#ginny x snape!reader

[mssorceressupreme]

Our Deal | F.W

———

Pairing: Fred Weasley x hufflepuff!reader (works for any house really, except gryffindor for story purpose)

Summary: stuck in detention with Fred for a prank you never did, grants you the deal of a lifetime. Fred would help you get with your crush, Oliver Wood, and you get him with his, Gabriella Moon, in time for the Yule Ball. Though, as you spend more time teaching each other how to "flirt", complicated feelings start to arise.

Warnings/content: hufflepuff!reader, subtle enemies to lovers, mutual pining, jealous!fred, protective!fred, jealous!reader, mentions of alcohol, parties, quidditch injury, injured!reader, tension, flirting, kissing, teasing, Yule Ball

Wordcount: 6.8k (got carried away and kinda wrote a mini fic 😭🙏🏼)

———

“This is entirely your fault,” you snapped, bending down to scrub at the sticky residue on the stone floor. “I had nothing to do with that prank.” The potions storage room air reeked with the scent of something foul, probably from whatever concoction had spilled from the shelves earlier today. All thanks to that stupid explosion caused by none other than the twin's prank just outside the room.

You gestured around at the remnants of the prank—green goo still dripping from the shelves, a set of abandoned dungbombs rolling near the base of Snape’s desk. Crossing your arms, you huffed as you glared at Fred, who was leaning against the wall with that insufferable smirk, clearly enjoying your misery.

Fred chuckled, tossing a sponge into the air and catching it lazily. “Yeah, yeah, tell that to Snape. You just happened to be there, hands covered in fluorescent goo, looking guilty as hell, which might I add, doesn't help with your case.”

“I was cleaning up the mess, Fred, not causing it” you gritted out, shoving the bucket closer to him. “Unlike you, who just stood there laughing while George ran for his life.”

Fred grinned, bending down to soak his sponge in water. “Ah, Georgie. Quick on his feet, that one. Maybe you should take notes for next time.”

Lucky for George, he managed to escape Snape's fury, leaving the stupendous detention task of reorganising and cleaning the entire potions storage room to the two of you.

“There won’t be a next time because I don’t do pranks,” you retorted. “Unlike some people.”

Fred gasped, pausing from squeezing the water out of his sponge, “No pranks? No mischief? Merlin, what a dull existence.”

You scowled, but your lips twitched. “Not all of us live for chaos.”

“You sure? Because you seem to enjoy my company a lot for someone who claims to be innocent,” he teased, turning his attention to scrubbing the fluorescent goop from the floor.

“Oh, shush If I weren’t such a good person, I’d leave this room right now and tell Snape about the other pranks you and George are planning.”

Fred turned to face you, holding back a doubtful laugh as he momentarily stopped scrubbing, “You wouldn't dare, Y/L/N.” his tone sprinkled with a hint of mockery.

You rolled your eyes, dipping your sponge back into the murky water. “Unfortunately you're right.”

He raised an eyebrow, amused. “Because you secretly like me?”

“Because I’m not a snitch,” you corrected smugly. ____ An hour later, you were balancing on a stool, reaching for a jar of pickled salamander eyes while Fred stacked vials below. You glanced down at him, waiting for him to pass you more vials for the higher shelves.

A small played on his lips, Fred exhaled softly before handing you another vial, “Alright, since I do feel a tiny bit bad about dragging you into this, I’ll make it up to you.”

You raised your brow suspiciously. “How?”

Fred’s smirk returned. “The Yule Ball's coming up, right? I’ll help you get with whoever you want."

"In return, you promise not to rat me out about, oh, I don’t know, the prank in the Great Hall last week. Or the one from two days ago in McGonagall’s class. Or the—" He continued but you interjected swiftly.

Your eyes widened slightly, finally registering what he just offered. “You’re serious?”

“Dead serious,” he said, placing another vial on one of the lower shelves. “You name the bloke, and I’ll be your personal matchmaking genius.”

"You're kidding." You pressed your lips together, skeptical.

"Am not." He affirmed, "Go on, the look on your face says you have someone in mind Y/N."

A slow grin spread across your face, but you hesitated. "No one in mind." You shrugged.

Fred folded his arms, eyeing you up and down before tilting his head to the side, "I'm sensing...someone....taller than you?" Yeah, no kidding.

Without thinking you retorted, "Yeah obviously he's taller than me." Your hands flew at the speed of light to cover your mouth while turning to face away from Fred.

You hoped to hide your flushness, but you ended up losing your balance on the stool in the process. "Merlin, don't tell me you're quite literally falling for him." Fred quickly held your waist, steadying you before you could meet the ground. You grabbed his shoulder for support before adjusting yourself and returning to your respective task of arranging the vials on the upper shelf. You hadn't planned on telling anyone about your secret crush on Oliver Wood, but here you were, letting these words slip aimlessly out of your mouth.

Fred took your silence as an answer, curiosity lingering in the air.

"Ah, so there is someone on your mind." He pressed, "And who’s the unfortunate sod you fancy?"

You paused, feeling the heat of his gaze from below, "Oliver Wood..." You mumbled all too softly; even the house elves, with their sharp hearing abilities, wouldn't be able to decipher what you said.

Exhaling, you got down from the stool, standing in front of Fred and avoiding eye contact at all costs. He took slow tentative steps toward you, bending down to your level so he could hear, "Come again?" You could feel his breath on your skin.

Your eyes found his, not registering how close he was, "Oliver Wood." Your face tainted a light shade of red.

Fred choked on air, a loud chortle escaped him, "Wood? The Gryffindor Captain, Mr. ‘Quidditch is My One True Love’?"

"Shut up," you mumbled, heat rising to your cheeks. You placed a hand on his chest and shoved him away playfully, "Don't tell anyone! I'll vanish off the face of this earth if you do."

Fred laughed, shaking his head. “Blimey, you’ve got high standards.”

“I barely know him, but he’s just—” You sighed wistfully. “He’s so kind and driven and—”

“Obsessed with Quidditch?” Fred interjected.

“Yes, but in a dedicated way,” you said dreamily.

Fred snorted. "Merlin, alright, fine. I’ll help you. But just know that if I have to listen to you swoon over Wood for the next month, you owe me more than just detention duty."

You beamed. “Deal.”

“Good. Because I might need your help, too.”

You tilted your head, furrowing your brows. “With what?”

Fred leaned forward conspiratorially. “Gabriella Moon.”

"Gabriella? As in, my Gabriella?"

"I didn’t realise you had ownership over her," Fred mused. "But yes, your Hufflepuff friend."

You nodded, grinning. "Oh for sure, I can definitely help with that. Piece of cake."

Gabriella was in your house, a sweet and kind Hufflepuff, and you got along with her well. Setting her up with Fred should be a simple, easy, task.

"Alright, Weasley. You’ve got yourself a deal."

Fred held out his hand, and you shook it—sealing a pact neither of you realised would completely change everything.

"Our deal." He affirmed.

____ The deal meant spending more time together. At first, it was simple things—giving each other tips, practicing flirting, and being seen together enough to spark curiosity.

One evening in the Great Hall, Fred joined you at the Hufflepuff table. Your friends sat with you, but you were so engrossed with Fred, that everyone seemed to disappear into the background, feeling as though it was only the two of you in the hall.

Fred leaned in with a smirk after placing a dinner roll on your plate, which he knew you enjoyed pairing with butter. "Alright, say I’m Oliver—how would you charm me?"

You exhaled dramatically. "Fine." You turned to him, putting on your best smile. "Hey, Oliver, fancy seeing you here. Do you always look this good after practice?"

Fred chortled, nearly choking on his pumpkin juice. "Merlin’s beard, that was atrocious."

You gasped, smacking his arm. "It was not!"

"It was!" Fred wheezed, clutching his chest. "Try again, but maybe without sounding like a lovesick poet."

You scowled but tried again. "Alright, then. How about this—‘I hear you’re the best Keeper Hogwarts has ever had. Think you could keep me?’"

Fred blinked, then groaned throwing his head back. "Oh, that was painful."

You shoved his shoulder, laughing. "I hate you."

"Sure you do," he teased, winking. "Now, do I get a turn?"

"Go on, then," you challenged, crossing your arms.

Fred turned, propped his elbow on the table, and smirked. "Hey, Gabriella," he began, "are you a Snitch? Because you’ve got me chasing after you."

You stared at him, face scrunching up in disgust. It was as though you had just witnessed a crime.

He wiggled his eyebrows before taking a mouthful of peas, chewing as he awaited your response.

You burst out laughing. "Oh, that’s horrible. No wonder you need my help."

Fred's mouth dropped, "Excuse you, that was a good chat up. Thank you very much."

You both laughed, completely unaware of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs watching the way you two bantered—how Fred’s eyes softened when you laughed, how you bit your lip when he grinned. You weren't super close to Fred, just casual friends, but you had to admit, these few recent days had you seeing him in a different light, he was more carefree around you, cheery, and you felt yourself coming out of your shell, all thanks to him.

You were confident in approaching Oliver now, and all the more excited for it.

____

"No, no! Merlin, Fred, you're going to scare the girl away if you look at her like that." The next few days were all about perfecting your tactics, anything to impress your targets, of course.

"Like what?" He sat beside you on the couch in the Gryffindor common room. It was a Saturday, and naturally, most students were either at Hogsmeade, outside, or sleeping in, leaving most of the space to the two of you.

"Again! Again..." You waved your hands, ushering him off the couch. "Pretend I'm Gabriella, and I'm sitting on a bench somewhere nice. You've just walked into the place, and you see her."

Fred straightened his shirt, retreating from the couch, before strolling over to you again, a devious smirk painted on his face, his hair slightly tousled and messy. He held his chin up high, and his arms swayed beside his lanky figure as he approached you.

"Y/N? Fancy seeing you here!" He beamed, pretending to act out the scenario.

"Wrong." You corrected, "Not Y/N, Gabriella." You flashed your brows, and he exhaled, walking away to take his place once again.

He strolled to you, once more, "Gabriella! Haven't seen you in a bit! What brings you here?"

You nodded, indicating he was doing a decent job so far, encouraging him to continue.

Fred plopped himself beside you, your knees were touching and he extended an arm around you.

"I"m good! This is my favourite place to unwind actually." You fake-mocked Gabriella, pretending to be her in this situation.

"Well, then I guess you'll be seeing me here more often, darling." Fred leaned in, you could feel his body heat against you, and you blinked before shaking your head.

"Darling? You barely know the girl!" You chuckled, and Fred's eyes glinted with awe as you threw your head back, he had not realised it, but your laughter ignited a warm honey like feeling in his chest.

"Fine, what about love? Baby? Babe?"

"No no, save those for when you're actually with her, but I suppose 'love' is a good place to start."

"Alright, love." He teased, and you playfully smacked him but an idea popped into your head, and immediately, you got into character.

"If you say so, Oliver." You pretended to act as if you would in this scenario with Wood.

Fred, still seated next to you, glanced down from your eyes to your lips.

You leaned in, tilting your head and gazing from his left eye, to his lips, then to his right eye. You smiled sweetly, blinking slowly as you gave Fred your full attention, staring at him with doe-like eyes, "So, Oliver, how was quidditch practice today?"

Fred gulped, eyes blinking rapidly as he coughed, "G-Good."

You smirked, lowering your voice, "I'm sure it would've been better if I was there with you." You bit your lip as you glanced at his lips.

"You should come to the next one." Fred responded softly, smiling as he leaned in, ever so slightly, one arm still wrapped around you, and you were fully within his proximity.

You could feel your breaths against each other; his scent crept its way to your nose, and you scrunched it. He smelt like fresh grass on a hot summer's day and clean laundry in the fresh breeze, something you'd never noticed before.

There was a moment of comfortable silence, but the portrait door clicked open, and some students returned from their trip to Hogsmeade.

"That was, uh, something I'd say if I was with Oliver." You quickly dismissed this, leaning back to a comfortable distance. Fred cleared his throat, and removed his arm, "Yeah, that was good. See, told you I was a good teacher."

You scoffed, "You? Please that one was all me."

"S'pose you are getting pretty good at this, annoyingly so, in fact." He hummed and you mouth dropped slightly,

"Is that a compliment?" You beamed, wiggling a happy dance in your seat.

"Don't get too cocky Y/L/N, I have yet to see you interact with him." Fred laughed, attempting to hide his awe for your little dance.

____

Days passed, and you found yourself spending an increasing amount of time at the Gryffindor table, supposedly to get closer to Oliver. But somehow, you always ended up next to Fred, bickering, laughing, sharing food.

People noticed—Hermione tried, and failed miserably to hide her excitement for you two, George outright smirked, Ginny started whispering to Harry, smiling at the thought of the two of you, Ron was amused at how Fred could pull someone as gorgeous as you.

Only you and Fred knew about your deal, to them, they saw this as a newfound friendship, alliance, even...romance? Hermione seems to think the latter describes your relationship perfectly.

You brushed it off, for you knew that you were only helping each other, and once the deal was over, you would go back to normal.

The topic of quidditch was no foreign topic at this table, Harry making remarks about how he'll confront Malfoy, Angelina and George talking about the Nimbus 2000, Oliver and Fred discussing a new game plan.

"Hey Y/N, why don't you come watch us at practice today after lunch, it'll be fun." Oliver invited you, and you blinked in surprise.

"I'd love to!" You chimed, "How could I pass on a chance to support the best quidditch team at Hogwarts?"

Oliver beamed, laughing softly at your enthusiasm, "Ooh careful now, don't want Hufflepuff's quidditch team to hear that now do ya?"

"Consider me an ally of both teams." You chuckled, and he grinned, smiling warmly at you.

"Surely you become an honourary Gryffindor for the day?" Oliver raised his brow, before taking a bite of his toast.

"Won't miss me too much when I switch back to Hufflepuff would you?" You teased.

"Then I'll just ask you to join Gryffindor again."

You were about to pour yourself some orange juice, but Oliver moved at the speed of light, "Here, let me." He poured a glass for you, then one for himself. "Fred? Some for you too?"

"Nah mate, I'm pretty full."

Fred silently watched the two of you interact; a part of him was happy and proud, seeing the way you effortlessly interacted with Oliver, but there was this foreign feeling inside him. Like a splinter poking him from the inside, if that were even possible.

His eyes darted from you, to Oliver, then back to you.

Each time you paid attention to Oliver, laughed at his quips, his charm, a small part of Fred wanted that attention from you, again.

He wanted you for himself.

Fred shook his head, dismissing all these thoughts, where were they even coming from? He knew one thing thought, he was being silly thinking about you like this.

However, Gabriella was starting to become a long-forgotten thought.

The only person consuming his mind lately, seemed to be…you.

Fred exhaled, taking a sip of his water, hoping to refresh his mind from whatever nonsense he thought about.

It didn’t matter anyway because after this deal was done, and you were happy with Oliver, that was it. You’d go your separate ways, well, mostly. That was, after all, the whole point of you becoming close with Fred.

"By the way, is it alright if I bring a friend?" You asked Oliver.

"The more the merrier!"

"I'll bring Gabriella." You whispered trying to contain your excitement, nudging Fred who was seated beside you.

He was quickly snapped out of his thoughts, "Oh, yeah, that'll be great."

____

Later that afternoon, you sat in the stands with Hermione, Gabriella, and Ginny, watching Gryffindor’s practice. Oliver was in his element—focused, determined, calling out plays.

Your eyes were glued to him, who looked impossibly handsome as he soared through the air, his hair ruffled by the wind. He turned, caught your gaze, and waved with that signature kind smile of his.

Your heart stuttered and a faint blush crept on your cheeks, moments like this only pulled you in deeper. Part of the reason you fell for him, was that one day you were lost and he helped you find your way to class. Being younger than him, he felt the duty to lookout for his juniors, he was patient, kind and made you feel right at home when you felt lost. His kindness was just so endearing.

"Go Oli!!" You cheered, and Oliver waved at you again.

"Nicknames already?" Hermione, seated next to you, smiled knowingly and you chuckled as a response.

"Fred looks really determined today, isn't that a good look on him?" You nudged Gabriella, hoping to steer her focus onto Fred.

"Yeah, he does look kinda cute." She agreed, grinning up at him. "Also, thanks for inviting me Y/N, this is really nice." Gabriella turned to you, smiling sweetly. She was a kind soul, much like you, always helping others and making sure everyone felt comfortable. Of course guys would fancy her.

Out of the corner of your eye, you spotted Fred. His red hair caught the sunlight in a way that made it seem almost golden, his strong frame relaxed but still commanding attention as he sat on his broomstick, laughing with George.

There was something about him today—maybe the way his sleeves were rolled up, or the effortless confidence he carried. And for some reason, your found your heartpace steadily increasing as you continued observing him.

No. No, this was about Oliver. You shook the thought away and focused on the Gryffindor Captain instead.

Moments later, Angelina, Oliver, and Katie flew over, beaming. “Oi, you lot! Come play a friendly match with us!” Angelina called, gesturing eagerly.

You hesitated. “Oh, I don’t know... I’m not really—”

“Come on, it’s just for fun,” Oliver encouraged, flying closer. His eyes met yours, playful and inviting. You wanted to impress him. So, against better judgment, you stood and dusted off your robes. The four of you made your way down to the grassy field, and used some spare brooms.

Ginny, Hermione, and Gabriella exchanged amused glances but joined in as well.

You borrowed a broomstick—the nearest one, which happened to be Fred’s. "Can I?" You smirked, turning to Fred who took a quick break, reaching into his bag for his bottle.

"Yeah yeah, if you break it I'll crack your head." Fred teased, before chugging his water. With that, you kicked off the ground, feeling the rush of wind as you soared into the air.

The game was lighthearted, filled with teasing and playful competition. You and Oliver found yourselves in the same airspace often, exchanging witty remarks and laughter.

It felt effortless, easy. Below, Fred stood watching, arms crossed, watching in amusement as you 'bonded' with Oliver. Though you weren't sure if amusement, was the right word to use here, seeing how he kept tapping his foot.

“You’re getting the hang of this!” Oliver grinned, flying beside you.

“I’m just trying to keep up,” you joked, glancing at him.

So caught up in the moment, you didn’t notice the Bludger hurtling toward you until it slammed into your shoulder with brutal force.

Pain exploded through your arm, and your broom wobbled violently beneath you. You gasped as your grip faltered, and before you knew it, you were falling.

The ground rushed toward you, and you thudded harshly on the grassy patch. Ouch.

Oliver flew down hastily, but before he could reach you, Fred was already there, kneeling beside you, face pale.

“Are you daft?” he scolded, voice tight. “Didn’t you see that Bludger?”

You winced, trying to sit up. “It wasn’t that bad—”

“Not that bad? You fell from twenty feet up,” he snapped, his hands hovering over you like he didn’t know where to touch in case he hurt you further. “You’re going to the hospital wing.”

Oliver finally reached you, eyes filled with concern. “You alright?” He looked from you to Fred, who was still kneeling beside you, jaw clenched.

“I’m fine,” you muttered, but Fred wasn’t having it. Before you could protest, he scooped you up effortlessly, ignoring your weak protests.

“You’re being overdramatic,” you huffed, but your heart betrayed you, beating erratically against your ribs as Fred carried you toward the castle.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” he shot back, striding forward without a second glance at Oliver, who remained standing on the pitch, watching with an expression that hinted he had figured something out.

He observed as Fred held you close, furrowing his eyebrows slightly, "Hm." He was so sure that you and Fred were just friends, but the way Fred acted today made Oliver doubtful.

The others stayed back to practice, you assured them that you were fine, and that there was no need to come. ___

Madam Pomfrey fussed over you, muttering about reckless students and dangerous sports as she poured a bitter healing potion down your throat. “You’re lucky it wasn’t a full-speed hit,” she chided, waving her wand to mend the bruising on your shoulder.

Fred stayed beside you the whole time, leaning against the infirmary bed with that signature mischievous glint returning to his eyes. “So, you were trying to impress Wood, huh?” he mused, arching a brow.

“Shut up,” you muttered, cheeks warming.

“Not my fault you nearly died doing it,” he teased, nudging you playfully. “Maybe I should give you some lessons on how to survive Quidditch.”

You rolled your eyes, unable to stop the smile tugging at your lips. “Maybe I should give you lessons on how to stop being so intolerable.”

Fred smirked. “Where’s the fun in that?”

You laughed, the earlier pain fading into the background as the two of you fell into easy conversation.

He stayed with you the rest of the day until you felt better enough to head back to your dorm.

____

The next day, the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match had the entire school buzzing with chatter. The game was brutal, with Slytherin coming in close, though Gryffindor still came out victorious.

The moment the Snitch was caught, the stands erupted into cheers, the players celebrating mid-air before descending to the field. You watched Fred among them, his face lit up with triumph. When his eyes met yours, something unspoken passed between you.

And you weren’t so sure anymore if Oliver Wood was the one making your heart race.

You, Hermione and Gabriella made your way down to the team, "You guys smashed it out there." You chimed, clapping for the them.

"Couldn't have done it without your support." Oliver walked over to you, hi-fiving your hand which you extended for him.

"You played amazingly, especially in the second half! Fred—the way you hit the bludger right before it touched the ground, just, wow!" Gabriella beamed, waving her hands around expressively.

"Hey, all in a day's work." Fred expressed, cockily brushing his hands together which earned a giggle from Gabriella.

"You know, you should come to the party tonight, hosted by yours truly." Fred shuffled closer to Gabriella, extended his arms as he gave himself credit for hosting the party.

"More of a team effort actually, he just talks too much." Lee quipped, "But yeah, you guys should come. Gryffindor common room, at 7."

"We'll be there." Gabriella replied for the two of you, twirling her hair as she smiled sweetly at Fred.

You were happy for her truly, especially Fred, who was grinning back at her, engaging in a new conversation about what'll transpire at the party tonight.

You were happy. Yes, you were.

But, does someone who is supposedly happy for their friend, feel a pit in their stomach every time they watch them with their respective crush?

