eyes, now bright silver than the normal blue-grey you knew them to be. His pupils had narrowed to slits and his mouth was opened slightly, showing his canines now having elongated to needle-sharp points like a snakes’, and the tip of his tongue is forked.

“Y/n. please run. I don’t want to hurt you.” He told you as he looked just as scared as you were. You nod and get out of bed, wrapping your robe around yourself, leaving the room, and go down to breakfast. You find your papa and dad sitting next to Lucius and Narcissa talking about the day’s plans over morning coffee. All four adults looked up at you as you slid onto the bench across from your fathers. “No Draco this morning? Where is the birthday boy?” Sirius asked after you had a cup of tea in your hands and a plate of food slid in front of you by Dobby. “He’s still in his room. He told me to come down before he did.” You told the adults as you ate.

“Is he feeling well? Should we go check on him?” Lucius asked, showing some small concern for his son. “He is almost fully transformed. He told me to come down here because he didn’t want to hurt me. After I eat, I’ll go back upstairs with food for him. Then I’ll help him get changed so he may be ‘decent’ as you say for the celebration.” You said firmly while you gripped your fork. Lucius looked surprised at your forwardness and went back to finishing his own breakfast and going to his study. You had Dobby make up a plate of food and take it up to Draco as you flanked Lucius to his study to see if he was staying true to his word. He did enter his study and close the door. You decided to go back upstairs to check on Draco. You found your fathers in the hallway wanting to help. You saw Dobby leave looking timid and more scared than usual.

“Miss Y/n. Master Draco is a frightful creature. Will he be alright?” Dobby asks nervously. “He will be, don’t worry. My dads and I will help him. You just run along and let us care for him.” You instructed the House Elf. Dobby nodded and apparated away. You looked back to Remus and Sirius, worried as to Draco’s well-being.

“We need to check on him, pup.” Remus spoke and put his hand on your back, guiding you to the door. He looked to Sirius. “Stay out here in case he bolts.” He spoke in a quiet tone. Sirius nodded and stayed outside as you and Remus went into Draco’s room.  You entered first, seeing Draco’s eyes stare past you at the adults behind you. He hissed at Remus when he entered behind you.  

“He’s not a threat, Draco, he’s here to help. We know you’re in pain and we want to help you.” You spoke and Draco locked eyes with you. You moved with him as you moved closer to his nest in the closet. You knelt outside the wall of his den, keeping eye contact with him. He was showing more patches of scales now solidifying in a stark white color that seemed to glow and retain an iridescent shimmer as he moved in the darkness of his nest to the wall of his nest to be closer to you.  

“Y/n, I’m scared. It hurt so badly and I don’t want you to see me like this. I’m turning into a monster and I couldn’t bear seeing you hurt if I let it take over. Please go and let me turn.” He pleaded with you. You didn’t see him as a monster though. You saw him as your friend no matter what.

“But I don’t want you to be alone when you transform. You’re not a monster, Draco. You’re my best friend and I won’t let you be alone with this. Will you allow my dad to be with you instead? He doesn’t want everyone to know this but he’s a werewolf and has experience with the pains of physical transformations.” You suggested, insistent on making sure Draco wasn’t alone through this.  Draco gripped the pillow that he already had a death grip on tighter as he looked you in the eyes.

“Yes, please. Your dad can stay. Please just go, y/n!” He pleaded, breaking eye contact with you to bury his face into a pillow that you had scented to seek comfort. You rose and handed your journal and pen you had been keeping on Draco to Remus. “Please take good notes and take care of Draco for me.” You spoke. Remus took the journal and pen. “Of course. I’ll take good care of him.” Remus spoke and watched you leave the room. You went back down to the kitchen, finding Narcissa and Sirius still there, waiting to hear any news on Draco. Sirius stood when he saw you enter. “Has it happened yet?” He asked as you sat at the table next to your papa.

“No. He’s resisting the transformation and its going to give him more pain the longer he resists. He didn’t want me to see him transform so I left dad upstairs with him. I hope everything goes well.” You tell your papa as Narcissa pours you a cup of tea. You hear the kitchen door open and Lucius steps in, putting his hand on your shoulder. “Has it happened yet?” He asked, slightly impatient. You took a long sip of your tea before looking to Lucius. “No. It hasn’t. My dad is up there now trying to help Draco now. It would be better if his own father cared enough to not hide away in his study and was up there with him now. Draco is in pain and wants help. He didn’t want me to see him transform so I am here, drinking tea when I’d rather be by Draco’s side helping him through a milestone in his life.” You spoke and took another long sip of your tea. Lucius looked offended at your words and Sirius stood to defend you from the man.

