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saiilorstars · 2 years ago

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Ch. 17: In the 13th Year...

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

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

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

A huge stack of letters was threatening to fall from Romina's desk. Most were open and, since several of her friends had the idea to send Romina gifts for her 13th birthday last month, the floor was covered with different wizarding gifts (except for Harry's, Hermione's and Arden's, of course). Carolinha Paes had gifted Romina a wonderful box of creamy nougat chunks. Angel had sent in a leather-bound green journal with enchanted doodles on the edges. Pansy Parkinson sent in a fashionable scarf and Daphne Greengrass had sent in a beautiful heart-shaped charm bracelet. The Weasley twins sent one of their crazy fireworks that they swore would "start the party in the muggle world". Hermione thought that a Sherlock book was a good idea, and Arden and Harry had teamed up to give Romina a Supergirl comic she'd been eyeing just after they returned from Hogwarts. All in all, they were wonderful presents...if Romina had been herself.

The thirteen year old girl washed her face in her bathroom, scrubbing hard at the birthmark near her left earlobe and was deeply disappointed (and frustrated) that it wouldn't come off. She knew of course that it would never work, but it didn't mean she wouldn't try. She dropped the towel from her face and took a good look at herself, once more disappointed with what she saw. She was a bit taller now, and her black hair was seemingly, finally, turning into defined curls. Her dark brown eyes were still big and her eyebrows more defined.

"No," Romina spat at herself and turned away. "No, no, no, no!" she stormed out of the bathroom and went straight into her room.

A knock interrupted her moment and she quickly went to her bed, practically diving into it. Her hands pushed a wrinkled picture under her pillow, and for security measures, she put a Velvet heart-shaped pillow over it. Then she quickly went to open up.

"Auntie, I already told you I'm not hungry—"

"I'm not your aunt!" Arden King exclaimed, playfully offended.

Romina turned away from her best friend. "Arden, I don't want to go out. I told you that already."

"Yeah, I know," Arden walked in after Romina, "And that's what you told me yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that...and all last week…" And the week before that. It was a growing theme and Arden was getting tired of it.

Romina stopped by the vanity mirror and stared at herself with such contempt it looked like she despised herself. Arden didn't notice because of the mess in the room.

"Jeez, Romina, what's happening to you?" Arden walked by Romina's closet which looked like it had thrown up most of its contents. "You're almost as messy as Fabian!"

"I need different things," Romina said curtly. She grabbed strands of her hair and poked at them.

Arden left the closet and noticed the amount of letters on the desk. "What's all this?"

"Letters, obviously," Romina shrugged and went back to her bed. Her hands kept pulling at the tips of her hair. She needed to come up with an idea about what to do with it.

Arden shuffled through the letters and noticed some of them were still unopened. "Hey, this one's from Pansy," she crinkled her nose. "The hell does she write to you for?" She tossed the letter to the floor and continued going through the rest. "These are from Angel. Boy, he definitely writes to you a lot." There was a decent pile of just his letters. She raised another letter with neatly written cursive inside. "Hermione's in France? That's so cool."

"Arden, was there something you needed?" Romina scratched her head. She didn't want to be rude but she also didn't want to speak to anyone right now.

"Yeah," Arden whirled around with a new letter in hand, "We're supposed to go buy a present for Harry, remember? His birthday's tomorrow."

Romina sighed. "No offence but I don't really want to go out."

"That's funny, I don't remember asking," Arden cooly retorted and walked to the side of the bed where Romina sat. "I asked your aunt and uncle already and they thought it was a good idea for you to go out before you nest in here. Let's go!"

"Arden, I don't want to," Romina weakly said but Arden wouldn't listen. She practically dragged Romina out of the room, down the stairs, and shouted 'we're leaving!' to Lyonel and Sage.

~0~

When Arden's family had separated from the girls in the mall, Arden dragged Romina into the first store they saw which turned out to be a music store. As Romina got sidetracked by the miniature jukeboxes on a wooden shelf, Arden stared at a violin.

"Does Harry like anything music related? I can't remember."

"I don't know," Romina shrugged her shoulders. "He's never mentioned it."

"Probably cos that aunt and uncle don't even bother to let him explore his musical talents," Arden dramatically waved a hand.

"Harry likes reading, what are we doing here?" Romina turned away from the jukeboxes.

Arden cheekily pointed at the violin on display. "Check it out, I'm asking my parents for this for Christmas. Mine's getting old. This one is almost the same as the one your aunt and uncle gave you for your birthday. It's a shame you quit violin classes though. Why'd you do that, again?"

Romina gave a shrug of her shoulders. "I didn't have the energy anymore."

But that wasn't true, and Arden knew it. If there was one thing Romina Oswell loved, it was playing the violin. There was something odd going on with Romina that had both Arden and Harry a little concerned. All of a sudden, Romina had gone from her lively, sarcastic self to a quiet, barely seen girl. It was a miracle she was out right now and Arden suspected it was only because this was about Harry, her closest friend, otherwise Romina would be locked away in her bedroom like she had been all month.

It was early in the evening when Romina, Arden and her family returned to the neighborhood. Romina politely thanked Mr. and Mrs. King for taking her along and then swiftly moved to her own house.

"Rom, hold on!" Arden skipped over her mother's petunias to catch up. "Do you want me to wrap Harry's present? I don't mean to brag but I have some mean wrapping skills—"

"Yeah, that's fine," Romina quietly said, cutting off Arden's smile.

"Well...do you want me to come by tomorrow for—"

"I have to go, Arden," Romina gave a bleak smile and rushed into her house.

Arden shook her head and returned to her family.

Romina skipped dinner and went straight to her room. She nearly tripped over the letter Arden had left near the bed and bent over to pick it up. It was Hermione's latest letter that arrived in the morning. With a sigh, Romina climbed onto her bed and opened up the parchment.

'Dear Romina,

I'm on holiday in France at the moment and I didn't know how I was going to send this to you — what if they'd opened it at customs? — but then Hedwig turned up! Harry sent her to me yesterday and I think he wants me to ask you how you're doing? Both he and Arden have mentioned you've been in your bedroom for most of this month now. I think if Ron wasn't so enthralled with his visit to Egypt, he would have noticed your lack of letters by now. What's happening, Romina? Is there something you want to share with me? You know I would never tell a soul unless you wanted me to.

Or, if you'd rather talk it out in person, we could do it in London on the last week of the holidays. Ron (and hopefully Harry) will be there too. If not, I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express on September first!

Love from Hermione x

P.S. Did you hear that Percy's Head Boy this year? I'll bet Percy's really pleased. Ron doesn't seem too happy about it.

Romina closed the letter and put it beside her. She rubbed her face with exceptional frustration. What was she going to do? She couldn't look like them and not expect to be called out on it. She needed to figure out a solution before the school year started again.

~ 0 ~

The next day, Harry woke up a bit groggy from his tedious night practicing his new favorite spell "Lumos Maxima" all night. Despite it being his birthday, no one in the Dursley home paid any acknowledgement to it. Harry wasn't surprised and no longer dwelled on it. He had already received many things from his friends that night anyways. Those were the people he cared about. As he entered the kitchen, he saw his cousin Dudley was already eating and watching the television. His uncle Vernon was discussing the matters of Aunt Marge's visit with his aunt Petunia. Harry shivered within and grabbed a piece of toast from the table, not that Dudley saw. He was engrossed with a news reporter apparently.

"Now before I go get Marge from the train station, we need to get a few things straight," Vernon stopped in front of Harry. Harry dreaded the requirements he would be subjected into no matter what.

The old hag of Marge hated him and he hated her.

"First, you'll keep a civil tongue in your head when you're talking to Marge. Secondly, as Marge doesn't know anything about your abnormality, I don't want any — any funny stuff while she's here. You behave yourself, got me?"

"I will if she does," Harry muttered under his breath.

Vernon glowered at the boy but kept going. "And third, we've told Marge you attend St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys—"

"WHAT!?" Harry nearly lost it. He had no idea what the hell his uncle and aunt had been telling the rest of the neighborhood where Harry was attending school. He knew it wasn't like Romina's and Arden's family - the two families got together to say the girls went to a London preparatory boarding school.

Just as Vernon was getting ready to leave, someone knocked on the door. Muttering under his breath how it better not be the newspaper boy again, Vernon opened the door. Arden was on the other side, a cheery smile on her face.

"Whatever you're selling, we're not buying," Vernon went to shut the door despite needing to go out.

Luckily, Arden was quick enough to stick a foot between the door and its hinge. "I'm Arden, your neighbor. I'm here to see Harry."

"What?" Vernon glowered at the girl, probably trying to remember the identity of her.

Arden rolled her eyes and spoke again. "Can I just see Harry now? I won't be long."

"Make it quick, he's got work to do," Vernon warned and stepped out to head to his car.

"Harry?" Arden called from the threshold. She had plenty of experience dealing with the Dursleys and how awful they were. After all, they grew up together on the same block. Before Hogwarts, it was her, Harry and Romina.

Harry came into the foyer a minute later, surprised by her visit but nonetheless grateful. He was desparate for contact with nice people. "Hey Arden, what's going on?"

"Happy birthday, Harry," Arden held out a nicely wrapped blue present she'd been keeping behind her back. She knew that the Dursleys tended to keep anything good away from Harry so she got exceptional at hiding gifts from them. "It's from Romina and me. Hope you like it."

Harry smiled and gave her the proper thanks before he opened it up. It turned out to be a book by the name of The Shadow Rising. "Wow! Thanks!"

"I know it's not wizarding stuff but, you know…" Arden meekly shrugged, but Harry was happy with what he got. "Apparently, this was published last year in September and it's gotten pretty popular. There's rumors about a sequel coming. Something to catch up on."

"Right, okay," nodded Harry. Ever since they started Hogwarts, he, Romina and Arden tried to catch up with the Muggle world and their news when they were home for the summer. While Harry didn't really talk to many people down the block, Romina and Arden did and it sounded very weird to their muggle friends when they had no idea who the latest pop sensation was or the best series of the moment.

"The guy behind the counter swore that it was popular," Arden said, while Harry examined the cover.

"Thanks, Arden!" He gave her a hug then looked past Arden. "Hey, is Rom here?"

Arden shook her head, and Harry slowly stopped smiling. His eyes flickered to the right where he could see a glimpse of Romina's house. For the past weeks, Romina had ceased to come out of her house and much less to talk with him and just about anyone else. It came out of nowhere.

"I'm worried," Arden admitted. "She doesn't seem like herself. She isn't herself. You should see her room. It's covered with unopened letters and her closet looks like it puked all of her clothes out. And she keeps pulling her hair — is that like some anxiety thing she picked up on?"

"I have no idea," Harry said. "And there's not much we can do right now. We'll have to wait till we're in school to really talk to her." There was no way the Dursleys were letting him out of their sight while Mag was around. And besides, Romina wasn't letting them come in anyways.

"Yeah, then she'll have no choice but to talk to one of us," Arden smirked, making Harry chuckle. Arden had a thing with words - what she felt she said no matter how blunt they were.

It was something he liked about her from the start.

~ 0 ~

Back at Romina's house, her aunt and uncle had called her downstairs, with no exception. Romina came trudging down the staircase, hearing the living room television going on and on about some new escapee from prison. She found her aunt and uncle in the kitchen with a Hogwarts letter.

"Look what just arrived?" Lyonel waved it in his hand. Romina remained blank.

"We were thinking about Diagon Alley next week?" Sage asked. Neither of them had a clue of Ron's and Hermione's plan to meet up much later.

"Sure," Romina shrugged and turned to leave when her uncle called her back.

"We need to talk—"

"No, we don't," Romina wearily responded.

"Yes, we do," Lyonel assured, quite serious now. "This concerns our family and sooner or later you're going to hear about it in school."

"Why?" Romina's stomach churned. If it had to do with their family then it meant nothing good.

Lyonel sighed and got up, taking Romina back to the living room where the news was still broadcasting. "You see that man there?" Lyonel pointed at the television where a snippet of a criminal's picture was being displayed for the public. He looked positively mad, dirty and...mad.

"Yeah, he's been all over the television for the past week now," Romina once again shrugged her shoulders. "Sirius Black, wasn't it?"

"Well, there's something you should know…" Lyonel exchanged an unsure glance with his wife who was slowly approaching them. "Sirius Black is a wizard who escaped from Azkaban."

"What?" Romina gaped and quickly saw the television again in a new light. "But he's...but he's right there! He's a muggle! He's—"

"I'm sure the Minister of Magic has informed the muggle Prime Minister about it since Black is one of the worst criminals ever."

"What did he do?" Romina quietly asked, dreading the answer.

"Well…" Sage began, "...it was rumored that he was a double spy for you-know-who and that...well, in the end...he worked with your parents."

"My brother," Lyonel said grimly.

Romina closed her eyes and waved a hand for them to stop, begging them actually. "No, I don't want to listen anymore. I can't!"

"You need to know this before you go back to school. We don't want your first year to repeat itself," Lyonel reached for her but Romina stepped away.

"But that's just it, isn't it? It's never going to stop! I am their daughter and I can't do anything about it and it sucks! I hate it! I hate this family so much you don't even understand," Romina gritted her teeth. Both her aunt and uncle were startled with the ferocity in their niece's eyes, the tight fists clenched on either side of her. "I wish I could change my name, my last name at least. Have a fair chance, you know? Do we have any other family?" She looked at Sage and Lyonel desperately. "Anybody?"

The adults exchanged glances with each other and ultimately told Romina that it was just them.

Romina rubbed the tears from her face. "I fucking hate this family," she muttered and rushed towards the stairs.

When they heard the door of her bedroom slamming shut, Sage heaved a sigh. "I don't know, Lyonel, she's starting to ask...maybe we should tell her."

Lyonel shook his head. "No," he said sternly, "She's 13 now. She's been at Hogwarts for 2 years now and they never even tried to contact her."

"You told them not to," Sage said quietly, her eyes flickering up at the stairs. "Right in the beginning, you told them not to."

"What did you expect?" Lyonel shrugged. "My brother committed the worst atrocities and Elora was no better. I know my family and what they did, I wasn't going to risk Elora's family turning out to be the same."

"You and I both know that Elora's family is nothing like that. Last time I heard, they were doing just fine. Besides, history has reveled them as war heroes. I don't blame you for wanting to give Romina a clean slate, but it looks like right now she might need a different perspective on the world — on herself and her lineage. Maybe, it's time we told her the truth."

Lyonel insisted the opposite. "We've been fine this whole, and it'll be fine. Romina's 13, brand new teenager. This is just one of those mood swings we read about in the books."

Sage sincerely thought that it was something beyond that.

#ocappreciation #fd: harry potter #draco malfoy #harry potter #draco malfoy fics #draco malfoy imagines #draco malfoy x oc #harry potter fics #harry potter imagines #harry potter ocs #oc: romina oswell #fic: Legacies

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r-ene · 3 years ago

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03.03.22

- day 35/50

a rollercoaster of a day. from monday until today, I've been waking up very early and sleeping the latest of 12mn, which was last night and the latest i woke up (also today) is at 5am. therefore concluded that my body only needs about 5 to 6 hours to wake up refreshed :)

today's productivity

answered mock test for NAP exam

answered mock test for CPP exam

studied PAE notes

took CPP, NAP and PAE exam

day 2/40 of devotion

helped kakashi (our cat) give birth

kakashi birth story (under the cut!!)

she's of our cats that have difficulties in giving birth, especially since she has some disabilities right in the middle of my first exam and my break before the second exam (NAP). she's one of our mama cats who've given birth several times already but still doesn't know what to do, so I had to help her every time. and for this batch, the first kitten unfortunately didn't make it - i was still taking my exam at the time and unable to get up from my area since it was an on-cam exam but i still tried to check if the kitten can be revived because the placenta wasn't immediately cleaned from its face. the second one, we think, was from kakashi's last pregnancy since she only had a spotting but didn't give birth.. so... a rotten baby ? heh. and lastly, this baby looks very healthy !! practically crawled out of his mama with a very loud cry but after he got out, kakashi suddenly stood and walked around with the placenta still inside, wouldn't stay still, but when she did, she didn't cut the cord. therefore, i had to intervene - got my dissecting scissors and two clothespins as alternatives for clamps (ofc got those sanitized beforehand). yeah, just a little story time ig hahaha. hopefully baby boy grows well :)

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halfrest · 4 years ago

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* camila mendes, cis woman + she/her | you know juliana “jules” paes, right? they’re twenty-four, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, almost one year? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to god must be doing cocaine by charlotte lawrence like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole playlist curated specifically for making boxed mac and cheese at 3 am, the ‘are you still watching?’ screen on your ex’s netflix that you continue to use, and equating the one-time purchase of a zucchini to getting your life together thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is june 9th, so they’re a gemini, which is unsurprising, all things considered.

pinterest.

not the eldest child, but the eldest daughter, juliana (who purely goes by jules) was born third followed by five younger siblings for a total of eight. it was a packed house, especially since both parents had their siblings nearby (they all lived in one borough of new york city or another). not a bad arrangement in terms of the company kept. her best friends were her cousins. her family was close enough. the only thing was that jules was everybody’s second mother. when it came to the final three kids, she raised them as much as her parents did. oldest brother was the obvious favorite, got married young (now nieces and nephews piled in), went off to become a doctor and second son went off the rails a bit, although he was doted over and eventually ended up working with dad at a very exciting insurance company. jules doesn’t remember much of her childhood, but she remembers changing diapers, making lunches, going to soccer games and driving a car full of children as soon as she got her license. that didn’t mean jules was exempt from other responsibility because her parents wanted to see her succeed too and since they had a doctor in the family, why not a lawyer or engineer. girl was expected to juggle everything with ease but ofc that’s impossible unless you have superpowers and i’m afraid to report that juliana did not.

anxiety tw / anxiety initially kept her on track, needing to get assignments done before due dates, having her schedule perfectly coordinated and it worked throughout high school, somewhat throughout college, although panic attacks became more prevalent and then into her first year at law school, it just didn’t work for her anymore. total breakdown. she chose herself over expectations she couldn’t meet, although that didn’t mean she was going to show up back home as a failure. jules withdrew from school and went out to irving where her best friend from the city (shoutout willa) had ended up at and lied to her family all about it. / end tw

it’s hard to know where to go in life when you swerve off the road in front of you and realize that you had been living for other people. basically jules doesn’t rly know what the fuck it means to live for yourself. the only thing she’s settled is that she will continue to lie to her family and say that she’s still at law school even though she hasn’t been in months. she tries not to think about that too much tho bc that would just lead to another spiral. has no direction, no plan, no money atm but in the same vein of things, jules has never been so relieved in her life. she’s managing. there are days when she just stays in her room (terrible roommate btw, never pays rents on time, has elaborate excuses, who will tolerate her?) in her dark just not wanting to do anything (depression<3) but don’t worry by friday night she’s shaking her ass at scuba to some nelly song. duality of (wo)man.

other facts and things include being an avid fan of watching bad movies and leaving letterboxd reviews, giving apologies in the form of any item off the mcdonalds value menu, buying a ridiculous piece of clothing or whatever bc it’s what makes her happy at the moment (maybe a cow patterned bikini is what she truly needs to reach inner peace — a small price for some serotonin), alternating between periods of great productivity and well nothingness (meaning tons of unfinished projects and plans), ability to sleep anywhere, giving unsolicited opinions, coming up with the Perfect Plan which ends up not being perfect, talking too much and last but not least.......having fun.<3

holds ur hand if u got to the end of this. i might come up w some wc but we know who i am as a person so let’s cut thru the bs. if u would like a plot w jules 1st of all i love u 2nd of all jst message me and i’ll come up w a silly little plot for us. it’ll be beautiful n sexy. that also applies to my other characters. suddenly disappears in a cloud of smoke.

