cryingcowplants-finds

[braveclementine]

Chapter 4

Warnings: 18+ readers only, smut

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

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𝕴 𝖉𝖎𝖉𝖓'𝖙 𝖜𝖆𝖐𝖊 up on the day we were supposed to go to Kings Crossing until nine-thirty and was immensely glad that I had already packed my trunk the night before. I'd stayed up late because Dad had said he'd try and drop by before the last day of school. Unfortunately, we got an owl around eleven o'clock saying he wouldn't be able to make it but he wished me and Trang a good time at school.

I'd also been woken by a nightmare around one o'clock which I'd immediately recognized to be a vision, and wrote a letter to Hannah Abbott telling her that'd I'd just had a vision telling her that I'd seen her being pulled out of Herbology class only a few weeks into term because her mother had been found dead. I told her that she would be safe at Hogwarts, but if her mother and anyone else in the house could find a safe place to stay or take up extra precautions, it would be advisable.

I didn't know if Sadie would be able to deliver it before Hannah left for school and I also didn't know if the Death Eaters were going to attack Sadie by delivering it. I waited for Sadie with a horrible sickening feeling in my stomach and wished I'd used a different owl.

I ate a quick breakfast and helped Mr. Weasley put my trunk in a second Ministry car which would be taking us to Kings Crossing today. Trang and I sat in the car with Ginny and I stared out the window, wishing I could see Sadie fly back to me. Meanwhile, my pygmy puff who I'd christened Amelia, was sleeping in her cage. Trang had christened hers Oliver. But I couldn't even bring myself to make fun of her.

Trang could barely sit still the entire car ride- which wasn't long. It would be her first time on the Hogwarts Express, riding to school. Of course, she'd been at Hogwarts last year, but only in the hospital wing and Dumbledore's office, and I suspected she'd seen a bit of the grounds too. But this year was different. She'd be attending classes and I knew her deepest wish was to become a witch and she was finally going to be able to achieve it. It was a weird turn of events and it made my strangely uncomfortable.

The Ministry cars stopped in front of the train station where two, grim-faced Aurors were waiting for us. I wished that Tonks was here but I knew I'd see her on the other train station when we arrived at Hogwarts. Of course, I'd have to help Harry first.

The Aurors didn't speak as they walked into Kings Crossing with us, our things on trolleys. We approached the barrier, but Trang was looking around, looking apprehensive and I realized that I'd forgotten to tell her how we got onto the platform.

"Quick, quick, through the barrier." Mrs. Weasley said nervously and glanced at the Aurors, "Harry had better go first, with-"

One of the Aurors nodded and gripped Harry's arm, steering him towards the barrier. Harry wrenched his arm from his grip and pushed ahead, the Auror quick on his heels. Trang watched them disappeared through the wall and her mouth dropped again. I put a finger out, pushing it closed.

"Elizabeth, Hermione, you two next." Mrs. Weasley said and we went through with the next Auror walking between the two of us. At least he didn't attempt to grab my arm.

"Let's go" Hermione said and we quickly loaded our things off the trolleys and carried them up to the prefect carriage. Then we came back out to see Mr. Weasley come through the platform with Trang. I was glad- she looked much more relaxed until she saw the train and all the students on the platform. She didn't drop her mouth again but she seemed very nervous and looked pale.

Harry came up on the train, Trang following him quickly.

"We gotta go down to the prefect compartment, Harry and then patrol." I said.

"Right" Harry said and I waved to him and Trang and then followed Hermione and Ron to the prefect compartment. To my surprise, only Pansy Parkinson was in the compartment representing the Slytherins. Anthony and Padma were representing the Ravenclaws and we all nodded to each other.

Ernie was waiting as the male Hufflepuff. He shook hands with Ron and Hermione and gave me a quick side hug.

"How was your summer?" He asked.

I sighed, running my long hair back. "Cold."

He chuckled and then turned his attention to the head students so that we could learn about all the different security measures that would be taken at Hogwarts this year and also how we'd be asked to patrol the corridors more often along with teachers. So in other words, I wasn't going to be getting a lot of sleep this year.

Finally, around mid afternoon we were let go and we patrolled the corridors. Ernie and I stopped by a compartment that a lot of Hufflepuffs were sitting in including Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Zacharias Smith.

Hannah looked up when we came and stood up abruptly and hurried past me and down the hallway. My face flushed and I looked at Susan, "What did I do?"

"She said she got a very disturbing letter from you this morning." Zacharias answered. "What was it about?"

"Er- if she didn't tell you the contents of the letter, then it's none of your business." I said softly. Did she not believe me? Did her parents not believe me? Did she think it was a trap? I ran an aggravated hand through my hair again.

I saw that Dean Thomas and Ginny were walking past and suddenly Zacharias was on his feet and he was calling after Ginny who turned.

"What happened at the Ministry?" Zacharias asked.

"None of your business." Ginny said coolly. "Eliza's behind her, why don't you ask her?"

I shook my head quickly behind Zacharias back, giving her an exasperated look.

I sat down next to Susan and waited as Zacharias continued to barrage Ginny with questions and then I stood up as Ginny pulled out her wand and then hexed Zacharias. He flew backwards, skidding to a stop at my feet. I looked down at him with zero pity. "You deserved that you know."

Suddenly, the compartment door opened and Professor Slughorn came in. Ginny flushed pink and then Slughorn chuckled and said, "That was a good bit of magic now! Ah, Elizabeth, I was looking for you! If you two would like to come with me."

Ginny gave me a nervous look and I rolled my eyes. With a wave of my wand, I performed the counter-curse on Zacharias and left the train compartment without a look backwards. I smirked as I closed the door behind me.

We entered the compartment where a tall black Slytherin was waiting. Blaise Zabini, yuck (yuck only because he was a Slytherin, not because he wasn't hot or nothing). Then there was Cormac McLaggen, a seventh year Gryffindor. Also yuck (because he was a jackass). And then there was a seventh year Ravenclaw by the name of Marcus Belby. I only liked him because his Uncle made the Wolfsbane potion.

Ginny and I sat down across from each other. She was sitting next to Professor Slughorn and I was sitting next to Zabini.

A few moments later, Harry came through the compartment door with Neville.

"Harry, m'boy! Good to see you, good to see you! And you must be Mr. Longbottom!" Professor Slughorn said, jumping to his feet as they came in. Neville nodded and they also sat opposite each other close to the door.

"Now, do you know everyone? Blaise Zabini is in your year, of course." Slughorn started but none of them made any acknowledgement. "This is Cormac McLaggen, perhaps you've come across each other-? No? And this is Marcus Bely, I don't know whether-? -and this charming young lady tells me she knows you!" Slughorn finished. I supposed that was what Ginny and Slughorn had been talking about in the hallway when I was envisioning Tonks finding Harry in the compartment. "And of course Harry, your sister!"

"Er actual-" I spoke awkwardly as the other students shot me a look, but Slughorn was already speaking again.

"A chance to get to know you all a little better. Here, take a napkin. I've packed my own lunch; the trolley, as I remember it, is heavy on licorice wands, and a poor old man's digestive system isn't quite up to such things. . . Pheasant, Belby?"

Belby gave a start and took half a pheasant.

"I was just telling young Marcus here that I had the pleasure of teaching his Uncle Damocles. Outstanding wizard, outstanding and his Order of Merlin most well-deserved. Do you see much of your uncle, Marcus?"

Belby started to choke on his pheasant, not realizing that he'd have to speak. Professor Slughorn pointed his wand at him and said, "Anapneo." Interesting spell, I'd certainly never heard of it before.

"Not. . . not much of him, no." Belby gasped, eyes streaming with watery tears and the purple hue slowly started disappearing from his face.

"Well, of course, I daresay he's busy. I doubt he invented the Wolfsbane potion without considerable hard work!"

"I suppose. . . Er. . . he and my dad don't get on very well, you see, so I don't really know much about. . ." Belby drifted off as Slughorn gave him a strained smile and turned to Cormac.

"Now you, Cormac. I happen to know you see a lot of your Uncle Tiberius, because he has a rather splendid picture of the two of you hunting nogtails in, I think, Norfolk?" Professor Slughorn asked.

"Oh, yeah, that was fun, that was. We went with Bertie Higgs and Rufus Scrimgeour- this was before he became Minister, obviously-"

"Ah you know Bertie and Rufus too?" Slughorn said, offering around a plate of pies that I politely declined. I hated pie. "Now tell me. . ."

I tuned out the rest of the conversation as Slughorn turned Zabini who had a famous mother. I'd heard the stories before. Married seven times to rich men who died under mysterious circumstances. Sometimes, she married rich Muggles and it turned out they were suicidal, jumping off cliffs. Considering he was a Slytherin, I would assume that his mother put a number of spells on the men.

I made sure to tune out Neville's conversation particularly hard as he was getting flustered, his parents being famous Aurors and being tortured so horribly their minds broke. Ginny and Harry were also determinedly blocking out the conversation.

"And now!" Slughorn said, jerking me out of my thoughts. I wished I'd thought to bring a patented daydream charm. "Harry Potter! Where to begin? I feel I barely scratched the surface when we met over the summer! 'The Chosen one', they're calling you now! Of course, there have been rumors for years. . . I remember when- well- after that terrible night- Lily- James- and you survive- and the word was that you must have powers beyond the ordinary-"

Zabini gave a little cough and Ginny burst out angrily, "Yeah, Zabini, because you're so talented. . . at posing. . ."

"Oh dear! You want to be careful, Blaise! I saw this young lady perform the most marvelous Bat-Bogey Hex as I was passing her carriage! I wouldn't cross her!" Professor Slughorn chuckled comfortably. "Anyway, such rumors this summer. Of course, one doesn't know what to believe, the Prophet has been known to print inaccuracies, make mistakes- but there seems little doubt, given the number of witnesses, that there was quite a disturbance at the Ministry and that you were there in the thick of it all!"

Harry nodded but said nothing.

"So modest, so modest, no wonder Dumbledore is so fond- you were there, then? But the rest of the stories- so sensational, of course, one doesn't know quite what to believe- this fabled prophecy, for instance-"

"We never heard a prophecy." Neville said, turning pink.

"That's right. Neville, Eliza, and I were there too, and all this 'Chosen One' rubbish is just the Prophet making things up as usual." Ginny said.

"You were there too, were you?" Slughorn asked with interest, looking between the three of us.

"There were actually quite a few students there." I said dreamily, sounding a bit like Luna. "Ten of us in total."

Slughorn was very interested but I said nothing more and he looked quite disappointed. Then he rambled off about many different things and I watched the sun fall lower in the sky and finally I said, "Professor, I don't mean to be rude, but it's getting very late, I just wanted to warn you!" My cheeks flushed.

Professor Slughorn looked out the window and said, "You are quite right! You'd better go and change into your robes, all of you. McLaggen, you must drop by and borrow that book on nogtails. Harry, Eliza, Blaise- any time you're passing by. Same goes for you, miss!" He said to Ginny and me. "Well, off you go, off you go."

We filed out of the compartment and I stretched, thankful to be out of there. Now, to go find Trang.

"I'm glad that's over." Neville muttered. "Strange man, isn't he?"

"Yeah he is a bit. How come you ended up in there, Ginny?" Harry asked.

"He saw me hex Zacharias Smith. You remember that idiot from Hufflepuff who was in the D.A.? He kept on and on asking about what happened at the Ministry and in the end he annoyed me so much I hexed him- when Slughorn came in I thought I was going to get detention, but he just thought it was a really good hex and invited me to lunch! Mad eh?"

"Better reason for inviting someone than because their mother's famous." Harry said, scowling after Zabini. "Or because their uncle-" He broke off and then he said. "I'll see you three later."

"But what're you-?" Neville asked as Harry flung the cloak over his body.

"Later!" He whispered and he was gone.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, I'm going to go and get my stuff and go find Ron and Hermione and Trang."

"Oh, I know where they're staying!" Neville said, "I'll come with you."

We said good-bye to Ginny and then headed back to the compartment that I'd been in. Susan was no longer there either and Hannah had never come back. I got my stuff and then followed Neville to the compartment with Hermione, Ron, Trang, and Luna.

"What'd he want?" Ron asked.

"Dunno, he never talked to me and I blocked out most of what he said." I answered, sitting down next to Trang and opening the Daily Prophet.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Dunno." Neville answered. "He said he'd be back eventually."

"I'll go find him if the time gets close. Also Trang, Luna here is a fellow Ravenclaw so she'll show you where the Ravenclaw table is."

"Great." Trang said, sounding relieved and Luna smiled at her before disappearing again behind her magazine.

As the train came to a stop and we started to get our stuff out, Harry still had not returned.

"Eliza we have to do our prefect duties." Hermione said nervously, "Where is Harry?"

I hesitated and then turned to others, "Can you guys get my stuff out on the deck?"

Neville, Hermione, and Ron nodded and I dashed out of the door towards where I knew the Slytherins were going to be staying. I watched Zabini, Goyle, and Crabbe coming down the compartment and though they gave me nasty looks, they passed by without a word. Pansy was waiting in the compartment and then she left too, throwing me a nasty look as she passed by.

I heard a crash and knew that Harry had been immobilized.

I rushed to the door, throwing it open, my wand raised. Harry was lying on the floor and Draco was standing over him. Draco spun around and though I had the shield charm halfway out of my mouth, he was faster and my body froze. Draco laid me down next to Harry, smashing my nose in with his foot, and throwing the Invisibility Cloak over the two of us.

Blood rain down my face and onto my clothes. Lovely. My wand was still in my hand and I tried very hard to think of the countercurse. I managed to do it and sat up just as Tonks came into the compartment. There was a flash of red and Harry unfroze as well.

"Wotcher Harry, Wotcher Elizabeth." Tonks said. Harry picked up the invisibility cloak. "We'd better get out of here, quickly. Come on, we'll jump."

We hurried after her into the corridor and she pulled open the train door and jumped onto the platform. I jumped after her, feeling a rush of adrenaline and then Harry landed next to me. The landing, jolted my nose and my hand leapt up to it but didn't touch it.

"Who did it?" Tonks asked.

"Draco Malfoy. Thanks for. . . well. . ." Harry said.

"No problem." Tonks said, not meeting my eyes. "I can fix your nose if you stand still."

Harry and I stayed still as she said "Episkey" twice.

"Thanks a lot!" Harry exclaimed as our noses were mended.

"Thanks." I murmured.

"You'd better put that cloak back on and we can walk up to the school." Tonks said. I turned into a cat, and Harry swung the invisibility cloak over himself. Tonks waved her wand and a wolf appeared and shot off towards the castle.

"Was that a Patronus?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I'm sending word to the castle that I've got you two or they'll worry. Come on, we'd better not dawdle."

"How did you find us?" Harry asked.

"I noticed neither you or Elizabeth had left the train and I knew you had that cloak. I thought you might be hiding for some reason. When I saw the blinds were drawn down on that compartment, I thought I'd check."

"But what are you doing here, anyway?" Harry asked.

"I'm stationed in Hogsmeade now, to give the school extra protection." Tonks said.

"Is it just you who's stationed up here, or-?"

"No, Proudfoot, Savage, and Dawlish are here too."

I wanted to ask how Kingsley was but I had the two-way mirror still and besides, I was a cat- I couldn't talk.

"Dawlish, that Auror Dumbledore attacked last year?"

"That's right."

I started to fall behind, my cat legs much shorter than their human ones and Tonks stopped, bending down and picking me up and carrying me. I purred in her arms and the slightest smile came over her face before flitting away.

We finally made it to the castle and Harry, still hidden under the cloak, rattled the bars and then I heard him say, "Alohomora!"

"That won't work on these, Dumbledore bewitched them himself." Tonks said.

"I could climb a wall." Harry suggested.

"No, you couldn't. Anti-intruder jinxes on all of them. Security's been tightened a hundredfold this summer." Tonks said flatly.

"Well then." Harry said, sounding annoyed, "I suppose I'll just have to sleep out here and wait for morning."

"Someone's coming down for you. Look." Tonks said. I jumped out of her arms and turned into a human. Harry pulled off his invisibility cloak.

"Well, well, well." Professor Snape said. "Nice of you to turn up, Potter, although you evidently decided that the wearing of school robes would detract from your appearance." He tapped the padlock once so that the chains snaked backward and the gates creaked open.

"I couldn't change, I didn't have my-" Harry started.

I was glad I was in my Hogwarts robes, though blood was all down the front of them, and I knew there was dried blood on my face.

"There is no need to wait, Nymphadora, Potter and Kane are quite- ah- safe in my hands." Severus said.

"I meant for Hagrid to get the message." Tonks said, frowning.

"Hagrid was late for the start-of-term feast, just like Potter and Kane here, so I took it instead. And incidentally," Professor Snape said, standing back so that we could pass through. "I was interested to see your new Patronus."

He shut the gates in her face and I frowned at him. "I think you were better off with the old one. The new one looks weak." His voice was full of malice and before I knew what I was doing, anger flew through me and I strode forward and slapped him across the face so hard that it echoed through the courtyard.

"Elizabeth!" Tonks exclaimed but I was already striding off, my anger pulling me towards the castle.

"Elizabeth- wait-!" Harry exclaimed, sounding nervous. I was already on the castle steps and heading up past the front doors and then found my way to the Great Hall. I pulled open the double door with a hard jerk and then hurried off to the Hufflepuff table, my eyes flashing with anger and I sat down next to Ernie.

"What happened to your face?" Susan asked in horror.

"Why, what's wrong with it?" I asked, reaching for a chicken wing.

"You're covered in blood." Ernie said, "what happened?"

"Malfoy." I said darkly, pulling out my wand and closing one eye and pointing it at my own face and said, "Tergeo! Better, Susan?"

"Yeah." Susan said, though her eyes were lingering on my clothes. I pointed my wand at my clothe and said, "Scourgify!"

Harry came into the Great Hall now and hurried down to the Gryffindor table, people whispering and pointing and standing up to look at him.

"So why did you get on Draco's bad side?" Susan asked. Rose had come to sit down next to me. Justin and Zacharias were now sitting closer but Hannah was sitting far away, determinedly avoiding my gaze.

I rolled my eyes, "I've been on his bad side for about five years Susan." Then I sighed and said, "In this particular incident, I was actually just going to save Harry and got caught up between their fight."

"Oh." Ernie said, glancing up at the Professors table.

Dessert appeared and I helped myself to some ice-cream, trying to look over at the Ravenclaw table. Trang was sitting next to Luna, looking down at her dessert and looked up. I smiled at her and winked and she grinned back.

Then Dumbledore stood up and the laughter and talk died away. "The very best of evenings to you!" He said, spreading his arms wide and showing the very tips of his black hand.

There were gasps and outbursts from the tables as they caught sight of his hand. Dumbledore smiled and shook his purple-and-gold sleeve of his robe over his injury and said, "Nothing to worry about. Now. . . to our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you. . .as many of our old students and new students should take to heart is that the Forbidden is off limits- especially now. . . and Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop called Weasleys' Wizards Wheezes. Those wishing to play for their House Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of House as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise. We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master."

"Potions?"

"Potions?"

"Potions?"

The word seemed to spread around the Great Hall as people tried to figure out what that meant. Ernie and Susan were showing identical faces of shock. Rose was looking around, frowning, trying to figure out what the significance of this word was.

"Professor Snape, meanwhile, will be taking over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" Professor Dumbledore said.

"NO!" Harry shouted loudly at the Gryffindor table while the Slytherins exploded into cheering and clapping. Other students looked at each other, muttering.

"Dumbledore is going to let him teach Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Ernie asked, shocked. "How could he?"

Susan, Rose, Ernie, and I were all in a small little huddle. I could feel Professor Snape's eyes on me, but I was to angry at him to acknowledge him.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and the buzzing died down. "Now, as everybody in this Hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining in strength. I cannot emphasize strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe."

I looked over at the Slytherin table to see that Draco was levitating his fork with his wand, not paying attention to Dumbledore. Deciding that I too was bored, I lowered my wand under the table and muttered, "Acuelo!"

Immediately, his concentration on his fork dropped and the gold fork dropped against the golden plate, making the loudest clatter that sounded throughout the hall. I grinned, watching him bend down with a pink face to grab his stinging knee. Dumbledore didn't break stride in his speech, but I heard Severus' voice, plain as day in my head, 'Enough.'

I scowled, dropping my face back to my plate, not acknowledging him.

"The castle's magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer, we are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them- in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and others' safety."

There was a bit of silence and then Dumbledore smiled and said, "But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say good night. Pip pip!"

Ernie and I got up to approach the new first-years and we led them through the castle and taught them the password at the door and then Ernie led the boys up through one door and I led the girls up to their dorm in another one.

Then, reluctantly, I headed into my own dorm where Susan, Megan, Leanne, and Hannah were. Megan and Leanne were deep in conversation and I'd never really spoken to them. Hannah had her back to me and I motioned to Susan to come out of the dorm.

"What's up?" she asked.

I hesitated and then said, "I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for your loss. Madam Bones. . . well she was a really great witch Susan."

Susan blinked sudden tears out of her eyes and said, "Thanks Elizabeth. I'm really sorry about your Godfather too."

I nodded, looking down. "It's alright, it's how he wanted to go. He always wanted to go down fighting." I smiled a bit, now looking up at the ceiling. "That's how I want to go too if I don't make it."

"Me too." Susan said softly.

We went back into the dorm and I stood there awkwardly, looking at Hannah's back. And then she turned to face me and said, "I just wanted to say thank you for warning me ahead of time."

"Er-, you don't seem happy about it." I said hesitantly.

She hesitated too and said, "Mum doesn't believe. . . she doesn't. . . she thinks it was a joke."

I closed my eyes with horror. "I'm sorry Hannah."

Her eyes were filled with tears. Susan had our backs to us but Leanne and Megan were looking on with interest. "I just. . . I'm glad you warned me anyways. I've told my other family members not to pull me out. I'm already prepared and I don't want to leave Hogwarts anyways."

"It's going to be okay." Susan said softly now, putting a hand on Hannah's shoulder.

Hannah nodded and climbed into bed.

Soon, Hannah, Susan, Leanne, and Megan were all fast asleep. I kept pacing the room, unable to sleep. I kept picturing Severus's horribly mean face and the malice in his voice as he said, 'The new one looks weak'.

Finally out of frustration, I walked out of the girls dorm and turned into a cat outside the Hufflepuff dorm and started to head towards the potions room before remembering that Snape was no longer teaching potions and had to take a much longer route to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

I turned human once inside the classroom and headed up to where the office was, knocking on the door.

