#knockback jinx slytherin

[carewyncromwell]

"Consider yourself at home! Consider yourself one of the family! We've taken to you so strong, It's clear we're going to get along!"

~"Consider Yourself" from Oliver!

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Behold! Here I issue a prompt to fellow HPHM players -- write a post featuring at least one (1) letter either received or sent by Molly Weasley about your MC, whether one sent by or to Bill, Charlie, Percy, or another one of her kids! If you accept this challenge, please consider tagging me so I and others can learn a bit more about your kid's relationship with our favorite ginger family! ❤️💛🩵💚

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Molly Weasley was a very doting mother. Although it was understandably quite difficult to pay all seven of her children equal amounts of attention, that didn't mean she didn't try very hard to be active in all of their lives or that she didn't insist that her kids who were away at Hogwarts write to her frequently. The child who was best at keeping in touch with Molly was her oldest, Bill, but after Charlie started attending school, he wrote home relatively frequently too, thanks in large part to Bill reminding him to do so.

One of Charlie's longest letters that first year ended up being one Molly kept long after the fact. At first the Weasley matriarch kept it solely for her own reference, in case she needed to write a stern letter to Albus Dumbledore herself, but she later kept it as a memento of the very first time she ever heard the name of the girl who would become her two oldest sons' closest friend.

Mum -- You'll never BELIEVE what happened at school today! I'm just about to breathe fire about it, I'm so angry!! Okay, so you remember Ben Copper, right? He's my Muggle-born dormmate, the one who's afraid of everything. Well, lately he's been getting bullied really bad by this one girl in Slytherin named Merula Snyde. I reckon she was just being nasty because the winter holidays are coming up and all of her usual bullying targets will be going home soon, but she decided to go out of her way to corner Ben in the Courtyard today, yelling all sorts of rotten stuff at him at the top of her lungs and just refusing to let him walk away. Ben told Jae, Corey, and me afterwards a bit more of what was said, since I didn't hear all of it, but Merula said Ben didn't belong here at school with "real" wizards and called him a loser and a scaredy cat who didn't belong in Gryffindor because all he does is run away! She even called him a Mudblood, Mum! Multiple times! Fortunately right around the time Jae and I showed up, someone decided to put a stop to it. Her name's Carewyn Cromwell -- she's another Slytherin in my year, but a much nicer one than Merula. (She's Jacob Cromwell's sister, do you remember him? Bill said you and Dad read about him in the Prophet a while back, right after he disappeared.) Anyhow, Carewyn went right up to Merula and told her to leave Ben alone, and when Merula used the Knockback Jinx on Ben, Carewyn helped him up and then laid Merula out right good, saying that she was the real "loser," not Ben, and calling her a pathetic, mean-spirited bully. That really made Merula mad -- I've never seen her face so purple! So Merula tried to pick a fight with Carewyn, and Carewyn tried to just walk away with Ben, only for Merula to attack Carewyn from behind! She knocked her down face-first into the ground, with no warning! It was just dirty, Mum! But Carewyn, she was so cool, she just took some Wiggenweld Potion out of her sweater, drank enough to heal herself, and then chucked the bottle right at Merula's head like she was at the Dueling Club! (It missed, but it still gave Merula a good scare!) Then when Merula tried to attack her again, Carewyn dodged her spell and took her out with a single Disarming Charm! It was so cool! Oh, but here's what made me mad, Mum -- afterward, Professor Snape took FIFTY POINTS away from both Carewyn and Merula for "causing a scene" and said that he'd send them both along to Dumbledore for further punishment! Yeah! When it was OBVIOUSLY all Merula's doing and Carewyn was only defending herself and Ben! I checked on Ben afterward, and he looked close to tears. He's terrified that Carewyn's going to be expelled, all because she was trying to protect him. I told him no way Dumbledore would do that, but Snape was so furious, I wouldn't put it past him to lie through his ugly yellow teeth about the whole thing and get Carewyn expelled anyway! I know that's what he really wants -- everyone knows Snape hates Carewyn because of what her brother did, even though she honestly seems like a pretty cool person and a really good friend! Dumbledore won't be back until tomorrow, but I'm going to go up to his office as soon as he's back and tell him all about what happened -- there's no way he can expel Carewyn for what she did! She was brave and in the right, and she should've won points for standing up for Ben, instead of losing any! She would've, if she'd been in Gryffindor! It's not fair!! I'll write again after talking to Dumbledore...he'd better not listen to a word Snape says!! Love to you, Dad, and PFGRG -- Charlie

Fortunately Carewyn was not punished further, so Molly never had to send that additional letter to Dumbledore she'd been considering. She ended up revisiting this old letter of Charlie's again, though, when that following winter, Bill sent her another letter.

Dear Mum, The holidays are finally here! Hagrid brought in the Christmas tree yesterday, and now Flitwick is setting about trimming it with magical icicles. Still not as great as our tree at home, though -- I can't wait to get home and help you and Dad decorate it... Charlie and I are doing fine. Charlie's been kept busy with Quidditch practice; I would've thought with him only just having joined the team, the captain might take it a little easier on him -- you know, give him time to get settled and learn the ropes -- but I guess the Quidditch scene is really fast-paced. Charlie even said that they can't afford to coddle him too much, since Gryffindor's next match will be immediately after winter break. As for me, I'm keeping my grades up and earning house points as best I can. Madame Pince gave me ten points the other day for helping some first-years with their Transfiguration homework in the library, and later in the week, McGonagall gave me ten more for it herself! Do you remember Carewyn Cromwell? She's Jacob Cromwell's sister, and a Slytherin in Charlie's year. She came up to talk to me the other day on the Training Grounds and asked me for help with the Fire-Making Spell. She seems like a pretty nice girl! I'm really glad she seems okay after what happened to her brother, but I can tell she really misses him -- I kind of thought she'd have to, when I first heard about it, but I'm glad she doesn't seem to resent him at all. She says that she and Jacob were really close -- apparently it was only ever just them and their mum, since Carewyn's dad left when she was really little -- so I can't imagine Jacob would've left his family on purpose. I really hope Carewyn's able to find out what happened to him. And I hope at some point I'll get to introduce her to you and Dad too! Carewyn grew up largely in the Muggle World since her dad was a Muggle, so she knows a lot about Muggle stuff -- she was telling me about some of her favorite Muggle musicians the other day, and she suggested that you might like a Muggle named Barbra Streisand, since you like Celestina Warbeck. She also said that if Dad's interested in learning more about Muggles, she could put him in touch with her mum -- she's a Magical Historian, but she's also pretty good with Muggle history too. Oh yeah, I almost forgot -- Carewyn's mad good at dueling. I challenged her to a friendly one, just to help gauge her level and maybe give her some pointers, and she not only dodged all my spells, but took me out with a Disarming Charm so strong she knocked me right off my feet! Sure, maybe I was a little worried about going too hard on her, but I was NOT expecting that! It's a good thing that we get on -- I would not like to be on the wrong side of her! I love you all so much! Give Ron and Ginny extra big hugs for me. Charlie and I will touch base again before we set off for home next week. See you soon! Bill

Molly would soon read quite a few more letters from both Bill and Charlie that mentioned Carewyn (or "Carey," as they soon took to calling her). Once Charlie started his third year, he became closer friends with Carewyn through Quidditch friendlies, so he often brought Carewyn up whenever he wrote anything about Hogwarts's Quidditch Cup.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot -- Carey's hoping to go out for the Slytherin team! One of Slytherin's Chasers got knocked off her broom by Erika Rath during a not-so-friendly friendly match against Ravenclaw's team, and she's so bad-off she probably won't be healed in time for the match against Hufflepuff, so Carey reached out to Slytherin's Star Chaser Skye Parkin, and now Parkin's helping her train for an upcoming tryout! I don't think Carey's as excited about a Parkin training her as I would be, but she said she's grateful for her help. She said she prefers training with me and Andre, though, since we don't make her try to mount any jinxed brooms!!

Meanwhile Bill's letters would express much more concern for Carewyn's emotional well-being, not unlike how he wrote about Charlie.

The Slytherin VS Hufflepuff Quidditch match is set for Friday. I've been worried about Carey -- there's a rumor going around school that she had a meltdown after one of Slytherin's practices, which is very out of character for her. Carey's much more the type to try to put on a brave face and not let anyone see she's scared or hurting. Even so, Carey has been very quiet this entire week...even if she says she's fine, I can tell something's bothering her. I've been trying to walk with her in the halls more, to keep any more obnoxious Hufflepuffs off her back.

Charlie and Bill's letters' subject matter and tone overlapped in December 1986. When Carewyn's mother, Lane Cromwell, was forced to spend the winter holidays abroad away from her daughter, both Weasley boys were beside themselves.

Speaking of Carey, Mum, you won't believe this -- Carey's mum is stuck out of the country on this trip for the Ministry, doing research on house elf history, and now Carey's going to have to stay stuck at school for the holidays! She's trying to act like she's not upset about it, but I don't see how she can't be! Carey loves Christmas! She's been singing carols all season...

It's the most outrageous thing, Mum. I know the Ministry of Magic's assignment is important, and I know it's an important opportunity for Carey's mother...but Carey's family isn't big like ours. Carey told me as far back as she can remember, it was always just her, Jacob, and her mum, even before her dad left. With Jacob missing, her mum is all Carey has. I know they're close, and I know being apart from her mother is hard for her -- from what Rowan's told me, Carey's mum has so much difficulty being around people that Carey and Jacob used to stay at home with her rather than try to make any friends when they were kids, just to keep her company. To be apart from her mum during Christmas, of all times...I know it has to be just eating Carey up inside, Mum. Even Merula (who I still think is upset about spending the holidays alone) is doing better because I doubt she's expecting any kind of special gathering for Christmas. Knowing Carey, she's probably been silently looking forward to spending Christmas with her mother all year. And now she's left silently mourning the fact that she won't.

Molly herself even ended up expressing quite a bit of upset in her own letters back to Charlie and Bill --

What a poor, sweet girl! You're absolutely right, Charlie, she most certainly can't be okay, under such circumstances! You tell your brother to find a way to bring her on back here to the Burrow, if he can...

Bill -- bring Carewyn back to the Burrow with you. Your father and I want her here with us. Merula Snyde too, if you can -- the poor thing shouldn't have to spend a holiday alone either.

That Christmas ended up being when Molly and Arthur first met Carewyn, and they both liked her at once. Not only did Carewyn get on very well with Bill and Charlie, but she was a very polite guest who readily volunteered to help with chores and had a faint "Mama Bear" quality that could remind anyone a bit of Molly. Arthur couldn't help but tease his wife just a little about it. @department-shoe-stud

"Red hair, short stature, mothering...Molly dear, did we have another daughter and I just never noticed?"

Not that Molly would've minded. That Christmas pretty much solidified her thought process that Carewyn would make a perfect Weasley, if either Bill or Charlie ever decided to pursue her romantically. (They never did.)

One thing Bill conveniently neglected to tell Molly about was how Carewyn and he had become friends largely because they'd teamed up to deal with the Cursed Vaults. Bill did acknowledge the curses unleashed on the school by the Cursed Vaults now and again in his letters home, since he knew Charlie had already written to their parents about them beforehand, but he didn't tell Molly that Carewyn and he had broken the curses on the Ice, Fear, and Forest Vaults with help from some of Carewyn's other friends. And Bill's reasoning proved to be rather sound, because as it turned out, when Molly eventually found out the summer before his seventh year, she was not happy. It was just about the only time Bill's siblings could remember Molly ever having shouted at him.

"William...Arthur...Weasley...have you gone COMPLETELY 'round the bend?! Abusing your Prefect powers -- sneaking into forbidden areas of the school -- aggravating curses that the professors themselves have struggled to get a hold of -- and all while dragging both Carewyn and Charlie along after you, when they haven't even PASSED THEIR OWLS YET?! You are grounded for the rest of the summer for a START, William Weasley, AND IF YOU OR CAREWYN EVEN THINK OF GOING AFTER ANOTHER CURSED VAULT, I'LL GROUND YOU EVEN AFTER YOUR GRADUATION!"

Bill didn't listen to his mother. But in his defense, Carewyn was going to do anything if it meant saving her brother Jacob, and there was no way Bill was going to let her run into that kind of danger alone. And neither was Charlie, when he ended up in the position to help found the Circle of Khanna with Carewyn, Bill, Merula, and Ben to avenge the death of their fallen friend, Rowan Khanna.

Fortunately, after the Cursed Vaults were dealt with and R was defeated, Molly slowly cooled off about the whole affair. However displeased she was that her sons had engaged in something so dangerous, she was ultimately very proud of how brave they both had been. That doesn't mean Molly wasn't still a bit sad neither of them pursued Ministry work like Carewyn did. If nothing else, if Charlie was at the Ministry too, maybe he would have more of a chance to spend "alone time" with Carewyn and something more romantic could bloom! Or so Molly thought. This is why she was incredibly surprised when after the Second Wizarding War, Bill sent along this letter --

In other news, Carey has actually started dating! I'm surprised too. His name is Orion Amari -- I'm sure Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny have heard of him, since he's a Chaser for the Montrose Magpies, but he was Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team in those two matches Carey played in, back at school. I don't remember him that well aside from that, but I followed up with some old friends from school who remember him and they've all spoken well of him. I also broached the topic with Carey, and even though she was understated as always, she really wants me to meet him. I think she really likes him a lot.

To say Molly wasn't disappointed to learn Carewyn would not be marrying Charlie would be untrue. When Molly met Orion herself at the after-party for his and Carewyn's partnership ceremony, however, she had to admit, Carewyn looked so very happy in Orion's company. And well, being the OG Mama Bear, that's all Molly Weasley could really want for Bill and Charlie's best friend.

She did add a very pointed little postscript to a letter she sent along to Carewyn's mother Lane in December, though.

P.S. Thank you for the advice about Muggle dragon books. I may be eternally disappointed that Charlie never took the plunge with your dear Carewyn, but Arthur and I still want to get him a birthday gift nobody else would think of getting him.

[usernoneexistent]

Finally back and contiuning on with the story. After Rowan and Juniper's discovery in the Gryffindor's common room and them getting subsequently caught, they finally have some answers or do they?

Warnings: hospital phobia, mild swearing like once

What happened with Skye last night didn't settle right in Juniper's stomach. She couldn't sleep with her stomach in knots as she tried to soothe herself in a deep sleep from the snores of the other girls. 

She was just trying to do the right thing. Helping Rowan find Ben and helping Skye to find out if the Slytherins would sabotage the team or not. That was not her initial intention until Tulip targeted the Gryffindor changing room. 

She waved her wand and used the lighting charm to check the clock on her bedside stand. It was midnight. She tossed the bed sheets and grabbed a cardigan as it was chilly. She woke Rowan up.

"Is it time?" Rowan yawned but quickly covered her mouth, not to wake the other girls up. 

"Aye," Juniper whispered.

They snuck through the commons room and down the multiple flights of stairs. It would be a pain to guess the riddle correctly when they have to come back though that was currently the least of Juniper's worries. 

"I wasn't expecting you to wake me up," Rowan said with slight amusement. However, Juniper's dark eye bags betrayed her. "Usually, I am the one to wake you up."

"Well I thought a change would be nice." Juniper tried to joke despite the tiredness and nauseous feelings.

They journeyed to the East corridor on the fifth floor. The paintings either chatted away, minding their own business or sleeping though there was one or two who minded them creeping a lot. The door had an open gap of bright light flooding in. A chilly breeze sends goosebumps down her arm.

"Someone beat us already."

"Let's have a look anyway." Juniper pushed on. They snuck carefully, avoiding creaks and squeaks that could give away their position on the wooden floor.

Large ice shards marred the corridor like the inner linings of shark teeth. Juniper could see her breath, and at first, she thought her teeth were chattering, but it was Rowan. Their cardigans provided very little warmth. 

She looked ahead and saw dirty blond hair attached to a plump face and the red Gryffindor robes ahead.

"I'm so...c-c-c-c-cold..."

"There's Ben!" Juniper pointed out but quickly covered her mouth. Ahead were the distinct figures of Professor McGonagall alongside Professor Snape. His face turned in their direction.

"Hide!" Rowan hissed. 

She pulled Juniper behind one of the ice, carefully avoiding its icy touch. She was sure that Professor Snape would be marching over to check out the sound of the source had it not been for Ben being stuck in ice. Had he been here all this time?

"Flipendo!" The Transfiguration teacher tried, but the lack of ice shattering was disturbing. "The knockback jinx always shattered the cursed ice before, but it seems to have become impervious."

"Incendio would melt it away." Juniper could hear the smirk from Professor Snape.

"Along with his flesh." Professor McGonagall sounded appalled by the Potions master's suggestion.

"I never said he would survive." He said sinisterly.

Juniper could imagine the Professor's stern stare at Professor Snape like the one she would give to her students.

"The cursed ice contiunes to spread throughout Hogwarts. Someone has clearly been tampering with the cursed vaults."

Juniper's ears pricked up. The ice was spreading; it explained why the air was chillier than usual at Hogwarts or the teachers hid it well. It frustrated Juniper that someone would blatantly beat her to the cursed vault, yet she was relieved that Ben was found.

"It would be helpful if our headmaster were at Hogwarts, instead of searching elsewhere for answers." There was a snide tone to the Potions professor's voice. 

"We don't need Dumbledore to safely free Mr Copper. We will cast incendio but target the ice farthest from the boy's body. Be careful, Severus." Professor McGonagall warned. While Juniper may not want to tell the Professor everything about the vaults, she trusts her more with freeing Ben than Professor Snape.

"...fine," Professor Snape relented.

"I think the professors will take care of Ben and bring him to the hospital wing," Rowan whispered, breath shakey; her glasses had frost forming. Juniper saw her own fingertips turning blue. 

"We'll visit him tomorrow then."

***

Juniper already threw up in the toilets before they left that morning, but the bile threatened to return. Juniper still couldn't sleep through last night. Ben was back, Skye was still mad at her and now this hospital visit. The Ravenclaw thought she had overcome her fear of hospitals; instead, she dreaded it.

"Are you sure that you want to see Ben? I can talk to him for you." Rowan suggested.

"No, I would be a bad friend if I did nae."

"I think Ben would understand if I explained the situation. As long as that's alright with you."

"Thanks, but I'm fine. I'll manage." 

They reached the hospital wing, where Juniper froze. She tried not to breathe in the disinfectant scent. She grabbed Rowan's hand.

"Don't let me go and don't let me run." Juniper's dark eyes pierced Rowan's. Being the great friend she was, Rowan's long and thin fingers wrapped around her hands firmly and refused to let go. 

Rowan led her in and looked for their friend. The matron approached them as they drew closer to Ben's bed, partially covered by the green curtains. Juniper found that looking at the floor helped a little.

"Miss Moss, Miss Khanna. I assume it's about Mr Copper?" Madam Pomfrey glanced at the Ravenclaws.

"Yes, we want to see Ben."

"Is Ben going to be alright, Madam Pomfrey?" Juniper briefly looked up at the matron.

"I believe so." The matron put on her reassuring voice before Her face tightened and grew stern. "His memory is erratic, but I have seen patients in far worse condition in my time as matron of Hogwarts."

Juniper flinched at the term erratic. That flooding memory of her as a little girl sitting on those uncomfortable chairs in the waiting rooms at St Mungo. She overheard many times that the healers used to describe her mother as erratic, delicate, and overly emotional, along with other terms Juniper later learned their meaning of. Rowan squeezed in extra reassurance, noticing Juniper's state of discomfort.

"Did he ask for us?" Rowan asked, shifting nervously.

"Many times, along with other strange proclamations and requests. I believe he's experiencing some state of delirium." Her pale white eyebrows furrowed as her lips tightened. Juniper started to wonder if she really wanted to stay.

"Can we talk to him?"

"My Copper has been through quite an ordeal, and remains in a very delicate state. What exactly do you want?" Madam Pomfrey said defensively. Her body was positioned in front of Ben's bed.

Rowan was ready to say, but Juniper tugged her hand. The longer Madam Pomfrey held them back, the more Juniper wanted to run outside.

"We haven't seen him since he disappeared. We just want to make sure he's okay." Juniper managed to say.

She noticed the harsh lines on the matron's face softening slightly.

"Very well, but be brief."

Rowan dragging a Juniper, rushed over to Ben's bedside. He looked ghostly pale. Lips and fingertips still had a residue of blue. His brown eyes had a glaze of dissociation, like he wasn't properly looking at them. 

"How are you feeling, Ben?" Rowan asked, her eyebrows upturned and worried.

"Cold. Tired. Sore." Ben finally looked at them. "Not that different from usual to be honest."

"I'm glad you have nae lost your sense of humour." Juniper weakly smiled.

"Do you need anything?"

"Or to cheer you up?"

The girls asked him. Ben attempted a laugh which sounded like a wheeze instead.

"Just you guys being here. Madam Pomfrey is very helpful, but she doesn't seem to have the most comforting bedside manners." He rasped.

