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saiilorstars · 3 months ago

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Ch. 40: Hidden Deals

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

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

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

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When Arden returned from the library to find her friends all huddled in the common room like there was nothing to do, she was very much irritated. "Am I the only one who studies here?"

At the same time she asked, Romina, who sat cross legged on the floor in front of the table, flicked a piece of paper across the table to make a goal over Angel's fingers. Romina, gleeful, looked up at Arden. "We did our studying. Now we're relaxing. I've got 5 goals under my belt."

"That's cause you know the game," Angel reminded and lowered his palms to the table. His makeshift goal with his fingers was about the only concrete part he understood of this football game Romina talked about.

Romina shrugged at him. "Doesn't mean anything."

From the couch, Carolinha looked up from a magazine Daphne had let her borrow. "Pretty sure that means everything."

"Who's side are you on?" Romina shot the brunette a look over her shoulder. Angel, in turn, smirked proudly.

"Unfortunately, familial ties require me to be on his side," Carolinha said, and Angel's smirk dropped.

Romina let out a loud "Ha!" that cut through the room. Angel reached for one of the crumpled balls of paper they were using as footballs and flicked it towards Romina only instead of reaching her, or making a goal for that matter, he somehow got it to flick in Arden's direction and hit her nose.

Arden flinched. "Hey!"

Angel apologetically smiled. "Sorry. I've never played any form of football."

Arden shook her head. "It's actually not that hot today. Why don't you go to the lake today or something?"

"Who are you, our mother?" Carolinha raised an eyebrow at her. "And how come you're not coming?"

"I have Divination."

"I told you not to take that class," Romina said, readying herself to flick another paper football towards Angel's finger goals.

"No you didn't."

"I didn't?" Romina paused to think. "Oh, right, that was Hermione."

"A legend, by the way, and not in the best way in this class," Arden said. Everybody knew how Trewlany had publicly declared Hermione's lack of divination skills the year before and how Hermione had reacted in response.

"Still funny," Romina snickered. "Every time you remind her, she gets so mad."

"I think she's better in Ancient Runes," Carolinha said, finally giving up the magazine in her hands. "I ask her for help all the time in that class. I gotta say, she was better than any of the private tutors Mum and Dad hired for us before coming to school."

"You guys had private tutors?" Romina said, making a face and glancing over her shoulder to Arden. "They had private tutors, Ard..."

"Of course," Arden did a fake curtsy for the twins.

"What a shocker," Romina said right before flicking her paper ball. It hit Angel between the eyes.

"Hey!" He frowned.

Romina giggled. "That counts as a goal."

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't…" Angel's head turned in Arden's direction, "Does it?"

Arden rolled her eyes. "Romina, quit being mean."

"Arden's right guys, why don't we go outside?" Carolinha suggested, finally putting down her magazine. "Or we could go see if anybody else is putting their name into the Goblet?" The room of the Goblet of Fire was a hot spot and it would continue to be one until Halloween night when the champions' names were called.

"What for? I already got my fill when Fred and George did their little aging number," Romina said, resting her palms on the table. Angel called quits on their game. Ten to 2 was something to ponder for him.

"Then let's go to the lake! Oh!" Carolinha hopped off the couch with a lit up face. "You can show us that violin of yours!"

"You brought it?" Angel asked Romina, fairly curious as his sister had been when she first saw the instrument.

Romina nodded. "I thought it would be nice if it didn't collect dust this year."

"Let's do that!" Carolinha exclaimed. "Can we, Romina? Please?"

Romina shrugged. "I guess. But I stand by my warning that I only know muggle tunes. It's a muggle class."

"Something different," Angel smiled. "We'll love it, I'm sure."

Romina flushed. "Alright then. Be back in a bit." She pushed herself up from the ground and headed for the hallway.

"And I guess I'm off to Divination," Arden said, making a face. "Will you guys still be there afterwards?"

"Yeah," Angel nodded. "I want to listen to as many tunes Romina can play."

Arden smirked knowingly. "Oh, I bet you do."

"Arden," Romina's call was sharp and full of warning. Arden decided to hurry along for her Divination book in her room.

"So, Romina, are we doing it?" Carolinha eagerly asked.

"Yeah, why not," Romina started pulling herself up from the floor. "I win, Angel."

Angel sighed. "Not much of a game if one of the players doesn't know how to play."

Romina pushed her hair behind her shoulders, smiling smugly. "Doesn't mean anything." She started for the hallway.

"Pretty sure it means everything!" Angel called after her, making her laugh.

~ 0 ~

The lake wasn't that crowded given that classes had only started a couple weeks back. Students were still grappling to their new schedules. Those lucky enough to enjoy some time off, like Romina, Carolinha and Angel, had found ample space to relax in.

Romina had been shy carrying her violin all the way down to the lake. Several students had given her strange looks for owning the instrument in the first place. The Beauxbaton girls were the only students who seemed slightly impressed...as if no Hogwart student could be graceful enough to use the instrument correctly.

"That looks new," Carolinha remarked as they sat down on the mushy grass. She and Angel sat opposite of Romina.

"It sort of is," Romina said, placing the violin over her lap, "My aunt and uncle bought it for me last year as a Christmas present. I've only ever really played it during last summer."

"Arden said you were taking classes, right?" Angel asked. "Or that you had started it up again?"

Romina nodded. "Before coming to Hogwarts, I took violin classes after school. You could say that the violins have grown with me."

"That's cute," Carolinha giggled. "Poetic."

"Yeah, that's about the only poetic thing about me," Romina said, sharing a laugh with her afterwards. "But in all seriousness, I do love this thing so much. I may be a loud mouth, impulsive, and my character could use some more ladylike traits but when I play the violin...I feel like I'm truly elegant and graceful."

"You can be those things when you want to be," Angel said, "And even if you aren't, who cares? You're still great."

Romina smiled sweetly at him. "Thanks."

Carolina cleared her throat with purpose. She was beginning to think her brother was going a little overboard with his crush. Annoying was crossed a long time ago. "Anyways," she said, throwing her brother a look for him to calm himself, "I want to hear something."

"Well," Romina said, pausing to think for a second, "Before we came back to Hogwarts, Arden and I were practicing this cover of Halloween muggle movie we watched."

"What was it?" both Carolinha and Angel inquired, even sharing the same curiosity that only twins could.

Romina was shy when she answered in a whisper. "Hocus Pocus…"

"Hocus what?" Carolinha lifted an eyebrow at her. "That sounds weird, even for Muggles."

"It's a Halloween movie. A comedic Halloween movie," Romina reminded them, "It's about 3 witches who come back to life after being lynched in the Salem Witch Trials—"

"That's supposed to be a comedy?" Angel made a face. "The Salem Witch trials are terrible, Romina. Nothing funny can be made out of it."

Romina sighed. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised that even the twins didn't understand her muggle ways sometimes. "It's supposed to be fake, guys," she said quietly.

"But it's not," Carolinha said adamantly, "Witches and wizards used to be hunted down for real until we decided to go underground."

"I get that but this is just a movie and you know what?" Romina frowned at the pair of siblings. "If we're going to be on the honesty part—those witches deserved it. If anybody's stealing youth and killing children, then they should be killed." She opened her arms to wait for a counterargument from either sibling.

Of course, there was none.

"Thank you," Romina said, rolling her eyes, "Now then, would you like to hear the version of the song they used for the movie? It's catchy, I swear. And the title…?"

"Yeah, I guess," Angel nodded, slowly. He could see where Romina's annoyance stemmed from and over a movie. Maybe he and Carolinha were over-exaggerating a little bit. There was no way Romina would ever be okay with the Salem Witch Trials.

"The song's called 'I Put a Spell on You'," Romina said, earning a combined laugh.

"Of course it is," Carolinha shook her head. "Okay, maybe it's not that bad."

"The way Winnie sings it is hilarious," Romina continued with more giddiness now that they were focusing on the 'it's a movie' part. "She makes the humans dance. But the actual song is a little bit more...sensual, I think."

"Oooh," Carolinha's eyes widened, her lips curling into a smirk. "Now I definitely want to hear it."

"I'm not sure I want to anymore," Angel muttered. Carolinha promptly elbowed him on his side. "I'm just saying!"

Romina laughed. "You should hear Arden sing it. She's actually really good. If this whole witch thing doesn't turn out, we might go into show business. Arden sings and I play the violin."

"I'll pay for the tickets!" Carolinha quickly volunteered.

"Oh alright, can we just hear it?" Angel asked, preferring to get it out of the way before Carolinha started going on in a ramble.

Romina thought the same. "Okay." She pulled her violin over her left collarbone. It took some adjusting but she'd remembered everything Mrs. Vale had taught her. She'd only been going to Mrs. Vale's class since forever. Soon, she was delicately moving the bow over the strings to create—to the best of her ability—the melody of the song. To help the twins imagine the song better, she decided to hum along.

Whatever qualms and annoyances that had occurred were forgotten in a matter of seconds. The twins were dazzled with Romina's talent. The melody truly did sound like it was trying to tempt you into something, taunting even. Carolinha swayed her head, imagining what it would sound with even more instruments. Angel listened as well but he was more focused on Romina. It looked like she had forgotten they were even there. Her hums grew louder yet remained soft to stay between them.