#irvingintro #anxiety tw #another silly little intro from a silly little girl #also my brain's flatlining so bad 2day so i'm sorry for being not the best member atm

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pinkflyingelephantthings · 7 years ago

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Changing Phase: Part 1

So, I finally decided to get married.

That came as surprise to my mum, who nagged to me almost every single time she received wedding invitation from her friend. (Not her friends’ wedding, their children ofc). A few weeks before, I told her my plan to go for Trans-Siberia train trip with my friend Pinat, and if we didn’t get married before 40, we would go for Safari trekking like in Wayo Africa.

So I told my mum. and my sisters. My brother was next. My dad passed away few months prior, so it feels happy and empty. The proposal came in the right time because I started to live a normal life without the attempt to call my dad after work, like I did almost every day.

So who is he? Yep, a HE. I’m straight, tho my wallpaper is CL of 2NE1, my office laptop wallpaper is Rei Hino (90′s kids would know). He’s a co-worker from different division, we worked together for a couple of years at that point, the first time we met was in a meeting I was being a complete dragon because of an issue. Yep, it’s not a pretty 1st sight.

Sadly to say, at that time, I had a pretty pessimistic view on marriage. Don’t get me wrong, I came from a very successful marriage. My mom married to my dad for most of their lives, and it really does apply Death do us part. I just can’t fathom the fact that how people could live with someone for 20,30, or even more years together. What if we got sick with each other? For God sake, I got sick of watching Goblin K-drama that I never get past the 3rd episode.

Worse of all, my husband is younger than me. By 3 years. Boy that shook a lot of confidence, which despite of my arguments and anger, is so minimum.

So i asked a few friends whom their partner is older than them. Most helpful advise came from a friend. He marries a girl years older, the girl had a few turmoils that widely known around their office. His answer is super comforting. “Listen Pae, the key to pick person you want to marry is not picking the person who you think you can live with. Choose someone who you think you can’t live without”

I hold to his word, and I asked my husband a lot of times. Are you sure? Very sure? And he said yes. Didn’t wavered even after a lot questions (read: interrogation) from me, and few weeks later from my family, and at the same time, from his parents.

Few weeks later, his family came. Got a date, and we’re preparing for it. My engagement is in 2 weeks, and my wedding is in 10 months.

Pray the best for us, ameen.

#nag #random #life

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scribeofmorpheus · 6 years ago

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The Rebel Queen (vii)

Chapter Seven: Negotiations

Pairing: Poe Dameron x (OFC) Princess Calista Ordell

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | A03

Words: 4k | Warnings: More ramblings of a delusional fanfic writer…

A/N: Here is a post that links to causes to help aid Brazil Indigenous tribes and here is an article that talks about what is happening and other causes you may want to check out. I enjoyed writing for Leia and Calista in this chapter even if I am not 1000% happy with some of this chapter. Anyhoo...

Taglist is open

Epilogue | About Thesmora

The ship groaned and whined as it lowered onto the ground. Thankful that Odhen had stuck the landing, Poe made his way to the cargo bay doors with Paige. Zeeke had offered to help Ton-Ton with making any repairs to the ship, he busied himself by running diagnostics while Odhen nursed a headache in an empty utility closet. Calista and her shadow, Mokk-Toh, were in the med bay with Watts, disconnecting the medical equipment so Koa would be ready for medical transport.

A small landing party of two –Connix and a medical specialist with several droids– were present to greet the Somnambulist and her passengers.

Poe stepped onto the tarmac, pausing for a moment to take a deep breath. The air was dry, hot. His nerves settling for the first time since he left. It was then that he noticed how much he yearned for a hot shower and sleep.

“Welcome back,” Connix said curtly with her hands held behind her back.

“Lieutenant,” Poe greeted her back.

Paige popped out from behind his shoulder and waved in greeting. Seeing her look so tired and less bright-eyed worried Poe, she seemed like a different person from the one who got stars in her eyes at the mere prospect of flying. It was daunting how much change could occur in less than 48 hours.

“We almost shot you out of the sky, you’re lucky the General recognised this ships transponder call-sign, otherwise you’d be sparks right now,” Connix said in jest. However, her smile faded in a flash when she brought herself to ask, “The Rose One?”

Poe shook his head. Paige simply kept her eyes straight ahead, blocking out Connix’s words by fixating on something in the distance.

Connix understood, there was no need for words.

With an awkward shrug, Poe directed the medical specialist into the ship, “You better get in there doc. Got a wounded soldier in the med bay.”

The medical specialist ushered a droid and a hover bed towards the ship, disappearing into the back of the Somnambulist.

“Pae-Pae!” Rose shouted from far off in the distance, her run was all swinging arms and small-spaced steps. It brought a smile to Paige’s face as she darted to meet her sister halfway.

Connix shuffled on her feet, Poe could tell she was getting a little antsy from not having any data to analyse or communications to receive.

He stifled a yawn before running his hand over his scruff, “Listen, I’ll leave you to do the pleasantries and the grand tour. I’m in desperate need of a shower.”

Connix nodded with pursed lips and Poe took that as her begrudging way of letting him go off and do his own thing.

Halfway to his quarters, Poe had the wind knocked out of him when BB-8 collided into him with great velocity. Poe bent down to pat his little droid who beeped and shook with delight. An amused chuckle left his throat.

“I missed you too buddy,” Poe smiled. “You been looking after Finn for me?”

BB-8 beeped proudly, head disappearing into his shell before popping back up playfully to whistle a high tune.

“Is that so, huh?” Poe scratched at the droids round midsection. “I’m glad you were here then.”

Poe laughed as he stood up, BB-8 rolling happily beside him as he continued down to his quarters.

The steam from the shower was heavenly. Poe felt his muscles loosen as he rubbed the soot and grease from his scalp. His deflated and frizzy curls came to life from the hydrating waters. The ball joints of his ankles were sore from standing and no matter how many times he rolled them, the discomfort refused to abate.

It felt odd, being on steady ground. For some reason, his body felt tighter, like his lungs were being crushed by gravity.

Flashes of the Rose One being wiped from existence brought a ringing noise to his ears. No matter how many times he wrung his ears or let water splash inside, the sound didn’t let up. His head wasn’t in the game, it was plagued by doubt and regret and anger, and that was a dangerous headspace to be in.

After towel drying off, he changed into his flight suit, determined to not be grounded on base with the rest of his ghosts. Poe grabbed his dog-tags from the edge of the mirror and went in search of Tico, hoping she’d be up for taking the X-Wing for a spin. He rationalised it as a way of checking on her, making sure she was alright after everything they’d been through, but if he was being honest, it was more for him than it was for her.

“How’s Rose?” he asked Paige as they passed numerous parked X-wings on base.

“She was relieved at first, then she jumped straight into lecturing me about needing to be more careful. She heard about what happened on Takodana, I’m just glad she didn’t know we named the ship after her. I don’t think she’d have liked that given how things turned out,” she replied.

Paige zipped up her borrowed flight suit over her freshly washed clothes. Poe remembered her telling him once that Rose would usually turn into a neat freak whenever she worried, washing clothes and obsessively tidying up rooms, that sort of stuff.

Poe stopped when he reached Black One, untucking his helmet from under his arm. Paige hadn’t noticed him stop and kept walking further down the assembly line.

“Hey, Tico,” he called after her. “Where you going?”

Paige hooked up a brow, pointing down to where the training ships were clamped, “To the training wings.”

Poe waved her over, tossing her his helmet, “I had something a little more fun in mind.”

Paige’s jaw dropped, her finger pointing at her face, “You’re letting me pilot Black One?”

“If this baby can survive crash landing twice, I think she can survive Paige Tico behind the helm,” Poe smirked. “Besides, I got BB-8, he can fix up anything!”

Paige regarded him cautiously, “Black One seats… well, one. What about you, thought you wanted to fly?”

He shrugged, “I still have the ignition keys to one of the T-70’s.”

Paige’s eyes narrowed, “What are you cooking up, hotshot?”

His pearly whites were in full view now, “How’s about a little race?”

Paige stared at his helmet, then back at Black One for two straight minutes before she swallowed loudly and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was smiling and confident, “Oh, I don’t know, hotshot… you think you can take me on?”

There’s the old Paige.

Poe popped his knuckles, “In my sleep, Tico.”

Paige laughed as she wheeled the ladder over to the cockpit of the Black One, “Not while I’m flying this baby.”

The rush. That was what Poe loved most about breaking through the sound barrier. Everything else that followed came second best. Something about going against the rules of nature, of defying gravity, brought a sense of control to his world. He liked being in control. Being his own master, away from everyone else.

Paige handled his X-Wing remarkably. He almost had a tough time keeping up with her in his basic T-70. They traded trash talk and fun anecdotes between flashy flight tricks. During which time a flush of happy chemicals soaked through his brain and he felt euphoria sink in, blocking out everything outside his cramped cockpit.

This, he thought. This is why I love flying.

When they touched down, Paige was practically beaming from the fact she had won the race. Poe didn’t have the heart to tell her he had pulled back his thrusters at the last minute, he figured she needed a win and as selfish as it sounded, he needed her peppy spirit around him.

“You ate dust!” Paige cheered from under his helmet, her cheeks red from grinning like an idiot for so long.

“Just don’t go telling anyone. I have a reputation to keep,” He took off the practice helmet he’d borrowed and tucked it under one arm.

Paige couldn’t stay still, “Oh, no promises there, hotshot!”

“You got the makings of a great pilot yet, Tico,” he said admirably, slinking his arm around her shoulder comfortably.

“What makes you think I’m not a great pilot already, loser?”

“From ‘hotshot’ to ‘loser’ already? Is that pride I sense?” Poe poked fun at Paige.

BB-8 came rolling down towards them, an informative beep chiming out as the nervous droid vibrated with urgency.

“How long ago?” Poe asked with large eyes.

BB-8 chimed again and quickly dashed back from where he came from.

“By the stars,” Poe sighed and then tossed Paige the helmet as he started jogging after the droid.

“What’s up?” Paige called after him, confused by what happened.

He answered quickly without looking back, “Leia. I’m being summoned.” When his stomach suddenly growled he shouted back, “Save me some grub!”

Poe charged into the meet room where Leia and Calista were in deep talks. His eyes widened, but not from embarrassment.

Calista stood an arms-length from Leia, an odd tension between them. She was no longer in the bright orange jumpsuit from before. She wore dark, elegant garbs. There was a word a foreign dignitary had used to butter up the General once, Poe had found it to be a pompous attempt at flattery, but right now it seemed very apropos. Resplendent. That was the word. It was the only word worthy enough of describing how Calista looked in that moment. Fresh-faced, less fatigued and… resplendent.

Poe’s mouth hung the slightest bit open as he tried to pry his eyes away from Calista before she noticed him staring too long.

Leia smirked in the corner of his eye before clearing her throat and welcoming him to the meet he was undoubtedly late for, “Ah, Commander. Good of you to join us on such short notice.”

Poe shook his head and pulled the tan gloves of his fingers before apologising for his tardiness.

Calista stared at her reflection in the mirror. After an hour-long shower –which she spent most of her time crumpled on the floor like some paralysed creature– she looked like a completely different person. The monochrome clothes lent to her by the General added a layer of elegance she didn’t possess in the orange mechanics overalls.

A buzzer sounded at the door to her guest quarters. It was time. With a flick of a button, the door slid open.

“Your highness,” the woman who had introduced herself as Connix earlier bowed her head. “General Leia sends her apologies for not being able to greet you in person. If you will come with me, I’ll take you to her.”

Calista let the Lieutenant lead the way through crowded hallways and busy hangers. It was different walking amongst so many nameless faces, seeing no one similar in feature around. She crossed paths with many soldiers, pilots and tacticians of different races and they all regarded her with indifference. Occasionally, she’d catch someone lean over to get a better look out of general curiosity, but other than that, no one paid much attention to her. She was a stranger here and that was something both new and exhilarating. It thrilled her to be able to walk in a crowded station without a guardian stuck to her shoulder. And as mean as the thought was, she could only describe this new feeling as having a benign tumour surgically removed.

The thought of surgical implements and growths on the body made her think of Koa in that white gown on a medical bed with several droids and medical specialists hovering over her. Her cauterised stump being reopened so they could attach the receptors of a bionic arm to her nerves.

Calista shuddered.

I should probably inform her mother about what happened.

The CC was bustling with life. Resistance soldiers moved about like pieces on a tactical map. Calista found herself breathing easier when Connix directed her to a private room in the back.

Surrounded by glowing blue light, General Leia stood looking over a holo-map of the galaxy. She looked…powerful. With rings on her fingers, a regal necklace around her neck and a charcoal grey coloured suit, Leia had found a way to blend authoritative with sophisticated easily. And despite the grey hairs, wrinkles and age lines, Leia looked exactly how Calista had pictured her. Standing there, in front of one of the many women she had admired in her youth, felt surreal.

“General Leia,” Connix spoke out, garnering Leia’s attention. “May I introduce Calista of house Ordell, Princess of Thesmora.”

“Ah, you’ve been expected,” Leia said in an even voice, hands open, waiting to be received. “That’ll be all Lieutenant.”

Connix took her leave, closing the door behind her, giving them their much needed privacy in the spacious room. Calista walked towards Leia and placed her hands in hers, trying her hardest to remain as composed as the General in front of her.

“A pleasure to finally meet you,” Calista said when they released each other’s hands.

Leia smiled before taking a seat and switching off the map projector so that there was no distracting artificial blue light in the room, “We’ve met before, you and I.”

Calista took the chair Leia gestured towards and asked, “We have?”

Leia hummed fondly, “Indeed. You were but a youngling then. Shy and very astute. Clamouring onto your mother’s protector’s leg for dear life.”

Calista shook her head, “I’m sorry, I do not recall.”

“It’s not surprising, it happened not too long before your father’s passing. He was a good man. A kind man. In fact, he’s the reason your mother even considered coming to the talks with the New Republic when it was nothing more than a dreamer’s brainchild.”

“Thesmora was once in talks to join the New Republic?” Calista was baffled by the revelation.

“It was widely contested by her administration’s Senate Seat, but your mother came nonetheless. She was determined to exhaust all possible futures afforded to her homeworld, whether that meant solidarity with the Senate Seat or unified democracy with the New Republic.”

Calista vaguely remembered what Leia spoke of. She had been young, perhaps too young to have such vivid snapshots of her parents arguing behind closed doors and spending large amounts of time separated from them while under the care of Maligma. It didn’t escape her that these snapshots only became clearer the more Leia talked about that particular point in time. She couldn’t trust her own recollection of events. They were too easily subjected to the narrative drawn out by Leia’s memories.

“Were the two of you close?” Calista blurted out, wanting to know more of her mother’s past.

Leia looked up, searching for the right words when a flat smile came over her lips, “No. Not at all. In fact, we despised each other. We respected each other, of course, but our like-mindedness caused us to butt heads constantly. We were too alike, too stubborn to entertain such notions of friendship.”

Calista wasn’t surprised by that. In her heyday, Lenora was infamously known for being quite the iron-willed leader. It made her a great ruler, but sadly it meant she was not always the most pleasant person to get to know. It was that aspect of her mother’s personality that put a strain on her parent’s marriage, and eventually wore down her father’s health.

A dry lump formed in the back of her throat, and Leia, somehow noticing her distress despite remaining impassive this entire time, placed a kind hand on Calista’s knee.

A wave of tranquillity dulled her senses and Calista brought herself back to the matter at hand, “I have it under good authority that my mother was in contact with you recently about joining your Resistance.”