____

"How do I look?" Gabriella asked, gesturing to her outfit, fitted flared blue jeans and a yellow peplum top, with a yellow bow to accessorise.

"You look stunning, Fred's going to love it!" You chimed, "Oh wait, here-" You helped straightened her bow from the behind, "Perfect."

"Look who's talking, Oliver's going to swoon over you when he sees you in that black dress!" Gabriella stood beside you, looking in the full body mirror, shaking with excitement for the party.

The two of you made your way over to the Gryffindor common room, met with a few ravenclaws and fellow hufflepuffs by the portrait entrance.

It was no surprise that the common room was alive with celebration and merriment. You and Gabriella stepped inside, immediately greeted by George and Lee, who enthusiastically showed you around.

"Welcome welcome! You guys look great!" Lee hyped you two up, always the enhusiast.

Laughter, chatter, and the warmth of victory filled the space. As your eyes scanned the room, they landed on Fred and Oliver by the fireplace, who spotted you and beckoned you both over with bright grins.

After a while of lively conversation in the group, you and Gabriella naturally parted ways—her heading away to the couch with Fred while Oliver guided you to where his friends stood.

You chatted and laughed, but something felt off. Your attention was divided, and no matter how much you tried to focus on Oliver and his friends, your eyes kept finding Fred’s.

Across the room, you noticed his eyes constantly meeting yours, just as much as yours longed to find his.

You were snapped out of your gaze when one of Oliver’s friends playfully nudged you, shoving a drink into your hands. “Come on, have some firewhiskey on me! You’ve got to celebrate properly!”

"Oh wow, where'd you manage to get that?" You asked, curious as to how he managed to sneak in alcohol. Granted, he was older than you so it was fair to assume he was more daring when it came to liquor.

"I have my sources." The guy wiggled his brows, "Come on, drink up Y/N, join us!"

You hesitated. “I’m good, really.”

“Oh, don’t be a buzzkill. Just one!” He pushed again, grinning as if it were a challenge.

“I said I don’t want to.” Your voice was firmer now, but he rolled his eyes.

Oliver sensed your discomfort and interjected swiftly, “Knock it off Felix. She doesn’t have to drink if she doesn’t want to.”

"Alright alright, you're just a wee girl after all innit." Felix chuckled, "More for me then."

Wee girl? Merlin, who does he think he is? You scoffed to yourself, shifting closer to Oliver.

Still, the group laughed it off, and you suddenly felt uncomfortable, wanting to be anywhere but here. You excused yourself quickly, heading upstairs to a quieter gryffindor study room.

The party noise faded, and you sank into one of the couches, taking a deep breath.

A knock came at the door, before it slowly opened.

Truthfully, a wave of relief washed over you when you saw Fred entering, his usual smugness replaced with something softer. “Saw Felix being a git, it's safe to say he won't ever bother you again.”

Fred's implication that he had a word with Felix made you all the more relieved, you exhaled softly, nodding.

You smiled weakly. “Thanks.”

He stood at the doorframe for a second, inspecting your state before slowly walking over. The couch dipped upon the weight of him as he sat beside you.

“You okay?” He nudged you with his body gently.

You nodded, looking forward though you felt his gaze on you. “Yeah. Just needed a minute.”

He listened intently, offering you the silence you much needed after the earlier commotion.

There was a pause before you turned to face him, “How’s it going with Gabriella?”

Fred shrugged. “Good,” he lied, then exhaled. “Alright, fine. She’s nice, but I think I bored her to death. She’s talking to Neville about some plants now.”

You chuckled. “Plants are fascinating.”

“To you, maybe. Not exactly my best topic,” Fred admitted. "Might buy a bouquet or two, but other than that I'm clueless."

"If you do, red roses are the way to go. She loves them, practically every girl does."

"Including you?"

"I adore them. Sounds a bit basic but they're a classic for a reason, they're just so...romantic." Your eyes glistened as you spoke about roses, dreaming of the day someone would buy you flowers.

"Noted, I'll pass a good word to Oliver." Fred chuckled, smiling at the way your eyes lit up, but his smiled disappeared when you frowned, a sigh escaping your lips.

“I think I’m losing it with Oliver. I feel like a total idiot for not drinking in front of him and his friends."

Fred shook his head. “Nah, you’re not an idiot....maybe a little, but not a full blown one." You slapped his arm playfully, but he continued, raising his hands in defence, "If anything, that makes you better than them. You don’t need to do anything to impress him, so what if you don't feel like drinking?”

"I don't think I'll face him again, if his friends hate me, he'll probably grow to dislike me." You groaned, burying your face in your hands.

"Nothing a little flirting can't solve," Fred was optimistic, attempting to cheer you up in this moment of despair, "Next time you see him, get more touchy. When you laugh, place a hand on his arm, lean on him, lean in to him...y'know, the usual."

"Ugh, in front of his friends?" You grumbled.

"All the better, shows you've got game." He continued to give you tips on how to approach Oliver again later, helping you plan your next move.

It was only fair of you to return the favour, leaning in slightly. “Right, so, lean in when you talk to her, like this,” you said, demonstrating the closeness.

Fred swallowed, blinking at you. “Like this?” He mimicked you, your shoulders were touching all the more, your face near his neck, his mouth a few inches away from your forehead.

You nodded, voice softer now. “And maybe say something like… ‘Your eyes are a remarkable shade of hazel, I never noticed how stunning they were until up close now. They sparkle beautifully in the moonlight, yet they manage to shine even brighter when you're caring.’”

It was meant for Gabriella. But as you spoke, something in your chest tightened. You were speaking to Fred. Really speaking to him. His hazel eyes met yours, and he leaned in once more.

His mouth parted slightly, as his eyes darted to your lips then back to your eyes. You found yourself leaning in too, your breathing became heavy.

Your heart felt like it was going to pounce out of your chest with the rate it was beating.

The air between you stilled as you both realised the weight of your words.

Before he could respond, the door creaked open. You and Fred jumped apart just as Oliver and Gabriella entered, looking at you both in confusion.

“There you are, we were wondering where you two had vanished off too.” Gabriella remarked, her eyes darting from Fred to you.

Your heart raced and Fred's face flushed a shade of red. Though completely innocent, if felt as though you were caught doing something you weren't supposed to be doing.

Flustered, you quickly went to Oliver, while Gabriella made her way to Fred.

The rest of the party carried on, fun and lively, but you couldn’t shake the strange feeling that lingered. No matter how much you tried to focus on Oliver, your gaze kept drifting back to Fred.

____

The anticipation leading up to the Yule Ball had everyone on edge. With the Yule Ball near approaching, the talk of the castle revolved around the ball; students asking each other to the dance, flowers being exchanged, and whispers filling the corridors.

You woke up that morning with only one name in your mind—Fred Weasley. It was irritating, really. You weren’t supposed to be thinking about him. You liked Oliver. You were going with Oliver. And yet, Fred’s stupid, mischievous grin had invaded your thoughts like an unrelenting charm.

At breakfast, you sat with Gabriella at your usual hufflepuff table, chatting about the Yule Ball. She was gushing about how beautiful everything was going to look, the magical snowflakes, the ice sculptures, the romantic lighting. You smiled along, but your mind was elsewhere. Across the hall, Fred was laughing with George, but every so often, you swore you caught him glancing at you.

After your 'Defence Against the Dark Arts' class, you walked out with Harry, Ron, and Hermione when Oliver approached. He was holding a bouquet of red roses, his confident smile making you a blushing mess.

"Y/N," he said warmly, holding out the flowers. "Would you do me the honour of accompanying me to the Yule Ball?"

You paused, then beamed. "Of course, Oliver. I'd love to!" He pulled you in for a warm hug while students around you cheered, and whistled loudly.

You were happy—you really were. This was what you wanted, wasn’t it? But as you took the roses, a strange heaviness settled in your chest.

Later that day, you found yourself with Fred, helping him prepare to ask Gabriella. You were ranting about Oliver, swooning over how charming he was. Fred, though smiling, was already fuming inside. He wanted to be happy for you. He wanted to believe this was all fine. But every word you spoke about Oliver grated on his nerves.

"Do you think Gabriella will like this?" Fred asked, holding up a box of assorted chocolates, changing the topic quickly after countless nods and 'that's great' as a response to you gushing over Oliver.

You turned to him, considering. "Yeah, she will, can't go wrong with chocolate. You got this, Freddie!"

"Right," he said, running a hand through his hair, looking more uncertain than usual. He was prolonging it, he knew it. He didn't want to ask her. He had someone else on his mind now. But what choice did he have? You were already going with Oliver.

When he finally did ask Gabriella in the courtyard, you cheered for him, clapping as she said yes. It was the right outcome—technically, you both won. And yet, watching Fred grin as he hugged Gabriella filled you with an unexpected wave of envy.

_____

The Yule Ball arrived in a flurry of excitement. You walked down the stairs with Oliver, arm in arm, dressed in your most elegant red gown. Across the entrance, you saw Fred with Gabriella. You both gave each other thumbs-up and smiled, though your smile never quite reached your eyes, nor did Fred's.

As you approached the entrance, Oliver and Gabriella walked in first, conversing with each other, leaving you and Fred standing alone for a moment.

Fred shoved his hands into his pockets before breaking the silence, "So…we both got what we wanted."

You exhaled, forcing a smile. "Yeah…we both got with our dates. All too smoothly, I might add."

You both chuckled, but there was an undeniable weight in the air.

"You look nice, cleaned up well for Oliver eh? Lucky bloke." Fred joked, though his voice was laced with subtle serious undertone.

"Hm, you don't look like a grindylow for once, I see you clean up pretty nicely too."

He chuckled softly, removing his hands from his pockets. Neither of you moved, it was as though a silent message of 'please stay here with me' was shared.

You hesitated before extending your hand. "Thank you, Fred. For everything."

He took your hand, shaking it lightly, but neither of you let go. There was a static, a spark, if you would, something both of you didn’t want to ignore. You both looked down at your touching hands, then back to each other.

Oblivious as to what the other party was thinking, the two of you decided to ignore it, let go, and move on, for the better, right?

"So, that's our deal done then?" you said slowly, though regretting it.

Fred swallowed hard, nodding. "Yeah. I'll, uh…see you around school then."

Your heart clenched, but for the sake of the ball, you put on your best grin. "I'll see you around, Fred."

You then turned to Oliver who was a few steps ahead, extending his arm to you. As you walked with him into the ballroom, you turned back one last time.

Fred was still standing there. You waved. He waved back, smiling—but his eyes told you that there was something masked beneath that smile. Gabriella came up to him, and they walked inside together, you turned forward to let them have their moment.

The ball was everything you imagined—beautiful, magical, enchanting. Oliver was the perfect gentleman, twirling you around the dance floor, kissing your hand, your cheek, your forehead, even. He got you punch, held the door open, pulled out your chair, he was the ideal guy, truly ticking off all your boxes.

You smiled at him, but your heart was never quite satisfied, there was a space yet to be filled.

And you hated that you knew why.

Your eyes kept drifting to him. He was dancing with Gabriella, but his mind was far away. Uncomfortable. Lost.

You chuckled to yourself, shaking off this silly feeling, turning your attention back to Oliver, who was explaining about his latest tactics for the upcoming Quidditch match with ravenclaw.

____

Later that night, Oliver walked you back to your common room. He leaned down, pressing a sweet kiss to the back of your hand. "Goodnight, Y/N."

You lips curled up into a grateful smile, thanking him for the wonderful evening, but as he turned to leave, something inside you snapped.

If something was wrong, you needed to fix it. Merlin, what's the point in waiting? If something didn't feel right, your gut knew that you had to fix it right away. And this, was one of those moments.

You turned on your heel and ran in your red gown. Through the castle, past students, up and down staircases—you had no plan, no direction, just a need to find him.

Until you did.

At the main staircase, you froze. Fred was at the bottom, looking up at you. He was holding a bouquet of red roses.

Your throat tightened, immediately regretting your decision. "For Gabriella?"

Fred shook his head. "No." He stepped forward, "They're for you."

Your paused, holding your breath as he started walking up the stairs, to you.

"Y/N, I—" Fred hesitated, then exhaled sharply. "I don’t want Gabriella. I don't think I ever did, truthfully. I just…I wanted to be with you. And I was too much of a git to see it until it was too late."

Tears burned at your eyes. "Fred—"

"I don't care about the deal. I don't care about anything except you. I don't want to ever lose you Y/N. And if I have to watch you with Oliver one more time, I think I might actually go mental."

He was close now, the roses in one hand, the other reaching for you.

You let out a shaky laugh. "You're such a git, you know that?"

Fred grinned, brushing a strand of hair from your cheek and tucking it behind your ear. "Yeah. But I’m your silly git, if you'll have me."

You didn’t give him a chance to say anything else. You surged forward, crashing your lips to his, your hands gripping his suit. He dropped the flowers, wrapping his arms around you, pulling you flush against him.

It was passionate, desperate, hungry, everything you had ever wanted but had been too blind to admit. The kiss of two people who were starving and desperately in need of each other. Fred savoured every bit of your mouth, as though tomorrow would never come, ending with a sweet peck.

When you finally pulled back, breathless, a grin sprawled across that deviously handsome face of his, his hair messy but Merlin, it was such a look on him. "So, I take it that’s a yes, love?"

You laughed, leaning your forehead against his. "Yes, you fool."

Fred cupped your face, thumb brushing over your cheek once again. "Best deal I’ve ever made."

[aprilthearcher]

replaying your laughter

harry potter x slytherin!fem!reader ― Harry has a crush on a Slytherin, which could collapse the entire school, but he doesn't seem to care much.

slightly inspired by 'message in a bottle' by taylor swift. there could be a second part if anyone's interested in it. don't forget to like, or reblog, or leave a comment! those are always appreaciated.

word count: 1.4k

part two (covered in you)

#masterlist!

Harry was sure that half – maybe even more than half – of Gryffindors House would never forgive him for having a crush on a Slytherin. Yet, Harry couldn’t really bring himself to care. The lot of them had called him a liar just last year, and none of them, friends or not, had the right to tell him who was appropriate enough or not to go on a date with. 

It was hard not to miss her when she was one of the few Slytherins in Harry’s year who had never insulted him nor any of his friends. As a half-blood, she didn’t care about ‘blood traitors’ or muggleborns nor was she a member of Malfoy’s gang. Also, the fact that she was best friends with Luna Lovegood made her trustworthy in Harry’s eyes. 

Although they had shared many classes during their years at Hogwarts, Harry didn’t know when he’d started to feel this way towards her. Had it been during their third year, after he’d seen her yell curses at Marcus Flint because he didn’t want girls in the Slytherin Quidditch Team? Had it been during their fourth year, after he saw her in an elegant, deep blue gown at the Yule Ball dancing with a Ravenclaw a year older than them? Had it been during their fifth year, after he’d seen her comfort two first years from Slytherin and Hufflepuff that had spent their afternoon in Umbridge’s office? Had these feelings been there since he’d met her on the train in their first year after she couldn’t find her older sister? 

Has he always been so clueless? 

Now, despite the fact that this recently discovered crush made Harry’s heart almost burst out of his chest any time he’d see her – whether in real life or in his dreams –, it didn’t mean that he would easily hand the victory to Slytherin in the match they were about to play. 

Standing face to face with Urquhart, Slytherin’s new Quidditch Captain, Harry tried to avoid her eyes and how imposing she looked dressed in the deepest hue of emerald green. Still, when Madame Hooch blew the whistle, Harry couldn’t help but raise his head in her direction. Her eyes quickly settled on his, and Harry almost punched himself for being the first one to look away. 

Up in the sky, a hand on his broom keeping him steady, he thought he’d have a moment of peace from her. But, in his defence, flying round the pitch looking for the snitch and making sure that his team was playing well eventually led him to find the force of nature that was her on top of a broom. Watching the speed at which she flew, Harry was somewhat relieved that she had never intended to become a Seeker. Yet, as magnificent as she was with a Quaffle in her hands, Ron’s confidence that there was Liquid Luck running through his system managed to block all of the shots she’d thrown at him. Anyone could tell from the look on her face and her stance on her broom that she wanted to rip off Ron’s head, probably use it to mark a few points as well. Her kindness, Harry realised then, did not make her less of a competitive hothead.

The match finished with the snitch in Harry’s hands, granting yet another win to Gryffindor. A smile on his face, he let his eyes trail over his team, each with a grin on their faces as big as his. He saw Ron lifting both of his arms, celebrating with the scarlet and gold crowd, and Ginny dive-bombing into the podium from where Zacharias Smith had been calling the match. 

Harry looked for her once more, finding her already on the ground with the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch Team. He’d started descending when he saw what seemed to be a fight between her and Urquhart. The Slytherin Quidditch Team had a finger pointed to her chest, which she quickly dismissed with a jab of her hand and a hissed that Harry got to hear as a ‘Don’t fucking touch me’. This infuriated Urquhart more, making him get closer to her face, but with only a stamp of her foot, she sent him flying backwards. 

Madame Hooch’s whistle blew loudly across the pitch, and the crowd finally caught on what was happening. Harry saw them go from celebrating, or sulking in the case of the silver and green sea of people, to whispering excitedly about the tussle. Urquhart was now marching in her direction, though Harry noticed some hesitation on his pace when the determination settled on her face. He had known, not that Harry spent a lot of time observing her, that she was very capable at wandless magic. In Urquhart’s case, he was always ready to start a brawl, yet he never saw through; opting, instead, to play it cool when he realised that he wouldn’t come out triumphant. 

Because of some kind of instinct, Harry drew closer to the Slytherin Quidditch Team, standing a few paces behind her. Zabini observed him, his eyes were narrowed and his arms were crossed; it was clear he wasn’t there to stop his teammates from fighting each other. Suddenly, Snape stood between Urquhart and (Y/N). His face was rougher than usual and with only a few words he sent the Slytherin Captain back to the castle. Then, Snape turned to them, raising his eyebrows at the sight of Harry.

“Potter, shouldn’t you be celebrating?” Said Snape. The mere mention of the word ‘celebrating’ added a layer of disgust to his face. “Or is it that you cannot bear that the attention is not on you?”

Before answering, he looked at her. She had glanced back at him at the mention of his name, clearly surprised that he was here. Their eyes met for a brief second, one in which Harry noted the colour of his eyes was similar to that of her robes. 

“I was only making sure that none of the players of your house got hurt. Seeing as Malfoy wasn’t here to play today, to get yet another replacement would surely affect the team.”

“How… heroic. Always ready to save the day, Potter.” Harry smiled sarcastically at Snape’s comment. “Miss, I expect to see you at my office tomorrow morning. We will discuss your detention.”

“Detention? Urquhart was the one to start the fight. He was the one yelling at me and getting all over my face.” Harry was certain that weren’t for the fact that Snape was a professor and the Head of her House, he would have suffered the same fate as Urquhart, thrown back across the pitch. He stopped himself from laughing at the mental picture of that. 

“It’s not up to discussion, but if you keep complaining you will do a month of detention rather than two weeks.” With her silence and the matter already settled, Snape started walking towards the castle, Zabini and the rest followed him.

Now that the two of them were alone, Harry didn’t know what to say. The bleachers were emptying, some members of his team had already left the pitch. 

“Um, thanks for that, I guess,” she mumbled. It seemed she didn’t know what to say either. 

“Uh, yeah, no problem.”

There was another moment of silence where both of them avoided each other’s gaze, looking at their shoes or the brown gloves on their hands.

“What did- What did Urquhart say to you?” Harry asked. He was curious, but he also wanted to keep talking to her. 

“He basically blamed the loss on me, saying I wasn’t fast enough or my aim was off, which could be true, but it’s not as if the rest of the team got the same. He said it to me because I’m the only girl, so…”

“So he’s a prick and no better than Flint.”

She laughed at that, softly and probably reminiscing that time she cursed him for not wanting to put her on the team. Harry swore that if he could hear that laugh play in the back of his mind forever, he wouldn’t need anything else. It would be her laugh that’d spurred him on. He thought about running to Dumbledore’s office and using the pensieve to replay this moment over and over again.

“Yeah, at least Montague would yell at all of us.” She mentioned while beginning to play with the strap on her gloves. “Anyways, I think it’s time for me to get back, and you have a win to celebrate.”

“Yeah, yeah, I do. But, um, you played well today. You’re a great Chaser.”

She whispered a small ‘thanks’, biting her lower lip in an attempt to contain the grin that was about to erupt in her face. 

thank you for reading!

[silverspotted]

“ the wands more trouble than it’s worth - „

“ i’ve had enough trouble for a lifetime. „

[sulkysnape]

help. the marauders fans on twitter think they invented headcanons 😭😭

[severussnaperevived]

Severus: "for the last time I don't need more clothes"

Y/N: "you only have a couple of copies of one black outfit, try this on" hands Severus a white short sleeve shirt, black shorts and white shorts

Severus: snatches it from you "fine", goes into changing room

Hermione, Ron, harry and Ginny watched with amusement on their face

Hermione: picks out pink shirt from rack and hands it to you "I think this would look nice"

Y/N: hands it to Severus

Severus: "you got to be joking"

Ginny: whispers "karma's a bitch"

Severus: "nothing suits me"

Y/N: "let me see"

Severus: opens door wearing pink shirt and white shorts with the biggest scowl on his face

Hermione, Ron, harry and Ginny crack up laughing

[weasleycream]

May I request Harry Potter x aunt reader

Y/N is James' sister and Severus' best friend. This sparks a fight between the siblings and they lose touch. Y/N marries Severus and becomes an auror with a reputation as a fierce hunter of Death Eaters. After a successful career that has brought her many scars and fame, she returns to Hogwarts as a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Harry doesn't know he has an aunt, and Ron is curious why the teacher, who is nicknamed "Snape in a Skirt," is so nice to Harry. Voldemort then reveals to Harry that Y/N is his aunt and that he wants to kill her because she only causes him trouble

 ˃̵ᴗ˂̵     !! ( uyeueujg my first order 😭💗 ) Of course! I like the idea of ​​James having a sister who marries Severus in the future, it sounds pretty interesting🤔. I will do my best to develop your idea to the letter, thank you very much for your request! I hope you like it <3.