Rowan quickly acted, getting him water that was on the bedside table. Juniper felt so useless, her friend was helpless, yet her feet were frozen to the floor.

"Are you okay, Juniper?" Ben asked after taking a sip from his glass.

"Completely fine." Juniper forced a broad smile, yet even her face felt frozen. "So, do you remember anything that happened?"

"How did you get trapped in the cursed ice?" Rowan chimed in.

All their questions have left Ben disoriented.

"I can't remember. I hardly remember anything at all." Though he frowns like he is thinking hard about something. "Madam Pomfrey thinks it has something to do with the ice. Though I do think something happened on the train but I can't remember what happened."

That only helped a little to ease Juniper and Rowan's confusion.

"I found a letter to you in the artefact room. We went to another room to find another letter which told you to go to that corridor." Juniper whispered quietly, fearing Madam Pomfrey would overhear and report to the other teachers.

"I'm sorry, guys. I just don't remember..." Ben hung his head in shame. Juniper knew it was best to back off, especially since the matron came over.

"That's enough for today, Miss Moss and Miss Khanna. Mr Copper needs his rest." The matron sternly stared them down until they finally left the hospital wing.

Juniper was relieved to be finally out of that wing. She hadn't realised how much of her breath she was holding. Once they were far away from the hospital wing, Rowan had a slight scowl on her face. She constantly fixed her glasses and didn't look like a friend who was relieved to see their friend safe and sound.

"What's wrong, Rowan?" Juniper asked.

"Hmm...well..." She hesitates. Juniper feels an uneasy feeling forming in her stomach. "I think he's hiding something. I believe he does remember more than he claims."

"What do you mean? Why would he do that to us?" Juniper's tone was slightly accusatory, a little upset that her best friend accused her other best friend of lying.

"Well, he might just be afraid of whoever sent those instructions, or he might be trying to protect us," Rowan said defensively. Juniper gave her an apologetic glance.

"I'm sorry if I jumped to conclusions there."

"It's fine." Rowan sighed. Juniper felt awful. All she had been doing for the past two days was letting people down.

"Let's search the corridor tonight and see if we can find some clues that might give us answers."

"Hmm..." Was the only sound that came out of her.

Rowan excused herself off to her gobstone club. Juniper didn't have anyone to hang out with, and she wasn't in the mood for Penny's upbeat attitude and blinding white smile. Even her golden hair radiated happiness which Juniper wanted to repulse from. She figured to use this time to catch up on the family finances and update her journal with the recent findings of the cursed vaults.

At dinner, they reconvened, with Penny and Tonks joining them. Penny, in particular, asked about Ben and what he said because she wasn't allowed to see Ben by Madam Pomfrey's overprotectiveness over her patients.

When they headed back to their dorm room, Skye bumped into her with a scowl, and Juniper quickly made her own scowl back.

"What was that about, Juniper Moss?" Tulip asked.

"It's nothing, Tulip." Juniper squinted over at Tulip's bed. She sat cross-legged on her bottom bunk with the sweets wrappers laid around. "Did you eat all of the Halloween sweets?"

"I wanted to see how many I could eat in one go plus Dennis wanted to try too." Dennis croaked in agreement.

"Alright, but don't come to me complaining of a stomach ache."

Juniper slipped into Tulip's bunk as if it was just the two of them, but that could change at any moment. 

"Why did you throw a stink bomb in the Gryffindor changing rooms?!" Juniper hissed.

"You were the one that said to distract Gryffindor." Tulip pointed out, rolling her eyes. "I took that as I can interpret in any way I want."

"Well, maybe your ass is fine getting into trouble but my ass is on the line on the quidditch team." Juniper raised her voice slightly. 

"How is that my problem?" 

"Because what are we going to do when Professor McGonagall finds out you did it and I was the one to mastermind it." Juniper went back to a whisper. Her eyes kept darting between the door and Tulip. 

"Don't worry, I'm not going to grass on you if that's what you're worried about."

"And I won't grass on you either."

"I'm glad we got that sorted. It's been a pleasure doing business with you." Tulip patted her on the back with a mischievous smile. Juniper jumped off, and perfect timing as Rowan entered with Badeea. 

Another night in a row, Juniper couldn't sleep, and it was her stomach that ached. Rowan seemed to be the same this time.

"Juniper?" She whispered from below. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah."

"Should we go now to that corridor?"

"I think that's a good idea."

Tiptoeing their way out, which by now they must be masters in it, Juniper reckoned. The amount of sneaking about makes her think that she should be a spy or an auror after Hogwarts. They navigate quickly with the occasional sound of the night patrol. They hid behind the knight statue, who seemed confused by their appearance but managed to make it to the ice corridor where most of the ice had melted away by Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape.

"It's less cold than last time," Juniper noted. The awkwardness from their earlier conversation about Ben still lingered, and Juniper couldn't fight the nagging feeling off.

"Yeah. Let's take a look and see if we can find something."

They looked at the walls, splitting the work. Juniper couldn't stand for the air of awkwardness in the room.

"I'm sorry, Rowan."

"What for?" Rowan paused, wondering what had prompted this apology. "About earlier with Ben?"

Juniper nodded slowly. "I did nae mean to accuse you like that. I feel so bad about it because, for a moment, I thought you did nae care for Ben."

"It did upset me a little too." Rowan pushed her glasses up. "You didn't let me finish, as I figured Ben wouldn't lie to us without reason."

"I guess we were both upset with each other." Juniper chuckled wryly.

"I guess so too." Rowan smiled slightly.

Juniper was ready for them to hug it out, but she felt an odd sensation of coldness. It was like a slight breeze was coming into this area.

"Rowan, come here and feel this! There's a draught coming from here."

Rowan quickly rushed over and felt the wall before placing her ear. She looked at Juniper as excited her.

"Whoa. I think I hear something too."

"Do you think it's a hidden passage?" 

"Anything is possible at Hogwarts. The only way to know for sure is by casting Revelio."

"That's a Transfiguration spell, right?"

"Right but it's also a very difficult spell."

"I know the drill," Juniper smirked. "I learn the spell right? And then we come back here."

"Right." Rowan gave her a glint of madness right back at Juniper.

She knew that on Monday morning in their double Transfiguration period, she would ask Professor McGonagall about the revealing charm, using that offer of private tutoring from the teacher. When the lesson about spongify was over and the other students had left for their break, Juniper stayed behind and approached the Professor at her desk.

"What can I do for you, Miss Moss?" The Professor put down her quill, which she was busy marking their homework.

"Professor McGonagall, I wanted to ask if I could have that advanced Transfiguration lesson you offered." Juniper tried to put on her sweetest voice. She needed this to discover what happened with Ben and that mystery corridor.

Professor McGonagall looked at her sternly as Juniper could feel her heartbeat increase.

"I told you that you would receive an owl when it was time for your private lesson."

"I ken, but I need to learn the Revelio charm, Professor."

"Why?"

A hot panic took over her. Yet another lie to tell the Professor, and she certainly would disapprove of her investigation.

"Well my dad wants me to do well, especially in Transfiguration since it's obviously the most challenging and fascinating subject and eh..."

"I'm happy that you want to work hard even though you should really do it for your own sake and not for others, Miss Moss. However, you aren't ready to learn a spell as difficult as Revelio."

"Please, Professor. I would nae ask if it wasn't important." Juniper begged desperately. "I'll do anything, please Professor!"

"I'll teach you Revelio when you have proven yourself ready, Miss Moss. I would typically have you attend many classes in preparation. Still, since you accepted my offer for a private lesson, this will be much easier." Professor McGonagall made herself very clear. "You will receive an owl when I've determined you are ready to learn Revelio."

"Okay and thanks, Professor McGonagall." Juniper mustered enough of a polite smile before leaving.

Really is nothing going her way this weekend. Trying not to get too upset by that interaction, Juniper quickly distracted herself with other matters. The week passed quickly as Juniper continued to study hard for the Transfiguration private lesson and worried about the upcoming match against Hufflepuff at the end of the month. While only reserved, Juniper had to be ready to step in anytime. Things remained tense and awkward between Skye and Juniper, so much so that Orion had to try and intervene between them.

Skye would not stop glaring at Juniper, to which she decided to take the high road of the cold shoulder. She ignored Skye's existence entirely, but their teammates could sense the tension between the chaser and the reserve seeker. The practice was messy and unfocused; Skye cursed as she missed hoops while Juniper was almost bludgeoned. It even ended with them two almost crashing their brooms. Also, the fore mentioned incident at the Gryffindor vs Slytherin match was looming over the team, worried that the perpetrator would strike again at the next one. Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall have made it clear they will be investigating the matter and handing out an appropriate punishment. 

"I appreciate all of you for taking part in today's practice. The session has enlightened me on the importance of building better team harmony. In our upcoming session, we will work towards enhancing our team's collaboration as without harmony we won't find balance," Orion concluded. Their teammates all glanced between the two girls. "Skye Parkin. Juniper Moss. Before you both leave I would like your help with something." He added.

"Good luck, curse-breaker. Hope you and Skye can resolve whatever it is." Andre whispered before joining the rest in the changing rooms. She was going to need that luck.

"What is it you need, Orion?" Juniper inquired.

"I need you both to de-gnome the pitch."

"Again?" Skye sighed.

"That would be perfect." He smiled. Juniper knew he was up to something but refrained from saying so. "Hagrid would appreciate it deeply."

"Sure," Juniper rolled up her sleeves.

"Beats doing charms homework," Skye muttered but seemed equally annoyed at having to degnome that pitch.

Juniper got to it by getting a shovel. She contemplated if she should be getting Skye a shovel but chucked one over to her.

"You're not getting a thanks out of me if that's what you're expecting," Skye coldly said.  

"Don't get your knickers in a twist. I was doing me a favour," Juniper scowled as she started getting to work. "I just want to get this done faster."

Juniper struggled to get the shovel to dig into the wet soil. Her arms shaking from her muscles fighting against the pressure. Skye scoffed before a smirk formed at Juniper's fruitless efforts. 

"Honestly, it's wet soil, so it should nae be hard to shovel. I could do that in my sleep," the chaser mused.

"Glad tae ken that you can do it better than me." Juniper rolled her eyes. 

Juniper pressed on the shovel harder, using her weight with her foot to push the shovel down. Skye had already managed to form a hole nearby. She watched for fifteen minutes as Juniper barely made much of a hole. 

"Okay, this is pathetic," Skye barged over to Juniper and grabbed her shovel. "You need to work out more."

"Like I don't already ken that," Juniper said. Skye dug the hole faster than Juniper could ever. "I'm sorry that I stood you up," Juniper apologised. "Even if I explain why I did it, it's still ma fault for thinking I could do everything. So for that, I'm sorry. I don't want our spat to affect our team's chances of winning the cup."

Skye paused. Juniper waited in anticipation as contemplation flashed in Skye's eyes.

"It was a dumb thing, but I'll accept the apology," Skye said dryly. Juniper knew that Skye wouldn't easily forget, but it was a step forward in gaining her trust again. "Well, what are you waiting for? You better help get rid of these gnomes. It will help get you some strength in those arms cause I don't want you pulling the team behind if we ever need you from the bench."

Juniper chuckled as they started to stomp the ground, "Aye, aye."

"Get that gnome, now!" The ugly green, yellow head of a gnome popped out. Juniper grabbed it by the arms and swung around before chucking at Skye. She turned the bat with full force as the gnome flew over the other side of the pitch. Juniper laughed, "who knew this could be so fun." 

"Aye," Skye grunted as Juniper chucked another gnome. "So what was so important that you ditch me?"

"My friend Ben was missing for two months. He was found last week."

"Isn't he the one who was found trapped in ice?"

As usual, rumour spreads quickly around Hogwarts, almost like the cursed ice. Little can stay hidden for long from the students, yet the castle still persisted with mysteries. 

"Aye, he's the one. I thought looking around the Gryffindor common would help me find him." 

"You snuck into another House's common room? You have even more balls than I thought, curse-breaker. Though I should nae be surprised by the amount you and Khanna sneak about," Skye shrugged.

Juniper would have to take away the title of the master sneaker from herself. 

"I guess we aren't as good as we thought," Juniper snorted, mixed with a grunt as she chucked another gnome. "Found anything more about the Gryffindor attack?"

"Apart from the changing room attack, nothing else," Skye aimed an extra hard swing at the gnome. "It's strange. Why only do one attack and then saboutage nothing else? I don't get it but I know they're up to something."

Juniper nodded but knew that she would have to keep the truth about that attack a secret to her grave from Skye. If Skye found out, the cold shoulder wouldn't be all she would give Juniper. She feared that things would get a lot uglier. For now, Juniper was going to enjoy her moments of peace. 

Previous chapter: chapter 14

Next chapter: chapter 16

[slinket]

Smutmas Day 7

Prompt: Your ass going to be 7 shades of red after that little stunt.

Poppy had just walked over to the kneazle padlock to feed Persephone, when she caught the slytherin boy trying to rip out her whiskers.  Poppy quickly cast a knockback jinx, forcing the student away.  Another day, another animal rescue.  She was happy, until she realized that Professor Howin had seen the jinx.  Poppy explained herself, and while Professor Howin was empathetic, she still gave Poppy a detention.  The Slytherin boy having to join her.

They were tasked with cleaning out the owlery after hours.  Working with the animals was never a punishment for Poppy, so her only worry was dealing with the Slytherin. 

While she had left her parents and their evil ways several years before, she still had lingering memories of how they treated animals.  Her rebellious streak was pushing her to enact some of those treatments towards the boy, however, she tried to see the better side of things, so she was going to give him a second chance to redeem himself.

He proved her wrong.  The entire time they were in the owlery, he barely lifted a finger.  He spent most of his time trying to make himself comfortable in the minimal furniture around the room, mostly a desk and a chair.  Poppy kept quiet and just focused on her task, listening to him complain and question everything she did.  Finally, when nearing the completion of the cleaning, the Slytherin student went over to one of the owls and began pulling at its feathers.

“Let me have a few you dumb bird.  These will make some nice quills for my lady friend.” 

Poppy mumbled under her breath.

“You got something to say Puff?”

“Just that there are plenty of feathers on the ground, you could use any of those as a quill.”

“Oh, but pulling one off the owl is half the fun. Hah.”

Poppy closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  “It's fine, relax” she told herself.

“Yeah, just relax little Puff, not like you can do anything about it anyways.”  With that, the student pulled out a feather and they both heard the owl coo in pain.

Poppy hit her limit.  “That’s it!  Your ass is going to be seven shades of red after that little stunt!” She cried out at him.  He looked up at her with a confused expression, and before he had a chance to say anything, she had spelled his wand away, and cast an incarcerous spell.  He fell onto the floor, hands tied behind his back.

“I can do nothing about it?  Maybe, but I sure as hell can try!”  Poppy levitated the student over to the desk.  When he landed back on his feet, she pushed him over, holding his head to the desk.

“Let's see how you like the pain.”  She grabbed his pants and pulled them down, along with his boxers.  His ass now bare, the cold of the air chilling him.  

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He cried out to her.

“Treating you like you treat the animals,” is all that was growled back at him.

Her hand suddenly smacked down on his ass, causing him to call out. She hit him again and again, enjoying how red his ass was getting, how she could see a distinct hand print after every smack.  After each smack, Poppy would rub her hand across him, massaging the heat back into his skin.When his startled cries began to fade and become replaced with moans, Poppy glanced down at him and saw how hard he had become.

“Well, will you look at that?  Someone seems to be enjoying their little punishment.”  She pressed against him from behind, moving her hand around to his front to grasp onto his cock.  She squeezed, harder than what was comfortable, but it forced him to leak onto her hand.

“Please,” he tried to keep his voice steady.  “I won’t hurt them again, just, don’t leave me like this, help me, I need to finish.”  

Poppy leaned over and bit her teeth into the flesh of his ass.  “Oh, I’ll help you, don’t worry.”

The student lay there, hung over the desk, moving slowly, thrusting against nothing.  He waited as Poppy walked away, and when she returned, he looked back to see her with a few feathers in her hand, as well as his wand.  

“Look forward - I don’t want to see your face.”  While she said this, she took one of the feathers and started lightly tickling his skin with it.  Running it down the crack of his ass, flickering it against his large, hanging balls.  She skimmed the tip of the feather up and down the underside of his cock, bringing all of his focus into his pleasure.

He could feel Poppy still touching his back side, and when she dipped the tip of the feather into his leaking slit, her other hand spread his ass cheeks apart.  When Poppy let go of the feather, it stayed attached to him, stuck against his tip.  The Slytherin student forgot about the feather soon enough, when Poppy spit right onto his puckered hole.

“Now, because I am not as terrible as you, I am being kind and giving you a little lubrication, maybe next time you are around animals you will remember this moment and show them the kindness you were given.”  With that, Poppy pushed the tip of his wand into his ass.  She wasn’t worried about hurting him too much, his wand was not being very thick or long.  He jumped forward as it first breached his hole, he was not suspecting her to go so far.  

Poppy wanted to be brutal.  In truth, she was enjoying watching the wand disappear into his ass.  She would push it in a bit, smack him again, push further.  This routine continued until he started speaking again.

“Oh fuck, Poppy, please, I need to cum, fuck my ass with that wand.”

“Oh, I’ll get you there, don’t fret.”  She started moving the wand in and out but at different angles.  When she found the right position to hit his prostate, she held the wand in place, pressed against the pleasure button inside of him.

“Feels good, does it?”  She leaned over him once again, keeping the pressure on his prostate, and wrapping her hand around his cock, giving it a couple of strokes.

“Yeh, so good, I’m so close Poppy, help me over the edge.”

“Mmm, you’d like that, wouldn’t you.”

Poppy released his cock, and pulled the wand out of his ass.  She tossed it on the ground.  He was left tied up and bent over, his cock pulsing ready to explode, and his hold throbbing and desperate for something to enter it once again.

“Looks like we are all finished, so I’ll see you in class tomorrow.  Have a nice night.”  Poppy gathered her things and headed out of the owlery.  She smirked as the Slytherin called out to her, begging for her to return and finish him off.  She ignored his cries.  Her goal was to torture him, afterall.  

[halfblxxdprinc3]

Snape almost scoffed at the manner of which Lupin was reacting. He knew it wouldn't take much for a confirmation that it was him. After all, they had years of experience of mutual disdain for one another under their belts. Nevertheless, Snape still kept his guard up. Out of all the Gryffindor lot he often dealt with, Severus knew that - while he was quiet, but complicit - Remus was also quite gifted in dueling. Eyes narrowed as Snape took notice that the other was hardly phased by the knockback jinx. Behind the mask, he sneered. If the other completely ignored it, then something was tipping the scales in Lupin's favor, somehow. Yet, quickly on his feet, Severus blocked Remus' counterspell with ease. Then, seeing the imminent explosion, the Slytherin got out of the way quickly as he sent another nasty hex toward the other that would bring a horrid ringing of the ears and blurred vision to disorient the Gryffindor.

However, the explosion still managed to effect Snape, cursing as a piece flew and hit his shoulder. In angered retaliation, he then used one of this original spells that Lupin and his friends loved to torment him at school with once they stole it, "Levicorpus!" he managed calmly, searching for whatever was helping Remus now in this fight.

@swearwolfx

----- @halfblxxdprinc3

The masked figure stayed silent and he had to wonder if it was because he didn’t want to give himself away. They altered their voices slightly but he would know Snape’s odd manner of speaking anywhere. So despite the fact he didn’t get confirmation in the way of words he felt the silence spoke volumes. 

Held back anger sizzled beneath his skin remembering what Lily had told him, that Snape had dared to see her, to comfort her after his group was the one that had taken her. Was he there watching her in the room they held her? Doing nothing like the coward he was? And then slithering to her bedside once she was out of danger…

He countered the spell with a flick of his wrist shooting one back in return aimed at his legs to take them out from beneath him, to take him down a peg. He fired off an expulso curse at the statue just behind Snape causing it to explode, pieces of it flying in every direction. 

[artemisofthesea]

In Vino Veritas Fanart [Exploding Snap 2021]

I am playing @gameofdrarry Exploding Snap 2021. This is for my half of Club Magicana’s Kockback Jinx (Slytherin) card. I’ve created a book cover for the lovely @ladderofyears fic.

Title: A Lungful of Truthfulness

Author: Ladderofyears

Rating: Mature

Exploding Snap Trope: Truth Spell

Word Count: 605

Tags: Truth Serum; Potions Class (Harry Potter); Potions Accident; Secret Crush; Wet Dream; Dream Sex; Orgasm; Love Confessions; Boys Kissing; Oral Sex Discussion; Happy Ending; Game of Drarry's Exploding Snap 2021

Summary: When Harry inhales Truth Potion several interesting confessions spill from his mouth.

