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saiilorstars · 3 months ago

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Ch. 38: The Bitter War

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

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

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"So good!" Romina laughed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Take care,

Grand-mère Abigail.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~ 0 ~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~ 0 ~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Grab your gloves, Miss Oswell."

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

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

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

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

"Arden, not so hard!"

"Just hold the dang bottle!"

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

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

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

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

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

"Course," Millicent nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~ 0 ~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Why?" Pansy groaned.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"That's the same thing, genius!"

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

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

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

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

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

~ 0 ~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"So?" Carolinha and Daphne asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This time, both Romina and Arden snorted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Who's Rita Skeeter?" Arden asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They all laughed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Romina snorted. "Bloody how?"

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

~ 0 ~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harry shrugged. "Hasn't hurt anymore."

"And did you actually write to Sirius?"

"I did…"

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

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

Romina's eyes widened. "Harry Potter!"

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

"So!?"

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

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

"Romima!"

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

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

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

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

Romina laughed. "He knows you enough."

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

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

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

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

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

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

~0~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"How is that my fault?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Then I guess you have things coming too."

"What, you'll hit me back?"

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

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

Draco shook his head. "No."

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

"I've heard worse," Draco shrugged.

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

Maybe her elbow slipped on his side.

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

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

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

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

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

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

~ 0 ~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Welcome to the club."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Drop what?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Well?"

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

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

A/N:

They are actual teenagers in this chapter I swear xD.

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

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misguidedasgardian · 9 months ago

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The Lifeaters (I.4)

IV. Pumpkins, mischief, and trolls

MASTERLIST

Chapter Summary: You were testing barriers

Pairings: Draco Malfoy x Fem!Reader (platonic)

Warnings: Cursing, magical objects, Mugglephobia, injuries in Quidditch

Wordcount: 2.6 k

Notes: Here we go again muahaha This ofc isn’t getting enough traction and I get it… I really hope that it does later on because I'm really excited :(

You were in the astronomy tower with Blaise, Draco and Matthew, you had brought, as promised, your telescope and were trying to explain the homework to Matt, that was only mocking the boys and not paying attention, it was sort of frustrating

When he spoke to you, Draco quickly answered for you, or simply stood between the both of you, you didn’t understand why, but finally he managed to see the constellation he picked and wrote down some things in a parchment, and then it became late and you had to come back to the commonroom so you wouldn’t be caught after hours out of bed.

Blaise and Matthew walked in front of you, and you managed to grab Draco and pull him back, as soon as you were walking by his side you asked him, point blank

“Are you ashamed of me?”, you asked bluntly, he looked at you frowning, like that was the most stupid thing you had ever say

“Why would you think that?”, he snapped

“You never introduced me to your other friends”, you said quickly

“I did! you know Crabbe and Goyle”, he said easily

“But not Nott and Zabini”, you corrected, “Or Matthew”

“He is different”, he said, quickly, “I didn’t know it was so important”

“I feel like I’m an outsider”, you said

“YOU ARE NOT!”, he snapped

“Is it because we don’t know who my father was?”, you asked shyly

“We know he was one of the sacred 28 that is enough for me!”, he said back, yes actually that is the only thing you knew about him, him and the fact you didn't have any direct family like grandparents or uncle and aunts

“But still…”, you murmured

He had this guilty look on his face, after he told you you couldn’t borrow his racing broom he had at the manor, when he didn’t want to share but he felt guilty because it was you

“You are my best friend”, he said, as he was actually not only apologizing but giving an explanation.

You decided to drop it, as you got to the common room and separated to go to your own rooms.

“Good night”, you said shyly

“Good night”, said Draco and Blaise as they walked towards their room, and Matthew just stood there and watched you go inside your room.

The very next day, you had defense against the dark arts, which you, by reading your book, thought it was going to be the most interesting class, but alas, you had Professor Quirrel

He wasn’t a bad teacher, but the way he spoke nervously, and stuttered a lot, made you nervous and it was hard to follow his instructions, and he always spoke sentences as questions, so you didn’t know if he was making a statement

But you did well in his class

And just like that, weeks went by and now you were enjoying the Hallowe'en feast, you loved Halloween, you loved to carve the pumpkins, and the candy, and you felt like it was the only day of the year in which wizards and witches could mingle in the muggleborn without being treated as weird

The muggles were the weird ones, you thought

Anyways, tomorrow, the classes were suspended because of the holiday, and you were going to go to the pumpkin patch outside of Hargrid’s house to grab pumpkins to carve and bewitch. It was one of the few activities that were available for first and second years since you weren’t allowed to go to Hogsmeade, the little town near the castle grounds