ㅤㅤ୭.ᰍㅤ𝅄  ֹ    " 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐫𝐭 "  🪽    Ⳋ

ઈઉ ݁  ㅤִㅤ𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 ; 𝐒everus 𝐒nape x 𝐅em!𝐀unt!𝐑eader

ઈઉ ݁  ㅤִㅤ𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 ; Use of bad words, mentions of death/blood/scars, family fights (between siblings), Bad grammar in English.

ઈઉ ݁  ㅤִㅤIn this OS Gilderoy Lockhart resigns as soon as the petrifications begin to occur

ઈઉ ݁  ㅤִㅤ𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 ; The Philosopher's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets

ઈઉ ݁  ㅤִㅤ 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 ; 3.2k+ (I still see it as too short, help💔)

ઈઉ ݁  ㅤִㅤ𝗨𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱.

Maybe for her brother being with someone like Severus Snape was something to consider himself a "traitor" and even more so since she was his little protégé and little twin sister. It was frustrating for him to see how the other half of him was best friends with his biggest enemy, to see how those two were inseparable.

It would not be a surprise to many, even James and his band of friends, to know that Severus no longer had eyes for Lily Evans (which James is partly grateful for) and now those looks of excitement and excitement are directed towards his sister Y/N Potter. Which sparked a loud dispute with The Marauders and Snape in the background, allowing them to hear all the twins' commotion.

"Merlin, James! Stop bothering me! Just because you're my brother and you ask me to end my friendship with him, I'm not going to do it, you understand!? I'm already tired of you interfering in my relationships just because you don't like them for nothing!" The feminine screams at her brother, who was in front of her red with rage and fury that had accumulated for a long time. “Accept it, James, Sev and I are never going to separate no matter how much you want us to, much less without one good reason."

"Do you want a reason? Fine! It's simple, I don't want you to be the same as that first-class idiot, who only knows how to follow Lily like her dog, it's not good for you to be with people like him"He snapped with anger in his voice as he looked into his sister's insistent eyes, clenching his fists at his sides causing his knuckles to quickly lose color and turn white.

Y/N, full of annoyance and disbelief, spoke: "That's the stupidest thing you've ever said in your life, James. I'm not going to separate from Sev because of that stupidity, he suits me, and much more than you if you ask me! He is "Much better than you in several ways! I like him! And I'm not going to allow you to keep giving me stupid numbers just because you don't like him!"

Severus, who was witnessing the arduous scene, froze in place upon hearing his friend's words. Apparently every attempt to eliminate every feeling he had for her, thinking that it was not reciprocated, was in vain. He, who was in a state of shock, could not allow himself to continue listening until she screamed again in fury.

"Fine! This ends here, James, if you don't like the idea of ​​seeing me happy with the person I love and long for, then this is all over, ignore the fact that I am your sister and don't talk to me again, because I already see that "The only thing you're doing when you talk to me is hurt me!"

She snapped red with anger with tears threatening to come out of her ocean blue eyes. He turned around and began to walk with heavy steps, pushing Sirius with his shoulder as he went, taking Snape by the hand, beginning to leave that place without preventing the crystalline tears from starting to come out of his eyes as he was far enough away from him over there.

"Uhmm… Y/N… I'm so sorry for what just happened because of me with your brother… I really didn't mean to."He apologized sincerely making them both sit on the roots of a tree near the Black Lake. He wrapped the girl in her arms as soon as they sat down, beginning to caress her wavy, silky hair.

The girl began to shake due to the sobs of her sadness, soaking her friend's robe with salty tears, alerting the black-haired man who squeezed her tighter against him. "Don't apologize Sev… It's not your fault, it's his for not accepting that he is a selfish fucking idiot who should let me be happy with the person I love"

"Oh… Yes… About that… Do you really feel that way about me? I mean… It's exciting to know that I'm loved by the most beautiful girl there has ever been in all of Hogwarts.." He murmured softly. against his hair, lightly inhaling the girl's soft fruity aroma, and then feeling how she tensed a little and separated from him a little to look into his eyes.

The girl, who had already stopped shedding tears little by little, slowly blushed at her opponent's words. "Sev… I've been in love with you for a year… But I never wanted to tell you for fear that you would continue to love Lily…" she murmured, looking away from him, avoiding the embarrassment of the moment.

"Fuck Y/N… You don't know how much I wanted to tell you this for a long time… You know? Yes, I still love Lily." The brunette squirmed in her place, pursing her lips, avoiding saying anything while she narrowed her little eyes that longed to throw away. tears again at what was said. "But like… A friend?… Since I met you, some time later I discovered that Lily was just a crush since she was the first girl I met in my life… But then you came along and changed that… "And it wasn't just a crush… It's something true, and knowing that you feel the same is… Encouraging."

"Sev…" He whispered, looking up again, moving from his eyes to her lips slowly, getting a little closer, remaining a few centimeters from her face. The boy swallowed hard nervously while he did the same action as the girl in his arms, shortening the short distance, touching his lips in a very small but lasting kiss full of feelings.

"Y/N… Will you allow me to be the happiest man and be your boyfriend?…" He asked shyly cupping the brunette's small blushing cheek, cupping her face affectionately.

"Of course, Severus…" She responded by giving him another small kiss and then hugging him tightly again, sealing their love under that tree on the lake, without imagining what things his future would bring.

After long years without contact with her brother after that tedious fight, she married Severus some time ago after becoming a kind of Death Eater hunter, taking many of them behind the bars of Azkaban prisons. She knew that her husband did not like this work at all despite having been a Death Eater after graduating, he did not like at all that his smooth and soft skin had now become scratchy and calloused with scars due to the risk of his job.

Despite all this, he had to accept that there was good news in his life, such as the time he notified him that James and Lily had gotten married and had a child, he felt so happy for them that he had forgotten for a moment that he had already He had no contact with his brother, holding back every desire to want to go visit them and see his beloved nephew Harry.He knew very well in advance that after the birth of his nephew, his brother along with Lily had died at the hands of Voldemort and that Harry, being barely a baby, was able to survive the feared Adava Kedavra, making him a celebrity in the magical world, of course. This news devastated Y/N, who sought great comfort after her grief with her husband, trying to overcome the pain of her loss at all costs.

After the years, she wanted to leave her job as Aurora and started teaching at Hogwarts, she knew that her nephew was already there, she knew that Voldemort had returned for him and perhaps for her too, but still, she wanted to spend time with him, although for on the other hand, Severus, who quite renounced this decision, had no choice but to accept, understanding his beloved's desire to meet the only family he had left.

Upon arriving at Hogwarts as a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, surprising many when they saw how close she was to Severus Snape, making more than a smile and sigh from the 'most feared professor at Hogwarts', some even noticed the ring that both wore it on their ring finger, it being impossible not to notice the similarity of these, it was there that they nicknamed her 'Snape in a skirt', something that inevitably reached the ears of the great Harry Potter, who had noticed a great resemblance between him and her physically.

Harry even thought he was going to have another teacher with an attitude as scary as Snape's after Gilderoy ran away and 'Snape in a Skirt' arrived when he heard fourth year boys, like the Weasley twins, saying that the new teacher was very heavy and quite scary when you notice her scars on her arms, neck and face, but her surprise was great when it was time for Defenses Against the Dark Arts and the woman treated Harry as if he were her son, unlike the rest, They were treated as if they were in Potions class.

A week after Y/N's arrival, petrifications continued to occur at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which worried everyone greatly, even rumors reached the new teacher that Harry was 'The heir of Slytherin' being a Idiocy on the part of the students. She had already interacted with her nephew on several occasions without him even knowing that they were related to her, although talks about her with her group of friends were inevitable after he and Y/N finished talking.

"I still have a question… Do any of you know why they call him 'Snape in a Skirt'?" Harry questioned his friends, receiving a silent denial from Hermione, but a quick and boisterous nod from Ron.

"Of course! You're too lost not to have listened yet," she said as she looked at him with bored but emotion-filled eyes, receiving a 'I'm sorry' from Harry. "It's okay. Well, almost everyone says it's because of her attitude, everyone complains that she's like Snape but a woman, hence her nickname, although there are some who say it's because she's very close to the Potions professor and because ' "They share rings very similar to those of a marriage. But still, that doesn't take my mind off the fact that she's only nice to you, Harry." He explained making quotes with his fingers and emphasizing the 'share' and then looked forward again and prevented his bad luck from playing against him again and causing him to collide with someone again. or hit something.

Hermione snorted and spoke "Well, they're right in both situations, she has a very strong character and her scars speak for themselves… And about the ring, well… I never looked closely but you don't have to be very smart to see which are very similar in terms of design." This made Harry think extremely, remaining silent as he walked next to his friends who were once again fighting over some pointless thing. She had her suspicions about Snape for a year, and now he is involved with Slytherin because of his Parcel, and now with the arrival of that new teacher and her great physical resemblance and her strange change of mood with him, it was starting to be a headache for him.

That same night, Harry along with Ron and his former Defenses Against the Dark Arts teacher were able to discover the chamber of secrets by entering it, so that Harry continued advancing after one of the teacher's idiocies, he finally found himself with ' Tom Riddle' who after a short conversation mentioned something that left him disconcerted.

"Haven't I told you? Murdering impure people doesn't matter to me at all, for several months the ones I've been looking for are you and your aunt." This left Harry cold, it couldn't be possible that they were looking for his Aunt Petunia, she doesn't even have a drop of magical blood. "How is it possible that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent defeated the greatest wizard of all time? How could you escape with only a scar while all of her powers were nullified?"

"Why are you interested in how I escaped? Voldemort didn't live in your time… And why would you want to kill my Aunt Petunia, if she's a Muggle?" Harry asked quickly in response without backing down, regretting it for a moment when he noticed the abrupt change in 'Tom's expression and the tension was becoming more and more noticeable in that place.

Angry and angry 'Tom' responded: "Voldemort… It is my past, present and future…" He turned around and with his wand began what apparently seemed like writing in the air leaving the letters in his wake. of his full name, and after a movement he rearranged them, thus leaving the phrase 'I am Lord Voldemort' and spoke again. "And your aunt… I'm not talking about your pathetic, bony Dursley… I'm talking about Y/N… The sister of the famous James Potter, and the aunt of the great Harry Potter…Don't think I'm going to let her go, it's just a thorn in the side if she's alive… She has to die so she doesn't interfere with my plans anymore."

Faced with this revelation, Harry remained static and in shock in his place, despite all the dust and dirt on his face, you could see how his skin was turning pale little by little, and then he began to engage in a fight with the Basilisk afterwards. that Dumbledore's Phoenix arrived with a hat with a sword that appeared shortly after inside it, concluding with the bloody death of the enormous snake.

Harry, trying to put aside the fact that the Basilisk bit him with its poisoned bite, approached Ginny taking her hand listening to Voldemort's ramble, then took the diary and opened it and then took the tooth that he pulled out of the Basilisk and stabbed the blank page of the book, causing some kind of bloody textured ink to come out, receiving angry and desperate screams from Voldemort, he continued stabbing the book until 'Tom Riddle's' body was no longer there with them.

Hours after Harry and the others were able to leave thanks to the Phoenix and Harry and Ron spoke with Headmaster Dumbledore and had a small fight with Lucius Malfoy, before dinner in the great hall, he searched the entire castle for his teacher and aunt. , Y/N, finding her in one of the hallways that led to the dungeon halls.

"Professor Y/N! Can I talk to you for a moment, please?" She asked politely with a shy look and frown. "Is something important"

The one with ocean eyes turned around when she heard her nephew's voice, giving him a small smile. "Of course Harry! What do you need, little one?" She responded kindly as she looked into his eyes fondly.

"Well… As the director may have already told you… I was with Vold-…You-Know-Who" He interrupted himself, knowing that not many like the mention of that disgusting wizard's name. "Yesterday in the chamber… He told me something that was quite disconcerting… Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't he tell me that you are my aunt?"

The woman just sighed and placed her hand on the boy's shoulder as she opened her eyes to speak. "You know, Harry? You're just as direct as your father was…" she murmured with a sad, nostalgic smile and a lost look before sighing lightly again. "I never told you because I never had the chance… I couldn't be there for you when you were little… And now that I got to see you here, I just didn't have the courage to tell you and have you face the fact that I'm a Terrible aunt for that…"

"Still, it's quite strong to know that I don't just have my Aunt Petunia as a family… I wish you had arrived earlier, you know? I had a horrible time at the Dursleys' house and with no place to go." go… And now I find out about this.."

"I know, little one… And believe me, I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry, Harry… I just… When I found out that James and Lily got married and had you, I just… I wanted to see them." …But I couldn't… I was still afraid of seeing your father after our fight and thinking that he could still hate me for that…" He paused when he noticed that his voice broke as he felt the knot in his throat, and then continued "I always wanted to meet you… And take care of you after what happened… But I never knew your whereabouts… I never knew… But you don't know how happy I am to know that you are here… Live, despite everything you've been through…"

The youngest just nodded with teary eyes and managed to rush towards her to hug her tightly, releasing all the pain and happiness he felt after he found out that that fearsome teacher was his aunt and that she always loved him.

They both arrived at the large dining room and the one with brown hair saw her beloved nephew in the distance with his friends talking, he turned around and saw her and then greeted her with his hand and a small smile and eyes of joy, he returned the greeting and smile. and then continued on her way with her husband to the teachers' table, where they sat together and he spoke.

"Apparently you already talked to Potter about that, dear," he whispered so that only she could hear as he took her hand under the table without anyone noticing, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb, gently tracing the scar that adorned it with the finger.

The woman smiled warmly, leaning down to rest her head on her lover's shoulder, feeling how he tense up at the demonstration of affection in a public place, where it is not supposed to be known about their relationship.

"Well Mr. Snape, I had to do it at any moment, after all he is my nephew… I knew that despite what happened, he was going to accept me, after all, who wouldn't accept a beauty like me?" The woman joked as she looked into his eyes, separating herself a little with her smile remaining a few centimeters from her face.

The man who only looked at her tightened his grip on their clasped hands and murmured: "Well… You're right… It would be unforgivable just not to accept someone as beautiful and incredible as you, darling.." He said so that Then the woman approached again, leaving a soft short kiss on his lips and then kissing his cheek and the tip of his nose when they separated, surprising everyone who had decided to fix their eyes on the two at that moment, between those, Harry, who seemed like after that scene, just wanted the world to swallow him up and spit him out in Azkaban to erase all memory of that sight.

੭୧    ݂   Soooooo… What did you think? I'm not very good at this kind of things yet but I still hope you liked it ㅜㅅㅜ, especially to the person who requested it, regarding that, thank you very much for the request! I quite enjoyed doing this!🥹❤️‍🩹

—　˚ 🪦  ⌢　𝙏𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙢 𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙮! <3

[btsbabe7]

November Prompt 21: Crisp Air

Words: 905 | Pairing: Neville Longbottom x reader

In the distance, you can make out Neville’s frame hunched on a bench in front of the main greenhouse. Thick brown vines trailing across the giant frosted windows hug the structure behind him and the morning horizon peeks just beyond it. The view is breathtaking, but you can’t bring yourself to stop staring at him.

Your close footsteps draw his attention from the book in his hands and up towards you. His thick brown hair is blowing in the soft morning winds and he shoves his book away, immediately coming off the bench to greet you with a warm smile. His gloved hands rest on your cheeks and he leans down to plant a soft kiss on your lips, warming you more than you’d been with your hands shoved inside your coat pockets on the walk over. When he pulls away, his ocean blue eyes gaze into yours and you get lost in them until the crisp morning air rushes over the both of you. The moment you shiver against him, he reaches into his bag for the extra greenhouse keys he’d managed to get from Professor Sprout at the beginning of the year.

“Next class isn’t due til noon, so we have plenty of time to study,” he grunts while pushing the heavy door open with his shoulder. With a sigh, he turns back toward you, following your lead after you step inside. Shortly after, he locks the door from the inside. “But I don’t understand why you want to study dittany, we’re far more advanced than that.”

You take in the warmth of the greenhouse. All the sunlight that seems to have disappeared over the week has been absorbed inside the frosted glass walls. Everywhere you turn there’s plant pots, soil and fertilizer bags or some green herb growing lushly. It makes you smile, makes you happy to be able to witness life in this form when everything outside of here is withering away and growing colder with winter fast approaching.

You peel your coat off, then your gloves and scarf and earmuffs and toss them on the only empty table you can find before turning to see your boyfriend’s look of confusion.

“Come on, Nev,” you purr softly. “Warm me up a bit?”

Your teeth sink into your bottom lip the moment he slips out of his coat and drops everything on the ground before scurrying to you. Neville steps in front of you, allowing his fingertips to curl against the hairs at the nape of your neck before pulling you into an open-mouthed kiss.

He’s gotten loads more attention now due to his changing looks, but you’ve had the real luxury of watching him grow older over the years. His puffy cheeks were the first to go, eventually rounding out into a sculpted, chiseled jawline and soon after, his body had done the same, leaving him with nothing but pure muscle that threatened to tear through the white button up he’d failed to replace. And though he had many physical changes, his kindness and courage and care for you always remained, and that’s what you love most.

You hop on top of the table, shaking a few pots in the neighboring potting tables which gains a laugh from the both of you. And once you’ve steadied yourself, you glide your hands over his, which had dropped to your waist during your kiss. Then, you trail up his wrists and slowly over his biceps until you reach his shoulder blades. You work your fingers tenderly into the knots that always form there and he grunts loudly in relief.

“You’re doing it again, aren’t you?” You moan. “Carrying all the plant pots for the first years?”

He bows his head in shame, knowing that he told you he’d stop two weeks ago.

“You know how heavy those pots can get, Y/n, and they’re so small. It reminds me of us seven years ago,” he admits.

“Nev, you promised. It’s admirable, truly, but you’re neglecting your own body.”

“I can handle it,” he whispers and leans in closer, looking you straight in the eyes with a smirk. “Besides, I have you to rub out all the kinks and knots.”

You scoff softly before giggling against his touch and pulling him closer. He rests his head against your shoulder, his breath steadying against the goosebumps that have prickled across your skin.

“Y/n?” He breathes.

“Mhm?”

“I want you to stay with me over the break,” he answers, pulling back to see the clear excitement and nervousness on your face.

In all the years of dating, he’d never asked, and during the times you’d begged him, he always said he didn’t want to intrude on you and your time with your family; though, he didn’t even have his own anymore.

“Yes. Yes! Of course I’ll come, Nev,” you exclaim and rest your hands against his collarbones.

“Y/n,” he says again and you gaze up into his eyes once more. “I’m absolutely head over heels in love with you.”

You blush hard as he brushes your tears away and pulls your lips back against his. In that kiss, you both make a silent vow to never abandon each other. And that vow, in a world where anything can be frigid and crisp on the outside, having the ability to lean on each other for warmth whenever you may need it feels absolutely amazing, just as love should.

Please be sure to check out my other latest fics:

⚡︎ November Prompt Challenge (days 1-30)

⚡︎ For You Always - reader x Snape

~ Navi: masterlist (all fandoms) & (bts imagines/drabbles)

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction, but please don’t copy! Written purely for fun :) Please only repost to other socials w/my permission and credit! Reblogging w/credit is fine. Thank you! ♡

[fredgeorgegredfeorge]

hi! welcome to the shitstorm! it’s been a really long time since i’ve written for hp so please bear with me while i get the hang of it again. if you’ve read any of my works already and came to check out some more, thanks! also, if you’ve left any comment on my stuff i have def read them and appreciated them dearly, even if i haven’t responded :)

requests: OPEN (please be respectful and patient with me, I’ll do my best to get to them as soon as I can!)

taglists: please specify if you want to be on a general taglist, a fic taglist, or for a specific person 🫶🏻

disclaimer: tis’ all fiction and imagination, as well as non-cannon, and i will never claim otherwise! also, i try to keep my works 100% original; i do not read as much as i write, and i would hate for someone to think im copying them in any way. also, please don’t steal my stuff :) please be kind to me and everyone else. this blog is a safe spot. my feelings get hurt easily, and i will not stand for any disrespect towards others. thanks in advance 🫶🏻

♡ - fluff, ☾ - smut, ★ - angst

as always, be kind, stay happy, and shoot me a message anytime if you want to chat!

p.s. my wattpad is toxmaxdox, i write there too 😁

Fred Weasley

green-eyed monster | ♡ ☾ ★

For the first time ever, Fred Weasley finds himself jealous over the only person in the world he needn’t worry a bit about.

[georgeplease]

✨✨WHY LET OUR PARTY STOP? LETS CONTINUE INTO THE NEW YEAR! ✨✨

Do you have no plans for New Year’s Eve? Forced to hang out with your family? Just want to talk about your favorite Harry Potter headcanons?THEN COME JOIN US FOR THE CONTINUATION OF OUR CHRISTMAS HP HEADCANON PARTY!

We even changed up the format a bit, so you can:

✨ send in your favorite headcanons! I really enjoy talking about your headcanons and being able to share my own thoughts.

❄️ get to know me! ask me some questions, would you rather, fmk, anything to get to know me!

💫 tell me about how you and your favorite character would be like! gush about your favorite characters to me!

☃️ just come and chat!

I will be going until New Years Day! I hope I will see you there!!!!

These are not for requests, I want to talk to the community and have some fun for all of us not having a great New Years Eve and are using tumblr to escape!

[h3rm0n13]

[smilingbluetiger]

Hogwarts talks

After the Battle of Hogwarts.

Snape: Well... So you survived after all.

Ginny sarcasm: We are very sorry to have disappointed you.

Ron: HOW COULD IT BE DIFFERENT?!!!

Snape: I have a few concepts of my own.