Read on AO3

Book Cover on AO3

[vnderoos]

in your place ✷ draco malfoy

(gif is not mine, credit to the owner) warnings / language, steamy scene, slight choking(?) word count / 3.1k

masterlist in bio ↴

Y/N'S HEAD SLUMPED further into her hand, her cheek smushing against it, as Snape rambled on, in his usual monotone manner, about the highly poisonous nature of the Weedosoros potion. She was far from a model student, seeing as Granger had raised most of the professors' expectations impossibly higher, but she was usually more alert, especially in Potions. She felt bad at first, when she'd started to doze off in the middle of class, but when she'd reminded herself of how badly she'd slept the night before and how nice it felt to close her eyes for a few seconds, her guilt ebbed away. It disappeared altogether when she slipped out of consciousness completely, falling asleep against her hand. In her unconscious state, she began to slide forward slowly, until she let out a loud snore and her head smacked against the desk.

The impact was enough to wake her up in an instant and she gasped instinctively, her eyes shooting open. A stinging feeling spread across her forehead and there was a string of saliva that connected her mouth to her hand when she sat up. "Had a nice nap, did you, Y/L/N?" someone asked in a mocking tone and everyone erupted into laughter. Her eyes flickered over to Draco Malfoy, who was laughing along with everyone else at his own joke, puckering his lips, and brushing his thumb quickly over the corner of his mouth.

Following his movements, she touched her fingers to her face, as all of the giggling seemed to intensify, and her eyes widened when her fingertips came in contact with her own drool. She was quick to wipe it away with the sleeve of her robe. "Oh, screw off, Malfoy," she grumbled and folded her arms over the top of her desk, looking down in embarrassment as the snickers continued.

Thankfully, the commotion was short lived after that and Professor Snap came to her rescue—unintentionally, of course. The man, with his dark and flowing robes swishing with movement, lifted his arms up and slammed a book down onto his desk. "That's enough," he all-but-yelled and it was almost frightening how easily he could calm down a room. The laughter ceased without another word and her peers tore their eyes off of her, so they could turn back around in their seats. When Snape was satisfied with the atmosphere again, his dark eyes flickered over to Y/N. She swallowed thickly under his gaze. "Miss Y/L/N," he started and she tried to drown out her nervous heartbeat. "Fifteen points from Slytherin. I suggest you keep yourself awake unless you want to make it thirty," he enunciated.

"Yes, sir. Sorry, professor." She nodded once and she managed a sheepish smile, grateful that he'd chosen to deduct points instead of embarrassing her with a question about Weedosoros that she definitely wouldn't have known the answer to. Snape only scowled at her in return, before resuming his lecture about the poison, going on to explain how it's effects weren't entirely unlike that of the Drink of Despair.

When Snape had immersed himself back into his teaching and Y/N's incident seemed miles behind them, she glanced over at Tracey Davis—her closest friend since their first year, and fortunately, her potions partner for the semester. "Can you believe he did that?" she asked in a quiet voice, a look of disbelief forming on her face, and the brunette turned towards her.

"Well," Tracey countered, spinning her quill in her fingertips. A little blob of ink splattered onto her parchment and she grimaced, deciding to set it back in her ink pot before she could do any further damage. "You did fall asleep during his lecture," she said, looking at Y/N with her striking blue eyes.

Y/N shook her head. "No, not Snape," she said, her eyes flickering past Tracey's shoulder to glare daggers at Draco. He was leaning into his hand on his desk with his eyes fixated on the front of the room. She would rather suffer the Cruciatus curse than admit it, but when he wasn't running his mouth, he was kinda handsome. It was the fact that he made everyone miserable that made him so horribly unattractive to her. "That twit—Malfoy," she practically growled his name, considering how throaty it sounded when it rumbled up her throat. She must've spoken a bit too loud as his head whipped towards her. His eyes narrowed as soon as they met hers and her lip curled up at him. She flashed him a subtle middle finger and he pinched his face up in disgust, rolling his eyes at her and turning back around. "What a smug bastard," she muttered.

Tracey let out a quiet laugh from beside her, having watched the exchange. "Merlin, you are grumpy this morning," she teased, sending her a lighthearted look from the side.

"Grumpy?" Y/N furrowed her eyebrows at that. "I'm not grumpy," she protested, nodding in Draco's direction. "He's just bloody annoying. I'm going to get back at him for embarrassing me like that," she promised.

"Really? And how are you going to do that?" Tracey asked. "Wait for him to fall asleep, and then, hope he's the one drooling?" she said playfully and Y/N rolled her eyes.

"Shut up," she sputtered out in a quiet laugh and she leaned back in her chair. The gears were already turning in her head as her back hit the wooden chair. "In the courtyard later. You'll see."

—

Draco walked beneath the arches of the castle and into the courtyard, Crabbe and Goyle trailing behind him as he did. He didn't miss the way a group of older Slytherin boys watched him walk by, before snickering amongst themselves when he passed. He received a few odd looks from the other house members, too. Even the Hufflepuffs were shooting him sideways glances as he made his way to his favorite spot in the courtyard.

Confusion bubbled up inside of him as two girls, dressed in yellow and black robes, walked by him, hiding their faces as they giggled. His eyebrows furrowed and he spared them a glance over his shoulder as they left. He couldn't remember doing anything worthy of talk that day, as all he'd done was sit through his classes and eat, so he turned his attention to the two boys at his sides. "Have I gone mad or does something seem off with everyone today?" he questioned, nodding in the direction of the girls that he'd just seen.

Crabbe and Goyle were about to respond with a shrug of their shoulders, but before they could offer their useless input, someone in the courtyard let out a loud wail. All three of them turned, heads spinning to find the source, and somehow, Draco wasn't surprised to see Y/N Y/L/N standing on top of one of the stone benches. She had the back of her hand draped against her forehead, her face twisted in mock despair, and she jumped off of the bench. "Oh, it's killed me," she whined, throwing her head back and pretending to clutch one of her arms in pain, and the whole thing seemed all too familiar to him. "It's killed me," she continued, and the crowd of students that had gathered around her started to laugh.

Draco could feel the anger bubble up inside of him as Crabbe pointed his finger. He swatted the heavyset boy's finger out of his vision. "I see it," he snapped, narrowing his eyes at the girl as she continued to act out an incident from his third year, when Hagrid's hippogriff attacked him. "I'll take care of this," he sneered and he started towards the girl with purpose in his stride.

Before Y/N noticed the blonde making his way over to her, she let herself fall backwards onto Tracey Davis, who giggled as she held her up. "You're gonna regret this," she cried in a high-pitched voice, "you and your bloody chicken," she finished and she pushed herself off of the girl. She, Tracey, and the rest of the students around them were laughing at her reenactment. "I know I'm not just speaking for myself when I—" she cut herself off when she turned her head and her eyes fell on none other than the subject of all of her joking.

His face was screwed up in annoyance as he walked up to the group, and though the laughter died in his presence, Y/N let her crooked smile stay sitting on her lips. "Think it's funny, Y/L/N?" he hissed, his eyes snapping up and down the length of her body, and she scoffed.

"Oh, extremely, Malfoy," she hummed, taking a challenging step towards him. "Not as funny when Mad-Eye turned you into a ferret, though," she added with a tilt of her head and a couple Ravenclaws laughed from behind her.

Draco's eyes flitted behind her, shooting off a menacing glare at them, and the laughter stopped. He looked back at Y/N, his face harboring the same dirty expression. "Yeah?" he asked, lifting his eyebrows, as if he was baiting her, and she nodded. "We'll see how you get on as a ferret, then," he snapped and his hand disappeared into his robe, fishing for his wand.

Unfortunately for him, Y/N was quicker.

She watched as his hand plunged into the pocket inside of his cloak and she, always ready for confrontation, slid her wand out through the end of her sleeve. It slotted itself into her fingertips like it'd been buttered, and with a flick of her wrist, she sent a blue flash flying in his direction. Her Knockback Jinx hit him directly in the shoulder just as soon as he'd pulled his own wand out and he was sent flying a few feet backwards into a patch of grass. His wand clattered out of his grasp upon the impact and he clambered to his feet.

As Y/N made her way over to him, she watched as his eyes darted in the direction of wherever his wand had flown. He looked almost bewildered for a moment, but he was quick to replace it with the scowl he'd near-perfected. She countered his look with a cold expression and he stepped closer to her, meeting her halfway. "You're gonna be sorry, you git," he practically snarled. She cursed the way hat her heart stuttered when her eyes locked with his, but she didn't let it faze her, looking up at him through dead eyes as he stared down at her.

"Doubtful, honey." She let herself scoff at his words, her eyes scanning the length of his body. "You might be the 'Slytherin Prince', but I'm the fucking queen," she growled, pressing the tip of her wand to the center of his chest and sliding it up to his chin. She let a small smirk tug at her lips as she tilted his head up, watching his jaw clench as he squinted down at her. "Bow down, bitch," she uttered in triumph, glowing with pride as someone whistled behind her.

Of course, Y/N hadn't planned on hexing him further, as she knew the severity of the consequences she'd face if she did, but before she could embarrass Draco anymore, Professor McGonagall cut everything short. "What in Merlin's name is going on here, you two?" she questioned, her voice dripping with distraught as she trotted right up to the group, Draco's wand clutched in her grasp. The students around them, including Tracey, scattered and Y/N sucked in a breath. She brought her wand away from Draco's chin slowly. "Explain yourselves," she said, her eyes landing on Y/N's wand, and she held out her hand.

Y/N frowned and placed it in McGonagall's palm. "Professor, I was just defending myself, he tried to hex me," she started, pointing at the blonde beside her and then herself.

Draco, on the other hand, looked at Y/N with his eyes brown wide. "You attacked me," he hissed.

"I attacked you? You were taking your wand out of your robe, was I to sit there and let you—"

"I was not, I was simply—"

"Enough!" McGonagall shouted and Y/N's shoulders shook at the sudden noise. She shot Malfoy a glare, before she turned to look at the woman once more. "I don't care who started it. Fifty points from Slytherin and detention, for both of you. Effective immediately," she said. She slipped both of their wands into the sleeve of her emerald gown and she reached outwards, grabbing one of each of their ears and dragging them to meet their fate.

—

After McGonagall had hauled them off to the greenhouses and abandoned them with Professor Sprout—a stout, old woman with a surprisingly fitting name, they were left rubbing their ears and told to scrub out the clay pots. Without magic. Supposedly, Professor Sprout was planning on using them to let the first years grow something, but Y/N didn't know why flower pots needed scrubbing, anyways.

You were supposed to fill them with dirt, for Merlin's sake.

As she violently scrubbed the bottom of a pot, she cursed McGonagall for catching them at just the right moment and Draco, too, for getting them into that mess in the first place. If he hadn't reached for his wand like the gigantic arse that he was, she never would've needed to hit him with that jinx, no matter how badly she wanted to. Now, they were stuck in the hot, sticky air of the greenhouse, wandless, and scrubbing pots until their hands their hands were raw.

Draco let out a huff of annoyance from beside her, grumbling angry nothings to himself as he furiously scraped the inside of a pot. Y/N looked up from her own work to shoot him a dirty glare. "Quit being a shit," she spat at him and he stopped all he was doing. He dropped his sponge in the pot and turned to look at her, gripping the rim of the large bowl with both of his hands. "It's your fault we're here, so suck. It. Up," she added, continuing to scrub her own pot because she was determined to prove her superiority over him, even in the subtlest regards.

"My fault?" He asked, leaning forward on his elbows, so that he was bracing himself against the thick pot. "If it weren't for you thinking you were a bloody show-woman—" he began to snap, but he laughed bitterly to himself. Draco lifted one of his hands from the pot and wagged his finger at her. "You know? I'm gonna make you wish you never did that," he threatened lowly, and her eyebrows quirked up.

"You gonna go run and tell daddy later, then, Malfoy? Is that what's gonna happen?" she questioned, watching as his arrogance seemed to melt at her belittlements. She didn't even feel bad about it, considering how much shit he gave everyone on a daily basis. Someone needed to knock him down a peg or two, before his ego grew to be the size of the castle. "And what's he gonna do?" she continued to tease, but her voice had grown lower—softer. She dropped her sponge into her pot and stepped away from it, crossing her arms over her chest and taking a couple of steps towards the platinum blonde. "Spank me?" she taunted, puffing out her lip as if she was actually worried.

Y/N felt a certain satisfaction as he clenched his jaw, grinning to herself as she watched it pulse. "Oh, piss off," he growled, spinning away from the pot to face her. Their noses were only inches apart at that point and she could feel his labored breaths fanning over her skin. His eyes, swimming with anger, were locked with her own and his jaw was set. She had gotten under his skin and she loved it.

There were, of course, some things about Draco that she couldn't help but notice in such close proximity, such as the dark blue flecks in his icy eyes or the soft creases in his forehead that came from glaring so often. He was nothing short of handsome and this only proved it. "Make me," she whispered darkly, her words weighed down with her undeniable attraction, and she didn't miss the way that his eyes flickered to her lips.

Hardly a second passed by before she was pulled in by the back of her neck. Draco's other hand snaked around her waist as he crashed his lips onto hers. She'd almost stumbled into him, steadying herself with her hands pressed against his chest as she kissed him back. To say that this came as a surprise would've been lying, taking the tension that had been building between them into account, and for that reason, she let him walk her back towards a stone pillar in the greenhouse. He pinned her up against it forcefully, the wind in her lungs exiting against his lips along with a small whine, and he smirked against her mouth. He moved the hand that rested on her waist, pressing the palm of it next to her head as he slanted his lips against hers, and the hand that held the back of her neck slipped forward, pressing ever so lightly around her throat to hold her in place.

Y/N made another quiet noise, feeling his long fingers start to apply a little more pressure, and she scrunched her fingers up in the fabric of his sweater vest. Not too roughly, though, because she didn't want to ruin the cashmere, of course, but just enough to rub her fingertips against his chest. His mouth began to stray from her own, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth and peppering them along her jawline. She swallowed thickly, tilting her head as much as she could for him with his hand around her throat, and she bit her lip when he nipped at her earlobe.

"This changes nothing," he muttered against the shell of her ear and he pulled back so his eyes could meet her own, taking his hand off of her neck and pressing it on the wall on the other side of her head.

She smirked up at him and lifted her her hands, draping them over his shoulders. "Of course not," she hummed, her tongue darting out between her puffy lips, "you're still a prat, aren't you?" she teased.

Draco didn't laugh, though. Instead, his eyes, cloudy with lust, stole a glance at her collarbone, and his upper twitched. "Do I need to put you in your place, Y/L/N?" he rasped, leaning forwards slightly.

With her eyes never straying from his own, she winked. "I'd like to see you try, Malfoy."

↴

author's note / sorry to everyone on the taglist! i know i posted this before but it got shadowbanned so i had to figure out why it wasn't showing up in the tags and repost it! thanks for bearing with me x

[bubblefina]

King of Hearts chapter 9

Masterlist

Summary: Reader and Tom meet during their years at Hogwarts, but as the years pass a rivalry grows between the two of them, which leads from soft beginnings to tragic endings.

“Not all of us can be snake charmers, where’d you pick up that skill anyway?” 

“Nowhere you need to know about.”

You roll your eyes at his response and turn to take another corridor to Ravenclaw tower. Before the both of you went your separate ways, you heard him whisper something.

“Thank you for the ring.”

Pairings: Tom x f!reader

•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩

Chapter 9- End of one thing, beginning of another

Christmas break was delightful, or whatever was left of it, at least. In reality, you only had around 4 days of fun since you stayed in your room for the majority of the holiday. It was fun while it lasted, nonetheless. You didn’t see a glimpse of Grace or her minions when you went outside with your family, guessing she learned her lesson.

Your father accompanied you back to Kings Cross after the break had ended, still making sure that you had your bracelet. He’d never tell you what it was for, brushing it off as ‘you’ll find it if the day ever comes’. Real cryptic.

You found Melissa in the same compartment as you did on your first train ride to Hogwarts, Azalea joined in not too much later. It was nice to be finally going back to Hogwarts after an eventful break.

Once the three of you got back to your dorm, Naomi greeted you with a friendly face.

“Always the first one to be here aren’t we, Naomi?” Azalea asked as she tugged her luggage to her bed.

“I’m just that punctual.” Naomi replied.

The four of you spent the rest of the night talking about how Christmas break went. You didn’t bring up the fact that you had to clean out the potions' classroom along with the broomsticks for the next few months, why? Because it would be a total mood killer. Yeah, let's go with that reason.

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The next day during Charms class, word had gone around that headmaster Dippet returned Slytherin house points, saying that it wasn’t Tom’s fault at all and someone else's entirely, but they didn’t know who the real culprit was.

You figured Lestrange would be the one to find out, seeing how urgent you were when you handed him the box and all the babbling you did, but no, he stayed quiet.

While observing the professor demonstrate the knockback jinx on a dummy, you felt someone staring at you. Looking around the classroom to see who it was, your eyes locked with Tom’s, who quickly looked down when you caught him.

Had he figured out that you came clean to the headmaster? At least he was able to stare at you now, after weeks of pretending like you don’t exist. That’s one problem that’s solved.

No one expected classes that day to be easy, but they were. Professors didn’t require any note-taking, suspecting that it would be useless to teach a class full of kids that just got back from their break.

The dread of going to the forbidden forest to collect the Acromantula’s web was biting at you the whole day. The worst part is that you were required to go after you finished eating dinner, so that meant at night.

It seemed slightly, no, totally barbaric that the school would allow a first year student to travel into one of the deadliest forests alone, at night, with only a limited amount of knowledge in spells to protect herself.

That thought was the only thing running through your mind as the gatekeeper gave you a basket and a lantern. You had an hour to retrieve the webbing and return to the gatekeeper, if you encountered any trouble you should use a periculum charm to alert of your whereabouts 

With as many deep breaths as you could take, you step into the forbidden forest and watch as the gatekeeper's light starts to fade away, blending into the darkness.

The lantern you had only given you a limited amount of light, you could barely see what was 20 feet in front of you.

There were so many leaves and broken twigs that were on the floor, each one crackling underneath your step. The lantern you were provided with looked as if it was going to burn out any second, and it had cracks all over it.

The deeper you ventured into the forest, the more the wind picked up. Yet it didn’t feel like normal wind, there was nothing normal about what you were feeling. It felt moist and heavy, like someone was breathing down upon you.

Your hands violently searched your robe for your wand, lighting lumos at the tip, and looked around you for any sign of someone or something that could be following you. 

Nothing, nothing, was there. The fact that nothing was there made you even more uneasy.

You blew on the candle that was inside the lantern, and discarded it into the basket you were holding. The light from your wand was much better, and you could see if there was any danger approaching you as it lit the pathway clearly.

As you continued to walk, you stopped as you heard extra crunching of leaves behind you. Heart already thumping against your rib cage, you stopped in your tracks, debating if you should turn around and shine the light on whatever may be behind you. In the end you decided against it, becoming more paranoid would just slow you down even further, who knows how long you’ve been in the forest anyway, you only had an hour to grab the webbing and get out.

Furthering your journey, you found the Acromantula’s web. It was sprawled across multiple trees, each web reaching hundreds of feet above where you were. 

Surprisingly enough, there were no spiders in sight, other than the tiny ones that were climbing the tree. You placed your wand in between your teeth and picked up a stick that was on the floor, using it to wrap the webbing and place it into the basket you were gripping at.

After a couple of swabs, you discarded the stick and clutched the basket, wand in your hand again.

Venturing back, you felt something drop on your forehead, it was wet. Shining your wand above you, more and more droplets fell from the sky. It was raining. Oh wonderful, that’s just what you needed, water.

Looking down at your basket, you contemplated on what to do. It didn’t have a cover, and if the webbing were to get wet, the whole point of this journey would be useless.

Groaning, you took off your robe and placed it around and over the basket, making sure that no rain would be able to get through. Of course, some amount of water would seep in, it was cloth after all.

It started to pour. Holding the basket close to your chest, you made a run for it. The once crunchy leaves were now moist and stuck to the bottom of your shoes, along with the mud. The dirty water that you ran across splattered across your uniform, making you shudder at the sudden contact.

The gatekeeper was waiting for you underneath an umbrella. You gave him the basket and took the robe off of it. Some webbing had managed to get stuck onto the robe, you grimaced as you tried to pluck the remnants of the webbing off, but no luck. The gatekeeper transfigured you an umbrella of your own and told you to go wash up, noticing the mud on your wet uniform and the chaos of your hair after running through the forest.

You take the umbrella and walk back to the castle, rain still pouring heavily. Rain emerged from one of the open hallways you were walking towards, and so did voices.

You stood still, under your umbrella, as the two figures made themselves clear to you. 

Headmaster Dippet and Tom Riddle, who was walking beside him.

The headmaster took notice of your presence and called out to you.

“Miss l/n? I take it that you’re just now returning from the forbidden forest?”

Tom, now noticing that you were standing there, cocks a brow, “Punishment?” he whispers to the professor.

“Yes, Miss l/n here decided that she would take over your punishments, seeing how she was the real culprit in the Astronomy tower plot. How was your experience in the forest, miss l/n?”

“Very dark sir, the lantern that was provided to me wasn’t very sufficient. I managed to get the webbing before it started raining, but it cost me my robe.” you held up your Ravenclaw robe that was encrusted with webs.