"Sing," Angel suddenly requested. He had done so breathlessly that Carolinha sent him another 'calm down' glance.

Romina's eyes flickered to the twins, smiling lightly. "I'm not much of a singer," she reminded them. She continued to play without the humming. "Maybe when Arden gets out of class, she can help."

"You're playing amazingly," Angel said.

"You really are," agreed Carolinha.

Romina was flushed with embarrassment. "Thanks guys," she said. "You want to hear more? I've got Disney classics under my belt."

"Disney?" Both twins chorused with the same confusion.

Romina laughed. "Oh dear, I've got to catch you up."

~ 0 ~

Divination could not have ended any slower. Arden was ready to leave, especially today. Trewlany had, had some crazy ideas and suggestions about rearranging seats for the class and Arden wasn't very content with her new partner. The only thing that they could agree on was that neither one wanted the other for a partner.

"Hey King!" she heard the call from the steps above.

"No," Arden said sharply when she turned to Draco coming down the stairs.

"I haven't said anything," the blonde said with a frown.

"I don't care," Arden snapped. "You saw who I got stuck with as a partner!" She flapped her arm in the direction of their class. "You really think that after sitting next to Pansy for what seemed like an eternity, that I would have the energy to handle whatever the hell you're going to send my way?"

"Kinda weak there," Draco remarked, smirking when he could practically see the fumes coming out of Arden's ears. "I was just going to ask if you had any idea where Oswell would be right now? I have something...fun to show her."

"Oh, I bet," Arden rolled her eyes. She was also in no mood to handle the petty war between the two. "She's at the lake. I sincerely hope she'll shove you into the water. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the library to get a headstart on that homework Trewlany assigned. Fancy making predictions?"

"Not unless they include me winning," Draco was quick to answer with. He moved around her and went on his way.

Arden went in the opposite way for the library.

~ 0 ~

Maybe it was a little late to enact another round of retaliation but after thinking about it during Divination class—because Draco pretty much thought about anything but the actual class—he decided that he earned some fun times. Trewlany made time go so unbearingly slow.

"Remind me again why we can't go back to the Common Room after a long day?" Blaise asked him as they trudged down towards the lake. Like Draco, and Arden for that matter, Divination had sucked the life out of him.

"Because you can never miss an opportunity to stick it to Oswell," Draco answered automatically.

"On the contrary," said Theodore, rolling his eyes, "I don't think any of us care enough like you do. Is it really that important?"

"Absolutely," Draco said confidently. He was sure that if Romina had thought of the same thing he had, she wouldn't waste a second in enacting it.

"And why are we here again?" Blaise asked with a sigh.

"Because I require an audience and you two have nothing better to do."

"...fair."

Draco thought as much. He picked up his pace, leaving Blaise and Theodore to do the same. The closer they got, the more they started hearing what sounded like music. It took them a short moment to realize it wasn't exactly music but a product of a violin. And with that violin came the giggles of familiar girls.

Draco immediately picked out Romina's from Carolinha's, the latter having a more squeakish type of giggle. He soon spotted the pair sitting on the ground and, unsurprisingly, it was Romina who had been playing the violin. Then Draco saw Angel sitting a bit too close to Romina. In fact, during her fit of giggles (apparently over something Angel was proudly saying), Romina occasionally let her head fall over his shoulder. And of course Angel lived for it. Of course he did. Draco knew he did.

"Are you going or not?" Blaise demanded beside Draco, very much tired.

"Seriously," Theodore threw his head back impatiently.

Draco continued to watch in silence for a few more minutes. He knew he got angry a lot—it was part of his personality—but he couldn't ever remember a moment where he felt this type of anger. It was an unjustified anger—he could admit that to himself and only to himself—and it consumed him in under a minute. A record time; something else he was aware of but would only admit it to himself.

"Look, she's clearly not even thinking about your stupid war—can we go now?" Blaise said, despite already turning away. Theodore was doing the same thing.

No, Romina clearly wasn't thinking about anything else that didn't have to do with that violin of hers and Angel sitting perhaps but a centimeter from her. Draco had never turned so fast, that Blaise could ascertain, considering he was shoved to the side.

"Hey!" Blaise called after him but Draco was too far ahead to notice or hear anything, not that he would even if he had been close.

"What the hell is his problem?" Theodore rolled his eyes and got started walking back to the castle.

~ 0 ~

Arden lowered her parchment to see both Harry and Ron staring at her with wide blinking eyes. They'd been working quietly in the library since they'd found each other. They were also taking Divination which led to a lot of common ground between them, mostly questions about how to do the assignment. Arden had long lost patience and when Ron suggested they just start making up their predictions for the month, Arden went right with it. Now she was done and she was ready to present her homework to them.

"Erm…Arden…" Harry said a minute later, he and Ron both looking at her chart, "You wrote down that you're going to get run over."

"Yeah," Arden shrugged. "So what?"

"Getting run over implies cars and...there's no cars at Hogwarts," Harry said, pressing his lips into a thin line.

"Huh, you're right." Arden planted her arms on the table and thought for a second. "Oh!" She snapped her fingers. "I can get trampled over! She can't question that with the Beauxbatons' horses out there."

"Sounds good," Harry snickered as he handed her parchment back.

"I hope she buys it though—Trewlaney," Arden said.

"She will as long as we put ruddy stuff like the 'planets aligned'," Ron mimicked their professor's tone, causing a fit of snickers amongst them.

"King!"

Arden groaned. "Not again," she whispered just as Draco strode up to the table. "I thought you were going to the la—"

"We need to talk, now," Draco declared, "Get your stuff and let's go!"

Arden raised an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?"

"Now!"

"You can't talk to her like that," frowned Harry.

"For once in your lifetime, Potter, stay out of it," snapped Draco without so much of a glance in Harry's direction. His eyes were glued on Arden as he waited for her to pack her stuff up.

"That's rich coming from you," Harry scoffed.

Draco paid his remark no attention. "King, let's go!"

Ron looked between Arden and Harry, sharing the same surprise and genuine curiosity. It wasn't every day that Draco Malfoy ignored them. They wished that would happen more often but sadly reality wasn't that kind to them...which begged the question of what had caused such a phenomenon in the first place.

"I will get your stuff and shove into the bag," Draco warned Arden, "and whatever homework you got done—"

"I get it," Arden said, raising a hand to keep him right where he was. "Sheesh, what the hell got into you?" She started rolling up her parchment. She packed up quicker just out of sheer curiosity. "I guess I'll see you two later—ah!" Draco had yanked her away from the table before she could finish saying goodbye to Harry and Ron. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Arden exclaimed against his hard grip around her arm.

Madame Pince shot them both a look for the disturbance but since they were on their way out anyways, she didn't bother with anything else.

"Would you let go of me? Since when do you touch me anyways!?" Arden wrestled out of Draco's grip. "And how can I make that never happen again!?"

"Shut it!" He snapped. "And listen!"

"Not like I have much of a choice," Arden muttered as she rubbed her arm. "What's gotten into you?"

"You...you were right," Draco said after much struggle, "I...I think I need to fix things with Romina."

Arden paused, her head turning slightly. "Oh, you're serious." He huffed. "You used her first name. How'd that happen in the course of an hour?"

"Doesn't matter," Draco said, "I just need...some...help." The struggle to admit any of that was enough to send him to the nightwing with stomach pains.

Arden's eyebrows raised. "Oh? My help?"

Draco nodded. "Unfortunately, the only people who really know Oswell are you and Potter. And I will die before I ever ask him for help."

"Yeah, yeah you would," Arden agreed. "And you're in luck, Harry lives a few houses down from Romina but I live right next door to her."

"I know, that's a torture I don't even want to imagine...for her, you know."

"You want my help or not?"

"...yes," Draco admitted.

Arden tilted her head. "Say it completely. I require a full admission before I offer my services."

"Seriously?"

"Mhm. You fucked it up, therefore you gotta work for it."

"Oh I bet," Draco grumbled. He had thought long and hard before coming to Arden and as such, he expected a couple things. "Fine," he relented, "I need your help. What's it going to cost from you?"

Arden grinned. "Two things," she said, much too quickly...almost as if she'd expected this situation to happen. "One," —she raised a finger—, "you have trade Divination partners with me."

Draco's face filled with horror. "You want me to take Parkinson!?"

Arden nodded. "Absolutely."

"No, no, anything else!"

"That's one of my prices!"

"Nott doesn't even like you!"

"Not my problem, I'd rather work with him instead."

"NO!"

Arden crossed her arms. "Why not? She's like in love with you so you could get her to do your work."

"It's not worth it!" Draco said far too quickly for Arden not to laugh on the spot. "I mean it!"

"That's part one of my deal," Arden said, "Take it."

Draco passed a hand over his face, groaning, "Fine! How will you explain that to Trewlany anyways?"

Arden cleared her throat and proceeded to answer in the voice of their professor, "Because my birth planet would be out of its orbit if I was next to Parkinson." She laughed shortly afterwards.

"What else?" demanded Draco before he truly lost it.

"I've seen you talking to Viktor Krum—I want an autograph."

"You don't even like Quidditch, why would you want an autograph from him?"