Leia cleared her throat, soulful brown eyes shining, “That is correct, but unfortunately, her emissary never arrived at the disclosed meet. It wasn’t long after that news of her… untimely demise reached us.”

Untimely? That word made her nose curl upwards in anger. She was murdered!

With a deep breath, Calista reached into her pocket and retrieved the data-chips that once belonged to Mokk-Toh and Senator Kiddé. “I believe this was what she had planned to bring to the negotiation table.”

Calista inserted the data chips into two readable slots on the terminal. A hologram came to life displaying the diagnostics, make and model and serial numbers of twelve bomber ships, as well as a treaty of conscription for additional troops.

A pleased expression came over Leia’s features. She stood to examine the information projected before her, an impressed sound rattling at her throat.

“There is one slight problem, however,” Calista added as she pressed on several buttons to switch the display to a set of coordinates leading to an empty sector on a map. “The location of the bomber ships appears to be… nowhere.”

Calista pointed up to the flashing X-marks-the-spot on the map where there was an abundance of nothingness.

Leia placed her fingers to her lips in thought as she stared at the hologram, “That’s because the map you are plotting the coordinates onto is a recent one.”

Calista knit her eyebrows in question.

Leia silently walked towards a shelf filled with old-world ornaments, Rebellion memorabilia, lexicons for several species and historical codices. Her fingers ran across several codices before she pulled one out of the shelf. Having opened the codex, she slid her palm over a sewn-in pouch and pulled out an ancient-looking data-card. She slotted the card into an inlet and waited for the map to be rendered section by section. Unlike most of the standard holograms, this one took on a desaturated greyish-blue tint.

As the map loaded in the background, Leia took the time to explain things, “When the Emperor rose to power, he had several planets and planetoids of great importance wiped from the archives –along with a lot of the ancient histories of the Republic, the Jedi and the Sith. This ensured he would be the only one to retain such valuable knowledge of the galaxy’s secrets. And as we both know, knowledge is power.”

Half of Calista’s face was covered in the greyish-blue glow, turning one of her eyes a darker shade than their usual muddy brown, “How do you know this?”

The same effect cast over half of Leia’s face too, “My brother.”

When the map loaded, Leia entered in the coordinates and the terminal chimed with each press of a button. Following two impatient breaths, an affirming chirp sounded out as the screen displayed in large, block letters: TELOS IV.

“Telos Four? I’ve never heard of such a planet…” Calista bit her lip as she read through the planet’s astrographical information.

“I believe it was one of the first planets that suffered the full brunt of the Empire’s might before they constructed the Death Star. It’s desolate now. Razed to the ground and erased from history. The perfect hiding place.”

“If it was decimated by the Empire, why bother hiding it?”

“Perhaps it was too important to destroy.”

After a brief pause, Leia posited, “Now that we’ve found your missing planet. Shall we commence with the negotiations?”

Calista sat back down with both hands linked together over the polished table, “By your lead, General.”

The hologram switched off and Leia took her seat opposite Calista, a new façade taking over her face. Right in that moment, as Leia crossed her legs at the ankle and kept her chin level, she wasn’t a General with the Resistance, she was a diplomat.

Calista was uncertain how much time had transpired since they had sat down to discuss logistics, but she was certain it was longer than she would have liked.

By the skies and sands, Leia was headstrong. She had admitted as much earlier, but Calista was unprepared for just how stubborn she could actually be. When Leia made a decision, she stuck by it. No matter what may. Calista saw much of her mother in her. That likeness of character stung a little, but she still held a great veneration for the General.

“I am fully on board with trading in those bombers for Resistance aid, but I cannot sign away my men and women to fight in your wars before I’ve even won mine,” Calista spoke low and determined. “I cannot agree to conscription.”

“This isn’t my war. This is the war. Conscription to a side isn’t a choice. It’s inevitable.”

“I will not ask my people to put their lives on their line so soon after losing loved ones to the civil war engulfing my homeworld.”

Leia's voice was firm but compassionate, “I understand the predicament you are in, but to be frank, twelve bomber ships in exchange for a platoon of my best fighters is not nearly as fair a trade as you think. We’re stretched thin as it is. The assault on Starkiller Base drained more resources than we were prepared to lose.”

“Twelve bombers should more than double your flotilla’s offensive capabilities. That’s more than you had this morning.”

“Yes, but those bombers are outdated. They’re slow and barely versatile enough for space combat. Not to mention the fuel expenses or the need for pilots familiar with last-gen ship models. Ships alone won’t cut it… not if you expect the Resistance’s help in liberating your people. The Resistance need’s manpower, now more than ever after the loss of Hosnian Prime.”

“What about a compromise? I deliver the bombers to you and you lend me your best breaching party to free the POWs from Illis. That way, you lose fewer numbers and I won’t be forced to conscript what few sympathisers I have left.”

“I have to look to the future. I have to ensure that we have enough resources and materials to last. Without soldiers I’m afraid that there’s not much in the way of help that I can promise,” Leia sighed heavily, closing her eyes for a prolonged moment.

Calista chewed on her lip until her incisors left an imprint on her sensitive flesh. There was only one card left to play and she despised herself for even entertaining the thought, “What if I can broker an alliance with the leader of the Flaming Roses?”

Leia showed some interest, “The Outer-Rim spy network?”

“They very same.” Calista tried to internalise her disappointment. “They have ties to the mining union on Thesmora, as well as trade routes and several mercenary groups. Their leader resides on my homeworld. We’ve had… dealings in the past. I’m sure he’s had dealings with the Resistance as well.”

“My advisors aren’t going to be happy with me, but… alright. You get all twelve bomber ships here safely and I will grant you a breaching party to help you free the prisoners on Illis. If you manage to bring the leader of the Flaming Roses to our negotiations, I will reconsider bringing the platoon back to the table.”

Leia extended her hand and Calista shook it in agreement.

A part of her soul wailed at the prospect of having to get back into bed with Banden Murray. Owing him for one favour was bad enough. Two was a life sentence lived at the end of a blasters barrel. Calista swore that she’d never turn into the kind of leader that compromised her beliefs for the sake of her crown. How childish that sentiment felt now.

Is there a line I won’t cross? She wondered as a sick knot wound around her gut. Then an even more worrying thought crossed her mind. Was Odhen right?

“Lieutenant Connix,” Leia spoke into her comms device. “Relay to Commander Dameron that his presence is required.”

A pregnant pause filled the room for a moment.

“Can I give you some advice that I wish someone would have given me when I was your age?” Leia tilted her head to the side.

“I’d be honoured.”

Leia didn’t manage a smile, but she tried anyway, “Over my many years, I have seen many remarkable things. I’ve seen a rebellion rise, an empire fall and another take its place. I’ve seen the Jedi come back from myth and I’ve seen great atrocities committed by both sides in the name of patriotism. And in all that time, I’ve come to one conclusion.

This life, this duty we have as leaders, is neither glamorous nor easy. It takes the truly brave to realise you can't be both a good leader and a strong leader in times of war.”

Calista thought hard on her words, deciding it best to just listen rather than intervene.

Leia continued, her voice soft, “Good leaders are adored by their subjects. Strong leaders are revered by their enemies and respected by their allies. Only one of these wins wars.” Her long, darkly painted nails pointed to the data-chips slotted in the terminal. “That is the starting point of your crucible. Use it to determine what kind of leader you need to be and whether or not that’s the kind of leader you want to be."

Poe charged into the room, chasing away the tension that had befallen the enclosed space. Upon seeing the both of them, his eyes widened, lips parting slightly. Calista paid no mind to his reaction, her thoughts too distracted by Odhen’s speech on Port Hanoi clashing violently with the one Leia had just given her.

Leia smirked, finding something amusing in his reaction.

With the clearing of her throat, Leia greeted the tardy pilot, “Ah, Commander. Good of you to join us on such short notice.”

Poe shook his head, removing his eyes from Calista as he pulled the tan gloves of his fingers, “I apologise. I was indisposed.”

“Mission briefs?” Leia inquired.

“Flight tests actually,” he sounded too confident with his speedy reply.

Leia’s brow rose a millimetre, “I need you to accompany the princess to Telos IV. Take a skeleton crew of pilots trained in handling bombers and a refuelling ship with you.”

Poe opened his mouth and then closed it again, a furrow forming on his brow. He lingered for too long without saying anything.

“Speak your mind Poe,” Leia encouraged him.

Poe ruffled his hair and sighed, “I’m not comfortable being away from base so soon after I just got back. We have no idea when or where the First Order is going to retaliate. I should be here, with my squadron, not on some mission that takes me to a planet I’ve only heard whispers about.”

“Your reluctance is noted Commander, but I need someone I can trust on this mission. These are my orders.” Leia concluded their conversation.

Poe’s head hung low, hands on his hips. He was biting back from making any further arguments. With a rigid nod, Poe accepted Leia’s orders and stormed out of the room.

“Hot blooded, that one,” Leia remarked as she watched Poe march away in strides. “I hope he didn’t give you too much trouble getting here.”

Calista felt her cheek pinch on her mouth, a playful smirk fighting through her blank-faced political mask, “Hardly.”

As Calista respectfully excused herself from Leia’s office, she caught sight of Connix staring over a radar screen. Just the person she was looking for.

“Zoom in here,” Connix ordered the technician at the helm of the radar terminal.

He did as she asked and pointed out, “See, nothing but debris. Whatever comms chatter you picked up must be interference or refracted tight beam signals.”

Connix’s jaw clenched, she wasn’t satisfied by that deduction. She pulled out her datapad and pressed a few keys. The technician tapped his fingers on the terminal, he was getting agitated.

“Run another scan,” she told him. When he huffed she further elaborated, “It’s just to be thorough. Don’t want to discover the Somnambulist was followed here and we didn’t do as protocol dictates.”

Calista saw her opening when Connix straightened up from over the technician's shoulder and made her way to her own terminal.

“Lieutenant Connix?” She asked.

“That’s me,” she answered without looking away from her datapad.

“You’re head of communications, is that right?”

“One and the same. What can I do for you?”

“I need to send a secure data-packet to a woman named Paikeia Kiddé, she was last seen somewhere on Naboo… I also need to open a secure line to a pod-racing establishment on Thesmora. Think you can manage that?”

Connix turned around, relaxing her face to look more professional upon being eye to eye with Calista, “I can try, your highness.”

To be continued...

tags: @carolinamalo53 @everything-intertwined

permatags: @gruffle1 @thechickvic @notawarriorjustyet @savethehoneeybees

#star wars #poe dameron #poe dameron imagine #poe dameron x ofc #sw tfa #sw tlj #sw fanfic #oscar isaac #original characters #lore #sw eu

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caramelmiacchiato · 5 months ago

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fearless hcs cuz someone needs to keep this fandom alive xD

- lenny will get inside the castle like b4 and after finding pae she'll convince kai to let him be her personal guard, js so she has freedom to go in and out w/o suspicion and all

- and ofc there will be a lot of their banter dynamic that we love

- Ellie (paes maid) will become her bestie and confident (ugh i miss adena 😭)

- i ship ellie and lenny so i hope for more of em

- theres no way in this world that lenny wouldnt find out of kai and paes secret relationship so hed tease her a lot for it but would always cover for her anyway

- kai and lenny will become besties too bc why not

- i js know we will get a dark corridor kaidyn kiss scene, trust me

- calum will manipulate kitt enough for him to get paranoid of everything.

and since calum wants pae on the throne i can see him trying to take any obstacles off. which means also taking kai out of the way (bc hed get suspicious of his envolviment w pae) by convincing kitt to find him a bride from sum kingdom w the excuse of making alliances (this is more of a theory than a hc but anyway)

#fearless lauren roberts #reckless lauren roberts #powerless lauren roberts #kai x pae #kaidyn #kaipae #kitt azer #kai azer #paedyn gray #paedyn x kai #kai x paedyn #powerless #reckless #fearless #lauren roberts

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saiilorstars · 2 years ago

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Ch. 12: The Opened Chamber

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

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

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

For the next few days, everyone was cautious when it came time to Defence Against the Dark Arts and, generally, of Lockhart himself. It was clear as day (to anyone with brains) that the man wasn't as gifted as one would think when it came to magic. It also meant that since Lockhart wasn't necessarily teaching DADA lesson concepts, anyone actually interested in the class had to go about it on their own.

While Ron overlooked the Quidditch stand rails, Hermione sat beside him engrossed in a book. Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors were meant to practice for the first time that year.

"Have they started yet?" Romina called from a distance. She and Carolinha Paes were making their way towards the two Gryffindors.

"No, not yet," Ron glumly took a seat beside Hermione.

"What are you reading?" Romina curiously asked Hermione, but the bushy-haired girl didn't respond. Rolling her eyes, Romina came closer. "Hermione, c'mon, are you actually still mad with me?"

Hermione's dark eyes briefly looked up from the book. Her hand passed the page and she went back to reading. She had not forgiven Romina for protesting the points Lockhart awarded her on their first day of class.

Romina thought it was ridiculous. "If roles were reversed, you would have definitely said something about how stupid it was!"

"Maybe we should sit somewhere else," Carolinha suggested, trying to keep the peace. She didn't really like confrontations.

"Hermione, let it go!" Romina exclaimed, completely ignoring Carolinha for the moment. "It was just one of my usual lash outs! I never said you didn't deserve to be awarded. I only said that the situation in which you were awarded in was unfair. The class is Defence Against the Dark Arts, not an 'All about Lockhart' course!"

"Why keep arguing?" Ron looked at the two girls with a crazed expression. "The man's loony. Let's leave it at that."

Carolinha shook her head. "I think he's a total idiot."

"Yes, exactly!" Ron made a 'thank you' gesture at her before doing a double-take at her. "Who are you?"

Carolinha sheepishly smiled. "Carolinha Paes. I'm Angel's sister."

"Right…" Ron distractedly said then looked past her and Romina to the field. He'd seen something interesting.

"Hermione, c'mon," Romina plopped down on the stand. "You know I didn't do it with bad intentions."

Hermione considered the words and tentatively looked up from her book. "I know that…"

"So then why are you mad at me?"

Hermione grudged and snapped her book shut. "I'm not mad, merely upset, that you would protest my points for my House. If I didn't know any better you were trying to make sure Gryffindor didn't get points at all."

"Okay, now you're exaggerating," Romina playfully rolled her eyes.

Hermione shared a blip of a smile with her.

Carolinha had turned to the fields as well with Ron. "I thought your House was supposed to practice?"

"We were," Ron frowned. There were shades of green robes filling the field instead of the Gryffindor scarlet.

"What's going on?" Romina watched Ron hurry down to the fields.

"I think Slytherin is going to practice now," Carolinha answered calmly. She sounded more curious, actually. "Well, at least now it's going to be interesting."

"What's she talking about?" Hermione whispered to Romina.

"Look," Carolinha continued, "I think the Weasley twins are about to go down on Flint. They're always so funny to me."

"My twins?" Romina sighed and got up. Hermione did the same and without saying it, they agreed it was time to head down to the field.

"Romina, where are you going?" Carolinha called after the girls. She had stayed in the bleachers, looking out to the field.

"If the twins are there, then you know there's going to be trouble!" Romina exclaimed.

"What? They wouldn't do anything — oh, look, I think that's Draco too."

"Oh yeah, definitely trouble now!" Romina exchanged a worried look with Hermione. The two girls rushed towards the field then, leaving Carolinha to watch on her own.

"...I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," Draco was in the middle of informing, probably towards Ron who was gaping with a mouth open. "Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father bought our team. Good, aren't they?"

For Harry, Romina and Hermione, the 'new brooms' really only seemed different in that they were silver.

"But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them."

The entire Slytherin team burst into laughter.

Hermione scowled at them all and decided to clap back. "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent."

Everyone stopped. Draco set a cold look on Hermione. "No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood!"

"Hey!" Romina growled. "You don—"

Both Fred and George didn't do the 'words' and instead lunged towards Draco. Oliver Wood and some of the other Gryffindors tried holding them back while the Slytherins protected their new Seeker. Romina pulled Hermione a couple steps back, actually afraid of what would happen next.

"How dare you!" Ron whipped out his wand. Since the Whomping Willow accident, his wand hung by a string of its core. To keep it together, Ron had tied a piece of tape around it, or rather Hermione had done it. "Eat slugs!" Something green shot out from his wand...but from the wrong end. Instead of hitting Draco, Ron suffered the blow. His body was thrown backwards, landing flat on his back on the ground.

"Ron!" went both Romina and Hermione. They scurried over to see Ron actually belch out a slug from his mouth.

"Eugh," Romina took one step backwards.

Two more slugs dropped from Ron's mouth. Hearing the Slytherin laughter, Ron stood up as if to argue with them, but instead began to belch again.

"We'd better get him to Hagrid's, it's nearest," Harry told Hermione. They took Ron down the field, towards the gamekeeper's hut. Behind them went a first year with a muggle large camera in hand.

"Are you quite done?" Romina remained on the field, tapping her shoe and crossing her arms. The Slytherins had yet to stop laughing. The Gryffindors were beginning to walk away, and seeing that her fellow 'housemates' weren't going to be paying attention to her, she did the same.

"Sorry you have to deal with the lot every day," Fred thought to say as they walked together back to the castle.

"They're actually not bad people—" Romina barely got to say when George scoffed on her other side. "Look, I don't speak for Marcus Flint nor the rest of the older Slytherins, but the people in my year...they're not awful. We're twelve!"

Both twins chuckled.

"Oh Aline, you have a lot to learn," George swung an arm around Romina's shoulder. Hearing her loathed middle name, Romina punched him on the arm.

"Never call me that!"

~ 0 ~

More weeks passed and nothing got better in terms of DADA education. Romina was beginning to dread each time they had to walk into Lockhart's class. She preferred to focus on the other classes that weren't jokes. The homework certainly wasn't.