“I take it that this punishment along with your other punishments will serve as a lesson not to break school rules again?”

“Yes, sir.” you felt the weight of the rain on your umbrella, it was getting heavier.

“A new robe will be sent to your dorm room in the morning. For now, head back to your room and tidy up, you have class in the morning.” Dippet nodded towards you and started walking again, Tom following closely behind.

After entering the girl's lavatory in Ravenclaw tower, you took a look at your appearance. Mud almost all over your uniform, hair was soaking wet with some random leaves stuck to it, and everything was just unbearable to look at.

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The next morning, when your robes were delivered to you, questions were thrown at you by everyone in the dorm room. Too tired to fully explain the details, you gave them a weak explanation that left them asking even more questions.

“The forbidden forest?” Melissa asked you as you walked across the halls to go to Transfiguration.

“I told you this morning, yes. It was a punishment, and that’s why I came home so late.”

“And you did it all for Riddle?” she let out a small gasp.

“Don’t you dare start rambling about the power of love, or I swear to god I will not talk to you for the rest of the week.” you deadpanned 

“My lips are closed.” 

Despite her saying this, you could still feel her bubbling energy growing as you entered the Potions classroom.

“Melissa, you have Transfiguration for your first period, why are you following me here?” you ask her.

“Just making sure.” she scanned the classroom before leaving, who could she possibly be looking for.

After classes started, Slughorn informed the class that they would be brewing a strengthening potion.

Split up into groups of 4, each table had the whole class period minus the last ten minutes to brew the potion.

The table with the best potion would get extra credit points.

You were partnered with Lucy and two other first years,

You were also in charge of placing the head of a fanged geranium, which was a flower that bites you, into the brewing mixture. Once it was placed into the cauldron, the mixture turned orange. Only one more ingredient to go, snake fangs.

One of the first years was in charge of placing 4 snake fangs into the brew. While you were writing down some notes, the brew started to bubble up rather quickly, and the liquid spilled out of the cauldron and onto the table.

“How many snake fangs did you add?” Lucy asked the other first year, visibly annoyed with how much of the brew got onto her shoes.

“I added 5 like the directions said.” they mumbled.

“5? You were supposed to add 4, what instructions are you reading?” Lucy was violently wiping away the potion on her shoes with a spare cloth.

Truth be told, Lucy’s potions grade was suffering considerably, on the verge of failing. Due to her luck, she was almost always partnered up with her brother, also known as the person who would always mess up potions on purpose.

Speaking of the devil, Corrin made his way to your table and nudged Lucy, who looked as if she was about to cry.

“Don’t tell me you already failed in making a simple brew, sis?” He was clearly trying to get under his sister's skin, and it was working. Lucy harshly nudged his side with her elbow, making him wince in pain and retreat back to his table.

Slughorn appeared not later and understood the situation. Your table was instructed to clean up the mess and wait until it was time for the best potion to be demonstrated.

The table with the best brewed potion was a group of Slytherin boys, who, of course, had Tom with them.

‘How unexpected of them to win’ you thought sarcastically as you watched one of the people at the table drink the brew and proceed to carry a heavy cauldron across the room, the Slytherin table cheering as the table mate was successful.

How unexpected indeed.

═══ ∘◦❀◦∘ ══════ ∘◦❀◦∘ ══════ ∘◦❀◦∘ ═══

During that night in Astronomy, Tom had been moved away from you by the teacher, orders from the headmaster himself. You were a little sad about it, he was the only person you talked to in this class, and now you had to make other acquaintances around you. Around you being another girl who was already infatuated with the person next to her.

Staring blankly into your telescope, the nebula you once took delight in seeing was no longer able to be seen. Sighing in defeat, you opened your textbook and listened to the professor lecture about aligning of the planets. Mindlessly scribbling onto a small parchment, you took no interest in listening to today's lesson.

After class ended, you were one of the last students to leave. The tower door locked with an even more powerful enchantment that no student would be able to unlock.

While walking down the tower, you felt something tug against your robe. Turning your head, you saw a very blank faced Tom staring at you.

“Need something?” you ask him, still unsure if he had completely forgiven you about what happened.

“Why’d you do it?” he asks.

“Pardon?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, l/n. Why did you tell the headmaster the truth and take all of those punishments?”

You stared at him, wasn’t he the one that practically ridiculed you and yelled at you in front of multiple students that it was all your fault? Now he’s asking why you told the truth? What an odd boy.

“Weren't you the one who was upset at me in the first place? I told the headmaster the truth because I felt bad that you had to take all the blame. A simple ‘thank you’ would have been good enough.” 

Tom, who at that point was still holding onto your robe, let it go.

“You didn’t have to.” he started to walk down the stairs slowly, almost as if he wanted you to catch up with him.

“Well, Riddle, I didn’t feel like I had a choice after you yelled at me and pretended like I didn’t exist for the remainder of December. I’d hate it if your opinion of me were bad” You were walking beside him now.

“It’s a little late for that. My opinion of you hasn’t been the greatest since our snake incident back in September. Speaking of, have you told anyone about that?”

“No I haven’t. Which incident are you referring to, it seems as if we’ve had multiple.”

“The first one. You were threatened by it when it didn’t want anything to do with you, shows some of your cowardice, doesn’t it.” He was teasing you now, what a cheeky git.

“Not all of us can be snake charmers, where’d you pick up that skill anyway?”

“Nowhere you need to know about.”

You roll your eyes at his response and turn to take another corridor to Ravenclaw tower. Before the both of you went your separate ways, you heard him whisper something.

“Thank you for the ring.”

That comment alone made you smile so easily. So Lestrange was able to give him the ring after all? Glad he was able to enjoy his present, you happily went back to your dorm room, everything seemed to be going okay.

═══ ∘◦❀◦∘ ══════ ∘◦❀◦∘ ══════ ∘◦❀◦∘ ═══

The rest of the year along with your list of punishments went by in a flash. The end of term exams were finished with ease, as you spent multiple weeks in the library revising through the things you learned during the school year.

In your dorm room, packing for the summer, the four of you discussed how keeping in touch with each other would work.

“Owls, we can send each other letters.” Azalea suggested.

“Just have to make sure the neighbors don’t get suspicious.” Naomi rebutted. 

Your family didn’t have an owl, something you’d have to bring up with your dad, but you can manage.

Finally, at the train station in Hogsmeade, you stood in line, waiting for the doors to open.

A shoulder brushed against yours. Turning to see who it was, a pleasant but annoyed face was next to yours.

“Riddle, haven’t seen you since exams ended, how’ve you been?” you ask him,

“Less than satisfactory. Having to head back to that dreaded orphanage is pulling at my spirits. The headmaster won’t let me stay at Hogwarts.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine, it’s only two months.” 

With the train doors opening, you wave Tom goodbye and board the train.

Your first year of Hogwarts had ended, although not perfect, you wouldn’t want anything less.

Good friends, good school, and above all, freedom from the things that once tied you down a year ago, what more could you have asked for.

[thesparedata]

The book came to John and he grabbed it with his free hand. "Hey! Give it back! This doesn't concern you!", one of the Slytherins shouted furiously. Now that the book was safe from potentially being burned, he was going to give the group a lecture but that one raised his wand. The dark-haired Ravenclaw came between them, magically shielding him. "What the hell?!" John gaped in amazement at the powerful student. He'd knew that both wandless and nonverbal spellcasting was advanced magic. For a student around his own age, even a Ravenclaw,... "I told you to leave me alone. If you're going to bully or attack someone, at least make sure you know what they're capable of.", the Ravenclaw warned them, staring the Slytherins down.

The leader refused to heed his would be target's warning and he turned his attention to him, away from John, while his mates stood unsure. He was about to do something when Sherlock waved his hand and disarmed the Slytherin and pushing him to the ground. Expelliarmus, John identified, then, perhaps, the Knockback Jinx. Successfully intimidated, the leader's friends ran off. Their leader followed after them, unfinished with the Ravenclaw and John and wanting their support. It looked like that would be it from them for now.

John chuckled along with the Ravenclaw. Those three did make comical figures like that, he admitted to himself. "You're welcome! And thank you, too!" He passed the book back to the one who studied him, a detective book, he saw, by the cover. It looked interesting. "That was...amazing, what you did without a wand!" He held out a hand for him to shake if he wanted, giving him a smile. "I'm John Watson." He stood straight and tall like a soldier, a habit he'd picked up from his father who was in the army. He was certain that he had seen the other boy before, he had to have, but they'd never actually met face to face and he couldn't think of his name.

William Sherlock Scott Holmes, known as Sherlock, was in Ravenclaw and his fourth year at Hogwarts. So chosen for his high intelect and passion for learning. Unknown to his fellow peers, he was actually studying more subjects than they were, with a timeturner gifted to him by one Mrs Hudson the Gryfindor head of house. Only his brother Mycroft knew, who was in the same house as he and in his Seventh year, along with being Prefect he was also a lot more popular than he was amongst their housemates. Sherlock kept to himself and wasn't good with people.

Despite this, he really didn't care that he had no friends. They would only distract him from his studies... But if he were truly honest with himself, he did wish that he could have at least one friend, even if it was just so his brother would get off of his back! He was a part of the Slug club, of course, coming from a well-known magic family and his own arts getting him in. Still, the members there didn't like him all that much. Maybe the fact that he liked to show off. With his ability to do magic without a wand, which he'd learnt not long into his first year, or the fact he loved to show off his deductive skills.

Here, he was minding his own business during free period, sitting on one of the many benches throughout Hogwarts, reading one of his favourite detective books. Despite the fact that he'd grown up in. Wizarding family, his parents had ensured that the Holmes children had an education on muggle's from a young age. While he was engrossed in his book, he didn't notice the group of students standing near him with their wands at the ready. They used magic to steal his book and float it into the air.

He stood and glared at them, "Give it back!" The Slytherin boys chuckled. "Or what? You'll cry?" Another added with a grin, "we should burn it!" Another nodded in agreement, "yeah! He thinks he's so much better than us!"

[bi-snape]

I finished it yay! Probably not the best but whatever, I kept losing focus when writing this. Tho I'm glad I finished it regardless, enjoy.

@avalonmoonshinesstuff

also it's a few minutes after 12 so happy late birthday @snapewrld

Red, that was all Lily saw when James spoke. Everything happened so fast you'd have missed it if you blinked.

No one noticed Lily raise her arm and form a fist in the midst of James attempting to ask her out and no one noticed the clear look of seething anger in her eye. It was only after Lily's fist had collided with James's face along with hearing a horrible cracking noise did they notice how angry Lily was.

Yet for some reason James nor his other friends seemed to understand why she did what she did. They all stood there in shock as James stumbled to the ground while holding his nose. There was blood running down his face and he was confused on what just happened.

"What the hell?! What was that for!!?" James shouted out as he stood up. Lily glared at him and was ready to deliver another punch "Are you kidding me?! You're seriously asking me why the bloody hell I punched you! Are you that fucking ignorant!!" She shouted out, it took everything in her power and will not to kill James right then and there.

"Listen to me Potter, I want you to stay the bloody hell away from me and from Severus. The same goes for your pathetic friends, I want nothing to do with any of you arrogant pricks" Lily stated and stormed off. She needed to go to a quiet place and calm down before she did something irrational.

As she was thinking about where to go she didn't notice the person she bumped into. 'Great...' she thought, she let out a snarl and was ready to say something but was stunned into silence when she realized who it was she bumped into. "Oh...Severus" She spoke softly her anger seeming to fade at the sight of her best friend. Severus gave her a smile "Hi Lils, have you got your heads in the clouds again?" He asked which caused Lily to laugh.

She smiled "Yeah, yeah I do. Sorry about bumping into you" Severus let out a soft chuckle "It's alright, I'm heading to the library do you wanna come along?" Lily nodded and together the two made their way to the library.

Once at the library the pair sat somewhere near the back. "Hey Lils, is everything alright? you seemed annoyed when we ran into eachother earlier?" Severus asked with deep concern. For some reason he felt like he had done something wrong but wasn't sure what. Lily let out a sigh and rested her head on the table "No everything is not alright, Potter and his stupid friends pissed me off. Potter tried to blackmail me, he said if I go out with that he'll leave you alone and I felt so goddamn sick hearing him say that" She explained and tears began to form, it was still hard for her to believe that that had actually happened.

"He kept talking most of it was insulting stuff about you and somewhere along the way I ended up punching him in the face. Everything he said pissed me off so much, I'm almost certain I broke his nose." She added and let out a forced chuckle. Severus pulled her into a hug and she clung to him for dear life "Don't worry Lily, they'll get what's coming to them" He spoke.

After several minutes they both pulled away and where soon interrupted by Professor McGonagall. "Sorry to disturb you kids but Miss Evans the headmaster wishes to see you right away" She stated sternly, Lily looked over at Severus who gave her a reassuring smile. She looked back at McGonagall and nodded before standing up and following her to Dumbledore's office.

When they have arrived she was greeted by Dumbledore and she was also greeted by James Potter. Seeing him there made her blood boil and she felt like tackling him to ground and punch him or to just simply hex him. Tho instead she took a deep breath and sat in the other empty chair in front of his desk.

"Headmaster you wanted to see me" Lily said as calmly as she could.

"Ah yes miss Evans, I have something to discuss with you along with Mister Potter here. It has come to my attention that you miss Evans punched mister Potter which resulted in him having a broken nose. Would you care to explain why that is?"

Lily clenched at the hem of her skirt and forced herself to smile "Well Headmaster, I did what I did because Potter here decided to try and blackmail me by using the safety of my best friend Severus Snape. Someone who he seems to go after a lot, I would have simply said no but it's seems that Potter only hears what he wants to hear because he keeps coming back to ruin my day as well as ruin the day of my best friend and everyone else in this school along with his friends" She stated through gritted teeth 'I hope to Merlin this is over soon or else I'm going to explode' she thought to herself 'Don't worry Lils, soon the Headmaster will punish Potter and all will be well' she added and waited patiently for Dumbledore's response.

It felt like hours before Dumbledore spoke again "Well, well this is very problematic but I must say that there were other ways to solve the issues miss Evans instead of using physical violence" He stated calmly like always. Lily frowned, she'll admit she could have done something other then to punch Potter but she was too blinded by anger that she didn't think rationally at the moment.

"You're right headmaster and I apologize" Lily spoke and looked down at her lap. Dumbledore nodded "Good, now for your punishment, miss Evans you are to have detention with Mister Filch for a month" He explained which caused Lily to gasp, she opened her mouth to argue but Dumbledore held up a hand to silence her.

Lily looked back down at lap and waited for Dumbledore to continue. "Mister Potter you will also receive detention but with Professor Slughorn for two weeks" He stated "And 50 house points will be taken from both of you" He added. Once Dumbledore spoke those words Lily quickly stood up which resulted in knocking back her chair.

"I'M SORRY WHAT?! WHY DO I GET DETENTION WITH MISTER FILCH AND POTTER GETS PROFESSOR SLUGHORN!? THIS ISN'T EVEN A PUNISHMENT FOR HIM!!! SLUGHORN ISN'T EVEN A COMPETENT TEACHER!!!! IF YOU AREN'T USEFUL OR RICH HE DOESN'T SPARE A SECOND GLANCE AT YOU!! POTTER HERE ATTEMPTED TO BLACKMAIL ME INTO A DATE WITH HIM AND HE SIMOLY GETS DETENTION WITH SLUGHORN WHO DOESN'T DO CRAP! OH BUT BECAUSE I PUNCH POTTER IN ORDER TO PROTECT MYSELF I GET DETENTION WITH MISTER FILCH, SOMEONE WHO ADORES GIVING OUT PUNISHMENTS!!!" Lily shouted out in anger, if Dumbledore wasn't the headmaster she'd have punched him the same way she punched Potter.

"BUT NOT ONLY EVER SENSE ME AND SEVERUS CAME TO THIS DAMN SCHOOL HOPING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WONDERS OF MAGIC! POTTER AND HIS STUPID FRIENDS HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT STALK, HARASS, AND ATTACK US! WE CAN'T TAKE ONE STEP WITHOUT EITHER ONE OF THEM RUINING OUR DAY!!! AND YOU ALONG WITH EVERY OTHER ADULT IN THIS SCHOOL HAS DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT IT EXCEPT PUNISH ME AND SEVERUS WHEN ITS CLEAR WE'RE THE VICTIMS!!! WHAT KIND OF HEADMASTER ARE YOU THAT WOULD THIS TO CONTINUE!? ARE YOU BIASED OR SOMETHING!? MY GOD YOU SHOULDN'T BE OUR HEADMASTER NOR SHOULD POTTER AND HIS FRIENDS BE ALLOWED IN THIS BLOODY SCHOOL!!!!" She added. Once she was done speaking she took several breathes to calm herself down. Lily crossed her arms and glared at Dumbledore who looked extremely surprised at her outburst.

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak but was stopped by Minerva giving him an intense glare of her own. "Miss Evans is correct, it seems that anytime Mister Potter and his friends break the rules you turn a blind eye to it" She explained and crossed her arms.

After several more minutes speaking, well more like arguing, did Dumbledore provide a punishment suitable for Potter and his friends. Tho sadly neither would be expelled this was enough for Lily cause atleast not if they ever tried anything again she could simply go to Professor McGonagall who for now on will handle any punishment given to the Marauders.

Lily walked down the halls feeling a little better then before. Minerva had gotten Dumbledore to lower her punishment so now she wasn't allowed to attend Hogsmeade and she'd have a week's detention with Professor Flitwick. Not only that but Potter was given detention with Mister Filch for the remainder of the school year plus he and Sirius were both removed from the quidditch team even tho it pained Minerva to do so it had to be done. Sirius, Peter, and Remus will also be given detention with Mister Filch for the rest of the year and they all will not be allowed to attend Hogsmeade ever again.

Lily couldn't help but smile "Oh I can't wait to tell Sev the good news" She said to herself. She had stopped by the library but it seems that Severus had left. Next she went to the Slytherin's room and after some threats were exchanged a roommate of Severus's told her that he hadn't returned. She let out a huff and frowned "Where on earth could that boy be?" She muttered. Lily continued her search for her best friend, after a few minutes she heard some faint shouting.

She quickly began running to the source of the shouting and saw a sight that made her blood absolutely boil. There right in front of her were the Marauders tossings hex after hex to the very person she calls her best friend, Severus. Lily quickly pulled out her wand quickly casted the expelliarmus spell to expel the Marauder's wands.

The boys in question turned around in shock, anger, and confusion only to come face to face with a very pissed off Lily. She stepped towards them wand still pointed at them "I told you to stay away from him.......I TOLD YOU IGNORANT AND ARROGANT BASTARDS TO STAY THE BLOODY HELL AWAY FROM HIM!!!!!" She shouted out and casted the knock back jinx.

The jinx hit James and she quickly casted it again while aiming for Sirius. Both Peter and Remus stood there practically frozen, well that was because when Lily casted the first knockback jinx it had given Severus enough time to grab his wand and cast the stunning spell on them both. Lily turned her attention to them both and decided not to cast the jinx on them, instead she rushed over to help Severus up off the ground.

"I'm taking you to Madam Pomfrey's" She said but Severus shook his head "Don't, just take me back to the slytherin common room" Lily opened her mouth to protest but Severus held up a hand the same way Dumbledore did to stop her. "Please Lily, just listen to me, just this once" He spoke and Lily simply nodded.

The pair quickly made their way to the Slytherin common room. Once they reached the entrance Severus spoke the password and soon the common room was revealed to them both. They quickly went inside and Lily guided Severus towards the long couch. She carefully sat him down "Sev are you sure you shouldn't go see Madam Pomfrey?" She asked in concern. Severus simply shock his head "I'm sure, Lily I need you walk up the stairs leading to the boys dorm, the seventh door is my room. When you reach it ask for Rosier, he has blonde hair, just tell him it's the marauders and that's it" He said softly.

Lily nodded and did what she was told, she ran up the stairs when she reached the top she began counting the rooms "One, two, three..." she mumbled to herself. Once she reached the 7th room she hastily knocked on the door. A few seconds later the door opened and she came face to face with the very person Severus had asked her to speak too, Evan Rosier. 'Just tell him it's the marauder's and that's it' she thought "Severus, the marauders" She spoke out and as quick as she spoke the door slammed shut.

She stood there confused and upset "Hey!" she shouted out and began banging on the door. A few minutes later the door swung open, Rosier stepped out of the room with a bag in his hand "Follow" was all he said as he made his way downstairs. Lily quickly followed him, once they reached the bottom she watched as Rosier made his way towards Severus. He knelt down in front of him and opened up the bag he had. Rosier began pulling out several potion and made Severus drink them.

Once he was done doing that he picked up the bag and exited the common room. Lily walked over to Severus "Don't worry Lils, he gave me some healing potions I made myself" He said and leaned his head on her shoulder.

"Where is he going?"