"Because then I'm going to sell that for a couple galleons," Arden answered matter-of-factly. "I can definitely start a schoolwide bidding for it," she smirked.

Draco paused and looked at her. "I am...very tempted to say I like your style."

Arden nodded. "We can work well together."

"Fine, I will switch partners with you and get the stupid autograph. Will you help me fix things with Romina?"

Arden held her hand out to shake with him. "Done deal."

Draco begrudgingly shook hands with her. "Not a word to anyone," he warned. "That's my end of the deal."

"I don't think they'd believe me anyways," Arden pointed out.

In that, Draco could relax but everything else...it seemed impossible. He had yet to flush out the anger he felt from the lake.

~ 0 ~

"I'm so tired," Arden said as she and Romina made it into the courtyard, "And you Romina, you look so…" Arden finished her sentence cautiously when Romina threw her a glare.

They had just finished a Care of Magical Creatures class and the skrewts were getting too big for either girl's liking. They were burning more. Romina had marks on her arms to prove it. "I love Hagrid but I'm afraid he's going to kill us," she said on their way to Great Hall.

Arden laughed. "I know."

"The only good thing is that it wasn't just me who looks like this," Romina held her arms out for Arden to see. "Draco had the lovely idea to say I should connect the dots with them as if he didn't have a big mark on his neck."

Arden snorted. It was actually a fairly funny joke. "I mean…"

"Shut it!" Romina snapped. "I'm going to get him back for that one too."

"Again with that? Aren't you getting tired of that?"

"It's like you don't know me at all."

"I'm just saying…" Arden wouldn't say that she was saying it in the first place because of the deal she'd made with Draco a few days back, "Don't you think it's kinda childish?"

"Maybe," shrugged Romina, "But it's also kind of fun."

Arden took note of the smirk on her friend's face. "It's more like weird flirting, you know."

The smirk dropped right off Romina's face. "I will punch you if you ever say that again to me."

Now it was Arden who was smirking. "Why? Cause it's true?" Romina said nothing before punching Arden's arm. "OW!" Arden yelped, hand clapping over her arm.

"I warned you," Romina said, entering the Great Hall. She was extra hungry after dealing with burning Skrewts.

"I was just saying—" Arden stopped altogether when Romina's fist raised again. "I meant maybe you should call it a truce already."

"Why would I ever do that?" Romina found an empty spot at their table. "It's not like Draco will."

"You never know," Arden said, taking a seat beside her. "You could try talking to him."

"Why bother? What I really want to hear from him will not be coming out of his mouth anytime soon." Romina reached for the bowl of peas. "I think he's forgotten the reason why we're in this in the first place."

"You mean because of what he said at the World Cup?"

Romina nodded. "Yes. Until he shows me a shred of decency, I can't forgive him."

"But...even Hermione doesn't seem that mad about it anymore and it was directed at her," Arden reminded. She'd done her due diligence and fished it out of Hermione herself. If anything, Hermione was more concerned that Romina would end up pushing Draco too far and would get hurt because of it.

"It doesn't matter," Romina snapped, "It's what he implied for the rest of muggles. I have to be honest, I still think that maybe, just maybe, he didn't mean it."

A silver lining. Arden jumped on it. "So use that and go talk to him!"

Romina shook her head. "No way. He'd laugh in my face for sure. He doesn't want to talk to me."

Arden cocked her head to the side, lips pursing as she mumbled under her breath. "You'd be surprised."

"Did you say something?"

"Huh?" Arden jumped. "Nope! Well, I was just curious…"

"About what?"

"Well, look, I'm kind of tired of this bullshit so excuse my curiosity. What do you really want Draco to do?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes!"

Romina side-glanced her friend with some suspicion but given that Arden was pretty much everywhere, Romina decided not to think about it so much. "I guess...I just want him to be honest. Mainly, I'd like to know that he's not as terrible as everybody says he is. Human decency, you know? He's not willing to let somebody die." Romina stopped eating altogether. She hadn't meant to be so specific. It was almost like she'd been thinking about it nonstop—which she hadn't. "I need to go change."

"What?" Arden frowned when Romina started getting up. "But we just sat down. You said you were starving!"

"I had my fill," Romina said quickly before rushing off.

"With what?" Arden was left calling. She took a look at Romina's plate and saw it was still pretty heavy on the load.

Half an hour later, Arden was relaying the conversation with Draco. They walked alongside each other down the bridge

"So basically you have nothing for me," Draco said sourly, shooting Arden a glare. Arden rolled her eyes in return. "I've already paid you but I will take my partner back."

Arden snorted. "No way in hell I'm giving Nott back. He's actually not that bad." Somewhere in the distance, she was sure Theodore would be hexing both her and Draco for using him like that. "And calm down, drama queen, I'm doing the best I can but you sincerely fucked it up."

"Wipe that smile off your face," Draco snapped as soon as he saw Arden close to laughing. "You said you were going to help me. Deal's a deal, King."

"Yeah, yeah," Arden waved him off. "I am. I had to do some fishing before I could actually help."

"That implies you've figured it out, then?"

"Mhm." Arden came to a stop, prompting Draco to do the same. "You want to fix things? You need to man up and go talk to Romina—and listen extra close for this one—without any tricks and jokes. No more retaliations, no more tricks. You need to be serious for once in your life."

"I thought I gave the implication that I was very serious when I agreed to take Parkinson off your hands," Draco reminded her.

Arden would bobbed her head. "Yeah, okay." That was a sacrifice all on its own. "But I meant what I said. Honestly, you just need to talk. I can help arrange that."

"No," Draco flatout said.

"Why not?"

"Because…" Draco struggled to come up with a decent answer and it was simply irritating Arden to no end. It was like he was purposely sabotaging his own attempts.

"I'm calling the shots now," she decided and took off for the courtyard.

"What—get the hell back here!" Draco rushed after her. Arden was surprisingly fast for someone petite like her. "That's not what we agreed on!"

"We agreed that I would help you and if I have to drag you there myself, I'll do it," Arden said, making the motion that she was more than willing to pinch him by the ear if she had to. "I have a younger sister and brother, you know. I'll do it for sure."

"Malfoy?" The pair stopped at the call. Theodore was coming up to them with a fairly confused face. "What are you doing with King of all people?"

Arden audibly groaned. "Dating—is it any of your business?"

Draco could have strangled her at that moment. He cast a deep glare in her direction but Arden was long used to the looks Pansy always sent her.

"Seriously, think about it. Talking is the way to go," she warned him before taking off.

"What the hell was that?" Theodore asked, or rather demanded, from Draco when Arden was gone. "First, you make me switch partners and now you're spending time with her? Dude, what the hell is going on?"

"None of your business," snapped Draco before he, too, took off. He had to consider his very few options before Arden decided to follow through with her threat to arrange things.

~ 0 ~

Romina felt like she was being watched in a way. She had no idea what it was, nor who it was, but she felt the presence of someone's eyes on her. She wouldn't realize it until a couple of Beauxbatons girls came up to her one day with the message that their headmistress—Madame Maxim—was waiting for her in the courtyard.

"But why is she looking for me?" Romina dumbly asked the seventh year girl who'd relayed the message. Don't be stupid, you know why, she reprimanded herself. She'd been wondering how long she could put that awkward conversation off.

The answer was a month.

So, after getting herself a little more ready for the meet—because she couldn't meet Madame Maxim without making herself a little more presentable—Romina went to go find the woman in the courtyard. Sure enough, there she was with a couple of her students.

Romina cleared her throat the closer she got. One of the girls informed Maxime about her presence and were promptly shooed as Romina arrived.

"Ah, bonjour Miss Oswell," she greeted cordially.

"Hello," Romina said, feeling like she probably should have said something else, something fancy.

"It's very nice to meet you," Madame Maxime said, smiling politely and cordially. "I believe your grandmother talked about us? The Beauxbatons Academy?"

Romina nodded. She sincerely hoped that her grandmother hadn't mentioned the big time gap since she first requested she (and Rolf for that matter) speak to her old headmistress.

"Abigail Gejél was one of my prized students back in the day," Madame Maxime remarked, her expression growing distant as she thought of the past. "I had just become the headmistress of the academy. Your grandmother, bless her heart, made my job a lot easier."

"I get the idea that she does that a lot," Romina said. It was embarrassing to admit that she didn't yet know her grandmother like a true granddaughter should.

Madame Maxime made a gesture for Romina to walk with her. "Oh yes, as a young girl, Abigail showed clear signs that she was poised and disciplined like a young lady should be."

Back in the day, Romina sourly thought. They were talking about the early 20th century of course. She, however, was not as "poised and disciplined" as her grandmother. She doubted she ever would be.

"She grew up to be a prized example of what all Beauxbatons students should be like," Madame Maxime said. She brought Romina to an empty bench where the two could sit together. "And she brought more recognition and pride after her work against Grindelwald."

"Who?" Romina asked, making a face. She regretted it the moment Madame Maxime looked at her crazily.

"You do not know of your grandmother—your grandparents'—history in the wizarding world?"

"Um...I have a complicated past myself," Romina said, biting her lip. "I only just discovered that Abigail was my grandmother. I heard a few things about a war but...I don't really know the exact details."