Draco did not want to go, under any circumstances to go near “Harry Potter’s best friend Hagrid”, but you did, so he was forced to accompany you and Millicent, who also showed interest

“I dare you to eat one of those”, mocked Mathhew to Draco, pointing at a bowl of magical gummy eyes, they were enchanted to look and move like real eyes, but they were made of gummy, but they give you the creeps because of how… wet… they looked

“No way!”, laugh Draco, “I’ll give you my next treat box if you eat one”, you giggled as you grabbed a huge black and orange lolly as a dessert

“TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!”, a scream interrupted everyone as professor Quirrel entered the great hall running desperately, “TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!”, he screamed again as he was running to the huge table where the teachers were, “I thought you should now!”, he said wobbly, and collapsed to the floor

You exchanged concerned looks with Draco and you both screamed at the top of your lungs in desperation alongside all of the students

A troll! They were huge, smelly and dangerous!

“SILENCE!”, Screamed Professor Dumbledore, “Everyone will please, not panic. Now, Prefects will lead their houses back to the dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons”, he concreted, and your own Prefect did his best, though you all pushed each other to exit the hall, considering that your common room was actually near the dungeons

But you didn’t encounter any trolls on your way there, and then you were safe inside it.

The very next day, the only thing everyone was talking about, is how Potter single handedly defeated the mountain troll that sneaked into the school, Draco was frowning all day in the pumpkin patch until you brought the pumpkins back to the common room.

It was a fun afternoon, MIlicent and you had carved the pumpkins, and Umbra was perched on your chair, eating the seeds you had leftover, it was quite funny actually.

You carved a toothy grin on your pumpkin, with sharp eyes, it looked a bit diabolical, MIlicent opted for a more complacent face for hers.

“You have the spell?”, you asked, just when Draco came back accompanied by Blaise, Theo, Matthew, Greg, Vince, Pansy and Daphne

“What are you both doing?”, asked Theo, making you both blush, it was no secret that he was the cutest boy in your class

“Head full of seeds, a funny bloke, make this pumpkin talk and joke!”, she chanted pointing at her pumpkin with her wand, and in a second the pumpkin started moving its face

“Welll…. hello!”, he said with a sharp voice, you gasped, surprised, taking out your wand, when the pumpkin started to speak rapidly, looking all around

“Wicked!”, muttered Crabb, and everyone grabbed a pumpkin and started carving

“Head full of seeds, a funny bloke, make this pumpkin talk and joke!”, you repeated religiously, and surely enough, the face of your pumpkin started moving, showing you an even wider, more devilish smirk

“Hello little lady”

“Would you tell me a joke?”, you asked

“No… but I know some good ol’ limericks that might interest you”, you were concerned to say the least, “There was a professor at Hogwarts, who had a complete set of Rose Quartz, he cleaned them and used them, but then he stored his…”

“NO!”, you interrupted him, afraid he would say something naughty

Your friends made their own Pumpkins, and they they brought them to life

Let’s just say that didn’t end well, you learn like 20 naughty words, and the noise got so loud, Professor Snape quashed all your pumpkins because they started singing dirty songs and jokes who made all the people in the painting to go away embarrassed and upset

That was very funny, you had never laughed so much in your life, to see Snape’s face

You giggled when you remembered it

The other thing you did while you had free time, is to search for the trophies in the common room, specially the ones of Quidditch, your house won a lot! you had to train A LOT this summer so next year you were going to be able to make it to the team, as it was yours and Draco’s dream.

Only one year the Slytherin team had won every year, and you manage to steal a picture of the yearbook 1978 of the library of it, and you managed to actually ask the prefect to see that year’s playbook, and studied the plays, which he found odd, but didn’t say anything

Speaking of Quidditch….

Today was your first Quidditch game! not as players but as spectators, much to Draco’s dismay and pouts

Your first Quidditch Game!

But you were excited nonetheless, you were going to play against Gryffindor, the best game of the year!, and you couldn’t wait, maybe Potter would fall of his broom

So you put on your favorite piece of clothing of the uniform, the thick wooden gray and emerald green scarf, you fixed your hair in a way that it wouldn’t bother your eyes, because it might be windy up there in the boxes, and you ran out of the girl’s rooms to meet Draco in the Common Room

Soon you were cheering up in the boxes when the Slytherin team show up first, obviously, and they started flying around the field

You and Draco and the rest of your year were all in attendance in the same box and cheered loudly for the team, they looked so cool! you loved the dark green and the capes flying behind them, you couldn’t wait to join the team next year!