Romina, Arden and the Paes twins sat in the common room trying to finish their homework on time. Things were going relatively fine until...

"No, if you were to add in that ingredient you'd blow your head off, literally!" Romina leaned over Angel's parchment of potions homework.

"Would not!" the brunette boy argued.

"Would too!"

"You're not going to do this again are you?" Carolinha, sitting across them on the other couch, looked up from her own work.

"Do what?" both Romina and Angel frowned.

Arden, who'd taken her usual spot on the floor, answered their question. "Argue! You've been doing that all afternoon!"

Romina rolled her eyes and went back to her own parchment. "Not my fault Angel's too stubborn."

Hearing her mutter, Angel retorted, "Well it's not my fault Romina's an academic know-it-all."

"Ah!" Romina gawked, letting her quill fall. "How dare you!?"

Angel chuckled at her.

"I-I can't do this anymore," Arden gave up on her homework thanks to the two. She collected her things off the floor and stood up. "I'm going to dinner."

"We'll be there in a bit," Carolinha reassured.

"Yeah, don't be too long. It's my turn to pick on Pansy," Arden walked off with a smirk on her face.

"Is that just something they do for fun?" Angel asked once Arden had gone.

"Well, no, I think Pansy truly despises Arden now," Romina said carelessly. "Before I thought she just found Arden annoying. And because Arden knows this information she has some fun and argues as much as possible with her."

"That's some complicated relationship," Carolinha sighed and began to get up. "But nothing we're not used to. It's the same between Pansy and Daphne, honestly."

"Basically Pansy with anyone," Angel said with a smirk, causing the girls to giggle.

"I'm hungry. Let's go to dinner?" Carolinha asked the two hopefully.

Agreeing, Romina and Angel desisted on their homework for the night and followed Carolinha to the Great Hall. There were great discussions to be had since the first Quidditch game was just around the corner, not to mention Halloween was right behind it. Still, while the discussions went on - and an argument here and there happened - Romina took notice of the Gryffindor table where Harry was once again missing.

She crossed glances with Hermione and Ron but it was easy to tell that neither of them knew where Harry was either. Romina somewhat relaxed when Hermione and Ron got up to -presumably - look for Ron.

"Why do you always stare at that hideous table?" Pansy Parkinson brought Romina out of her thoughts. "One could say you would rather be there."

"If it's away from you then I'd love to join them too," Arden didn't fail to remark. She bit into a biscuit after.

"It's because she wishes she had been sorted into Gryffindor," Draco made his own input, throwing Romina a brief glance. "Isn't that right?"

They sat next to each other so it wasn't that hard for Romina to ignore his look. "Well if it means I get to be away from you, then sure." Arden beamed at her used comment. Best friends did think alike.

"You're still mad?" Draco raised an eyebrow at Romina.

"Mad at what?" Pansy looked between the two suspiciously.

"The word you're not allowed to use—he used it," Romina explained, maintaining eye contact with Draco. She surprisingly had an intense stare. "On Hermione."

"What word?" Arden innocently asked while she munched on a pastry.

Theodore Nott snorted. "I wouldn't ask."

Of course that only made Arden even more curious. She looked at the rest of the group, hoping that someone would give her the answer. Blaise Zabini seemed to be the one until Angel purposely cut him off after one word.

"It's a word that real high class people shouldn't use." He looked directly at Draco.

And as if to defy him, Draco went ahead and answered Arden's question. "I said 'mudblood'."

Arden still remained in the dark. "What does that mean?"

"It means—" Draco was about to explain when Romina punched him on the arm. "Ow! What? I was only trying to explain!"

"Oh yes, and I suddenly have the power to fly," Romina sarcastically retorted. "You're awful, you know that?"

This made no effect on the boy. "What's the big deal?" And just when Romina opened her mouth, Draco decided to keep going lest he want a lecture in the air. "I say things all the time. Don't act so surprised."

"This time you went too far," Romina frowned.

"So you're just going to stay angry with me?"

"Yup."

"Why can't you move on?"

Romina didn't bother to answer. She found much more happiness in her dessert. There was pudding!

At last, the feast came to an end, and the students began to file out of the Great Hall. In all the meanwhile Romina had eaten, neither Hermione nor Ron returned. But she didn't even get to think much about it when they heard some commotion up ahead.

"What the hell!?" Pansy was the first to give signs of trouble. She was crumbling her nose because her shoes had been submerged under water that was covering the hallway.

"Ew," even Arden was agreeing this time. "Sewage water."

The students grew closer to the source of the true problem, and found Harry, Ron and Hermione standing at the front of it all. Mrs. Norris the cat was hanging upside down from a torch bracket with her eyes open and a permanently frozen face. What really drove things home was the cryptic message written across the wall.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED ENEMIES OF THE HEIR... BEWARE.

"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" Draco flashed a malicious grin at Hermione.

Romina stomped hard on his foot. "That! That is why we can't move on!"

Filch had arrived to disperse the band of students and thus interrupted what was sure to be an interesting scolding. "What's going on here? Go on now! Make way…" But the man came to an abrupt stop when he saw his precious cat stunned. His eyes quickly rounded on Harry. "You! You've murdered my cat! I'll kill you! I'll—"

"Argus!" Dumbledore interrupted. He, McGonagall, Lockhart and Snape were right behind him. As soon as Dumbledore saw what was written on the wall he began to send the students away...except for Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Needless to say, the center of conversations for all students became the message on the wall...and just who was the "heir".

"It's definitely a pureblood," Arden was giving her voice of opinion later that week. She and Romina were passing the courtyard to get to their respective classes. "It's got to be. Who else would come up with something as sinister as a 'Chamber of Secrets'." She rolled her eyes at the idea. Since the whole 'mudblood' ordeal last week, she had made it her personal mission to learn more about the wizarding community. She was disgusted with some of the old fashioned thoughts of some people, specifically those who called themselves pureblood families.

"If you think like that then you're no better than purebloods looking down on muggle-borns and half-bloods," Romina said bluntly. "It's a tricky things, these ways. A lot of these customs have dated way back. It's very hard to change people's minds about them."

"When did you get so knowledgeable about this stuff?" Arden wondered.

Romina preferred not to answer with 'Draco taught me' as it would lead to a conversation she didn't want to have. Now more than ever, she was determined to keep her brief pureblood lessons with Draco a secret. She would take it to her tomb, if possible.

"So...who do you think is the heir?" Arden waggled an eyebrow at Romina. The two stopped at the intersection where their classes would separate them.

"I have no idea," Romina truthfully replied, shrugging her shoulders. And she really didn't. Everyone at school were just students who barely knew how to cast spells. The older students probably didn't have the guts and the professors had no reason to 'open' this chamber after such a long time being at the school.

"Hm," Arden's eyes looked to the side. "I'll have to Sherlock Holmes it."

Romina caught sight of the common trio of Gryffindor and hurriedly said goodbye to Arden to meet up with them. She had yet to properly talk with them since the message appeared.

~ 0 ~

"We don't know who did it either," Harry grew tired of repeating himself. He'd already been asked thousands of times before Romina did. "We just found things like they were!"

"You have some luck, you know," Romina made a face. "But that voice you said you heard...are you sure you heard it? You didn't just imagine it or something…?"

"I didn't," Harry also was tired of saying. Ron and Hermione hounded him with questions about it the same night of the question.

"But you also said Lockhart didn't hear it," Hermione reminded, till seeming unsure herself.

"Well, no—"

"But maybe Lockhart was lying," Ron interrupted and sent the girls a sharp look.

Romina scoffed before Harry could get a word in. "Oh please. Lockhart would take anything he could use for his own advantage. Hearing voices in the air would definitely be his number one story by now."

"Plus, neither of us heard anything, remember?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at Ron.

"But it is strange that soon as Harry heard this 'voice'—" Romina made quotation marks with her fingers, —you found the stupid cat petrified? It's just—"

"Hey!" Harry finally got a word in, even going as far as raising a hand to remind his friends he was, in fact, still there and listening. "I want to clarify that this voice I heard is in fact real and I didn't imagine it. Though now I'm thinking I should have told Dumbledore about this that night."

"Are you mad!?" Ron nearly lost it.

"In what world does hearing voices no one else can ever turn out good for that person?" Romina challenged Harry to think about it. "Whether it's the muggle world or the wizarding world, hearing secret voices is not good."

Harry sighed...but ultimately agreed. People were already beginning to form their own assumptions and if word got out that he was hearing strange voices there was no doubt he would become the prime culprit of it all.

~ 0 ~

Transfiguration would be having the students attempt to change their animals into water goblets. McGonagall performed her own example - changing a bird into a crystal water goblet - and then picked Ron to follow. Nervously, Ron tapped his rat, Scabbers, with his broken (but taped up) wand. Scabbers ended as a goblet with a tail.

"You must replace that wand, Mr. Weasley," McGonagall changed Scabbers back into himself.

Hermione's hand suddenly raised a hand. Romina gave her a significant look, knowing that Hermione had understood perfectly the lesson...so what exactly did she have a question about?

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

Hermione seemed hesitant to go ahead and ask her question, but she ultimately spoke up. "Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?"

McGonagall took a step back, as if the question had physically forced her to. Around the class, the students fell over with silence. Everyone's eyes were glued on the professor. "My subject is Transfiguration, Miss Granger."

"Yes, Professor. But there seems to be very little written about the Chamber of Secrets," Hermione spoke from her endless nights at the library searching for anything having to do with the Chamber. "For those of us with a personal interest in the subject, that is... disturbing."

McGonagall looked at the rest of her students, and seeing that literally no one was planning on listening to her lecture unless she spoke about the Chamber...she spoke. "Very well. You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Three of the founders co-existed quite harmoniously. One did not."

Ron snorted and whispered to Harry, "Three guesses who?"

"Salazar Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. In other words, purebloods. Unable to sway the others, he decided to leave the school. According to legend, Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in this castle, known as the Chamber of Secrets. Shortly before departing, he sealed it until that time when his own true heir returned to the school. The heir alone would be able to open the Chamber of Secrets and unleash the horror within, and by so doing, purge the school of all those who, in Slytherin's view, were unworthy to study magic."

"Muggle-borns," Hermione understood and was dissuaded from questioning further.

"Yes. Naturally, the school has been searched many times for such a chamber. It has never been found."

There was utter silence until...Romina raised her hand this time. "Professor, what exactly does the legend tell us lies within the Chamber?"

"The Chamber is said to be home to something which the heir of Slytherin alone can control. It is said to be home...to a monster."

After that, no one dared to ask anymore questions. After class, though, there were many things to be discussed.

"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony," Ron spoke first on their way out of class. "But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his House if you paid me—"

"Ahem?" Romina shot him a glare that made him gulp.

"You know you're the exception…"

"Mhm," Romina rolled her eyes.

"Hiya, Harry!" first-year Gryffindor, Colin Creavey, rushed up to the group. "Harry — Harry — a boy in my class has been saying you're —" But because of the crowd around, he was taken along with them and never got to finish his statement.

"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione asked curiously.

"That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect," Harry glumly responded. Students had already begun to turn the other way when he was around.

Romina scoffed. "Please."

"People here'll believe anything," Ron agreed with Romina's disbelief. He stopped for a moment to think. "D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?"

"I don't know," Hermione murmured. "Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be — well — human."

"Not to mention the fact every single professor has got this face" — Romina made a gesture to hers — "that makes you want to shiver. They're worried. And if they're worried...so should we."

"Because if there really is a Chamber of Secrets, and it's really been opened, that means…" Harry would rather not say it outloud, but Hermione didn't hesitate.

"The Heir of Slytherin has returned to Hogwarts. The question is, who is it?"

Ron nearly laughed at how naive they all were. "Let's think," he sarcastically began, "Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?"

Hermione didn't answer, but she was following Ron's gaze up to Draco up ahead. Soon, Romina and Harry did the same.

"If you're talking about him—" Hermione began, but Ron cut her off.

"Of course! You heard him: 'You'll be next, Mudbloods'!"

"What? No!" Romina actually had a good laugh. "That is probably the most ridiculous thing I have heard up to date. And I've heard plenty."

"Oh, c'mon, Romina," Ron argued, even stopping to get his point across.

"What? I'm being serious," Romina turned to him too, slowly sobering from her laughter. "I mean, I get that you hate him—he's given you good reasons to—but to say that he opened up a secret chamber—" her eyes widened for dramatic effect, "—to get rid of all muggle-borns...that's just hilariously stupid."

Ron huffed and crossed his arms.

"Maybe Ron's right," Harry put a hand on his friend's arm, ignoring Romina's irritated scoff. "I mean, look at his family. The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin for centuries."

"Hey," Romina pointed at him suddenly, her playfulness gone and replaced with a warning look, "I will not let you disrespect my House like that. By thinking like that you're basically saying that I'm going to grow up to become some dark witch. And—" she spoke just as Harry and Ron opened their mouths presumably to tell her she was wrong, "—don't you dare tell me that 'I'm the exception' because that's just a joke. I'm going to remind you that both my aunt and uncle were also in Slytherin and, contrary to the people who birthed me, they are the kindest people I know."

Hermione looked between the three, unsure of where to speak for and against. "It wouldn't hurt to try and see whether or not Malfoy is the Heir…"

Romina sighed and stepped back, appalled. "You too?"

"We won't call him out, we can just find another way."

"Fine, if you want, I can just ask him and be done with it," Romina turned around to just that task when the three Gryffindors yelled 'no!' and grabbed her back.

"Are you mad, woman!?" Ron nearly shook the girl. "Like he'd ever tell you!"

"See, this is where my name actually does me some good," Romina shrugged. "Oswells have the famous reputation of being evil. For once, that could work in my favor."

"We're not taking that chance," Harry shook his head.

"We don't have to," Hermione said with a new light in her eyes - she had an idea. "We can get Crabbe and Goyle to tell us. They must know the truth."

"Are you implying that Draco would rather tell those two bozos than me?" Romina frowned.

Now both Harry and Ron made horrible faces. "Why does that seem to bother you?" Ron asked with an edge in his voice.

Romina blinked, as if just realizing herself, then shook her head. "No! I just meant...well, Draco does spend a lot of time with Blaise and Theo too."

"Yeah, but trust me, it would be a lot easier to get Crabbe and Goyle," Hermione said with a strange smirk. It caught everyone's attention.

"Why do you say it like that?" Romina raised an eyebrow at the girl. "What are you thinking about doing?"

"I'm thinking that we're going to impersonate those two and in the process break about fifty school rules. Also, it would be very dangerous."

Romina, Harry and Ron all exchanged glances with each other. Had they heard right?

None of it seemed to matter because in the next second Ron demanded to know when they could start.

~ 0 ~

At night while most students were having dinner, Romina was led into the Gryffindor common room by Harry, Ron and Hermione. There was no one in there which created the perfect chance to really look at the book Hermione had swiped from the library's forbidden section thanks to Harry's invisibility cloak.

"Are you sure I'm allowed to be in here?" Romina took in the scarlet and golden room. It seemed very comfortable but...a bit messy with all the furniture and draping curtains. The only thing she envied was the view they got from their windows.

"I've checked—" Hermione said dutifully, "—and there is no explicit rule forbidding students to go into common rooms not of their House."

"Rule-abiding Hermione isn't going to make a visit right now is she?" Ron curiously asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes and excused herself for a minute to retrieve the book they needed from her dorm. She returned two minutes later with it and walked over to the couch. Together they began to skim the book for the potion Hermione talked about and with luck they found it within ten minutes.

"Those are some...interesting pictures…" Romina crinkled her nose at the disturbing illustrations on the pages.

Hermione was much more interested in the instructions. "Properly brewed, the Polyjuice Potion allows the drinker to transform himself temporarily into the physical form of another...'"

Ron had to stop her right there. "You mean, Harry and I drink some of this stuff and we turn into Crabbe and Goyle?"

"Yes."

"Wicked! Malfoy'll tell us anything!"

"Exactly. But it's tricky," Hermione warned. She kept passing her finger down the instructions. "I've never seen a more complicated potion. Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed. And, of course, we'll need a bit of whoever we want to change into too."

Now Ron's excitement faded right there "Hang on now. I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it."

"Y'all want to play Sherlock - that's the punishment," Romina said with a clear trace of satisfaction in her tone. "I told you that it would be a lot easier for me to just ask or at the very least try to impersonate Blaise and Theo."

"They're pretty smart," Hermione said, "We can't run the risk of using them and getting caught. Besides, don't you think it Malfoy was the Heir, he would tell someone who wouldn't say a soul? Can you see Blaise and Theo keeping it a secret?"

"No...guess not..." Romina thought that in a moment of spite, either one of the boys would betray Draco. Maybe even just for a joke. "Alrihgt, I get the point."

"How long will it take to make?" asked Harry.

"A month," Hermione answered after re-checking the instructions.

"A month?" Harry gaped. "But if Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin...he could attack half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!"

Romina rolled her eyes, but Hermione took a bit of the warning to heart. "You didn't have to tell me that."

~ 0 ~

The day of the first Quidditch game was a disastrous one from the start. As soon as Romina woke up, she could hear her House chanting for their team, so sure they would win. Romina knew with the brooms they had, it was very plausible. However, here came the problem. If she cheered for her House, her fellow Gryffindor friends would take it as a traitorous behavior because her best friend was their seeker.

"Ron, what am I supposed to do? Not cheer for my own team?" Romina was angrily demanding to know the right answer. She, Arden, Hermione and Ron were making their way towards the audience stands.

"Yes!" Ron didn't hesitate to answer, and with a loud shout. Both Romina and Arden glared.

"Not happening. I can cheer for both," Romina held her nose in the air and walked ahead with Arden.