"Come in." a sleek voice said.

I pushed the door open and walked inside, closing the door behind me.

"Oh." Severus said, dropping his quill on his desk. "Er I didn't think you'd come tonight."

I didn't say anything.

Severus stood up and approached me and said, "Look-"

"Don't." I said coldly.

"No?" Severus said, raising an eyebrow, his tone close to matching mine. "I think I should get a say in the matter."

I glared at him. "You said her patronus was weak, Severus. And you know perfectly well what her patronus looked like and why that offended me!"

Severus strode over to me, pushing me up against the door and putting a finger to my lips. "I didn't say it looked weak because of the animal it took. I said it looked weak because it was weak. It wasn't as bright as it used to be and it was certainly less solid than her old one was."

I opened my mouth to speak and he pinched it closed between his thumb and pointer finger. "Though I must admit. . ." He leaned forward so that our cheeks were touching and his lips were close to my ear, "you get your point across through. . . actions. . ."

I blushed bright red, feeling flustered. His hand was snaking around towards my backside and his other hand moved from my lips, down to the side of my neck. He pressed his lips to mine and I closed my eyes. I found my hands were on the front of his shirt, pulling him to me.

I couldn't stay mad at him forever. I loved him to much, it was a flaw. I couldn't stay mad at Fred or Cedric or Harry or Dad either. I loved all of them too much. And then, I pushed away from the door, pushing Severus towards the bed with so much force, he fell backwards perfectly. I jumped up high, almost like a cat and landed ontop of him gently.

Severus grabbed my hips, rolling over ontop of me now, our clothes coming off in layers. He immediately hooked my legs over his shoulders, burying his face into my cunt. I whimpered, closing my eyes in pleasure as he ran his tongue through my folds, adding two lovely fingers to work me up.

"Severus please." I begged through a whisper, wishing I could grab his hair, bring him closer to me.

"Let go love." Severus murmured and I released on his lips and tongue.

He smirked as he pulled back, taking his cock into his hand, before lining himself up with my entrance. He pushed himself inside until he was balls deep.

Now my hands did come up, one lacing through the soft strands of his silky black hair, the other gripping his shoulder tightly.

He moved slowly and sensually as he usually did, his lips kissing my collarbone and breasts. I hummed in content, kissing his cheek and shoulders, whatever skin I could reach.

He grabbed both of my hands in one of his, pinning them above my head as he took one of my nipples into his mouth. He thrusted a little harder, his free hand reaching between our bodies to roll my clit between his fingers.

"I love you Elizabeth. I don't ever want you to forget that." Severus whispered softly across my skin.

"I'm sorry I slapped you." I apologized, cunt fluttering around his cock as he continued to fuck me. "I'm sorry I lost my temper. I'm sorry I only had a one track mind about the situation instead of hearing what you really meant. I'm sorry."

"I accept all of your apologies." Severus said, suddenly pulling my body upright so that I was straddling him in his lap. I wrapped my arms around his waist, crying out at the new angle as he thrusted up into me. "And now I want you to cum all over my cock like a good girl."

"Fuck." I whimpered, doing just that, feeling my release wash over me hot and then cold. He spilled into me, kissing my neck and then my lips.

"I love you too Severus. I love you a lot." I whispered softly.

Severus gently pulled out of me, using a simple spell to clean the both of us up, before he wrapped the sheets around my naked body. He tucked himself behind me, wrapping his arms around me.

He kissed my cheek, his fingers in my hair. I closed my eyes with a small smile on my face. And I could still feel him running his fingers through my hair as I fell asleep.

⬅️➡️

[cloudybarnes]

bad idea right?

Pairing: theodore nott x reader

Summary: after theo breaks up with you, he pledges to make things right and do anything necessary to win you back. however, you are determined to make him work if he wants to win you over again aka part two to new beginnings

Word Count: 2.3k

Masterlist

a/n: LONG AWAITED PART TWO WOOHOOOO also this could be read as a solo instead of a part two if you really wanted, but here's part one in case you wanna read that as well ;)

✰  ✰  ✰

“Please don’t tell me you got back together with him!” Ginny groaned. She sat on the edge of your bed as Hermione braided your hair for the night. 

“No, I didn’t get back with him. I told him if he really wanted to prove it to me, then he could.” 

“So you’re thinking of getting back with him.” She said disapprovingly. Hermione chuckled from her seat in the bed behind you. She was working on doing dutch braids in your hair. 

“I think it’s fine, Gin,” Hermione said. “It’s not as if she’s going to jump back in bed with him.”

You waggled your eyebrows teasingly to Ginny. She gasped and swatted your shoulder. “That’s so not funny, (Y/N/N). Just because you think he’s sexy doesn’t mean you should get back with him.”

Theodore broke up with you very unexpectedly. He barely even had a reason for breaking up with you, which left you heartbroken and devastated. You were in bed for a few days, had a good cry, and then you were back. 

Theo had tried to mend the broken bond between your relationship, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to take him back that easily. Your ego was high, and you knew you would be kicking yourself if something like that happened again right when you took him back. 

“Don’t worry, Ginny. If he really wants me back, he’s gonna have to work for it. He knows that.”

“Alright,” Hermione said as she tied off the end of your hair. “All finished. Your hair’s gonna look so good tomorrow.”

“Theo better be drooling when you see him,” Ginny said, “if not, I’ll give him a different reason to drool.” She made a motion of punching her fists together, insinuating she would punch him in the mouth. 

You chuckled. “Hopefully there won’t be any blood drawn. I don’t think he’d really wanna go through all the trouble if it just got him a busted lip.”

“Oh no,” Ginny grinned, “it would be more than just a busted lip. I’ve got five brothers, I’m known to throw a mean punch or two.”

“Lights out girls!” The prefect yelled as she knocked on your bedroom door. 

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Alright, I’ll see you guys at breakfast. But for real, if Theo tries anything you know I’m right there for you.” 

You smiled, grateful to have a friend as awesome as her. “Yeah, Gin, I know. Thank you.” 

She smiled, “night guys.”

You two said your good nights as Hermione moved from your bed to her own. 

“What do you think he’ll do tomorrow?” You asked Hermione as she shut off the lights. You pulled the covers close to your body, waiting for her response. 

“I’m not sure,” she replied, getting comfy in her own bed. “Hopefully something sweet. He’s got a lot of making up to do if he wants to get back on our good side.”

You smiled softly, “yeah, you’re right. Night, ‘Mione.”

“Goodnight.”

✰  ✰  ✰

The next morning at breakfast, the owl dropped a letter in front of you.

“What’s that?” Ron asked, his mouth filled with food. 

Ginny slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t talk with your mouth full. Honestly, you act like you were raised in a barn.”

“We were raised in the same house, you know.” He pointed. 

“What a shame that was,” she replied. 

You chuckled at their banter, and ripped open the seal on the letter. 

“What’s it say?” Hermione asked. 

You scanned over the words before you read them aloud. “It says,

(Y/N), 

I hope you know how much you mean to me. I was a fool to break things off with you. I only hope one day you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me. 

Forever yours,

Theo”.

“Forever yours?” Ginny squealed. “That is so romantic.” 

Hermione raised her brow quizzically. “Weren’t you the one telling her not to get back with him?”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “I can have mixed feelings about this. He breaks her heart but then he writes her a love letter. It’s got me confused, okay?” 

You chuckled. “I think it’s cute. It’s not gonna win me back, but it was an alright effort.”

“Oooh, what a burn,” Harry chuckled. “Poor bloke must’ve forgot how stubborn you are.”

You shook your head with a smile, “nah, he didn’t forget. If I know anything about Theo, he’s just getting started.”

“So, (Y/N/N),” Ron said, “do you want to get back with him or what’s going on with this?”

You shrugged. “I mean, obviously I still love him. It just sucks what he did and I don’t think he should be able to get off the hook that easily. He shouldn’t be forgiven for breaking my heart just because he writes a little letter.”

“I love you for that,” Ginny said as she nodded her head. 

“Hey, (Y/N/N).”

Looking behind you, you could see Enzo give a sheepish smile and a small wave. 

You grinned, “Hey Enzo, how are you? Sorry about yesterday, by the way, Theo’s a little crazy sometimes.”

He chuckled and awkwardly rubbed his hand through his hair. “Yeah, I’ve noticed. But, yeah, no, Theo and I are all good. He apologized last night and told me all about his plans to woo you.”

You chuckled with a roll of your eyes. “Go figure.” 

“Yeah,” he smiled, “anyway, I just wanted to come by and resume how we were before, you know, the whole break up thing, and drop off this book I think you’ll like.” 

Enzo pulls out a book from his satchel and hands it to you. 

“Coraline?” You asked as you flip it around and skim over the synopsis. 

“Yeah, it’s kind of spooky and psychological which I think you’ll really enjoy.”

You grinned up at him, “that’s perfect. Thank you, Enzo.” 

He sent a tight lipped smile, and nodded before turning away and walking back to the slytherin table. 

“I like Enzo,” Ginny said with a dreamy look on her face. 

You rolled your eyes with a smile. “Go get him then. He’s a sweetie.” 

“You guys and those Slytherin boys,” Ron shakes his head with a scoff. “Not even that cute, I’ll tell ya.”

“Oh, what?” Ginny asked sassily, “like you’re cute?”

“I think Ron’s cute,” Hermione winked at her boyfriend. 

“Ugh, barf,” Ginny said. 

The bell rang. You all stood to gather your things for first class. 

“We’ll see you guys later,” you smiled as Hermione and you walked out to your shared first class. 

“That was a pretty cute letter,” Hermione said as the two of you started walking down the hall. 

“Yeah, I think it was sweet, but like I said, he can’t win me back that eas-“

“Excuse me?” Someone tapped your shoulder. 

Stopping, you and Hermione turned to see a younger Slytherin boy, presumably a first year, standing before you. 

“Uh, yes?” You asked confused, “do you need help with something?”

“Um, Theodore says I have to carry your satchel and books for you.” The first year stood awkwardly. 

“Oh, uh, that’s okay, you really don’t have to.” You blushed, a little embarrassed that Theo would make a first year cater to you. 

“I have to.” He said adamantly. “Theodore said he’ll set me up with this hot girl I like if I carry your books for you.” 

Hermione snickered from next to you. You turned back to her, a bewildered smile on your face as you tried not to laugh.  

“Well,” you said as you handed the young boy your satchel. “I can’t be the one to stop your true love, now can I?”

The boy grinned as he held on to your satchel as well as his. 

“Theodore is crazy,” Hermione remarks as you continue walking to your next class. The boy followed behind the two of you all the way to your first period. 

As soon as your classroom came into view, you could see Theodore standing there with a bouquet of flowers in hand. He grinned a devilish thing as he saw you approach. 

“I’ll meet you in there,” Hermione said with a knowing smirk. 

You walked up to Theo. He was beautiful as ever, but even he knew that wouldn’t get him anywhere. 

“Hi (Y/N).” He smiled at you then turned to the kid. “I’ll take it from here. I’ll have my guys put in a good word with Maizy for you.”

The kid nodded his head and smiled as he ran off. 

Theo threw your satchel over his shoulder and held out the beautiful assortment of flowers towards you. “For you, to say I’m sorry for being a douchebag and an idiot and a stupid motherfucker. All in the words of Draco by the way. Never knew how much he liked us together.” 

You chuckled and grabbed the flowers out of Theo’s hand. “Thank you.”

He smiled and shoved his hands in his pockets. “So, have you thought about what I said yesterday?” 

You sighed. “Of course I’ve thought about it Theo. Just like I’ve thought about how much you broke my heart when you dumped me.”

“Okay, I deserved that.” 

You chuckled. “Yeah. Thank you for the flowers, Theo. And… I still care about you, I just need time to figure this all out. I can’t just forgive you that fast when you broke my heart, just  last week!”

Theo sighed, “I know. I know! Fuck! I know I fucked up, baby, but I am going to do everything I can to win you back. I’ll wait for you. I’ll wait as long as it takes, baby, I swear it to do. The boys are down my back yelling at me for how hard I screwed everything up. They think I’m stupid, and I think I’m stupid too for letting you go. I promise you, I will do everything it takes for you to trust me again, mi amore.”

Your eyes softened. Theo knew exactly how to make your heart soar. 

“Theo…” 

“No, baby,” he shook his head. “You take your time. I’m gonna be here whenever you decide if you want to forgive me or not. Hopefully you decide you do want to forgive me.” He chuckled awkwardly. 

You matched his awkward laugh. “Well, thanks again for the flowers. They’re very pretty.” 

Theo smiled and nodded before turning around and walking away. 

✰  ✰  ✰

Later that night, you sat in the library studying for your Herbology final. Ginny and Hermione offered to help you study, but you knew you’d be here too late to want to burden them. 

As you flipped through the pages of your herbology book, you tried your best to take down any notes that you thought would be important. 

Your stomach growled. 

“Knew that was inevitable.” 

When you looked up from your textbook, you could see Theo sheepishly smiling as he held two trays from the cafeteria. 

“What was?” You asked with a smile. You cleared some papers to make space for Theo to sit down. 

He grinned and placed the trays on the table as he took his seat next to you. 

“Knew you would forget to eat while you studied for this exam.” 

You chuckled and peered over to see what Theo brought you to eat. Ham, potatoes, and stuffing from the dining hall. 

“Thank you, Theo. That’s really sweet of you.” 

He slid a tray closer to you, and you eagerly picked up the provided fork and dug in. 

Theo chuckled as you scarfed down your food. “Pretty hungry?”

You nodded as you finished chewing. Theo smiled to himself and started to take a few bites of his potatoes. 

“You’re being awfully sweet to me, Theo.” 

“Haven't I always been sweet to you, darling?”

“Well, yes. But that was before.”

Theo sighed. “I know I screwed up royally. I’m trying to make up for my mistakes. I’m still the same boy I was just a few months ago. I had a lapse in judgment and that cost me the best thing in my life.”

You frowned. “Theo…”

“Don’t you miss me, (Y/N/N)?” Theo shifted to face you straight on. He nervously leaned forward on the table, staring into your eyes, waiting for your response. 

“…of course I miss you, Theo. How could I not? You’re everything to me, and I’m just so scared of something like that happening again.”

“(Y/N),” Theo started. He tentatively grabbed your hands in his. “I promise you, with everything in me, if you decide to take me back I will never hurt you or disappoint you ever again. You have my word mi amore.” 

You were conflicted. You miss Theo like crazy. You couldn’t help it. No matter what you said to your friends about him having to work hard for you, it tore you apart every time you saw him knowing you still weren’t together. You missed being his. 

“Okay,” you said. 

“Okay?” Theo’s face lit up. “You-you’re giving me another chance?”

“Yeah,” you softly smiled, “I miss my boy.”

Theo grinned and yanked you toward him, engulfing you in a hug—one you’ve been waiting days for. You missed him. You missed being held by him. 

You held around his neck tightly, scared to let go. You never realize how much you craved his touch when it was gone.  

Theo buried his face in your hair, breathing in your scent. “God, I’ve missed you.” 

You smiled and pulled back. Theo smiled back at you. Slowly, you leaned in and pressed your lips against his in a warm, longing kiss. Your hands rested on his cheeks, his on your waist as you kissed with all the love stored up between you. 

When he pulled away, Theo stayed close with his forehead rested against yours. “I promise you baby, I’m here for good.” 

“You better be.” 

[angelfic]

— I MISS YOU, I’M SORRY.

pairing: theodore nott x reader

summary: you haven’t seen theo since he supposedly left you to join the other side. now that he’s back and has revealed his true intentions to you, you’re finding it hard to be forgiving.

warnings: swearing, kissing, tiniest bit of angst, very unedited. not much else other than a whole load of waffle… my bad

author’s note: this is a sort of fix-it fic… kinda. yes I am very much stealing the essence (you could say) from marauders fics because I prefer writing those and yes it’s basically this drabble recycled and yes grimmauld place is still the order headquarters well into the war just don’t question my timeline and you’ll be fine ok ty enjoy xoxo

12 Grimmauld place feels unsettling at the best of times, what with the portrait of Walburga Black hurling insults at you every time her curtain slips open and the row of shrunken house-elf heads mounted on the wall. The Order of the Phoenix holding hushed up meetings in the dining room while you and your friends are forced to stay upstairs isn’t anything new or surprising, but the last few days feel different.

Instead of Mrs Weasley telling members of the Order to whisper when you, her kids and Harry and Hermione are in the room, she flaps about ordering them to stop talking altogether. At first you think you’re imagining it when her eyes flick over to you every time, until you bring it up to Ginny and Hermione.

“You’re not imagining it,” Hermione mutters as she shuts the door of the bedroom and casts a quick Muffliato charm before settling cross legged on the bed opposite you and Ginny. “I overheard Mrs Weasley and Tonks in the kitchen this morning, talking about how the Order is arranging transport for some Death Eater spies to come back here.”

You gasp, pretending to be scandalised. “You mean you were evesdropping. That’s not very prefect-y of you.” Ginny snorts at Hermione’s indignant glare and you can’t help cracking a smile at the way her cheeks have slightly reddened. “Sorry, sorry, you know I’m kidding. But what’s that got to do with her looking at me like I’ve gone through a personal tragedy?”

“Your ex-boyfriend did leave you to go join the Death Eaters,” Ginny points out. Hermione gapes at her, but Ginny merely throws her hands up in exasperation. “Well, he did! No point beating around the bush!”

A lump rises in your throat at the mention of Theodore. Truth be told, you’ve tried not to think about what happened since the last time you spoke about him. ‘Spoke’ being a strong word since it was mostly crying and sniffling and blowing your nose into tissue after tissue in Ginny’s room at the Burrow. Mrs Weasley had made your favourite dinner that night and brought you up a hot chocolate to make you feel better. And it really had- so much so that you refused to speak about him since.

You’re more angry than you are sad now, which makes you nod at Ginny’s words. “You’re right. He’s an arsehole, there’s no point in tip-toeing around it for my sake.” Hermione frowns a little, worry clear as day on her face, but you don’t stop talking. “Besides, we’re on opposite sides and this is a war happening. Not some silly, childish break-up. He chose to be a Death Eater and if we have to fight him, so be it.”

Hermione and Ginny stay quiet for a few seconds and watch you breathe heavily. Thankfully, before either of them can speak, Harry and Ron come bursting into the room.

“They’ve only gone and brought Death Eaters into the bloody building!” Ron shakes his head.

Harry snorts at Ron’s dramatics. “Ex-Death Eaters. Apparently. Still a bit dodgy, in fairness.”

“I thought they were spies,” you say, unable to help your curiosity as you stand up. Ginny and Hermione follow you out of the room as you all peak over the bannister to try and get a glimpse of the action downstairs. Annoyingly, there only seem to be a couple of dishevelled looking Order members milling around.

“Maybe Mrs Weasley and Tonks got it mixed up, or maybe they aren’t privy to what’s going on…” Hermione frowns, deep in thought. “I don’t think anyone but Dumbledore knows what’s actually going on.”

Harry makes an irritated sound. “What’s new?”

“Oh, by the way, Mum sent us up to get you lot for dinner,” Ron says absentmindedly as he tries to get a good look over your shoulder at whatever is happening in the hall downstairs. “Mind you, that was before all the Death Eater business so she’ll probably send us right back up.”

The five of you quickly shuffle downstairs to get to the dining room and while your stomach is growling loud enough to forget any thoughts of Order business, Ron and Harry linger in the hall a little in an attempt to get some answers. You don’t doubt Harry will get some, being the Chosen One and all.

You nudge and elbow your way into the dining room where you’re happily surprised to see a messy-haired Tonks yawning over a bowl of soup. She smiles sleepily when she spots the three of you.

“Hi, girls,” she mumbles through a yawn. “Merlin, I’m exhausted. I keep falling asleep in my soup. Good thing it’s mushroom.” She points to her newly platinum blonde hair that matches the contents of her bowl.

“Why’re you so tired?” Hermione asks as she ladles some soup into bowls for you, Ginny and herself. Her voice is quiet as not to attract attention from Mrs Weasley with her questioning. “Is it to do with tonight’s, uh, Order business?”

“Yep.”

Tonks looks as though she’s about to drift off and Ginny seems to jump at the opportunity to gather information.

“So, what are their names?” She gets straight to the point, glaring at you when you choke on your soup a little, not expecting her to be so blunt.

You and Hermione stop eating and wait with bated breath for Tonks to refuse to answer. She merely yawns again, before talking. “You’ll meet them soon enough.”

“Meet them?” you ask, unable to help yourself. “Aren’t they… uh, you know… dangerous?”

“Dumbledore doesn’t seem to think so,” Tonks says, shrugging. You grow a little frustrated at this, since Dumbledore isn’t exactly known for having straightforward plans. While you know his intentions are good, someone he thinks is safe could very well be the opposite. While you ponder this, Tonks’ next words quickly turn your irritation into shock. “The others were understandably quite wary, what with one of them being You-Know-Who’s son and everything, but…”

You feel a ringing in your ear and every word coming from Tonks may as well be directed to her mushroom soup because you aren’t listening anymore. You-Know-Who’s son. You haven’t seen Mattheo since term ended, and even then it was only from a distance. You hadn’t spoken to him since Theo revealed his Dark Mark to you and you’d since avoided his entire friend group like the plague. If Mattheo is in the building, you can only hope and pray that Theodore isn’t with him.

Vaguely aware of someone shaking you by the shoulder, you snap out of your thoughts. “Who else is with Mattheo?” you ask Tonks, your voice sounding rough to your own ears. She blinks through her sleepiness, slightly startled awake by your unwavering eye contact. “Voldemort’s son. Who’s with him? What do they look like?”

You’re so focused on getting an answer from Tonks, and Hermione and Ginny are clearly on the same page as you now since they’re both silent and waiting for a response, that none of you notice Mrs Weasley entering the dining room.

“Tonks, is he blonde or-?”

“Enough!” Mrs Weasley interrupts you hastily, making everyone jump. She sounds panicked, but the look she throws Tonks is stern, like a warning to keep silent. When she turns back to you however, her eyes soften and her voice is gentle, albeit with a hint of annoyance. “I asked Dumbledore not to bring them here while everyone was awake. I didn’t want you all upset again, dear. Look, you can have your dinner upstairs, I’ll bring it up to you!”