"This is an important history. Your grandmother fought to keep everybody safe, she helped fight one of the most powerful wizards apart from You-Know-Who."

"I didn't know," Romina admitted with shame. Maybe she should spend a little more time with history books rather than play tricks on people.

"I suppose Abigail didn't want to talk about the dark past with her grandchildren," Madame Maxime said, shrugging her shoulders.

Romina had to wonder if Rolf knew about this. Of course he has to. He's known grandma forever. Romina could feel a sting in her heart. What if her grandmother hadn't said anything because she didn't want to? Maybe she doesn't trust me enough.

"How old are you, Romina?" Madame Maxime inquired as she looked Romina over to calculate her own answer.

"Fourteen," Romina said.

"Ah, prime year to get ready for your exams the following year," nodded Madame Maxime. "As I have told Abigail time after time, the doors of the Beauxbaton academy are always open for her family."

Romina's eyes widened slightly at the idea of her actually attending Beauxbaton Academy instead of Hogwarts. It was terrifying to say the least.

"She's never taken my offer, though," Madame Maxime lamented, "She and her husband decided to send their kids to Hogwarts." She made a weak gesture towards the school. "I deeply respect Dumbledore but I must admit I have a little sore spot when it comes to my alumni."

Romina could smile at that. "I'm sure my grandmother doesn't think any less of your school. There's just something about Hogwarts, I guess. My father's family is originally from Columbia and they emigrated a long time ago to England just for the school."

Madame Maxime eyed Romina with genuine surprise. "Really?"

"Mhm," Romina nodded. ""Long time ago. Whole generation of Oswells have been coming here..."

"Well," Madame Maxime said with a huffy sigh, "I suppose I still have a chance of nabbing another Gejel when you and your cousin grow up."

Romina laughed for sheer embarrassment at the implication. "I'm fourteen, Madame!"

"Right now you are, but don't forget about Beauxbaton when you have your little ones, alright?" The woman winked at Romina and chuckled when she saw the bright blush on the girl's face.

~ 0 ~

It would be days before Romina could even glance in Madame Maxime's direction during meals in the Great Hall. Even then, Romina preferred to mostly focus on her meals. She did, however, nab the first opportunity to speak with Rolf later that week.

"She got to you too then, huh?" Rolf was shaking his head when Romina finished telling him the awkward conversation she had with the Madame. "I love grandma Abby, but that Madame is a little weird." Rolf hopped onto one of the windowsills for a seat. "And very obsessed with having more Gejéls at her school."

"Oh God, did she talk about that with you too?" Romina now felt mortified for the two.

"My future kids and whatnot! Lady, I'm 14!"

"And a guy, for that matter," Romina added, nearly snorting when Rolf went with a sharp 'yeah!'. "You're a scaredy cat."

"Oh come off it, you thinking about your future children already?" Rolf shot her a look.

"Of course not," Romina crossed her arms over her chest, "It's just not as terrifying as it probably is for you guys. Women are just inherently braver, hence the reason we're the ones who have kids."

"Whatever," Rolf said, rolling his eyes. "At least we got that stupid conversation over with. Now we can report back to grandma and that'll be that."

"Yeah, about that...Madame Maxime taoked a lot about grandma's history?" Romina decided to take a seat beside her cousin. "She was talking about these important battles that Grandma supposedly fought in the past? And I had no idea what she was talking about. Grindelwald?"

Rolf nodded. "Yeah, both grandma and grandpa had to do their share of fighting against that guy. He was almost as bad as You-know-who."

"Powerful — that's what Madame Maxime said about him," Romina remembered. "How come grandma hasn't told me about it?"

"Probably didn't want to talk about that the first time she met you," Rolf shrugged. "Not exactly the most cheery way to greet your granddaughter for the first time."

"But them afterwards? Not even grandpa said anything."

"To be fair, grandpa never likes talking about that dark period. He's more shut off about it than grandma."

"It just feels like they don't really trust me," Romina admitted.

"Don't go there, Romina," Rolf warned.

"Why not?" Romina huffed.

"Because it's not true?" Rolf said in a manner that expressed this was logical thinking. "You have no idea how much everyone lamented that they couldn't meet you, but no one more than our grandparents."

"Then why didn't they tell me any of this stuff?"

"Because it's full of darkness, of-of endless fighting. They didn't want that story to be the first thing you heard of them. Do you know how long it took me to hear the story? Ages."

"It's not like I haven't heard worse," Romina said quietly.

Rolf stayed silent. He knew exactly what she was talking about, ironically the other reason why their grandparents hadn't said anything either. They knew Romina's past already held much more darkness than any fourteen year old's past should.

"Romina," Rolf reached for his cousin's arm, gently squeezing it, "They love you. Don't you dare think otherwise. It's not fair to either side."

Romina could agree with that sentiment. Her grandparents had shown nothing but deep affection for her since the moment they met. She shouldn't start doubting them after one conversation with a woman she barely knew.

"You're right, I'm being stupid," Ronina shook her head. She felt silly now that she thought about it.

"I wouldn't go that far," Rolf said with a light chuckle and pat on her arm. He slid off the windowsill. "Now c'mon, we have Muggle Studies today."

Romina agreed and moved to slide off the windowsill as well until she heard her name. To her surprise it was Theodore approaching her.

"What's up Nott?" Romina raised an eyebrow at him.

"You tell me," he responded rather sourly, something that Romina and Rolf exchanged glances for. "Since you seem to be besties with Arden."

"I don't 'seem to be', I am," Romina corrected. "Have you not being paying attention for the past 4 years?"

Theodore rolled his eyes at her. "Where the hell is she? I can't find her."

"Why are you of all people looking for Arden?"

"Well, I've been trying to get a word with Draco but he keeps blowing me off!"

"And the connection between that and Arden would be…?" Romina made a gesture with her hand for Theodore to get on with it. Beside her, Rolf wanted to laugh at how his cousin was handling things. She just had a way, didn't she?

"I was partners with Draco in Divination and then suddenly he says he's taking Parkinson instead and that I have to be Arden's partner now."

Romina paused just to replay Theodore's words in her head and make sure she heard right. "Sorry, you said…"

"No explanation whatsoever and whenever I try to ask about it, turns out neither Draco more Arden can be found!" Theodore scowled. "And the moments that I've caught them, they're always together."

At that, Romina had to laugh. "Yeah right!" Theodore wasn't laughing. He stared at Romina long and hard until she got the message. "Oh, you weren't kidding…" She blinked. "That makes zero sense. They couldn't stop complaining last year that they were stuck as each other's partners for Divination. In fact, the only thing they could both agree on is that this year it would be better because they wouldn't be partners anymore. Why would they be doing favors for each other?"

"Really Oswell? You can't figure it out?" Theodore snapped.

"Figure what out?" Romina made a face. She glanced at Rolf and saw that he was more or less agreeing with Theodore. "What? What am I missing?"

"They're either together or nowhere to be found, which is really just the former," Theodore said, "They're seeing each other in secret. They're dating — which is disgusting!"

"They so gotta be," Rolf agreed, crossing his arms and nodding his head.

Theodore gave him a grateful gesture for seeing it his way. "Right? Thanks, Gyrffindor."

"My name is Rolf."

Theodore ignored him in favor of Romina who had yet to say anything. "Well, Oswell, Arden's your friend. Get her to leave my things alone and by that, I mean keep her paws off—"

"No," Romina spat, her nose crinkling.

"Romina, just use your connections—"

"No!" Romina yelled with a sudden rush of anger. "You're mad if you think you're right!"

"No I'm not," frowned Theodore, "I've been chasing them down for a whole week. I have eyes, Romina. They're always together!"

"NO!" Romina's anger kept rising like bile in her throat. "That's not true! They're not dating!"

"Romina," Rolf gently called to calm her down. He didn't think she'd want the attention from others in the hallway.

Romina drew her arm away when Rolf attempted to touch her. "He's being stupid, Rolf," she said in reference to Theodore, "The last people who would ever date each other in this world are Draco and Arden!"

"Then how do you explain the switcheroo Draco pulled on me?" Theodore challenged her. "Unless he did it to spend time with Pansy—"

"NO!" Romina said just as loudly as before. Neither option settled well in her stomach.

"God, Romina, why are you so mad with me?" Theodore made a face, genuinely insulted that somehow he was on the receiving end of her wrath. "I'm just as lost. If you see either of them, send 'em my way will you?"

Romina's entire face scrunched with anger. With no words to describe her emotions, she settled for attempting to shove Theodore.

"Woah!" Rolf quickly reached out for his cousin and grabbed her arms.

"Dammit Romina, you're mad!" Theodore took several cautious steps back from her.

"And you're a liar!" Romina snapped. She wanted to free herself of Rolf's grip but he was surprisingly strong.

"I will leave her with you," Theodore said to Rolf. His eyes flickered back to Romina. "Talk to me when you don't have flames bursting from your head."

Romina glared daggers after him. "He's lying, he's got to be," she said. "Arden would never!"

"Romina, calm down," Rolf urged her. "Why are you so mad?"

"Because Theodore's making up lies about my best friend, Arden!" Romina wrestled free from his grip even when it ended up hurting her elbow a bit.