"She's mad? How can she be mad?" Ron incredulously asked.

"I can't imagine her position is easy," Hermione tried to see through Romina's perspective. "On the one hand, she's a Slytherin and it's only natural she'd want to cheer her own team."

"On the other hand, Slytherins are cheaters. Malfoy just bought them their winning ticket. How could she cheer for that?"

Hermione could understand both sides. Unfortunately, even her quick wits weren't enough to find a solution for the problem.

Romina and Arden found spots beside Carolinha, Daphne and Pansy near the first row. Blaise, Theo and Angel were on the bleacher below them.

Noticing Romina's face, Arden gently bopped shoulders with Romina. "Don't mind what Ron said. I don't know him as well as you do, but he's got a big mouth that says things he usually regrets later."

Romina could agree there. Ron was always saying things he usually only meant in that moment. He wasn't evil, nor rude, but was very impulsive and just not a great listener. "You're right," Romina gave a small nod of her head. "I'm just going to have fun cheering for both teams."

Arden grinned, but Pansy - overhearing - had to comment on similar things that Ron had said. At least with her, Romina could easily deflect such words by simply ignoring her. What Pansy said was not in her care line.

When the game started, it was almost impossible for the Slytherins to see their team. They were like little blurred spots that zipped from one place to the other. The brooms were sure working their magic. Gryffindors were, at times, left wondering how it was that the ball escaped their clutches.

Into the game, Romina noticed something truly strange. She borrowed Angel's binoculars to get a better look at the field. "Is it me or does that bludger seem to have a thing for Harry this game?"

"His team is just not good at fighting them, that's all," Pansy didn't fail to make a shot at the Gryffindors.

"Yeah, but I think Romina might have a point this time…" Angel's head followed the movements of the bludger.

"You're going to make me dizzy," frowned Blaise. "Stop!"

Romina rolled her eyes and continued to watch the game through the binoculars. "Something isn't right," she mumbled. George had smacked a bludger away from Harry, but almost a second later it was back in Harry's direction. Is it possible the bludger had been tampered with?

"Oh, now I see it," Arden commented when Harry performed a series of quick witted moves with the broom to avoid the bludger. "Poor Harry."

"Who cares! Look!" Pansy pointed excitedly. "There's the snitch! And it's so close to Draco! He's sure to catch it now!"

"Something tells me he won't…" Arden snatched the binoculars from Romina to have a look now.

Carolinha tilted her head, confused like usual. "I don't get it. Why isn't Draco grabbing it yet? He doesn't have to move much."

"Because the idiot is probably more focused on insulting Harry," Romina sighed.

Arden was giggling. "You should see Flint's face right now."

"He's bound to get in trouble now," Daphne said, making a face..

"I think...both…" Romina was making a face of terrible fear because now Harry and Draco were flying for the Seeker, fighting each other of course, and somehow one winded up nearly hitting the wall while the latter spiraled out of control after hitting a beam.

With Harry, the bludger finally met him just as he caught the Golden Snitch. He lost control of his broom and went down to the pitch field as well. But, as if that wasn't enough, the bludger appeared to not have been finished with its work.

"Are you serious?" Romina rubbed her eyes just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. But of course hearing Pansy's laughter indicated this was very much reality.

Thankfully, someone from the Gryffindor stand acted fast and cancelled whatever spell that bludger was under.

Arden lowered the binoculars, revealing widened eyes and a gaping mouth. "What...a...game…"

~ 0 ~

Thanks to Gilderoy Lockhart's incessant endeavor to play hero, Harry had ended up in the night wing with absolutely no bones in an arm. Madame Pomfrey sure had her evening cut out for her.

"Will Harry be okay?" Carolinha stopped by the desk Romina was working at in their common room.

The black-haired girl looked up from her work with a smile. "I couldn't get in but I think he will be. I know there's a spell to get bones back in the arm."

"Painful one, probably," Pansy almost sing-sang as she walked by them. Both girls rolled their eyes.

"Hey, you lived," they heard Arden suddenly say.

Those in the common room glanced at the entrance to see Draco coming in with a dazed look, yet there was a gleaming scowl spreading on his pale face.

"Ten points Flint got to you already?" Theo stopped by the blonde with an eager face. "How bad was it?"

The look on Draco's face said it all.

"What can I say, you're a good player if not a bit easily distracted," Angel clapped him on the shoulder.

"Angel I'd take three steps away from him…" Romina had never seen Draco look so mad. She feared for anyone around him.

"Don't touch me, don't speak to me —don't even breathe around me," Draco pushed past him and headed for the boys' hallway.

"Hm...you got off easy…" Theo said to Angel, sounding a little disappointed.

~ 0 ~

In order to do their polyjuice potion, a decent, conserved room was needed. Thankfully, Hermione had found one long before that requirement.

Romina walked in with Harry and Ron and immediately noticed the abandoned features of the bathroom. Walls were from looking, sinks were chipped to the point of falling apart, and the mirrors were slashed. Even the candles lighting it up were guttering. Despite the conditions of the room, the boys were more focused on Harry's recent findings on the chamber of secrets thanks to the house elf Dobby.

"Again? You mean, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?" even Hermione had looked up from her smoking cauldron on the floor.

Ron's eyes widened with realization. "Of course! Don't you see? Lucius Malfoy must've opened it when he was at school here, and now he's told Draco how to do it."

"If Draco had known, don't you think he would've opened it last year?" Romina thought logically.

Even Hermione had to concede at that point. "We'll have to wait for the Polyjuice Potion to know for sure," she motioned to the cauldron that was billowing smoke.

Ron somewhat simmered from his excitement. "Enlighten me. Why are we brewing this potion in broad daylight, in the middle of a girls' lavatory? Don't you think we'll get caught?"

Hermione shook her head calmly. "Never. No one ever comes in here."

"Why?"

"Moaning Myrtle."

"She's real?" Romina blinked. She suddenly began to look around, but neither Harry nor Ron knew who they are talking about. "I thought Arden was making it up to scare the crap out of Pansy." She laughed. "It worked by the way."

Before anyone could say anything in response, a loud screeching made them look up in time to see the ghost of a girl appearing through the wall. Her pigtails floated with the nonexistent air and her clothing - while gray and transparent like her - were that of the school uniform.

"I'm Moaning Myrtle!" her squeaky voice rang in their ears. She stopped just in front of Ron, giving the ginger quite a scare. "I wouldn't expect you to know me. Who would ever talk about fat, ugly, miserable, moping, moaning Myrtle?" the girl sobbed and dove into one of the toilet stalls.

All three shocked, Romina, Harry and Ron turned to Hermione. The brunette girl merely shrugged and continued with the potion.

"She's a little sensitive."

~ 0 ~

Days later saw the first student attacked by the Chamber's beast. Colin Creevey - Harry's practically number one fan - had been found on the floor, holding his camera to his fact, petrified. The news spread like wildfire amongst the students. Of course with it came higher desires to find the "Heir".

Rumors started here and there, and most of them were delirious…

"It's ridiculous, really, but amusing to what extent some of these idiots will go to just to 'protect themselves'," Arden told Romina after witnessing a student in their Care of Magical creatures class purchase a talisman meant to ward off any beasts.

Honestly, the thought made Romina want to laugh as well.

"Guys!" Angel called them over to a parchment posted on the wall. He and Carolinha, were already bursting with excitement over whatever the new announcement was.

Romina and Arden came to stand just beside them and both looked up to see a Dueling Club was being formed.

"Can you believe it? A Dueling Club!" Angel exclaimed.

"Could be useful nowadays," Carilonha said with exceptionally wide eyes. With the latest on the Chamber, she had become more cautious and nervous.

"It's eight o'clock," Arden finished reading. "Well, I'll go. If anything, I can see Pansy getting cursed or something."

Before eight o'clock, Romina managed to get the word to her Gryffindor friends about the club. She figured it would be a good idea to learn some defensive stances and spells just in case they actually ran into the Heir.

The Great Hall had been the site for the first meeting that night. Only one long table had been left in the center to serve the professors' platforms.

"Gather round!" Lockhart was, of course, at the center of the platform. "Gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent." He took a long, dramatic pause before speaking again. "In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Dueling Club, to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works."

"My God, he's a walking advertisement." Romina rolled her eyes.

"Well, at least Professor Snape will be there, look," Arden pointed to their Head of House coming up the platform. All Slytherins were excited as Snape came by Lockhart, but of course none of the other Houses agreed.

"Let me introduce my assistant Professor Snape…" Lockhart began.

"He is joking, right?" Blaise's voice drew the girls' attention behind them. He, Draco and Angel were pushing their way through the crowd to be upfront. Assistant? Snape?"

"Like Ron said, the man's loony," Carolinha mumbled, causing the girls to snicker.

Lockhart and Snape were meant to give the group an example of how to de-arm each other. Lockhart jokingly promised to leave Snape alive. Snape threw Lockhart back before the blonde wizard could even finish his spell.

All Slytherins cheered for their Head of House.

Lockhart got up to his feet with the fakest smile possible. "Yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy…"

Snape seemed like he didn't want to bother wasting air pointing out how that was indeed not true. "Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, Professor."

Lockhart agreed and between the two put the students in pairs. Things were going fine until Lockhart put Arden and Pansy as partners.

"Professor that might not be a good idea…" Romina tried inputting an opinion but was, of course, not taken into consideration.

"That should be interesting," Draco moved up to stand beside her.

"You mean murderous. Actually, it'd be like if you were paired up with—"

But Snape called over to them and finished Romina's thought without knowing it. "Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter."

Draco's eyes lit up with a new sense of excitement, "Honestly, Oswell, I might just consider you as a lucky charm!"

"N-n-n-no, don't…" Romina tried to say but Draco happily marched towards Harry, forgetting all about her. "Dammit!"

"Miss Oswell, you can partner with Weasley," Lockhart came by to take the girl to the named partner.

"So it's just killing night, got it," Romina mumbled...because she remembered what happened with Ron's broken wand the last time he tried using it. "Please don't use that on me," she kindly requested from Ron once they were in position to begin.

Ron could only respond with a sheepish smile.

"And bow!" commanded Lockhart once everyone had been put into partners. "Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents — only to disarm them — we don't want any accidents — one . . . two . . . three—"

Everything that happened after that went so fast no one could pinpoint the exact time things went awry. In two minutes, Snape had to shout 'Finite Incantatem!' to stop everyone's spells.

Harry could finally stop dancing because of the charm Draco had put on him. Draco, in turn, could finally get up and stop laughing from the tickling charm put on him. Pansy's cries echoed in the room at the last moment when Arden blasted her against a wall. Hermione was in a headlock with Millicent and seemed to be needing some help.

"I'm sorry!" Ron's words caught some attention. Romina was sitting up with a face full of ash but otherwise unharmed.

Other students were actually bleeding from whatever their partners had cast on them. All in all, it was a disaster.

"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," Lockhart quickly thought of, probably to make up for the gigantic error they'd made. "Let's have a volunteer pair — Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you—" but of course that would not be.

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," Snape interrupted and came over. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox. How about Malfoy and Potter?"

How that could be any better Romina would never understand. As the two boys in question walked up on stage, the rest of the students started gathering near the stage. Of course when Harry and Draco walked up to each other for the traditional bow, some of the students who knew them wondered if taking a step closer was a good idea.

"Scared, Potter?" The aura of superiority around Draco seemed to burst in that moment.

Harry would not falter against his confidence. "You wish."

The two boys walked to the edges of the stage then turned around, wands ready.

"I can't watch," Romina thought she had whispered until Arden gave an excited 'I can!' beside her.

It came as no surprise that Draco started the fuel before Lockhart even finished his little countdown. Harry blasted backwards and was only down for a second when he jumped back and directed his own spell.

"Rictusempra!" His wand released a silver light that shot directly at Draco, causing the boy to double over in pain.

"I said disarm only!" Lockhart seemed tired of the same mistake, but Romina thought he had it well deserved for being so naive again.

"Serpensortia!" Draco delivered the final spell of the duel when a long, black snake erupted from his wand. All the students' jaws dropped at the sight of it.

"Don't move, Potter. I'll get rid of it for you," Snape supposedly meant well and started for the snake when Lockhart cut in.

"Allow me!" the blonde wizard moved his wand about but instead of getting rid of the snake, he flew it into the air.

Justin Finch-Fletchley came to be the next target of the snake. The boy was stuck to his spot while the snake slithered towards him. Everyone around him literally jumped to the sides to avoid the snake. But suddenly, Harry called to it...or at least that's what the others thought he was doing. A strange whisper and hissing was coming out of Harry's mouth that no one could understand.

The snake paused to look at Harry but then continued for Justin. Harry once more called to it in the strange language before the snake finally desisted from Justin. Everyone was stunned, as far as Harry could see, and he didn't know why.

"What are you playing at?" Justin demanded from Harry but didn't get any close to the boy

Harry frowned, confused of course, because he had just saved Justin from the snake. But then he started noticing the different looks he was getting from the others. Draco seemed shocked, Neville and Seamus were afraid, Romina was confused, and Ron and Hermione were concerned.

What had he done?

~0~

Because Romina could not catch up with Harry, Ron and Hermione after the dueling club, she was forced to return to the Slytherin common room with the rest of her friends. That didn't mean she wouldn't be learning of the true problem that night.

"I can't believe Potter is a Parseltongue," Angel was discussing it with Draco and Blaise ahead of the group. "I should have seen it coming!"

"Don't be ridiculous, it was a trick, obviously," Draco said, far too fast for anyone who was so confident in their thoughts.

"Funny, you didn't look like that back there," Blaise smirked.

The conversation went on as they walked into the common room. Theo was already in their usual spot, doing homework, but happily put his quill to the side to hear about how Harry Potter had spoken parseltongue. He howled with laughter.

Romina stepped in front of the boys, absolutely confused, and demanded to hear some answers. "What the hell is a parseltongue?"

"You really don't know much, do you?" Blaise raised an eyebrow with a condescending look on his face.

"Shut it and answer my question."

"Romina, a parseltongue is someone who can speak to snakes," Angel gently explained to her much kinder.

"P-p-parseltongue?" Romina repeated the soapy word in her mouth. "That sounds like a kind of cheese. What's the problem? Why is everyone either freaking out or laughing?" She threw eyes at Theo who still had tears in his eyes from his laugh.

"Oswell, the only person known who could speak to snakes was you-know-who," Draco explained and waited for her to reach the same conclusion that everyone else already had.

Romina's mouth parted from her shock, but she immediately rejected the idea. "That's — no! You never know. If there's this stigma around parseltongues then it's natural maybe some people don't admit they have the talent."

"Look, you don't have to convince me. As if Potter could be the Heir of Slytherin," Draco rolled his eyes at the absurdity. "Next joke please."

But as he began to leave, Angel let it slip that the only other person known to speak to snakes was Salazar Slytherin himself. Anyone within hearing distance would now make the connection that Harry could very well be his heir.

#ocappreciation #fd: harry potter #draco malfoy #draco malfoy fics #draco malfoy imagines #draco malfoy x oc #harry potter #harry potter fics #harry potter imagines #harry potter x oc #hp fics #hp imagines #oc: Romina Oswell #fic: Legacies

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saiilorstars · 2 years ago

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Ch. 4: The Prank

Fandom: Harry Potter (hogwarts year 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

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

"Arden, wake up!" Romina shook and shook the brunette to no avail. It was time to get up and get changed and while their other roommates - Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bullstrode were already halfway through - Arden remained fast asleep.

"How long are muggles meant to sleep?" Pansy poked her head into the room, curiously laying eyes on Arden's sleeping figure.

"Same as everyone else, Pansy! They're not some different species!"

Pansy's face said that she strongly disagreed.

Romina groaned and stomped to her bed, taking her pillow and returning to Arden's bedside. "Arden!" She began to hit Arden with her pillow for each word she said, "Get—" whack! "—up—" whack! "—now!"

Arden finally gave signs of life by pulling her blankets over her head. "Why's it gotta be so early?" came her muffled words.

Romina threw her pillow back to her bed then snatched Arden's blanket right off the girl. "Who cares, c'mon! We're supposed to be having breakfast and that's where we'll get our classes."

Arden's eyes snapped open. "My classes!"

"Finally," Pansy reappeared from the bathroom with a toothbrush popped in her mouth. "So, really, answer my question, King: how many hours of sleep do Muggles need?"

"Pansy!" Romina threatened to throw a pillow at her. Pansy squealed and ran back into the bathroom.

"She's kind of annoying," Arden remarked and got out of bed.

"But completely harmless as far as I can tell," Romina said. She designated Pansy Parkinson as another of those pureblood elitists last night, but Romina seriously doubted the girl could cause any actual harm. Millicent seemed to be on the same boat, although she seemed to care less about blood status.

She'd met a few other first year Slytherins and they seemed pretty kind for the most part. There was Daphne Greengrass who, during their first conversation the previous night, had a knack of throwing her nose in the air every once in a while. Romina thought Daphne was funny. Then there were the Carrol Twins, two quite reserved girls that weren't really into the whole conversation thing. Romina thought it was best to leave them out for a while. Angel Paes, a curly haired brunette boy with the lightest hazel eyes Romina had seen, was overtly kind. He mentioned having a twin sister but Romina had yet to meet her. Apparently, the sister was remaining in Brazil where their mother was staying for another year to care for her own sick mother. Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott were other boys who were apparently very good friends with Draco. Most of them ran in the same social circles.

After getting changed quickly, the four roommates headed for the Great Hall to get some breakfast. Romina hoped she could get a glimpse of Harry or Hermione, and even Ron and Neville if possible. She wondered how their first night had gone. She heard the Gryffindors had their common room up in the towers, unlike the Slytherins who were down in the cold dungeons, a bit submerged under the Black Lake.