You’re grateful for her concern, but it’s a little hard to feel anything other than the pit in your stomach since she’s just confirmed what you were dreading.

Ginny speaks up first, angry on your behalf. “Mum, she deserves to know if that awful git is in the same house as her! I say she ought to go and deck him in the face.”

“Ginny!” Hermione looks at her in exasperation as Mrs Weasley gasps, horrified. “That sort of attitude isn’t going to help anyone.”

“You’re right,” you mumble, getting up from your seat.

Hermione lets out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”

“I should go and deck him in the face.”

Hermione’s sputtering falls to deaf ears as you abruptly leave your seat to go out into the hall, the scraping of chairs behind you indicating that everyone is following closely.

Realistically, you have no plans to actually hit Theodore. In fact, you don’t think you’ve ever successfully landed a punch before in your life. This doesn’t stop you charging into the hallway and elbowing your way through the huddle of Order members to get to the door they seem to be crowded around.

Kingsley Shacklebolt is the last of them to stumble out of your way, clearly too surprised by your sudden presence to continue guarding the door. You raise a shaky hand to the doorknob and hesitate for a second, suddenly nervous. Kingsley takes this moment to snap out of his surprise and redirects his attentions to what you’re about to do next.

“My dear, I’m afraid I can’t allow you to-”

“Kingsley, do you have any idea why I’m standing here?” you say curtly, cutting him off.

He throws a quick glance at Mrs Weasley, almost as if it’s by reflex. Clearly she’s told more people than Dumbledore to keep word of Theodore far from you. “I, uhm, I may have heard a thing or two…”

“Right, so are you going to stop me entering this room, then?” you ask boldly. Your voice catches slightly on the end of your sentence and Kingsley falters a little.

“Well, really I should-“ he begins, eyes darting to your own slightly teary ones. He sighs. “No, I’m not. Just try not to hex the boy.”

He steps out of your way and you finally barge into room, the door swinging open as you stay lingering near the entrance. The room is just as dingy as the rest of the house, lit up by some candles dotted around the room

You first see Professor McGonagall getting up abruptly from her chair where she was previously sat next to a standing Dumbledore. He merely peers at you over his half moon spectacles and raises his eyebrows.

You suddenly feel a little silly, and rude for barging in like that. “Sorry, Professor Dumbledore, I-“

You stop talking when see movement on the other side of the room from the corner of your eye. Just as Tonks had said, Mattheo Riddle, son of Lord Voldemort is standing right there, flanked by Lorenzo Berkshire… and Theodore. Your mouth goes dry.

As soon as you catch his eye, he smiles broadly at you. You don’t return the gesture, taking his appearance in instead. He’s thinner than the last time you saw him. No visible injuries, but he’s definitely seen better days. His dirty blonde hair is overgrown and unruly as it falls into his eyes which, despite brightening up at your presence, are tired.

You keep your expression as impassive as you can, slightly angry with yourself at the twinge of concern you feel. It was all well and good interrupting whatever meeting was happening in here before you came in, but now that you’re here… you have no idea what to do or say.

Theo’s smile falters when you continue to stand there with clenched fists and a stony face and you’re tempted to just run out of the room when Dumbledore clears his throat.

“Well,” your Headmaster says pleasantly, as though you were all engaged in polite conversation rather than a strained silence. “This reunion was certainly a little earlier than anticipated, but I suppose that can’t be helped. I think we ought to give Mr Nott and Miss Y/L/N a moment alone.”

“Uh, can’t we stay in here too?” Lorenzo asks with a nervous chuckle, eyes darting to the watchful crowd standing right outside the door. You can’t blame him for wary, being an ex-Death Eater in a house full of Order members.

Mattheo nods, throwing an arm around Theodore’s shoulder, ignoring the glare he receives. “Yeah. These two won’t mind a bit of company. Right?” he asks you cheerfully. You blink at him.

“Relax, Berkshire,” Professor McGonagall says, rolling her eyes at the way Lorenzo has inched further into the room. She snaps her fingers to get them moving out the door. “Nobody is going to hex you, you silly boy.”

“Can’t say the same for Theo,” Mattheo mutters as he walks past you and follows everyone out, shutting the door.

You don’t really have any choice but to look at Theo now. He tries a smile again, despite the fact you’re not returning it and he takes a step towards you.

You immediately step back.

Theo flinches ever so slightly, his eyes unable to hide that he’s hurt.

Good, you think viciously.

Sighing, he looks at you imploringly like he wants to say something, but can’t find the words. “You’re angry with me,” he settles on muttering, his voice quiet in the dark room.

You let out a derisive laugh. “Angry? You worked that out, huh? Death-Eater’s didn’t completely addle your brain then, did they?”

“Darling, please let me explain,” Theo pleads, taking another few steps towards you.

Rather than stepping back, you whip out your wand and point it right at him. He doesn’t back away, merely raising his hands in surrender and arching an eyebrow as if to ask you if you’re serious. This angers you further.

“Do not call me darling,” you hiss, raising your wand further. Theo doesn’t react, as though he knows you’d never actually use magic to hurt him. Your hand trembles with the weight of the realisation that no, you wouldn’t hurt him. That you’ve actually been more worried that becoming a Death Eater would get him hurt than him betraying you. He left you with nothing but a cold goodbye and you still can’t help caring.

Feeling stupid, and a little bit pathetic, you drop your hand to your side and allow him to continue standing before you as he lowers his hands. You grit your teeth and cross your arms. “Explain.”

Theo lets out a relieved breath. “I never wanted to leave you,” he says, and you immediately roll your eyes. “I- no, look at me. I didn’t.”

“That doesn’t explain the fact that you did,” you deadpan, turning away to leave. Theo quickly reaches out to grasp both of your arms and gently turns you towards him.

You stiffen at the first physical contact you’ve had with him in months, your body betraying you and erupting goosebumps all over your arms in spite of your anger.

“I lied about it to protect you,” he whispers, peering at you through the strands of hair that are stubbornly falling into his eyes from weeks of neglect. Theo looks slightly pained and you recognise his expression to mean that he’s desperately trying to phrase his next words correctly. His eyes flick over to your right arm. No. To his left wrist, where you know his Dark Mark to be. “You can ask Dumbledore if you don’t believe me… Me and the others only ever took the Mark so we’d be able to spy on The D- on him.”

The relief hits you like a freight train and lightens your heavy chest all in one go. You hadn’t just felt betrayed by your boyfriend leaving you all those months ago. You had felt dread at the possibility of him joining a Pureblood supremacist’s cult. Dread at the idea that the views he’d shared with you were all lies and that he was a completely difference person to the one you loved.

Despite the relief, the sting of the breakup still lingers with you.

“That meant you had to be a prick when you left me?” you ask, voice shaking against your will. His eyes soften.

“Yes,” he says weakly. “How else could I have left you without worrying that… that he could use you against me if he found me out? I never wanted to take the Mark and it killed me when I saw the look on your face.”

Your scowl, trying your best to distract Theodore from the fact that your vision has gone blurry from the tears welling up in your eyes. By the look on his face, you doubt you’re doing a very good job. “Do you really think I would have cared about a fucking tattoo, if you had just told me the truth?”

“No, I know,” Theo sighs, absentmindedly drawing closer to you. “I’ll explain anything you want, but the work we did was too close to The Dark Lord to risk telling anyone about at the time. Dumbledore made me, Mattheo and Enzo swear not to say anything. It was safer that way.”

“Did you make an Unbreakable Vow?” you whisper, stiller than ever.

Theo furrows his brows. “No, but-”

You pull away from him abruptly and back away to the door, ignoring the way his hands reach out in an attempt to hold your arms again. “Then I hope the information you got for Dumbledore was worth it.”

You don’t look back at him, nor do you check to see if anyone is in the hallway as you run upstairs and into your room, slamming the door shut as you lean against it, breathing heavily. You stay there for a while, reeling from your anger and irritation at the fact you still have to stay in this bloody house while Theodore’s in it.

The next few days are confusing to say the least. Theo doesn’t seem to have any plans to avoid you, but he respects your space.

Sort of.

He isn’t badgering you every second of the day, but somehow whichever room you’re in, he finds himself in as well. Whenever you try and reach for something, even if it’s not on a particularly high shelf, or particularly far away, Theo beats you to it, ever the gentleman.

It’s starting to unnerve you a little.

One particular afternoon, you walk into the kitchen hoping to make a cup of tea in peace. At the table sits Theo, a cigarette hanging loosely between his fingers. When he spots you, he sits up straighter and you dawdle stupidly at the entrance.

Before you can snap out of it and remember what you came in here for, Theo gets up and walks over to the mugs. “Tea?” he asks politely, and, you think, a little hopefully.

“Will you make it and let me drink it alone?” you ask bluntly.

“I’ll make it and sit with you in silence,” he offers, undeterred despite your coldness.

Narrowing your eyes, you glance at the clock and sigh. It’s too early in the morning to put off having your tea, so you allow it. “Fine. Milk and-”

“Two sugars,” he cuts you off with an annoyingly smug smile. “I remember.”

You poke your cheek with your tongue, but stay silent as he turns his attentions to the kettle. Theo’s face quickly falls when he realises he has no idea how to use it. Your impassive expression almost cracks and you have to bite back a laugh as he examines the thing. Walking over to the counter, you drag the kettle so that it’s closer to you. And so you don’t have to be as close to Theo, but that’s besides the point.

“It’s already filled with water, you just need to flip the switch so it starts boiling,” you explain, pointing to the little part. Theo places his cigarette in between his lips as he furrows his brows, clearly skeptical of the muggle contraption. You suppose you can’t blame him since you, Hermione and Harry have had to explain the kettle to countless members of the Order since it was introduced to the house a few months ago.

You still don’t know where the plug socket is and considering the fact that Grimmauld Place has never inhabited muggles, you aren’t going to bother asking.

When Theo flicks the switch and sees the light turn red, a satisfied smile graces his lips where the cigarette still hangs. You look away from his mouth very quickly and go to sit down. Unable to leave without making things awkward, you decide the only thing to do is watch Theo make two cups of tea. He doesn’t need instruction since he knows exactly how you like it, but something catches in your throat when he uses a green mug. Your favourite colour.

The only sound in the kitchen is the clink of the spoon swirling in the cups and Theo soon brings both cups over with an incredibly concentrated frown to make sure there’s no spillages as he sets one down on the table. The other he hands to you himself and you have to clench your jaw when you grab it, your own hands brushing against his, which he doesn’t seem to be in a rush to move away.

“Thanks,” you mutter, trying to use the burning heat of the mug against your skin to distract from the fact that you have tingles.

“S’alright,” he replies, a barely restrained grin on his face. You narrow your eyes at him over the rim of the mug as you sip your tea.

Damn, you think to yourself. Why is it always so good when he makes it?

The two of you settle into a surprisingly comfortable silence as you drink your tea and he smokes. The puffs are very carefully directed away from you, but you can’t help wrinkling your nose out of habit. Back when you were still together, you were always firm about him cutting down and now you have to restrain yourself from reaching over and plucking the cigarette out of his lips to throw it away like you used to do with ease. He never objected.

Theo notices your looks all the same, and it’s almost like he’s reading your thoughts. He raises a brow, almost daring you to remove the cigarette yourself. “You want me to stop?”

“I don’t care,” you say in an attempt to sound nonchalant. Shrugging, you try your hardest not to react to his obvious bait, but it’s like a bloody reflex. “It’s your lungs on the line, not mine. If you want to lose five years off your life, then by all means, go ahead. I really couldn’t care-”

“As you wish,” he interrupts you, grinning like an idiot again. The next thing you know, he’s putting out the cigarette, and sipping his tea instead. He doesn’t even like tea.

“I didn’t say you had to stop,” you grumble, slightly pleased nonetheless.

He merely hums, taking a gulp of his tea. You accidentally let out a snort of laughter when he grimaces at the taste. Theo’s lips quirk up in amusement when you laugh, unrestrained and it’s only when you catch him staring at you that you quickly stop.

The smug expression on his face quickly returns as though he knows you’re finding it hard to be fully angry at him.

“Stop looking at me like that,” you snap, drawing your knees up on your chair towards your chin. “You look stupid. And your hair is too long.”

Theo huffs out a surprised laugh. “My hair is too long?” he asks incredulously, reaching up to tug a piece down so it reaches the bottom of his nose. “Hm, you’re right. You cut it pretty good that one time. Would you do it again for me?”

“Mrs Weasley is better at it,” you say, chin jutting out stubbornly. “I’m sure she’d be delighted if you just ask.”

“The way she looks at me, I’d be lucky to get away with my head still attached to my body,” he drawls, wholly unimpressed by your suggestion. “Why can’t you do it?”

“Because I’m not done being angry with you yet,” you reply simply, draining the contents of your mug. “Trust me when I say you don’t want me anywhere near your head with a pair of scissors either.”

Theo nods slowly, a smile gracing his lips— strange, since you just threatened physical violence. “So, what I’m hearing is that you’re not going to be angry with me forever.”

“I- Well, I didn’t mean-” you stutter pointlessly, cutting yourself off with a sigh. “I don’t know yet. It’s too early for this, leave me alone.”

“That was the first cigarette I’ve had since before I left,” Theo says quietly, searching your face for a reaction, almost nervously.

You aren’t quite sure how to respond to this random piece of information and you find yourself floundering. “Uhm. Okay, good. That’s… Yeah, that’s great for you and your lungs, well done. Saves money too. They were actually, uh, saying on the news the other day that the average amount people spend on-”

“Darling, as much as I appreciate it, that’s not what I’m getting at,” he interrupts, the ghost of a smirk at his lips. You scowl at him for letting you go on for so long and motion for him to get to the bloody point. “Every time I brought a cigarette to my lips, I remembered you weren’t going to be there to nag me about it. It just feels pointless now.”

You stare at him. “Nice to know that my nagging was what you remembered me by.”

“That’s not-” Theo cuts himself off with a laugh that sounds halfway to a groan. “Merlin, you’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?”

You open your mouth to respond, but before you can get a word out, Harry walks in which you find odd considering it’s so early in the morning and him and Ron are usually only out of bed when Mrs Weasley yells them down for breakfast.

“Morning,” he says through a yawn. The greeting is directed at you, but he sends an expectant look at Theo right after. “Time to leave, Nott.

“Leave for where?” you ask before you can help yourself. You realise with a start that Harry and Theo are dressed and ready while you’re still in your pyjamas. “Where do you have to go?”

“Horcrux hunting,” Harry says flippantly, as though he’s just announced he’s going fishing. Hermione had filled you in on the information Theo and the others had ascertained from their time with Voldemort, but you didn’t even consider them or Harry would actually be going with the Order to find them. “Nott and the others know more than we do, so they’re coming with.”

You level a look at Theo, who seems to be pointedly avoiding eye contact with you. “Thanks for sharing that tiny tidbit of information, by the way,” you mutter sourly.

He winces, getting up slowly from his chair. “It, uh, didn’t seem that important. It’s only a quick little task anyway. We’ll be back before you know it.”

“I’m not stupid,” you scoff, standing up so you can attempt to look a little more dignified as you confront Theo. Harry, on the other hand, looks as though he regrets his decision to enter the kitchen in the first place. Despite this, you hadn’t missed the way he furrowed his brows when Theo spoke. “Even if Harry wasn’t looking at you like you were speaking gibberish, I would know that you’re lying. It’s a Horcrux you’re leaving to get. Not the weekly food shop.”

Harry snickers at this, though quickly turns it into a cough when Theo sends him a withering glare. Sighing, you decide to ignore him for the moment and turn to Harry instead

“Be safe,” you say, gentler than before. “And don’t be a hero, just try and get out of there safely.”

“Pfft,” Harry waves you off, a sarcastic tone entering his voice. “When have you known me to do that?”

You roll your eyes, cracking a smile as he walks away, supposedly to find the rest of the group.

“Don’t I get a ‘be safe’ as well?” Theo tries for a casual, joking voice. A hint of irritation seeps through it though. You shift on your feet a little awkwardly, slightly flustered at his obvious jealousy.

“Uhm, okay. Bye,” you say stiffly, fiddling with the loose string of your cardigan sleeve so you have something to do with your hands other than ball them up at your sides. Theo seems to be satisfied with the curt response, or more likely your lack of insults, and he nods, turning away to leave. As you watch him walk away, a familiar sense of anxiety bubbles up in your stomach and you blurt out the only thing you can think of. “Don’t die!”

He slowly turns around, very clearly holding back a grin. You think you might thump the boy. “Will you forgive me if I come back alive?”

“Well,” you huff, crossing your arms. As petty as it may be, you’ve always found it hard to loosen a grudge. You settle for a shrug instead. “Come back alive first and then I’ll see.”

Theo takes two steps forward and closes the short distance that was previously allowing you to keep a cool- well, cool-ish, head. He keeps both arms behind his back, however, as he dips his head down slightly.

“My sweet, stubborn girl,” Theo says in a low voice. His proximity flounders you for a moment and you don’t even protest that no, you’re not his anything. The way your breathing turns shallow would be contradicting that greatly though. “I’ll try my best. And if I don’t come back alive, I promise you can yell at my ghost.”

You scowl, and this time you actually do thump him on the arm. “You’re not funny, you idiot. Now, go. I can already hear Mattheo irritating the patience out of Harry.”

Theo gives you a little two-fingered salute and a wink before he walks away again, leaving you alone with a funny feeling in settling in your stomach.

You aren’t the only one who sits anxiously in the living room waiting for the group to return with the infamous Horcrux. Ron has eaten his way through three bowls of cereal and rapidly makes a start on his fourth while Hermione tries to distract herself with reading a book that she hasn’t noticed is upside down.

After another hour goes by, Ginny, who was previously pacing up and down the stairs, sighs and turns Hermione’s book the right way up which startles her, causing her to give up altogether.

You sit cross-legged and completely still, other than switching your legs every time one of them goes numb. Eventually, you get so sick of watching Mrs Weasley mop over the same spot on the floor for the fifth time that you jump up from your seat, causing her to start and knock over the bucket of dirty mop water all over the floor.

“Oh, dear,” she mutters, waving her wand and siphoning all the water up in a second.

“Sorry, Mrs Weasley,” you say, wincing. “I’m just a little stressed since it’s been ages already-”

You get cut off by Hermione gasping at the sound of the front door opening along with voices. She grips your arm tightly. “They’re back!”

Barely registering the pain of her nails digging into the skin of your arm, you waste no time in running into the hall with the others to greet everyone at the door. You can’t help the relieved smile on your face when you do a quick head count and find everyone present.

As you get closer, you see how exhausted they look. Not to mention the fact they’re dripping water all over the rug. Harry stands at the front of the group looking like he might collapse if he stands any longer and Hermione and Ron pick up on this as they rush over to help him inside.

As they stumble him across the hall, you stop craning your neck as Theo comes into view. The relief you previously felt leaves you faster than your body knows how to deal with and you have to force yourself to breathe when you take in the state of him.

At first glance he doesn’t look particularly worse than the rest. They all have a vaguely haunted look in their eyes along with a sickly pallor like they haven’t seen the sun in days.

But the way Mattheo and Lorenzo are holding him up brings attention to the fact that all of his weight is being put on one leg. The other, to your horror, has a deep, bloody gash trailing down his thigh and onto his calf. The sight of blood steadily dripping onto the floor below has you frozen, almost mesmerised in a terrible way, and it’s not until Dumbledore speaks that you snap out of it and to attention.

“Miss Y/L/N, if you could please fetch Madam Pomfrey for me,” Dumbledore asks, his voice a lot calmer than you feel. You nod, turning away quickly before Theo can see the panic which is probably clear as day on your face.

It takes a scary second to find Madam Pomfrey, but as soon as you do, she gets down to business preparing her supplies in the living room which is as far as Theo seems to be able to make it.

He lays on the sofa, breathing shallowly as Madam Pomfrey crouches down beside him to begin assessing the wound. Peering at it closely, she looks up at Dumbledore sharply. “Inferi?”

“I’m afraid so,” he replies solemnly and you let out a choked sort of whimper.

“Merlin,” Ron whispers, looking like he might be sick. Whether that’s because Madam Pomfrey is cleaning Theo’s leg, or because of the mention of Inferi, you aren’t sure. “What the hell were you guys doing?”

“All will be explained, Mr Weasley,” Dumbledore reassures him, looking over his spectacles. “However, I must insist that for now we allow dear Madam Pomfrey to tend to Mr Nott’s injuries.”

“Will you be able to heal him?” Mattheo asks, swallowing hard. The concern in his voice for his best friend has your heart clenching and you look to Madam Pomfrey just as earnestly for an answer.

“Yes, I dare say I can,” Madam Pomfrey says grimly, but she pulls out a couple little bottle of potions from her bag with a frown. “That doesn’t mean it won’t be extremely painful, unfortunately.”

“Can’t imagine what pain feels like,” Theo mumbles, shifting his position on the sofa slightly and wincing. His face goes whiter than before and he shuts his eyes tightly from the pain, but he still manages to talk, however hard it may be. “Not like I’ve just had Inferi mistaking my leg for their lunch.”

“No talking and no moving,” Madam Pomfrey instructs Theo, sending him a stern glare.

“Sorry-”

“Shhh!” you hiss, giving him a glare of your own. Theo’s eyes flutter open slightly and his lips quirk up when he sees you leaning over him as close as you can get without Madam Pomfrey shooing you away.

His smile quickly drops when Madam Pomfrey pours some purple liquid into the open wound, causing it to hiss and smoke. The groan that leaves Theo has you holding your breath and you fight the urge to shut your eyes and turn away.

“Merlin, I can’t watch,” Lorenzo gags, his skin turning even sicklier than before. Turning away, he holds onto Mattheo’s shoulder to steady himself, the latter looking more interested than anything as he peers at Theo’s sizzling cut. Lorenzo shakes his head and holds a hand over his mouth every time he can hear Madam Pomfrey pouring more of the potion. “Oh, God, that’s disgusting.”

“Mr Berkshire, if you are unable to watch, then don’t,” Madam Pomfrey snaps, screwing the bottle shut and grabbing another one. She waves her hand in an impatient shooing motion. “In fact, everyone out. Now! This isn’t a Quidditch match, for heaven’s sake!”

Dumbledore starts filing everyone out and you consider staying for a minute but Madam Pomfrey’s raised eyebrows have you hurtling out of the room with everyone else. Theo starts to say something, but a drop of something else makes him grit his teeth and the green smoke produced by the potion follows you out the door.