"That's it?" Rolf asked cautiously but still ended up getting a crazed look from Romina anyways.

"What do you mean 'that's it?'?" She frowned. "Of course it is! What else is there?"

Rolf seemed like he wanted to answer that but for safety reasons, he decided to hold his tongue. "You know we're family right?"

"Obviously!" Romina exclaimed, exasperated.

"So you know I'd never say anything, right?"

"The hell are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Rolf said, shrugging his shoulders. "Just a reminder. Let's go to Muggle Studies, yeah? Calm down a bit?"

Romina nodded slowly. Her heart was beating too fast like it would implode any moment. That wasn't healthy.

"You want to come into the Gryffindor common room?" Rolf asked, grinning.

"I can't do that, Rolf…"

"Yes you can. There's no rules about it in any of the books."

For the first time since Theodore had shown up, Romina managed to smile. "Who are you, Hermione Granger?"

Rolf laughed. "That's my cousin. C'mon." He came up beside her and slung his arm around her shoulders.

Romina walked with him, slowly but surely. She couldn't help scan the corridors for Draco or Arden no matter how much Rolf tried distracting her. Theodore had gotten into her head and worst of all, Romina didn't understand why.

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saiilorstars · 4 months ago

Text

Ch. 38: The Bitter War

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

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

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

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

Romina and Arden had just come up the dungeons stairs to head for breakfast when they heard the high-pitched voice of Pansy Parkinson calling after them.

Arden sighed wearily. "It's too early to deal with her."

Romina waved her off, assuring her it would be fine, as she turned around to face Pansy. "Morning, Parkinson," she greeted with a sweet smile. "Sleep well?"

"You switched rooms!" Pansy got straight to business. "You and King switched with the Carrol twins!"

"Good job, Pansy," Arden said slowly, and clapped for the girl. "You figured it out!"

"I'm telling Snape," Pansy said with a smug smirk. "What a perfect way to start the school year! Both of you in detention."

"You can go ahead and tell him but it's not going to do anything," Romina shrugged her shoulders. "See, I read up on the rules with the help of my friend Hermione, and nowhere is it listed that students can't switch dorms. The only rule is that all boys and girls must sleep in separate dorms. Which we are. Aren't we, Arden?"

"Oh yeah," Arden nodded. "Carolinha and Daphne are quiet sleepers, unlike you and Millicent. And the twins had no problem switching with us either, so..."

Pansy was unconvinced. "You're making it up! I'm still telling Snape!"

"Go for it, I'm sure he would love to be bothered by something as petty—and rule abiding—as dorm switching." Romina patted Pansy's shoulder. "You were right, this is the perfect way to start the school year." Whatever trace of the sweet smile Romina had vanished. "Because I learned my lesson, Parkinson. I am not taking your bullshit anymore. Sure, you might get under my skin every once in a while but I'll be damned if I let you ridicule me in front of the school again."

Pansy couldn't fume any more than she already was. "We'll see," she said as a last resort to keep her standing...somewhat.

"Goodbye!" Romina waved and turned with Arden, both striding off for the Great Hall.

"How great did that feel?" Arden asked Romina as they headed for their table.

"So good!" Romina laughed.

When the two girls finally reached their table, they noticed that the Durmstrang boys had for some reason chosen their table as their permanent choice for the rest of the year.

"Not that it's much of a sacrifice, you know," Daphne said with a dreamy sigh, her spoon making languid circles in her porridge bowl.

"Ditto," Arden said, her eyebrows raised as she "studied" one of the Durmstrang boys closest to them.

"I kinda wish the Beauxbatons had been here, honestly," Romina said, surprising the girls. "They look more approachable."

"Really? You'd rather them after dinner last night?" Carolinha mused. "You weren't exactly approachable either."

Romina knew exactly what they were talking about and preferred to shove a spoonful of porridge into her mouth.

"Can't help but notice you're short one charmed headband," Arden said, humming innocently.

"You'll be one mouth short if you keep talking," Romina muttered. She had practically threatened Draco with what he would die of if he didn't take the headband back last night. "I meant because my grandmother went to Beauxbatons Academy. I'd like to start picking up on my French side, you know. Besides, these boys were idiots last night anyways."

"She's got a point there," Carolinha said, glancing towards the entrance to see her brother coming in along with Draco, Theodore and Blaise. "I bet they're missing like half the brain, you know?"

They snickered until they were joined by those missing half their brains.

"What's so funny?" Angel eyed his sister curiously as he slid in beside her.

"Oh, nothing," Carolinha waved him off. "Just talking."

"Oswell," Draco regarded as he sat down opposite her next to Carolinha.

"Morning," Romina greeted then, because he had given her an odd look for that greeting, she added, "I'm mad, not rude. I can be civil."

"They're still here," Blaise remarked when he saw the Durmstrang boys at the edge of their table.

"What? Were you wishing for the Beauxbatons too?" Daphne called. "Can always try to go find a spot at the Ravenclaws' table."

As they had breakfast, the owls poured into the room. Romina was surprised when she had an owl that didn't belong to her. It wasn't a stranger, however. She took the folded letter from the warm brown owl with a soft 'thanks' and started opening it.

"Who's that from?" Daphne startled Romina. She was leaning on Romina to see the letter.

"God—Daphne! Could you be a little nosier!?" Romina shifted slightly. Daphne shrugged and continued to eat breakfast.

"Anything good?" Arden asked Romina once she skimmed the letter.

"It's from my grandmother," Romina smiled broadly, clearing her throat to read (to the best of her ability):

'Ma douce Romina, I am ecstatic to know that Hogwarts will be playing host to the Beauxbaton Academy. Madam Maxime was an incredible headmistress during my time. Superbe. I have already written to her about mes petits-enfants who attend Hogwarts. Say bonjour to her for me, please! And also take care. We are aware of how dangerous the Tri-wizard tournament can be so please, don't attempt to go around the rules to enter.

Take care,

Grand-mère Abigail.

P.S. Do not worry about your dress robes, I have already spoken to your aunt and uncle about it. I will send them to you later in the year, along with Rolf's.

"No way—the Abigail Gejel wrote to you!?" Daphne snatched the parchment out of Romina's hands, leaving her stunned in place for a second. "You're so lucky, Romina!"

Romina snapped out of her moment to snatch her letter back. "It's Abigail Scamander, for your information! Gejel is her maiden name! And she's my grandmother, of course she would write to me! Though…" she gave the letter another perusing, "I don't really understand what she meant by 'dress robes'."

"You could have just asked," Draco said, "But you're too stubborn."

"Oh, not this again!" She frowned. "If you're just dying to tell me, go for it!"

"No, no, you're upset." He raised his hands in front of him. "But it must be getting annoying that everyone knows what's going on except for you."

"I still don't know," Arden reminded him.

He looked at her as if he was considering telling her just to spite Romina. At the last moment, however, he decided against it. "And if anybody else decides to spill—Angel—" he made a point of stating the brunette's name, "—you'll take it up with me."

Angel sighed. "Come off it, Malfoy. Don't you think it's going too far?"

"Not at all," Draco said plainly, He pointedly ignored Romina's flaming glare on him. "If it's the game Oswell wants to play, then game on."

"Oh God, not another competition," Arden shook her head. "You guys are way too competitive, you know that?"

"Fine," Romina decided, pushing herself up from her seat to leave. She'd lost most of her appetite anyways. "Just remember, we still have Care of Magical Creatures class together and I've learned a few things about creatures this summer from the expert, aka my grandfather Newt Scamander. Look him up."

Unfazed, Draco responded, "Yeah, and we're still Potions partners. I'd watch what you touch."

"Unbelievable," Arden mumbled to the others. They were more startled than anything else. Where did the sudden drive to be competitive with each other come from?

~ 0 ~

Romina was very much disappointed to find out Hermione dropped Muggle Studies. It left the little trio that she, Hermione and Rolf had created in the class as a duo instead.

"I don't blame her, though, I thought she was taking a workload," Rolf remarked in a quiet whisper during class. "I don't know how she managed to handle all of her classes."

"You don't even want to know," Romina said, eyebrows raised at the reminder of all the classes Hermione had been taking the previous year. She was glad that Hermione was de-stressing this year with the normal amount of classes.

"So did you get a letter from grandma too?" asked Rolf, ducking his head suddenly when the professor happened to look their way.

"The one where she said we should talk to Maxime? Yeah. Are you going to do it?"

Rolf's snort was answer enough. "What do I have to talk about with that woman? Not like my interests are going to match with hers."

Romina had to cover her mouth before her giggles became too loud. Sitting in the back didn't always shield them from getting caught.

"Are you going to talk to her?" Rolf asked a moment later. The professor had started talking about their plans for the first term, something about a project.

"Dunno," Romina shrugged. "I'm actually a little afraid that she'll know more about grandma than I will, and of course she will."

"That's not your fault, Romina," Rolf reminded, sending his cousin a soft smile. "And the important part is that you're with us now."

"But still, what if she asks me stuff and I have to tell her who I am—my name."

"Romina, when are you going to drop the stuff with your name?"

Romina pursed her lips. "It's a work in progress, trust me."

"Fair enough. Talk to her if you'd like, but grandma Abby won't be mad if you don't do it."