While Romina didn't see Harry, she did spot familiar redheads near the Great Hall entrance.

"I'll be there in a bit," she told Arden who nodded and followed after Pansy and Millicent. She neared the identical sets of red hair near the small flight of steps. "Whatcha doin' there, boys?" She made the Weasley twins separate automatically.

"Oh look, George, it's the not-Gryffindor," Fred declared, and for a moment Romina couldn't tell if he was being sarcastically dramatic or just being one of those who would turn on her after realizing her true identity.

"Yeah, yeah, it's the Oswell girl," George raised his delicate eyebrows at her. "Not very surprised where you ended up, did you?"

"So we're just...not going to be friends anymore because of my name?" Romina frowned. "I thought you were better than that, you know."

The twins looked at each other for a second before bursting into laughter.

Romina scowled and even more so when several students passing them by shot them odd looks. "What, so we're going to embarrass me now? What I do to you?"

"Listen, Rom—can we call you Rom?" Fred slung an arm around Romina's shoulder, but not before Romina saw George slipping something into his pocket.

"Harry calls me that," Romina said, acting innocent as they headed for the Great Hall.

"Right, well, we had a lot to think about where you're concerned, Rom—" George said, now walking on Romina's other side.

"—and we thought if Harry Potter was friends with you, then it had to be for a good reason," Fred said like it should've been obvious.

"I don't know whether to be flattered that you thought about me or insulted that you base my worth on Harry instead of me," Romina said flatly. "But I'll let it go on account that I know you're up to no good on the first day of school."

Both twins stopped just inside the Great Hall and turned to face Romina, both acting offended.

"Making accusations against us already?" George placed a hand on his chest.

"That's your Slytherin coming out, ain't it?" frowned Fred.

"No," Romina said slowly. "It's my common sense coming out. I saw you put something in your pocket, genius." She looked at George with a small smirk. "I look forward to seeing your work, boys."

Both twins beamed.

"We look forward to impressing you, Rom," they both said simultaneously.

Romina laughed to herself and finally made her way to her table.

"What was that about?" Arden asked as soon as Romina sat down. She was already helping herself to some bacon pieces.

"I think we'll find out later this week," Romina shrugged and got to eating herself.

Suddenly, many owls flew into the room carrying various sized packages and/or rolled up parchments. Arden was in awe, but Romina recognized the owl that belonged to her family.

"What's going on?" Arden could not close her mouth as Romina gingerly untied the parchment from the owl sitting between them on the table.

"It's mail, Arden. This is how they do it in the wizarding world."

"There's no mailman?" Arden gasped.

Romina shook her head and popped the 'p' in her "nope!" The parchment turned out to be a letter from her aunt and uncle.

Dearest Romina,

Your aunt and I hope that you are not still dwelling over your family's history. We hope you are focusing on your studies and overall enjoying your time at Hogwarts. Forget the family, forget being an 'Oswell', and simply be Romina.

With love and care,

Your auntie and uncle xx

Simply be Romina. She should probably recite that for a couple of hours and see if it sticks. Romina took a deep breath and sent her owl on his way, with a bit of crumbled toast, and returned to breakfast.

When the students finally received their schedules, Arden was more than happy to get started. Unfortunately, they didn't share some of their classes. Romina tried to cheer themselves up by reminding each other that the schedule always tended to change each year. Plus, it meant they could try and make some new friends. So, it wasn't that bad.

Romina just wondered if she would be seeing more familiar faces from other houses, and by houses she really meant the Gryffindors.

Because when it came to their breakfast, Romina was only able to wave a 'hello' to the Weasley twins, Hermione and Neville. Neither Harry nor Ron made an appearance.

"I'll see you later today," Arden bid a cheery farewell and started for her Potions class.

Romina nodded and finished her own breakfast before she had to go get her things for her first class.

~0~

Getting into Professor McGonagall's classroom, Romina saw familiar bushy hair sitting right up front With a textbook already placed on the desk. Without thinking of assigned seats (like most muggle schools tended to do) Romina walked straight up to Hermione.

"Hermione, can I sit next to you?"

The girl in question nodded her head and moved her things aside so that Romina could take a seat.

"Do you know where Harry is?" Romina soon started to ask. "Or Ron, for that matter."

Hermione looked at Romina for a long time with what Romina would describe as doubt. Finally, she spoke up. "I read about your family." It was then that Romina understood the change of attitude towards her. "Well, technically I had read about all of the Dark Lord's reign and his followers and the Oswells showed up. I just didn't know they were your family."

Romina looked down. "Look, Hermione, what you read…"

"They were your parents, your aunts, uncles, some cousins too."

"Yes, but…"

"But?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to say it's not true? Cos I also read that there were loads of families afterwards who changed sides when the Ministry of Magic started rounding them up. Some of those included the Oswells, Parkinsons and Malfoys."

"I'm not going to lie," Romina braved herself to look Hermione in the eyes. "I don't know half the things my family did, nor do I want to know, but I will never deny it. My parents were Death Eaters and they're paying for it in Azkaban. But I find it unfair that you're turning against me because of what they did. I thought Hermione Granger was more than that."

Hermione thoughtfully looked at the desk. "I never said you were the same. I'm only curious why you haven't told Harry. It was pretty obvious he didn't know when Ron mentioned your parents. He doesn't know they're your parents, though, if you're worried."

"I will tell Harry, but it's difficult to do so when I know all the pain my family caused. I just...I haven't found the way."

"You might want to hurry up, I don't think people around here are going to keep quiet on the matter," Hermione opened up her book to read the first chapter, a chapter Romina was sure had already been read.

Romina, uneasily, turned to face the board. There was an odd black cat prancing around the desk and Romina got to wondering when McGonagall would be arriving. It appeared she would be coming in later than Harry and Ron who had come a couple minutes after class was meant to start. By the looks of it, they'd been running. They ended up sitting two desks behind Romina and Hermione, but with their panting breaths they both heard perfectly what they were talking about.

"Whew, amazing, can you imagine the look on old McGonagall's face if we were late?" Ron was just setting his things down when the cat - who'd gotten into McGonagall's desk - jumped off towards them and actually turned into McGonagall. All students froze in their place, completely awed.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron had to comment nonetheless.

McGonagall was neither bashed nor amused. "Thank you for that assessment, Mr. Weasley. Maybe if I were to transfigure Mr. Potter and yourself into a pocket watch, maybe one of you would be on time."

The class snickered.

"We got lost," Harry feebly said.

"Then perhaps a map?"

Romina knew she was going to love the sass of the woman.

"Now then," McGonagall turned back for the head of the class, "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts." Romina saw that Hermione was already scribbling things down on a parchment even though what McGonagall was saying wasn't technically part of the class curriculum. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

She pulled out her wand and pointed at her desk, turning it at once into a pig. As soon as she did, she turned it back to her desk. Needless to say, the whole class was paying the utmost attention during her lecture. No one knew if they were really ready to actually practice—except maybe Hermione—when McGonagall gave each student a match that they were to turn into a needle.

"I think there's been a mistake…" Hermione heard Romina say and glanced at the raven-haired girl to see her staring at the match like it was about to jump and attack her.

"What? Is it a faulty match?" Hermione asked, seemingly close to raising her hand to ask McGonagall for a new match.

"No," Romina calmly said. "I am afraid that I can't turn this into a needle. That means I have to do magic! I can't do magic!"

Hermione was a bit confused before she realized Romina was just nervous. "Your whole family are witches and wizards."

"Yeah, that's not the type of reassurance I'm looking for, Hermione."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Just do what I do."

Romina watched Hermione for the longest time. It didn't look as hard as she thought it would be but it didn't take the nerves away either.

"Just try it," Hermione insisted. "This is why we're here, right? To learn magic?"

"Yeah, guess so..." Romina mumbled. She drew in a breath and pointed her wand at the needle. It was to her mighty shock when she watched her match turn into a sharp needle. "Woah..."

Hermione gasped with the same shock. "You did it!"

"Yeah..." Romina felt like she was smiling stupidly. Her first bit of actual magic — she did it!

In the end, only she and Hermione had been able to transfigure their matches successfully. When class was dismissed, Hermione fled out of the room to, Romina assumed, go to her next class. She hadn't even thought to ask Romina if they shared any other class but Romina wasn't bothered. Instead, she caught up with Harry and Ron.

"I didn't think you'd actually oversleep on your first day," Romina joked with them.

"We actually got lost!" Ron huffed.

"Poor Ronnikus," Fred appeared from an intersection, looking ready to tease or pull a prank, or perhaps both.

George then liked his head right above Fred's. "That'll be a story to tell Ginny, maybe even get her to laugh."

"Who's Ginny?" asked Romina.

"Our little sister," went the twins together.

"We have to get to class," Ron hadn't felt like being teased by his brothers and was ready to get out of there.

"What do you have?" Harry thought to ask Romina. He and Ron had DADA next and had yet to even learn Romina's schedule.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"Good luck with Quirrel," George made a face while Fred pretended to gag.

"Why? Is he tough?" asked Harry.

"No, but he's a joke of a teacher," Fred said.

"Not to mention he always smells like garlic," George waved a hand in front of his nose.

"Garlic?" Romina repeated, fairly entertained. "What? Is he fighting against vampires now?"

"That's his story," said both twins, making Romina stop for a minute.

"Vampires exist?" Harry blinked, making the twins and Ron laugh.

"Quirell said he fought off a vampire in Romania but now he uses the garlic to make sure the vampire doesn't come back," Fred explained.

"Fred and I think he actually stuffs the garlic into his turban," George smirked.

"I have heard enough of this crazy story," Romina decided and started past the boys.

"Careful, Rom!" warned Fred but Romina shook her head.

"You're idiots!" she made sure to call back.

~0~

They're idiots who were right, thought Romina after they had been dismissed from DADA. Quirell was a stuttering mess of a teacher who probably lied his way to get the position. The only thing that came out of his mouth was bumbling lies and Romina was sure of it. Too bad I have to spend all year with him, she thought glumly.

"Yeah, I didn't think he was all that good either," Arden admitted that night after the girls had finished dinner. They sat on the carpet floor of their common room, doing homework which they already seemed to be getting a lot more. "He kept stuttering a lot which made it a little difficult to understand his lecture."

"Are you talking about Quirell?" Pansy had entered the common room. Her face was contorted into utter disgust. "That class is a joke. I'm only eleven and even I know that man isn't made for the Dark Arts."

"Pansy I think anyone with common sense could see that," Arden shrugged.

"Then why hasn't Dumbledore seen it?"

"That…" Romina pointed at Pansy with her quill, "...is actually a good question."

The wall rumbled as it opened for more students coming in.

Pansy smirked and walked over, plonking down on the couch. "I can't imagine Quirrel actually teaching us anything important this year...or the next."

"That's because he won't," Draco had come in with Angel and by two larger boys Romina didn't know yet. "Not to mention he physically can't. The man's an idiot."

"Well he's an idiot who happens to leave a lot of homework," Romina raised her parchment with a smirk on her face. "So...who has the answers?"

"I do!" Angel happily raised a hand. He was also, quite possibly, the most cheery Slytherin Romina had met so far.

~0~

Nearing the end of the first school week meant there would be some time to finally relax...or so first years thought before starting classes. They were surprised to find loads of homework being left each day which would then pile on if you didn't do the homework of the prior day.

Romina thanked the Gods she only had two classes on Friday: Charms then Potions. Romina trudged along to Potions with Hermione. Her first choice had been Harry, but the boy was proving to be trickier to find. Hermione seemed to have made no such new friends yet, at least that's what Romina thought and wouldn't dare straight up ask, and so the two girls made each other company in classes they shared. Hermione was kind enough to point out that several of the students were already questioning Romina's lineage and would only be a matter of time until Harry himself came into the loop.

Hermione proved to be a nuisance conscience. Romina would inevitably have to come clean and was constantly reminded of it.

Entering the potions class, the students - save Slytherins - discovered the dungeons were much colder than the castle itself. There was an eerie green shade bathing the windows and reflected off some glass jars of picked animals that Snape kept on the shelves around the room. While Romina and Hermione took a seat at one of the desks in the middle aisle, Harry and Ron took the one directly behind them.

"Why are you so jittery?" Romina was watching with amusement as Ron shifted from one spot to the next.

"This is the worst class possible," Ron mumbled.

"Funny, I thought Neville would have said that," Romina threw a brief glance at the boy in question who sat in the next aisle of desks, looking positively ghastly. "What's the big deal? It's our last class. And we have it together."

"Yeah, easy for you to say when you're a Slytherin and thus one of the preferred students of Snape," Ron said.

Romina raised an eyebrow. "What? Is that the rumor going for this professor?"

"It's not a rumor. It's true," Ron frowned. "Everyone says so."

Romina made a face and glanced at Harry to see what he thought. "Honestly, I thought I was only imagining that Snape didn't like me but...I'm starting to believe it's true," Harry said quietly.

"That's ridiculous—you haven't even met him! I haven't even met him properly!" Romina exclaimed.

"Romina!" Pansy called the moment she walked into the class. "What are you doing sitting with Gryffindors?" She made a gesture to Hermione who was hungrily reading from her book and out of tune with the world around her. "Come sit here with me!"

"Pansy, no, quiet," Romina made a motion for the girl to sit with someone else.

"Oh leave her, she loves to sit next to them in every class," Draco didn't fail to remark from his desk on their left.

"If it bothers you both so much to sit alone, then just sit together!" Romina snapped. "And I was in the middle of a conversation so shush!" She sighed then looked at Harry and Ron. "These are some of the people I live with."

"Please don't turn like them," was all Harry had to say on the matter.

"They're not bad," Romina smiled in amusement. "They're just—" but at that moment Snape had strode into the room.

As he walked down the desk aisles, each student turned to face the board. Hermione merely raised her head from her book. Without so much of a greeting, Snape began calling attendance. He got through every student - and made a passing remark about Harry being a celebrity - and finally gave a somewhat greeting to the students.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," his eyes swept over the room. Even though his voice was like a whisper, the silent room made it sound like a shout. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses..." he took a small pause to which every student remained listening to, "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper to death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Everyone then waited for him to go on with the lecture. However, he suddenly called Harry, making everyone flinch in their seats. Harry had barely raised his eyes when Snape started throwing questions his way.

"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry blinked. He had no freaking idea what Snape was going on about. Hermione raised her hand faster than the first blink of Harry. Romina then shot her an incredulous look. How could she possibly know that?

With no answer, Snape asked a second question. "Powdered root of what to an infusion of what?"

Hermione wiggled her fingers in the air, desperate to be called upon. Snape paid her no attention.

"I don't know, sir," Harry finally gave an answer.

Snape seemed satisfied with his lack of knowledge. Romina was beginning to see what Ron meant.

"Tut, tut—fame clearly isn't everything. Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Romina inwardly slapped her forehead when Hermione nearly fell out of her seat raising her hand to answer the question. Behind them, she could hair distinctable snickers belonging to Draco and his friends.

"I don't know, sir," Harry repeated himself, unfortunately.

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh Potter? What's the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Once more, Harry didn't have the answer. And he sincerely doubted anyone in the class—except Hermione of course—had the answer. "I don't know," he repeated for the third time then flickered eyes to Hermione. "But I think Hermione does. Why don't you try her?"

Definitely wrong answer, Harry. Romina closed her eyes, regretting for Harry. Everyone around them laughed.

"For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite," Snape said like a breeze in the air. He then looked at the rest impatiently. "Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?" as he headed back to his desk, he made sure to warn, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."

Definitely see what Ron was talking about. Romina focused on her note taking, which paled in comparison to Hermione beside her. When it came time to do the class work, Snape put them into pairs which - for today - would be the person sitting beside you.

The task was to create a potion that would cure boils. Romina wasn't as surprised seeing she heard Fred and George babbling about the potion with another companion of them. She suspected it had something to do with their first prank of the year that they had yet to make.

Poor unfortunate soul, thought Romina.

While Hermione weighed nettles, Romina smushed snake fangs. Snape watched them all like a hawk, giving a couple lines of criticism directed mostly towards Gryffindors. Not one Slytherin rubbed him the wrong way despite being almost as bad as some of the Gryffindors. Although it was clear that the prized student in the class would be Draco considering all the compliments had been for him and only him so far.

"Show off," Romina muttered under her breath after the latest compliment Draco received and made sure the whole class heard it.

"Watch it, please!" Hermione huffed and pointed Romina to their cauldron. "You don't want to—" An explosion startled them, as did with the other students.

Suddenly, Neville cried out and other students near them began to hiss and hop. Green smoke started enveloping the class, all from Neville's and Seamus Finnigan's cauldron. The cauldron had melted and was spewing the acid to the floor, burning holes into students' shoes.

"Up! Up!" Romina panicked and climbed over her stool. Hermione quickly followed to do the same, and soon everyone else.

Pansy shrieked when the acid neared her desk, but she was outmatched by Neville's agonizing cry. His skin was turning red and popping up boils.

"Idiot boy!" Snape took off for him and used his wand to clear the class of acid. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" Neville couldn't answer on account of his boil situation. "Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape ordered Seamus. He did the unthinkable and whirled around to Harry and Ron. "You - Potter - why didn't you tell him not to add the quills?" Harry didn't even have time to be offended. "Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."

All the rest of the students slowly resumed their seats, but their eyes were glued onto Harry to see what he would do next. Romina mouthed 'no' to him and begged for him to have some sense and stay silent. It was clear Snape was looking for more reasons to doc points off Gryffindor because of him.

When it finally came time to leave, Ron didn't fail to rub it in Romina's face about how wrong she'd been about Snape.