The next hour or so is filled with Harry, Mattheo and Lorenzo being fussed over by Mrs Weasley, who insists on them going up to bed once they’ve cleaned up and changed into dry clothing. Unfortunately for the rest of you, this means you won’t be getting an update any time soon. Dumbledore is, as always these days, nowhere to be seen.

“I wonder if they found the Horcrux,” you say under your breath to Hermione as she anxiously taps her foot against the kitchen floor.

“They did,” she says grimly, glancing impatiently at the clock. She has her thinking face on, brows furrowed and gaze distant. “It was in a cave in the middle of nowhere. Harry quickly told me before Mrs Weasley sent them off. I wonder when they’ll wake up though… They didn’t look too happy, and I have a feeling it wasn’t all to do with Nott.”

You nod slowly, a weight lifting off your chest despite the last part. If, after all this, they hadn’t retrieved the Horcrux, you think you’d probably have gone to the bloody cave yourself.

“Theodore’s resting now, anyway,” Hermione adds, giving you a quick glance as though she’s waiting for a reaction. You keep your face as impassive as you can, attempting a casual nod. “Madam Pomfrey says he’s healing nicely and his leg will be fine. It’ll just be a bit sore for a few days. I’m sure he’s awake if you want to go see him.”

“I might,” you mumble, shrugging. You try to sound flippant, but the urge to clamber out of your seat probably shows because Hermione rolls her eyes at you.

“Oh, why don’t you just put him out of his misery?” she asks, her words coming out at the speed of light, like she’s been wanting to say it for a while. You blink at her in shock. Sighing, she leans over the table and her tone becomes gentle. “I know he lied to you, and you should be angry with him for that! But… well, it’s been a really awkward few days with him asking us where you are every second of the day. And, technically, he was never really a Death Eater, he was helping our side!”

Hermione takes a deep breath and exhales, slumping back in her seat as she waits for your reaction. You try not to laugh. “How long have you been holding that one in?”

“Since the second he turned up here,” she says, sagely. “Now, don’t change the subject! Go and see him. Go on, off you go!”

You stand up, swiftly dodging Hermione’s flapping hands to try and rush you out the door. “Okay, I’m going. It’s probably about time anyway,” you grumble, a fond smile creeping up on you nonetheless.

Looking satisfied, Hermione stops trying to usher you out and you make your way over to the living room again. The door is open and you sigh with relief when you notice the room is empty, bar Theo who’s in the same position as he was the last time you saw him. His eyes are shut and you wonder if he’s sleeping until you step on a creaky floorboard and he cracks one eye open.

“Hey,” you say quietly, tip-toeing into the room to perch on the coffee table adjacent to the sofa. “Did I wake you?”

“Nah,” Theo replies, moving to sit up as much as he can. You suspect he’d have the same answer even if he was asleep. He looks a lot more awake than he did before and you feel your chest squeeze tightly when you realise how glad you are. Theo seems to notice this and he reaches over to hold one of your hands, detaching it from the way you grasp them both together. “I promised you I’d come back alive, didn’t I?”

You snort, shaking your head at his ability to be so chipper. “Alive and dripping blood all over the carpet. You know if Kreacher finds out it was you, he’ll murder you in your sleep, right?”

“It doesn’t count if I die now,” Theo protests, frowning as if you’re talking about a serious possibility and not joking. “Deal was you’d forgive me if I came back alive after finding the Horcrux, remember?”

“Hm,” you hum, pretending to think deeply about it as he rubs circles on the back of your hand with his thumb. It causes you to momentarily lose your focus. “What I remember saying is that I would think about it.”

Theo shakes his head, a look of mock concern overtaking his features. “I think the stress of my injury has gotten to your memory… What I remember is you vowing to forgive me the moment I stepped foot in this place.”

“I think Madam Pomfrey’s painkillers are getting to you,” you say drily, moving to kneel on the floor next to him.

“She didn’t use any,” Theo grumbles, looking mournfully at the bandages on his leg. “She’s really sadistic, I’m telling you.”

You laugh, ducking your head so you aren’t flustered by the way Theo’s eyes focus on your smile with a grin of his own.

“You know what she told me would help with the pain?” Theo asks quietly, his enviously long eyelashes fanning over his cheekbones as he looks down at you, almost nervously.

“Let me guess,” you say, sitting up so the distance between your faces is much shorter now. “A kiss to make it all better?”

“Healer’s orders,” he says, shrugging. His breathing quickens when you don’t move away and he swallows hard, eyes dropping lower to your mouth when you bite your lip to stop from cracking a smile. “I’m not saying you have to, but if you’re okay with going directly against her orders, then-”

You cut him off by pressing a lingering kiss to his lips and he inhales sharply, unmoving for a split second before parting his lips and deepening the kiss. Theo’s hands move to your waist where he uses his remaining strength to hoist you up onto the sofa next him, one of your legs thrown over his waist as you half-straddle him.

You gasp into his mouth when he nips at your bottom lip and the sound he makes in the back of his throat has your cheeks warming up and you kiss him harder. The fact it’s been so long since you’ve even been near him has you both kissing for what feels like hours and you only pull away when you need to breathe and you’re worried you’re leaning on Theo’s leg.

Pulling away, you scan Theo’s face and pause for a second to take in his beautiful features. His eyes are blown wide like he can’t believe he’s here with you, kissing you. A warm feeling starting in your stomach spreads all the way down to the tips of your fingers as he looks at you.

“Any other very important requests from the Healer?” you ask breathlessly, feeling a shiver run down your spine where Theo lightly skims his fingers. A dangerous smile overtakes his face and his lips, pink and swollen from kissing you, curve up, causing you to narrow your eyes at him.

“I think she mentioned something about a sponge bath?”

You whack his arm and he yelps, grabbing your wrist to stop you assaulting him further. “Hey, I’m an injured patient!”

“Your leg is injured, not your arm.”

“It is now,” he says, pouting as he rubs dramatically at his bicep where you lightly thumped him. He grumbles when you roll your eyes and press another kiss to his lips to get him to stop pouting. “You’re lucky I love you.”

“Hm,” you hum, settling your face in his chest and sighing at the warmth of his arms, feeling him smile against your forehead where he kisses you.

© angelfic 2023.

[birdiebirdjay]

percy weasley: fusses over ginny in CoS, notices that she'd been acting odd, runs to meet Ron (and Harry kind of) in the water after he was kidnapped for the trial in GoF

also percy weasley: is constantly belittled by everyone in his family for his passions and following his dreams, called pompous in narration, has a fight with his father who essentially calls him an idiot and a shame to the family when he had just gotten the job he'd been striving for for literal years (HE WAS ONLY 18 AT THE TIME!!!) and leaves afterwards

fandom: pERCY WEASLEY HATED HIS FAMILY AND NEVER CARED ABOUT THEM!!!!!!

percy weasley: is canonically nice to younger students who ask him questions, gets bloodied up at the world cup with his older brothers (it is implied they got injured while trying to find the twins and ginny/ keep them safe) has a secret girlfriend (wHO ACTUALLY TREATS HIM REALLY WELL AND LISTENS TO HIM UNLIKE MOST OF HIS FAMILY MEMBERS), meets up with said girlfriend to snog (and probably more kdsjfskj) while on patrol, writes letters to her all summer, makes bets with her about quidditch with money he doesn't have and screams and jumps up and down about winning, will rant to her about stuff, makes jokes with her, genuinely very shaken up when she's attacked, keeps a photo of her bc he loves her that much

also percy: is a prefect/actually does his job as prefect

fandom: PERCY IS A NERDY PRUDE WHO IS ASOCIAL, HATES SPORTS, AND DOES NOTHING BUT WORK

me, rereading the books: w-what

(disclaimer i was like this my first few times reading so uh yeah)

(also i dont have anything against the other weasleys, they're some of my favorite characters i'm just very emotional over percy rn, and i'm not saying percy was perfect [ooh boy he definitely had his faults, the letter in OotP was insane] i'm just saying that the story is pretty goddamn sad from his pov)

[tomriddlehyperfixataion]

The Diary of Tom Riddle- Tom Riddle x Reader - "Good" Ending.

pairing: Tom riddle x Fem reader

warnings: Horcruxes, Manipulation, Tom being Tom, side effects of being possessed, bleeding, self-harm, vomiting, (y/n) is going THROUGH it. horror elements. Tom Riddle.

summary: 16-year-old (y/n) finds a mysterious black book on the floor of after it slips out of Ginny Weasleys caldron, curious, she picks it up and keeps it-which leads to one thing after another and discovers the book is far more than it seems.

-Part 1- -Part 2- -Part 3- -Part 4- -Part 5- -Part 6- -Part 7- -Bad ending- -CC ending-

=

(y/n)’s hands shook as she entered the restricted section for the third night in a row. She couldn’t believe she’d been getting away with this every night, far after curfew had ended. But finally-the book Tom had needed her to get was in sight and she snatched it from the shelf, casting a quick ‘Silencio’ before undoing the chains around it and opening it.

“Possessions and reanimations” she muttered under her breath, looking for those two particular chapters Tom had told her to find. He’d told her one of the only, safe, ways to get whatever was trying to possess her out was to force it into a new host-that way it would leave more…willingly and not try to cling to her soul that it was trying to take over.

Research in the other books Tom had told her to read only confirmed that theory. An exorcism would leave her drained and vulnerable for the spirit/demon/being to reattach to, and it took a good chunk of magic/demonic magic knowledge that she did not have.

With a quick glance at the pages, she cast a copy spell to the diary and shoved the book back into the shelf after re-chaining it. Filch now a days patrolled the hallway where Mrs. Norris had been petrified so she didn’t have to worry about him.

Hopefully.

She carefully snuck back out of the restricted section, avoiding the patrolling prefects on the way back to her dorm. She let out a harsh breath as she reached her dorm room-her roommates/friends already asleep.

She crept to her bed and closed the curtains, casting the muffling spell and opening the diary that she’d been clutching in her hand. The two chapters were inked into the pages now, Tom making notes before her very eyes.

Her eyes drew to the scribble of notes at the bottom page.

‘Need healing potion. Special potion required to work. Must be done on a full moon. Blood sample needed. Large cauldron needed. Spell circle needed.’

She watched him scribble more and more notes with interest, feeling very touched he was so determined to help her get the attached spirit off her and into a body of its own so she could be free of it and, maybe, kill it so it couldn’t wreak havoc on Hogwarts.

The page flipped on its own and she watched as he drew out several spell circles, attempting to find the right one that she would need to draw out in blood before starting the potion that would build the body for the spirit that had latched onto her.

Finally, Tom landed on the perfect spell circle, two actually, it was all nonsense to her since it was very old magic, but Tom wrote notes at the bottom for her, detailing the properties of the spell circles and the runes within them.

‘The first circle is a sealing spell so it can't go anywhere. The second is a protection circle for you so it can't latch back onto you.’

(y/n) nodded to herself at the notes, watching the page flip again as Tom wrote down more notes and potion ingredients for the potion she’d create.

Three days of this, of watching Tom go nuts with his writing, watching firsthand of his magical knowledge-at only 16, Tom had been insanely knowledgeable and a magical genius, to the point where his personality enchantment was too. It was comforting, knowing he was so proactive in making sure she was going to be okay, that he wanted to help her.

It made warm fluffy feelings grow in her chest and tummy.

It made her think, while Tom continued to write notes, that she had wished-more than once now-that Tom was real, well-alive….alive and her age. He most likely was still alive, probably in his 60s now, but she wished the Tom she’d gotten to know was alive, real, not just words on a page or a ghost-like thing or just a spell.

She wanted him to be real, touchable, breathing…warm.

She sighed, it would never happen-Tom was only a personality enchantment, the most he would be ever able to do was to materialize outside the diary for a limited time or pull her into his memories/the subspace of his spell-based mind.

More recently, especially since telling her he believed she was being possessed, he’d been materializing outside the diary every night, watching over her as she slept and comforting her when she had nightmares about that strange room. It was nice, really nice, a comfort she hadn’t had since before the school year started remerging with Tom being around every night.

Those nights, when he stuck around, his hand a feather-light weight on her shoulder or in her hair, it was easy to sleep.

Her eyes drew back down to the diary-where Tom’s words stared back at her.

‘When is the next full moon (y/n)?’

(y/n) furrowed her brows and grabbed her astrology homework, flipping through the notes she’d taken. It seemed the next full moon was this upcoming Saturday, and it was Thursday night/very early Friday now. She told as such to Tom, and he quickly wrote back to her.

‘Very good, the quicker this is done the better. Now. I need you to get these potion ingredients and bring them to the 2nd floor girls’ lavatory, the haunted one you’ve mentioned.’

(y/n) furrowed her brows, why that bathroom in particular?

“why that room in particular?”

‘It’s not that room exactly, but what it leads to. For this spell to work, you need to be where the spirit is strongest, or where it’s been residing, so it’s more willing to leave your body, and since it’s the heir of Slytherin attempting to possess you-you need to go into the chamber of secrets.’

(y/n)’s eyes widened, and her jaw dropped open. “What?” she whispered under her breath, her quill shaking in her grip. She had to go into the chamber of secrets??? But how?! And how did Tom know how to get to it?? Was the entrance in the bathroom the whole damn time????

“how do you know where the entrance is?!”

‘I found it 50 years ago, during the attacks in 1942-3, while I was trying to hunt down the heir to stop the attacks. I couldn’t afford for Hogwarts to close, I didn’t have a home to go to, so I did what I had to do, and I found it. I couldn’t seal it off however, but maybe you can, or at least seal off most of the underground terrain.’

‘But I believe the heir died in the chamber attempting to find it, and 50 years ago attempted to do the same as they’re doing now-possessing someone to do the dirty work for them.’

(y/n) stared in horror at the page, her hand shaking. Dirty work for them…the heir of Slytherin had been possessing them and opening the chamber to attack muggleborns, so while she-technically-wasn’t responsible for all the attacks, she was being used as a host to open the chamber.

(y/n) took a deep breath, closing her eyes and strengthening her resolve.

“okay. What do I need to do?”

-

She spent the next whole day stealing potion ingredients from Snape’s potions cabinet, only getting a little at a time when he was off in classes, undoing the detection charm each time and then recasting it after relocking the door-Snape was none the wiser.

Tom really was a magical genius.

the day passed slowly, (y/n) watching the sky and clock anxiously as she waited for curfew to start and the full moon to be in the sky. Her friends noticed her anxiety, but she told them she was just stressed for exams since the distractions from the chamber hadn’t allowed much studying for everyone.

They understood and left her be after that.

After classes ended for the day, she rushed up to her dorm room, stowing away all the potion ingredients into the cauldron she’d hidden under her bed. She pushed the caldron back under the bedframe and hopped onto her bed, laying down.

She took a long deep breath, her eyes feeling heavy and her chest tight. She wanted to sleep, but was scared again-now knowing that when she did sleep-the heir could possess her with terrifying ease.

However Tom told her she should sleep a bit before going to the chamber, so she was fully rested and the strongest she could be before performing the spell.

So, she napped, and thankfully-when she woke up, she was still in her bed and her roommates were in the room, all chatting quietly in respect for her sleep. “Well good evening sleeping beauty,” her friend teased as she noticed (y/n) sitting up. “Have a good nap?”

(y/n) nodded, rubbing her eyes and then fixing her hair as she slid out of bed. It was about 6:30 now, time for dinner. Everyone crowded in the common room, waiting for Snape to arrive to take them to the Great Hall.

Dinner was a bit quiet, but (y/n) was nearly trembling with nerves, tonight would be the end of it. Tonight, the threat of the chamber of secrets would be defeated and things would finally go back to normal.

She eats her food faster than usual but tries to slow down so she didn’t look odd, and then as soon as she’s back in her dorm, she changes out of her robes and into some casual clothes, drawing the curtains around her bed and grabbing Tom’s diary from under her pillow.

“everything’s ready.”

The ink disappeared into the page and Tom’s elegant scrawl replaced it.

‘Very good. Well done (y/n),’

“thanks, im terrified.”

‘you’re being brave, and I commend you for that, what time is it now?’

(y/n) flushed at his compliment and looked at her watch. It was just about 7:15 now, the sun starting to set.

“7:15, its still a good while till the moon will be out.”

‘Very well,’

(y/n) talked to Tom a bit longer to ease her nerves, and soon enough her roommates were asleep, and it was way past curfew, the full moon visible through the windows that peered into the black lake.

She slowly slipped out of bed, slipping on her shoes and carefully taking the cauldron from below her bed, holding it carefully as she snuck out of her room, Tom’s diary and her wand tight in her other hand.

She crept out of the common room, swallowing harshly. She was all the way down in the dungeons and she had to get all the way up to the 2nd floor girls’ bathroom-where the ghost of Myrtle was-the girl who had died to the heir of Slytherin 50 years ago.

She could only imagine what could’ve happened if Tom hadn’t helped her discover the possession on her, maybe more deaths, maybe she would’ve been fully possessed and lost within her own body.

She swallowed down her fear and quietly walked through the torch-lit halls, slowly heading up each staircase-hiding every time she heard another footstep or the light of a patrolling professor or prefect.

She held her breath for a moment as she hid behind a pillar, her hand clutching her chest as she heard Professor Snape pass down the hallway behind her-exactly the hallway she had to go into.

She waited for a few long moments, waiting until the light from his wand was completely gone before she went for it, making it to the hall of moving staircases, which were hardly patrolled due to the complexity of it all.

She quickly made her way up the floors, pausing every time the staircase under her feet moved-waiting for it to move back to where she needed to go. Eventually, she got to the 2nd floor, sneaking down the hall, the caldron knocking against her legs every few seconds as she had to hold back from running to the bathroom.

Filch was asleep, snoring loudly, which covered up her footsteps and the creak of the door as she snuck into the bathroom. She let out a slow breath, casting a quick silencing charm to make sure no one heard her.

She turned to the sinks, her eyes drawing to the singular rusted sink, right in front of her. She set the cauldron down, walking towards the sink and attempted to turn the rusted sink on, but it didn’t. She gazed at the side of the nozzle, her fingers grazing the snake that was embedded into the metal.

This really was it, just like Tom said, this was the entrance to the chamber of secrets.

She swallowed harshly, taking a step back, looking at the sink structure as a whole. She took a deep breath, remembering the hissing language from her dreams, licking her lips.

“O-open,” She spoke in parseltongue, clumsy and she hoped she said the right thing, but it seems she had-the top part of the sink lifted into the air, her eyes going wide at the sight, next the sinks all slowly shifted apart to show a large opening-the sink with the snake embedding sinking into the floor-a grate sliding over it, allowing direct passage into the dark tunnel that went straight down.

The chamber of secrets had been beneath the castle all this time, which made her wonder-when plumbing had been implemented into the castle, how had it not been found? Surely it had a different entrance back then???

She shook her head, sighing, that was a thought for later. She picked up the cauldron, stepping closer to the tunnel edge. She looked over the edge, pursing her lips at the pitch black that enveloped the tunnel.

She clutched the caldron, casting a quick charm so nothing fell out, and jumped down.

Wind rushed past her ears and her hair flew up. She let out a scream as she descended into the tunnels below the castle, tumbling out of the pipe and onto a harsh pile of…she looked down and then instantly stood up, clutching the cauldron.

Bones.

Animal bones thankfully, but still bones. She took a shuddering breath and looked away, taking her wand out of her jumper pocket and holding it up. “Lumos,” she murmured, her wand illuminating her way as she delved deeper into the caverns beneath Hogwarts.

All around her she could hear the echo of dripping water, the sound of her feet hitting the ground, and her own breathing.

She covered her mouth and slammed into a stalagmite, a short scream escaping her as she looked upon the humongous snakeskin in front of her. It had to be at least 70 feet long, maybe more. What the fuck? Was this the skin of the monster of Slytherin?

Something clicked in her head-the monster was a basilisk. It only made sense. She shook her head, taking a deep breath and continuing, carefully maneuvering around the basilisk skin. The tunnel went deeper and deeper-curving further and further below Hogwarts, until finally she reached a wall guarded by two snakes, their eyes replaced with glittering emeralds.

They seemed to stare back at her, waiting for her to do something. She swallowed harshly and clumsily spoke parseltongue again. “Open,” she let out a breath as the snakes unraveled from each other, a slit in the wall appearing and the snakes now acting as hinges as the wall opened like a set of double doors.

She remembered seeing this in her nightmares.

She took a shuddering breath stepping into the chamber of secrets. Instantly she felt a chill go up her spine, looking into the long dark hallway that led deeper into the chamber of secrets. The stone path was wet-the sound of water dripping echoing through the massive space. On either side of her were rows and rows of serpent statues that curled up into the very very tall ceiling.

She swallowed down her nerves-clutching the cauldron handle in her fist. This was it, this was it. She was going to expel the heir of Slytherin from her soul and trap it in a body to seal it away so it couldn’t open the chamber of secrets or possess anyone ever again.

She nearly sped walked to the front of the chamber, looking up at the gigantic stature of Salazar Slytherin, that seemed to sneer down at her-as if it knew she was a muggleborn tramping upon his sacred space. She frowned, casting a drying charm on the floor beneath her and undoing the sticking charm on the cauldron, taking out everything she needed.

First things first, the spell circles. She took her wand, closing her eyes and turning her head away, slicing into her wrist to draw blood. She instantly felt queasy-even though usually blood didn’t make her queasy-but the reasoning for this time did.

She took a deep shaky breath and waved her wand over her wound, beginning to make the two spell circles Tom had drawn out in the diary for her, the diary open in front of her for reference. Soon they were drawn, and the runes glowed lightly, shimmering in the eerie green gloom of the chamber.

Next, she set up the cauldron. “Incendio,” she murmured, starting a fire and then setting the cauldron atop it after filling it with water. She flipped to the diary page where Tom had written down the potion ingredients.

She held her arm over the water-that was just starting to simmer-letting her blood drip down into the water. After that she healed her arm with a quick charm and covered it back up with her jumper sleeve, grabbing the other potion ingredients that were all set up in front of her crossed legs.

Crushed unicorn horn, boomslang skin, knot grass, crushed bone, and finally-she shuddered, looking down at her thumb and bringing it up to her mouth-biting off some of the skin that poked out near the nail, putting it in the potion. Flesh.

The potion boiled and bubbled a sickly peachy color, and she swallowed, she wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen now. Suddenly her vision went fuzzy, and she felt warmth drip from her nose-fuck fuck fuck-she dabbed her nose and saw the black inky blood from the week before. She swallowed hard-and then suddenly her hand was moving on its own, like a puppet on a string.