That, Romina knew was true. She focused on the class, the first time since it began, in hopes of calming her nerves. There were plenty of things to think about suddenly, and not all were good.

"Alright," the professor said, clapping her hands together, "This project—does anybody have any suggestions or—"

Romina's hand shot up in the air, so fast that she almost left her chair in the process. "Oh I do! I do! Professor—I've got ideas!"

Rolf looked at his cousin, deadpanning her, "Maybe it won't feel like Hermione really left the class..."

Romina's head snapped in his direction, brows furrowed and lips curled into a frown.

~ 0 ~

"Bubotubers," Professor Sprout announced to the fourth years as soon as class began. She was so excited which deeply contrasted the rest of the class when she said they would be squeezing to extract pus.

Carolinha's nose crinkled at the plants in front of her and Romina. On the other side of the table, Arden and Angel were looking more or less the same. Daphne was already refusing to do such a thing.

"These things are already so ugly, you're telling me they have pus inside them?" Carolinha could've whined if Pansy hadn't beaten her to it.

"Ew! I don't want to touch them, much less squeeze them!" she exclaimed.

Romina hated that she actually agreed with Pansy. The plants were gross, for a lack of a better word. They were thick, black and kind of sluggy. Each time they squirmed, they gave sight of their shiny swellings that were indeed full of liquid.

"The pus is extremely valuable so don't waste," Sprout warned them, "You'll collect it in those bottles in front of you. Wear you dragon-hide gloves, please. It can do funny things to the skin when undiluted."

"How is this not a crime?" Romina blurted, causing a streak of snickers amongst the others.

Sprout was one of the most lenient professors, definitely light-hearted with her own humor, so she cracked a smile. "Miss Oswell, there are worse things to do, trust me."

"Yes, but...couldn't we just learn, I don't know, the theoretical side of it?"

Sprout chuckled. "You can always write me an essay to turn in by the next class time. Is that appealing?"

Romina shook her head. "No, not really."

"Grab your gloves, Miss Oswell."

"Yes, ma'am." Romina dejectedly reached for her gloves and met Arden's snickering face. "Shut up, Arden."

"At least she tried getting us out of this," Angel shuddered as he slipped the gloves on.

"Ready, Carol?" Romina checked on the squeaking brunette beside her. Carolinha looked ready to pass out as she watched Daphne and Theodore squeeze the pus out of their plant. Romina sighed. "Guess not."

Her gaze fell on Arden and Angel who were having enough trouble finding their balance. Romina loved Arden but she was too brusque sometimes and that simply wasn't in Angel's character.

"Arden, not so hard!"

"Just hold the dang bottle!"

Romina laughed shortly and only because a stream of pus squirted right past her face. Startled, she stumbled back a step with wide blinking eyes.

"Oh my God!" Carolinha screeched when the pus splattered on the table in front of her.

"Oops," Pansy said, smiling far too sweetly for anybody to believe her.

Romina's surprise immediately vanished to be replaced with anger. "Parkinson!"

"It was an accident," Pansy said, raising her gloved hands. "Isn't that right Millicent?"

"Course," Millicent nodded.

"Don't get upset, Oswell, she was just getting a headstart for you," Draco remarked. He seemed to be doing good on his plant, though Romina wondered how long it would last since Crabb's hands were massive for the little bottle.

Romina scowled. "Siding with Parkinson now? Why am I not surprised?"

Pansy certainly was and she basked in it. Her heavy giggles were irritating enough, but to handle that for the rest of the class period? That was just cruel.

"Romina—eek!—could you not squeeze so hard?" Carolinha squeaked when some of the pus landed near her foot.

Romina was gripping the poor plant between her gloved hands. "I'm—agh!—not!" She groaned. She was also definitely not listening to Pansy gushing over whatever the hell Draco was doing either. Her back was to them for the very same reason.

"I'm actually concerned for the plant at this point," Arden said.

"Shut up!" Romina promptly snapped and squeezed the plant at the same time.

Carolinha whimpered. "R-Romina, how about we switch places? Angel—you want to take my place?"

Angel shook his head. "No, no, I'm good this time around."

Arden snorted. "Wuss." Later on, she would offer Carolinha to switch places. She had a better handle on Romina anyways.

When class was over, Romina, not quite discreetly, chucked her gloves in Pansy's direction. When Pansy shrieked, Romina sent her the same sweet smile Pansy had before. "Oops, honest mistake."

Arden quickly got Romina out of there before Pansy decided to retaliate. Neither girl should be anywhere near dangerous undiluted Bubotuber pus.

~ 0 ~

For some reason, the professors of that day had decided to start out with odd and potentially scary creatures for the first lessons. For Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid had chosen Blast-Ended Skrewts.

"Why does everything have slime today!?" Romina shuddered. She stared at the lobster-like creatures in the cages. They didn't have the shells, though, which took away a good part of the lobster-esque appearance. The legs sprouting from every angle and the lack of head also helped with that.

"And it smells bad too," Arden said, her nose scrunched.

"What did you guys do today?" Harry sent the pair of girls bemused looks.

"What, you mean Herbology wasn't enough for you today?" Romina said, still shuddering from the ungodly amount of pus they had seen.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, it was funny watching Ron squeeze it out. But why are you in such a foul mood today?"

"Oh, don't get her started, Harry, please," Arden said quickly and ushered them forwards.

Hermione was calling for Hagrid ahead of them. "What are we waiting for, Hagrid?"

"For the rest of the class o' course!" Hagrid exclaimed. His eyes swept over the Gryffindor class and Romina and Arden. "Yo'r early!"

"No, Carolinha refused to go anywhere without changing first," Arden said. "And then went double for Daphne."

"Um, excuse me?" they heard Angel's call. The rest of the class was finally arriving. "Professor, what are those?" Angel pointed a finger at the cages.

Hagrid was happy to repeat and finally begin the lesson. "On'y jus' hatched! So yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yourselves! Though we'd make a bit of a project of it!"

"And why on Earth would we want to raise them?" demanded Draco from behind. He was just as disgusted as the rest of the class.

Romina sighed beside Arden. At Arden's glance, Romina confided a secret. "I hate that I agree with him." Arden shook her head but smiled silently. The creatures weren't appealing in the slightest.

"I mean, what do they do? What is the point of them?" Draco insisted.

"Tha's next lesson, Malfoy!" Hagrid said, "Yer jus' feedin' 'em today! Yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things! I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer—I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake. Just try 'em out with a bit of each."

"Why?" Pansy groaned.

"Oh just pipe down and do it, Parkinson!" Arden snapped. She had no desire to do it but if Pansy hated it then she would gladly do it.

"They're just creatures, guys," Rolf said. He was about the only one out of the entire class eager to discover what the creatures would like to eat. "Don't hurt 'em and they won't hurt you."

"Rom, tell your cousin we still don't want to do it," Harry stepped beside Romina. She chuckled.

"I don't think he'll listen to my words right now. This is nothing compared to what our grandfather has told us."

"Would you like to take it first, then?" Harry stepped back purposely, gesturing towards the cages. Rolf was already reaching inside the cages to take out a skrewt.

Romina scrunched her face. "Not really. I vote we let Ron go first."

"What!?" screeched the redhead. "I don't want to do it!"

Hermione tutted at them. "C'mon, Hagrid looks really excited. We don't want to disappoint."

Indeed Hagrid did look very excited. He watched as each of his students took a skrewt out of the cage and attempted to feed them.

Dean Thomas yelped at one point, angrily waving his burned thumb. "Its end exploded!"

"Ah yea, that can happen when they blast off," Hagrid said. Behind him, Angel and Arden exchanged wide eyed glances then took a careful step away from their skrewts.

"Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?" Lavender Brown asked, sounding far too much like Pansy at that moment. Romina almost felt sorry for even thinking about it.

"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," Hagrid explained rather excitedly, "I reckon they're the males. The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies. I think they might be ter suck blood."

"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," Draco said with a loud huff to attract several gazes, including Romina's, "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting and bite all at once?"

"Gonna call your father to have them killed too?" Romina snapped. Beside her, Harry was really wishing that, for once, nobody said anything to Draco. He didn't want to see Hagrid carrying yet more bad weight because of Draco.

Draco gave a bob of his head. "Wouldn't be a bad idea."

"Right," Romina rolled her eyes, "Cos you and your dad agree on everything, don't you? Such hard headed people."

Draco snorted at her. "And you're stubborn."

"That's the same thing, genius!"

Harry felt a light tug on his arm and found Arden standing some inches behind him. She made a motion for him to scoot back with her.

"That's been going all day," she informed him, discreetly pointing over to Romina and Draco who, in their bickering, had taken several steps towards each other.

"I've never seen Rom so animated, so...big on hating…" Harry remarked. Part of him was guilty for feeling relief. It wasn't very long ago that he had stupidly asked Romina if there was ever anything between her and Malfoy. Stupid indeed. "What's she so mad about anyways?"

"Oh no, I'm not getting into that." Arden raised her hands in front of her. "Rom would kill me. You can ask Hermione though. She probably already figured it out."

Harry's brow furrowed. "Hermione?" He frowned. What could Hermione possibly know that happened between Romina and Draco?