"I'm not sure but I know it's best not to question it"

[sk1fanfiction]

Rubeus Hagrid meets Tom Riddle (Excerpt, Chapter 29)

Both Tom and Merrythought turned around to see the victim; but they need not have worried.

He laughed good-naturedly as the spell bounced off of him ― the boy had to be pushing eight feet tall. But he wasn't tall in the weedy, gawky way either (although, being thirteen, he was obviously awkward-looking). He was solid and wide and his hands were enormous.

"Miss Nott!" snapped Merrythought. "I told you categorically that no duelling spells were to be used! Twenty points from Slytherin!"

The girl who had cast the spell ― Nott's sister ― simply pouted, and then gave Tom a long, sideways look from under her eyelashes. He ignored her, and went over to the strangely unperturbed victim of the Knockback Jinx.

"I'm Tom Riddle," he said, offering his hand to the boy. "Slytherin House, fifth-year."

He grinned, and shook Tom's hand heartily. "Rubeus Hagrid," he offered. "Nice ter meet yeh, Tom."

He would see about that.

"Take Hagrid to the Hospital Wing, Riddle," ordered Merrythought.

Tom didn't see anything wrong with Rubeus, but he obeyed. It was on his way to Dumbledore's office, anyway.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go."

As soon as they were out in the corridor, Tom, not one to mince words when the opportunity arose or deny his curiosity, asked: "Are you a half-giant, Rubeus? The way that spell bounced off you..."

Rubeus shrugged, and made a funny sort of nod; half-proud, half-embarrassed.

"Why did that girl jinx you?" asked Tom, wondering if it was anything he could use against Nott.

Rubeus shrugged once more.

"Yeh know," he said. "Most of th' students don' like my kind. 'Specially in Slytherin."

"Half-bloods?"

"Half-breeds. 'Course, not everybody figures it out as quick as yeh. Professor Dumbledore did, o' course. "

"Oh." Tom had heard that word being thrown around the common room, but he generally didn't pay much attention to name-calling unless it applied to him. So that was why Merrythought had been so desperate to get Hagrid out of her class; she probably wanted him out of Hogwarts, too.

"Are yeh Muggle-born?" Rubeus went on, in that same good-natured way that reminded Tom of Algie Longbottom, his now fellow prefect and the apple of Merrythought's eye.

He'll probably get the job after she retires, thought Tom.

It was Tom's turn to shrug. He could have explained, but he didn't feel like going into all that David Copperfield nonsense.

So this is Dumbledore's other charity case, is it?

They both fell silent for a while.

"Well, here's the Hospital Wing," said Tom, gesturing at the door. "Take care."

Rubeus flashed him a toothy grin, and hurried inside.

"What an imbecile," Tom muttered under his breath, then with a dramatic swish of his robes, turned away and went towards the next corridor.

In his not-at-all-humble opinion, he was the much superior of Dumbledore's charity cases.

[alwaysyouthreefic]

{4} Trick not Treat

October 1942

_____________________________________________________________

With the exception of the knife-sharp glares that were often exchanged between the Gryffindor and Slytherin first-years, any further conflict with between the two Houses was somehow avoided. Minerva was glad of this, and the fact that the rescheduled time of their flying lessons hadn't yet been announced, as she was in no hurry to repeat her fall anytime soon. She hadn't lied when she'd said she wasn't hurt, but the ache in her ribcage that she'd woken up with the next morning had stayed for a good few days before eventually subsiding.

As Halloween approached, most of the school were too preoccupied with being excited for the feast to pay much attention to their schoolwork. This hadn't bothered Professor Binns, as per usual, but many of the other Professors had been forced to hand out more punishments than usual in an attempt to restore order. Ro had been given her first detention by Professor Slughorn when she'd spent the whole of a lesson excitedly telling Poppy about Halloween traditions in the wizarding world, but others such as Professors Dumbledore and Merrythought responded to the excitement by changing the topic of the lessons to reflect the mood. In Transfiguration they'd been given the challenge of Transfiguring various objects into pumpkins, which were later used to decorate the Great Hall, and DADA lessons had been filled with blue flares as the first-years tried out the Knockback Jinx. The thrill of learning their first defensive spell had briefly overridden the Halloween-related anticipation, but by the time October 31st rolled around there was talk of little else.

Even the Slytherins had ceased in the consistent teasing, which, Minerva realised later, they should have been a lot more suspicious about. She had often seen Abraxas sneaking back and forth from the library in the days leading up to Halloween accompanied by one or more of his little gang, and the reason behind this only became apparent on the night itself.

Lessons had finished a little early to give the staff enough time to add the final preparations to the Halloween feast, so Minerva was relaxing in the Gryffindor Common Room with Ro and Lyall. Poppy had left a short while ago to visit the Owlery so she could post a package full of Halloween treats to her family back in London. She had been gone for an unusually long time, and Minerva was about to voice her concern to Ro and Lyall when portrait hole was opened by a very poorly Poppy. Her nose was very red and her eyes slightly puffy, and when she looked at Minerva she promptly let out an enormous sneeze.

"My word, what's happened to you?" Minerva gasped as she dropped the book she'd been reading and sprinted to Poppy's side, catching her as she stumbled through the portrait hole. As Poppy groaned quietly Minerva felt her forehead, and was shocked by the immense amount of heat radiating from her. Wrapping one arm around Poppy's shoulders and holding her shaking hands with her other hand, Minerva slowly guided her over to the seating area where she slumped into a chair by the fire. "You were just fine less than an hour ago!"

Poppy nodded as she sniffed deeply; Minerva thought she looked and sounded absolutely miserable. "Found the Slytherins jus' ou'side th' Ow'ery," she said, her voice muffled as she tried to speak through her stuffy nose, "Used the Curse o' the Bogies on me." She broke off with a hoarse cough, and Minerva instantly felt her concern turn into blood-boiling anger.

"So that's what they've been plotting!" Ro almost snarled, the fury in her tone matching the livid look in her eyes. "I thought something was wrong when they quietened down! I'd like to give them a taste of their own medicine!"

"Agreed," Minerva said grimly as she sat down beside Poppy and rubbed her back soothingly, taking the handkerchief that Lyall handed her and passing it to Poppy. "But first we need to find a counter-curse for this." She gestured Poppy's trembling form as just as sneezed into Lyall's handkerchief. "I'm sure there'll be a book in the library that has the information we need in it."

When Lyall and Ro nodded in approval to her plan, Minerva eased an arm underneath Poppy's shoulder to help her to her feet. She was alarmed by the extent Poppy was leaning into her side, swaying with every step she took, and was very grateful when Ro appeared on the other side to share Poppy's weight with her.

Lyall pushed the portrait hole open and they slowly made their way through the corridors and down the stairs to the library. When they finally reached the library, their plans were dashed upon seeing the large 'CLOSED' sign on the door.

Ro groaned loudly before complaining "I'll bet it's because of the Halloween feast. Now what're we going to go, Pops can't stay like this!"

Minerva went to reply, but fell silent upon hearing noises from the corridor behind them. It sounded to her like something heavy being dragged over carpet, and the regular, heavy breaths that accompanied it made it seem more likely that that was the case. Keeping a tight hold on Poppy, Minerva turned around and had to bite back a surprised laugh at what she saw.

Millicent Bagnold, a Ravenclaw first-year, was indeed dragging something in their direction. But when she turned around to look at the Gryffindors, Minerva saw that it wasn't a thing but instead a person. Septima Vector, another Ravenclaw first-year, was sat in a rather undignified heap on the floor with her legs stretched out in front of her and a look in her eyes that suggested she was ready to commit murder.

"What happened to her?" Lyall asked, pointing to Septima.

"I could ask you the same question." Septima said in retalliation, jerking her head in Poppy's direction.

"The Slytherins happened, that's what," Ro grumbled, "Caught Poppy by herself and put the Curse of the Bogies on her." As if to prove a point, Poppy sneezed twice before doubling over in a coughing fit. "We were trying to get into the library to find the counter-curse, but it's closed so we don't-"

"The library's closed?" Millicent groaned, exchanging a horrified look with Septima.

Minerva nodded grimly. "Why did you need to get in there?"

Millicent sighed and bent down to pull Septima to her feet, but the moment she removed her hands from under Septima's arms her knees buckled and she slammed face-first into the floor with a muffled grunt of pain. "Jelly legs curse, the Slytherin's doing. I can only guess that they think this is some sort of hilarious Halloween prank. Our plan was to find a counter-curse that would get Septima walking again, then go and try out the Knockback Jinx on them."

A devilish grin had appeared on Ro's face as Millicent spoke. "Now that sounds to me like a good plan!" she declared.

"But what do we do about Pops and Septima?" Lyall asked, a worried look on his face. "We can't find a counter-curse without the library, and they can't go down to the feast like this."

"We are right here you know, don't talk about us as if we're somewhere else!" Septima snapped.

There was silence for a moment as everyone thought about the best way to go about tackling the Slytherin problem, and eventually Minerva came up with another plan. "Let's take them with us," she said, gesturing with her free arm to both Poppy and Septima which earned her a fierce glare from the latter, "if we're lucky, they'll still have the book with all these curses in and we can find the counter-curse from that. It's not like we can leave them here."

Millicent and Septima both nodded. Lyall stepped forward beside Septima, and together with Millicent they locked their hands to create a seat for her to sit on. Minerva was just beginning to wonder how they would find the Slytherins at the snail-like pace they were travelling at, when an alarmed shout and gloating laugher echoed just ahead of them.

"Quick, don't lose them!" Minerva said urgently, and they ran as fast as they could manage towards the source of the sound. As they rounded the corner Minerva saw that her suspicions had been proven correct - the Slytherins had struck again, and they hadn't yet had time to leave the crimescene.

Millicent and Lyall gently placed Septima down on the floor, and all three drew their wands just as Minerva and Ro did the same. Poppy wriggled out of their arms and Minerva turned her head sharply to watch as she sat heavily down on the floor and out of the way, her nose buried in Lyall's handkerchief.

"Flippendo!" The combined shouts of Millicent, Septima, Lyall, Minerva and Ro rang through the corridor, and the Slytherins turned around just in time to see the blue lights of the Knockback Jinx being shot in their direction. There were angry shouts as Druella, Apollyon and Owle were sent sprawling to the floor, leaving only Abraxas Malfoy still standing.

"Do you think this is some kind of joke!" Ro shouted as she took a menacing step towards Abraxas. She pointed towards a fifth figure standing a few metres behind Abraxas; Minerva recognised him as first-year Huflepuff Alfred Diggory, and by the way he was hopping around awkwardly she guessed that he had been subjected to the Leg-Locker Curse.

"What's the matter, Hooch?" Abraxas asked with a sly smile that made Minerva want to give him a good punch in the face. "Not getting into the spirit of Halloween I see- this is only a bit of harmless fun!"

Ro let out a sound of pure frustration as she brandished her wand again, waving it around and around as she glared at Abraxas. The usual blue tinge that characterised the Knockback Jinx had turned to a strange purple-red colour and then a dark, menacing red by the time Ro screeched out the incantation, and then it was too late for Minerva to warn ger that something had gone wrong. The crimson light travelled backwards down her wand and into her arm; she glowed a faint crimson for a moment before flying backwards and slamming into the floor as if she had hit an invisible force field.

Minerva turned around to go to Ro's aid, but as she did so she saw that there was already a figure by her side. Even with her back to Minerva, she instantly recognised the figure as Professor Merrythought, and as she gently helped a badly winded Ro to her feet there was an uncharacteristic look of anger in her eyes.

"Abraxas Malfoy, what do you think you were playing at?" she shouted angrily, striding past Minerva to look straight into Abraxas' face. "These curses are all far too advanced for a novice like yourself to attempt, you could easily have caused someone serious harm. Slytherin has lost 50 points from your actions, and you and your friends will not be attending the feast tonight! I expect to see you all in my office at 9 o'clock sharp tomorrow morning where we will be discussing your outrageous behaviour, and I can assure you that there will be plenty of detentions to follow! Now get back to your common room before I have to take away even more points!"

There was not a single look exchanged between the Slytherin students and the combined party of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws as Abraxas turned around and strode in the directions of the Slytherin dungeons with Druella, Owle and Apollyon following more slowly.

Professor Merrythought spent a few moments simply glaring at their retreating forms, before she lifted her wand at Alfred Diggory. He sighed in relief as his legs sprang apart, calling out "Thanks Professor!" before running down a different corridor that Minerva assumed led to the Hufflepuff's Common Room.

With Alfred gone, Professor Merrythought at turned her attention to the rest of the students in the corridor. The fury had vanished from her eyes to be replaced with concern as she swept her gaze over Septima and Poppy still sitting on the floor. "Might I ask what curses they used?" she asked somewhat wearily to no-one in particular.

"The Jelly-Legs Curse." Millicent said as she pointed down at Septima, and Professor Merrythought muttered something under her breath as she waved her wand.

"Give that a try my dear, you should be just fine now."

Septima got to her feet slowly, a look of surprise on her face when she remained standing for more than a few seconds. "Thank you Professor," she smiled at her Head of House.

"Now what can I do about you Penelope?" Professor Merrythought asked, and as always it took Minerva a couple of seconds to worked out that she was referring to Poppy.

"It... was the... Bo... Bogies Curse." Ro gasped out, hunched over with her hands on her knees to keep herself steady.

Professor Merrythought nodded and waved her wand again. "That should do the trick, but it might take a few minutes for you to feel the effects. A nasty curse, that one is."

Poppy just nodded blearily as Minerva helped her to her feet. Minerva felt her forehead again, and to her relief the fever had vanished.

"Professor Merrythought," Minerva said, "why did Ro's spell backfire on her like that? It never happened when we learned it in your lesson last week."

Professor Merrythought laughed briefly before she replied. "Rolanda here has just demonstrated something that we won't even be attempting until the second year. By waving her wand more than she needed to she charged the spell, and if used properly it would have hit Mister Malfoy with much more power than normal. But she overcharged it just a little, striking her instead of her target." She turned to look at Ro as she continued. "You might have a tight chest for a little while due to the effect of the spell, but there won't be any lasting side effects."

"Good... t'know." Ro wheezed, giving Professor Merrythought a slightly sarcastic smile.

Professor Merrythought returned Ro's smile before looking around at the students, and Minerva could see the pride clearly in her eyes. "I'm very glad to see you've all been taking your practising seriously; that was some very good wandwork you all demonstrated there. 10 points will be awarded to each of you in a reward for your efforts."

Smiled appeared on everyone's faces when Professor Merrythought spoke, and even Poppy managed to look happy despite the miserable time she'd just endured. "Now, I suggest we all get down to the feast unless we want to miss the beginning!" Professor Merrythought gave them all one last proud look before sweeping down the corridor towards the Great Hall.

As Minerva and the other students followed her, Ro and Poppy fell in step beside her as had become custom in the almost-two months they had been at Hogwarts. Despite the satisfaction that Professor Merrythought's praise had given her, Minerva forced a note of seriousness into her voice as she quietly said "There's one thing I think we can be certain of now. "

"That's twice we've got Abraxas and his cronies into trouble now," Ro continued for her, clearly guessing what she'd been planning on saying, "we need to keep our guard up if we want to make it to Christmas without being hexed into oblivion."

Minerva nodded. "They'll want revenge, and I daresay they'll make sure they get it sooner rather than later."

[too-attached-to-fiction]

Stronger Than You | g.w.

Masterlist here

Warnings: tw! Attempted harassment

Word count: 1096

Requested by anon

Request: if you take requests, i would like to request one for george weasley x ravenclaw reader. where a guy is pestering her and george is gonna step in, but she takes care of the guy (shocking everyone because she's a rAvEnClAw and george just becomes smitten with her.

A/N: this is so cute and I honestly love writing these types of imagines, when the reader is aloof and i love this,,, George is just so sweet.

~~~

Generally speaking, you tried to stay out of the way of most people at Hogwarts. As a muggleborn, there was a target on your back already, with the growing war and the return of Harry Potter. It also didn’t help that you were in Ravenclaw, a house Slytherin often went after. You weren’t shy, but you certainly weren’t social.

For whatever reason, this was somehow a draw for most of the boys in your year. You had trouble making friends with other girls because of this, considering how high hormones and jealousy ran at your age. Still, you made sure each one knew the meaning of “no” before you sent them on their way, content by yourself. 

Somehow, you had been assigned lab partners with George Weasley in Potions. You knew the Weasleys were smart, considering their infamous reputation as pranksters. Reckless, sure, but they knew how to cover their footprints well enough. 

“I’m George.” He held out a hand, and you shook it cautiously. 

“I know.” You replied, not exactly willing to say much else. You could feel people’s eyes on you. 

“What’s your name?” 

“(Y/N).” 

Snape announced the assignment for the day, and the two of you were set, working quietly but seamlessly together. He seemed to know what you needed when you needed it, and you shot him a grateful smile when Snape gave an approving nod.

“You’ve passed.” He announced, letting you clean up your stations. 

“We work well together, aye?” George nudged you as you returned the extra ingredients to the storage cabinet. 

“Yeah. Thanks.” You said, walking off as soon as you were dismissed. George looked at you as you walked away, not even noticing Fred come up behind him. 

“What’s got you so dreamy?” Fred asked, slinging his arm over George’s shoulders. 

“What do you know about (Y/N) (L/N)?” 

~~~

“(Y/N)?” Angelina said as the Gryffindor Quidditch team headed to the locker rooms. “I don’t think anyone knows much about her. She doesn’t have a lot of friends.” 

“Why not?” George asked. “Is there something bad about her?” 

“No. The only time I ever really see her is if I’m in class or at the library. The only thing she has against her is herself.” 

“What does that mean?” 

Angelina sighed as they reached the locker rooms. “She’s a heartbreaker, George. The less you know, the better.” She disappeared before George could ask another question. 

Fred patted George on the back. “Didn’t you say you’re partners in potions? Why not start there?”

A few weeks later, George stumbled into the common room, groaning as he collapsed on the couch next to his twin and Lee Jordan. He’d tried making conversation with you during Potions, but it was useless. If you weren’t talking back, Snape was scolding him for not focusing on the task at hand. All of your answers to his questions were aloof, replies with small hums as you did something else. 

“Angelina did tell you that (Y/N)’s a heartbreaker.” Fred reasoned. 

“I just want to be her friend, at least.” George said. “But so far, it’s been bloody impossible to get her to say more than two words to me.” He sighed, covering his face. 

“Check the map, maybe she’s in the library.” Fred tossed the piece of parchment over to George, who whispered the incantation and scanned the map, looking for your name. Fred had been right - your little dot was in the library. 

“I gotta go.” George said, shooting up off the couch. 

You were walking out of the library when a boy grabbed your wrist. George was getting closer, but he didn’t notice that another boy was basically manhandling you until he closed the map. 

He sucked in a breath, unable to stop watching. 

“We have a Hogsmeade trip this week, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me.” The boy drawled out, and you looked at him, clutching your books tightly to your chest. 

“I’m afraid I have to decline, have a nice day!” You said quickly, ready to run off, but he grabbed your wrist again. 

“It’s a date with me.” The boy chuckled. “You’d be crazy to say no.” 

“And that’s what I’m saying: no.” You said, trying to forcefully pry his fingers off of you. “I have no interest in going to Hogsmeade with you, and if you will please let me go, I’ll be on my way now.” 

“Woah, woah, woah, love, don’t need to be shy.” He stepped closer.

“Hasn’t your mother ever taught you that no means stop trying?” You growled. You couldn’t be nice anymore. 

“We could go to the Three Broomsticks, grab some butterbeer…” He stepped even closer. Before George could yell out, you dropped your books, your wand the only thing left in your free hand. 

“And maybe afterwards, we could both get lucky.” You were shaking now, but your face remained stone cold. 

“Flipendo.” You did the movement as fast as possible, the boy flying at least five feet away from you. He growled. 

“You bitch-” 

“That’s enough, Mr. Lawlor. Twenty points from Ravenclaw.” Professor Flitwick appeared, a stern look on his face. “And three weeks of detention starting tonight.” He added.

“You made your own house lose points!” The boy yelled at you, while Flitwick patted your back. 