Her fingers closed around Tom’s diary, and she breathed hard-her eyes going wide as she picked up Tom’s diary and held it over the cauldron. “Wait-no-“ She whispered-not wanting to lose Tom-was the heir trying to get rid of the only thing capable of helping her?!

The diary dropped into the cauldron and (y/n) lurched forward, feeling a hot wet heat bubble out of her eyes and mouth, black ink like blood dripping down her skin-staining it. Her vision blurred in and out of focus as she watched the potion bubble and condense, the ink dripping from her eyes and mouth moving on its own towards the cauldron.

She tried to move back but the spell circle below her prevented her from moving too far-the magic pressed against her back as the 2nd spell circle drew the condensing potion and the ink blood towards it, the two combining and growing into a humanoid form.

She tried to wipe the ink-blood from her face, only smearing it and staining her hands, she gasped helplessly, feeling very lost now-Tom was supposed to help her-he was supposed to tell her what to do next after the heir was sealed.

She felt a hand curl under her chin and her eyes snapped up-her heart stopped.

“…T…Tom?” she asked, quietly…horrified. There he was, in flesh and blood and color. He smirked, looking down at the cauldron separating them and kicking it aside, the now empty cauldron clanging loudly on the chamber floor, rolling away and into the water that lined the hallway path.

(y/n) watched it roll into the water before a smooth, charming, soft and calculating voice interrupted her thoughts. “You played your part perfectly, my dear,” Tom’s voice cooed, his fingers tugging at her chin again to make her look back up at him-her breathing getting faster by the second.

“You-you-“ (y/n) stuttered, unable to make her thoughts coherent. What was going on? Why had Tom emerged from the potion? Where was the heir of Slytherin who’d been possessing her?

He seemed to hear her jumble of thoughts, and he chuckled, kneeling before her and taking her face-cupping it in his palm, his thumb rubbing across the ink/blood that stained her cheeks and lips. “So oblivious my dear, can you not see the obvious before you?” Tom cooed, squishing her cheeks and making her sit up on her knees to bring her closer to him, his breath ghosting over her face-warm and real.

She shook in his grip, her brows furrowed as she breathed heavily and quickly. Tom chuckled, deep and…dark, the smirk on his lips growing to a grin, he leaned closer to her, his nose brushing against hers-his skin pale in the eerie green gloom of the chamber.

“I am the heir of Slytherin, you were simply a pawn in my game.” He whispered, his thumb brushing against her cheek-almost lovingly. (y/n)’s eyes widened further somehow, and she let out a short gasp and Tom chuckled again, standing up, still holding her chin-not allowing her to back away from him.

“You-you…lied to me,” she whispered, tears, stained dark like ink, bubbling down her face. Tom gave her a slight pout, squishing her cheeks and shaking her head gently.

“I never lied, I simply…omitted some truths. Though I did not lie when I said I grew fond of you,” Tom cooed, forcing her to her feet and pulling her into his arms, his grip like an inescapable vice. “My plans for you changed long ago, and now-I’ll be keeping you, my dear.” Tom hummed, his hand tangling into her hair and tugging it to yank her head back.

“W-what?” (y/n) whispered, breathing heavily as she stared at Tom in horror. “You-you tricked me!” She nearly yelled, finding her voice and Tom only smirked, his arm around her waist impossibly tight.

“I did.” He hummed, gazing at her with dark hooded eyes, the brown of his eyes still so clearly visible even in the dark of the chamber of secrets. “And you were too easy to fool my dear-well have to work on that-but lucky for you, you’re entertaining.”

(y/n) swallowed harshly, opening her mouth to curse him out but he yanked her hair again and nearly squished her face into his, his eyes boring into hers. “You’re mine, (y/n),” he said, and she hated how good it sounded when Tom said her name. “And now we are bound by magic itself, your blood runs through my veins, your flesh is my own, your soul intertwined with mine,” A near psychotic grin grew on his lips, his eyes glinting with madness. “you’re. Mine.”

(y/n) shook in his grip, pushing at his chest but his forehead pushed against hers, their hair blending together. He smelled like metal and cologne. “Mine.” Tom whispered one last time, pressing his lips to hers.

-“Good” ending-

welp...there it issss~! hope you guys liked thaatttt, i had so much fun writing itttttt CC ending coming soon! since that was the 2nd most voted on for the poll, bad ending will be posted last :3

taglist!

@dracosslxt4eva @dream-your-own-way @slaggylemon

@slytherinbackintomyroom @starryhiraeth @larallott

@kayytt-2 @chimchoom @joyfulnightmare-hq

@theicypiscean @discofairysworld @simpforlh44

[wisteria-lodge]

JK Rowling & the Color Pink

So I'm working on a thing about queer coding in the Harry Potter books... and first I needed to do a sidebar on how the color pink is used. I’ve made a list of every time a character either wears pink, or is heavily associated with a pink object. We actually get some pretty clear categories that are unintentionally very revealing, and say a lot about how JKR sees "girly" femininity.

Let’s start off with the obvious: 

PINK = VILLAIN (FEMME) 

Petunia Dursley: “salmon-pink cocktail dress," "neat salmon-colored coat." Also paints her walls "a sickly peach color."

Gilderoy Lockhart: “lurid pink robes to match the decorations” 

Pansy Parkinson: “very frilly robes of pale pink” 

Rita Skeeter: “long nails were painted shocking pink” 

Aunt Muriel: “feathery pink hat gave her the look of a bad-tempered flamingo.” 

(Aunt Muriel only shows up briefly at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, but then proceeds to insult pretty much every other character, and give Harry an existential crisis by spilling the tea on Dumbledore)

Dolores Umbridge: “a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan.” 

(Also: has pink stationary, and her pamphlet MUDBLOODS and the Dangers They Pose to a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society has a pink cover) 

Cho Chang

(Okay. Not a villain per se, BUT. Cho is the reason the mole gets into the DA in the books (and just is the mole in the films.) And given that she is a sort of Umbridge-aligned sub villain in book 5, at least structurally... it IS interesting that the place she brings Harry for a date has this very pink, Umbridge-coded description. 

It was a cramped, steamy little place where everything seemed to have been decorated with frills or bows. Harry was reminded unpleasantly of Umbridge’s office. “Cute, isn’t it?” said Cho happily. “Er . . . yeah,” said Harry untruthfully. “Look, she’s decorated it for Valentine’s Day!” said Cho, indicating a number of golden cherubs that were hovering over each of the small, circular tables, occasionally throwing pink confetti over the occupants.

Fleur Delacour: “[her wand] emitted a number of pink and gold sparks.” 

(Also not quite a villain, and I adore Fleur BUT… she’s written hyper-femme in an intimidating, borderline threatening way. She’s very opinionated, bordering on rude. She’s “full of herself” as Ginny puts it. And when she gets engaged to Bill and becomes an unambiguously good guy, she has this interesting moment of ~Pink Rejection~)

“. . . Bill and I ’ave almost decided on only two bridesmaids, Ginny and Gabrielle will look very sweet togezzer. I am theenking of dressing zem in pale gold — pink would of course be ’orrible with Ginny’s ’air —”

Hermione Granger: “Wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown”

(Hermione wears pink exactly one time, and it is at her most villainous… during Book 1, when she tries to stop Harry and Ron leaving in the middle of the night to go duel Malfoy.)

A voice spoke from the chair nearest them, “I can’t believe you’re going to do this, Harry.” A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown. “You!” said Ron furiously. “Go back to bed!” “I almost told your brother,” Hermione snapped, “Percy — he’s a prefect, he’d put a stop to this.” Harry couldn’t believe anyone could be so interfering.

(She literally does the sitting-in-the-dark, villain-lamp thing. Also, in case you were wondering, yes Hermione DOES get a moment of ~Pink Rejection~)

Near the window was an array of violently pink products around which a cluster of excited girls was giggling enthusiastically. Hermione and Ginny both hung back, looking wary.

Which brings us too: 

PINK = SILLY/FRIVOLOUS (FEMME) 

Sybill Trelawney: “after you’ve broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue-patterned ones? I’m rather attached to the pink.”

(She’s a fraud. Also hides empty bottles of sherry in the room of requirement. (I’m going to have to be uncharitable in this section, so am sorry.) 

Parvati Patil: “robes of shocking pink"

(Often described as “giggling,” thinks Professor Trelawney is amazing, the real deal.)

The Fat Lady: “a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.” 

(Often described as giggling. Drinks too much during the holidays. JRK is unfortunately well known for being fatphobic. Also the Fat Lady has a friend named Violet, and Parvati has a friend named Lavender. Not really going anywhere with that, just funny that they’re both shades of purple.)

Hepzibah Smith: “an immensely fat old lady wearing an elaborate ginger wig and a brilliant pink set of robes.” 

(So… almost identical description to the Fat Lady. And I think we should maybe talk about her more, maybe? Because the way she’s framed… I think she might be Tom Riddle’s sugar mamma?)

“I brought you flowers,” he said quietly, producing a bunch of roses from nowhere. “You naughty boy, you shouldn’t have!” squealed old Hepzibah, though Harry noticed that she had an empty vase standing ready on the nearest little table. “You do spoil this old lady, Tom. . . .” 

(Or maybe we… shouldn’t talk about that. Either way, Tom Riddle does kill her, steal her stuff, and frame her house elf so thats… not great.)

PINK = EMBARRASSING 

“Everyone take a pair of earmuffs,” said Professor Sprout. There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn’t pink and fluffy.

(Pink fluffy earmuffs are adorable.)

“Wash out your mouth,” said James coldly. “Scourgify!” Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape’s mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag.

(The next two example are 'pranks' as well, I think the pink-colored soap is there to add a kind of insult to injury.)

Shocking-pink Catherine wheels five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like so many flying saucers. 

(This is a bit from Fred and George’s farewell firework show, it's funny that they’re specifically pink fireworks that Umbridge can’t get rid of.)

“Headless Hats!” shouted George, as Fred waved a pointed hat decorated with a fluffy pink feather at the watching students. “Two Galleons each — watch Fred, now!” Fred swept the hat onto his head, beaming. For a second he merely looked rather stupid, then both hat and head vanished.

(also just, pumping up an embarrassing moment)

PINK = OUTSIDER, WEIRDO

Hagrid

Hagrid’s flowered pink umbrella, which contains his broken wand, is brought up a lot. In this case I think we’re meant to see it as a joke. Hagrid’s so big, and so masc, but the pink umbrella makes him non-threatening. However… the pink umbrella, it’s not a totally positive thing, is it? It doesn’t match, it isn’t *him.* Hagrid wouldn't have chosen to carry this around, totally on his own, if he'd had any other choice. It sets him apart, both visually and socially (because it's a constant reminder that he doesn't have a wand.)

Dobby

Dobby, once he is freed, gets pink-and-orange striped socks, and they’re meant to communicate that he’s… kind of a lot. “Yeh get weirdos in every breed,” as Hagrid puts it. JKR has a very strange, honestly antagonistic relationship with Dobby. He’s the victim of book 2, but structurally kind of the villain? He describes the house-elves situation as “enslavement,” but Hermione’s treated as overdramatic for calling house-elves slaves two books later. And then everything is ret-conned and Dobby is… just kind of weird for liking freedom (and socks) as much as he does.

Tonks

Book!Tonks defaults to “bubblegum-pink” hair. Her hair is described as pink a lot. (Movie!Tonks defaults to purple hair, because they were worried that pink would visually align her with Umbridge.) And this is the oddest one on the list to me, because Tonks is such a universally beloved, fan favorite character. But I really do think that *as written*... we’re supposed to put her in a category with Dobby. The two of them leave (unintentional) destruction in their wake. They’re loud, they’re a lot, they take up too much space. Harry thinks they’re both kind of annoying. (and yeah, Harry 100% thinks  Tonks is “a little annoying at times.”)

[weasleyreidstyles]

Serendipity

chapter two

summary: it was only meant to be a purely transactional relationship. he would help her strengthen her abilities in return for her getting his friends out of his father's nasty path. he didn't mean to fall for her, but loving her was the easiest thing in his dark world.

no use of y/n, but your general nickname is Meadow. All characters are aged up to be over 18.

pairings: mattheo riddle x fem!ravenclaw reader; platonic!slytherins x fem!reader; platonic!golden trio x fem!reader

warning(s): slight mind manipulation?

series masterlist; previous part; next part

At some point during the feast, you managed to sneak your way onto the Gryffindor table, sliding into the seat beside Ginny, who was sat with Dean Thomas to her other side, who shifted uncomfortably everytime Ron glared at the hand that was grazing his sister's.

"Nice face, Harold." you say sarcastically. "Who healed the break? It looks rushed."

"Thanks Meadow." he snarks before deflating further in his seat as your eyes tracked him for more injuries. "Tonks walked me from the train."

You hummed in acknowledgment before you went over the unhealed scabs and dried patches of blood with wordless spells which always left your friends marvelling at your skill.

"There. Now your face is pretty as ever." you say smirking, patting Harry's cheek which he swats away. "Can't have the 'Chosen One' at his worst now, can we?"

"Piss off." he grumbled but it was only banter between two friends.

"How are you, really, Harry? Where'd you disappear to on the train." you wanted to hear him say it, even if you did trust Theo's word.

"I was right about Malfoy-" he starts before you interrupt him.

"So I've heard. You've taken up stalking as a hobby now, Potter? That's low." you chuckle, which turns into a full on laugh as he glares at you, annoyed.

"He's a Death Eater." he lowers his voice, but his admission sucks the happiness right out of the air. "He was talking about some task that Voldemort has for him."

He pauses as if his mind is trying to catch up with the words tumbling from his mouth, before he looks directly at you, as if he's staring through you.

"You've seen Nott today right? And Parkinson?" you nodded. "What did they talk about? Did Nott talk about his father being caught at the Ministry? Or did-"

You raised a singular brow at your friend as if to say 'are you finished?'.

"Yes I saw them today, in the Prefects' carriage. We just caught up with small talk and some gossip about some Hufflepuff couple. Nothing more." the lie was quickly thought out and also not too far fetched – Pansy had mentioned something about a new couple in passing before you'd parted ways on the train.

"Nothing about tasks or creepy shops?" Ron asked as he shoved a piece of chicken into his mouth. You watched him, discust painting your features.

"Nothing about tasks, and certainly nothing about creepy shops. Please chew with your mouth closed, Ronald. Seriously Harry? Stalking?"

He only shrugged at you before turning to his plate of food. He was clearly put out about something and you would bet all your galleons that it had to do with the couple next to you, who were being nauseating, to put it lightly.

You and Hermione giggled as Ron muttered about his sister and her boyfriend showing any ounce of affection in front of him, sharing a glance as Harry continued to glance at them before looking away, visibly annoyed.

When Dumbledore began to stand in front of the House tables, you slipped back into your seat beside Luna; in the corner of your eye you watched as Theo gave you the subtlest of nods.

"The very best of evenings to you!" Dumbledore announced, smiling broadly, his arms outstretched wide as if he were embracing the whole room. That's when you, and the rest of the Hogwarts student body, noticed that his right hand appeared to have started decaying at a rapid rate.

You made eye contact with Pansy who looked as horrified as everyone else.

What the fuck? She practically screamed into your mind as the sound of people whispering swept through the hall.

Dumbledore merely smiled before he shook the sleeve of his purple and gold cloak over his hand.

"Nothing to worry about," he said airily. "Now...to our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you..."

You drowned out the rest of his speech, like you do every year, instead conversing with Pansy in your head.

It looks like his hand has physically died. You say to her. It's got to be dark magic of some sort.

But what business does Dumbledore have messing with that sort of evil? She sounded as nauseated as you felt just thinking about it.

"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn-" Dumbledore said, prompting the man that you had yet to meet to stand up. "-is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master."

You swivelled in your seat to find Hermione in the crowds and mouthed 'potions?' to her with confusion written all over your face.

The word echoed all over the Hall as people wondered whether they had heard right.

"But if he's the Potions Professor, then who will be teaching Defence?" Cho spoke from across the table.

"Professor Snape, meanwhile," said Dumbledore, raising voice so that it carried over all the muttering, "will be taking the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Well that answered that question.

"No!" you giggled quietly with Luna as everyone's heads swivelled back and forth between Harry, who had shouted so loudly but didn't seem to care, Snape and Dumbledore.

And suddenly Defence is my least favourite subject. Theo spoke, making you choke on your drink as you laugh.

As if oblivious to the uproar his announcement just caused, Dumbledore waited only a few moments before the hall descended into silence once more, before continuing his long winded speech.

"Now as everyone in this Hall is aware," he pointedly looked anywhere but in the direction of the Slytherin table, "Lord Voldemort and his followers once again walk among us and gain strength and numbers everyday."

Suddenly the heads that were staring in Harry's direction turned pointedly to where Mattheo Riddle and his friends were sitting. Instead of shying away from their gazes, like Pansy and Daphne Greengrass and few others did, he continued to stare ahead at Dumbledore, seemingly unbothered by the attention he was garnering.

The silence seemed to strain painfully as Dumbledore spoke. But you seemed to zone out of what he was saying. Something about the castle's protection wards being fortified and strengthened; extra security; stricter curfew at night, etc. You took in none of it, instead focusing on your friends at the Slytherin table, who grew paler by the second. You'd watch out for them this year, especially Theo. None of them deserved to be put into the position they no doubt would all be in, come Christmas time.

Dumbledore's blue twinkling eyes swept over the students once more. "But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say good night. Pip pip!"

Your lessons tomorrow.

You wished it was as simple as school work, but you knew it would be anything but.

~∞~

You woke up early the next morning, the anticipation for what the day may bring making your anxiety skyrocket as you got ready to leave for the Great Hall, in which the ceiling sported a brilliantly blue sky, only a few clouds dotting the illusion. You met the Golden trio there, who were busy discussing Harry's theory about Malfoy.

"Well obviously Riddle's already inducted." Ron muttered as you sat down, a speck of blue, in a sea of red. "He is his father's son, after all."

"Still going on your Malfoy-is-a-death eater spiel? The day has hardly begun." you said as you piled scrambled eggs onto a plate, ignoring the pointed look that Professor Mcgonagall gave you as she handed out her House's timetables.

Ron seemed to be getting more agitated by the second as another group of third years on the table beside your's pointed between the four of you and whispered, not so discreetly, about what happened in June.

"It's rude to point." he snapped, sending a glare their way, causing them to turn around, cheeks painted with embarrassment.

"So sixth year looks very bare in comparison to last year, doesn't it." you say, steering Ron's glare from the backs of their heads while you looked over his timetable.

"I love being a sixth year already." Ron said, his mood brightening visibly thanks to your interference. "And we're going to be getting free time this year. Whole periods when we can just sit up in the common room and relax."

"We're going to need that time for studying, Ron!" Hermione berated as you laughed.

"Yeah, but not today," said Ron, "today's going to be a real doss, I reckon."

"I wouldn't speak too soon, Ronald." you say with a smirk as Professor Mcgonagall makes her way over to the four of you. You'd already gotten your timetable the from Professor Flitwick that morning and found out that you were in the same classes as Hermione. You both finished off your plates and left Harry and Ron in favour of getting to Ancient Runes, where Theo and Riddle were waiting for you.

Reaching the classroom, you spotted Theo immediately and went to snag the seat beside him, but Pansy beat you to it with a playful smirk.

"Come and sit by me, Princess." you glared at your two friends as you turned around to find Riddle with his arm stretched over the back of the spare seat of his desk. "I don't bite."

"Somehow I highly doubt that." you mumbled as you searched for Hermione, who had chosen to sit near the front of the room, the seat beside her already taken. Traitor. She only looked at you apologetically before turning around.

You slumped into the seat, pointedly ignoring him as you took out your things. You could hear Theo and Pansy laughing at your expense so you sent a small stinging jinx wandlessly their way, smirking when they yelped in surprise.

"Smart girl." Riddle mumbled to himself, probably not intending for you to hear, but your cheeks flushed all the same.

"So was Theo lying about your disastrous ability to desipher runes, or was that just a way to get me to agree for your...help?" you ask, still choosing to igore him.

"Oh I assure you I'm quite terrible, Princess. Awful. In fact I'm not sure how I got back into this class, if I'm being entirely honest." he said it with a shrug before he smirked at you again. "I'm sure you can help me. You are top of the class, after all."

"Actually Mione was top of the class at the end of last year. Why not ask her?" you ask, glancing at him through the corner of your eye. He had turned to look directly at you, but his hand was still on the back of your chair.

You try, and fail, to push it off, sneering at the muscular appendage in offence. Damn him and his strong, quidditch arms.

"Theodore doesn't trust Granger, he trusts you. Therefore, I'm putting my trust into your...abilities to help me out."

Lovely. His words carried a double meaning. You were really considering hexing Theo and Pansy again for putting you in this situation.

His huff of laughter along with the burning pinch at the base of your skull were the only indications that he'd heard your thoughts.

After Defence, wait for me so that we can discuss the nature of your lessons and my apparent tutlage.

You ignored him for the rest of the lesson, but wordlessly agreed, nonetheless.

~∞~

You were complaining to Hermione the whole walk to the Defence classroom, and while she was amused, there was underlying worry in her responses.

"So he wants you to tutor him?" she asks curiously.

"Not a clue why." you say flipantly. "If I was him I'd much rather you taught me."

"Well I am a muggleborn, for starters." she says self-depricatingly and continues speaking, not allowing you to rebute her statement. "And you're still at the top of the class. Christ, you can do most spells non-verbally and wandlessly, far better than I can. I think I'd rather you than me, too. No offence."

You only smiled sarcastically at her. "I don't think anyone would willingly tutor him. Perhaps I should bargain a favour with him instead."

You left out the part where he was already fulfilling a kind of favour, for Theodore and Pansy, no less.

"One class in and my shoulders already ache." you whine as you rolled your shoulder to ease the pain that your heavy bag was causing. Harry and Ron met you outside the classroom a moment later, staring, horrified, at Hermione's armful of heavy books.

"We've gotten so much homework for Runes already." she said anxiously. "A fifteen-inch essay, two translations and we've got to read these by Wednesday!"

"Now I see why we have so many frees this year." you grumble.

"Shame," Ron said with a yawn, before smirking at the two of you.

"Just you wait," she said resentfully. "I bet Snape gives us loads."