“My daughter is right, Lucius. You should be up there comforting your son alongside my husband.” Sirius spoke and Lucius stormed out of the kitchen, going up to Draco’s room. Meanwhile, in Draco’s room, Remus was laying in front of Draco’s nest, trying to soothe the boy as his urges got stronger. Lucius knocked on the door. Remus stood up to see who it was. “Why are you here, Lucius. I thought you didn’t want anything to do with your son’s transformation.” Remus spoke, opening the door a little wider and blocking Lucius from entering.

“Your daughter persuaded me to assist Draco in his first transformation since he wished her not to see him in this state. I understand that you have experience with physical transformations. If Draco wishes, you may stay as well.” Lucius spoke before pushing past Remus and entering the room. Draco saw his father and retreated into his nest to try and stand before hobbling out, nothing but a black modesty garment around his hips and a loose shirt over his upper body as he clung to the wall and other furniture to help keep him standing while he addressed his father. Remus’s heart hurt for the boy as he saw Draco in such a disheveled state. Lucius’s eyes widened at his son’s condition and he approached him, kneeling to his level, tilting his head up to meet his gaze.

“Draco, I know it hurts. But you need to stop resisting and just let it happen. It will happen whether you want it to or not.” Lucius said as he let his own eyes flash silver, like Draco’s. Draco’s lip trembled and he shook his head.

“I don’t want her to think me some monster!” Draco protests, his body shaking slightly as the resistance of his transformation slips just a little more as more scales appeared on his legs and he stumbled forward into his father’s arms. Lucius rubbed Draco’s back and did his best to soothe his son. Remus watched Draco grip his father’s shirt as he was afraid that you’d think him a monster. “Draco, Y/n would never think you a monster. She loves you for who you are and she won’t go anywhere. She will see you as a fascinating creature that she will want to study and help others learn how to care for more Nagas like yourself.” Remus reassured the boy. Draco nodded and held onto Lucius as he took deep breaths.

“That’s it, let go, Draco. You’ve held on for long enough we can help you.” Lucius spoke, comforting his son, wishing that his own father did this with him when he was twelve. Draco’s legs finally gave out as he let out a cry of pain that was heard all the way down to the kitchen, making you grip onto Sirius’s hands tighter as you were concerned for your partner. Draco’s legs finally merged and formed a long, powerful, pure white tail with a shimmering iridescence that shone in the morning sunlight, matching the patches of scales on his arms, neck, shoulders, and upper torso. Draco leaned into his father as he panted, recovering from the transformation. Lucius held him and rubbed his back carefully, staying aware of the patches on his back as he looked up to Remus who was lingering around to provide any assistance that Draco would need as he adjusted to his new form.

“How are you feeling Draco?” Remus asked after a moment. “Different. But good. My legs feel as if they’re bound together. I’m scared I can’t walk.” Draco spoke and held onto Lucius as he got his bearings and tried moving his tail a little. “Take your time. We will stay with you as you adjust.” Lucius spoke as he helped Draco learn how to move with his tail. Draco eventually got the hang of slithering around and helped him get settled back in his nest. While Remus made notes in your notebook about the transformation and Draco’s first movements as a naga. He also wrote a description of Draco’s tail in your notebook, watching Lucius and Draco bond over this moment together. Lucius had shown some duller patches of silvery-white scales peeking out from his shirt collar as he helped Draco get comfortable in his nest.

“You should rest, Draco. The first transformation can wear one out. Do you want anything before you rest?” Lucius asked. “Can I see y/n? I want her close.” Draco requested, looking to Remus who nodded. “I’ll go get her. But the two of you are to have an adult with you while you’re in this state. You may hold her but nothing else. The two of you are far too young to mate and we want the best for the two of you.” Remus spoke and Draco nodded.

“Yes. I just need to hold her and have her close.” Draco spoke. Remus leaves to get you from the kitchen as you’re now pacing in the kitchen, wringing your hands as you had heard Draco’s cry of pain a little while ago. You wanted to run to his side then, but Sirius had you stay in the kitchen in the case your wellbeing might be at risk. You looked up at Remus as he entered the kitchen and walked to him.

“Is he okay? How is he doing? Can I go see him?” You ask as you look your dad in the eyes.