You: He spits venom in the old way, which means everything is fine.

[hufflepuffskein]

NAVIGATION PAGE!

✨ Puff | She/Her | Virgo | INFP | Straight | HP+HOMESTUCK

✨ DNI IF: Racist, LGBT phobic, TERF/SWERF, porn bots, dnf shippers, pedos, etc.

✨Newest Update: Taking Shifting Scenerio Requests!

✨ Requests are closed

✨ Prompts are open

·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ Navigation!

✨Rules

✨ Prompt Lists (coming soon!)

·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ Request Count

✨ Requests: 0

✨ Shifting Scenerio Requests: 0

✨ Prompt Requests: 0

✨ Current Works in Progress: 0

✨Series Requests: 0

HP+ FB

✨ Draco:0 | Ron:0 | Cedric:0 | Tom Riddle:1 | Neville:0 | Theodore Nott:0 | Dean Thomas:0 | Weasley Twins:0 | Ginny Weasley:0 | Luna Lovegood:0

✨ Sirius Black:0 | Regulus Black:0 | Remus Lupin:0 | Newt Scamander:0 | Credence Barebone:0 | Severus Snape:0

HL

✨Sebastian:0 | Ominis:0 | Amit:0 | Garreth:0 | Poppy:0

HS

✨Aradia:0 | Tavros:0 | Sollux:0 | Karkat:0 | Nepeta:0 | Kanaya:0 | Terezi:0 | Vriska:0 | Equius:0 |Gamzee:0 | Eridan:0 |Feferi:0

✨Damara:0 | Rufioh:0 | Mituna:0 | Kankri:0 | Meulin:0 | Porrim:0 | Latula:0 | Aranea:0 | Horuss:0 | Kurloz:0 | Cronus:0 | Meenah:0

✨The Handmaid:0 | The Summoner:0 | The Psionic:0 | The Sufferer:0 | The Disciple:0 | The Dolorosa:0 | Neophyte Redglare:0 | Marquise Spinneret Mindfang:0 | The E%ecutioner:0 | The Grand Highblood:0 | Orphaner Dualscar:0 | The Condesce:0

[bad-biddie]

The Dark Lord Shall Rise Again

[emmie-tt]

REQUEST LIST

Feel free to send requests love!!

HARRY POTTER

Harry potter

Draco Malfoy

Blaise Zabini

Ronald Weasley

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Ginny Weasley

Hermione Granger

Luna Lovegood

Neville Longbottom

Mattheo Riddle

Theodore Nott

Tom Riddle

Severus Snape (PLATONIC ONLY)

Lucius Malfoy (PLATONIC ONLY)

Narcissa Malfoy (PLATONIC ONLY)

Bellatrix Lestrange (PLATONIC ONLY)

Remus Lupin (PLATONIC ONLY)

Sirius Black (PLATONIC ONLY)

Regulus Black (PLATONIC ONLY)

Molly Weasley (PLATONIC ONLY)

Arthur Weasley (PLATONIC ONLY)

STRANGER THINGS

Steve Harrington

Eddie Munson

Billy Hargrove

Eleven (PLATONIC ONLY)

Max Mayfeild (PLATONIC ONLY)

Will Byers (PLATONIC ONLY)

Mike Wheeler (PLATONIC ONLY)

Dustin Henderson (PLATONIC ONLY)

Nancy Wheeler

Jim Hopper (PLATONIC ONLY)

Robin Buckley

Chrissy Cuningham

Lucas Sinclair (PLATONIC ONLY)

Johnathan Byers

Erica Sinclair (PLATONIC ONLY)

Joyce Byers (PLATONIC ONLY)

Karen Wheeler (PLATONIC ONLY)

TWILIGHT

Edward Cullen

Jasper Hale

Alice Cullen

Carlisle Cullen (PLATONIC ONLY)

Bella Swan

Emmet Cullen

Jacob Black

Rosalie Hale

Esme Cullen (PLATONIC ONLY)

Charlie Swan (PLATONIC ONLY)

Renesmee Cullen (PLATONIC ONLY)

Leah Clearwater

Sam Uley

Seth Clearwater

AVENGERS

Tony Stark / Iron Man

Steve Rogers / Captain America 

Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier

Sam Wilson / Falcon

Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow 

Wanda Maximoff 

Clint Barton 

OUTER BANKS

JJ Maybank

John B. Routledge 

Rafe Cameron 

Sarah Cameron 

Kiara Carrera

Ward Cameron

GREYS ANATOMY

Merideth Grey

Lexi Grey

Derek Shepherd 

Amelia Shepherd 

Mark Sloan

Addison Montgomery 

Callie Torrez

Arizona Robbins 

Alex Karev 

George O'malley

Isabella Stevans 

Jackson Avery

April Kepner

Owen Hunt 

Christina Yang  

SHAMELESS

Fiona Gallagher

Veronica Fisher

Kevin Ball

Carl Gallagher

Lip Gallagher

Ian Gallagher (PLATONIC ONLY)

Debbie Gallagher

Jimmy Lishman

Mickey Milkovich (PLATONIC ONLY)

Svetlana Yevgenivna

Mandy Milkovich

Karen Jackson

MISC. CHARACTERS

Austin!Elvis Presley (Elvis - the movie) 

Thomas Shelby (Peaky Blinders)

Anthony Bridgerton (Bridgerton)

Olivia Pope (Scandal)

Fitzgerald Grant (Scandal) 

 MISC. CELEBS/PEOPLE

Elvis Presley 

Kylie Jenner

Kim Kardashian

Khloe Kardashian

Kourtney Kardashian

Kendall Jenner

Megan Fox

Chris Evans 

Sebastian Stan 

Sam Worthington 

RULES

No Smut, this may change but for the moment/until i get comfortable i'm only writing fluffy, angsty and platonic relationships

I wont write about R@pe, Abu$e or ince$st

All my writing will be fem/GN!reader, I wont go into detail about skin color, body type or really any personal details unless asked to

I want to keep my stories fun so try and keep the requests non boring lol :))

If you have any questions please ask

[soyscoutsmasher]

Takes one to know one

A 5th-year wizard is transferred to Hogwarts after something bad occurred at his previous school. Unfortunately for him, he is picked for Slytherin so his venture to a new school is almost destined to be filled with hate. Luckily thanks to a certain muggle born there may be some good parts too.

There had been houses at Y/N’s previous school, just like Hogwarts. The method for being placed into a house, however, was much different there. Back at his old school, it was simply a random placement, though it could be changed with enough pleading to the upper crust of staff.

All of this meant when Y/N discovered he would be put into a house chosen by a magical talking hat he was moderately confused, but even more intrigued. Even after spending some time within the school for the Triwizard Tournament, he had never heard of the hat. How the hat worked was a mystery to him, ‘Maybe it just picks one at random,’ was his initial thought, however, that theory was quickly dismissed upon watching how it seemed to debate with itself over a person's characteristics. ‘Maybe the professors feed it information from the student's past.

This theory was also quickly dismissed. While he had not heard of this hat he had heard of many students being surprised by their letter of invitation to the school, which meant they probably didn’t have to send in an application which would leave very little for the hat to be told.

“L/N Y/N.” His thought process was interrupted by the professor reading out names, McGonagall was her name if his memory served him right. Realizing she was calling his name because it was his turn to be sorted he quickly moved forward to sit on the stool planted in front of the professor, with the hat falling upon his head quickly after.

“Hmm, what’s this?” The hat spoke though Y/N could not tell if it was simply in his head or actually talking at this point. “A 5th year, you’re not part of my usual group.” Its words were dragged out, almost slurred as if it had drunk one too many butterbeers. “Well, there is certainly a mind filled with that knowledge.” The compliment to his intellect brought a small smirk to his face, though it fell shortly after hearing its next comments, “Not a brave bone in the body, and certainly less kind than smart.” While the hat was likely correct about both of those things it certainly wasn’t something that he wanted to be said straight to his face. “Hmm, but there’s more than intellect, there’s drive. Yes, I see, heaps of it.”

“That’s the 5th year who transferred isn’t it?” Ron whispered to his friends.

“Well, I don’t exactly see any other 5th years standing up there waiting to be sorted” Came Hermione’s response.

Since the train to Hogwart’s, there had been rumours of a 5th year transferring from another school to theirs. It was an easy rumour to dismiss initially, why would someone transfer so late into their learning? The rumour became harder to deny once they saw the student towering over the 1st years.

“SLYTHERIN!” Boomed the hat's final decision.

“That's gotta sting,” Ron once again whispered to his friends, who mostly gave him a look in response. He clarified, “Transferring schools just to end up being put in Slytherin, I know I wouldn’t want to be in that situation.

In actuality, Y/N felt none of the meaning that comes with being put into Slytherin, other than the fact he will now be wearing green robes. The infamy of the house was lost to the 5th year, back at his old school the houses meant nothing in reality due to their randomness, there were no stereotypes about them because there was nothing different between them.

Little did he know how much of a difference the house he had been forced into would make.

Luckily it did not take long at all for the upsides and downsides of which house he was placed in to show themselves. He quickly discovered that Slytherin was the most hated house, by all the others at least. It seemed as if all other Slytherins loved the house so much it didn’t even matter that everyone else hated them.

The benefits of this were that he could simply sit at a populated table in the library and it would immediately clear out. The detriments came during classes which required him to pair up with another student. During said classes, it usually ended the same if he was able to pick a partner and if he was not, in both cases no one was happy to be paired with him.

Overall he still had yet to make a decision on if he was happy to be in the house or not. What he had decided by this point however was that he did not like Draco Malfoy. Before joining Hogwarts He knew nothing about the Malfoy family, after one week it felt as if he knew more about Malfoys than his own family. Draco spoke of his family plenty of times, almost always going into how he was a pure-blood, an idea that Y/N had only half grasped by now.

The other students he had met so far seemed much more tolerable, but by his standards that wasn’t too much better. There were those in his own house like Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Pansy Parkinson, all of which were barely more tolerable than Draco simply because they let him do much more talking. It seemed in the end that Slytherin simply contained the most irritating people. There were certainly people in other houses that annoyed him but none to the degree of his own housemates.

It didn’t take much time for him to learn about the Golden trio, as they were mockingly called by Draco. Harry Potter, the boy who somehow made Voldemort disappear before he could even walk. Ronald Weasley, a redhead from a very large family, mostly seemed to have the personality trait of being Harry’s friend, at least from how everyone described him. Then there was Hermione Granger, a mudblood as Draco called her. She was the one who interested Y/N the most out of the three contrary to popular opinion of Harry being the poster boy. Something about her simply seemed different to the others, maybe it was her tenacity to become a witch even after all the prejudice due to her heritage.

One character Y/N had yet to properly meet before today was the easily mockable Neville Longbottom. The mockery was easy due to both his name and apparently his previous reputation for being awful at all magic, though he had yet to see that. Currently, all Y/N could see about Neville was that he had no idea how to look for a book in a library. He watched the Gryffindor search over the potions shelf three times, not once trying to look somewhere else or even simply ask the librarian where the book was.

Eventually, even Y/N, who could usually manage to ignore others' plights, was starting to feel some amount of pity for him. Which eventually led to him walking up to him as he started to search the shelf for the fourth time.

“Are you actually looking for a book or are you trying to look busy? Because either way, you are doing a poor job.” He spooked the boy with his words apparently because Neville quickly spun around with a face of shock at the sudden voice. Neville seemed to be conflicted after the initial surprise, he wanted to brush you off immediately because he was expecting your next comment to become much more mocking of him no matter his response.

“I’m looking for a potions book.” He replied after some thought, though not enough thought he realized as he added, “Dr Mardovia’s healing tonics and treatments, specifically.”

“Did you think to ask the librarian if that book was even on these shelves?” Y/N questioned rhetorically as he quickly continued, “If you did you would realize that the only copy this school has, for some reason, has been taken out already.” Neville’s face fell at this news, which caused Y/N to feel some pity for the boy, “Luckily for you, it was taken out by me, and I happen to almost be finished reading it. You can borrow it after I finish reading to copy whatever it is you seem to be desperate to know, I will need it back to make more notes after.” Neville's face lit up at this fact.

“Really? Thanks.” He said as he realized you weren’t pulling his leg, contrary to what he was expecting of a Slytherin. He then asked another question, he didn’t expect to ask someone from Y/N’s house, “If we’re both making notes we could work on them together?” His tone was very apprehensive, however, as he realized who he was asking right as he started talking. Y/N looked quite surprised by the offer, and Neville watched as he seemed to ponder it for a second before shaking his head quite strongly.

“No, I work much better alone.” He spoke curtly, before continuing, “Thank you for the offer but, no. I will bring the book to your painting tomorrow.” After that, he quickly walked away and out of the library altogether. Neville was mostly confused by the interaction's sudden end, so much so that it took him all the walk back to Gryffindor’s common room to realize

“How does he know about the painting?!”

The Fat lady just looked at him confused.

Y/N usually woke up early most days but today he woke up earlier than usual. After his run-in with Neville the previous day he realized that he had not specified any time at which he was going to show up at. While he could have simply just waited somewhere else such as the great hall, he did not like the idea that he could potentially miss him.

In the end, his best idea was to wait outside of the doorway to the Gryffindor common room until Neville or someone who would pass the book along to him exited. It was not the best plan, not only because the time window that someone could leave was over an hour, but because he would have to get there before the curfew was truly over. Luckily he was very confident in his own ability to get around the castle without being found, and also the fact he could easily claim he forgot about the curfew.

After a few minutes of walking, he found the specific painting he was looking for, the fat lady as she was so affectionately called. By that point curfew had ended so she luckily had no reason to be concerned with his presence, he could simply just be admiring the view for all anyone knew. That didn’t stop the fat lady from questioning him, however.

“Any reason you are just standing and staring at me?” She sounded calm, but she was ever so slightly concerned. The last time something like this happened she was slashed several times with a knife, the security trolls gave her some reassurance but since Y/N was a student and already happened to be right in front of her they likely wouldn't end up doing much.

“Heard some students talk about a ‘Fat Lady’ painting in this tower, thought I’d come to take a look.” He lied. Only partially, he had heard of this painting from other students, considering the fact their common room entrances were meant to be at least somewhat secretive it was a bit of a concern that so many students had let it slip so far. The fat lady eyed him suspiciously at this comment, so he made an extra one to try and get a bit of good favour, “I guess I should keep looking ‘cause I don’t see one around here.”

“Oh, my aren’t you a charmer.” The Fat lady replied, her suspicions mostly wiped away with the compliment. Her sudden change in mood was just as quickly changed again when she began to swing backwards, having been opened from the other side. From within the corridor stepped Neville to Y/N’s relief.

“Didn’t expect you to be this early.” He spoke shortly after getting fully out of the painting, the fat lady swinging closed after him, a slight frown on her face from the realization that the Slytherin boy’s compliment was likely hollow.

“Wasn’t expecting it from you either, I realized after our meeting yesterday that we did not specify any time so I decided to come here as soon as it would be possible to avoid missing you,” Y/N replied in one quick breath, the confidence he once had to compliment a painting fizzling out as he started talking to another person. “I’ve got the book here.” He added after, holding out the potion book for Neville to take, which he quickly did.

“You have no idea how thankful I am for this.” He spoke excitedly, quickly opening the book to browse through. Y/N had turned to step away before Neville spoke up again, “Um, I only need it for one potion, I can do it real quick if you want to just wait here and I can give it back straight away.” He paused, “So you can finish your notes and all that.” He finished with a nervous smile. Y/N studied his face for a moment before silently nodding, moving away down the stairs so that Neville could get back into the common room without spilling the password.

He would have declined and just asked for the book later but he did quite need those notes. There was also the issue of how to get the book back if he did leave now, he didn’t remember if he shared any classes with Neville. Internal conflict over, he decided to just wait as Neville said he’d only be a short while, he could stand for a few minutes at least.

Unfortunately for him, standing outside of Gryffindor’s common room meant his path just so happened to cross with the golden trio today.

“What are you standing around here for Slytherin?” Ronald asked, the venom in his voice when he said Slytherin was palpable. While Y/N was aware of the general distaste towards his house by most students the way that the redhead spoke made it sound personal.

“Waiting for someone so I can get my book back,” Y/N replied simply, not particularly in the mood to be arguing with people.

“You’re the one that gave Neville that book?” Harry then asked, once Y/N nodded he added another question, “What’re you playing at?” His tone wasn’t as venomous as Ron but it still clearly had some anger and something personal behind it. Hermione seemed to also be judging him from the way she squinted, however, she kept her distaste inside for now.

Y/N stopped leaning against the wall before responding, “I’m not ‘playing’ at anything,” he used air quotes when speaking. His own distaste could be heard in his voice, though it was much less pointed towards the three in front of him and much more for the particular conversation they were having. “He needed the book and I had it, I’m waiting here to get it back.”

“Yeah right!” Spat Ron, “You probably put a hex on it to make him piss himself or something. Now you’re just waiting to see it all go down.” His anger was flowing now, at this point Harry seemed to get the idea that Ron may have been going too far, but that didn’t stop him from continuing, “How’d you figure out where our common room is anyway, you threaten him into showing you?”

After that comment Y/N had enough and pushed Ron back, making him trip over himself onto his back. “I don’t know what your fuckin’ problem with Slytherin is, but keep me out of it.” He spoke with clear anger in his voice, and all three of the Gryffindors were surprised by the outburst. The situation was usually flipped, with them getting the earful from a Slytherin before one of them snapped. “The reason I know about your common room entrance is because of loose-lipped dumbasses like yourself.”

The three just stared after his outburst, not knowing what to do at this point. Ron almost looked ashamed as Harry and Hermione looked down at him along with Y/N. He tried to speak, “Sorry I d-”

“Save it.” Y/N cut him off still angry, he turned to the others, who once again returned their attention to him before he continued, “Tell Neville I’ll come to get my book back later.” He stormed off quickly after finishing.

“Nice job Ron,” Hermione said a moment after Y/N was gone, glaring down at him on the floor as Harry helped him up.

“I didn’t hear you stepping in to stop me,” He growled back at her.

“She also didn’t accuse someone of hexing a book in their first conversation.” Harry pointed out, only to also be scolded by Hermione.

“Don’t you get high and mighty after you accused him in the first place, honestly you two sometimes” She grumbled as she also turned and walked away, she knew what it was like to be discriminated against for something you didn’t control. While she still held some inner disdain herself from all the abuse she has taken from Slytherin over the years, she’d never accuse one of something like that without even meeting them first.

Ron and Harry simply stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, thinking about the whole situation, before there were some footsteps behind them.

“You guys didn’t happen to see a Slytherin out here did you?” Neville asked slightly nervous. The other two boys simply looked at each other awkwardly.

——————————————————————————————————

Chapter Text

It took a while for Y/N to calm down after his run-in with the golden trio, after thinking about it more he could see why there was disdain towards his house. Draco Malfoy made it clear that he enjoyed the misery of seemingly everyone else, and considering the number of negative things he has to say about the three Gryffindors it was clear that they were a common target.

That didn’t mean he liked what they had said, he was still annoyed about it. The fact that they seemed to hate him just for the colour of his robes and scarf. Maybe they would hate him anyway even if they got to know him, but at least then there would be a chance and he could have some input, but no, they just had to assume he’d be like Malfoy.

“Heard what you did to weasel boy,” Speak of the devil. Malfoy stared down at Y/N, who lay on one of the seats in the Slytherin common room, with a smug look on his face. Y/N simply looked back with a blank expression. “Though maybe next time you should teach the rest of them a lesson too.”

“What lesson would that be? That Slytherins are all exactly what they assume us to be?” Y/N questioned with a sneer, he wasn’t in the mood for Malfoy’s praising insults.

“No. That Slytherins aren’t to be trifled with.” He responded, a sour look taking over his face.

“It’s that attitude that has the rest of the school itching to find any reason to hate us.” Came Y/N’s reply as he stood from the seat he was on. “What reason do you have to hate those three anyway? They insult your precious pure blood or something?” He spat, to which Malfoy’s face seemed to quickly fill with annoyance.

“Ha! What is there not to hate about them?” He quickly retorted, continuing with a rant, “You’ve got Potter, the precious little saviour of the wizarding world with his stupid little scar. Then there’s Weasley, a disgrace to the words pure blood with his poor little muggle integrating family.” He paused, with his face seemingly changing from annoyance to pure disgust as he described the final person, “And finally there’s Granger, the mudblood who seems to think she deserves her place here with the real wizards and witches because she can cast a few spells.”

Y/N’s fists balled up as Malfoy described the trio. He could see why someone would maybe have some distaste for Harry, that always came with someone who was famous for something they hadn’t even had a say in. Ron and Hermione, however, had stupid reasons to hate them, the same type of reasons that they had to hate Y/N. Prejudice.

“I was wondering why everyone seemed to hate Slytherin.” He turned to walk away as Malfoy seemed offended that someone would dare walk away from him, however, Y/N just added, “Thanks for showing me.” Before he started walking away, leaving Malfoy teeming with rage at his comments.

After his little outburst at Malfoy, Y/N was almost feeling better until he got into runes class, late. Due to his less-than-punctual arrival, he was left with only one available seat, one next to Hermione Granger. His opinion of her was still sour from yesterday, even after learning she had a pretty good reason to dislike Slytherin, it didn’t excuse her behaviour towards him.

As he sat down neither of them spoke. He just brought out his book and began taking notes on what professor Babbling was writing on the blackboard. Unfortunately for both of them, this class happened to be one which would require them to partner up. As professor Babbling explained that the school had run into some issues with creating enough items with the runes engraved for them to have one each, so they would be working In pairs, and their scores would be shared.

While at first both of them seemed to be able to act diplomatically, it quickly fell apart after Y/N had corrected one of Hermione’s translations. This seemed to start a battle of passive-aggressive remarks about each other’s work. This argument was only stopped when Babbling reminded them that their marks would be shared, which managed to get them to stop and go back to working in silence.