“And fifty points to Ravenclaw for Miss (L/N)’s wonderfully executed Knockback Jinx. Come, (Y/N). Mr. Lawlor, please report to my office after dinner for detention.” Flitwick said, guiding your still shaking figure away. 

~~~ 

“That was quite bold of you, yesterday.” George mentioned as you cleaned up your potion at the end of class. “I didn’t know you could do that.” 

“You don’t know a lot of things.” You shrugged, walking to the storage cabinets to put away all of the ingredients. 

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t step in. I wanted to, but-” 

“It’s fine. Seriously. I’m just glad it was Flitwick that found us this time.” You sighed, packing your bag and starting to walk out. George followed you. 

“There have been other times?” 

You chuckled. “Too many.” 

“You shouldn’t have to deal with that.” 

“I can handle them myself, thank you very much.” 

“Are you free to go to Hogsmeade this Saturday?” George asked, and you looked at him, now in the crowded hallway. 

“What if I say no?” 

“I mean as friends, and I won’t make you do anything you’re uncomfortable with-” 

“I’m kidding, George. I would love to go with you.” 

He couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day. 

[lotusfartstwice]

(late) Tenten week day 1: Courage

Title: Fine Line Between Brave and Stupid

Fandom: Naruto

Word Count: 1563

Rating: T (for swears I guess)

Warnings: giant spiders and uh harry potter au

Summary: She did not have a deathwish nor was she interested in expulsion. In fact her knees felt shaky and she felt rather panicky as she continued to walk down her path. She wouldn’t say it outloud but she was grateful she wasn’t alone.

Notes: They're about 12 or 13 here? and I hope it all makes sense. Part of the same universe as this fic (if anyone's interested). == Why on earth is Forbidden Forest so accessible? Tenten thought to herself.

The young witch sighed as she walked through the Forbidden Forest. It’s not like she had planned it but what were you going to do? In the back of her head she can hear the headmistress’ warnings of the forest. Students weren’t allowed to enter unless accompanied by a professor or other staff member. It was too dangerous, especially deeper into the forest.

She did not have a deathwish nor was she interested in expulsion. In fact her knees felt shaky and she felt rather panicky as she continued to walk down her path. She wouldn’t say it outloud but she was grateful she wasn’t alone.

On her left was a Ravenclaw boy known as Neji Hyugga. He was a prickly guy, who never smiled just kinda smirked. Magic came easy to the boy but he really shined at Defense Against the Dark Arts. So despite feeling nervous she felt a little better knowing he had come along. She could trust that the Hyugga would draw his wand first and ask questions later.

“What if we get expelled?” She had asked him.

“We won’t.” He sighed looking put-upon that she even asked. “Besides, they can’t have gotten far.”

That had been half an hour ago.

“Where the hell are they?”

“Ah, Tenten do not worry! They must be resting somewhere nearby.”

On her right was Rock Lee, a boy from Slytherin house. He was the opposite of Neji as one could usually find him smiling or overall being a friendly person (once you got past the resting bitch face, anyway). He wasn’t what you expected from a Slytherin at all. He had been equally worried as her for their fourth group member and had readily agreed to help look for them. As far as she knew he was mostly good at theory work but, hey, better knowledgeable than totally unprepared.

“They better be because I’m about ready to head back!” She didn’t mean it of course. She just wanted to find the Hufflepuff and head back to the castle. She gripped her wand as they continued on.

They had been assigned into a group for Care of Magical Creatures class when things had gone wrong. A prank that involved startling the magical salamanders they had been studying had caused quite the commotion. Her group’s member from Hufflepuff house had vanished, running panicked into the woods. Professor Umino had been busy trying to calm the chaos that had erupted. Students were trying their best to put out fires that Salamanders had started. It had been easy to slip away.

“Help! Someone! Help!”

“That’s-”

“They must be-”

Tenten bolted into the direction of the cries only to skid to a stop.

“Tenten! Help me!”

When Neji arrived he tensed before taking a step back. When Lee caught up he stopped and stared. “Oh, this is not good.”

“That is a big ass spider,” is all Tenten can say.

Lee swallowed. “It certainly is.”

The poor Hufflepuff had been backed up against a large tree. A spider as big as a horse stood over them, legs poised high as it hissed. Their classmate whimpered, trying to bury themself further into the tree bark. “P-Please help me!”

Tenten glanced at Neji, frowning as the boy hardly reacted except to stare stiffly at the creature before them.

Great, so much for my defense against the dark arts expert.

“It is probably waiting for the rest of its colony,” Lee said. “It looks to be an adolescent.”

“Um great?” Tenten hoped Lee was going to make a point soon.

The Slytherin drew his wand, though he looked less than enthused to be holding it.

“You know what spell to use to kill it?”

“Well, a fire spell ought to help scare it away but uh,” the boy’s face fell. “I am not confident in it.”

“What?!”

Lee gave her an apologetic look. “I am not good at performing spells!”

“What kind of wizard are you?!”

“Guys! Please! I dropped my wand!” The wayward Hufflepuff cried.

That explained the whole getting cornered thing.

Tenten took in a deep breath. “Okay, I have a plan.”

“Plan?” that seemed to snap Neji out of whatever trance he had fallen in.

“Yes, a plan!” she hissed. “I’m going to distract the spider while you two grab our teammate and their wand then run.”

Lee frowned. “But what about you?”

“I have an escape plan, don't worry about me.” “Forgive me but-”

“Shhh!” Tenten was out of patience as she interrupted the Hyuga. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins, her limbs felt oddly disconnected to her body but she ignored it.. “Follow the plan!” Her legs began moving before she could fully comprehend what she was doing.

Defense Against the Dark Arts and Theory of Magic had places in Tenten’s interest in magic. Her speciality however was always charms. She liked dissecting them, figuring out how to make them work but she also enjoyed expanding upon them. Her magic was a bit rough around the edges as she experimented but according to Professor Yuuhi she was quite proficient.

Jinxes were always fun too.

Tenten let out a yell as she stood to face the spider’s side. “Flipendo!”

The creature was knocked back a foot or two, a bit shocked, which was enough for Tenten to grab her teammate so she could push them towards the other two. “GET GOING NOW!”

The Ravenclaw and the Slytherin looked reluctant but when the Hufflepuff nearly barreled past them they quickly followed.

The spider wasn’t distracted long, clearly upset it had lost its potential meal it began to eye Tenten as its new target.

Oh god too many eyes and legs oh god.

Tenten wanted to cry but she gripped her wand tighter. “That’s right ugly! Whatcha gonna do now?”

The spider hissed which made the witch back up in reflex. She just needed to time this right. The others needed enough distance from this thing so she could escape. “Well, let’s do this.”

It was repetitive but it seemed to work as she used the knockback jinx over and over again. The spider didn’t seem to understand as she continued to send it back. Her arm was straining. The damn thing was way too heavy.

“I think...that’s far enough.” She all but panted.

Her eyes widened as the spider was back on its feet, nearly leaping before it skittered towards her.

“Oh shit.” Escape time. Definitely escape time.

Her other hand blindly reached into her robe pocket. “C’mon! C’mon! C’mon!” When her hand finally wraps around the familiar material of wood she all but sighs in relief. She pulls the broomstick out of her pocket in a rushed ungraceful manner but it doesn’t matter. She hikes her leg over it and she’s off the ground, above the trees and out of damn Forbidden Forest.

--

She nearly crashes to the ground as a landing but hey, not bad for a slapdash plan. She shakily stands up, the adrenaline definitely sapping her of her strength. She gripped her broomstick to steady her.

“Tenten!”

“You did it!”

She gave her classmates a shaky grin. “Toldja I had an escape plan.”

Neji blinked before smirking at her while Lee looked at her with big eyes shining full of admiration.

“You certainly did.”

“Tenten!” Professor Umino looks positively relieved at the sight of her but then angry. “What- you-”

“I told you Professor! She saved me!” The Hufflepuff yelled behind him.

“She was amazing!” Lee added. “She used a knockback jinx on the-”

Their teacher put an arm out to stop them. “I- you shouldn’t- I was-”

“Professor, may Lee and I escort our classmates to the medical wing?” Neji interrupted.

Iruka Umino’s shoulders sagged. “Yes. Fine. I will speak with all of you later in my office, understood?”

“Yes, sir of course!”

Tenten blinked as Neji and Lee were by her side. “Need us to help you?”

“Please and thank you.” She considered riding her broom but she figured she was already in enough trouble.

The four of them began their walk to the medical wing.

“Where were you keeping that broom anyway?”

“Oh, that’s cuz I’ve enchanted my pockets to be deeper than they are.” She demonstrated by putting the broom away, tucked into her pocket like a pen.

Her classmates stared at her. “That’s advanced magic.”

“Ehh it’s easy once you figure out how it works.”

Lee smiled wistfully. “I am surprised you are not in Ravenclaw house.”

“Or Hufflepuff.” Their fourth member spoke up. “You didn’t have to look for me. You should’ve just waited for Professor Umino.”

Tenten shrugged. “I’m a Gryffindor. It’s what we do.”

Neji snorted.

“What?”

“Courage and foolishness often go hand in hand, don’t they?”

“Oh zip it.” She nudged the boy. “Besides, you came along too! What does that make you?”

Lee shook his head with a laugh, eyes facing forward. “It is courage to venture into something despite fear.” He glanced at Tenten. “You knew it was foolish but you went along anyway. That is brave.”

“Well, it definitely helped that I wasn’t alone.” She smiled at the two at her sides. “Thanks.”

Neji smiled. “Let’s skip the spiders next time.”

“Oh! I agree!”

“God yes.” She might be brave, a little foolish but she wasn’t that stupid.

[missjosie27]

Year 3 Part 11- The Vault of Fear

Hello, friends.

The chapter is nigh upon us. The second vault that David and company has to tackle is here and who knows what's in store...I mean that facetiously of course given we know what happens in the game but even so I hope you all enjoy the action involved as well as my own spin on the game.

As always any feedback, kudos, and comments are well appreciated. I always want to do the characters and the HP universe justice.One more thing I'd like to add. To those who like or consider themselves Slytherin: perception will be changing very soon.

Anyway, on with the story!

Unlike the previous two years where David and company either became distracted with schoolwork, Quidditch, or other pressing matters, this time the vaults were the central focus. Aside from maintaining good marks, it was all that mattered. And this time around, there was actually a formalized, concrete plan being put into action.

The boggarts were still around and causing terror, sparing no one. Fifth and seventh years were becoming increasingly paranoid due to OWLs and NEWTs that were coming up and one’s worst fear popping up randomly while studying certainly didn’t help. The younger students were also quite jumpy and Madam Pomfrey needed an extra stash of calming draughts and chocolate on hand for the amount of people she was receiving into her wing. Chiara stated as much every time the group saw her.

In order to prepare properly several things were being done at once. With the entrance of the vault being at the restricted section it posed a double conundrum. Madam Pince didn’t like even the smallest amount of noise in her library, and to try and break a curse near an off limits area was just the icing on the cake. So Tulip and Tonks began devising ways of distracting the hawkish librarian when the time came. Penny, Rowan, and Ben all lended a hand by researching new spells that could possibly be of use inside the vault though ‘Riddikulus’ was the primary go to. In addition to that, Bill and Barnaby continued in teaching him defensive magic, which turned out to be not as easy as offensive.

“I really need to get better in charms” he remarked one day in early, soggy May while on the training grounds.

“You have to envision the shield in order to get it to full strength,” Bill told him after Barnaby shattered it for the third time in a row. They weren’t dueling technically, but getting hit by wave after wave of knockback jinxes from the powerful Slytherin wasn’t his idea of a good time.

“It worked against Flint,” he muttered, pulling himself back up from the grass and wiping mud off his pants.

“Heat of the moment. You wanted to protect Elora and therefore all gave every ounce of your concentration to it. But not every situation will be like that, the focus must be constant,” Bill explained. “Dueling is often spontaneous.”

Barnaby scratched his head in confusion.

“Is that another word I don’t know? I really should keep a dictionary on hand.”

“A dictionary wouldn’t be a bad idea, big guy,” David said with an encouraging smile.

“Yeah, I had one before but Ismelda stole it,” the big third year Slytherin shrugged. “She does that a lot actually.”

“More to the point,” Bill interjected. “Is that you’re going to run into those two girls at some point again and simply ducking and dodging won’t always work. Merula knows her curses from what I hear and so does Ismelda.”

“Can confirm,” Barnaby nodded. “When you’re the child of Death Eaters, you get taught a lot of spells you probably shouldn’t know at Hogwarts...or ever.”

David knew they were right and prepared himself once more to survive the onslaught of Barnaby’s spells. When the big man fired he again imagined a white shield forming around his person.

“Protego!”

It had the desired effect same as it did with Hadrian Flint. The spell bounced harmlessly off of the shield and back in the other direction, causing Bill and Barnaby to duck.

“That’s more like it,” Bill grinned at him.

Just then a paper message flew out of nowhere, hitting Barnaby in the back of the head.

“Was I expecting mail today?” he asked aloud, picking it up.

“No Barnaby. It’s from Tulip,” David calmly explained. “And from the looks of it, she wants us to meet in my brother’s room tonight after dinner.”

“She wants us to arrive once every fifteen minutes to avoid suspicion from the Professors,” Bill added. “Nice touch. She may be eccentric, but she’s also clever that one.”

“You learn that pretty quickly once you spend as much with her as I have,” David said, crumpling up the piece of paper and setting it afire, to the surprise of his other two companions.

“Can’t have it be discovered by anyone else,” he said with a shrug.

“You’re also a lot a cleverer than you give yourself credit for,” Bill told him.

“I’ll need every ounce to get into this vault,” David said candidly. “We all will.”

Barnaby hadn’t said anything for a moment and he was looking off into the distance, eyes narrowed as though he were trying to make out something from afar.

“You okay, mate?”

“I thought I saw...never mind. I’ll tell you later.”

David and Bill shrugged, content to prepare for the meeting later tonight. Whatever was going on, they’d find out but with time growing short to enter the vault, to be prepared was absolutely essential.

Luckily for them, no one could plan like Tulip Karasu.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Though there were some hiccups, eventually the recently formed ‘cursebreaker’ gang were able to meet without detection and despite the space being a bit crammed, they managed to fit inside well enough. The group consisted of Tulip, Penny, Rowan, Bill, Tonks, Barnaby, Rowan, and David of course.

“Let’s make this quick,” Tulip said to them all. “We don’t want the professors to think anything’s amiss.”

“Why couldn’t we have done this in the Great Hall?” Penny asked, giving a sideways glance. “I’m getting kind of claustrophobic in here.”

“Can’t risk people getting suspicious seeing the lot of us together,” Bill pointed out. “Think about it, there’s representatives from all four houses in this group of ours now. It's like the opening line of a joke.”

“What’s the punchline?” Barnaby asked with excitement.

“Snape or Filch walking in on all of us here,” David muttered. “Anyway let’s get down to it. Tulip, shall you go first?”

“With pleasure.”

The Ravenclaw laid out a piece of paper on one of the desks as the teens gathered around it in a circle.

“Alright so this is a diagram of the library. The entrance to the Restricted Section is here, the first left off to the side. We’ll need to distract Madam Pince long enough to enter it and break the curse on the vault. Part one is Bill.”

“I have prefect duty that night,” he explained. “I’ll give you cover after hours.”

“Second comes the distraction: Rowan and Penny, you’re among the students Pince despises the least. Tonks...you’re among the most. The first two will convince that loony librarian to help them find extra books for studying exams. Then, Tonks will cause a commotion.”

“It’s what I do best,” the metamorphagus grinned.

“I fear having my library privileges revoked,” Rowan said with slight apprehension. “But I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”

David smiled and clasped his best friend on the shoulder in a show of support.

“I know, mate. Thank you.”

Tulip continued on shifting her finger towards the entrance.

“Once Pince is sufficiently occupied we enter the Restricted Section, go into the vault, break the curse and we’re done.”

“You make it sound so simple,” Penny chimed in. “What if it takes longer than the last time to break the curse?”

“It’s a risk we have to take, Penny,” David told her. “If we don’t, these boggarts are never going away and the entire population of this school will become too frightened to do anything.”

“There’s one thing I don’t get,” Tonks stated. “Plenty of older students have entered the restricted section this year but they don’t see any cursed vault.”

“That’s because they don’t have the proper key to get inside. In the first vault, I found a blank book and my brother’s broken wand. I’m willing to bet five hundred galleons you need at least one of them to get inside,” the third year Gryffindor explained.

“There’s no telling what’s inside,” Bill said to the group, being one of three who had actually gone inside of a vault. “We had to fight an ice knight last year, so who knows what’s in store for us this year. But whatever it is, I have full confidence we can beat it.”

There were murmurs of agreement but not before Barnaby interjected with something they all missed.

“We have to be careful of Merula,” he said in his quiet baritone. “I’m not the brightest bloke in the world, but I know she’s been following us around for the past month or so. Same with Ismelda. She’s going to try and get into the vault before we do.”

“Merula’s clever but even she can’t take on all of us,” Tulip pointed out.

“That won’t stop her from trying,” David said, shaking his head. “If it comes to that, I’ll deal with her personally. When it comes to dueling Merula and Ismelda I have a fair bit of experience.”

Barnaby nodded, cracking his knuckles.

“So do I. You can count on me, Dave. They won’t touch you.”

“It’s settled then,” David announced. “We all know what to do and what the plan is. The only other question is when we should attempt this.”

“I’m glad you asked David Grant,” Tulip said, her trademark mischievous smirk growing wider. “As it so happens I have the perfect date in mind.”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Friday, June 5th, 1987.

That was the date Tulip chose and with good reason. She had it on good authority (meaning she somehow pinched the information from Head Boy Chester Davies) that there was to be a staff meeting that day led by Professor McGonagall since Dumbledore was currently off elsewhere. It was the second time in the last two years the greatest wizard of the age inexplicably vanished out of nowhere but it also brought about the perfect timing to enter the vault.

Despite being far more prepared than the spontaneous undertaking the previous year to save the school from cursed ice, David couldn’t deny his nerves were not completely settled. If his parents found out he had gone into another cursed vault they would go ballistic and there was no telling what Dumbledore’s reaction would be considering his warning at the beginning of the year.

However, his daring and sense of family overrode any apprehension still lurking underneath the surface. He was not one to back down in the face of a challenge, and in private moments, allowed himself to remember the reasons for pursuing these vaults in the first place: not for glory or gold but his brother. He could see Jacob’s twinkling blue eyes stare back at him whenever questions abounded or sought to know what he was up to. At the time it was maddening, now he would do anything to witness them again.

David repeated that to himself upon the night their plan was to go into action. It was nearly 8 pm and the doors of the library were to shut soon. Bill led the way but Tulip could sense something was off (Barnaby simply munched on some left over crisps he found in his back pocket).

“Something wrong, David Grant?”

“You wouldn’t be asking if there wasn’t.”

“Touche,” she responded in kind. “Do you feel you’re ready?”

“That’s not the problem. We’re as ready as we ever could be. But…”

“But?”

“Jacob,” David admitted, and he was not keen on doing so. “I just...miss him. That’s the only reason why I do this.”

Tulip took this in, kind understanding enveloping her features.

“For someone who uses his brother as the primary motivation for these vaults, you don’t talk about him much.”

“It’s better that I don’t. Talking about Jacob is...difficult to say the least.”

Tulip reached over and gave his hand a soft squeeze, David noticed she had a very nice smelling perfume on and he resisted the urge to blush.

“You don’t have to say more. What we do tonight is another step towards finding him. Do you at least trust us?”

The third year Gryffindor nodded in the affirmative.

“If it’s one thing I’ve learned is that you need those closest to you by your side in situations like these,” he said, echoing Hagrid. “I’ve prepared as much as I can, I have my friends with me...it’s time.”

Tulip beamed at him, a bright smile crossing her porcelain features.

“This is why you’re our leader, David. Bill may be older and I might have a thing for chaotic planning, but make no mistake everyone in our group follows you. Your brother would be proud.”

He didn’t say anything more, he didn’t need to. Hazel blue eyes silently thanked dark brown ones as a growing friendship cemented itself in that moment. But there was little time to reflect on it as they soon came upon the corridor leading to the library.

“Alright, this is it,” Bill whispered to them. “I’ll be patrolling the corridors doing my duty as though nothing is out of the ordinary and I’ll give the signal if Filch or any of the teachers come by. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Bill,” David said, shaking the fifth year’s hand. He, Tulip, and Barnaby then silently approached the oak, library doors, careful not to let Madam Pince detect them just yet.

“Penny, Rowan, and Tonks will already be inside. Once they see us enter, they’ll know what to do,” Tulip affirmed. “It’s five minutes until eight.”

“Let’s do this.”

Barnaby belched causing his two friends to give him less than thrilled stares.

“Sorry...what Dave said.”

“Right. Come on then.”

Upon entering the library, Madam Pince saw them immediately, leapt up from her chair, no doubt to tell them that the library was practically closed. However, sitting at one of the middle tables right by her desk were Penny and Rowan and key to the plan they immediately intercepted her.

“Madam Pince we’re sorry to bother you, but could you help us with something?”