“Y/n, he’s okay. He’s finally transformed and asking for you. Your father or I will always be in the room with you when he’s in this state as we don’t know how he will act when you go to his side.” Remus tells you.

“Of course.” You say and walk past your dad.  Remus looked to Sirius for him to follow you up to the room. You paused for a moment outside the room before entering. Your eyes immediately fell on Draco’s new form laying in his nest, coiled around a body pillow to anchor himself while he waited for you to arrive. His silvery eyes met your golden ones when he heard you enter the room. He reached out for you to come closer and you knelt at the edge of his nest

“Can I come in?” You asked, waiting for Draco’s approval. He nods and almost yanks you into the comfort and safety of his nest, letting go of the body pillow and wrapping his tail around your ankle and pulling you close to his chest, inhaling the smell of your hair, and holding you tight enough that he was afraid you’d disappear.

“I’m not going anywhere, Draco. I’m right here.” You reassured him as he held you a little tighter. You looked up at your dads as they were sitting near the wall of the nest, but not too close that Draco would see them as a threat. Remus wasn’t too thrilled about Draco’s tail around your calf but he looked up to you, hoping you’d explain Draco’s behavior towards you.

“He’s doing something called ‘anchoring’ or ‘grounding’. This is normal for snakes as they need something to latch onto or they will feel distressed. He’s doing what feels natural and this is okay. He’s just being clingy since this is his first transformation and he’s feeling all kinds of new things now and I want to help him.” You explained to them as you comforted Draco as you ran your hand through his hair and rubbing his back gently, being wary of the patches on his back. Draco clung to you, enjoying your embrace as he rested. ~~~ After the small celebration of Draco’s 12th birthday and a week later, Draco was packing his trunk to go with you and your dads for the rest of the summer holiday and go back to Hogwarts with you in the fall. You had finished packing your trunk and now you were helping him with all kinds of naga scale care that Narcissa had bought for him and gifted to him on his birthday.  You also had made him some modesty garments for other options besides the black and green ones he had already.

“Isn’t this too much, Y/n? Its not all going to fit.” Draco told you as you stuffed more of his casual clothes that you rolled up down the sides of his trunk.

“I’ll make it fit. Don’t worry.” You told him, adding the rest of the pile of nesting materials that wanted from home into his trunk and closing it with success. Both you and Draco smiled the accomplishment.  

“You’re amazing, Y/n. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He spoke and stood up, rolling his trunk downstairs with you following him as his parents were waiting to send him off. In the past week, Lucius had also gone off suppressants and let his own naga form become president. He now stood in the entry way with his silvery-white tail under him.

“I wish you well at Grimmauld Place, Draco. It was good to learn a few things from you as well, Y/n about the wonders of our gift.” He spoke, no longer referring to the naga condition as a curse. “Thank you for having me and my fathers, Lucius.” You responded, bowing your head to the man before leaving with Draco out of Malfoy manor and following your dads to drive back to No. 12 Grimmauld place. ~~~ A few days later, the four of you are having breakfast the morning of your 12th birthday in the kitchen of your home when your Hogwarts letters arrive. “They came!” You say excitedly, handing Draco his letter before you tore into yours. A moment of silence fell over the breakfast table before Draco broke the silence.

“Who the hell is ‘Gilderoy Lockheart? And why is every written work of his on the damn school list?’” He asked out loud as he read over the list of items needed for that year. Remus set his fork down and groaned before he took a long drink of coffee. “That pompous jerk? Which position is he going for?” He asked as he looked to the pair of you as you kept reading over the letter. “Looks like he’s filling the Defense Against the Dark Arts, Dad.” You tell him between bites of food. Remus sighs and finishes his own breakfast.

“That’s it. I’m applying for the position next year. The two of you need a good education in that subject.” Remus spoke as he finished his morning coffee as Sirius rubbed his back. “Let them get through this upcoming year, alright darling?” Sirius spoke and pecked his husband’s cheek. The end.

Patreon Ko-fi Ao3

(I decided to edit and repost this story as it was made aware to me that some of the content int the original version would make some people comfortable. Its the same plot. I hope you enjoy)

[damnfandomproblems]

https://www.tumblr.com/damnfandomproblems/784166933337636864/fandom-problem-8869-when-people-complain-about-a?source=share

I'm like 99% sure this is about HP and the house elfs and so I'm just going to make this reply as if I am right in my assumption:

Fun fact, the house elfs, S.P.E.W, and Hermione's treatment over her beliefs and activism is likely a metaphor (i think thats the right word, might be confusing with another but oh well) to feminism.