As the assignment came to a finish all the students were asked to hand in all of the words on the item they could translate so it could be compared to the complete translation sheet Babbling had. Most students seemed to pass, some doing better than others but generally, most seemed to have almost the same score. The only pair which was different was Y/N and Hermione.

They were both asked to wait outside after class, which led to the assumption that they had failed. The looks that each of them got from their classmates as they left the classroom told a whole story of how this would immediately be passed around as a rumour. The two top students in a class had failed due to their inability to work together.

“I told you we were looking too much into that specific carving,” Hermione said after some moments of standing in silence. “They were clearly looking for us to decipher the words, not the letters.” She spoke almost condescendingly, with her arms crossed as she looked away from Y/N.

“OH I’m sorry,” Y/N quickly retorted sarcastically. “I would have expected little miss perfect to understand doing more than expected and thinking it would go well.” He continued bitterly.

“What is that supposed to mean?!” She asked angrily.

“I heard about your stunt in 3rd year, taking every single elective class.” He responded bluntly.

“Where did you hear that from?” The anger seemed to leave her voice, almost sounding scared now. If he knew about the extra classes did that mean he knew about the time turner, that would be really bad.

Y/N just huffed, amused, before turning to look away. “Malfoy’s mentioned it in almost all of his rants about how you. I was slightly impressed someone could manage that much” The last part came out quieter. This both calmed down Hermione, and also slightly flattered her ego. It also set her off again though. At least no one knew about the time turner, but Malfoy was still mouthing her off to people. She went to speak but was interrupted as the classroom door opened, professor Babbling calling them both back in.

They both stood at the front of the classroom as Babbling sat at her desk, looking at the sheets of parchment in front of herself. “Now then, which one of you decided to try and decipher these as letters instead of words? When we have barely gone through the first half of this alphabet?” Her tone was difficult to figure out, she sounded annoyed but almost impressed. Both Y/N and Hermione didn’t speak initially, nervous about what the consequence of doing so would be.

“It was me pr-”

“We both decid-”

Both of them spoke at once, interrupting each other. They also then both turned to face each other, a look of surprise on their faces. Y/N had intended on taking the blame for the mistake himself. Hermione had intended on sharing the mistake between the both of them equally. Professor Babbling simply looked at both of them with the same expression, expectant.

“I thought I saw one of the words was carved differently so I decided to try translating it by letters instead of words. It was my fault professor.” Y/N quickly spoke up, before Hermione could.

“Is that true Miss Granger?” Babbling asked after nodding at Y/N.

Hermione hesitated for a moment before speaking, “Yes professor,” she paused for another second, “but it wasn’t all him professor. I also thought it was strange so I agreed to try and decipher the letters instead of words. It was both of our faults not just Y/N’s.” This might have been the first time he had heard her say his name out loud. He stared at her confused, he was trying to take the blame but she seemed determined to share it for some reason.

“Is that so?” The professor’s expression had switched from questioning to almost smug now, as she turned back to Y/N. “Trying to take all the fame yourself are you?” These words confused both Y/N and Hermione. “10 points to Slytherin and Gryffindor.” She said proudly after, both students looking even more perplexed than before, taking a glance at each other before looking back to the professor for an explanation. “The runes on your item were inscribed poorly, which meant one of the words was incorrect. Your decision to look into the letters instead of the words meant you got a different answer to everyone else but an answer correct for your specific item and using the knowledge you have not even been taught yet. Very impressive.”

Y/N and Hermione were both still dumbfounded by the information as they continued to look at the professor. She simply laughed and told them to enjoy the dinner feast, ushering them out of the classroom

It took a moment for both of them to realize they had to start moving, still in shock from the fact they hadn’t failed their assignment but had passed it so well that they got house points for it. Neither said anything for a moment.

Y/N didn’t know what to think, they had just had an argument where he was starting to expect Hermione was right and he messed it up for them, but now that had been spun around. Was he meant to start mocking her because he was right all along? Surely he couldn’t do that after she was trying to share the blame while they both thought they were in trouble. Unless she somehow knew they were actually getting praise not punishment, but surely then she would have taken all the credit?

Hermione’s inner conflict shared a similar sentiment to Y/N, if not in reverse. She was debating thanking Slytherin for his contribution as it had paid off but now she was wondering if that was his plan all along, to make her feel stupid and take all the credit. The way that he spoke to the professor however made it seem much more like he was trying to take the blame like she was.

“Thanks fo-”

“Thank yo-”

Once again they both tried to speak at the same time, interrupting each other. This time however it was Hermione who spoke again first. “Thank you for convincing me to use letter translations instead of trying to use words,” Her tone was sincere with a tinge of reluctance, she was thanking a Slytherin for their help after all.

“Well thank you for trying to share the blame when it looked like we screwed it up,” he replied, just assuming that was in fact what she was doing. The slight look of surprise on her face nearly confirmed it for him. After the thanks, neither of them spoke again for a moment, before Y/N added, “We should get going if we want to make it to dinner.” With that he began to walk towards the great hall, Hermione following shortly after.

They walked side by side for a short while in silence, the halls were mostly empty by now, which meant they were probably already missing the feast, but neither of them sped up yet. The silence by this point was starting to feel awkward to Y/N so he attempted to start some form of conversation.

“You think anyone else’s runes were also broken?”

“Hm, I doubt it. Everyone else seemed to pass mostly fine, if they had an entire word missing they would have probably lost a lot more points.” She replied after some pondering.

“Maybe they also used letters instead of words to translate” Y/N fired back with a small grin. “I’m sure there’s at least one other person who has been looking ahead in the runes books.”

“Well, I’m sure that no one else was asked to stay behind with us.” She reminded him smugly.

“Touché” He responded with an amused huff as they continued towards the great hall. Both of them seeming to forget their vendettas against each other for the time being.

They were both still talking even as they walked into the great hall. Hermione had eventually taken the lead which meant Y/N was taken straight to the Gryffindor table, somewhere he suddenly realized was probably not the best place to be. The sudden realization came when he looked around and saw plenty of Gryffindor, and a few Slytherin staring at him as he stood.

Hermione also seemed to suddenly realize what they had done as her friends looked at her with surprise and a smidgen of annoyance at her bringing a Slytherin to their table. Before either of them could come up with a reason why Y/N was at their table Neville, who was luckily sitting close by, spoke up.

“Oh Y/N! I was hopin’ I’d run into you at some point, here,” He turned to his right and quickly offered the book he had borrowed earlier back to him. Y/N took a moment to realize what was happening before quickly taking the book and checking it to make sure it was the right one. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Neville, it was more that he didn’t trust the two other boys who were staring into the side of his head.

“Thanks, Neville.” He said somewhat quietly, realizing that Ron and Harry were looking at him. Luckily their stare-down was interrupted by Hermione who gasped.

“You’ve got that book?!” She exclaimed, quickly realizing she probably said it much louder than intended and had caught even more people’s attention as she and Y/N realized they were both still standing. Hermione quickly sat down at the table to avoid the stares, but Y/N stayed standing. He knew that sitting at other houses’ tables was allowed, but he also knew it would probably be a bad idea. Unfortunately, that didn’t usually stop him.

“Why does it seem like everyone needs this exact book?” He asked as he sat next to Hermione and Neville. The former’s surprise was much more shown than the latter, who looked surprised but didn’t seem too bothered by it. The tension was quickly brought back to the conversation as Ron spoke up.

“Some of us actually have to try in potions. Not all of us get special treatment.” He grumbled the last part. While Y/N found that annoyingly rude he couldn’t exactly counter that argument, Snape certainly did have a preference for his own house’s students and he did not make any attempt to hide it.

Y/N just ignored Ron and turned to Hermione, who seemed to be somewhat scowling at the said redhead. “Did you want to borrow it too?” he asked, which once again seemed to surprise the witch. She stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was playing some sort of game, similar to how Neville was when he offered. “I mean, I can’t give it to you now, I need to finish the notes I was planning on making yesterday.” He added after she stayed silent for a moment. “But once I’ve finished I can let you know?” He wasn’t sure what was possessing him to offer this but seeing her face light up made him feel something in his chest.

“That’d be great,” She whisper shouted, learning her lesson about being too loud quite quickly. The small moment of joy was quickly snuffed out as a certain white-haired boy seemed to appear at their table.

“I didn’t expect much from you after your outburst today but I must say this is low even for you L/N,” His words were directed at Y/N but the way he looked at everyone surrounding him made it feel like much more of an insult to them.

“What’s that meant to mean Draco?” He responded, getting to his feet once again and glaring at said Slytherin.

“It means I’m surprised you’re sitting with the mudblood after all the things you said about her this morning.” His words seemed to shock everyone at the table, including Y/N. Sure he’d grumbled about the Gryffindors while walking into the Slytherin common room he’d said nothing more than a few indirect insults. And Malfoy had been nowhere near enough to actually hear any of that.

Everyone was now looking at Y/N, waiting for some kind of response, but he just continued to stare at Malfoy, face no longer confused but annoyed. Ron and Harry looked the angriest, they knew Hermione bringing a Slytherin to their table was a bad idea. Neville looked mostly shocked, he’d thought Y/N had been quite nice if a bit cold while talking to him. Hermione was mostly confused, she felt angry but also sad. She had truly thought you were a different Slytherin but it seemed as if that was just an act.

Upon seeing the fact that no one was saying anything Malfoy took it upon himself to continue, “Oh my, it looks like you’ve all been made fools.” He laughed, his lackeys Crabbe and Goyle laughing along with him. “You should have heard him in the common room. ‘I can’t believe I was insulted by a filthy mudblood’ He was ruthless.” Malfoy continued, still laughing.

The three Gryffindor boys at the table all now looked at Y/N with pure anger. If it had been an insult about something else they’d likely care less, but they all knew how much Hermione’s heritage became a point of sensitivity over the years. The only one who did not seem to be angry was Hermione herself, and that was only because she was now confused. She hadn’t insulted him, or said anything for that matter, during their first meeting.

What made all of them become just as confused as Hermione was when Y/N laughed himself. “Thanks for disproving your own story Draco.” He said very smugly, to Malfoy’s confusion.

“What?” was all he could ask after that, he was completely lost.

“If I called her a mudblood that’d be quite hypocritical wouldn’t it?” Y/N said even more smug than before. The Grin on his face went from cheek to cheek by this point. It took everyone a second to realize what he said before they all looked at him shocked.

“You’re…?” Hermione was the only one who spoke, looking up at him curiously. He didn’t bother clarifying however, he just laughed again and stepped out of the seat he was still standing above.

“Thanks for my book back, Neville.” Was all he said before he walked off, out of the hall. Leaving everyone to their shock. Truth be told he didn’t know if walking out was allowed, and he also didn’t know if it was a good idea considering the hunger he felt later that night, but it was worth it for the dramatic exit.

Malfoy eventually stormed off grumbling to himself and his lackeys, leaving the Gryffindors to their confusion. Neville was the only one who spoke up, “I thought he seemed a bit nice for Slytherin, no wonder.”

They all seemed to share similar sentiments. Hermione was the one who felt mostly relieved however, she would have felt very stupid if after all that he turned out to be a blood purist like Malfoy. She felt quite happy at the fact that there was another muggle-born she knew, though the fact he was in Slytherin did somewhat concern her.

“Guess that explains why he was so annoyed at us for talking bad about him for being in Slytherin,” Harry spoke somewhat glum. Not only had they been accusing someone they didn’t know just for their house, but they were also accusing someone who was likely not even welcomed by his house for his blood. Talk about a bad combo.

——————————————————————————————————

In hindsight, telling Malfoy that he was a muggle-born to win an argument may have not been Y/N’s best idea. Even before the end of the day, it seemed like the news had managed to travel throughout the whole school by the time he settled into his bed. It took barely 5 seconds after entering the common room for the first insults to start getting thrown his way. The hate came from seemingly everyone, no one seemed to oppose it at least.

He didn’t stay in the common room for long after that, quickly moving away to the library. It ended up being a good choice as he managed to survive the rest of the time before breakfast without anything else being said. The brief period of peace did not last when he entered the great hall, however, immediately having some snide comments from Pansy Parkinson. There were some looks from the other houses too, though those were at least not directly giving him any trouble.

A particular group of Gryffindors looked at him particularly closely as he picked up some toast and quickly left the great hall again.

“I hope that blows over for him quickly,” Neville said, looking back down to his food as Y/N left.

“With Malfoy? I doubt it,” Harry voiced his doubt. The rest of the group seemed to share his sentiment as they went back to their food. Hermione was still thinking about what had happened yesterday. Malfoy claimed that Y/N insulted them behind their backs, particularly her by calling her a mudblood, but if he was also a mudblood surely he had no reason to use that as an insult.

She stood up suddenly, surprising the rest of her friends. When she stepped over the bench and turned to walk away without saying anything Ron spoke up.

“Where are you goin’?” His tone wasn’t particularly aggressive but it certainly wasn’t happy either.

“I still need that potions book off him.” She said, with less conviction than she thought she had. Thinking about it, she didn’t exactly have to go get it now and could easily just get it during potions later, which they both shared. “And I want to see if he’s okay,” She said that part more as a mutter, but the others still heard. Ron particularly seemed displeased with this.

“Really? You’re gonna go check on him even after the shit he said?” he seemed genuinely surprised at the concept. Harry nodded as Ron spoke, clearly sharing some sentiments.

“I thought you two of all people would understand what it’s like to be picked on, especially by Malfoy,” She responded with an annoyed huff as she stormed off. How could they just treat Y/N like he deserved to be bullied for his heritage? Sure he had been somewhat unpleasant during their first talk but he seemed to be the opposite of what a Slytherin usually was like the rest of the time, what with helping Neville, and the conversation they managed to have after runes class yesterday.

Finding where he had gone wasn’t too hard for Hermione, he had left a literal breadcrumb trail with the toast he was eating. Eventually, she ended up in the library, which seemed pretty obvious now that she thought about it. There weren’t exactly a lot of other places available that this time. She saw him sitting at one of the desks on his own after searching the library for a moment, deciding to just walk up to him casually she pulled one of the chairs at his table out and sat down, surprising him.

“Oh, uh, hi?” he awkwardly whispered, looking around himself quickly.

“Hello,” was all Hermione could think to respond with, completely forgetting why she came here in the first place. They both just stared at each other for a few seconds before she suddenly remembered she had to say something else. “Um, I was wondering if you were done using Dr Mardovia’s healing tonics and treatments?” Choosing to leave out the fact she was also checking if he was okay after all the abuse he seemed to get in the great hall.

“Right, yeah. I finished my notes earlier today. The books back in my dorm though.” He stated, checking the watch in his hand he quickly added. “But if I go fast I could probably get it before classes start.” Standing up quickly pushing his chair back in and grabbing the book he was reading. Hermione also quickly stood before realizing she probably shouldn’t follow him to his common room, he probably wouldn’t want to get in trouble for showing her its entrance, even though she already knew.

“We have potions together later today so I guess you could give it to me then?” she seemed unsure.

“I mean, you could just come with me now.” He replied, starting to walk out of the library as Madam Prince started to usher them out of the library for talking.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to get in trouble for showing me where it is,” She said back worriedly, but Y/N just laughed.

“What are they gonna do? Take away house points?” he just smirked at Hermione who was starting to get flustered with the whole conversation. “Trust me, I’m over Slytherin by this point.” He began walking again, Hermione hesitating before jogging to catch up and follow him.

It didn’t take them much time to reach the Slytherin common room entrance. Then Y/N surprised Hermione by saying the password straight away, right in front of her. She didn’t exactly know if it was against the rules to do this but she was certainly shocked to see his complete disregard for secrecy. He walked straight in, before turning back to her and seeing her stand at the entrance unmoving.

“You can come in if you want. There’s no one else here.” He watched her for a moment before shrugging and turning back to walk towards the boy’s dorm entrance. She debated it in her head before quickly following again. If this had turned out to be a trap she’d have fallen for it hook line and sinker, luckily it wasn’t, but she was starting to berate herself for being so careless. “I’ll be back in a second.” He disappeared out of view and she was left alone in the common room.

Now that she really thought about it, if anyone else showed up this would look particularly bad. She was just glad professors didn’t go into common rooms without a specific reason, if she was caught here by Snape she’d probably have a heart attack. Fortunately, that didn’t happen and Y/N quickly returned with a thick book in hand.

“So I just checked and this actually is due to be back in the library today, and considering we have like 5 minutes before classes are meant to start I don’t think we’re going to manage to get it swapped over in time.” He told her, disappointment starting to show on her face before he quickly added. “I’ll still give it to you though, just maybe during lunch. We could meet up in the library.” He spoke a bit quieter looking away from Hermione as he did so.

“That works for me, I can still get some reading done before potions today.” She smiled, which he returned once he turned back to look at her. That was when the door to the common room opened again and the person both of them least wanted to see walked in. Malfoy spotted them immediately and his face was sent straight into a sneer as he walked in with his goons following closely behind.

“What do we have here? Looks like the mudbloods are already bonding over their dirty blood. Did you break in Granger? Or did L/N smuggle you In?” he smirked as he spoke, Crabbe and Goyle both snickering as they waited for the other Slytherin to respond. Y/N didn’t say anything though, he just looked at Malfoy. “Cat got your tongue? Are you going to say anything? Maybe if you apologize I won’t report you to Snape, I’m sure you’ll ge-”

“You talk too much Draco.” Was all Y/N said, interrupting Malfoy who recoiled in a mix of shock and disgust as Y/N grabbed Hermione’s arm and pulled her out of the common room? Leaving Malfoy red and seething as he stared at the entrance.

Once outside the common room Y/N let go of Hermione’s arm and turned back to the entrance as it closed. “Thanks,” she said quietly as they both started walking away, expecting Malfoy to quickly follow and wanting to avoid his presence for now.

“Don’t mention it. I’m sure Draco will do that enough himself.” He sounded slightly bitter. “Sorry to get you involved like that might have been better if you waited outside. At least then he wouldn’t have something to tell Snape about.” His tone quickly became apologetic.

“If I was outside then he probably would have accused me of something anyway, and I wouldn’t have someone to shut him up for me.” She said smugly back to him, a hint of genuine appreciation to boot.

“Trust me, annoying Draco is my pleasure,” he said with a smirk as he stopped next to the outdoor exit, Hermione stopping and turning to him too. “I guess I’ll catch you at lunch?”

“Yep, library?”

“Yep,” they both smiled at each other for a moment, before going their separate ways to class.

Y/N’s first class seemed to drag now that he had something he was looking forward to. Did he say looking forward to it? Well, when you’ve been dealing with the snivelling bullies of Slytherin for long enough any interaction with someone else is something to look forward to.

Hermione seemed to be feeling the same, though she tried to justify it by claiming she was just excited to finally read the potion book she’d been looking for. Luckily she didn’t have to deal with Ron or Harry in Arithmancy so she could go a few more hours without explaining why she seemed to be a bit happier than usual.

Eventually, lunch did roll around and Y/N quickly made his way to the library to wait for Hermione, truth be told he didn’t know if she was just going to show up for the book or if they were going to be studying together. Either way, he’d likely be spending this whole lunch in the library, maybe he’d go to the great hall in the last few minutes to see if any food was left to grab.

Getting to the library first, Hermione looked around to see if she could spot Y/N before deciding to just grab a seat and wait for him to show. Though once again she was somewhat questioning the legitimacy of this meeting, perhaps she was still being a bit too careless with this. Luckily that thought was quickly squished when she saw him walk through the doors, spotting her quickly and making his way over.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he said quietly, to which she just smiled slightly. Pulling out the book Y/N hesitated before handing it to her. Hermione took it excitedly and almost immediately began swiping through it before catching herself and looking back to Y/N, intending to thank him but seeing him on the brink of talking again she held herself back. “I was wondering, maybe, since I’ve already read it, I could maybe help you with it? If you’d like that, I’m not sure if you’re a solo reader, I kno-”

“I’d like that,” She just said coolly, stopping his rant. He stayed quiet for a second before nodding, a ghost of a smile gracing his face.

“Okay cool,” he whispered and realizing the awkward angle they were sitting at he quickly moved his seat around to be sat on the same side of the book as her.

They managed to get a few pages in before Hermione spoke about something other than the book itself. “How are you handling the ‘Mudblood’ hate?” she used air quotes when saying mudblood to apparently show how she thought of the word.

“It’s not that bad, the insults at least. The worse part is now I’m getting dirty looks from even the Slytherins. At least before they’d just ignore me.” He seemed very calm about it while Hermione was almost outraged. She’d been dealing with hate for her heritage for her whole school life so she knew how bad it could be, but considering the fact, there were also people hating Y/N for being in Slytherin it seemed much worse for him.

“Well, you’re fine in my books. You are a prime example of a good Slytherin student.” She spoke with a voice she hoped was reassuring. Y/N went slightly red from the compliment, muttering a simple thanks in return, as they both got back to the book.

Hermione ended up being very grateful for Y/N’s assistance as it turned out Dr Mardovia was quite passionate about his work. Which meant he’d usually have a few words of useful information and then a few paragraphs of useless drivel about whatever he was describing. Y/N, having read the book already, knew where these parts were and they could easily skip them and get back to the useful information.

By the time the end of lunch bell rang both of the students were surprised, it felt as if the lunch had passed by in seconds. Y/N took back the book gingerly and looked apologetic as he spoke, “Sorry, guess I got distracted. If you still want to we can try getting here before curfew and swap it over to you then?” he asked hesitantly.

“It’s okay I was just as distracted, is a very interesting book, ignoring all the pointless stuff.” She replied with a smile on her face, as they both walked out of the library she spoke again, “We have double potions now don’t we?” when Y/N nodded at her she continued, “well then, we can just sit together and I can use the book that way.”

“That works for me. But do you think the rest of your friends will mind?” He asked. From how their interactions seemed to have gone so far this felt like a slightly bad idea and he didn’t want to end up causing more issues for Hermione.