~ 0 ~

"Romina, what is that?" Carolinha had noticed the oddly shaped box peeking out from under Romina's bed. She and Daphne had been watching their newest roommates finish unpacking and settling in their dormitory.

Romina stopped rummaging through her small accessory box to see what Carolinha was pointing at. "Huh? Oh, that's my violin case!"

"You brought that here?" Arden snorted from her bed. She slammed her trunk shut and walked over to Romina to see for herself.

"Yeah, I figured I might have some time to practice," Romina shrugged. "Plus, it was getting kinda dusty back home. I don't want it to stop working because I don't use it."

"You actually play that?" Daphne crawled to the foot of her bed to get a better look at the box.

Romina stepped back and bent down to pull the box out completely. "Of course. One of my more calm habits." She unblocked the box and popped it open to reveal a deep mahogany violin. "Keeps me relaxed."

"Looks pretty," Carolinha remarked. "I've seen those be played but I think I wouldn't get it. I'm too impatient for that kind of stuff."

"Same—I'd rather see someone else play it," Daphne said.

"Maybe you could play something later," Arden suggested, clapping a hand over Romina's shoulder.

"What?" Romina laughed, her face flushed with embarrassment. "No, no, nobody wants to hear—"

"We do!" Carolinha and Daphne said, both of them even raising a hand high in the air.

Arden held a thumbs up at them. "The lake seems like a good place!"

"You guys really want to hear me?" Romina made a face. "I'm not...I mean I've learned it the muggle way, remember?"

"So?" Carolinha and Daphne asked.

"Stop doing that," Romina pointed at the pair. "And what I mean is, all the songs that I know, the tunes—it's from muggles. As in classical muggle music, pop muggle music...all that stuff."

"Then it'll make things more interesting," Carolinha shrugged, "Angel and I have never heard muggle music before."

"Well, alright, I guess. When we have free time, then," Romina said. She closed the lid and locked it.

"Locking it?" Arden snorted as she headed back to her bed. "Afraid I'll go picking it or something?"

"Not you, Pansy," Romina said ever so casually, and it was. She'd come back to school with the mentality that she should never be surprised with anything that Pansy does. She shouldn't underestimate Pansy at all.

"But she's in a different dorm," Carolinha said, "You really think she'd come picking through your stuff all the way here?"

This time, both Romina and Arden snorted.

"You have met Pansy Parkinson, right?" Arden asked, flopping down on her bed. "She already did it once."

"She's not that bad…" Daphne said, keeping true to her mediator kind of ways.

"Have you forgotten everything she did last year to Rom?" Arden pointed over to Romina who'd taken a seat on her bed again. She still had one last small box to go through before she was officially done unpacking.

"Of course not," Daphne puffed. "I just don't like the constant arguing between people I know. And I've known Pansy my whole life. She's never acted like that with anyone, I swear."

"Then I must be exceptionally special in her eyes," Romina said bitterly. Heavy silence fell in the room. Romina made herself busy with her last accessories but there was no doubt that she was thinking about the series of troubles she'd gone through because of Pansy.

"Why don't we go get dinner?" asked Arden, feeling like the silence was just growing more and more uncomfortable. "I'm sure that Angel's saving us seats. Rom?"

Romina nodded. She put a planet-shaped pin in her hair to keep it off her face. She then slipped her box under her bed as well and followed the girls out of the dorm.

"What do you guys think we're going to do for Transfiguration this year?" Daphne asked on their way up to the main corridor. "I heard McGonagall is going to go all out for our O.W.L.'s"

"What?" Arden scrunched her face. "But we won't take those until next year!"

"But we should still start preparing early," Romina said, prompting Arden to scoff.

"Oh please, you're like a genius in that class so you'll be totally fine!"

Their entry to the Great Hall would take a bit longer than they had anticipated. There was a great big crowd right outside of the entrance and in the center was the whole reason why. Draco had the latest Daily Prophet in his position and it apparently featured Ron's father. Ron, Harry and Hermione were amongst the group listening.

Mr. Weasley had apparently ensued a fight with the muggle policemen, resulting in the several modified memories to cover up what Mad-Eye-Moody had swore was a true emergency. It was all a false alarm and it'd basically blown up in their faces.

"Well that's just terrible," Arden mumbled to the girls, "Why aren't they bothering Mad-Eye Moody about this? He's the one who raised the alarm, after all."

"Doesn't matter, Rita Skeeter always looks for a story to tell even if it's from the wrong angle," Daphne remarked.

"Who's Rita Skeeter?" Arden asked.

"The worst reporter in the wizarding world," Carolinha sighed. "She's a liar, manipulative, and unfortunately for some reason, people still hang onto her every word."

"Not much of a mystery why," Romina muttered. "People thrive on rumors."

"This looks bad..." Carolinha said as the tension ahead grew worse.

"MOVE IT!" Romina's sudden roar had most of the crowd flinching, all except for Arden and Harry who'd heard it many times before. "GO!" The crowd started rushing inside the Great Hall, most of them anyways. Romina pushed her way through the remaining people, including Harry. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" She stopped in front of Draco.

"Hey, I just read what was on the article," he said, raising his hands in defense. Behind them, they heard Ron snort and mutter 'Fat chance!'.

Romina snatched the paper from him, rolling it up fast to then smack him over the head with it. "You're not actually dumb but I guess today you're striving to prove me wrong!"

Draco was momentarily stunned, his eyes wide. "Did you just…?" Romina raised an eyebrow at him, confirming his unfinished question. "You're off your rocker, Oswell!" He huffed, snatching the rolled up paper from her.

"Not as much as you are! Rita Skeeter of all people? Seriously?" Romina pushed past him into the Great Hall. She wasn't very hungry anymore but it beat staying where she was. She went directly for the Slytherins' table and plopped down beside Angel, startling him in the process.

"Uh, hey Romina," he greeted kindly as was his usual style, "You okay?"

"Peachy." Romina started grabbing different meals, though her hand stopped halfway to a bowl with something creamy inside. "Is that fish stew?"

"Yeah, the Beauxbatons are already eyeing it," Angel said, making a nod towards the Ravenclaw table. Several blue robed students were glancing their way. "I'm just waiting for them to come get the thing. It stinks."

Romina agreed. She gathered more things on her plate and began eating at once. Little by little, the rest of their group started joining them. From the corner of her eye, Romina saw Draco take a seat further down the table with Crabb, Goyle and (unfortunately) Pansy.

That's fine. She met Arden's face which was smiling for some reason. "What?"

"You smacked Draco Malfoy in public with a rolled up Daily Prophet and got away with it."

Angel nearly choked on his pumpkin juice. "You did what?"

"Ron sends his eternal gratitude," Arden went on, reaching for some mashed potatoes, "I think he'll be building you a shrine now."

They all laughed.

"You need to control your temper before you get into actual trouble, though," Daphne warned, "Draco has his own temper too and you know what he's like with Harry. I wouldn't want to see that become your problem too."

"Oh, he's not doing that with me," Romina said with absolute certainty.

Angel eyed her curiously. "And how do you know?"

Romina stopped to think. She didn't know why she said it so surely but she just knew. Maybe it was their past coming into play. "I just...do," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, maybe it's not him you need to worry about," Carolinha said, earning Romina's strange glance. "Pansy's giving you the stink eye."

Romina looked past Carolinha down the table to meet Pansy's death glare. No doubt she'd learned about the incident. "They're a bit cozy," she remarked suddenly.

"She's a piranha looking for opportunities and you're handing them to her on a silver platter," Arden said.

Romina snorted. "Bloody how?"

For her own safety, Arden kept quiet and switched topics instead.

~ 0 ~

Later in the week, Romina managed to find some time alone with Harry to talk. They'd been slightly missing each other in school for whatever reason, even when they shared some of their classes. They walked along the bridge in the afternoon.

"Is Ron's Dad really okay, though?" Romina was wondering. She didn't have the nerve to ask Ron directly. After the fiasco with the article, Romina assumed he wanted to forget and move on.

"Yeah, yeah, just a big misunderstanding," Harry said. Like Romina, he didn't really discuss the matter with Ron.

"Arden made a good point, she said why wasn't Moody getting his spotlight for starting the problem in the first place."

Harry half smiled. That sounded like Arden. "I don't think the Ministry wants to further the issue. They want whatever that woman wrote to die along with the problem."

"Makes sense," Romina shrugged. "Kinda like Hollywood, huh?"

Harry laughed. "Yeah, like that." He side-glanced Romina with another smile. "I missed you, you know."

"I know, me too," she sighed. "I thought we were going to be able to hang out during summer but I guess that didn't happen much, right?"

Harry shook his head. "You got a new family and...I got the Dursleys'."

Romina patted his shoulders. "You are always welcome to move in with me."

Harry laughed at the idea. "That ought to give your aunt and uncle a heart attack or something."

"At the very least, it would take some of the attention off of me," Romina said, bringing a hand to her chest. "Because after the World Cup incident, they watched me like a hawk. Speaking of, how are we doing with you and your scar?"

Harry shrugged. "Hasn't hurt anymore."

"And did you actually write to Sirius?"