House elfs are domestic servants kept by the family to do all the labor and are told by everyone to the point they tell it to themselves that they like doing domestic labor, unpaid and unrecognized, of course. Who are taught so throughly to be so dependent that the idea of being independent terrifies them.

Domestic slaves so unimportant they are not mentioned in history.

Dobby, the other elf who goes drinking after being let go who's name i don't remember, are both treated as weird outcasts. Hermione as silly and weird and looking to deep into it. And more that I will not ramble on about to keep this from being a mile long lmao

Hell! "S.P.E.W" is a direct lift of the "Society for Promoting the Employment of Women", one of the first English feminist organizations.

The house elfs are slaves who enjoy their enslavement is a very surface level and honesty, kind of American reading of the whole deal.

And is it a perfect metaphor? No, because it's meant to be a reflection of feminism, not a perfect copy and paste. There's also the fact that for all of JKR's faults or whatnot, she preferred to let her characters react realistically to their own beliefs over reacting in a way that loudly confirms her own personal beliefs. Everyone treating the house like woman historically were (and in many places, still are), as domestic servants chained to the family who enjoy all the labor they are tasked to do without complaint, compensation, or recognition, and Hermione, the smartest witch of her age calling it out, and Dobby, a beloved character going against the grain, is telling enough without it going into preachy territory.

(Kinda sleep deprived rn so excuse any typos or bad grammar please lol)

Posting as a response to a previous problem.

[dhr-ao3]

Come As You Are

Come As You Are https://ift.tt/mTob96z by lichentrope After the war, every adult wizard associated with Voldemort was sentenced to death. Their children were shown mercy—in the form of life sentences in Azkaban. Hermione Granger has spent the past decade honing her skills—she has several masteries under her belt and a successful customs business inventing new and powerful magics. She has a happy and loving group of friends and all the books she could ever want, tucked up in her perfect little cottage in Kent. Surely there’s nothing she’s missing then, is there? Draco Malfoy has spent the last ten years in Azkaban. He’s broken beyond recognition. So when he’s dragged out into the Ministry after a decade in the dark, he can only assume it’s to end his suffering. Instead he looks up into the eyes of a grown, indomitable Hermione Granger. Will she help put the pieces of who he once was back together? Will they be able to stop the Ministry’s slow descent into fascism? Will he ever learn how to use the terrifying Micro Wave? Words: 8979, Chapters: 2/35, Language: English Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: F/M Characters: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, George Weasley, Original Characters, Original House-Elf Character(s), Gawain Robards, Minerva McGonagall, Various Background Weasleys Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood, Pansy Parkinson/Ginny Weasley, Theodore Nott/George Weasley Additional Tags: Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, not beta read we die like dobby, not britpicked either, No Ron Weasley Bashing, But Some Light Ron Weasley Hexing, BAMF Hermione Granger, Morally Grey Hermione Granger, Cottagecore Hermione Granger, POV Hermione Granger, POV Draco Malfoy, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Not Much Angst But Maybe A Sprinkle, SO MUCH FLUFF, Good Draco Malfoy, Pining Draco Malfoy, Draco Malfoy Needs a Hug, Draco Malfoy in the Muggle World, Draco Malfoy Redemption, Soft Draco Malfoy, Prisoner Draco Malfoy, Draco Malfoy in Azkaban, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Panic Attacks, Mental Health Issues, Torture, Blood and Gore, Adult Hermione Granger, Adult Draco Malfoy, Eventual Smut, HEA, Sexual Tension, Explicit Sexual Content, Therapy, The Ministry of Magic is Corrupt (Harry Potter), Bathilda The Chaos Kitty, Slavery (brief but it’s there), Theo Nott is a Chaos Demon, Hermione Granger Hates Fascism via AO3 works tagged 'Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy' https://ift.tt/Q7RaSKu April 26, 2025 at 10:43PM

[neonscandal]

Random ask, if you sort your top fav characters from BNHA & JJK to Hogwarts houses, which houses will they be (in your opinion)? Why?

I spent an embarrassing amount of time looking for the artist I bought my "Dobby is a Free Elf, F*** TERFS" sticker from (still couldn't find them 😭). Before I jump in, just taking the time to remind readers that we can maintain a connection to media we grew up with but refrain from putting more money in the hands of a creator who actively preaches against and promotes messages that impede upon the freedoms and lives of our trans frans. 🏴‍☠️⚡️

I'll use the lineups from these last asks (because I flip flop, I just love so many of them, okay??).