"Okay, so I was wrong," the girl huffed. Hermione zoomed past them without a word. Behind them, Romina was sure she heard the laughs of Pansy and Draco. Those two could cause some issues alright. "He's unfair. I'm sorry Harry."

"It's alright," Harry said, truly not minding it. He had also just confirmed that Snape hated him for no reason.

"Cheer up, Harry," Ron nudged him. "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George. Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?"

"Hagrid? You guys are meeting with Hagrid?" Romina said as they ascended up the staircase leading them back to the normal level of the castle. She led the way, going upstairs backwards.

"He wrote me a letter earlier today," Harry explained. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Where does he live?" Romina wondered. "I mean he—AH!" she had tripped over nothing and landed on the floor.

"Rom!" Harry panicked but before he could do anything something splashed from above, drenching her entire body.

Romina thought it was freezing cold but it had a familiar scent. Her vision was blurry but she swore she saw two sets of redheads up on the second level. Unknown to her, someone else saw too.

"Romina!" Pansy came towards her but immediately retracted the step with a shriek. "Eugh! It's the same as Longbottom!"

Because now Romina's skin was getting blotchy and red, sprouting boils like Neville had done earlier.

"It hurts! It hurts!" Romina cried, her hands covering her face.

None of the students around her knew what to do, and thankfully none of them had to.

"Out of the way," ordered the cold voice of Snape who, with a wave of his hand, made every student rush to the sides. "What—who did this? Who decided to get funny and replicate my potions? Poorly I should add." He turned on the others, demanding an answer straight away but of course no one had one or they wouldn't give it up.

"Professor, it just came out of nowhere!" Pansy frantically waved her arms. "She-she was walking and-and it just happened!"

Snape looked at the others and of course everyone agreed with her. And so, Romina was taken to Madame Pomfrey to receive the same treatment Neville was. When she was more or less stabilized, Snape continued persisting for the name of the culprit who had dared take from his stock of potions.

Romina was staring directly at him, showing no bit of nervousness. One wrong word and she could get some dear idiots in trouble. "I honestly did not see anyone, Professor. I was just walking with Harry and Ron and it just hit me. Literally!" she waved an arm but quickly brought it down after seeing the ugly boils that had yet to disappear.

Snape was staring at her like he believed his mere look would eventually break her, but Romina was quite good at those looks. Her muggle teachers, and even some nasty girls, often decided she was so weak that with a simple look she would crack.

"Professor, she needs to rest," Madame Pomfrey stopped by Romina's bed after checking over Neville. "I'm sure you can figure out who did it after she's well."

It was obvious Snape hated to lose especially against a student, but with no more to do he turned and left. Romina released a breath and made herself comfortable again.

Over the next couple of days, Romina received visits from Hermione - who often brought along the homework she was meant to be doing over the weekend - followed by Harry, Ron, Arden, and even Pansy when she wasn't gagging over the boils. She was, however, pretty anxious to see Fred and George come in on Sunday. It was actually really funny seeing them approach her with terribly guilty faces.

"Good afternoon boys," she greeted like nothing. Though she kept her voice a bit quiet considering Neville was asleep nearby.

"Rom…" Fred's eyes flickered to Pomfrey at her desk, "...we are so sorry! We thought the upperclassmen were coming out."

"Is that who your little prank was meant for?" Romina raised an eyebrow, fairly curious to know who had been the actual target.

"We got the dates mixed up," George let his head hang in shame. "Sorry about that."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I lived, see?" Romina gestured to her face that was on its way to leaving the last bit of redness and boils. "No one has to know about it."

"Rom, you really are the best," Fred lunged to hug her but the mere contact still stung Romina that she yelped and pushed him away. "Sorry."

"You definitely change the meaning behind 'Slytherin'," added George.

"I intend to in the future," Romina smirked.

They talked for a bit more until they had to leave on account of some detention they had to serve to McGonagall. However, they did leave behind a box of pumpkin pastries for her. Romina happily started munching on them, making a mental note to separate some to share with Neville.

She received one more visit, though, before she could relax as she would've pleased.

"Did Pansy send you in cos she was busy still gagging?" Romina mused as Draco approached her bed. "Or Daphne? I honestly think that girl is too squeamish for her own good."

"I don't do things for people, and much less for Parkinson," he huffed. "Though these are from Angel," he rolled his eyes as he pulled out a small box of chocolates from his pocket. "Like I said, they're from Angel!" He said to be perfectly clear.

Romina chuckled as she accepted the box. "He's so sweet, that Angel. So, was this it? Or is there something else you needed?"

There was a hint of mischief in his eyes. He looked around like someone would be interested in their conversation. Then, he stepped closer and whispered. "I know that you lied, Oswell." Romina's eyes widened as Draco pulled away. "I know you saw those Weasley twins upstairs cos I saw them too, but you lied. You lied for two idiots who aren't even in your house."

"It was an accident," Romina shrugged. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is you could have gotten them into trouble like they deserved. Snape would have had their heads—"

"Yeah, I know, that's why I didn't rat them out. Besides," Romina raised a pumpkin pastry, "Think about what I could get afterwards because I kept my mouth shut? Exhibit A."

"Did you play the Weasley twins?" Draco asked, almost sounding like he was impressed.

"Not 'play' as in to be evil, but for...I just saw an opportunity and I took it. Now if you play your cards right you can get something too. But nothing they can't get - and nothing that gets them into trouble." Draco considered it for a moment while Romina went back to her pastries. "Might I give a suggestion?"

"Okay…"

"Do your parents allow you sweets?"

"What? Course they do," Draco automatically said before stiffening with the new idea. "Oh...you're kinda good."

"Ask for the ones they don't let you have. I'm asking for truffles."

"Yeah, alright. But now you owe me one for keeping your little secret."

Romina smirked. "Deal."

#ocfairygodmother #fd: harry potter #draco malfoy #harry potter #draco malfoy fics #draco malfoy imagines #harry potter fics #harry potter imagines #hp fics #hp imagines #oc: Romina Oswell #fic: legacies

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saiilorstars · 2 years ago

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Ch. 5: The Troll

Fandom: Harry Potter (hogwarts year 1-7) Pairing: Draco x OFC

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @foxesandmagic

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

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

Romina made a round on her broomstick on the grass for the fifth time. She was eyeing it like it was the most sophisticated witch's broomstick she'd seen, despite it being ages old and kept within the school's dusty cupboards. Today was the first day they'd be learning how to fly on broomsticks and needless to say Romina was heavily excited. Beside her was Arden who was staring at her own broomstick wistfully. No one could deny that this particular class had been the most anticipated.

"Romina!" Hermione Granger excitedly arrived first from her House. All first year Gryffindors and Slytherins were to have the morning class together. "Are you ready? I read a lot about this last night and I think I know a thing or two now."

Romina exchanged confused looks with Arden before the former responded. "But there was no assigned book for this class."

Hermione remained unbothered.

"Okay," Arden coughed awkwardly. She had already expressed to Romina that the bushy-haired Gryffindor intimidated her with her vast knowledge of just about everything. Yes, Hermione was definitely making herself known to all Houses.

"Quidditch Through the Ages really does give you helpful tips on the proper ways to steer," Hermione continued to blab as she went to take a stand directly across from Romina. Slytherins had just decided to take one line, leaving the Gryffindors the other. "If you want to know about them I'd be more than happy to share."

"Think you would be," Arden mumbled under her breath. Romina elbowed Arden on the ribs, warning her not to be rude. Hermione could come on strong but she never meant to be rude.

"Hey girls," Angel came around.

"Hey Angel," Romina greeted, "This my friend Hermione."

"Right." Angel, like everyone else, had already come to know Hermione Granger. "Nice to meet you, I'm Angel Paes." Hermione nodded and shook hands with him. "You guys ready for the lesson?"

"Sort of," Arden was eyeing her broom wearily. "I'm afraid it'll drop me."

Angel chuckled. "Yeah, that happened to my sister once."

"You have a sister?" Hermione asked, her head already turning to catch sight of said sister.

"Where is your sister?" Romina curiously asked. "Was she placed in another House?"

"No," sighed Angel. "Carolinha and our Mum stayed in Rio de Janeiro — that's where our family's from. Our grandmother's really sick so Mum is staying there for the foreseeable future and Carol wanted to stay too. She's always been closer to our grandmother."

"What is she doing about school then?" Arden asked and before Angel would explain, Hermione cut in with the, unsurprisingly, correct answer.

"She's probably going to Castelbruxho for her first year."

Angel raised an eyebrow at Hermione. "Uh, yeah…"

Arden was baffled with the name. Neither Angel nor Romina looked confused. "What is that?"

"It's the Brazilian school for wizards and witches," Romina shrugged. Arden's eyes flickered to her. "My aunt and uncle told me about the other schools around the world.""

Angel confirmed it all with a nod. "Yeah, that's right. My parents asked if I wanted to go to Brazil too but I really wanted to come to Hogwarts instead."

"That's so interesting, there being other schools around the world…" Arden was dazzled with the information and she didn't hesitate to ask Angel more about Castlebruxho. He was kind enough to answer her as best as he could.

Not long after, the rest of the Gryffindors - including Harry and Ron - arrived to take position around Hermione's empty sides. Neville looked a bit worried and Romina wondered just what trouble he could find in this particular class. When their teacher, Madame Hooch, joined them, she didn't bother with the boring introductions all professors before her had given for their first class.

"Well?" she loudly called to the students. "What are you all waiting for? Stick out your right hand over your broom—" she gestured, "—and say 'up!'"

Each student looked down at their broom and extended their hands to catch them. "Up!" they said collectively, but each got different results.

Harry was the first one to get his broom into his hand.

"Up!" Romina ordered with a voice she'd never used before and was overjoyed to see her broom obediently fly up to her palm.

Across her, Hermione seemed to be getting more frustrated as nothing happened with her own broom. Arden's broom flew midway to her palm then fell back to the ground. Poor Ron even got conked on the nose, causing Romina to snicker from her spot. After Madame Hooch had explained to them the proper ways to mount their brooms, she decided it was actually time to hover.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," she warned them, holding her whistler just inches from her mouth. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle - three - two—" But for some reason, Neville decided (or probably not) to get a head start and kicked his feet off the ground and rose into the air.

"Oh…" Neville was fearfully looking on either side of him, indicating this clearly hadn't been his intention.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle like it would make a difference. "Come back, boy!" But Neville did no such thing. "Mr. Longbottom!"

"He can't come back down!" Romina felt ridiculous having to point this out to their professor. Neville had escalated up to twenty feet in the air!

He zoomed over them, nearly sliding off but at least he was able to show he'd learned something by holding on tightly. That, of course, didn't stop his screaming. It was muffled for about a second or two when he hit a wall and then flew away from it. On passing a statue, his cloak hung onto it and he slipped right off the broom. He remained hanging like a hook for a second before he fell directly to the ground with a splat.

Everyone ran towards Neville but Madame Hooch shooed them all away. "Come on, get up," he helped poor Neville who was whimpering about his wrist. "It's a broken wrist. Tch, tch. Good boy, come on now, up you get." She started leading Neville towards the castle but not before calling to the class. "Everyone's to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Longbottom to the Hospital wing. Understand?" everyone nodded their heads. "If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will find themselves out of Hogwarts before they can say, Quidditch!"

Everyone glumly headed back to where their brooms once more laid on the ground.

Draco suddenly burst into laughter, and soon had more of the Slytherins joining in. "Did you see his face, the great lump?"

"Shut up, Malfoy," went one of the Gryffindors, a dark-skinned girl by the name of Parvati Patil.

Pansy stepped towards her. "Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom, now? Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."

"Oh shut it Pansy, you'd probably shriek the moment your feet left the ground," Arden spoke up, making the girl huff in return. "Poor Neville didn't know what happened."

"Look!" Draco had spotted something crimson red on the ground and picked it up. Everyone recognized it as Neville's Remembrall he'd gotten earlier that day. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."

"Which is why we should keep it safe until he returns." Romina knew that as she said that, her words flew through one of his ears and out the other. Harry had thought the same.

"Give that here, Malfoy," he moved towards the blonde.

It almost seemed like it was an instinct in Draco to do the opposite of what Harry needed. "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find…"

"No, you really shouldn't…" Romina dreaded what he would think of just to spite Harry.

"Oh, have some fun, Oswell," Theodore snorted. He and Draco snickered together.

"Be quiet!" Romina snapped.

"Malfoy, you should listen to Romina," Angel attempted as well but, like Romina, he was blatantly ignored.

"Oh, up a tree?"

"No—" Both Romina and Angel tried cutting in again.

"Give it here!" Harry shouted but one step was all it took to have Draco grab onto his broom and flew into the air.

"Harry, you don't need to—" Romina was plainly ignored as Harry leapt onto his own broom to follow.

"Come and get it, Potter!" called Draco from above.

"Harry, no!" Hermione frantically shook her head. "You heard what Madam Hooch said! Besides, you don't even know how to fly!"

Harry zoomed up.

"What an idiot," Hermione scowled.

Romina took a couple steps back, near her, to look up at the two students in the air. "Both of them." She immediately shot Angel a look. "You better not do the same!" Angel's hands shot up in front of him. He wouldn't dream of it. "Or you Theodore — or you Blaise!"

Despite both boys breaking severe rules, they somehow managed to make it into a show for the rest of the class. Harry proved to have his own skills at flying as he whipped after Draco like it was any ordinary sport. The only one who seemed not to be enjoying the spectacle was Hermione who continuously kept watching out for the return of Madame Hooch.

"I didn't know Harry could fly a broom," both Arden and Ron remarked simultaneously.

"He can't," Romina shook her head. "And mark my words that one of them is going to fall flat on their a—"

"Look!" Ron happily pointed as Harry remarkably zoomed high into the air for the Remembrall Draco had thrown to probably make his escape back to the ground. Romina had to admit that Harry was one speedy flier, but it didn't erase the fact he was breaking some mega rules. Everyone cheered for Harry who was racing to get Neville's Remembrall before it hit the ground. He chased it down and barely caught it before it hit the ground, even managing to land with a bit of some grace in the end.

Everyone soon crowded him except for the Slytherins, although that didn't include Romina and Arden. Harry was holding onto the Remembrall with his fist, unable to keep himself from laughing.

"Harry! You idiot!" Romina was mad that he had played so dangerously. "You could have gotten hurt! You could have go—"

"HARRY POTTER!" came the shrieking voice of McGonagall.

The laughter around Harry vanished in the next second. McGonagall was making her way towards the class, looking red and quite upset.

"Now you've done it, Harry," Romina helped him up. "I told you not to—"

"It wasn't his fault, Professor—" Parvati Patil had gone to Harry's defense, but McGonagall waved her off.

"Be quiet, Miss Patil."

"Professor, it really was an accident—" Romina wanted to follow in Parvati's steps but just like her, McGonagall shut her down.

"That's enough, Miss Oswell. Potter, follow me, now."

Romina sighed and let go of Harry's wrist. Harry was forced to leave and trail after McGonagall back to the castle. Although Draco had been saved by his timely landing, he would also be getting an earful...just not from a professor.

"What was the need to make all that spectacle, hm?" Romina was right behind him on their way back to the Slytherin common room, along with their group of friends. "Who won there!? You could have broken a bone! Harry could have broken a bone! And for what!?"

"She's going to lose her voice," Pansy remarked behind her to Arden.

"Nah, she's yelled worse," Arden shrugged. "You should see how she left this one girl from our muggle class - Ashley never saw it coming."

"I don't understand what the big deal is—" Pansy spoke on behalf of Draco who seemed on the verge of snapping, "—when everything turned out fine."

"I don't think that was the point, Parkinson," Angel said, sighing.

"It didn't turn out well for Harry!" Romina reminded them all.

"I know, I meant Draco," Pansy said with a face that indicated she thought it'd been obvious.

"Clearly," Theodore said, leading the others into the common room.

"You're all so pathetic," Blaise muttered and went straight to the couch.

Draco pulled out the Remembrall he'd swiped off the ground after Harry had been taken, Romina snatched it from his pale hand. "Hey!" he scowled.

"This isn't yours!" Romina curled her fingers over the Remembrall.

Draco rolled his eyes. He was not going to bother over a stupid ball. "Oh move on, Oswell. Why are you so concerned with what happens to Potter anyways? Make some new friends." He went for the couch where Theodore sat, missing Romina's air-strangling him. "Believe me, he wouldn't stick up for you if he knew about your family."

Romina froze in her place. Perhaps Draco hadn't realized the weight of his words or maybe he just wanted to get back at her, but he went on like nothing. "Potter is a Potter—and we all know how his parents ended up because of Death Eaters. Everyone in this room who's been part of the Wizard community knows who and what the Oswells are...except for Potter." Draco shifted on the couch to face the girl.

"How would you know?" countered Romina. "None of us are old enough to know anything."

"My parents went to school with yours. Hell, I'm willing to bet even Granger knows of your history. Potter won't like you anymore when he learns about you."

Arden had never seen Romina so white before. She wished she knew what Draco was talking about. Theodore and Blaise had the same expressions of amusement. They knew exactly what Draco was talking about.

"You don't know Harry," Romina said softly. "I've been friends with him since we were seven. We went to the same school together."

"Yeah, all in the muggle world. That's been like a long vacation for you from the real world. But guess what, Romina? That dream ended and you're just hanging onto the last thread." Draco pushed himself off the couch and moved around to face Romina. "Me? I wouldn't care. Sure that Angel wouldn't. Parkinson neither—"

"And of course muggleborns like dear King and Granger wouldn't understand. But try that on anyone else in the school and see what they think," Draco purposely jabbed a finger on Romina's shoulder, pushing her a bit. "Thing about Slytherins, Oswell, is that despite our reputation, we look after our own. This was me, doing my bit. I hope you learn and start doing yours." He then turned and headed for the boys' dormitories, leaving behind a stricken Romina.