“Well, then they will have to deal with it.” She said simply, Y/N smiled slightly at this. Even if he had only known her properly for a day or two she already had been nicer to him than anyone else in the school during his whole stay.

As they arrived at potions class Ron and Harry both looked surprised to see Hermione with Y/N. They were even more surprised to see the pair both smiling and Hermione laughing at a joke the Slytherin had said. Neville looked quite pleased to see Y/N again and even joined their conversation as Snape began to usher them into the classroom.

The joy that was once being felt by Y/N and Hermione was quickly sapped away as Snape asked to speak to them privately. Bringing them away from the rest of the class. Malfoy could be seen watching the scene play out with an ugly grin on his face.

“Would either of you two care to explain why a Gryffindor was inside the Slytherin common room?” he asked with his trademark sneer towards both students.

“I brought her there professor, I was getting a book from my dorm for her to borrow and didn’t realize other houses couldn’t enter our common room.” Y/N quickly explained before Hermione could even get a word in.

“You may not have known, having only joined this year, but Miss Granger has been here five years. Plenty of time to learn the rules.” He spoke with what felt like pure malice. “10 points from Gryffindor, if I hear of this again it will be detention for you both,” He quickly left the pair after he said that, returning to the rest of the class who had started to become rowdy while waiting.

“Fuck, Hermione I am so sorry I didn’t think he’d single you out like that,” Y/N said turning to Hermione who surprisingly just had a smug grin on her face as she stared back.

“Oh please, 10 points is hardly anything to cry about.” She laughed out, confusing Y/N. She decided against elaborating and simply walked back to the class, Y/N following shortly after. They ended up at a table with Neville but managed to avoid Malfoy, Ron and Harry, much to the latter two’s confusion.

Malfoy ended up staring at the two for most of the class, which didn’t seem to bother them, particularly as they just worked on their own potion. Y/N brought out the potion book soon into the lesson, which Neville also ended up sharing in order to get his potions completely correct.

“I can’t believe you admitted fully to being at fault and he still only went for Hermione,” Neville said at some point during class, they had told him about what happened when he asked.

“Yeah, it’s fuckin’ stupid,” Even after Hermione said it was fine Y/N couldn’t help being annoyed at the professor.

“Especially since I’m pretty sure he made up that rule,” Neville added which made Y/N look at him in shock before Hermione clarified.

“It’s up to each house’s head what the policy of other students in their common rooms is. Clearly, Snape decided he wanted to be just as discriminatory as his students want to be.” This just annoyed Y/N even more, Snape had made a rule specifically just to screw with other houses and didn’t even think to tell anyone about it. Luckily Neville said something which seemed to cheer him up straight away.

“Guess that means you’ll just have to come to our common room in the future mate.” He said it so casually but to Y/N it was the most shocking thing he’d heard all day. Is someone offering to do something outside of class or studying?

“I mean won’t that be super awkward?” he said, nodding towards the table with Ron and Harry on it.

“Didn’t I already tell you about that?” Hermione said, once again smug as she began to quote herself, “Well, then they will have to deal with it.” All three of the students were smiling by this point, which was quickly interrupted by Snape coming over and insulting Neville and Hermione’s potions.

Which was even more insulting because Hermione and Y/N had switched seats and that was his potion that Snape said looked like it wouldn’t be something an ogre would drink.

After spending that first day together, Y/N and Hermione quickly became accustomed to each other. They weren't joined at the hip like Ron and Harry but they were certainly closer than previously. They now paired up often during runes class, complimented each other's potions during potions class and Y/N even occasionally sat at the Gryffindor table during feasts. Though that was often only when Ron wasn't at the table yet or had already left, he warmed up to Y/N the least out of the golden trio.

Neville and Y/N also had quite a budding friendship. While not as intense as Neville, Y/N enjoyed botany so they had many conversations about it, to the disdain of anyone else around them.

Hate still came from most Slytherin but it died down somewhat due to Y/N's usual lack of a response. The only ones who still seemed to be going full force were Malfoy and his goons. Y/N had taken to never sitting at the Slytherin table anymore, either stealing a bit of food and retreating somewhere else or sitting with the few people who didn't move away as soon as he got close.

Things would take a turn after another potion class in which Hermione, Y/N and Neville all sat together.

The agonizing two hours of potions class eventually came to a close as Snape decided to give them all an essay which had to be 20 inches long to the dismay of most who heard. Ron and Harry came over to Hermine, Neville and Y/N at the end of class as they all began moving towards the great hall. The conversation was mainly held between the golden three but Hermione would include him whenever she asked a question.

Even Harry included Y/N but much less as he was still somewhat untrusting of the Slytherin. Ron was quite quiet and didn't include Y/N in conversation at all, but at this point, it was less to make a point and simply from forgetting he was even there. Neville had left to talk to Dean and Seamus at some point.

As they got closer to the great hall Hermione seemed to end the conversation with Harry and Ron as they moved into the great hall, Hermione and Y/N staying behind as she seemed to want to talk to him before they ate, however, she got interrupted before even getting a word out.

“Going somewhere mudbloods?” Malfoy’s voice interrupted them as they turned to leave. Turning back to him they watched as he sneered with his two lackeys backing him up as always. “Hope you didn’t lose us too many points L/N.” So it had been him that told Snape about them both being in the common room, which made sense, he was that kind of coward. They turned to leave as they did before but then Malfoy brought something out from his robes and spoke again. “Maybe you won’t run away like a coward when you see I have this.”

He held a red book in his hand, it had a blank cover but was clearly worn with use. Y/N’s eyes widened at the sight of it, Hermione was mainly confused but upon seeing his reaction she turned back to Malfoy, clearly, it was important.

“Where did you get that?” Y/N snapped, he sounded angry but even more, he sounded scared.

“Found it,” came Malfoy’s voice as he relished in Y/N’s panic. “I think I’ll read some of it to everyone here, very interesting diary you have.” This really set Y/N off as he pulled out his wand but Malfoy quickly pulled out his own and he pointed it to the book instead of Y/N “Ah ah ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Immediately that stopped Y/N who dropped his wand. “Good, now as I was saying,” Malfoy opened the book to a random page and began reading.

The particular entry he read was quite disturbing, it spoke of kidnappings, experiments and other things which made everyone turn to Y/N in disgust and fear. Even Hermione backed up a step. The mood changed, however, when Malfoy got to the end and read a particular line.

“Little Y/N will be going into his 4th year of school this year. Soon I will be able to tell him all about our operation, I’m sure he will be overjoyed.” Even Malfoy who once held full conviction slightly faltered as he read that line. His distasteful tone came back in full force as he started talking again, however. “Looks like your blood isn’t just dirty, it’s also completely insane.” Some Slytherin students laughed at this but most of the audience stayed silent at this point. Y/N was mortified but managed to plead with Malfoy.

“Okay, you’ve had your fun now give it back.” He tried to be forceful but his voice betrayed him as it quivered. Malfoy looked at him with disgust before a wide grin came to his face and he closed the book.

“Of course,” It was foolish to believe he was actually going to give it back but even knowing that Y/N went to catch the book as Malfoy threw it towards him. “Incendio!” The book instantly turned to ash as the spell hit it. Everyone seemed stunned before many of the Slytherin still watching began to laugh. Y/N just looked on in horror at the pile of ash in front of him.

“What on earth are you all-”

Professor McGonagall came out from the great hall, after watching the students at the doors stand still for minutes. She stopped herself talking when she saw the falling ash and Y/N on his knees in front of it, tears beginning to flow from his eyes. Hermione had gone to do something to Malfoy after the spell was cast but he quickly retreated into the crowd and was impossible to find. She then quickly crouched next to Y/N and hesitated before putting her hand on his shoulder, making him turn to her. His face just looked broken.

McGonagall ordered all the other students into the hall or back to their rooms and quickly approached the two students remaining, looking with pity at the boy. “Was he hurt?” she asked Hermione, who was clearly much more stable currently.

“Malfoy burned a book of his, I think it might have been a family member’s diary.” She added, not answering McGonagall’s question directly but she was able to understand the situation with that information.

“You have my permission to take him to Gryffindor’s common room if you wish for privacy. I will attend to Mr Malfoy shortly.” She said with a nasty tone, clearly the boy’s name left a bad taste in her mouth.

Hermione helped Y/N to his feet and began leading him to the common room. McGonagall looked down at the pile of ash and quickly cleaned it up before returning to the great hall.

It took a while to reach the common room, as Y/N was somewhat struggling to walk at his usual pace. He had managed to stop crying but his eyes were still bloodshot and puffy, tears still threatening to fall at any point. The fat lady let them in straight away not even batting an eye at the Slytherin being brought in. They quickly found a spot at the edge of the room and sat down. Hermione rubbed his back as he breathed in and out shakily, wiping his eyes a few times before they were actually dry.

They sat in silence for a while before Y/N spoke, “It was my brother’s diary.” Hermione nodded as he continued, “He’s gone now, it was the only thing I had left from him.” His voice was shaky and it felt as if he was about to break at any point. Hermione didn’t say anything, she couldn’t think of anything to say. She just waited for Y/N to keep talking, while still rubbing circles on his back. “He was a bad person, but I didn’t know that for a long time. I always thought he was a good person, he was always a good brother. Until the day he told me what he was doing.”

Y/N stopped speaking, looking up at Hermione, who just looked back at him with her soft brown eyes. They stared at each other for a moment before Y/N managed to find his voice again, looking away.

“He was part of a group, they did bad things, like what you heard in the diary. When I started my fourth year he planned on telling me about it. It was a few months into the year when he found me at night and brought me into a room their group had. He started explaining what they did, and why they did it. I was terrified, my world flipped upside down.” He pauses for a second before continuing, “I ran out of the room back into the corridors, and he followed. He started yelling that I had to understand, I had to. He grabbed my arm and began dragging me back and, and-” He stopped as he sucked in a deep breath, sobs threatening to break through his voice but he managed to control himself before finishing the story, “I pulled out my wand and I just said the first spell I could think of to get him off me, it was diffindo.” Hermione gasped softly making Y/N look up at her. Her face showed her absolute horror.

“And it?” she asked after a moment to compose herself, Y/N nodded.

“It got him in the neck, he fell down right away clutching his throat.” Tears were falling from his face again and Hermione moved to wrap her arm around him now. “The reason I cared so much about the book is that I thought it would hold answers, I thought it could tell me why he was so evil. But I read it so many times and never found any answers, he must have just ended up that way.” He broke down and the crying came back in full force.

“Y/N I’m so sorry.” Hermione choked out, she felt awful for him as she pulled him into a full hug, wrapping her arms full around him as he began to cry on her shoulder, wrapping his own arms around her.

“Thanks, Hermione,” he managed to say after a moment of composing himself before the tears began to fall again. They sat like that for a while, just holding each other. Eventually, Y/N managed to staunch the flow of tears again but they stayed within the embrace, the only sound in the room coming from the fireplace and their gentle breathing.

——————————————————————————————————

Eventually, more Gryffindors began to flow into the common room. Most of them seemed to pass Y/N and Hermione without even looking, though those who did look were confused, annoyed or repulsed. Luckily it seemed as if most students wanted to go straight into their dormitories so not many stayed in the common room.

Two people who certainly seemed as if they would stay in the common room were Harry and Ron. When they had first arrived and seen the other duo sitting together Ron had made his way over with an expression showing his clear distaste for what was happening, however, after getting closer he seemed to lose steam and simply sat down. Y/N was confused by this, mainly because by the time he turned back to Hermione her face had returned to being neutral.

Harry didn’t seem annoyed with Y/N but his tone was certainly confused as he asked, “What’re you two doing here? We didn’t see you at dinner so we thought you might be in the library or something” The last part was directed towards Hermione.

“We came up here after what Malfoy did outside the great hall,” Hermione replied before Y/N could even begin to think of anything. Harry and Ron looked shocked before Hermione added, “McGonagall gave us permission.”

“We heard Malfoy incendio’d a book,” Ron said, it was a statement but the tone came out more like a question.

“It was Y/N’s brother’s journal,” Hermione replied again before Y/N could say anything, he appreciated it. He didn’t want to have to go through telling the story again. Fortunately, upon seeing the other two boy’s confused expressions she turned back to Y/N to ask, “Would you like to tell them?” Her voice immediately became much softer.

“Could you? My throat feels awful.” He responded with a small sad smile, and so Hermione began to recount what Y/N had just told her, keeping her voice down so that the rest of the common room couldn’t hear.

“Bloody hell.” That was all Ron said in response, Y/N expected more, maybe an insult but the redhead almost looked sympathetic.

Before Harry could also respond however another Gryffindor came up to the quartet. Neville went to speak but quickly stopped before he could get out a word after seeing the expressions of the four in front of him. He regained his composure after a second and spoke, “Uh, McGonagall wanted to see you two. She said to go to her classroom,” It was directed at Y/N and Hermione who looked mildly surprised. “And I heard what Malfoy did, he’s rotten. Sorry bout your book mate.”

“Thanks, Neville,” Y/N said back softly, he appreciated the sentiment. He and Hermione both stood after Neville walked away and made their way over to the entrance after saying goodbye to Ron and Harry.

The walk to the transfiguration class was quick, mostly due to not wanting to be past curfew but also because the empty hallways of Hogwarts always became eerie after dark. Upon reaching the classroom they knocked on the door and were quickly brought in by the professor and instructed to sit on the opposite side of her desk.

“Now then, would you two tell me what happened?” McGonagall asked, and after looking at each other for a second both Y/N and Hermione began to recount what had happened outside the great hall. Describing how Malfoy had taken a book from Y/N’s trunk in his dormitory, how Malfoy had read from it before casting incendio and then how he had slunk away into the crowd. “Well your story is certainly different to Mr Malfoys’s,” she spoke after a moment of silence following their recount of the story. The duo looked slightly shocked at the professor after.

“Do you not believe us, professor?” Y/N asked with some amount of desperation in his voice.

McGonagall let out a small chuckle at this, a smirk on her face as she spoke again, “I only said his story was different, not that I thought it was more believable.” The duo brightened at this and put their full attention on her as she pulled something out from under her desk, a red book. Their eyes immediately widened at this and McGonagall just said, “It really isn’t a difficult spell, I’m surprised you didn’t cast it immediately.” Y/N simply looked relieved but Hermione held a small bit of embarrassment, she had managed to forget about that spell somehow. “I suppose it is a good thing you didn’t, as the pile of ash served as evidence against Mr Malfoy’s claims.”

“Is he going to get in trouble professor?” Y/N asked, his voice was much timider than either of the two in the room expected. Hermione expected him to be overjoyed at the idea of Malfoy getting in trouble, but the look on his face confused her greatly.

“Indeed he will Mr L/N, what he did was dangerous and entirely against school rules. I would have expected you to be happy about that fact.” McGonagall said, she also seemed confused but much less than Hermione. Y/N’s face seemed to change to one of dread as he looked down. “Is there something wrong Mr L/N?” Her tone wasn’t harsh but it held a certain authority which made Y/N shrink into his seat as his face became conflicted.

He eventually let out a tiny whisper, but neither McGonagall nor Hermione seemed to hear as the professor asked him to repeat it. “I’ve been getting threats,” it seemed to pain him to say this.

“WHAT?” Hermione shrieked at this, her face was pure shock, and a smidgen of anger. He looked up at her with a bit of shame and regret as he then turned to McGonagall who shared a shocked expression but seemed to be able to keep it retained to her face and not her voice.

“I believe Miss Granger has the right question Mr L/N, what threats are you speaking of?” She managed to regain her composure quickly and her tone turned back to the authoritative one she used before.

Y/N was apprehensive, he looked back at Hermione who had managed to calm down but still looked quite angry, though it didn’t seem to be directed at him as when she saw he turned around it shifted to concern.

“I’ve been getting letters since I revealed I was a muggle-born. They are mostly insults and empty words, but some of them are threatening to do things to me.” He didn’t go into specifics but the look on his face seemed to say enough as McGonagall didn’t even ask what they said but instead who they were from. “They never have a name, but some of them are signed… ‘From the real Slytherin’ or something like that,” he paused before saying who sent them, clearly afraid of what it would cause.

Hermione just seemed to start fuming more and more as the conversation went on.

“And why did you not come to us about these letters?” Her tone was now getting into the territory of discipline.

“I thought they might have just been a normal thing, like a hazing. I didn’t take them seriously until now I guess,” he muttered the last part, clearly embarrassed.

“Well, I can assure you that they are no normal thing and will be treated very seriously. Have you kept the letters?” He nodded at her question so she continued, “Well then, I do not believe it safe for you to return to your dormitory. As much as I am confident no one would try anything I still do not think it would be wise. I will not force you but I will offer you the Gryffindor common room as a place to sleep until this situation is handled.” Now her tone was back to authoritative but now with some amount of softness.

“I’m not sure if the Gryffindors would appreciate that,” He began but upon seeing Hermione’s expression he changed his tune, “But I guess they’ll have to deal with it.” This made the brunette grin as she turned back to the professor, who had a small smile on her lips now.

“Well then, I do believe you two should be back to there then. I trust you will be able to take him back there Miss Granger?” she just nodded at the professor as the two of them began to leave. “Oh before you leave,” McGonagall stopped them, twisting her wand as a pillow and blanket appeared in Y/N’s hands. He just looked up at her in thanks and nodded before the two of them began walking up to the common room.

When the two of them arrived back at the common room it was past curfew even for them, the fat lady eyed them suspiciously but still allowed them entry when Hermione gave the password. There didn’t appear to be anyone else in the common room anymore, the rest of the Gryffindors appeared to have retreated to their dormitories. This included Ron and Harry, who Hermione was half expecting to still be here.

“Got quiet quick,” Y/N said after a moment of them just standing in silence. He walked over to the largest couch and placed the pillow and blanket down before sitting down on it himself.

“Yeah.” Was all Hermione said in response, sitting down on the same couch as him.

They both looked at each other for a second before turning towards the fireplace. It was relaxing to just stare into the flames, he could see himself falling asleep in front of this easily. It was just the waking up that frightened him, what if another Gryffindor came down and questioned why he was there, what if one came down and didn’t question why he was there but just jinxed him without even waking him up first? His spiral into paranoia was interrupted by Hermione.

“So, are you going to sleep?” Her face almost seemed hopeful as Y/N turned to face her.

“Eh, as relaxing as this place is I think it’ll take me a while to get adjusted.” He smiled at her, he was about to add how she can go up to her dorm and get sleep but she interrupted that thought as she spoke first.

“Good,” she didn’t say anything else initially and walked over to where her bag had been placed earlier when they initially arrived in the common room after class. Returning with a book, opening it and continuing, “I have been waiting for someone else to read this with. I’ve heard it is very good.” She showed him a book called Lord of the Rings.

They read for about an hour before Hermione seemed to get a bit too tired to continue. The system they came up with was that they would each read a page out loud and then alternate. At this point, however, Hermione was beginning to slur her words together and almost dropped the book a few times.

“Hermione, you gotta go to bed, I don’t want you to pass out and fall into the fire,” Y/N said with a small chuckle as she swayed dangerously close to the edge of the couch before turning to him and pouting a small bit.

“I don’t want to leave you on your own for your first night.” She held the pout but her voice seemed genuine. It may have just been the heat from the fire but Y/N could swear he saw a slight blush on her face as she said that. He debated in his own head for a moment looking at her, truth be told he didn’t want to be alone either, but there was only one long couch so only one of them was getting a good position.

“Well if you insist on staying down here then you can take the couch.” He said standing up as Hermione began to disagree. “I’m the one intruding and making your stay down here, at least take that so I don’t feel bad.” He smiled at her and she relented but then insisted he at least get the blanket, which he didn’t disagree with.

He ended up making a makeshift mattress on the floor next to the couch, at first he was doing it closer to the fire but after almost setting his robes on fire in his drowsiness he decided going closer to the couch would be a good idea. Hermione just seemed to watch as she lay down now, the lack of sleep clearly getting to her as she fought to keep her eyes open.

Eventually, when he finished making his bed for the night and laying in it Y/N spoke quietly to Hermione who seemed to be looking down at him. “Thank’s for today. And I guess for every other day too. I know I wasn’t exactly nice at first but you-” His talk was interrupted as a finger glossed over his mouth and Hermione shushed him from above. He almost looked insulted as she giggled before speaking quietly.

“No more talky today, sleep time.” And with that, she closed her eyes and seemed to almost immediately fall asleep. Y/N felt a bit embarrassed, both at the fact he was accidentally keeping her up and the fact she had essentially rubbed her hand over his face.

He didn’t manage to fall asleep straight away, his mind was still wandering between everything that happened today. He also kept stealing glances at Hermione, she had turned the other way in her sleep and now all that he could see was her bushy hair hanging off the couch. It was one of these times he looked at her, however, that he was startled to see her staring at him.

“Hi,” he just said quietly, not even sure she was awake.

“Hi,” she responded also quietly. “Why are you awake?” she added after almost a minute of silent staring.

“Just thinkin’ about stuff, today was quite eventful.” He said with a smile, her eyes seemed to crinkle as she returned the smile. “Why are you awake?”

“Just checking you’re still here.” She said this even more quietly and she almost looked slightly embarrassed.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna run off randomly in the night.” He could see that his words didn’t particularly soothe her worries so he got a bit bolder with his actions, “Gimme your hand,” she quickly dropped her arm off the couch for him, quicker than he expected. Slowly he intertwined their fingers so that they were holding hands. His face quickly grew red, and so did Hermione’s but he couldn’t see that, but neither of them pulled away as Hermione then started swinging her arm a small bit. “Just so you know I’m still here.” He whispered barely audible, and he didn’t know if he was justifying it to Hermione or Himself.

Either way, she had no issue with it as she quickly fell back asleep, a smile on her face that he couldn’t see. He slowly managed to relax and eventually closed his own eyes as sleep quickly overtook him.

Both Y/N and Hermione were early risers, which was very good as that meant both of them managed to wake up before anyone else had even gotten into the common room. This didn’t stop them from being embarrassed by themselves, however.