MHA

Katsuki Bakugo - Slytherin. Slytherin like Draco Malfoy in the sense that he's outwardly and overly confident. But his predisposition for "darkness" scares and frustrates him because he just wants the same recognition of being a good wizard that Izuku gets.

Izuku Midoriya - Gryffindor with Ravenclaw underpinnings. Gryffindor is the one house where anyone can belong if you're only brave enough to ask and he'd totally make a scene muttering to himself under the sorting hat.

Shouta Aizawa - Ooof. This is hard because he has the outward disposition of Snape as a teacher but Aizawa is so soft at heart and incredibly logical. Of the Three Dumbigos, he would be in Ravenclaw. Bonus: Oboro would have been in Gryffindor and Yamada would have been in Hufflepuff.

Shoto Todoroki - Legacy Slytherin but sorted into Gryffindor much to Endeavor's chagrin (and likely to spite him).

Eijirou Kirishima - this is a hufflepuff. ✨

JJK

Nobara Kugisaki - This one was legitimately a head scratcher. She has her Hufflepuff moments from being so in sync with Yuji but I think Nobara's more Ravenclaw or Gryffindor leaning. Especially with that ego. Actually, yea, let's be for real, Nobara would want to be in the place where she can kick the most ass and not from an academic perspective. Gryffindor with Ravenclaw underpinnings though I'm open to hearing other people's takes on her situation.

Yuji Itadori - If he'd had any insight into the houses, any idea that there were such a thing as Gryffindor whose bravery was renowned, he probably would have had the sense of mind to end up there. But buddy boy was just so happy to be included having zero connection to the wizarding world that he rejoiced at his sorting in Hufflepuff. He's well received in their ranks and, of course, is not a stranger to students in other houses. I'm not saying the Sorting Hat didn't see obvious potential, though. If only he'd persisted to ask.

Megumi Fushiguro - Unbeknownst to him, the Zenin's are a legacy Slytherin family. He'd always heard the way Gojo had spoken about Slytherins and was annoyed at the possibility of ending up there (more than how much Gojo annoyed him) so, instead, the Sorting Hat saw fit to put him into Gryffindor after his imperceptible begging.

Kento Nanami - This man is a bored Ravenclaw. He gets through school, aces his OWLs and NEWTs and then becomes something boring in the muggle world because, while magic makes things convenient, the shenanigans and idiocy of his peers and upperclassmen encouraged the pursuit of a life of solitude to recover from the hijinks he suffered while in high school. He'd come back for the Battle of Hogwarts, though. That's a call he wouldn't be able to ignore.

Satoru Gojo - He thought himself smart enough to be in Ravenclaw 👀 but was ultimately damned by his legacy Slytherin family lineage. Dismayed by the Sorting Hat's deliberation, he felt there was more glory to be had in Gryffindor and changed the tide of the Gojo family with this subsequent desire. He had the time of his life. Never told Megumi about how long the Sorting Hat deliberated though... likely forgot, in fact, because once he belonged in Gryffindor, nothing else felt right. Bonus: Shoko was in Gryffindor as the actual Ravenclaw of the trio. Geto was in Gryffindor with Hufflepuff underpinnings. The hubris he developed by this association would still be his undoing and leave him vulnerable to manipulation.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hey!! I really love ur blog and how u write Harry. U have made me fall in love with him all over again.💞

I wanted to know that do u hc Harry having any addictions due to his trauma?

Thank u ❤️

Thank you! ❤️

Like, I'm partial to giving a post-war Harry a bit of a vice for alcohol due to how we see alcohol treated in the Wizarding World.

It seems alcohol is the go-to when it comes to mental health solutions in the Wizarding World. And, it kind of used to be irl. I don't know if you ever read Victorian recipes for medicine, but alcohol solves everything in them (it would be funny if the recipes didn't include very questionable practices). Nightshade poisoning? Try Brandy. Got a cold? Try this Rum and lemon-juice mix. Fever? Mix up some wine, powdered nitrogen, and Potassium Carbonate, and you're good to go. Fainting fits? Some Brandy mixed with warm water should do it.

In the books, we see characters drinking quite a bit, on their own and around children. Characters under stress or in a bad mental state more so than others — Sirius, Winkey, Trelawney at times, etc.

We see Sirius drink quite a bit in Grimmauld as his mental state deteriorates, and as I said, I think that's not an uncommon coping mechanism in the WW:

Sirius was hurrying toward them all, looking anxious. He was unshaven and still in his day clothes; there was also a slightly Mundungus-like whiff of stale drink about him.