The classroom door opened as she spoke and Snape stepped into the corridor, his sallow face framed as ever by two curtains of greasy black hair. Silence fell over the queue immediately.

"Inside," he said.

The Defence classroom was gloomier than ever, but thankfully it was no longer sickeningly pink and filled to the brim with plates of cat photos. The dark curtains were drawn across the windows and the only light came from the numerous candles that dotted the room, insighting a headache when you tried to read the blackboard. Snape's personality appeared to shine all over the room, from the odd portraits to the weird contraptions that littered the space.

"I have not asked you to take out your books," said Snape, closing the door and moving to face the class from behind his desk; Hermione hastily dropped her copy of Confronting the Faceless back into her bag and stowed it under her chair. "I wish to speak to you and I require your fullest attention. You have had five teachers in this subject so far, I believe."

His dark, beady eyes scanned the room.

"Naturally, these teachers will all have had their own methods and priorities. Given this confusion I am surprised so many of you scraped an O.W.L. in this subject. I shall be even more surprised if all of you manage to keep up with the N.E.W.T. work, which will be much more advanced." he set off around the edge of the room, speaking now in a low voice that you desperately wanted to drown out. But the burning sensation at the back of your skill prohibited you from doing just that.

No. Pay attention. Riddle was becoming a thorn in your side, and its only the first day.

"The Dark Arts," said Snape, "are many, varied, ever-changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster. Each time a neck is severed, it sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible."

Someone read up on their Greek mythology this summer. You say to Theo, who smirks behind his hand.

"Your defences," Snape continued, a little louder, "must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the Arts you seek to undo. These pictures," he indicated a few of them as he swept past, "give a fair representation of what happens to those who suffer, for instance, the Cruciatus Curse-" he waved a hand towards a witch who was clearly shrieking in agony; "-feel the Dementor's Kiss-" a wizard lying huddled and blank-eyed slumped against a wall; "-or provoke the aggression of the Inferius." a bloody mass upon the ground.

"Has an Inferius been seen, then?" Parvati Patil asked in a high-pitched voice. "Is it definite, is he using them?"

"The Dark Lord has used Inferi in the past," said Snape, "which means you would be well-advised to assume he might use them again. Now..."

You really did drown him out this time. Thinking about his wording. To your knowledge, only his followed gave him the name 'the Dark Lord', so why was Snape using that name? You filed away the information as he paced across the classroom.

"....you are, I believe, complete novices in the use of non-verbal spells. What is the advantage of a non-verbal spell?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air. Snape took his time looking around at everybody else, pointledly looking in your direction where your hands stayed glued to your sides, making sure he had no choice, before saying curtly, "Very well – Miss Granger?"

"Your adversary has no warning about what kind of magic you're about to perform," she stated, "which gives you a split-second advantage."

"An answer copied almost word for word from The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6," said Snape dismissively. "But correct in essentials. Yes, those who progress to using magic without shouting incantations gain an element of surprise in their spell-casting. Not all wizards can do this, of course; it is a question of concentration and mind power which some," his gaze lingered maliciously upon Harry, "lack."

The Professor's beady eyes landed on you once more, a challenge present in them.

"Miss Meadow, come up to the front." everyone's eyes were on you as he beckoned you forward, so you obeyed. "I want you to demonstrate this skill. On me." He motioned for you to stand on one side of the room, while he stayed at the other.

You shook off your limps and, using your wand rather than just doing it wandlessly, you shot out a disarming spell, which Snape blocked.

"Good. Now try again." he said as he shot his own disarming spell at you, which you wordlessly blocked with a flick of your wand.

This back and forth continued for five or so more minutes before Snape managed to catch you off guard and disarm you with a minute flick of his wrist.

"Very good. Now following that example, you will divide into pairs. One partner will attempt to jinx the other without speaking. The other will attempt to repel the jinx in equal silence. Carry on."

People paired off, you choosing to partner with Mione who looked determined to perfect this new skill. Everyone who was part of the DA in the previous year were practically experts at casting spells, but none of them, bar you, could perform the Charms wordlessly. A reasonable amount of cheating ensued; many people were merely whispering the incantation instead of saying it aloud, including Ron, which only made you laugh as you watched as Harry blocked his every attack.

Of course, Hermione had gotten the hang of it within ten minutes of practice, as did Theo and Zabini and Riddle. Harry and Ron were still struggling, along with Pansy and Lorenzo.

To say you were bored was an understatement. Snape had already known that you were skilled with wordless and apparently wandless magic too, which meant that he could clearly see into your mind – yet another reason why Riddle needed to teach you control. The only other interesting thing to happen was Harry blatently sassing your Professor, which left you and Hermione gaping and Ron, Dean and Seamus grinning at him.

Once the lesson had ended, Snape in a more abysmal mood than usual after Harry made a fool out of him, you lingered in the corridor, waiting for Riddle to leave so that you could get the interaction over with.

"Hey Meadow! You coming?" Ron asked loudly from the end of the hallway. He looked at you with an odd expression on his face which morphed into unwilling understanding when you felt Theo's presence beside you.

"I'll be there in a bit. I'll meet you in the courtyard." you shout back as you turn towards Theo and his friends.

"Some lesson that was, right tesoro?" Theo asks you as he wraps a strong arm around your shoulder, steering you in the direction of the rest of his group, who were looking between you, Theo and Mattheo with matching expressions on their faces.

"What the hell is she doing here, Nott?" Malfoy asks, looking at you with distain. You glared back at him, about to respond when his familiar deep voice answers instead.

"She's here for me." Riddle says. "Go on ahead. I won't be a moment."

Its Zabini who steers Malfoy away from his glaring contest with you, and Theo who wordlessly wishes you luck with a pat to the top of your head.

"So you're going to teach me control?" you ask as you lean against the nearest wall. He rolls his eyes and wraps a giant hand around your wrist.

"Yes." he hissed. "But not here. How stupid are you? Talking about it out in the open, by a classroom, nonetheless."

Your eyes only widened in mild surprise as he began dragging you down the corridor in the direction that his friends went, but he turned into an empty broom cupboard instead.

"Salazar, if you wanted to get me alone like this there were far better ways of asking Riddle." you say sarcastically, but your eyes show a teasing challenge as you stare up at him.

"Was that an offer, Princess?" he asks with that wicked smirk of his.

"Read the room, Riddle. I'd rather sleep with a troll." you snark.

"Suit yourself." he chuckles before his face sets into that serious look he seems to have mastered in his years at Hogwarts. "The first step to learning full control is learning how to ground yourself."

You look at him expectantly which made him roll is eyes.

"You have to find a happy medium in your head that allows you to keep control of what you don't want people to see, and who you let into your head." he explains motioning to his own head as he speaks.

"So that horrible burning feeling in the back of my skull whenever you get in my head-" you begin.

"Is only there because it lets you know that someone unwanted is using Occlimency on you. The fact that you can't block me out is what we need to work on. Does the same happen with Theodore and Pansy when you communicate with them?"

"No. They're presence is wanted. Yours," you trail your eyes up and down what you can see of his tall frame in the dark, "is not."

"Well until you do accept me in your subconscious, it'll continue to hurt and it'll hurt more when you're trying to block it out." he says and to demonstrate he begins rifling through your thoughts and feelings with little to no effort, that burning sensation appearing like a pinch once again. You cradle you head in your hands, a cry escaping your lips.

Walking to the Great Hall for breakfast that morning, anxiety knawing at your insides.

Harry's Malfoy-is-a-death-eater spiel.

Your mini-dual with Snape.

How you want Riddle to rip your clothes right off your body and have him take you-

That wasn't right. You managed to mentally push him right out of your mind with more effort than you reckon it would take for you to haul a quaffle into the goal. It made your head ache.

"What the fuck was that?!" you snap, hitting his arm.

"You're a fast learner. Well done. It takes most people multiple sessions to do what you just did." he looks...proud. It stirs something strange in your gut.

"What did I just do?" you asked, intrigued, scared, confused.

"You just succeeded in blocking me out of your head." he smirked lightly, almost showing a ghost of a smile.

We're going to have lots of fun, Princess.

He was still in your head. His deep voice filling every corner of your mind, but that burning sensation was no longer present. It no longer stung and he was no longer able to rifle through your thoughts. Only converse with you, like you could with Theo and Pansy.

"We'll do this twice a week, until you can block me out without thinking about it." he said as he walked towards the door, leaving you standing motionlessly in the dark.

~∞~

icl the whole plot of this is heavily inspired by my beloved xaden and violet's bond with all their mind talking and arguing🤭🤭 (minus the dragons, etc)

[myfictionalboyfriendsandme]

Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming

Pairing(s): Theodore Nott x female!reader, Draco Malfoy x Hermione Granger, Blaise Zabini x Luna Lovegood

Prompt(s): "Shut up, I'm trying to confess my love to you."

Word Count: around 4,100

Warning(s): very AU, sad reader, swearing, DRAMIONE FOREVER, Sirius and Remus are alive FIGHT ME, mentions blood but nothing graphic, changing certain rules about Hogwarts to fit the story (prefect rules specifically), no house for the reader is mentioned but I suppose it's implied that she's gryffindor??

Rating: T (one f bomb)

Author's Note(s): This is so self indulgent, lol. I love fictional Theo. I don't know if y'all picture someone specific in your head but I always envision Cody Christian as Theo. Enjoy!

-----------------

"(Y/N), are you okay?"

It was always the same question.

(Y/N), are you okay? 

(Y/N), do you need anything?

(Y/N), can we do anything for you?

And she always gave the same answer.

"No, I'm fine."

But she wasn't fine, and she hadn't been fine for quite some time.

She sat alone in her bedroom at 12 Grimmauld Place. The rain pattering down against the window like tears against the glass. The fireplace was lit, emmitting a soft glow about the room. A shabby knitted blanket was wrapped around her shoulders, keeping in what little warmth she felt. There was a cup of tea sitting on the side table that she hadn't touched since Mrs. Weasley put it there, the heat long gone.

She was surrounded by people. The entire Order of the Phoenix would spend their days coming and going. The permanent residents of 12 Grimmauld Place, like the Weasley family and of couse Sirius and Remus, wandered the house daily awaiting news of anything.

And she still felt so lonely.

No one in the house really understood why she felt the way she did. No one except Hermione. Hermione was in the same situation as her, she just hid her feelings better. No one knew that Hermione would sneak into (Y/N)'s room at night and the two girls would cry themselves to sleep, hugging each other in comfort. (Y/N) was the only one around who knew how Hermione was really feeling.

Distraught.

Sad.

Frightened.

On the verge of losing the only shred of sanity they had left.

There was a sharp knock on (Y/N)'s door before she heard it open, knocking her from her melancholy trance.

"(Y/N)."

She turned to look at Hermione standing in the doorway.

"Sirius just sent a patronus." She said, her voice laced with urgency. "He's on his way here and he has three defectors with him."

(Y/N) immediately stood up, the blanket around her shoulders abandoned in the chair, her eyes wide. "Hermione..."

The other girl nodded. "I know."

Bounding towards the door, (Y/N) wiped her eyes. "Could it be them?"

"I don't know."

"Did Sirius say anything else?"

"No."

"Absolutely nothing?"

"Just that he's on his way here."

She felt like she'd been struck by lightning.

"(Y/N), we have to be emotionally prepared if it's not them." Hermione whispered.

"Fuck that, Hermione."

"(Y/N)..."

"No. I can't take this anymore. I really can't."

Before Hermione could say anything else, there was a commotion from downstairs. The two girls whipped their heads toward the staircase. Muffled screams were coming from the main level of the house.

(Y/N) looked at Hermione before the two of them exited the room, moving to look over the third floor banister. They saw Harry and Ron rushing down the stairs, Ginny and Luna close behind.

"Let's go." (Y/N) said, already making her way to the top of the stairs.

She hurried down the steps as fast as she could without hurting herself, Hermione on her heels.

Please, please, please let him be here. Please let him be okay.

Once they reached the landing between the first flight of stairs and the second, (Y/N) scanned the main floor. Harry and Ron stood at the bottom of the stairs, their attention turned towards whatever was happening in the dining room. Her eyes moved towards the doorway and she froze. Standing there was Blaise Zabini, Luna Lovegood wrapped in his arms.

Her heart stopped.

"Blaise?" She asked.

His eyes moved towards her.

Another body moved through the doorway revealing a head of platinum blonde hair.

Hermione gasped. "Draco?"

His head snapped to where they stood on the landing. "Hermione!"

Hermione moved past (Y/N) and rushed down the rest of the stairs before throwing herself into the boy's arms.

(Y/N) stopped breathing.

Three of them. There's supposed to be three of them. Where is he?

She carefully made her way down the rest of the stairs, moving by a very disgruntled Ron Weasley and a rather perplexed Harry Potter. "Where is he?" She couldn't help but notice that Blaise and Draco were both covered in blood. Her voice cracked as she felt the tears well up in her eyes. "Blaise, please."

He looked at her, his brown eyes tired and full of sympathy. Another scream echoed through the house. Without a word, he looked towards the dining room.

That's when her heart cracked in two.

Members of the Order were scattered around the room. Ginny was running back and forth between the dining room table and the parlour carrying bandages and vials of what looked like healing salves. Remus and Sirius stood with their backs to the main doorway, going through the vials and picking out what would be the most helpful before setting them on the table in a separate pile. Molly was scurrying this way and that around the table, her attention set on something different every few seconds. But on the table was a boy, bloody and writhing in pain.

Theo.

She fell to her knees, her face in her hands. "No..." The tears that had been pooling in her eyes finally fell. A pair of arms wrap around her. "He can't die. He can't die. He can't die."

"I'm so sorry, (Y/N). Come on, you don't need to see this." Hermione held her up, supporting almost all of her weight so she wouldn't fall back to the ground. "Mrs. Weasley knows what she's doing."

(Y/N)'s eyes darted back to Theo. "I can't leave him."

"Let's just go to the kitchen and let them work. We won't be far."

As Theo let out another agonizing cry, (Y/N) let Hermione lead her away. She looked back towards the dining room entryway but it was blocked by Blaise, Luna, and Draco who were following them down the hallway. The three looked back at her with sympathetic eyes.

The next thing (Y/N) knew, the group had entered the kitchen. Hermione had pulled out a chair for her to sit in before taking the seat directly to her right. Draco followed suit and sat next to Hermione while Blaise and Luna sat across from them. Once they were situated, Blaise grabbed Luna's hand and held it in his lap.

"We didn't know you and Blaise were seeing each other, Luna." Hermione observed.

Luna laid her head against his shoulder, smiling softly despite the sadness of her friend. Blaise glanced down at her before answering. "We're both rather private, Granger. We didn't really want to advertise our relationship to all of Hogwarts, especially considering the state of the wizarding world."

Hermione nodded. She looked at Draco. "I understand that. I think we all do."

There was a moment of silence as everyone at the table took in their current situation. (Y/N), finally snapping back to reality, looked at Blaise again. There were blood stains covering the front of his shirt and a rip in the sleeve of his jacket. Draco also looked disheveled, his usuaully styled hair unkempt and scruffy. Both boys had dark circles under their eyes.

"What happened?"

Blaise made eye contact with (Y/N). More screams sounded from upstairs. "(Y/N), I don't think-"

"I want to know." She interrupted.

He sighed. "Okay." He looked at Hermione then back to (Y/N). "We've been planning to defect for months. I think we all came to the same conclusion around the same time. The night Dumbledore died."

Out of the corner of her eye, (Y/N) could see Draco squeeze Hermione's hand.

"We wanted to stay that night, but it was impossible. They would have killed us right then and there. We had no choice but to leave." Blaise paused and looked at Draco. "We practically had to drag Theo." He cleared his throat. "Earlier today, we were summoned to go on a mission. Someone had gotten word to the Dark Lord about Order members being in Diagon Alley. We were told we would have the upper hand so an ambush would be easy. That's when Draco sent his patronus to Sirius."

"Draco, that could've been dangerous! What if someone had seen you?" Hermione scolded.

The blonde rolled his eyes. "No one knows I can even form a patronus, Hermione. It was the only way to get word to the Order as fast as possible."

"Yes, now we all know that Draco's patronus is an otter. Adorable, mate." Blaise quipped.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh, piss off."

"Anyway," Blaise continued, "when we showed up, it was already a shit show. The fighting had already begun, so they sent us in as reinforcements. Luckily for us, it looked like the Order was winning. That was the only way our plan was going to work."

"I saw Sirius right away." Draco added. "There was no one else around right then so I helped him disarm Yaxley, then before anything else could happen I cast my patronus again. Poor bloke looked like he'd seen a ghost."

"That's when Theo asked him for help." Blaise leaned forward, his elbows on the table. "Sirius rushed us into a side alley and asked if we were being honest. It didn't really take much convincing though. We all looked rather... anxious. Then he told us to apparate to the Burrow. Said he'd meet us there after the fighting had stopped."

There was another pause as Blaise hesitated.

Draco continued. "The four of us were about to apparate, but-"

"The four of you?" Hermione asked.

He nodded then bowed his head. "Pansy was with us, too."

(Y/N) watched Hermione put her hand on Draco's back in comfort.

"Before any of us could leave, we were cornered in the alleyway." Blaise spoke up. "Sirius stepped in front of us and blocked a curse, which obviously tipped off the one's shooting at us that we were no longer on the same side. It was Dolohov and Theo's dad. They just started shooting anything they could at us, yelling about blood traitors and the like. Well, that caught the attention of Bellatrix."

(Y/N) felt her blood run cold at the name.

"She rounded the corner and when she saw Draco, she went ballistic." Blaise explained. "She sent hexes at all of us but she took one last look at Draco before she sent the killing curse his way."

Draco shifted uncomfortably in his chair. (Y/N) saw a tear form in his eye. "Pansy saved me." He sniffled.

Hermione whipped her head at Draco in surprise as (Y/N) let out a light gasp.

Blaise took a deep breath before he continued speaking. "None of us could have seen it coming. She just... stepped in front of him. Then she was gone. We didn't have time to do anything about it. I saw Lupin and a Weasley come up behind Dolohov and then Sirius yelled for us to go, so we apparated."

"So what happened to Theo?" (Y/N) asked, wiping her eyes.

"It was his father." Draco sneared. "Bastard sent a cutting curse at Theo before he could apparate."

Blaise sighed. "Sirius and Mr. Weasley showed up seconds after we did. They probably planned on more of an interrogation but then they saw Theo and brought us straight here."

There was a lull in conversation then. None of them had anything else to say. Hermione was rubbing circles into Draco's upper back. (Y/N) just stared at a spot on the wooden table, unable to meet eyes with anyone.

Another screamed echoed through the house.

Luna stood up. "I think I'll make some tea."

As the blonde moved about the kitchen, (Y/N) felt heartbroken. Heartbroken for Theo. Heartbroken for Pansy. Blaise. Draco. All of them.

They didn't deserve any of this.

-------

She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting at the kitchen table staring at the same spot of wood, but she noticed the tea in front of her was cold.

As usual.

"(Y/N)?"

Her head snapped to the doorway. Ginny stood there, observing everyone in the room before looking back at her. "Uh, mum says you can come up if you'd like."

She didn't have to be told twice.

Dashing up the stairs two by two, she didn't think she'd ever moved so fast in her life. She made it down the hallway and to the dining room entryway in record time, the rest of the group following behind her. (Y/N) looked into the room and saw that it wasn't as chaotic as the last time she'd been standing there. The dining room table had been transfigured into a bed. Mrs. Weasley stood near the foot of it, looking at Theo who had been laid against the pillows. His arms and his chest were wrapped in bandages, but he was breathing.

"(Y/N), dear." Mrs. Weasley whispered, beckoning her closer.

Inching her way into the room, (Y/N) looked to the motherly woman. She looked exhausted. "Is he...?" (Y/N) asked, trailing off.

"He's going to be fine." Mrs. Weasley answered. "He lost a lot of blood, but we gave him a blood replenishing potion. He probably won't wake up for a while yet, but I can assure you he will be okay."

(Y/N) released a breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding.

"Do you need anything, dear? What can I do for you?"

(Y/N) was in awe. What would any of them have done without Molly Weasley?

Finally taking her eyes off Theo, (Y/N) turned to face her. "You've done more than enough, Mrs. Weasley." She made her way closer to the woman and threw her arms around her in an embrace. "I can't even begin to thank you for what you've done."

(Y/N) felt Mrs. Weasley's arms tighten around her just a smidge before pulling back and smiling at her, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "Is this boy the reason you haven't been drinking your tea?"

In that moment, she really couldn't help herself. (Y/N) gave a soft chuckle before turning her face towards Theo. "Is it that obvious?"

Mrs. Weasley continued smiling, her eyes softening just a touch. "Oh, (Y/N), the boys under this roof might be a bit dense, but I'm not." She moved to grab a blanket from a chair in the corner before making her way back. "I knew something had to be bothering you. I would've bet anything that it was a someone." She wrapped the blanket around (Y/N)'s shoulders. "Does he know how you feel?"

(Y/N) didn't know how to answer. Did Theo know how she felt? She thought he did, but come to think of it, she'd never out right said the words I love you to him.

In the grand scheme of things, (Y/N) and Theo hadn't actually been together for very long. She'd always had a crush on him, there was no doubt of that, but they hadn't really spoken to one another until their sixth year at school. If (Y/N) was really being honest with herself, she'd always been too nervous to even look in his direction, afraid she'd do something to embarrass herself. Then, one fateful day in potions class, Professor Slughorn introduced amortentia.

It was like she was there. The same fragrances she registered in potions suddenly wafted into her nose, overtaking the rest of her senses. 

That day, down in the dungeons of Hogwarts, (Y/N) was overcome with a feeling so overwhelming she really didn't know what to do. She couldn't help but look at him.

Little did she know, the same thing was happening to Theo.

They locked eyes across the classroom and (Y/N) thought she might have died a little inside. He smiled at her and her body erupted into butterflies.

One would think after such an earth-shattering experience, a person could maybe gain the confidence to talk to another.

That was not the case.

(Y/N) and Theo didn't have any other interactions, big or small, until almost four months later.

Because Ron and Hermione weren't speaking to one another, there was some tension among their table in potions. (Y/N) and Harry, the two who were stuck in middle ground territory, were trying their best to make everyone get along. There weren't any positive results as of yet.

This led to their group being separated, because as Slughorn put it, "Distance makes the heart grow fonder."