"I did…"

Romina stopped walking to eye her friend suspiciously. "Why am I getting the feeling there's a 'but' coming?" Harry pursed his lips and turned his head away. Romina swore he mumbled something else. "What was that?"

With a sigh, Harry repeated himself and louder. "I may have written a second letter telling him I made a mistake and my scar hadn't really hurt."

Romina's eyes widened. "Harry Potter!"

"I had to, Rom! He was flying north to be near me!"

"So!?"

"So?" Harry frowned. "Did you forget that the Ministry is still looking for him? I don't want him to get caught because he was trying to be near me! It doesn't even matter though, he didn't believe me."

"Good," Romina said, ignoring his incredulous face. "He's learned who you are, that'll be good for the future."

"Romima!"

Romina shook her head. "Harry, I'm really sorry for how this is going to sound but...Sirius is the only adult in your family who actually cares for you!" She winced at her own words. That really did sound terrible. It was even more terrible that it was true. "Please don't under-appreciate the fact."

"I'm not, I'm really not," promised Harry. "I know my reality and that's why I didn't want Sirius coming anywhere near here."

"But he is and the best thing you can do, the fair thing, is to be honest with him."

Harry gave a small nod of his head. "Yeah, I know. Don't really have much of a choice, do I? Seeing as he didn't even believe me anyways."

Romina laughed. "He knows you enough."

"C'mon, we should get going. We have our first session of potions today." Harry reluctantly turned back, and so did Romina. "It should be interesting with Snape given how sure he is that I helped Sirius escape."

"Harry, you did help him escape," Romina reminded him.

"Ha, ha," Harry bobbed his head. "So did you. I wonder what your head of House would say about it?"

"Hasn't said anything about it, actually."

Harry snorted. "Wonder why, Slytherin. You know you guys are immune to his wrath."

Romina chuckled. "C'mon Harry, neither of us will be immune if we're late! Let's go!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards the castle.

~0~

Upon entering Snape's class, the professor immediately threw a hard look in Harry's direction. Harry was sure that both Ron and Hermione had received the same looks too.

"Coming to sit with us, then?" Harry mumbled to Romina as they took slow steps towards the seats. They'd managed to get to class with minutes to spare.

"To be frank, I'm not sure," Romina said, eyes falling on the empty seat beside Draco. Harry recognized the look on her face; she was calculating.

"Rom? C'mon," Harry pulled her arm forwards, "He's not worth it." As much as he would love to see to what extent Romina could get away with in the eyes of her head of House, he would rather not see it happen because of Malfoy.

Romina easily got out of Harry's grip. "Give me a second, I want to see something." She stopped walking altogether, forcing Harry to stop as well.

"See what?" Harry dreaded to know. Romina half smirked as she backtracked. Harry sighed. Romina was kind until someone poked her wrong side, then she was mischievous. He genuinely worried for her. "Rom, he can hurt you," he hissed.

Romina's expression was a clear indication of what she believed. "He's not going to hurt me," she waved him off. She turned on her heels and walked back to what used to be (or, depending on the situation, what could still be) her seat.

Whether or not Draco had been watching wasn't clear for her. He was scribbling over a piece of parchment. "Gotta say, thought you'd take a seat beside Potter. Or Angel for that matter."

"What? So my seat is still open then?" Romina looked around the classroom. "I thought you'd be saving it for Parkinson." Pansy had yet to show up to the class.

Draco snorted. He finally put down his things and looked up at her, his expression sour. "She's terrible at Potions. I'm not sacrificing my grades for her."

Romina's eyebrows raised. "Mm, so that means you're willing to do other stuff for her."

"Why's that any concern to you? Last time I heard, Angel's willing to do a lot for you. You know he's not talking to me because of you?"

"How is that my fault?"

"Really?" Draco tilted his head at her. Romina rolled her eyes and sat down beside him. "When are you finally going to tell him to get lost?"

"I'm not talking about that with you," she promptly said, eyes looking directly ahead. She could feel Harry's eyes burning on her. Clearly he didn't like where she'd chosen to sit.

When class finally started, Snape was even less than pleasant with the class. He left the assignment pretty early into the session, making it clear that he had very little faith they would be able to produce exactly what he asked for.

Romina put all her attention on the ingredients they needed and the best way to introduce them to the mixture.

"You're being ridiculous you know," Draco remarked halfway through class. Granted it had been a quiet remark so only they were in on the conversation.

Romina was looking over the passage of their concoction; she had very little interest in what it would even be in the end. "Me? Seriously?"

"Who's the one who's been violent?" Draco pointedly reminded her. "You've punched me and smacked me."

"I did not 'smack', I...lightly tapped." Romina flinched at Draco's hard snort.

"What? And I suppose the punch was a tap as well?"

"Mm, no, that was a punch." Romina looked up with a wide smile. "And you had that coming."

"Then I guess you have things coming too."

"What, you'll hit me back?"

"I don't 'hit', Oswell. That's beneath me. I have...other means of retaliation." Draco handed her the missing piece of her herb.

"What?" Romina took the herb into her fingers. "Couple jinxes?"

Draco shook his head. "No."

Romina rolled her eyes and dumped the piece into the cauldron. As soon as it landed, the contents gurgled and squirted against Romina's hand. She hissed at the contact, drawing her hand back and shaking it until the burning sensation died down. She met Draco's smirking, very pleased, face and immediately scowled. "You're a jerk!"

"I've heard worse," Draco shrugged.

Romina took in a deep breath. Yelling in Snape's class would automatically earn her detention, even if she was a Slytherin. And besides, being stuck in detention meant she couldn't possibly get Draco back. It was a lose, lose situation. She would hold her tongue for the rest of the class, but that didn't mean she let Draco go completely.

Maybe her elbow slipped on his side.

And, apparently, maybe his foot happened to be near her ankle when she got up.

With a growl, she slammed her book over his hand. (Snape may have yelled at Dean Thomas in front of them for that one).

"Maybe I will take Parkinson over you as a partner," Draco spat on their way out of class. "She's got to be less annoying than you at this point."

Romina scoffed. "Please. You just want someone who gushes at everything you do!"

"Potions is where I excel," he said smugly. The worst part was that he was right. He was a genius in Potions; Romina had always praised him for it. "It would be nice to hear someone give me credit."

"I'm sure she'll have no problem with that," Romina said with a huff and marched on.

~ 0 ~

When Hermione plopped down in the seat opposite to Romina in the library, the latter flinched but kept on writing. "You've got homework already?" Hermione asked quietly.

"That is why I'm in the library, Hermione," Romina replied in the same hushed tone. She looked up briefly to send a smile to the brunette. "That why you're here already? During dinner I should add."

Hermione bobbed her head. "Not...exactly. Let's just say I'm doing some research."

Romina chuckled very lightly. She couldn't afford another warning from Madame Pince. Arden had been with her earlier and they hadn't exactly been the quietest.

"What about you? You're here doing an essay during dinner?" Hermione asked curiously. "We didn't see you at your table."

"How could you—the Durmstrang kids are huge," Romina's remark caused a mutual snicker. "Girls and boys."

"Least you don't get the stink eye from the Beauxbatons, some of them are quite judgy," Hermione said, scrunching her face.

"Maybe it's cos they're older. They are 17, remember?"

Hermione shrugged. "Who knows. So, what's the essay you're working on?"

"Snape's," Romina muttered. "Liking him a little less today."

"Welcome to the club."

Romina half smiled. "Anyways, I'm almost done with it if you wanted help on whatever you're researching."

"You're not eating tonight, then?" Hermione asked, a look of concern crossing her face.

"Not very hungry." Romina reached for a book. "Besides, this essay's a little trickier than I thought. Ironic considering it's about the calming draught."

"What's that on your fingers?" Hermione's eyes had widened when she spotted the faint red tint on Romina's right hand fingers.

"Huh?" Romina followed Hermione's gaze to her hand. "Oh," she set her book down on the table, "Funny little trick from Draco in the last class. Gave me a bigger slice of an herb to put into the cauldron—that git. But it doesn't hurt. I'm sure it'll go away soon."

"That's terrible," Hermione said, reaching over for Romina's hand. "Romina, maybe you should drop it."

"Drop what?"

Hermione's expression sharpened. "I know what this is all about. I haven't told Harry or Ron, if you're wondering, but I can't just stand on the side knowing the whole reason you're going head to head with Draco is because of what he said about me. If anything, it's my battle and I'm not interested in fighting it so you shouldn't be either."

"No," Romina shook her head. "Hermione, it's not your fault."

"It is," Hermione bit on her bottom lip, "I'm afraid of what could happen if this escalates. It's all well for Harry, Ron and myself. We're not in the same House as Malfoy. We just go up to the Tower and we're done with him, but you? He could hurt you."

Romina groaned. "How many times do I have to say that he won't!?" She and Hermione both flinched when Madame Pince shushed them from her desk.

"How can you be so sure?" Hermione asked when the coast was clear.

"Because…" Romina shrugged several times as nothing else came to mind.

"Well?"

"Because I just know, okay? I just do."

Hermione wasn't sure whether to be concerned over the war she knew she helped start or rather be concerned over Romina's certainty.

A/N:

They are actual teenagers in this chapter I swear xD.

P.S. As always, I have Fanfic/Wattpad accounts under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)

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