(OotP, Ch22)

(Though, I'll give him credit for not drinking in front of Harry or the other kids and only ever offering them Butterbeer. Sirius is more responsible about his alcoholism than the Hogwarts staff. I'm talking about Trelawney and Hagrid specifically)

We see that drinking is a very ingrained part of their culture. Even children drink alcohol in the form of butterbeer:

“Winky is getting through six bottles a day now,” Dobby whispered to Harry. “Well, it’s not strong, that stuff,” Harry said. But Dobby shook his head. “ ’Tis strong for a house-elf, sir,” he said.

(GoF, Ch28)

And older students are offered alcohol quite casually:

“Don’t mention it, m’boy, don’t mention it,” said Slughorn, as Ron collapsed into a nearby armchair, looking devastated. “Pick-me-up, that’s what he needs,” Slughorn continued, now bustling over to a table loaded with drinks. “I’ve got butterbeer, I’ve got wine, I’ve got one last bottle of this oak-matured mead . . . hmm . . .

(HBP, Ch18)

“One for Harry . . .” said Slughorn, dividing a second bottle between two mugs, “. . . and one for me. Well” — he raised his mug high — “to Aragog.” “Aragog,” said Harry and Hagrid together. Both Slughorn and Hagrid drank deeply.

(HBP, Ch21)

And have teachers get drunk in front of students regularly and casually.

Harry watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Harry’s amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided.

(PS, Ch12) - both Hagrid and McGonagall are a little drunk here.

Trelawney is also drunk on the regular:

Harry thought that Professor Trelawney might soon crack under the strain; several times he passed her in the corridors (in itself a very unusual occurrence as she generally remained in her tower room), muttering wildly to herself, wringing her hands, and shooting terrified glances over her shoulder, all the time giving off a powerful smell of cooking sherry.

(OotP, Ch25)

As does the Fat Lady:

...password. Abstinence.” “Precisely,” said the Fat Lady in a feeble voice, and swung forward to reveal the portrait hole. “What’s up with her?” asked Harry. “Overindulged over Christmas, apparently,” said Hermione, rolling her eyes as she led the way into the packed common room. “She and her friend Violet drank their way through all the wine in that picture of drunk monks down by the Charms corridor. Anyway . . .”

(HBP, Ch17)

The above showcases the attitude towards alcohol overindulgence is just rolling your eyes, because "oh, they're being silly again". Not that every overindulgence is alcoholism, it's not. Overindulging here and there on a holiday, the way the Fat-Lady and McGonagall seem to do is not alcoholism. What it is, is unprofessional since they are around students.

Now, I'm not sure if Gillywater is an alcoholic drink or not. Personally, I think it is, but low on alcohol like Butterbeer:

“Hi, Harry!” said Romilda Vane, the moment he had climbed through the portrait hole. “Fancy a gillywater?”

(HBP, Ch15)

No one stops Romilda, who's a fourth year in HBP, from bringing Gillywater into the school (That being said, sneaking anything into Hogwarts is ridiculously easy) like Butterbeer (which has alcohol). McGonagall also orders it in PoA when their table orders drinks, and we see McGonagall drink around students before, so it possibly has alcohol:

“A small gillywater —” “Mine,” said Professor McGonagall’s voice. “Four pints of mulled mead —” “Ta, Rosmerta,” said Hagrid. “A cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella —” “Mmm!” said Professor Flitwick, smacking his lips. “So you’ll be the red currant rum, Minister.” “Thank you, Rosmerta, m’dear,” said Fudge’s voice.

(PoA, Ch10)

In that conversation in PoA you again have teachers drinking in front of students (except Flitwick, he's a designated driver, apparently). It's just normal in their culture.

If something's wrong and you're in a bad state mentally (or a good one), you turn to alcohol.

So, I think Alcohol would be the most accessible and easiest addiction to fall into in the WW. Even if you're overindulging in public, most people aren't going to notice or comment on it. Alcoholism is seen as a character quirk more than an actual issue in British wizarding culture (Mandungus, Hagrid, and Trelawney are examples of characters with an alcoholism "quirk").

It seems possible to me that Harry could stumble into an alcohol addiction if he doesn't manage to find a different coping mechanism. And there will be some not-super-healthy coping mechanisms because the Wizarding World has no concept of therapy/mental health (talked about more here), and I don't see Harry willingly going to see a muggle (or even squib) therapist.