She wasn't sure how it happened, or why, but she was then sat at a table with Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott. (Y/N) tried her best to avoid eye contact with the cute brunette, and was actually doing really well until she realized she had forgotten to grab an Ashwinder egg. She sighed, rather deeply, and made to move to the storage cupboard, but before she left her stool, a gloved hand entered her peripheral vision and set an egg down next to her cauldron. She quickly looked to her left and saw Theo looking right at her.

And that was only the beginning.

It was Theo's idea. They find a spot and meet in secret. They were both prefects, so it wasn't hard to do. Without raising too much suspicion, they would trade shifts with whoever was partnered with the other. They would walk the halls doing their prefect duties and then they would go to their special place.

The astronomy tower.

Not many people ventured to the astronomy tower. It was secluded and sort of cut off from the rest of the castle. It was the perfect place for two young people to meet without anyone else finding out. Until the night Dumbledore was killed.

Theo had been acting weird the couple days leading up to it. Everytime they were together (Y/N) noticed he seemed on edge, almost nervous to be around her. (Y/N) was beginning to think he had changed his mind. Maybe he didn't feel the same way she did. Maybe he wanted to move on from her. Maybe there was someone else.

"Are we meeting at the usual time tomorrow?" (Y/N) asked, looking up at him. They were sitting near the edge of the astronomy tower. The sky was clear and the stars were shining bright.

Theo didn't say anything right away. He was staring out at the grounds surrounding the castle as if in a trance.

"Theo," (Y/N) said, her voice trembling, "are you okay? You've been acting... different."

He seemed to gain some awareness back before he looked back at her. "No."

She was shocked. "What? Theo-" But she was interrupted.

"You can't be here tomorrow night."

In an instant, (Y/N) knew something was wrong. "Why?"

"Please, (Y/N)," Theo said, grabbing her hand and holding it tightly, "you can't come anywhere near the astronomy tower tomorrow night. Promise me."

(Y/N) didn't know what to think. After a few moments of silence, her eyes met his. "I promise."

Theo let go of her hand and moved his hand gently up to the side of her face before bringing his forehead to hers. "Whatever happens, we'll see each other again. I know we will."

Any doubt (Y/N) had been feeling about him immediately lifted. She could feel her eyes start to tear up. "Why does this feel like a goodbye?"

Theo pulled back to look her in the eyes. "Because it might be." Then he leaned in and kissed her.

That was the last time she had seen him. The next night, she was roaming the halls with other members of the D.A. when the death eaters had broken into the school and Dumbledore was killed.

(Y/N) was suddenly shifted back to reality.

"We never..." (Y/N) started before trailing off. "I never got the chance."

Mrs. Weasley smiled softly then patted (Y/N)'s arm lightly. "Well, it looks like you'll get the chance, dearie."

-------

(Y/N) couldn't remember falling asleep. After her conversation with Mrs. Weasley, the rest of the teenagers that were in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place made their way up the stairs into the dining room as well. Draco and Blaise wanted to check on their friend and both made sounds of relief upon seeing he was going to be okay before they were ushered up the stairs where the bedrooms were located.

Moving the comfiest chair she could find to Theo's bedside, (Y/N) kept the blanket Mrs. Weasley had given her and sat down. She tried to make herself as comfortable as possible before she grabbed Theo's hand. She must have fallen asleep looking at him because when she woke up, her face was sideways on the edge of the bed and his hand was still in hers. She propped her head up with her open hand and took a moment to look at the bindings across his arms and his chest, her eyes moving all the way up to his face.

It took her a second to realize Theo's eyes were open and looking at her.

"Theo?" She whispered. Her voice was hesitant, as if she thought it was a dream.

He smirked at her but it was full of adoration. Only Theodore Nott could make a smirk look adorable.

"I told you we'd see each other again."

(Y/N) didn't know what to do. "Please tell me I'm not dreaming."

Theo chuckled gently. "Would you like me to pinch you?"

She felt a flood of relief overtake her body and it was so powerful, she started to cry.

"Oh, darling, no." Theo tried to move but grimaced before deciding it was probably better to lay still. "Darling, please. Don't cry."

(Y/N) sniffled and brought the sleeve of her shirt up to her eyes to wipe the tears away. "I can't help it, Theo! I was so worried!" Theo attempted to interrupt but (Y/N) continued before he could get a single word in. "I've been worried for months! I didn't know if you were alive or dead, and then you show up here covered in blood!"

"(Y/N)-"

"And then Draco tells me you were hit by a cutting curse by your own father! You could have died by bleeding out if you hadn't gotten here sooner than you did. Then the last thing I would've said to you before you died would've been something stupid and not "I love you" like it should have been-"

"(Y/N)-"

"But I was too scared to say anything to you about it the last time we saw each other-"

"(Y/N)!"

"Shut up, Theo, I'm trying to confess my love to you!"

And then there was silence.

(Y/N) was sure her face looked as red as a tomato. Her skin felt like it was vibrating off of her body. She could feel the palpable silence between her and the boy in front of her.

She looked down at her hands. "I'm sorry." She stood up and turned her back to him before making her way to the entrance of the dining room.

"You love me?"

She froze. It was so quiet (Y/N) wasn't sure he'd actually said it. Turning back to him, she saw he was still looking at her, a new emotion in his eyes.

She took a deep breath. "Theo..." She moved back to the chair at his bedside. "I always have."

Theo narrowed his eyes as if he couldn't actually believe it. "Really?"

(Y/N) nodded and swiped a piece of hair behind her ear, looking down at her hands in her lap.

There was a beat of silence before Theo spoke up again. "I love you, too."

She smiled. The words she had always longed to hear. It was like a symphony of angels. Her eyes reached his and they looked considerably brighter than they did before. They both chuckled lightly.

"Now you tell me I'm not dreaming." Theo whispered, a tone of astonishment in his words.

(Y/N) smirked. "Would you like me to pinch you?"

He opened his arms wide and beckened her over. Hesitantly, she moved closer to the edge of the bed before slowly moving into his embrace and relaxing into his chest. "Are you sure this is okay? I don't want to hurt you."

"I'm just a bit sore this morning, love. I'll be fine." He pulled her even closer to his body. "Just let me hold you and I'll overlook the fact you told me to shut up."

(Y/N) laid her head against his shoulder and into the crook of his neck. "I'm sorry."

She felt Theo leave a soft kiss against her hair. "You're forgiven, my love."

[starlingflight]

Priorities

A/N: I swear I'm going back to SEL now, but I sat down at my keyboard and this just came out of nowhere. Please accept this fluff filled HBP missing moment in penance for my procrastination:

Read on AO3

“Dean!” 

Harry's stomach dropped at the sound of Dean's name from a voice that was unmistakably Ginny's. He turned to find her hurrying towards them across the common room, her school bag hanging haphazardly from her shoulder, and her eyes bright despite the early hour. 

He wanted to keep walking. He'd thought he'd finally seen the last of her and Dean together since their break up a week ago, and he had no desire to witness more of it now, but Seamus stopped, and Harry had agreed to go to breakfast with both of them in place of Ron and Hermione, who were both busy with prefect duties. 

Reluctantly, Harry halted beside Seamus, trying to look at anything but the way the morning sunlight slanted through the common room's high windows and made Ginny's hair look like it was glowing where it framed her face. 

“I hoped I'd catch you before you left the common room,” she said. Harry tried not to listen, but it was impossible, it was like his ears were attuned to the exact, musical frequency of Ginny's voice. 

“Did you?” Dean asked sceptically. “We've not really spoken since we–” 

“Well, I've been busy with Quidditch, and OWL work,” Ginny said, and even without looking Harry knew she'd be waving a hand unconcernedly in front of her. “But I wanted to give you this back.” 

Beside Harry, Seamus sucked in a sharp breath. Harry’s neck moved without any permission from his brain, forcing him to look.

She was holding an article of claret coloured clothing out to Dean, one that Harry recognised immediately. Something integral inside him had taken great offence the first time he’d seen her wearing Dean's West Ham jumper; he'd not grown to appreciate it any more on any of the following, mercifully infrequent, occasions either. 

“You can keep it,” Dean said now, looking extremely caught off guard. “I didn’t expect you to give it back.” 

Ginny shook her head. “No, it's yours. I meant to give it you last week, but I've been–” 

“Busy,” Dean finished for her. “You said.” 

He took the jumper, clutching it awkwardly against his body. Harry looked away again. Seamus cleared his throat uncomfortably. 

“I'll just put this in the dorm,” Dean said. “No point carrying it around all day.” 

“I’ll come with you,” Seamus offered. Harry remained silent, his eyes fixed on a tapestry of a witch petting a unicorn hanging on the far wall. 

“Bye, Ginny.” 

“Bye, Dean.” 

Harry felt rather than saw Seamus move away from him. He heard the simultaneous footsteps of him and Dean making their way back to the dormitory. He didn't look away from the tapestry until he heard the door to the staircase open, when he did, it was to find Ginny looking at him apologetically.

“Did I just doom you to a solitary breakfast?” 

Harry shrugged, ignoring the flutter of butterflies rising in his stomach. “Not if you come with me?” 

Thankfully, Ginny grinned in response to this suggestion, meaning Harry was spared from dying of embarrassment that morning. 

“Come on then. I need to report back to Mum that you're eating properly.” 

“Why would I not be eating properly?” He followed her to the portrait hole. 

Ginny shrugged. “I don’t know, it's Mum, she thinks everyone's not eating properly.” 

The corridor outside Gryffindor Tower was deserted. Their footsteps echoed loudly as they made their way towards the staircase. 

“Sorry if that was really awkward,” Ginny said, throwing a glance over her shoulder, obviously checking for Dean, who did not appear to have come back down from the dormitory yet. “I've been carrying that bloody jumper around in my bag for days trying to find a time to give it back. I had to take the opportunity when it was presented to me.” 

“Honestly, I'm just glad it's gone,” Harry said, before his brain could engage his mouth. Ginny's eyebrows rose about as much as Harry's heart plummeted. “It's killed me to see you in West Ham colours,” he said quickly. 

Ginny frowned. “I didn't realise you were such a big football fan.” 

Well, he was going to have to pretend to be now. “I live with Muggles, don't I?”

“You've never mentioned a football team,” she pressed.

Harry could feel her eyes studying his face like a physical touch. His heart was hammering in his chest; his brain had conveniently chosen that moment to stop working; he couldn't name a single football team even with a wand to his head.

“I–” 

“Actually, I have a more important question!” Ginny announced, saving Harry from whatever stuttered nonsense had been about to come out of his mouth. “Do you even have a Quidditch team?” 

They were at the staircase now, Ginny was a few steps ahead of him, making their height difference even starker than usual as she looked up at him curiously. 

“Er, Gryffindor?” Harry tapped the Captain's badge pinned to his jumper. 

“No!” Ginny rolled her eyes in exasperation. She paused, waiting for Harry to catch up to her. “An actual team – a professional team?” 

“Oh, I guess–” 

“Don't say it!” Ginny said, ending Harry's sentence once more. Her eyes narrowed. “If you tell me Ron's converted you to the Cannons, I'm going to disown you.” 

“Disown me?” he repeated, his smile growing in response to the one gracing Ginny's face. “I wasn't aware you owned me to begin with.” 

“Weren't you?” She looked away from him, taking the next flight of stairs two at a time. “Well, now you are.” 

“Unless I tell you I'm a Cannons supporter?” Harry increased his pace to keep up with her. “And then you're going to disown me?” 

“Exactly.” 

Was she blushing or was that just in Harry's head? 

“I'd better not risk it then.” 

She was definitely blushing. Or, more likely, he had started with waking delusions to match the near constant ones he had about her in his dreams. 

Ginny stopped on the step directly below him. She turned, placing her hand lightly on Harry's chest, halting both his descent, and the beat of his heart. 

“Let me tell you why you should be a Holyhead Harpies fan.” 

“Is this your sales pitch?” It was a wonder he could speak at all when his lungs had stopped working. 

She nodded. She was so close, her head tilted up to look at him, and her hand on his chest spreading warmth throughout his entire body. It would be so easy to lean down and–

Ginny took a step backwards, letting her arm fall away from Harry as she continued down the stairs. Her eyes, however, never left his. 

“One.” She lifted a finger in the air beside her. “Choosing the only all-female team in the league will make you appear sensitive, and extremely attractive, to most girls.” 

“You want me to make a decision as important as this based on what girls might think?” 

Somehow, he managed to keep to himself that he was on the verge of doing just that, based on what one particular girl might think. 

Ginny shrugged. “It's a sales pitch, I'm trying to appeal to your top priorities.” 

“Well, the opinions of unknown girls isn't one of them.” 

“Good to know.” 

“Is it?” He hadn't meant for his voice to drop so low, but he definitely liked the way Ginny's smile grew in response. 

“Yes, it helps me figure out my angle.” She raised a second finger in the air. “Two: their colours are green and gold, which my mother would assure you are your colours too.” 

Harry laughed; the sound bounced off the ancient walls surrounding them. “So, upon hearing I'm not making this choice based on the opinion of girls I might, hypothetically, want to impress, your next thought was your mum?” 

“No!” Ginny protested through a laugh of her own. “My next thought was that you look good in green!”

Harry's laughter died as his breath was stolen from him once again. 

“Three,” Ginny said quickly, raising a third finger into the air. “This one is the most important.” 

“Go on,” he managed to say. 

They were almost at the marble staircase now. Ginny halted their progress by leaning against the balustrade that overlooked the entrance hall. Harry lingered beside her, finding nothing to complain about in spending longer in her company. 

“In a few years, when they sign me – which is definitely going to happen – you don't want the inner turmoil of choosing between your loyalty to another team and me.” 

“There would be no inner turmoil,” Harry said, acutely aware that he should shut up, but finding himself completely incapable of doing so when Ginny was looking at him like she currently was. “I would obviously choose you.” 

Her smile was almost too brilliant to look at, yet Harry couldn't look away. “Oh, so you'd say I'm quite high on your priority list?” 

He didn't know if she took a step closer, or he did, all he knew was that the gap between them had decreased significantly, and that his heart was threatening to beat out of his chest. 

“Fairly high, yeah.” 

Ginny's eyes bored into his; Harry was transfixed. He waited, barely breathing, to see what her response would be. The corner of her mouth twitched– 

“There you are!” Ron's voice crashed into him with the force of a lightning bolt. 

Harry jumped back from Ginny, whipping his head around to see Ron and Hermione approaching, Ron grinning broadly, and Hermione looking almost as pained as Harry currently felt. 

“Have you eaten?” Ron asked. 

Harry glanced at Ginny to find her glaring at Ron. “We were just on our way to breakfast.” 

“Excellent,” Ron said obliviously. “We're done with rounds.” 

He continued walking, without stopping, in the direction of the marble staircase, apparently secure in the knowledge that Harry and Ginny would join him and Hermione. A fair assumption, Harry reminded himself, pushing off the balustrade. 

“I'm going to tell him,” Ginny said, quietly enough for only Harry to hear as she fell into step beside him. Harry's stomach sank, his brain leaping into overdrive, imagining Ginny informing Ron that he'd just spent the whole walk from the common room treacherously flirting with his sister. “...that you've betrayed the Cannons in favour of the Harpies.” 

“I don't think I actually agreed to that yet.” He hoped his shaking voice was only detectable to him. 

If Ginny noticed, she didn't show it. She was smiling again, her eye catching his. “You as good as did,” she said as they crossed the entrance hall. “But don't worry, it can be our secret for now.” 

[we-do-be-writing]

Christmas Gifts

Percy Weasley x Reader

Percy Weasley was known to be reserved, even around his family members. So, when the twins let it slip to Molly that he had a significant other, she was ecstatic. Immediately, she sent an owl to you, asking if you would come over for the upcoming winter break.

It was Ginny's idea to make your guest appearance a surprise for Percy, which you were on board for. Of course, it was a little nerve-wracking to be meeting the rest of Percy's family, especially without him there. However, you decided that none of them could be as shocking as when you met the twins one night while roaming the halls with Percy.

He was on Prefect duty, but you didn't care; you both had insomnia anyway. Plus, the late hours of the night were some of Hogwarts' quietest, and you wanted to cherish it.

That being said, the excitement radiating off Molly Weasley when you got to the Burrow was a force to be reckoned with. She was absolutely thrilled that her sophisticated son had found someone all on his own.

Wrapping you in a tight hug, she welcomed you inside the home and introduced you to Ginny. The little girl was shy, but you could see the mischief glimmering behind her eyes at the thought of the shocked look on Percy's face when he got home.

Admittedly, it was challenging to sneak around Percy's keen senses that he had developed from being the victim of many pranks and through his job as Prefect.

"Do you think we've pulled it off?" You asked after you stuck your things in the appropriate siblings' room.

"He's a smart one, but I don't think he'll be expecting this. My, he doesn't even know that the twins told us about you." Molly responded.

In the corner of your eye, you saw knitting needles clicking together as they wove the strands of yarn. You were an avid knitter/crocheter as well, but you preferred to do it by hand. Nonetheless, the magic flowing through the needles and into the yarn was fascinating.

Molly noticed your interest and started a conversation about the hobby while preparing dinner with Ginny. You offered to help by setting the table and adding extra plates for Harry, Hermione, and yourself.

"I actually brought handmade gifts for everyone," you mention, "I wasn't sure what to make, but I hope you all like them."

"Oh, that is wonderful, dear!" Molly cheered and you could see the wheels turning in Ginny's head on what her present might be.

Soon enough, it was time for the main event. The clock had switched, and everyone's name was now at the Burrow. You rushed to the bathroom seconds before the door flung open and a sea of red hair flooded the entryway.

You pressed your ear against the door, listening as everyone greeted Molly and Ginny. Quickly, Molly ushered everyone upstairs to put down their things so dinner could begin.

"Okay, dear, when you hear the knitting needles stop, you'll know it's time to come out." Molly whispered near the bathroom door before rushing back into the kitchen.

Once again, you heard a stampede of footsteps make their way past the entryway and into the dining area.

"Mum, you set out an extra plate ... and there's an extra chair." Percy observed as he sat down next to an empty spot.

At that exact moment you heard the clicking of needles cease and you had to take a breath before opening the door.

"I suppose that means I'll be sitting there." You say, walking into the room.

Percy chokes on air the second he hears your voice. Ginny's smile is bursting at the seams, the twins are holding in their laughs, Molly is almost vibrating with excitement, and the rest are simply watching the scene unfold with smiles.

"Y/n!" He yells before clearing his throat, "what ... what are you doing here?"

"I was invited, I hope that's alright." You say shyly, moving a little closer to the table.

"Of course it's alright," Percy exclaims, "but how did this happen?"

Once the words leave his mouth something clicks in his brain, and he whips his gaze over to the twins. Immediately, they lose control and begin cackling at the look on their brother's face.

"It was my idea to surprise you!" Ginny comments with a smile.

Percy instantly softens once he sees everyone giving him warm looks and the tears in his mother's eyes.

"Well, consider me surprised."

He turns back to you and stands, taking your hand and leading you to the seat next to his.

"This is only the beginning of the wonderful Christmas we're going to have." You whisper to him, folding your fingers through his.

"I don't think anything could ever top this." He says before kissing the top of your hand.

Just wait until he sees his other gift.

A/N: Ohhhh my gosh, it has been so long since I have been on Tumblr and this account, and it's crazy. But here we are with my man Percy Weasley; he is a little bit of a douche sometimes, but I'm in my "I can fix him" phase lol.

[realmrszurzolo]

ron invites you to the burrow 𝜗𝜚

a/n: this is my first time actually writing/posting one of these so pls bare with me 😭 i like to think i’m not a bad writer but pls lmk if there are any grammar or punctuation errors 🤗😚 also i’m not british so there might be some mistakes or hiccups in the way they talk! again, i apologize 😓

warnings (??) — bf!ron, hufflepuff!reader, fem!reader, pure fluff ♥︎

you and ron had been together for a few months now, and everything was as perfect as could be. you went to his quidditch games, you both bonded over your love for food, and he gave the best hugs imaginable.

he had been unsure if it was a good idea to take you to meet molly and the rest of his family, especially after the way she had reacted to fleur. but after much back and forth and asking fred, george, and ginny, he decided on it.

“just….beware. they can get crazy sometimes,” he cautioned, his chest rising in an oddly deep breath before raising his fist to knock.

the snow had really piled up, you thought, as your scarf barely helped your face warm. your mittens intertwined as best they could with ron’s, his hat matching the cloth on your hands.

“don’t worry, ron, im sure i’ll be alright,” you smiled, squeezing his hand as you stared at the closed door waiting to open.

the door quickly flung open, revealing a beaming molly behind it. she immediately rushed over to hug ron tightly, mumbling a bunch of greetings. ron glanced at you from his mom’s hug, eyes wide in a ‘help.’

you giggled, running your thumb up his hand reassuringly.

molly pulled away, fixing up his now messy orange locks before looking to his left. molly’s jaw dropped, mirroring the way she pounced on ron, but somehow more aggressive to you.

“oh, you must be y/n,” she cooed, rocking you left and right as she squeezed the living daylights out of you.

“well, come on in, then!” she motioned for you two to follow her inside, you and ron side eyeing each other.

“sorry,” he whispered, swallowing thickly before following his mum inside the warm home.

“are you kidding? i love her already.”

once molly had rushed you two inside, arthur greeted you with a firm handshake and a smile. “my darling,” molly began, pouring you each a warm cup of tea. “you are twice as beautiful as ron makes you out to be,”

you smiled, giggling as you glanced at your boyfriend. his face reddened immediately.

“does ron talk about me a lot?” you ask curiously, lifting the mug to your lips. the warm steam cooled your pink nose. the fire crackled, fred and george conversing as they heated their sock-enclothed feet.

“oh, you have no idea,” molly began, ron buried his face in his palms. arthur chuckled, taking a long sip of tea. “but enough about him. tell me about yourself, dear,” she invited, motioning for ron’s dad to get out the biscuits.

“well, i’m a hufflepuff, i’m a prefect, head girl, and i have outstandings in all of my classes,” you told her, feeling a bit tense at the mention of your house. you knew how much the weasleys valued being a gryffindor, and the last thing you wanted to do was disappoint them.

molly and arthur exchanged glances, and you swore you could’ve screamed and ran away right that moment. you tapped on your mug, looking at ron before down at your lap.

“ronald, you break this girl’s heart and you’re out of the house,” molly raised her pointer finger at him, causing a fit of comfortable laughter to fill the silence of the room.