"Romina, what on Earth was Draco talking about?" Arden turned Romina around, both she and Angel matching with confused expressions.

"Eugh, she's gone all white again," Pansy made a face.

"Can you both be quiet and let her talk?" Angel snapped at the pair before looking at Romina. "Romina, what's going on?"

"My family is full of bad people…" Romina left it at that and hurried to her own room, hoping that she wouldn't be followed.

~ 0 ~

As it turned out, Harry had not been expelled nor given a punishment at the least. In fact, the entire school was buzzing with the news that Harry Potter was Gryffindor's newest Quidditch Seeker - whatever that was. Hermione had already discovered that Harry wasn't all that new to Quidditch, at least not by blood.

Romina was thoughtfully, and silently, staring at the trophy case holding a plaque of Quidditch players when Hermione joined her, dragging along with her Harry and Ron.

"See," Hermione knowingly pointed at the list of Quidditch players which bored 'James Potter' as one of the best players for Gryffindor. "I told you it was in your blood."

Ron gawked. "Woah, Harry! You never told me your father was a Seeker, too!"

Harry was amazed himself. "I-I didn't know."

"Congratulations, Harry," Romina turned to the three, clutching some books in her arms. She didn't appear to be so happy, however, something that put Harry on edge. "Here," she held out Neville's Remembrall, "I got it back for Neville. Could you give that to him?"

"S-sure," Harry took the remembrall and stuffed it into his pocket. "Rom, you okay?"

Romina nodded. "Yeah, course."

"You didn't have to fight off Malfoy for it, right?"

Romina smiled lightly. "No. I took it back and he let me. I have to go," she said rather quietly and quickly made her way away.

"What's wrong with her?" Ron frowned after Romina.

But no one knew the answer, not even Hermione.

~ 0 ~

Weeks passed and somehow Draco's words stuck in Romina's head more than it should have. October had nearly passed and Romina had yet to gather the courage to finally tell Harry, and it was getting difficult to slip through the other students' passing remarks, whether good or bad. For that reason, Romina had distanced herself for a bit in the meanwhile she came up with a good way to tell him the truth.

Harry was smart enough to know Romina was purposely avoiding him. Whenever he came by just to say a 'good morning' she would mumble something about being late for class and scurry off. Other times she got clever and actually gave reasonable excuses that were still just plain lies. Harry had asked Hermione if she knew anything but the girl shook her head and said no more. Arden was his next conquest, but she truthfully had no idea either. She only muttered something about having an argument with Draco. That, Harry took to be an argument over himself. He didn't want Romina going around picking fights on his behalf. Still, he should probably do her the favor and stop getting himself into trouble for that to end.

One night though, after a terrible trick courtesy of Draco, Harry forgot all about Romina's distancing and cornered her during the morning.

"Harry, I'm hungry, I want breakfast," Romina tried getting past him to the Great Hall but Harry didn't budge.

"No! You have to listen to me! It's important!" he motioned her to stay still, and because of her curiosity over his urgent face, Romina nodded. "Last night, me, Ron, Hermione and Neville ended up in the third corridor upstairs-"

"We're not supposed to be there," Romina cut him off, forming a small frown.

"I know that-"

"What were you doing out after curfew?"

Harry groaned. "Malfoy and I were meant to have a duel—"

Romina's eyes widened, but her weariness didn't allow for her to burst into anger (which was another red flag she wasn't alright). "Duel? Why would you have a duel—"

"Rom, just listen!" Harry exclaimed. "Obviously, he tricked us and put Filch on our tail so we had to hide. We ended up in this big room where a humongous creature with three heads was in!"

"Harry, that's really dangerous," Romina now spoke in a hushed voice. "You could have gotten hurt."

"Hermione said we could have had it worse by being expelled," Harry gave a shrug, not even thinking of what he was saying. "But anyways," he shook his head to get back on track, "That creature? I swear it was standing over something like, um, like a door."

"A trap door?"

"Yes!"

"So what? Hogwarts is a pretty important place so of course Dumbledore's going to have some pretty gnarly things hidden away that require extra protection."

"I'm curious, see, because the day Hagrid brought me to Diagon Alley we went to Gringotts - that bank - and he emptied some vault. I'm pretty sure whatever he emptied is now sitting in the castle."

"And?"

Harry was amazed that Romina had reacted almost exactly like Hermione and Neville. Neither of them wanted to know more about the trapdoor.

"And? What do you mean 'and'!?" Harry exclaimed, nearly throwing his hands in the air. "We need to figure out what's down there!"

"We really don't," Romina's face was completely neutral with the matter. She truly didn't care what Hogwarts could be guarding with a large creature. It wasn't their business. "Now, I'm hungry, okay? I just want to get breakfast."

"But, Rom—" Harry tried to get her attention but the girl walked past him. He turned around, exasperated with her latest behavior, and watched her head into the Great Hall. Not even Peeves the Poltergeist had managed to grab Romina's attention as he chucked pieces of chalk down anyone crossing into the Great Hall.

He would have to corner her and make her tell him. They couldn't continue on like this.

~ 0 ~

Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, gave the students a reason to be even more cheery on Halloween by revealing they would finally be attempting to make things fly. His small figure stood over a pile of books, explaining the day's lessons.

"One of a wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation, the ability to make objects fly. Do you all have your feathers?"

Hermione eagerly raised hers first. Everyone else gave a mere wave of theirs.

"Good. Now, we're going to do this in pairs, alright?" Flitwick then began creating the pairs himself, but he hadn't started off well when he put Hermione and Ron together.

"They're going to kill each other," Romina whispered to herself.

"Potter and Finnigan," Flitwick continued going down the list.

"King and Parkinson. Longbottom and Thomas. Oswell and Malfoy. Brown and Patil."

"I swear to God Pansy if you scratch my face in any way…" Arden began making the threats once Flitwick had allowed them to go to their partners.

"Me?" scoffed Pansy. "You should watch your words, King!"

"If I don't watch you, I won't have a mouth at all!"

The two Slytherins began to bicker, going and back and forth.

"I stand corrected," Romina sat down beside Draco, talking as if he'd been hearing from the very start of her thoughts, "They're going to kill each other first."

"With any luck, neither of them will have a mouth by the end of this class," Draco said with a dreamy sigh. Romina elbowed him on the ribs. "Ow!"

Flitwick called the newly paired students to his attention again. "Now don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing. The swish and flick. And enunciate 'Wingardium Leviosa'. Saying the magic words properly is very important too. Never forget Wizard Baruffio who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

Soon after that, the students were given free reign on their tasks. As minutes ticked by, only very few select managed to make a movement from the feather, but none so far had actually made it decently hover.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Romina said for the tenth time with no success.

Draco laughed but when Romina glared at him, she saw his laugh had been directed towards Ron who basically resorted to slamming his wand over his feather.

"You're supposed to be paying attention," Romina hissed.

Draco shifted to face her, eyes flickering to her motionless feather on the desk. "And witness what?" he asked flatly. "You failing repeatedly?"

Romina huffed and put down her own wand. "Well I haven't seen you move your feather either."

Rolling his eyes, Draco picked up his wand and pointed it at his feather. "Wingardium Leviosa!" But just like Romina's (and everyone else in the class) the feather didn't move.

"Not so easy is it?" came Romina's teasing voice.

"Ron, you're saying it wrong!" Hermione's voice started carrying over to their desk. Both momentarily looked to Hermione and Ron to see what was going on now. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa not Leviosar!"

Ron groaned and threw his wand at the desk. "You do it, then, if you're so clever!"

Hermione took the challenge and prepared to do her spell. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

And to Ron's, as well as Romina's and Draco's shock, the feather flew.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Romina gawked. Hermione Granger was simply perfect at everything.

"Oh, well done!" Flitwick congratulated Hermione who was smirking at Ron. "Miss Granger's done it!"

But almost a minute later, there was a loud explosion that made everyone rock in their seats. Everyone looked around to see where it had come from and found poor Seamus Finnigan, Harry's partner, with his hair stuck up and a face full of smoke. His feather was nowhere to be found.

Romina covered her mouth that'd fallen open. Behind her, Draco just burst into another round of laughter. Romina hated herself but she was losing the battle against laughing. A few other students were already laughing as well.

After class was dismissed, Romina and Arden left the class just behind Harry and Ron, and Seamus. The two girls were mildly disappointed they hadn't been able to make their feathers hover, but no one was more disappointed than Ron who began to complain.

"Oh shush, Weasley," Arden finally had enough and cut into the boys' conversation. "Granger's not trying to be rude - it's not her fault you couldn't do it."

"Not trying to be rude?" Ron had a laugh. He then mimicked Hermione's tune as he went, "It's Leviosa, not Levioar sar!" he growled. "Honestly, she's a nightmare! No wonder she hasn't got any friends!"

"Ron," Romina scowled, "That's just ru—"

But none other than Hermione had pushed past them, clearly upset with something…

Harry threw Ron a flat glance. "I think she heard you."

"So?" Ron raised an eyebrow, but he was shifting a bit. "She must've noticed that she's got no friends."

"Honestly," Romina shook her head at them. "And you all think Draco is worse. You really couldn't come up with anything better than that excuse?"

"Boys," Arden said as if that explained it all. She took Romina with her and left the Gryffindors behind without a look back.

Romina was keeping true to her word to distance herself from Harry until she figured out a way to tell him everything, but she started to wonder if this really had to extend to Hermione as well. Contrary to the popular belief, Romina did consider Hermione as a friend. They weren't so close, and yes sometimes Hermione did have a way to annoy sometimes, but Romina overall liked Hermione. She didn't want to think how Hermione was feeling after hearing Ron's words.

"She'll get over it," Arden tried to reassure Romina on their way to the Halloween feast. "She's not the first nor the last to get that treatment."

"But that's just it, she shouldn't be receiving that treatment from everyone just because she knows her stuff," Romina shrugged.

"Well, in fairness, she shouldn't be so uptight and a know-it-all."

"But I bet if Hermione was a boy no one would be thinking that," Romina said with a great big scowl.

"True…"

"...no, she won't come out, I tell you…" Parvati Patil's words were reaching the girls' earshot as they neared the Great Hall. Romina quickly stopped and latched a hand on Arden's arm to keep her still. "Hermione - she's still in the girls' bathroom!"

"But all day?" piped the girl next to Parvati, a bright blonde.

"I tried to get her, Lavender, out but she doesn't want to listen. She told me to leave her alone," Parvati rolled her eyes.

"Rom…" Arden slowly looked at the raven-haired girl.

"Scuse me!" Romina had already left to go up to Parvati. Arden groaned and decided to go into the Great Hall without Romina.

~ 0 ~

Getting instructions of which girls' bathroom Hermione was located in, Romina decided to leave the big ole Halloween feast behind and go see how Hermione was doing. She pushed open the door and looked around the empty bathroom. All stalls were opened except for the first one by the wall.

"Hermione?" she softly called.

Hermione's sniffles paused for a moment. "Go away!"

"Yeah, sorry, I can't do that," Romina let the door behind her close. "Believe me, grandma and grandpa taught me how to do this best. No matter how many times I told them to 'go away' or 'leave me alone' they wouldn't. Now I know why."

"I don't...want to talk…" Hermione remained in the stall, and so Romina came forwards and took a seat on the floor, leaning back against the wall.

"Hermione, you don't have to hide in here just because of what stupid Ron said."

"He's not the only one who's said something like that. No one in this school likes me!"

"Well…" Romina didn't want to be that liar that said 'of course not' because that wouldn't help anyone. "Look, I like you - and I hope that counts for something - but maybe you do come on a little strong."

"You wouldn't understand," Hermione huffed. "You're what they call 'pureblood'. Everyone automatically likes you. You don't have to worry about what you know and don't know about magic. But for people like me - muggleborns - there's another set of standards."

"Oh trust me, Hermione, that's not exactly true," Romina said, biting her bottom lip, "I grew up as a muggle, Hermione, with a couple of wizard perks, but...when it comes to knowledge, I know way less than you. You like to know stuff and that's good. It's fantastic!"

"Not according to the people here!"

"People here are jealous cos they don't know half the things you do, alright? Ron? He's just one of those people. He's harmless, actually, but I think his mouth gets away from him." Romina crinkled her nose at a foul odor that had crept in from outside. She pushed herself up to her feet, meaning to investigate when she heard a loud grunt from the other side. "What's - AH!"

The door had burst open to reveal an ugly troll. Twelve feet in height and absolutely terrifying.

"H-H-Hermione!" Romina frantically knocked on the stall Hermione was in, eyes glued on the troll.

"What is that smell!?" Hermione asked, disgusted.

"Just come out, you stupid genius!" Romina gasped when troll seemed to want to come in.

Hermione obeyed but when she opened the stall she regreeted it and deeply. "T-troll!"

"I think I noticed!" Romina pulled Hermione backwards as the troll finally got inside.

"No, we need to leave!" Hermione exclaimed, but as soon as the words left her mouth the door of the bathroom was slammed shut.

"What!?" Romina was at a loss for a reason behind that one.

"W-wands!" Hermione turned to Romina desperately. "Please tell me you have a wand with you!"

"Wand? I was on my way to stuff my face into some pumpkin pie!" Romina shouted. "Now the troll is going to stuff me into its face!"

"Well maybe—"

But the troll came forwards and scared the hell out of the two girls, making them scream. The troll used the club it held in its hand to smash stalls and sinks while making its way towards the girls.

"Hermione!" they heard Harry call just as the door re-opened. He was more than shocked to find Romina in there as well. "Rom!?"

"Do something!" cried both girls.

"Confuse it!" Harry told Ron and picked up part of a faucet pipe and threw it against the wall to get the troll's attention.

When the troll turned around, Ron grabbed a piece of metal and threw it directly at it. Seeing it hadn't done much damage to grab its attention, Ron decided to call out for it. "Oi! Pea-brain!"

Harry took his opportunity to get by the troll when it faced Ron. "Romina, c'mon!" Romina grabbed onto Hermione's hand to get them both out but Hermione was frozen to her spot. "Rom!" Harry called.

"It's Hermione! She won't go!"

Ron cried out as the troll neared it. Romina continued to shout to Hermione, hoping to snap the girl out of her horror, while Harry shouted at Romina. The troll seemed to be disoriented with the overlapping shouting and couldn't cope. It roared, shutting everyone up.

"Ron!" both Harry and Romina finally saw the situation Ron was in. There was no way for Ron to get away, not even to wriggle out of it.

Harry took out his wand, took a deep breath and ran for the troll.

"Harry!" cried Romina. "What are you doing!?"

Harry had jumped and landed on the troll's back. He looped his arms around its neck and shoved his wand up the troll's nose. The troll roared with pain and turned here and there trying to pull the wand from its nose. Harry held on tightly and hoped to God he would survive this.

"Ron, do you have your wand!?" Romina urgently called to the ginger across them. When Ron nodded, Romina motioned him to get it out. "Use something!"

Ron thought for a split second and pointed his wand at the troll's club. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Had Hermione been alright, she probably would have praised Ron for using the spell correctly.

The troll's club flew from its hand, a couple feet up, and then dropped right back on the troll due to Ron's lack of control. Harry fell back and Romina lunged forwards to pull him away. The troll had taken the blow of the club really hard and swayed on its feet before finally dropping to the floor.

No one could speak for the first couple of seconds.

Romina carefully took a step towards the troll. Ron barely lowered his wand, shocked of what he'd caused.

"I-is it dead?" Hermione finally formed words. She peeled herself off the wall but didn't dare move from there.

"No…" Harry observed the motionless troll. "I think it's just been knocked out."

"Em, Harry...I think I see your wand…" Romina crinkled her nose after seeing Harry's wand poking from the troll's nostril.

Disgusted, Harry neared the troll and pulled his wand. He gagged as saw something lumpy, ball shaped, stuck at its end. "Eugh - troll boogers."

Romina took one large step back.

Suddenly, the door burst open again and in came McGonagall, Quirrell and Snape. Of course the moment Quirrell spotted the troll he fell back against a wall, holding at his chest like he'd been the one attacked. Snape went directly for the troll to see its condition, leaving McGonagall to send looks of doom towards the students.

"What on earth were you thinking of!?"

No one could really come up with an answer.

"You're lucky you weren't killed! Why aren't you in your dormitories!?"

"Professor-" Romina began but Hermione shocked the hell out of them when she spoke up herself to explain.

"Please, Professor McGonagall - they were looking for me."

Even the professors were stunned with the 'revelation'.

"I went looking for the troll because I - I thought I could deal with it on my own - you know, because I've read all about them. If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now."

Harry had a hard time keeping his mouth closed from how surprised.

"Harry stuck his wand up its nose, Romina came up with the proper spell, and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."

Romina wished she could rub her ears at the moment just to see if she was hearing right.

McGonagall was clearly in the same situation as the students. "Well…" she trailed off, then began anew a minute later, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione slumped her shoulders but said nothing.

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this. I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. And Miss Oswell to the Slytherin dungeon. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."

With her head hanging in shame, Hermione started out.

McGonagall then stared at the remaining students. "Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win five points for your houses. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

Romina pulled Harry and Ron with her out of the bathroom. "I hope you both learned something today!" she warned and left them with that before scurrying down to the dungeons, hoping to forget any of that night ever happened.

#ocfairygodmother #fd: harry potter #draco malfoy #harry potter #harry potter fics #draco malfoy fics #draco malfoy imagines #harry potter imagines #hp #hp fics #hp imagines #oc: Romina Oswell #fic: Legacies #trying to catch this one up across all platforms scuse me

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