“I’m sorry I-”

“It won’t take long, we promise,” Penny said innocently. “We just need help finding a certain section…”

“About hippogriffs. Professor Kettleburn said they might be on the upcoming exam. Do you know where that section is?”

Pince narrowed her hawk like eyes suspiciously.

“Why do you need my help of all people, Mr. Khanna?”

Luckily Penny saved the day from Rowan’s potential bad lie.

“Neither have us have had to study creatures before. At least not for an exam and it’s crucial we get high marks.”

Sighing, the librarian relented.

“You two are the least troublesome students I have to deal with. I will show you but be quick. The library is closing in five minutes.”

“Yes, Madam Pince.”

When the three were out of sight, David, Tulip, and Barnaby scampered off and made a hard left straight to the edge of the Restricted Section.

“Nice touch by Rowan, by the way,” Tulip remarked quietly. “The Magical Creatures section is all the way in the back. Gives us more time.”

“They can’t hold her off forever,” David said. “Pince is like a Swiss watch. Always closes precisely at eight.”

“And that’s where Tonks comes in with the dungbomb. Starting right...about….”

There was a colossal boom in the background and vast amounts of shrieking in the distance.

“...now.”

“I’m very glad I wasn’t around for that,” Barnaby remarked. “I didn’t want to have to take another bath to get rid of the dungbomb smell. No one would sit next to me for days.”

“Well let’s just hope Tonks isn’t permanently given detention for that little stunt,” David said dryly.

“She’ll have company believe me,” Tulip said with a wink. “Anyway let’s get going.”

There was a lock on the Restricted Section but just as they were about to use ‘Alohomora’ a familiar, unpleasant sneer rang out from behind them.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the gang of traitors and losers. Following me again, Grant?”

Clenching his jaw, David let out a sigh. He knew that Merula was likely going to make an appearance before this was over but that didn’t mean he liked that prospect. He turned around and saw his nemesis alongside Ismelda, looking at them with vindictive expressions.

“More like the other way around,” he quipped. “You’ve been stalking us for over a month, Merula don’t even deny it.”

“How perceptive,” Merula said, rolling her eyes. “Now step aside or else.”

“These ultimatums are quite droll really,” David shot back. “What do you even want with these vaults anyway? Power? Glory? Money?”

“One can never have enough. Better reasons than yours anyway.”

“I just want to watch you all bleed,” Ismelda said, narrowing her visible, gray eye, mouth twisting into a venomous smile.

“That’s not creepy at all,” Tulip remarked disgustedly.

“Enough!” Barnaby boomed suddenly, causing everyone around him to jump. He stepped forward, rolling up his sleeves, taking out his wand menacingly. “Walk out the door before I knock both of you through a wall.”

But Merula appeared unconcerned for the moment as she regarded him in a lowly manner.

“Barnaby, you idiot. You can’t fight me.”

“It’s my job to fight you!” he yelled before looking over to David. “Isn’t it?”

Taking center stage, David placed a calm hand on his burly friend’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, Barnaby. I’m the one Merula wants, I’ll handle it.”

He took out his wand and pointed it directly at her heart.

“I’m tired of fighting you all the time, Merula,” he said bluntly. “This is going to be settled once and for all. Right here. Right now.”

“Fine by me, Grant,” the Slytherin girl spat. “I’m going to enjoy seeing you on the ground begging for mercy.”

As David prepared for the battle, Tulip whispered in his ear.

“We can’t have a prolonged duel in the library. Pince will go bonkers and we’ll never get inside of the vault in time.”

“I don’t intend for this to take long,” he said back.

Indeed, his desire was to make this latest chapter in their rivalry a short one. Time was of the essence and frankly he wasn’t in the mood to make sarcastic remarks anymore. The vault, his brother, was the only thing that mattered.

I know the shield charm and she probably doesn’t. Let’s see what I can do

“Come on, Merula,” he goaded her. “Give me what you always promise: a real fight. Make mummy and daddy proud.”

It was a low blow and he knew it, but the taunting had the desired effect. Lavender eyes alight with rage, Merula immediately fired off a curse straight at his heart.

“Protego!”

Summoning all of his concentration, the shield held and it absorbed the spell. This only served to infuriate the Slytherin girl further as she fired off yet another spell.

“Revengula!”

David blocked it again, as the curse ricocheted off the shield charm almost hitting Merula in the face forcing her to duck to avoid it. Seizing the opportunity, he dropped his defense and slashed out with his wand.

“Confringo!”

The blasting hex caught Merula squarely in the stomach, sending her down to her knees in obvious pain.

“It isn’t fair!” she wheezed. “You...you always win!”

“Hurts doesn't it?” David said, failing to hide the contempt in his voice. “Both figuratively and literally.”

“Fuck you!” she tore at him. “I’m the most powerful witch at Hogwarts! This is-”

“-done,” he finished for her. “Do whatever you want Merula, but our battle is finished.”

He turned his back to her which would prove to be a mistake. Ismelda, not even bothering to help her ‘friend’, stepped in and gave a nasty leer.

“Finished? I haven’t even started!”

Whipping out her wand she quickly fired off a spell.

“Everte Statum!”

Unfortunately for David, he knew there was no time to turn around and avoid the projectile. But at the last second, Barnaby dove in front of him absorbing the hit and was sent back into the door with a heavy slam.

“Barnaby!” he cried out.

But he need not have worried. The Slytherin’s bulk and toughness shined as he was back up on his feet almost immediately, wand out.

“I don’t think so,” he said, though his voice gave away he was still in a significant amount of discomfort. By now Merula was back on her feet but Ismelda surprisingly looked shocked and almost ashamed.

“Get out of the way you glorified troll!” Merula screeched at him.

“No,” came the simple defiance. “I don’t take orders from you anymore.”

“Then...you can suffer with your new friends!” Ismelda growled at him but there was a tear running down her visible eye as she said it.

“Mate, let’s go,” David said, tugging on his arm. He did not want to leave him behind

“No. Go while I’ll hold them off. That was the plan, remember?”

“Good on him for remembering,” Tulip muttered. “You heard him, get inside the Restricted Section.”

Dodging a stinging hex sent by Ismelda, Barnaby began to duel his former companions as David unlocked the door, allowing for just enough time for him and Tulip to slip inside.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Upon catching their breaths, David and Tulip looked at each other knowing they were fortunate to escape without being discovered by Pince or maimed by the Slytherin girls who also sought the vaults.

“I still question why you were ever friends with her,” he said to the Ravenclaw girl.

“In fairness, you did taunt her about her parents.”

Tulip’s gaze held a slight touch of disapproval which in turn created a pang of guilt inside of his heart.

“I’m not proud of that. But it was the only method I could think of so she’d overreact and leave herself wide open.”

“We’ll talk more on it later,” Tulip said. “Right now we have to search for the vault.”

To find a vault inside a darkened, macabre place such as the Restricted Section would not be easy. The shelves were high, the atmosphere off putting, and there was a sense something evil was ever present inside each book. The two teens needed the brightest ‘lumos’ they could conjure simply to see.

“I’m thankful we don’t have to actually open these books,” David said in disgust as he scanned the titles. “Some of this stuff looks bloody nasty.”

“They don’t call it the ‘Restricted Section’ for nothing,” came Tulip’s response from over his shoulder. “We’re surrounded by forbidden spells, explosive potions, and dangerous secrets. I know you don’t think much of those two Slytherin girls but I doubt even they know a fraction of the dark magic inside here.”

“Kind of fitting then to have the vault of fear inside, isn’t it? Everyone fears dark magic, even some of those who practice it.”

After five minutes of scouring the shelves, David stopped, realizing that they were going about this the wrong way.

“This vault is like the one in the iced vault,” he stated to Tulip. “It’s not going to reveal itself willingly. My brother’s notebook said this book will help locate the entrance.”

“How so?”

Just then the door creaked open to reveal a massive hulking figure that only could have been Barnaby.

“Merlin, big guy. We almost hexed you,” David told him, lowering the lit tip of his wand.

“I managed to fight off Merula and Ismelda,” he announced, rubbing his shoulder a little bit. “But if I know them, they’ll be running off to Snape.”

“Then it’s now or never,” Tulip proclaimed. “David, that book has to reveal the location somehow.”

“But it’s completely blank,” he replied, drawing his hand through his dark brown hair. Then something caught his eye. “Unless…”

To his right he spotted an inky black spot on one of the shelves, indicating it was empty.

I wonder

Taking out the book, David didn’t bother to open it up. Instead, he walked forward and placed it in the empty slot, which fit like a glove. Upon doing so, three columns of shelves raised themselves into the air and out of sight to reveal a large oak and steel door, twenty feet high. And unlike the entrance to the Restricted Section, there was no lock or key slot.  

“You did it, David!” Tulip exclaimed excitedly.

“I wish placing books on shelves did that more often,” Barnaby said, placing his wand in his pocket.

“Don’t put that away yet,” David warned. “We still have no idea what this vault holds. Let’s go.”

“We’re right behind you,” the eccentric Ravenclaw affirmed.

The third year Gryffindor pressed against the wood and steel and sure enough the door opened with an ominous creak. No words needed to be spoken as the trio stepped inside awaiting the wonders and horrors of the Vault of Fear. Upon doing so, they were greeted by a grisly scene. Though the overall schematics and layout of the room did not differ all that much from the ice vault, there was a key difference that was unmistakable. All around the greenish colored illuminated walls were the shadows and silhouettes of fearsome creatures: vampires, werewolves, dementors, dragons, and much more. At the center was another column which no doubt hid some kind of treasure or information inside.

It was all quite unsettling.

“Ummm did the other vault look like this?” Tulip asked, clearly perturbed.

“Yes but...no,” David responded. “It wasn’t quite so horrifying. Whatever curse is in here I don’t think it’s been broken.”

All of a sudden a cold, high whisper uttered the word, “Nox.”

The lights began to dim and this time it was Barnaby who grabbed onto his shoulder fearfully.

“I’d recognize that voice anywhere...You Know Who.”

“Maybe we should say our fears out loud,” Tulip suggested. “Maybe that’s what the vault wants us to do.”

“Come on, there’s no way You Know Who is in here,” David dismissed out of hand even as the lights continued to dim. “That tosser is dead in case anyone has forgotten.”

But as though the vault were trying to prove him wrong, the entire room went entirely black, as though the curtain of midnight drew down upon them with an evil vengeance...except this wasn’t a normal darkness it was more of an...advanced darkness. Either way, David figured even his strongest lighting charm wouldn’t do much good in here.

At first there was dead silence, save for the sound of breathing coming from the three teens. He could feel Barnaby and Tulip’s presence around him but an underlying shadow seemed to everywhere around them. As though they were being watched.

There’s nothing to fear, he thought to himself. Stay calm. Stay ready for anything

Suddenly, the room was alight with an ominous, mucus colored, green glow except the silhouettes, column, and statues were now gone. Only the haze remained and it was highly disorienting.

“What the hell is this?” Tulip asked aloud, the fear evident in her voice.

“How am I supposed to know?”

“It looks like the inside of someone’s nose,” Barnaby observed.

They had no more time to reflect on the situation as out of nowhere, a figure stepped into the greenish gloom. Only it was impossible.

“No,” David whispered.

There he was, his brother, Jacob Grant, the one he remembered. Long brown hair, leather jacket, biker pants, black boots, mid height and average build. Except this wasn’t Jacob. It couldn’t be. For one thing his eyes were scarlet red and there was a nasty, evil smile playing around the edges of his mouth.

“Fancy seeing you here, little brother,” came the evil version of Jacon in an unpleasant guttural tone.

“You’re not my brother,” David said sharply, pointing his wand just in case the fiend attacked.

“Oh but I am,” the evil Jacob replied. “I am what you have made. Mum and Dad may deny it but we all know the truth...it’s your fault I disappeared.”

“No!” David shouted, feeling his wits being overcome by the fear.

“YES!” the fiend roared. “See what you have made! See the man I have become...and who I joined!!”

Slowly but surely Jacob’s features began to transform, stretching in height, skin becoming paler, clothes morphing into simple black robes, but all with the same scarlet, red eyes.

“You Know Who,” he breathed out.

Barnaby was so frightened he was practically petrified with fright, Tulip was as white as a ghost hardly daring to move or say anything.

“I know your heart David Grant,” a cold voice spoke out. “And it is mine. Same as it was with your brother.”

Swallowing, the cursbreaker stepped forward, doing his best to keep his composure.

“You’re not real,” he said, voice trembling ever so slightly. “You Know Who is dead, killed at the hands of a bloody infant.”

But the boggart Voldemort only laughed, high and terrible.

“Fool, I am very much alive. Inside the hearts and minds of lesser men...including your precious brother. That is why he served me. And still does.”

“Jacob did not join you!” he shouted back.

It sounded more like a little boy in denial than a strong, confident young man and that’s exactly how David felt. He so desperately wanted to believe that his brother didn’t go mad and join the ranks of the Death Eaters, but the truth was he had no real idea. That was his greatest fear: that the fault for his brother’s waywardness lay with him.

“All will serve,” the boggart Voldemort spoke harshly, gesturing behind him. “Or all will die. Just as your friends will now.”

David turned and saw that Tulip and Barnaby were now being held in tight headlocks by two other carbon copies of the Dark Lord, each one with the same evil sneer, wands at their necks.

“Tulip! Barnaby!”

Struggle as they might, his two newfound friends could not break free.

“Let them go!” he demanded of the Dark Lord.

“David Grant!” Tulip interrupted through the madness. “Listen to me. You know none of this is real….he isn’t real. Remember that whatever that illusion says is fear...and only fear.”

“Enough!” Voldemort screeched. Immediately, the two clones vanished alongside their victims in a puff of smoke, leaving David alone to face his demons.

The boggart advanced on him, wand pointing directly at his heart...he knew it was a boggart after all but it may as well have been the real thing. Everything about this situation terrified him to the soul. Legs were shaking, his wand arm trembling wildly and sweat poured from the forehead. Above all, despair threatened to overwhelm what little fortitude still remained.

“The girl lies,” came the cold hiss of Voldemort. “This is no illusion. It is merely what you already know to be true. Your brother is lost and I am in control of all you hold dear in this world. Kneel before me...or die.”

David slowly began to kneel, anxiety completely overtaking him. There was no other choice...Tulip and Barnaby were gone...Dumbledore was gone...his parents were gone. It was all his fault. The black pit of guilt and fear had won.

I’m sorry Jacob

“That’s it...kneel.”

I’m not like you

“Know your failure.”

I never was

Just as he was an inch from the ground, a familiar, gentle voice whispered inside his mind.

Pip

“Jacob?” he asked aloud.

Fight it, Pip. It is already inside you. The strength to carry on. To find me. You are my little brother...always

His knees stopped just before they touched the ground and slowly he began to rise, confusing the boggart Voldemort.

“What is this? You dare defy the Dark Lord?!” the fiend screeched at him.

Eyes determined and his feet square, David aimed his wand at the fake Voldemort. He’d had just about enough of this godforsaken vault.

“You are not the Dark Lord….you are not my brother….you do not hold power over me. I do not fear you.”

“Then you will die! Avada Ked-”

“Riddikulus!” David cut him off.

Immediately the boggart Voldemort ballooned outward rapidly gaining weight until he was totally obese. Instead of a wand was a bag of crisps and a large soda. Certainly not frightening to anyone or anything.

David began laughing, as though an enormous burden was lifted off his shoulders, his body felt as if it were as light as a feather. Crying out in agony, the boggart soon disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

Then everything went black once more.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He was still laughing when he came to.

“David? David Grant?”

The cursebreaker immediately turned around and saw Tulip and Barnaby standing there looking at him with expressions of concern.

“Was there a joke? Did I miss it?” Barnaby asked.

“No, I mean...wait what happened? You guys are okay?”

“We’re fine. But it’s better to ask you that question. You were frozen in midair like a puppet for what seemed like ages,” Tulip explained.

“Then you started laughing,” Barnaby added. “I still missed the joke.”

“The joke was the boggart trying to screw with my head,” David responded though he still felt a tad disoriented from the ordeal. “What’s the current situation?”

“I have no idea if the curse is broken or not but we need to get out of this room,” Tulip told him. “Who knows how long we’ve been in here.”

David looked around the macabre, gruesome room. He too was eager to leave this place and never look back. But he couldn’t, not yet at least.

“We still haven’t found what we came here for,” he replied.

“But we defeated the boggarts. Wasn’t that the whole point?”

“You weren’t there for the last vault,” David said, glancing towards the column in the center of the room. “There’s something inside of here and we have to open it.”

He moved forward, touched the column but nothing happened.

“It opened merely at me placing my hand on it the last time,” he said, confused.

Tulip too moved closer, leaned over and began sounding something out.

“There’s an inscription here at the bottom: To open, a wizard must make the ultimate sacrifice.”

“Does that mean you have to die in order to open it?” Barnaby asked. “Because I don’t want to do that.”

For the second time that night, realization dawned on David as he felt the broken wand inside of his pocket. The thought that came to mind was possibly crazy or ridiculous...but it also might be their ticket to what lay inside and getting out of the vault.

“Perhaps it doesn’t mean death…” he said slowly. “Maybe it means something else...like giving up magic.”

He pulled out the broken wand and showed it to his friends.

“Jacob understood. I thought his wand was broken after he was expelled, but what if he purposefully broke it himself to open this vault?”

Tulip nodded understanding there was little other choice.

“Try it.”

David did so, pressing the pieces against the column and this time it had the desired effect. With the sound of whirring wheels and gadgets the column sunk into the ground to reveal two objects inside, which he took. One of which was a map of some kind with the letter ‘R’ on the top left corner, the other looked like a busted arrowhead. Then he realized what the map was.

“I can’t believe that worked! You really are full of surprises aren’t you, David Grant,” Tulip beamed at him. “What did you find?”

David showed them.

“A map of the Forbidden Forest and a broken arrow.”

“Is that where the next vault is?” Barnaby asked with budding curiosity.

“No idea, but I say we heed our Ravenclaw friend in getting the hell out of here before Pince or someone worse comes along.”

Tulip nodded, again giving his hand a soft squeeze but this time she didn’t let go, again causing him to blush.

“I agree. We’ll work it out later. Let’s go.”

David didn’t say a word as they left the library (which was dark and showed no signs of Pince thankfully) nor when they were forced to diverge, not even when Tulip hugged him good night. He was quite tired and needed rest.

The questions resulting in this latest adventure could wait for awhile

[boysenberrybrew]

7-Year D.A.D.A. Syllabus (Professor!Harry AU)

I’m a sucker for details, so I made up a syllabus for all seven years of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts (as I headcanon Harry would teach it) for the fic I’m writing. Figure that, since I already made it, I might as well put it out there. Feel free to use it — or parts of it — for fanworks of your own.

Two things!

For each year, I list topics to be covered and group some learning objectives or specifications/suggestions under each topic — but they’re not in order. Professor!Harry wouldn’t cover solely one topic at a time, but most likely group topics together and teach the necessary spells as the class went through activities. 

I also made two lists of spells under each Year — one which lists the spells students would learn while in DADA class, and another which lists the spells that students might use in DADA class but which would be learned in either Transfiguration or Charms.

More essay-length notes included at the very end of the Read More, since this is already getting too long.

[Syllabus begins]

Year 1: What kinds of danger are there in the wizarding world? And how do you know something is dangerous?

“...Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain! Why didn’t you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic--”

“I d-didn’t know...”

(HP&CS, ch 18)

Topics to Cover:

Detecting Danger

Identify potentially dangerous objects

Identify suspicious situations

Common Encounters

Ghosts

Poltergeists

Hags

Vampires

Ghouls

Doxies

Calling for Help

Shoot red and green sparks from wands

Describe what Aurors are and know when to call them

Accurately operate the Floo network

Physical �� Reflexes and Speed

Snowball fights with low visibility, catch a practice snitch

Tag, races

Spells to Learn:

Human-presence Revealing Spell (Homenum Revelio)

Jinx Revealing Spell [not canon, as far as I know, but it should be!]

Green Sparks Spell (Verdillious)

Red Sparks Spell (Vermillious)

Smokescreen Spell (Fumos)

Spells to Use Besides:

Wand-Lighting Charm (Lumos)

Wand-Extinguishing Charm (Nox)

Year 2: How do wizards fight with magic? And what do you do if you’re hit by a spell?

“I don’t think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?”

“I’ve used it against him [...] But if you think it’s beneath you, you can leave,” Harry said.

Smith did not move. Nor did anybody else.

(HP&OotP, ch 18)

Topics to Cover:

Dueling — Introduction

Rules to formal dueling

Stances

Healing — Introduction

Basic principles: clean the wound, stop the blood flow, don’t sleep in case of head injury

Potions and salves interlude: identify which substances are needed in the healing and care of different types of wounds, including bites, stings, lacerations, and blunt trauma

Chocolate

Uncommon Encounters

Banshees

Trolls

Zombies

Pogrebin

Yetis

Kappas

Dragons

Physical — Accuracy and Coordination

Target practice, both spellfire and nonmagical, still and moving

Spells to Learn:

Full Body-Bind Curse (Petrificus Totalus)

Leg-Locker Curse (Locomotor Mortis)

Knockback Jinx (Flipendo)

Trip Jinx [incantation unknown]

Freezing Charm (Immobulus)

Disarming Charm (Expelliarmus)

Spells to Use Besides:

General Counter-Spell (Finite Incantatem)

Dancing Feet Spell (Tarantallegra)

Tickling Charm (Rictusempra)

Year 3: How do you defend yourself against dark creatures? How do you defend when at a disadvantage?

The screwt was inches from him when it froze — he had managed to hit it on its fleshy, shell-less underside. Panting, Harry pushed himself away from it and ran, hard, in the opposite direction — the Impediment Curse was not permanent; the screwt would be regaining the use of its legs at any moment.

(HP&GoF, ch 31)

Topics to Cover:

Dark Creatures

Red Caps

Grindylows

Hinkypunks

Boggarts

Werewolves

Acromantulas

Lethifolds

Dementors

Basiliks

Inferi

Physical — Endurance and Teamwork

Mock-battles in teams

Activity after performing magically-exhausting spells

Obstacle courses

Dueling — Creative Thinking

Use physical surroundings to an advantage

Apply spells to surroundings as distraction, obstacle, or shelter

Charms and Transfiguration encouraged

Create viable strategies in various terrains

Spells to Learn:

Boggart-Banishing Spell (Riddikulus)

Spider Repelling Spell (Arania Exumai)

Patronus Charm (Expecto Patronum) — incorporeal

Freezing Spell (Glacius)

Banishing Charm (Depulso)

Spells to Use Besides:

Fire-Making Spell (Incendio)

Softening Charm (Spongify) 

Lumos Maxima

Severing Charm (Diffindo)

Engorgement Charm (Engorgio)

Shrinking Charm (Reducio)

Avifors [turns small objects into birds] 

Reparifarge [un-transfiguration spell, undo wrong castings]

Locomotion Charm (Locomotor)

Year 4: When is the law on your side? Can you talk your way out of a dangerous situation?

“Cruc—”

“NO!” shouted Hermione [...]

Ron froze, his eyes wide; Ginny stopped trying to stamp on her Slytherin captor’s toes; even Luna looked mildly surprised.

(HP&OotP, ch 32)

Topics to Cover:

Legality

Identify when it is legally advisable to defend using magic

Identify the types of magic that are illegal and why — the Unforgivables, necromancy, muggle-baiting, etc.

Conflict De-escalation

Think critically even while provoked or afraid

Identify hostile entity’s POV and immediate desires, and use these to stall, lie, reason, trap, compromise, bargain, and/or flee

Reason-able Entities

Review: Vampires, hags, banshees

Sphinxes

Giants

Merfolk

Counter-Curses

Understand theory of counter-curses

Describe what counter-spells work for which curses

Physical — Competitive Dueling — Reading an Opponent’s Style

Apply different spellcasting and dueling strategies

Identify strategies used by opponent and counter them

Use opponent’s characteristics and habits against them

Spells to Learn:

Shield Charm (Protego)

Stunning Spell (Stupefy)

Reviving Spell (Rennervate)

Impediment Jinx (Impedimenta)

Reductor Curse (Reducto)

Deprimo [blast hole in floor]

Patronus Charm (Expecto Patronum) — corporeal

Spells to Use Besides:

Summoning Charm (Accio)

Ventus [strong gust of wind]

Year 5: What does DADA look like in the real world?

“You don’t know what it’s like! You — neither of you[...] You think it’s just memorizing a bunch of spells and throwing them at him[...] The whole time you’re sure you know there’s nothing between you and dying except your own — your own brain or guts or whatever — [...] they’ve never taught us that in their classes[...]”

(HP&OotP, ch 15)

Topics to Cover:

Review!!!!

All Common Encounters

Zombies, inferi, banshees, werewolves, boggarts, and hinkypunks

Dueling rules, stances, and common strategies

Legality

Counter-curse theory and practical

Knockback Jinx, Disarming Charm, Boggart-Banishing Spell, Shield Charm, Stunning Spell, Impediment Jinx, and Patronus Charm

Passive Defense

Understand warding theory

Describe the use and purpose of various wards

Physical — Competitive Dueling — Fighting as a Team

Apply all previous Physical and Dueling objectives in a team competition, in both dueling platforms and challenging terrains

Survival Skills

Apply all previous knowledge to survive various dangerous hypothetical situations

Student presentation!

Spells to Learn:

Salvio hexia [deflects hexes in an area]

Cave inimicum [conceals presence within an area so caster can’t be seen, heard, or smelled]

Intruder Charm [alarms caster]

Caterwauling Charm [loud alarm]

Shield Charm variants (Protego Maxima, Protego Totalum, Protego Horribilis)

Patronus Charm (Expecto Patronum) — corporeal against pseudo-dementor

Spells to Use Besides:

[literally any spell they can think of that might help them in the hypothetical situations posed]

Year 6: What does dark magic look like? What can it do? And what can we do against it?

“The Dark Arts,” said Snape, “are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal[...] You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible[...] Your defenses,” said Snape, a little louder, “must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo...”

(HP&HBP, ch 9)

Topics to Cover:

Dark Arts Case Study — Curses

Students choose a specific dark curse/spell and research how it’s been used in the past, what it does, how it works, and most importantly, how to counter it

Curse-Breaking

Recognize common curses, identify them on objects or locations

Know how to remove said curses

Safely handle the cursed object or location while removing the curse

Healing — Spells

Know when to use foundational healing spells and in what order

Understand the danger of incorrectly-cast healing spells and avoid such situations [not canon, but headcanon of mine]

Dueling — Nonverbal Casting

Emphasis on being able to cast the General Counter-Spell, Shield Charm, and Disarming Charm nonverbally with confidence

Introduction to spells that work better when nonverbal

Spells to Learn:

Episkey [heals small lacerations]

Anapneo [unblocks airway]

Bandaging Charm (Ferula)

Vulnera Sanetur [heals serious wounds]

Confundus Charm (Confundo)

Patronus Charm (Expecto Patronum) — nonverbal

[ideally, I’d list curse-breaking spells here, but I can’t find any canon ones, so... insert spells that break curses here]

Students will inevitably learn dark curses, though they are not expected to (are in fact, expected not to) use them

Spells to Use Besides:

Tergeo [wipes clean]

Switching Spell [incantation unknown]

Silencing Spell (Silencio)

Year 7: How have wizards used dark magic? And how do you defend against esoteric magic?

It’s gone wrong, he thought… it’s drowned… please… please let it be dead…

But then, though the mist in front of him, he saw, with an icy surge of terror, the dark outline of a man, tall and skeletally thin, rising slowly from inside the cauldron […]

Lord Voldemort had risen again.

(HP&GoF, ch 32)

Topics to Cover:

Review!!!!

Dueling strategies and nonverbal casting

All Dark Creatures

Counter-curses

Curse-Breaking

Passive Defense

Shield Charm, Disarming Charm, Boggart-Banishing Spell, Stunning Spell, and Patronus Charm all nonverbal, plus [spells that break curses, whatever your headcanon is for them]

Dueling — Nonverbal and Competitive

Strictly nonverbal competitive dueling, applying all past lessons

Dark Arts Case Study — Dark Wizards

Students choose a dark witch or wizard from history and research how they gained influence, what sorts of dark magic they were known for, and how one might defend oneself against them

Mind Magic

Understand Legilimency and how to apply Occlumency against it (practical challenge optional and with consent)

Identify being under the influence of mind-altering curses and potions (including the Imperius Curse, Confundus Charm, love potions, and Veritaserum) and practice techniques to fight against them (practical challenge only with consent, highly encouraged)

Understand the theory of possession and how to throw it (no practical)

Spells to Learn: 

Patronus Charm (Expecto Patronum) — completely mastered

Students will inevitably learn dark curses, though they are not expected to (are in fact, expected not to) use them

Spells to Use Besides:

Focus continues to be using previously-known spells nonverbally [so, once again, any spells can be under this category]

[Syllabus ends]

Notes

When making this, I tried to keep in mind

What Harry, based on his life experiences, might believe students need to learn

How difficult spells are to learn, canonically

What the Ministry expects Harry to teach them (and what will therefore be in their OWLs and NEWTs)

The purpose of the DADA class in general, and

How the rest of the classes in Hogwarts have been impacted by the yearly change in DADA professor

What do students need to learn?

The closest we can come to answering that first question is Harry’s experiences teaching Dumbledore’s Army. Unfortunately, we don’t see much of these lessons. What we do see tends to be combat-oriented — Harry tells the DA about a spell and then gives advice on their casting as they practice on each other. It’s all practical, no theory at all except for the books on the shelves in the Room of Requirement, and nothing on magical creatures (though this might be because he felt Lupin had already done a good job on that front).

Harry’s lessons to the DA were cut short, besides, just as they had reached the Patronus Charm — so we don’t know for sure what Harry would have gone on to teach them. I like to think that, if he was the professor, the answer would have just been — everything.

Everything he knows. Everything he’s used to defend himself.

He knows first hand that it’s not just about knowing the spells, that there’s a lot more to surviving than being a good duelist — he even says so outright when discussing the DA with Ron and Hermione. And I think that, as he continued to teach, his lessons would begin to reflect that.

The first thing that comes to mind — besides spells and combat — is physical activity. Learn how to dodge, get used to running, hone your reflexes, etc. DADA would be the PE of Hogwarts with Harry as professor. The second things that came to mind were wards and healing — things that are, admittedly, used far more creatively and often in fanfiction than in canon smh. Still, the canon use of them is there, and Harry relied on that knowledge during his camping trip from hell, so.

What’s on the OWLs and NEWTs?

Apart from just the things Harry would want to teach as part of DADA, there’s also whatever the Board of Governors expect him to teach — what will be on the OWLs and NEWTs.

Sometimes (most times? depending on your interpretation of Harry) this coincides with what Harry would teach anyway. However, I explain in this post why I think the Ministry would want to emphasize defense against magical creatures. I also imagine they would want the Legality section above taught at some point, though we know Harry found it horrifically boring in the fifth book.

The Review!!!! section in Year 5 is comprised mostly of whatever I deemed the minimum a student should know to not immediately die by the time they step out of Hogwarts + whatever the Ministry might want all students to know + the bare bones of defensive spells that one might use against a wizard.

All students take a DADA OWL because it is a required class for the first five years. At this point, students who are not interested in the subject and/or do not need a DADA OWL for their intended career will drop the subject. I tried to reflect this on the syllabus by making NEWT years more specialized — on the assumption that careers that require a DADA NEWT will also require specialization within the field.

How difficult is this class?

Harry would be a demanding teacher. I know a lot of people headcanon him as the fun teacher — and I do think a lot of his lessons would be fun, and he would try to make them fun — but I can easily imagine him getting annoyed when people don’t take his class seriously. The DA was voluntary, and everyone there wanted to learn and practice defensive spells; a lot of children in a time of peace would not see it that way. Many would drag their feet at the physical activity and complain about the hard work, the hard spells, and when are we ever going to use this anyway?

So I do think that, even when he isn’t actively trying to push his students, Harry’s DADA class would be hard. He sees himself as an average wizard — even though his teachers called him bright, even though people tell him he’s exceptionally good at defense — he thinks he’s nothing special, and he knows that if he can do it, you can too! So yes, he’d have high expectations and his class would be especially difficult if you’re not that into it.

Which is why some of the spells above are listed one year (or more!) earlier than the DADA class in canon presented them. Not that many, honestly. (The starkest difference is Homenum Revelio, which I listed as a Year 1 spell, but we only see Hermione use it canon in Deathly Hallows. But hey — canon spell difficulty isn’t mentioned; it could very easily be the case that Hermione simply hadn’t known the spell until then, or hadn’t thought to use it.)

We just don’t know very much about what makes a spell difficult. A recurring spell throughout this syllabus is the Patronus Charm — it’s listed under Spells to Learn in Year 3 and then continues being listed all the way through Year 7. That’s because it’s supposed to be an especially difficult spell (”beyond NEWT level”)... and Harry mastered it in his third year. So of course — if you’re following my interpretation of Harry — he would start teaching it in Year 3.

He might make allowances, given that apart from him, we only know of a few people who managed to cast it before their fifth year (Luna, Ginny, while in Dumbledore’s Army) and not while suffering the effects of a dementor, at that. So next to every reiteration of the Patronus Charm in the syllabus, I included what I think would be Harry’s minimum expectation of success.

DADA vs. Hogwarts

Why is the Knockback Jinx canonically taught in Charms class? This is complete speculation, but Flitwick (and maybe McGonagall) probably had to pick up the slack after a few years of the DADA professor position being cursed.

As the years went by and as Hogwarts expended all the competent teachers and scared away the rest, OWLs and NEWTs continued demanding the same results. Student performance on these tests must have steadily dropped, and I think spells that would have usually been covered by the DADA professor gradually shifted unto Charms class.

That might explain why Harry learned some offensive magic in Charms class instead of DADA — but the only reason I’m mentioning this right now is because I included a lot of charms in the Spells to Learn list that I’m quite sure were canonically covered in Charms class, but which I wanted Harry to cover earlier that Flitwick did. Oh well.

Concluding thoughts

This took way longer than I thought it would. Just... the sheer amount of time spent referencing the wiki, the Lexicon, the books... I checked the wiki’s specific references, too.

...But, hey, I had fun thinking about Harry Potter.

[midnightartemis]

☽ Chapter Seventeen ☾

Read on A03

Nothing.

You are nobody.

No one.

Who would ever want you?

Who would ever want a filthy little orphan rat?

Rey sat up in bed gasping. She couldn’t remember what nightmare woke her; the memory faded far too quickly. That was probably for the best.

She peeked out the curtains surrounding her four-poster bed to see that it was still sometime in the night. 5:30 am, exactly, according to the softly glowing clock face near the entrance to the room.

It was Sunday and she hadn’t seen Ben since the incident in Defense Against the Dark Arts. They were supposed to train today. ‘Supposed to’ being the key phrase.

She shouldn’t get her hopes up but she couldn’t help it. Even as his words to Professor Skywalker replayed in her mind. Even as she remembered the terrifying apathy on his face as he hurried past her and out of the classroom.

She was just an annoying First Year. A no one.

But we have matching wands.

Why should that mean anything?

We spent Christmas together. He gave me a gift.

He pities you.

Rey rubbed her eyes, trying to force her argumentative thoughts away. She just needed to talk to him. For better or worse that would clear everything up. She’d go to the Room of Requirement, and if he wasn’t there, she would track him down. He had to eat at some point, right?

Rey’s stomach growled at that thought. She knew she wasn’t getting back to sleep any time soon, and it had been a while since she had visited D-0 in the kitchens. They could make her hot milk and maybe they’d have some warm muffins for her.

She quietly crawled out of bed and slipped her feet into slippers she found in the second-hand chest. Her morning robe was also a recent find, a second-hand gift from some previous unknown student. There were quite a few items in that chest- far too many for it not to have magical properties as she was constantly finding new items within its depths.

As quiet as she could, she shuffled out of the First Year dormitory and down the hall to the main rooms. A steady fire flickered in the fireplace beneath Helga Hufflepuff’s portrait as she snored. Other than Helga, the room was completely empty and quiet. All the older students had exhausted their Saturday night fun and gone to bed.

In seconds she was out of the dormitory and tickling the kitchen pear. It giggled sleepily and a moment later the large painting swung open to reveal an already busy kitchen. The sweet smell of pastries and the warm scent of baking bread filled her nose. Rey’s stomach growled audibly as she entered the giant kitchens.

Standing atop a stool at the wide butcher block counter, D-0 was in the middle of magically kneading several rolls of bread. The house elf’s giant eyes narrowed as they grinned. “Mistress Rey!”

“Morning, D-0.” Rey smiled at the elf as best she could but everything felt lackluster.

“You’re up early, mistress.” D-0 snapped and a chair appeared for Rey to sit down at the counter.

“I couldn’t sleep.” Rey refrained from asking once more for D-0 to stop calling her mistress. She had learned the hard way that D-0’s previous master had handled the elf’s mistakes harshly. And that was putting it nicely. She gave the house-elf a tired but meaningful look.

“More nightmares… Miss?”

Rey nodded. “I was wondering if you had some more warm milk and pastries ready?”

“Of course, Miss Rey!” D-0 snapped their fingers once more. From a different counter across the busy kitchen, a mug of warm milk with earl grey poured itself while a plate and a fresh blueberry muffin whizzed towards her. In seconds, her food was in front of her. Rey stared at the breakfast before her. She didn’t think she would ever tire of even the simplest magics.

Rey settled in, sipping her tea and desperately attempting to not devour her muffin in two bites. She chatted with D-0 and the rest of the house-elves as they prepared breakfast and snapped away to different parts of the castle.

By now, the elves had gotten used to Rey’s presence in the kitchens and she had grown to know them throughout the semester. She considered them to be her friends if she was honest. They understood her better than even Rose or Finn.

Still, the house-elves’ presence did little to lift her spirits.

“Would you like to talk about it, Miss Rey?” D-0 snapped his fingers and sent his formed loaves of bread dough zooming into one of the many ovens.

Rey shrugged. “I’m not sure it will help, D-0. But thank you.”

Saying it out loud would make what Ben said all too real.

D-0 gave Rey their kindest smile. “You are welcome, Mistress Rey.”

✹

That afternoon as the bell chimed three, Rey sat alone in the Room of Requirement. With every passing minute, her heart sank further towards her stomach. Ben had never been late before, but she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. She wanted and hoped the doors would open and Ben would walk in. Even if his head wasn’t hanging low, she’d be okay with that. If he wanted to pretend like what had happened in the D.A.D.A. classroom had never happened, fine. Though she knew what he said was inexcusable.

Rey waited twenty more minutes before deciding she would wait all night if she had to. She waited through dinner with the hope he would notice she wasn’t there and come looking. He would know where she was. He would know she was waiting for him.

Hours passed and, still, Ben never appeared. Rey’s disappointment began to form into anger.

He was supposed to be her friend!

Rey threw a jinx at the poor training dummy.

He was supposed to apologize to her! Give her some sort of explanation!

Her knockback jinx tossed the dummy into the wall, toppling it over.

Tears welled in her eyes and fell to her cheeks as the castle’s bell tower struck nine. She was supposed to be back in her dormitory soon. Ben wasn’t coming. He may never speak to her again. She had homework to do and Finn would be wondering where she was.

Rey angrily wiped her tears away and gathered up her bag. She pushed through the door to the hall without checking to see if the coast was clear. At this point, she almost didn’t care. The Room of Requirement wasn’t just her space anymore. Without Ben, it wasn’t worth it.

“Well, well, well.”

Rey froze in her steps as Hux, Mitaka, and a tall blond girl she thought was called Phasma stepped out of the shadows and into her path. Hux jutted his chin towards the disappearing door of the Room of Requirement.

“Been wondering when you’d come out. Mitaka’s been watching it for hours. Did your boyfriend not show up?”

Rey glanced at the scrawny black-haired kid standing behind Hux. Mitaka was more grease than anything else with eyes that darted every which way. She had always felt uneasy towards him but had ignored him. Apparently, she ignored him so much so she hadn’t noticed him watching her.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

Hux laughed. “But you wish he was, don’t you? Crying because you realized he doesn’t like you?

Rey fought against the urge to hide her tear-stained face. With all her might she focussed on Hux’s head. Hux only sneered back.

“You know he only saved you in the trophy room because he pitied you, right?”

Before she could think or stop herself, Rey raised her wand to him. “ Stupefy! ”

Triumph melded into horror as she watched Hux fly off the ground and arc through the air before landing hard almost five meters down the hall with a grunt and a whimper. Hux rolled to the side but didn’t stand, only curling in on himself.

Mitaka looked terrified. Phasma looked almost impressed. And Rey could only stare in shock.

In all her years suffering abuse and hardship at the orphanage, she had never once intended someone true harm. Even when she first dueled Hux she hadn’t wanted to hurt him. But now… Rey had wanted to see him hurt. She wanted Hux to suffer.

“What is the meaning of this?” A cool, nasally voice drifted down the hall. Rey turned and flinched at the sight of Professor Tarkin striding meticulously down the hall towards them. His grey robes billowed out behind him. Rey could hardly meet the potions professor’s cold, dead eyes. Once she did, she dropped them immediately. She was, as Ben would put it, screwed. There was no talking her way out of this one. She had hurt a Slytherin and the Head of Slytherin House had caught her.

“We caught Rey coming out of a strange room, Sir! She attacked Hux when we asked her about it, Sir.” Phasma supplied. She didn’t even try to hide the glint in her eye; Rey knew the Slytherin was enjoying this.

Professor Tarkin looked from Phasma to Hux to Rey slowly. “Take Hux to the infirmary, Miss Storm. Mr. Mitaka. Miss Niima, I will personally escort you back to your dormitory as your Head of House is out of the castle at the moment. You will serve detention with me every night this week. That is if you are not expelled for attacking another student unprovoked. Oh, and fifty points from Hufflepuff, of course.”

Rey decided there, as Professor Tarkin’s hand gripped onto her shoulder, that she would rather someone shout and scream at her than Tarkin’s cold, monotone way of doling out punishment. Still, she knew better than to try and argue with the professor. He would never listen to her, much less care what she had to say.

With gritted teeth, Rey let Professor Tarkin parade her through the halls of the castle. They passed several groups of students on their way to the Hufflepuff dormitory. By the start of classes tomorrow, Rey was sure the whole school would know at least one version of what happened.

Rey just didn’t expect to make the front page as well.