“she really is an angel, mum. she tutors 1st years,”he added, making you smile shyly as you hid your face in the mug.

molly gasped, holding her hand over her heart. “well, my dear, i am beyond delighted that you are taking care of my ronald. just let me know if he becomes a handful. i’ll be more than happy to send a howler his way,” she warned, shooting ron a stern glance.

just as quickly as your worries came, they disappeared. molly loved you, arthur loved you, and you had not a doubt in your mind that ron did, too.

——————————————————————————

a/n pt 2: this was so fun to make!! i’m on a 5 day break so i’ll be writing some stuff, pls pls pls pls PLEASEEE lmk if you want to see anything or have any questions at all!! 😚😚

[amber-laughs]

“I — don’t — want —” said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew. “And you’re not sitting with the prefects today, either,” said George. “Christmas is a time for family.” They frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his side by his sweater.” Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: The Mirror of Erised

“— that’ll make Ginny’s Christmas —” muttered Fred. “— everyone should be comfortable. Well, they’ll have a bed, anyway,” said Mrs. Weasley, sounding slightly harassed. “Percy definitely not showing his ugly face, then?” asked Fred. Mrs. Weasley turned away before she answered. “No, he’s busy, I expect, at the Ministry.” Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: A Very Frosty Christmas

The twins love Percy so bad and are constantly vying for his attention but I genuinely think the way they show love is by playing around bullying people. Percy is one of the most misunderstood characters in the series but I think by association his relationship with Fred and George is over simplified too. They grew to resent him because of their mother’s constant comparisons and probably felt rejected by him but I think they missed him the most out of the whole family.

[moonlightdancer26]

I have a headcaon that sev knows how to tell the twins apart

LMAO ME TOO. I actually headcanon that Sev was quite fond of the Weasley family.

Bill was a smart student, who, according to Ginny, didn’t like Snape. But I doubt Snape cared about what the students thought of him, I think he just cared if they did well in his class or not. Given that Bill was a prefect + Head-Boy and got 12 O.W.L.s, he definitely didn’t get in trouble that much and was a clever student, so Snape probably tolerated him.

We don’t know much about Charlie but based on Hogwarts Mystery he low-key likes Snape, so I think they were alright.

I personally headcanon that Percy L O V E S Snape and admires everything he does, he definitely criticises his siblings (*cough* Ron) whenever they say anything bad about him.

Fred and George seem to be amused by him despite thinking he’s a git (though I doubt they took anything he said seriously) and I think they had natural talent in potions. Snape definitely values experimental projects and creativity (considering his spell creations and rewriting his potions book), which the twins have, so despite their troublemaking antics I’m sure he at the very least respected their creativity (this is a headcanon I’ve had for such a long time, I’m so happy I can finally talk about it lmao).

I think Severus mostly disliked Ron because of his association with Harry, his disregard for school rules, and his laziness in class, but I think out of the trio he tolerated Ron the most (they’re also both my fave characters in the series so I just like the thought of them being cool with each other lmao).

As for Ginny, I don’t think he hated her, but he found her mildly annoying because of her obvious crush on Harry in CoS and then in the later books when she came out of her shell. She didn’t complain about him much, the closest thing we get is her saying that “Bill doesn’t like him either” as a reason for not liking him. Plus I always thought Ginny would’ve made a good Slytherin and wasn’t super annoying in class so I think he at least preferred her to Hermione lmao.

I think Snape was okay with Molly (and I think she respected him as a teacher, she liked him enough to correct Harry for calling him “Snape” instead of “Professor Snape”), but I think he probably didn’t respect Arthur’s love of Muggles and thought he was a bit silly, and I think he liked him less than Molly due to Lucius’s influence lmfao.

I know this has nothing to do with your original question, but can you tell I’ve had this headcanon for a really long time and jumped at the opportunity to rant about it? 😭

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Double Standards: Malfoys vs Potters Edition

It's interesting how people view the Malfoy vs Potter men. The Malfoys are often considered shallow while the Potters are lauded for befriending the "downtrodden".

James Potter befriended Remus Lupin, a disadvantaged werewolf. He and his friends became animagi for Lupin. That's great and all...but then why was Remus so hesitant to go against the status quo and speak out against the marauders - to do his job as prefect?

And James treated Wormtail like trash too.

‘How thick are you, Wormtail?’ said James impatiently. ‘You run round with a werewolf once a month –’

Nice to say that out loud where anyone can hear, Jamie.

‘Put that away, will you,’ said Sirius finally, as James made a fine catch and Wormtail let out a cheer, ‘before Wormtail wets himself with excitement.’ Wormtail turned slightly pink, but James grinned.

“Lily and James only made you Secret Keeper because I suggested it,” Black hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backwards. “I thought it was the perfect plan… a bluff… Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they’d use a weak, talentless thing like you… it must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters.”

You really don't get the vibe that Sirius or James held little Petie in high regard, do you?

It can't be more obvious that Sirus and James were top dogs and Peter and Remus were just add-ons.

As for Harry, where to start with him? He shows little empathy for other people and has a nasty habit of describing people in dehumanizing ways (eg. Aberforth, Salazar Slytherin, Marcus etc). He has probably described Tom Riddle, the guy who murdered his parents, as attractive more times than his own girlfriend Ginny. He latched on to Ron because of his family and honestly, Hermione feels like a pity friend at times. Harry hardly likes being around her without Ron. Harry has another nasty habit of giving his best friends the silent treatment until they come crawling back to him, even when he is in the wrong too (re firebolt for Hermione and Ron believing Harry entered his name in the goblet of fire).

‘Hullo,’ said the boy, ‘Hogwarts too?’ ‘Yes,’ said Harry. ‘My father’s next door buying my books and mother’s up the street looking at wands,’ said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. ‘Then I’m going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don’t see why first-years can’t have their own. I think I’ll bully father into getting me one and I’ll smuggle it in somehow.’

Yet, no one seems to give Lucius and Draco any credit. These people are supposed to be snobby, pureblood supremacists. Yet, even though Harry was dressed in decrepit muggle clothes, Draco still engaged him in conversation. Draco had no idea who Harry was, had no clue he was famous at the time, and still made several efforts to talk with him and continue the conversation even when Harry was cold and aloof.

And Severus Snape moved off to the other side of the Hall, away from Lily, to where the Slytherins were cheering him, to where Lucius Malfoy, a prefect badge gleaming upon his chest, patted Snape on the back as he sat down beside him …

Lucius knows 'Snape' is not a pureblood name. He could see Snape's clothes were probably old hand-me-downs. He knows Snape is way below his class. Yet, he still welcomes Snape warmly to Slytherin. What reason would he have to fake pleasantries with a poor half-blood? I doubt Slughorn or the other bigoted purebloods would care if Lucius left his seat in disgust at Snape's presence. Even as adults, it is indicated in the narrative multiple times that Lucius holds Snape in high esteem. Draco held Snape in high esteem too despite being a halfblood.

The same Snape that James Potter tormented for no good reason - because Snape existed. Instead of targetting the purebloods like Avery and Mulciber, James and his delinquent loser gang went after Snape, the poor half-blood. Harry literally did nothing as Snape lay dying in the same shack that Lupin almost killed him in two decades prior.

Harry describes Pansy as being pug-faced...yet Draco still dated her. Even though Crabbe turned on him, Draco still grieved for him afterwards. Compared to Harry who only dates the prettiest girls and body shames other girls if they don't meet his standard and only cares about people who do things for him, like him and are loyal to him. It's only when the people he dislikes die for him that he changes his tune and suddenly they become great people.

How can people say the Potters are less shallow than the Malfoys??Draco and Lucius will always be high-class elitists who believe in sticking with their 'own kind' but give credit where credit is due.

[slitheringghost]

Voldemort and Manipulation of Power Structures

I wanted to explore one of the most fascinating parts of Voldemort's character, which is his immense consciousness of the power hierarchy and structures of magical society and his ability to manipulate them, as well as his consciousness of his own place in those power structures, and how he often plays on those weaknesses.

There are many ways in which he demonstrates this - i.e. he tells Quirrell “There is no good and evil, there is only power" and seems to follow that regarding his own beliefs; he sees himself in followers similarly disenfranchised as him (Harry, Snape, Ginny, Bellatrix, etc.), and we see him use this with them as a combination of genuine identification and manipulation; and we especially see this hyperawareness of the pureblood power structures that killed Merope in the locket protections (see my meta Slytherin Locket Cave: The Life and Death of Merope Gaunt and this addendum) and how that ties into his consciousness of the legal system and who is vulnerable and disposable to it.

In this meta I’ll explore some more of those instances.

1. Chamber of Secrets

His interactions regarding the Chamber attacks are particularly telling:

“It was my word against Hagrid’s, Harry. Well, you can imagine how it looked to old Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student.. on the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the Forbidden Forest to wrestle trolls

Well, how it looks... is that Armando Dippet, until Tom Riddle specifically clarified to him otherwise, was assuming Tom was Muggleborn, while there was a monster petrifying and hospitalizing Muggleborns for months and ended up killing one, and then told him he'd be safer at his orphanage. This is also something Tom plays on to Harry:

“My dear boy, you must see how foolish it would be of me to allow you to remain at the castle when term ends. Particularly in light of the recent tragedy... the death of that poor little girl.... You will be safer by far at your orphanage. As a matter of fact, the Ministry of Magic is even now talking about closing the school. We are no nearer locating the — er — source of all this unpleasantness...." “Lucky that I recorded my memories in some more lasting way than ink. But I always knew that there would be those who would not want this diary read.” [...] “I mean that this diary holds memories of terrible things. Things that were covered up.” [...] “Of course I know about the Chamber of Secrets. In my day, they told us it was a legend, that it did not exist. But this was a lie. In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one. I caught the person who’d opened the Chamber and he was expelled. But the headmaster, Professor Dippet, ashamed that such a thing had happened at Hogwarts, forbade me to tell the truth. A story was given out that the girl had died in a freak accident. They gave me a nice, shiny, engraved trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut. But I knew it could happen again.”

Tom correctly points out Dippet’s embarrassment about the attacks and attempt to cover them up. Dumbledore says that “Dippet was very fond of Voldemort and convinced of his honesty”, yet that didn’t stop Dippet from initially seeing Tom’s life as disposable as other Muggleborns, and it’s clear Tom realized this fact.

2. Half-Blood Prince

There’s Tom joking about being the “half blood heir of Slytherin” with his friends, enjoying the irony of playing on his background:

“I don’t know that politics would suit me, sir,” he said when the laughter had died away. “I don’t have the right kind of background, for one thing.” A couple of the boys around him smirked at each other. Harry was sure they were enjoying a private joke, undoubtedly about what they knew, or suspected, regarding their gang leader’s famous ancestor.

And then the way he flirts with and manipulates Hepzibah Smith is particularly interesting to me, especially combined with his framing of Hokey and using Kreacher for the locket:

“Hurry up, Hokey!” said Hepzibah imperiously. “He said he’d come at four, it’s only a couple of minutes to and he’s never been late yet!” “Now then,” said Hepzibah happily, “where’s Hokey? Oh yes, there you are — take that away now, Hokey.” The elf obediently took the boxed cup, and Hepzibah turned her attention to the much flatter box in her lap.

“Now, now, not so fast, or I’ll think you’re only here for my trinkets!” pouted Hepzibah. “I am ordered here because of them,” said Voldemort quietly. “I am only a poor assistant, madam, who must do as he is told. Mr. Burke wishes me to inquire —”

Just like he recognizes the parallel between Merope’s treatment and a house elf/slavery, you can tell he’s noticing the same parallel with himself - and he’s playing into it.

Of course, plenty of his politeness with Hepzibah is necessity, but in the above quote he’s milking his “weakness” and playing the obedient servant - because he knows that power dynamic between them is what Hepzibah Smith is attracted to (and that she enjoys fussing over him as the “poor assistant” - i.e. Hepzibah feeding him with the cakes and telling him he’s overworked, etc.).

Then there’s his framing of his uncle - while the majority of the specifics of Morfin’s confession is revenge for his mother, you can tell Tom’s enjoying the irony of framing Morfin and getting him sent to Azkaban for killing Muggles as a fuck you to his pureblood relatives in general:

“And so what? Morfin gave a Muggle a bit of what was coming to him — what about it, then?” “Morfin has broken Wizarding law,” said Ogden sternly. “Morfin has broken Wizarding law.’” Gaunt imitated Ogden’s voice, making it pompous and singsong. Morfin cackled again. “He taught a filthy Muggle a lesson, that’s illegal now, is it?” [...] “Summons! Summons? Who do you think you are, summoning my son anywhere?” “I’m Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad,” said Ogden. “And you think we’re scum, do you?” screamed Gaunt, advancing on Ogden now, with a dirty yellow-nailed finger pointing at his chest. “Scum who’ll come running when the Ministry tells ’em to? Do you know who you’re talking to, you filthy little Mudblood, do you?”

“The Ministry, on the other hand, knew at once that this was a wizard’s murder. They also knew that a convicted Muggle-hater lived across the valley from the Riddle house, a Muggle-hater who had already been imprisoned once for attacking one of the murdered people. “So the Ministry called upon Morfin. They did not need to question him, to use Veritaserum or Legilimency. He admitted to the murder on the spot, giving details only the murderer could know. He was proud, he said, to have killed the Muggles, had been awaiting his chance all these years. He handed over his wand, which was proved at once to have been used to “kill the Riddles. And he permitted himself to be led off to Azkaban without a fight.

Of course this doesn't stop him being a total hypocrite and looking down on Muggles himself, just like his awareness of house-elf oppression and ability to use it doesn’t stop him from completely underestimating Kreacher.

Because one of the biggest ways Voldemort’s arrogance manifests is his belief in his ability to manipulate these power structures, how he sees himself as an outsider in magical society who is always chessmaster-ing it, his certainty that everyone else but him are simply too imprisoned by those oppressive structures to resist against and fight back against them - that he’s the only one that can truly rise above them.

[wisteria-lodge]

What do you think about Molly Weasley?

I have a lot of thoughts about Molly Weasley. I think she’s a fantastic character,  just not in the way that JKR intended. 

I think the intention was to make Molly kind of a mama bear. Fiercely loving, fiercely protective, hot tempered… but you know. In a cute way. In a warm way. I do think that Movie!Molly threads this needle. (I also think that her bear-ears hairstyle is perhaps intentional.) 

Movie!Molly gets her big duel with Bellatrix, she gets (reasonably) annoyed at the boys for stealing the car. Her only spicy moment is the Howler… which is softened and made more comedic by 1) including a nice message for Ginny at the end 2) including a tongue-sticking-out moment, which turns the whole thing into more of a joke on Molly. Now it’s your mom being kind of weird and embarrassing… versus her public shaming you, toxic tik-tok mom style. The Howler is much worse in the book: “​​I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN’T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS.”

So let’s talk Book!Molly, because there’s a lot there. She’s a Prewett, growing up in a more *typical* pure blood family as opposed to being a “blood traitor” Weasley. (Cedrella Black was disowned for marrying a Weasley, Lucretia Black married a Prewett no problem.)  Molly also married Arthur really young, and really quickly. It’s even lightly implied they married too quickly - 

“I just think [Bill and Fleur] have hurried into this engagement, that’s all!”  “They’ve known each other a year,” said Ron (...)   “Well, that’s not very long! I know why it’s happened, of course. It’s all this uncertainty with You-Know-Who coming back, people think they might be dead tomorrow, so they’re rushing all sorts of decisions they’d normally take time over. It was the same last time he was powerful, people eloping left, right, and center —”  “Including you and Dad,” said Ginny slyly.  “Yes, well, your father and I were made for each other, what was the point in waiting?” said Mrs. Weasley.

There’s some psychological truth to that. (Also, Molly and Arthur were 100% hooking up while at Hogwarts:)

“[The Fat Lady] was here in my time,” said Mrs. Weasley. “She gave me such a telling off one night when I got back to the dormitory at four in the morning —”  “What were you doing out of your dormitory at four in the morning?” said Bill, surveying his mother with amazement. Mrs. Weasley grinned, her eyes twinkling.  “Your father and I had been for a nighttime stroll,” she said.

And the timeline’s too fuzzy to know for sure…  but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Molly getting pregnant with Bill was one of the reasons she and Arthur got married so fast. 

It’s hard to say, because you never get a great sense of their relationship, but I’m actually not sure how compatible the two of them are, or if they would have gotten married at all if it hadn't been for the war and all these external factors. There is an ongoing conflict between them: Arthur is a political radical who seems to enjoy upsetting the Malfoys - he’s not playing nice, he doesn't have a prestigious job, he’s not getting a promotion anytime soon, and he’s fine with this. His interest in muggles is fringe counterculture stuff, and his hobby is illegal. And Molly… is pretty establishment. She wants her sons to be Head Boys and Prefects, and then she wants them to get jobs at the Ministry:

“Mum went mad at [Fred and George after finding their prank candy.] Told them they weren’t allowed to make any more of it, and burned all the order forms. . . . She’s furious at them anyway. They didn’t get as many O.W.L.s as she expected.” “And then there was this big row,” Ginny said, “because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop.”

Like we hear about this interaction secondhand, which softens the emotion, but I’m sorry? Molly burned their order forms? She wants them to do jobs they very clearly have no aptitude for, instead of being entrepreneurs? Arthur sides with the twins, and of course he does. They’re anarchists just like he is. But it *really* bothers Molly, and this conflict just keeps coming up. 

[sidenote. You cannot tell that Arthur Weasley, once he was in his late 20s/early 30s, once he had grown into himself a bit. Tell me that this man didn’t once think “you know, I really should have married a Muggle. That would’ve been perfect.”’]

But back to Molly Weasley, nee Prewett. She wants a big family, and there is no way this doesn't have something to do with the fact that both her brothers were just brutally killed. She’s trying to distract herself, fill some void, find some meaning. The fact that it doesn’t work (because how could it, she’s got just buckets of unprocessed trauma) is maybe why she is so set on having a girl. Maybe a little baby girl is what she needs. 

In the main timeline of the book, Molly 100% needs enrichment. She needs to start breeding alpacas or join a book club or get a job. (Job could be cool, especially since she has no kids at home and money is an issue.) Like come on, Molly is intense, Type A, and powerful. Possibly one of the best duelists in the entire series. She takes out Voldemort’s number two, and Bellatrix has already defeated Sirius - incredibly talented and powerful in his own right. I do think that the reason JKR made this choice (instead of letting Neville have a confrontation with Bellatrix, which would have been more narratively straightforward) is because (whether consciously or unconsciously) she doesn’t like the idea of one of her good-guy GUY characters hurting a woman. So Molly defeats Bellatrix with magic mom powers, which is the same reason Narcissia can lie to Voldemort’s face I guess.

What Molly definitely does NOT need to be doing is obsessing about her kids' significant others. Like take Fleur. (Who I think we as readers were meant to dislike more than we actually did?)  Fleur is great. So when Molly has a problem with her… then starts trying to matchmake Bill with Tonks… until Tonks (another fan favorite) also starts annoying her… it makes Molly looks really unreasonable. Also, let Bill have his long hair and earring. 

She gets weird about Hermione in Book 4, after she believes Rita Skeeter’s write-up that she's some sort of temptress playing Harry and Krum off each other. Instead of, idk, asking Harry (who she thinks of as a surrogate son) she sends Hermione a passive-agressive comically undersized chocolate egg. Harry and Ron get huge ones. That’s not cute, or funny.

Also, Percy and Penelope Clearwater. I know the real-world reason Percy hides his relationship in Book 2 is so he can be a red herring acting all suspicious… but in universe, I guess Percy just wants to date someone without his mom being weird about it? Like Penelope Clearwater is nice and normal and fine. Why is he hiding this relationship?

Then there’s Molly the disciplinarian, which we mostly see in the context of Fred and George (although there is also Ron being public-shamed by the Howler.) She is constantly giving the twins a hard time about their life choices, their jokes. Ron says “I remember Mum walloping Fred with her broomstick." Then yeah, she burns their order forms. She does feel bad about this later, and after the whole thing at the Quidditch World Cup hugs them and says, “What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn’t get enough O.W.L.s?” It’s meant to be a sweet moment, but this would annoy me just a little. It’s a little like saying, “I’m glad I don’t have to think of myself as being a bad mother.” 

I also want to point out Molly's pretty clear favoritism. Fred and George are the problem children, Ginny is the baby (although we almost never see her and her mother interact, so it’s actually very hard to say what their relationship is like), and Percy is the golden child. We see how this sort of sets him apart from all his siblings, how he's described as pompous and full of himself, but also how he’s secretive and hides things from his family. It’s kind of precarious being the golden child, and when he finally does stop pleasing his mother he falls hard. (Although I will always be a big believer in Daddy Issues!Percy. That has to be why he commits that hard to Barty Crouch Sr that fast, and then ignores that many red flags.) 

And of course Ron is the invisible child. Almost the first thing we hear him say is, “She always forgets I don’t like corned beef.” That one can slide. Molly’s got five kids at home, she made corn beef sandwiches, not everyone is going to be equally happy. But Ron’s clothes.  Molly makes her own clothes, she's defined by her facility with household magic. She knits Ron sweaters... but at least two of them are maroon despite the fact that Ron hates maroon. His room is  plastered top to bottom in bright orange Chudley Cannons merch. She couldn’t make him an orange sweater? There’s also the issue with the dress robes. Ron clearly doesn’t like them (“Mum, you’ve given me Ginny’s new dress.”) But he is the one who cuts off the lace trim later, and he doesn’t do an amazing job. I know that it's a joke, but like. That sounds like a job for Molly.

We do get Horcrux!Hermione telling Ron that he is the “Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter,” so this idea of Molly picking favorites is *kind of* in the text. But Horcrux!Hermione is wrong about Harry/Hermione being a thing, so maybe we’re meant to read this as Ron’s baseless anxiety? It doesn’t feel like that though. What it actually feels like is an unresolved plot thread. 

So here’s my take on Molly Weasley. This is someone who is pretty high-powered, who suffered a period of emotional upheaval, then got married and started having kids because she kind of thought that was what you do - and it wasn’t as fulfilling as she thought it would be. I think a lot of her comments come off as *meaner* than JKR intended, because let’s face it - JKR has a kind of mean sense of humor. And if I want to speculate further… I think there are quite a few parallels between Molly Weasley and JKR. I don't think she put them there consciously.