Y/N woke up first and was initially confused why he was staring at the Gryffindor ceiling but after one attempt to move his hands later, he remembered everything that had happened. Quickly his face went red at the fact he grabbed Hermione’s hand in his sleepy state. He initially considered trying to pull his hand out of hers but after seeing her start to stir he froze and just lay still while she woke up.

Hermione went through the same confusion as she woke up looking around before her eyes found Y/N’s. She also froze for a moment before they both looked at their hands, and neither pulled apart as they both sat up. Neither of them looked at the other.

“Did you, um, sleep well?” Y/N asked awkwardly after a moment with a hesitant smile on his face.

“Y-yeah, did you?” She replied a small smile on her face too as she turned to him.

“Mhm,” he nodded. Looking back at their joined hands they finally separated them letting out a small laugh each. “Sorry about that I just sorta did it without thinking.” He said with a crimson face.

“No it’s okay, you were just reassuring me.” She smiled her face scarlet.

“Oh, so you remember that talk? Thought you might have just been sleep-talking, heh.” Y/N laughed. Both of them fell into silence after that, a slightly awkward one. “Thanks for staying down here with me.” He finally said.

“Of course, what are friends for.” She smiled shyly at him. It was the first time they had affirmed their friendship, and already Y/N was wondering if that was all he wanted by this point.

Unfortunately, their moment together was interrupted by a redhead coming downstairs.

“Why’s your boyfriend sleeping on all our seat cushions?” Ginny asked, her previously confused face twisting to one of smugness as Hermione quickly grew even redder.

“Ginny!” she wailed, though she quickly adjusted her volume after realizing it was still quite early.

“I don’t hear you denying it,” Ginny smirked even wider before quickly dodging the pillow that was thrown at her. Quickly after that Hermione stormed off upstairs, but not before taking a glance back at Y/N who was still sitting on the floor. They smiled at each other before she retreated to her dorms, he assumed to get freshened up.

Now that it was only him and Ginny in the common room she quickly walked over to where he was now standing up. She glared at him, sizing him up before smirking and nodding to herself, grabbing one of the cushions and moving to sit down in one of the seats.

Y/N stood for a moment before walking over to where she sat, now reading a book she must have brought down with her. Sticking his hand out for her he spoke, “Y/N L/N,”

She looked at him before taking his hand and saying, “Trust me, I am aware. Ginny Weasley.” Smiling at him as he showed his shock openly.

“I’ve known your brother for almost two months now and I’m pretty sure he’d not touch me with a stick still.” Her smile grew at this.

“That sounds quite Ron-like,” this time his smile grew as he moved to put the cushions back to their seats, beginning to talk to Ginny about Ron until Hermione returned to the common room, much less red and much more casual.

This was how the next few days seemed to proceed. After Harry and Ron had come downstairs and had been filled in on what Hermione’s and Y/N’s meeting with McGonagall was about Harry immediately offered Y/N to use their bathroom and he quickly took the offer. The group then moved to go down to the great hall before being interrupted by McGonagall herself.

She informed the group after Y/N confirmed it was fine for the rest of them to know, that their investigation into the letters was ongoing and if Y/N wished he could keep sleeping in the Gryffindor common room until it was deemed safe to return to his dorm. He took that offer immediately.

The day continued normally after that. They managed to avoid Malfoy and all was going well until the night as the rest of the group went to their dorms, Y/N and Hermione were left as the only two in the common room again. Y/N once again tried and failed to convince her to go back to her dorm and once again they resigned to sleep in the common room together, this time however Hermione forced Y/N onto the couch as she took the floor.

“You made this look a lot more comfortable than it is,” he laughed and offered the couch again but she denied still. Like the time before Y/N hesitantly took Hermione’s hand into his own, and she once again didn’t pull away.

Things went on like this for quite a while, the investigation into the letters was seemingly bringing up nothing as the handwriting continued to not be a match to any known Slytherin. Not that Y/N was complaining. He went from having no friends, to having one friend to have more than he could count on one hand.

It was during one of the nights Hermione was destined to sleep on the floor that she said, “I thought it would get more comfortable after a while,” Y/N watched her for a second before talking without thinking.

“We could just share the couch,” He had said it so casually but quickly afterwards realized what he said, and looked up to see Hermione wide-eyed. He immediately regretted his words and tried to excuse himself as he became a stuttering mess before Hermione interrupted him.

“Okay,” He again snapped his eyes to her face to see her looking with a smug grin, though he could also definitely see her face was completely red. A smile came over his features as he pushed himself up against the back of the couch as much as he could. She laid down and tried to keep some distance between them but quickly found that to be a fruitless endeavour as she began to fall before Y/N grabbed her and pulled her back.

“You know, most people would find it weird for a boy and girl to sleep so close when they’re just friends,” his face was smug but also lit ablaze as so much blood rushed to his cheeks at Hermione’s proximity.

“Well,” She started but immediately stopped, muttering something.

“Well?” Y/N asked.

“Well maybe we shouldn’t be just friends,” Hermione muttered slightly louder this time, looking away from him. Y/N’s smug mood dropped slightly at that but quickly came back as he spoke again without thinking properly.

“Oh I see you’re finally sick of me,” Hermione looked at him quickly after he said that, shocked and about to correct him before seeing the smug grin on his face, and her face set into a scowl. “Ohhhh you meant something else?” When Hermione just continued to glare at him his smile dropped as he suddenly was afraid that she hadn’t meant something else. The way her face immediately became concerned reassured him though.

“No of course I’m not,” her tone was soft but also shy, the same as her eyes as she struggled to keep them on him.

“So does that mean you’re asking what I think you’re asking?” Some of his smugness came back but it was much more reserved as he asked.

“Well, that depends on if you’d say yes or not.” She replied finally breaking eye contact again and looking to the side.

He almost went to make another joke but seeing how fragile she looked while asking this stopped him and he took a hold of her hand, “Are you asking if I want to be your boyfriend?” she just nodded, turning back to look at his eyes. “Then yes, yes I will.” Upon saying this her face broke out into the biggest smile he’d ever seen on her as his face started to rival it.

“Thank Merlin,” she just said breathlessly, as she pushed her head into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, a small chuckle coming out of his mouth. There was probably more they needed to talk about but they were tired, so it could wait til tomorrow.

[braveclementine]

Chapter 27

Warnings: Mentions of nudity

Copyright: I do not own any Wizarding World characters that J.K. Rowling wrote. I do however own Elizabeth Kane (main character) and Trang Nyguen (best friend). There should be no use of these two names without my permission. I also do not condone any copying of this.

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

------------------By Order of-----------------

The Ministry of Magic Dolores Jane Umbridge (High Inquisitor) has replaced Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-nine. Signed: Cornelius Oswald Fudge MINISTER OF MAGIC

This was an insulting decree of course considering that Professor McGonagall- as deputy Headmistress- should have taken over.

"Dumbledore will be back before long." Ernie said as Ernie, Hannah, Susan, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I were walking from Herbology. Harry had been recounting the story from his point of view which was a bit more descriptive than mine had been. I'd never been good with details. "They couldn't keep him away in our second year and they won't be able to to this time. The Fat Friar told me that Umbridge tried to get back into his office last night after they'd searched the castle and grounds for him. Couldn't get past the gargoyle. The Head's office has sealed itself against her. Apparently she had a right little tantrum. . ."

I laughed out loud. "Amazing!"

"Oh, I expect she really fancied herself sitting up there in the Head's office. Lording it over all the other teachers, the stupid puffed-up, power-crazy old-"

"Now, do you really want to finish that sentence, Granger?" Malfoy asked. "Afraid I'm going to have to dock a few points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff." He drawled out, looking maliciously at me.

"It's only teachers that can dock points from Houses, Malfoy." Hermione said.

"Yeah, we're prefects too, remember?" Ron snarled.

"I know prefects can't dock points, Weasel King, but members of the Inquisitional Squad-"

"The what?" Hermione asked darkly.

"The Inquisitional Squad, Granger." Draco pointed to a second badge that was underneath his prefect one. It was silver with the letter I on it. "A select group of students who are supportive of the Ministry of Magic, hand-picked by Professor Umbridge. Anyway, members of the Inquisitorial Squad do have the power to dock points. . . So, Granger, I'll have five from you for being rude about our new headmistress, five for contradicting me as well. . . Five because I don't like you Potter. . . Weasley, your shirt's untucked, so I'll have another five for that. . . Macmillan, five for talking about our headmistress as well. . . oh yeah, I forgot, you're a Mudblood Granger, so ten for that. . . and Kane, your not expelled and your a werewolf brat so 15 points for that." He ignored Susan and Hannah whom he didn't seem to be able to find a punishment for.

Ron pulled out his wand, but Hermione pushed it away, whispering, "Don't!"

"Wise move, Granger. New Head, new times. . . Be good now, Potty. . . Weasel King. . ." Draco said and moved away with Crabbe and Goyle following him.

I snorted, "'Select group of students'. They're probably all Death Eaters."

"He was bluffing." Harry said, "He can't be allowed to dock points."

"It would completely undermine the prefect system." I agreed, "But look. . ." I pointed to where the house points were. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had been tied for second this morning, Hufflepuff in first. Now, Hufflepuff had dropped to second, Ravenclaw in first, and Gryffindor in third.

"Noticed, have you?" Fred's voice said. We all looked over at him.

"Malfoy just docked us all about fifty points!" Harry said furiously.

"Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break." George said.

"What do you mean, 'tried'?" Ron asked quickly.

"He never managed to get all the words out due to the fact that we forced him headfirst into that Vanishing Cabinet on the first floor." Fred said and I laughed.

"But you'll get into terrible trouble!" Hermione gasped.

"Not until Montague reappears, and that could take weeks, I dunno where we sent him. . ." Fred said coolly. "Anyway. . . we've decided we don't care about getting into trouble anymore."

"Have you ever?" I asked with a grin.

"Course we have." George said. "Never been expelled, have we?"

"Good point." I muttered.

"We've always known where to draw the line." Fred agreed.

"We might have put a toe across it occasionally." George corrected.

"But we've always stopped short of causing real mayhem." Fred continued.

"But now?" Ron asked.

"Well now-" George said.

"- what with Dumbledore gone-" Fred continued.

"-we reckon a bit of mayhem-"

"- is exactly what our dear new Head deserves."

"You mustn't! You really mustn't! She'd love a reason to expel you." Hermione whispered, looking around.

"You don't get it, Hermione, do you? We don't care about staying anymore. We'd walk out right now if we weren't determined to do our bit for Dumbledore first. So anyway, phase one is about to begin. I'd get in the Great Hall for lunch if I were you, that way the teachers will see you can't have had anything to do with it." Fred said, smiling around at all of us.

"Anything to do with what?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"You'll see, run along now." George said.

He and Fred turned to walk away. I hesitated and then ran after them and called, "Fred!"

Fred turned and I said, "It's going to go great!"

Then I turned and ran back into the Great Hall. I sat down at the Gryffindor table and to my surprise, Susan and Hannah sat down with us. I saw Filch was taking Harry with him. "Where's Ernie?" I asked.

"He went to the library to do transfiguration homework." Susan said. "I think he wants to be as far away from whatever the Weasley twins are going to do."

"What are they going to do?" Hermione asked nervously.

I grinned mischievously. "Why would I spoil the surprise?"

We quickly bolted down lunch and then, there was a large BOOM. Many students in the Great Hall looked around but Hermione, Ron, Susan, Hannah, and I all jumped to our feet and sprinted out the door. I led them to the first floor and we stared in amazement. It was much better than the visions.

There were Dragons that were made up of green-and-gold sparks, flying up and down the corridors emitting fiery blasts. There were pink Catherine wheels five feet in diameters, whizzing around the corridors like saw blades. Rockets were bouncing off walls and sparklers were writing swearwords in midair. Firecrackers were sounding like mine explosions. Every so often, a firework raced after a student and they would run, screaming their heads off.

Umbridge showed up a moment later along with Filch and then Harry appeared behind her too. There were a handful of students that were observing the fireworks and I noted that some of them were escaping out into the rest of the rest of the school.

"Hurry, Filch, hurry! They'll be all over the school unless we do something- Stupefy!" Umbridge shouted as the dragons started down the door she'd just come through.

A jet of red light shot toward a firework which exploded with a much larger force, shaking dust from the ceiling.

"Don't stun them, Filch!" Umbridge shouted angrily as though Filch was the one who'd made the suggestion.

"Right you are, Headmistress!" Filch said and grabbed a broom to swat at them. The broom head caught on fire. Ron was roaring with laughter and even Hermione looked pleased.

"Try vanishing them!" I shouted towards Umbridge and then ducked behind a column. I supposed she tried just that because the fireworks suddenly multiplied by ten. "Come on." I said to the others. "We're going to be late for class."

We hurried away to our separate classes. We rushed into potions, nearly two minutes late. Professor Snape looked up as did the other students.

I sat down in my seat. Suddenly however, a bunch of firecrackers came hopping into the room, exploding. The students looked at Professor Snape, wondering how'd he react and also trying to keep their eyes on the firecrackers so they didn't explode near them.

"Right!" Professor Snape shouted over the bangs, "Firecrackers and Potions don't mix. Class dismissed."

The entire class rushed from the room as a firecracker exploded against a cauldron. I dove to the floor so that I didn't get in the way of the explosion. I felt Severus hands helping me to my feet and dragging me over to where his office was.

"And now-" He said, hungrily against my throat. "We have about an hour and a half together."

"Good." I murmured as he started unbuttoning the front of my shirt, his mouth moving from my lips to my neck. We didn't even make it to the bed.

Umbridge spent the entire day, running around to the summons of the other teachers who didn't seem to be able to get rid of the fireworks alone. And considering the fireworks were making such a distraction, it was hilarious that none of the teachers seemed to care about them.

Professor McGonagall for instance watched a dragon firework fly around her classroom and then said sardonically, "Dear, dear. Miss Brown, would you mind running along to the headmistress and informing her that we have an escaped firework in our classroom?"

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I were walking up to Gryffindor Tower when we watched a tottering, sweaty-faced Professor Umbridge come out of Professor Flitwick's office.

"Thank you so much, Professor! I could have gotten rid of the sparklers myself, of course, but I wasn't sure whether I had the authority..." he said in his squeaky voice, and beaming, he slammed the door in her face. We quickly hurried passed her and then burst into laughter as we neared the portrait.

I congratulated Fred and George on their fireworks and wrote my name down on an order sheet and gave them 20 galleons for my order. I knew one day I was going to use it and it would be worth it.

Since I knew Umbridge was going to be exhausted from the long day, I headed back to Severus' office. He was already laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling and he smiled warmly when he saw me. "Couldn't get enough this afternoon?" He asked, jokingly.

I blushed, locking the door behind me on instinct. "I just wanted to spend the night with you." I climbed into bed and he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

I was dreaming about walking down a corridor, a plain black door at the end. I reached the door, opening it and stepped inside. I was now in a circular room lined with doors and I walked towards the one in front of me. It opened too. I was in a long, rectangular room full of an odd, mechanical clicking and there were dancing lights on the walls. There was another door at the end of this room too.

"Wake up!" A worried voice said. I bolted straight up. Severus had shaken me awake again. I felt pale and clammy and my clothes were sticking to me.

I gasped for breath and swung my legs out of the bed, standing up. I felt disgusting and I needed a shower.

"Are you alright?" He asked, still sitting on the bed.

"No." I protested, my cheeks going red. "I feel disgusting. I need to go take a shower."

He sighed, pulling me into his arms again. "The shower can wait for a few more hours."

"What time is it?" I asked, looking around for a clock.

"3:43." He whispered.

"At least let me change clothes." I mumbled back. "I feel disgusting in these sweaty clothes."

He let me up and I tore them off, still feeling clammy and sweaty. How embarrassing! It was just my luck that it had happened tonight! Severus was tapping the bed with his wand and then stood up, coming over to me and tapped me with his wand too. I immediately felt better, much cooler.

"You don't need clothes." He whispered and I laid back down in the bed. The sheets and comforter were much, much cooler. It felt so much better and I laid my head on his chest like a pillow.

"Thank you." I mumbled, holding myself to him for comfort. One of his hands wrapped around my waist, holding me to him.

"Anything for you." he said softly, stroking my hair and that was the last thing that I felt.

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

𝖂𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝕴 𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙 back the next night, he was absolutely livid. His face was white, his lips pulled back thin as Professor McGonagall's. I froze. "Er-" I racked my brain and then realized that Harry would have been here tonight. What had happened?

I tried to concentrate on the future and then found what I was looking for. So, tonight Harry had gone into the pensieve. Oh dear. I looked further into the memory and was able to see what he had seen. It was a memory of Snape as a boy. And Wormtail and Sirius were there too. Sirius was extremely handsome. Lupin and Dad were there too. I watched the memory through Harry's eyes as James flipped Severus upside down. And mum had come too, yelling at James to let him down, asking what Severus had ever done to him. All because Sirius had said he was bored. And Dad- Lupin- just sitting there under the tree, reading a book. And Severus calling mum a Mud-blood.

"Elizabeth?"

I looked up at Severus. I didn't know how long I'd been standing in the doorway but I realized that there were tears falling from my eyes. I quickly wiped them away, turning from him.

"Elizabeth, what's wrong?" He asked, turning me back to face him.

"I- I saw what Harry saw." I said reluctantly, watching his face turn white again. "The scene by the lake with dad and mum and Lupin. . . I. . . you were always right. . . dad was always arrogant. . ."

I felt horrible and I wished I'd never looked into that future bit. I sat down in the chair, looking at the floor. "And then Lupin was just sitting there. . . doing nothing. . . and I. . ."

Severus didn't say or do anything. He just watched me struggle, trying to accept the reality that my parents weren't. . . mum had been decent. How could dad have just sat there though? How could James have done that, just because Sirius was bored?

Finally, Severus sighed and then said, "That wasn't the only memory he saw."

I looked up, frowning, wiping the tears away. "But that was the only one-"

"Because he saw a memory about me and you." Severus said reluctantly now.

I froze. "Oh no."

Severus still looked extremely angry. "He didn't see much of it. . . though. . ."

I put my face in my hands. I'd been hoping for a nice night and now. . . well who knew what was going to happen now. "I'm gonna. . . I'm gonna go to bed, I think." I said weakly, standing up. Severus grabbed my arm.

"I'm sorry." he pleaded. "I don't want you to be-"

"I'm not mad at you or anything." I said softly, touching his hand. "I just. . . I didn't want you to be right about my dad. . . that's all. . . and I think I need to be alone to cope with that fact. . ."

I turned around and I walked back out of the room, leaving him behind, and headed to the Hufflepuff common room. I laid down on my bed for a long time, thinking.

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

𝕴 𝖜𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖙𝖔 talk to Harry. I wanted to converse about our parents and I couldn't. Every time I opened my mouth to tell him I was his sister, my throat closed up and I ended up saying something else. So I assumed now wasn't the right time to tell him.

Harry and I did, however, talk about the second vision- the one of Severus and me.

"He wouldn't tell me what you saw." I said, partially honest. "What'd you see?"

"Er- you two were just kissing really. I mean, it was weird to watch, obviously. It was at Grimmauld place." Harry said awkwardly.

I was much relieved to hear this. "Sorry you had to see that." I muttered. Then we looked at each other and burst out laughing.

But he was distracted too. I knew he was thinking about the other vision too. I overheard him muttering to himself the words, ". . .force her to marry him?"

I hated the idea that Dad might've forced mum to marry him. I didn't think that was it but at the same time. . .

But I had the memory from the dementors. Lily had been scared that James was going to die. So something must've happened so that they fell in love, right? And Severus had called her a Mudblood even though he loved her. . .

I groaned, slamming my head down on my book.

"You alright Eliza?" Ginny asked. I looked up, not having noticed her at first.

"No." I muttered.

"Harry, I'm talking to you, can you hear me?" Ginny asked, snapping her fingers under Harry's nose. Harry was sitting next to me? I'd definitely been lost in thought.

"Huh? Oh, hi."

"A package just arrived, it's only just got through Umbridge's new screening process. . ." Ginny said. She hoisted a brown box up on the table. A red note was scribbled across the top that said INSPECTED AND PASSED BY THE HOGWARTS HIGH INQUISTOR. "It's Easter eggs from Mum. There's one for you. . . there you go. . ." Ginny said, handing him a chocolate egg decorated with small iced snitches. She handed me over a milk chocolate egg with iced chicks on them. Apparently it contained sour gummy worms inside of it.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Harry said gruffly.

"You seem really down lately. You know, I'm sure if you just talked to Cho. . ." Ginny said.

"It's not Cho I want to talk to." Harry said and I nodded unconsciously.

"Who is it, then?" Ginny asked.

"I. . ."

"Dad." I whispered. "I want to talk to dad."

"Sirius." Harry said, putting a piece of chocolate in his mouth. I put a piece in my mouth too and felt better. Dad was right, chocolate was a healing agent.

"Well, If you really want to talk to Sirius, I expect we could think of a way to do it. . ." Ginny said.

"Come on, with Umbridge policing the fires and reading all our mail?" Harry asked dully.

"The thing about growing up with Fred and George, is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve." Ginny said.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" An angry voice shouted.

"Oh damn, I forgot." Ginny said, jumping to her feet. I shoved my things into my bag as Madam Pince swooped down on us.

"Chocolate in the library! Out- out- OUT!" Madam Pince said, wiping out her wand and making Harry's things chase us out of the library, hitting us over the head as we ran.

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

𝕬 𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖕𝖑𝖊 𝖉𝖆𝖞𝖘 before Easter holiday ended, there were pamphlets and brochures that describe all the different possible jobs that could be done outside of Hogwarts. I briefly wondered why they didn't show these to us when we were choosing our classes in second-year because there were certain careers that required certain classes and if you hadn't signed up for the class before third-year. . . tough luck to you.

There was a notice on the board that read:

CAREER ADVICE All fifth years will be required to attend a short meeting with their Head of House during the first week of the Summer term, in which they will be given the opportunity to discuss their future careers. Times of individual appointments are listed below.

I looked and found myself in the middle of the list. I was supposed to meet Professor Sprout in her greenhouse office at 11:20 on Monday. This meant I would be missing Care of Magical Creatures but at this point, I was okay with not seeing Umbridge for a little bit.

"Well, I don't fancy healing." Ron said, perusing through the brochures. "It says here you need at least an E at N.E.W.T. level in Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. I mean. . . blimey. . . Don't want much, do they?"

"Well, it's a very responsible job, isn't it?" Hermione asked. "You don't seem to need many qualifications to liaise with Muggles. . . All they want is an O.W.L. in Muggle Studies 'Much more important is your enthusiasm, patience, and a good sense of fun!'" She read from one of her brochures.

"You'd need more than a good sense of fun to liaise with my uncle. Good sense of when to duck, more like. . . Listen to this." Harry said, "'Are you seeking a challenging career involving travel, adventure, and substantial, danger-related treasure bonuses? Then consider a position with Gringotts Wizarding Bank, who are currently recruiting Curse-Breakers for thrilling opportunities abroad. . .' They want Arithmancy though. . . you could do it, Hermione!"

"I don't much fancy banking." Hermione said.

"Hey" A quiet voice hissed. "Ginny's had a word with us about you. She says you need to talk to Sirius?"

It was Fred and George. George, keeping a lookout and Fred talking.

"What?" Hermione asked sharply.

"Yeah. . . yeah, I thought I'd like-" Harry said casually.

"Don't be so ridiculous." Hermione said and I avoided her eyes. "With Umbridge groping around in the fires and frisking all the owls?"

"Well, we think we can find a way around that. It's a simple matter of causing a diversion. Now, you might have noticed that we have been rather quiet on the mayhem front during the Easter holidays?" George asked.

"What was the point, we asked ourselves, of disrupting leisure time? No point at all, we answered ourselves." Fred continued and I giggled. "And of course, we'd have messed up people's studying too, which would be the very last thing we'd want to do." He nodded toward Hermione and put a hand on my shoulder.

"But it's business as usual from tomorrow. And if we're going to be causing a bit of uproar, why not do it so that Harry can have his chat with Sirius and Elizabeth with her dad?" Fred continued. I blushed, wishing he hadn't mentioned me.

"Yes, but still, even if you do cause a diversion, how is Harry supposed to talk to him?"

"Umbridge's office." I said promptly. "It'll be the only fire that isn't being watched."

"Are- you- insane?" Hermione asked in a hushed voice.

"I don't think so." Harry said, shrugging his shoulders.

"And how are you going to get in there in the first place?" Hermione asked, looking between Harry and I.

"Sirius's knife." Harry said.

"Excuse me?"

"Christmas before last Sirius gave me a knife that'll open any lock. So even if she's bewitched the door so Alohomora won't work, which I bet she has-" I said.

"What do you think about this?" Hermione demanded to Ron.

"I dunno." Ron said, looking uncomfortable. "If Harry wants to do it, it's up to him, isn't it? And Eliza?"

"Spoken like a true friend and Weasley." Fred said, clapping Ron so hard on the back the pamphlets went flying off Ron's lap. "Right, then. We're thinking of doing it tomorrow, just after lessons, because it should cause maximum impact if everybody's corridors- Harry, Eliza, we'll set it off in the east wing somewhere, draw her right away from her own office- I reckon we should be able to guarantee you, what, twenty minutes?" Fred finished, looking at George.

"Easy." George said.

"What sort of diversion?" Ron asked curiously.

"You'll see, little bro. At least, you will if you trot along to Gregory the Smarmy's corridor round about five o'clock tomorrow." Fred said with a wink.

My stomach twisted as I watched them go and a sick feeling filled my stomach. But I wanted to talk to Dad, didn't I? I wanted to ask him why he didn't stop James from messing with Severus. . .

But before I had time for the real nerves to set in, I was sitting in front of Professor Sprout the next day in the greenhouse office. I'd never been in here before. It looked a lot like the Hufflepuff common room. It was round rather than square or rectangular shaped. There were plants hanging everywhere and dirt was on the floors. It was like a garden office.

In the corner was Professor Umbridge with her stupid little clipboard, but both Professor Sprout and I were determinedly ignoring her.

"Well Elizabeth," Professor Sprout said in a cheerful manner, "this meeting is to talk over any career ideas you possibly are thinking about and I'm here to help you decide subjects that you should continue with in her sixth and seventh years. Have you any ideas about what you want to do?"

"Well. . ." I said slowly. "I've had a couple. I'm trying to decided between becoming an Auror, a Healer, or. . . or um. . . an experimental potioneer."

Professor Sprout looked a bit surprised. "Really?"

"Well an Auror would be a great career considering the times we're in." I explained. "but I also love helping people which I could do as a Healer and. . . well ever since I was a little kid I wanted to make a cure for. . . for werewolf bites. I know it'll be difficult but I think I really could do it."

Professor Umbridge made a very small cough and we both ignored her. Professor Sprout smiled, "I think those are all wonderful career options. Now, let's go through the careers one by one, we'll start with Auror. It is a difficult career path, of course, because you'll have to study once you leave school as well. I don't see that being a problem for you at all though."

Professor Umbridge coughed a little louder and Professor Sprout raised her voice a bit. "Of course, you'll need to take most of the main courses like Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, and Charms-"

"Not Herbology?" I asked.

"No." She said, shaking her head. "It's an option, of course, but not a necessary one. However, if we move on to healing-"

Professor Umbridge coughed very loudly and Professor Sprout turned to her and said, "Are you quite alright Professor?"

"Oh yes, but I just wanted to inquire if you believe that Miss Kane here has the right er. . . temperament for becoming an Auror?"

"Oh yes." Professor Sprout said, nodding and still smiling. "Miss Kane is a sweet girl, very brave, extremely smart. No doubts at all that she will succeed no matter what career she goes into. Now," she turned back to me, "You'll have to take Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Charms for Healing. After all, it's an incredibly important job- one that should not be taken lightly as there can be consequences for inept healers."

"Like the healer who was supposed to be taking care of Bode." I said, nodding.

"Exactly. Now with the experimental potioneering, that's not really an official-" Professor Sprout was interrupted by an extremely loud cough. Her smile flickered, becoming extremely annoyed and said, "yes?"

"Well, experimental potioneering is a very dangerous job and I don't believe that Miss Kane here will be employed by the Ministry for the job."

I gritted my teeth. "I'm trying to create a cure for werewolves, of course they'll employ me."

"The Minister certainly will not." Professor Umbridge said, smiling.

"Well!" I said hotly. "Fudge isn't going to be Minister anymore by the end of the year."

Professor Umbridge jumped to her feet, "I knew it! I knew Dumbledore-"

"Dumbledore isn't going to be Minister either." I said bitingly. "Granted, the next Minister is going to be a bit better but nothing like Dumbledore."

Professor Umbridge looked a bit unnerved and Professor Sprout quickly claimed my attention back, "I think a cure for werewolves in a wonderful idea." She said sweetly. Professor Sprout's sweet voice was so much different from Professor Umbridge. "It'll give so many people their lives back. Do you have any questions?"

I shook my head, "I don't think so."

"Alright then. You may go back to class." Professor Sprout said, marking something down on a piece of parchment and stacking it onto of a small pile on her desk.

I stood up and left the room without looking back. Stupid Professor Umbridge.

I wanted to hear Harry's interview with Professor McGonagall and knew that I'd have to be there sometime around half-past two. I went back to Care of Magical Creatures where we were still working on Knarls. Bloody boring.

I went up to the castle for lunch and then sat through charms. Potions was after that.

Severus held me back after Potions though and I felt my anxiety increase. "Look, are you mad at me?" He asked quietly as Hannah left the room.

I looked at him blankly, "Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?"

"I don't know!" He said, sounding a bit exasperated. "You haven't been down once in nearly a week and a half though."

"Sorry." I whispered. "I've been busy- which isn't an excuse, I know. . . I thought you'd be er- mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" He asked, bewildered.

"Well you were pissed at Harry. . ." I said quietly. "And I'm his sister and James was my dad and lily was my mum and. . ."

"Oh." Severus said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his robes. I wrapped my arms around him.

"I'll come back tonight, I promise." I got up on my tiptoes and kissed his lips. I turned to leave and found I couldn't.

He'd grabbed my tie and drew me back to him, pushing me down on the desk and kissing me fiercely. I forgot where I wanted to be at that moment and wrapped my arms around him. We heard footsteps outside the door and we pulled apart. I grabbed my bag and passed Draco on the way out.

I hurried to where Professor McGonagall's office was and listened outside the door.

"Yes." Harry was saying, "Defense Against the Darks Arts, I suppose?"

"Naturally." Professor McGonagall said in a crisp voice. "I would also advise-"

There was a cough and I knew that Umbridge was in the room too.

"I would also advise Transfiguration, because Aurors frequently need to Transfigure or Untransfigure in their work. And I ought to tell you now, Potter, that I do not accept students into my N.E.W.T. classes unless they have achieved 'Exceeds Expectations' or higher at Ordinary Wizarding Level. I'd say you're averaging 'Acceptable' at the moment, so you'll need to put in some good hard work before the exams to stand a chance of continuing. Then you ought to do Charms, always useful, and Potions. Yes, Potter, potions. Poisons and antidotes are essential study for Aurors. And I must tell you that Professor Snape absolutely refuses to take students who get anything other than 'Outstanding' in their O.W.L.s, so-"

Professor Umbridge coughed even louder.

"May I offer you a cough drop, Dolores?" Professor McGonagall asked curtly. I grinned, only able to imagine the look on her face.

"Oh no, thank you very much. I just wondered whether I could make the teensiest interruption, Minerva?" Professor Umbridge's voice was farthest from the door.

"I daresay you'll find you can." Professor McGonagall said through what sounded like gritted teeth.

"I was just wondering whether Mr. Potter has quite the temperament for an Auror?" She asked sweetly the way that she had in Professor Sprout's office a couple hours ago. I wondered if she was only sitting in mine and Harry's interviews.

"Were you? Well, Potter, if you are serious in this ambition, I would advise you to concentrate hard on bringing your Transfiguration and Potions up to scratch. I see Professor Flitwick has graded you between 'Acceptable' and 'Exceeds Expectations' for the last two years, so your Charms work seems satisfactory; as for Defense Against the Dark Arts, your marks have been generally high, Professor Lupin in particular thought you- are you quite sure you wouldn't like a cough drop, Dolores?"

Susan and Ernie came over. "What are you doing?" Susan mouthed. I put a finger to my lips, still listening. I was joyful too- Professor McGonagall had mentioned dad. I loved hearing people talk about dad- for good, of course

"Oh, no need, thank you, Minerva. I was just concerned that you might not have Harry's most recent Defense Against the Dark Arts marks in front of you. I'm quire sure I slipped in a note. . ."

"What, this thing?" Professor McGonagall asked sharply and Susan, Ernie, and I heard the sound of parchment rustling. "Yes, as I was saying, Potter, Professor Lupin thought you showed a pronounced aptitude for the subject, and obviously for an Auror-"

"Did you not understand my note, Minerva?" Professor Umbridge interrupted, forgetting to cough.

"Of course I understood it." Professor McGonagall's sounded muffled as though her teeth were glued together.

"Well, then, I am confused. . . I'm afraid I don't quite understand how you can give Mr. Potter false hope that-"

"False hope? He has achieved high marks in all his Defense Against the Dark Arts tests-"

"I'm terribly sorry to have to contradict you, Minerva, but as you will see from my note, Harry has been achieving very poor results in his classes with me-" Professor Umbridge interrupted.

"I should have made my meaning plainer. He has achieved high marks in all Defense Against the Dark Arts tests set by a competent teacher." Professor McGonagall said coldly.

Ernie and Susan dropped their mouths in shock and I grinned broadly. We all looked at each other.

"A werewolf is not a competent teacher!" Professor Umbridge said angrily.

"Well Professor Lupin was the most competent teacher that we ever had for the class so I must contradict you. Any questions, Potter?"

"Yes. What sort of character and aptitude tests do the Ministry do on you, if you get enough N.E.W.T.s?" Harry asked, sounding as though he was trying not to laugh.

"Well, you'll need to demonstrate the ability to react well to pressure and so forth, perseverance and dedication, because Auror training takes a further three years, not to mention very high skills in practical defense. It will mean a lot more study even after you've left school, so unless you're prepared to-" Professor McGonagall answered his question.

'I think you'll also find that the Ministry looks into the records of those applying to the Aurors. Their criminal records." Professor Umbridge said in a cold voice. Susan shook her head.

"-unless you're prepared to take even more exams after Hogwarts, you should really look at another-"

"-which means that this boy has as much chance of becoming an Auror as Dumbledore has of ever returning to this school!"

"A very good chance, then." Professor McGonagall said.

"Potter has a criminal record!" Professor Umbridge practically shouted.

"Potter has been cleared of all charges!" Professor McGonagall said even louder than the Umbitch.

"Potter has no chance, whatsoever, of becoming an Auror!"

"Potter." Professor McGonagall said in a ringing tone. "I will assist you to become an Auror if it is the last thing I do! If I have to coach you nightly I will make sure you achieve the required results!"

Susan, Ernie, and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows and shocked expressions.

"The Minister of Magic will never employ Harry Potter!" Umbridge said in a trembling voice.

"There may well be a new Minister of Magic by the time Potter is ready to join!" Professor McGonagall shouted so loudly, students passing by looked at us curiously.

"Aha! Yes! yes, yes, yes!" Professor Umbridge shouted and I motioned to Susan and Ernie that it was time to leave.

"Wow." Susan said in a shocked voice. "I would never have thought Professor McGonagall would say things like that."

"My Dad was a good teacher, wasn't he?" I asked, pleased, still basking in that memory.

"Professor Lupin was the best." Ernie assured me.

Harry bolted out of the office at that moment, rushing to whatever class he was supposed to be going to. Professor McGonagall and Professor Umbridge were now yelling at each other, the door still open. Students started to look up as they passed, some of them slowing to listen in.

"Let's get out of here." I muttered to them and we hurried off the library.

I finished up a majority of my homework and then said good-bye to Susan and Ernie and made my way stealthily to Umbridge's office. I waited around a corner until I heard footsteps and saw Harry. He threw the Invisibility cloak over us and unlocked the office door and we hurried inside.

Harry pulled off the cloak, grabbing floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. "Number twelve, Grimmauld Place." Harry said loudly. We both stuck our heads in at the same time. I'd never done this before. There was the familiar spinning sensation and then I was seeing the kitchen.

Dad was sitting at the table, bent over a piece of parchment.

"Sirius?" Harry asked.

Dad jumped and looked around. "Harry! Elizabeth! What are you- what's happened, is everything all right?"

"Yeah. I just wondered- I mean, I just fancied a- a chat with Sirius." Harry said awkwardly. I was looking down at the kitchen floor, unable to look dad in the face.

"I'll call him. He went upstairs to look for Kreacher, he seems to be hiding in the attic again. . ." Dad hurried from the room.

"He must've gone to the Malfoy manor." I muttered. "Sirius keeps telling him to get out."

"This is painful." Harry muttered and I knew what he was talking about. My knees were starting to seize up. Dad returned moments later, Sirius at his heels.

"What is it?" Sirius asked and I thought of how handsome he was and looked back down at the kitchen floor. "Are you all right? Do you need help?"

"No, it's nothing like that. . . I just wanted to talk. . . about my dad. . ." Harry said. He immediately launched into the story about Severus' pensive and what he saw inside of it- not talking about my part of course.

"I wouldn't want you to judge your father on what you saw there, Harry." Dad said and somehow, I knew he was including himself in that. "He was only fifteen-"

"I'm fifteen!" Harry and I said together in heated voices.

"Look, Harry. James and Snape hated each other from the moment they set eyes on each other, it was just one of those things, you can understand that, can't you? I think James was everything Severus wanted to be- he was popular, he was good at Quidditch, good at pretty much everything. And Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts and James- whatever else he may have appeared to you, Harry- always hated the Dark Arts." Sirius said.

I gritted my teeth but said nothing.

"Yeah, but he just attacked Snape for no good reason, just because-"

"Because you said you were bored." I said, attempting to sound sorry for accusing Sirius but wasn't entirely capable of doing it. My voice was to tense, to angry, and both Dad and Sirius flinched slightly.

"I'm not proud of it." Sirius said quickly and I snorted.

"Look, Harry, what you've got to understand is that your father and Sirius were the best in the school at whatever they did- everyone thought they were the height of cool- if they sometimes got a bit carried away-" Dad said.

"If we were sometimes arrogant little berks, you mean." Sirius said.

Dad smiled.

"He kept messing up his hair." Harry said, sounding pained. Both dad and Sirius laughed.

"I'd forgotten he used to do that." Sirius said affectionately.

"Was he playing with the snitch?" Dad asked in an eager voice. I felt like I'd faded into the background but said nothing. Dad's attention didn't have to be on me 24-7 and James had been his friend too.

"Yeah. Well. . . I thought he was a bit of an idiot." Harry said, sounding like he couldn't comprehend why Sirius and Dad looked so reminiscent.

"Of course he was a bit of an idiot! We were all idiots! Well- not Moony so much, that's where Eilís gets her brains too."

Dad shook his head. "Did I ever tell you to lay off Snape? Did I ever have the guts to tell you I thought you were out of order?"

So dad hadn't stopped James because he believed he wasn't brave enough. I supposed that made sense. If Harry had done the same to Malfoy. . . would I have told Harry to lay off? Of course, Draco's dad had also tried kidnapping me so that was a bit of a different story. Ron wouldn't have said anything either- but Hermione. . .

"Yeah, well, you made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes. . . That was something. . ." Sirius said.

So dad had rebuked them, just not in Snape's memory. I felt properly ashamed of judging dad so harshly and I felt tears sting my eyes.

"And, he kept looking over at the girls by the lake, hoping they were watching him!" Harry exclaimed.

"Oh, well, he always made a fool of himself whenever Lily was around. He couldn't stop himself showing off whenever he got near her."

"How come she married him?" Harry asked in a miserable voice. "She hated him!"

"Nah, she didn't." Sirius said.

"She started going out with him in seventh year." Dad said.

"Once James had deflated his head a bit." Sirius said.

"And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it." Dad said.

"Even Snape?" Harry asked.

"Well, Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James, so you couldn't really expect James to take that lying down, could you?" Dad said in a very slow, cautious voice.

"And my mum was okay with that?" Harry asked and I snorted again.

"She didn't know too much about it, to tell you the truth. I mean, James didn't take Snape on dates with her and jinx him in front of her, did he?"

Harry looked unconvinced and I felt miserable. This talk wasn't helping at all, they were just defending their best friend.

"Look. Your father was the best friend I ever had, and he was a good person. A lot of people are idiots at the age of fifteen. He grew out of it." Sirius said.

"Yeah, okay. I just never thought I'd feel sorry for Snape." Harry said heavily.

"Now you mention it, how did Snape react when he found you'd seen all this?" Dad asked, frowning.

"He was so angry when I went to see him the same night." I whispered, "I'd never seen him so angry before."

Sirius face contorted.

"He told me he'd never teach me Occlumency again, like that's a big disappoint-" Harry said indifferently.

"He WHAT?" Sirius shouted and I jumped, smacked my head against the fireplace, and then inhaled ashes. I coughed spasmodically, tears in my eyes and then pulled my head out of the fireplace to find some water. I could hear Harry making noises in the fireplace but not the full context of words.

Once I'd drank a bit of water, I stuck my head back in.

"Harry, there is nothing so important as you learning Occlumency! Do you understand me? Nothing?" Dad asked sternly.

"Okay, okay." Harry said.

"Harry, Filch is coming." I said, my eyes half glazed over, "He just got an order to. . . to whip misbehaving students. . . oh that's just lovely."

"Stay out of detention Elizabeth." Dad said sternly.

"Yeah that's a bit difficult." I said and then pulled my head out to throw the Invisibility cloak over myself and Harry. I was still a bit annoyed with dad and was trying to push that feeling away.

We made it out of Umbridge's office, just as Filch came around the corner. We slipped past him and made our way to the Entrance hall. Harry threw the cloak off of us, tossing it into his bag.

Students were standing around the entrance hall just like the night of Professor Trelawney's sacking, some of them covered in some sort of substance. I could see ghosts and teachers scattered throughout the mix. Peeves was floating up close to the ceiling and Fred and George were standing in the middle, looking exceptionally pleased with themselves.

"So!" Umbridge said triumphantly. "So. . . you think it amused to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?"

"Pretty amusing, yeah." Fred said, catching my eye and winking.

'I've got the form, Headmistress !" Filch said, nearly crying with happiness and rushing towards Umbridge. 'I've got the form and I've got the whips waiting. . . Oh, let me do it now. . ."

"Very good, Argus. You two, are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school."

"You know what?" Fred asked. "I don't think we are. George, I think we've outgrown full-time education."

"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself." George said lightly.

"Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?" Fred said.

"Definitely." George said and as one, they lifted their wands and said "Accio Brooms!"

There was a crashing sound and Harry and I ducked along with a few other students as Fred and George's brooms- having broken through Umbridge's door the iron pegs and chain still attached- came hurtling towards them.

"We won't be seeing you." Fred said, swinging his leg over his broomstick. I grinned at him, catching his eye again, blowing him a kiss, and winking.

"Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch." George said.

Fred looked around and then said. "If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley- Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. Our new premises!"

"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat." George said, pointing at Umbridge.

"STOP THEM!" Umbridge screamed.

"Give her hell from us, Peeves." Fred said and Peeves swept his hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George flew out of the Entrance Hall.

Students ran out of the castle and down onto the lawn to watch them fly far away into the sunset.

⬅️➡️