A boy Lee Jordan, from Gryffindor, was narrating the match, and you thought it was like watching a game between England and Bulgaria narrated by a Bulgarian, so… Madam Hooch, your teacher from the flying lessons, was refereeing, as she stood in the middle of the field.

She had her broom in her hand, and the players of both teams got together around her ina circle, the seeked even higher from the ground.

Soon she grabbed the Quaffle, and threw it into the air, starting the game.

A girl from the Gryffindor teams snatched it pretty quickly, she was fast and you really admired that.

You found Quidditch really breathtaking, professional players were so quick and smooth, and this was proven to be no different, your first Hogwarts Quidditch match! wow.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor -- what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too --"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, Professor., giggled the narrator, "And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve -- back to Johnson and -- no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes -- Flint flying like an eagle up there -- he's going to sc- no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindors take the Quaffle -- that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and -- OUCH -- that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger -- Quaffle taken by the Slytherins -- that's Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger -- sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which -- nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes -- she's really flying -- dodges a speeding Bludger -- the goal posts are ahead 149 -- come on, now, Angelina -- Keeper Bletchley dives -- misses -- GRYFFINDORS SCORE!"

How could he breathe? you wondered

The Gryffindors cheered loudly, luckily they were on the other side of the field, they were so annoying.

You saw both seekers, Potter and Higgs, flying above them all, watching carefully their surroundings for the sneakiest of the balls, the golden snitch

you looked back to the field and to your joy, your captain Marcus Flint took hold of the Quaffle, as he evaded a Bludger throw at him by one of the Weasley Twins

The father of the Weasleys had been to your house in the name of the ministry, searching for strange artifacts; your grandfather had to come all the way from France to recover dear artifacts that were family treasures. He was so upset it required weeks to convince him to let you stay in England.

But anyways, back to the game in question….

"Slytherin in possession," Lee Jordan was saying, "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the -- wait a moment -- was that the Snitch?"

The game seemed to stop as Pucey dropped the quaffle as he looked over his shoulders at the golden dop flying furiously and randomly.

Slytherin’s seeker darted towards it, faster that you had ever seen, and Potter too.

He had a Nimbus, and that gave him clear advantage.

A professor had given him that broom, was that even fair? You shook your head trying o wipe those thoughts out of your mind, and then… Flint scored for Slytherin

The entire box and the one next to it exploded in cheers and chants

Flint was waiting for a pass from Pucey, intercepting Harry and he got himself an infraction for interfering, you growled in frustration

The bludgers started to take more stage, flying more furiously as Gryffindor took possession again and the game became quicker and even more violent, of course the Slytherin were on edge because of the skills of Harry, which surprised everyone as it was his very first game

And then, loud gasps and shouts took everyone’s attention to Potter. When you managed to spot him, he was flying frantically, it seemed like he had lost control of his broom! you wanted to laugh, his broom was failing him! but then you gasped when he almost fell from it, barely hanging on with one of his hands, he was too high in the air! he could really harm himself if he falls

“What's happening to Potter?”, asked Zabini

“Too much broom for such a little Git”, mocked Draco and everyone laughed

He started zigzagging in the air and everyone saw it, screaming and gasping, the Gryffindors asking for a timeout

But when Madame Hooch did anything to prevent it, the game kept going, Slytherin had taken possession again and

You were winning! with 90 points and Gryffindor by 30, it was so exciting! you were wondering if they could manage to make more points that the snitch was worth, as you saw Terence HIggs and he was flying randomly, clearly he didn’t have the snitch on sight

You turned back to look at Potter and he seemed to have regain balance and control of his broom

You couldn’t believe that barely weeks ago he didn’t even know what Quidditch was and now he was playing for Seeker in Gryffindor

The snitch apparently showed itself to Potter, as he and even Terence spotted and started chasing it quickly

They both were pretty high in the air and darted downwards towards the ground quickly, HIggs stopped but Potter kept going, his arm in the air ready to catch it.

He fell to the ground, and he looked like he was going to be sick and then, to everyone’s surprise, he coughed up the snitch.

"I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head

Nobody really knew what was going on

"He didn't catch it, he nearly swallowed it", your captain fought hard for the “win” to be dismissed, but the win was proclaimed and there was no turning back

Draco, instead of sad because we lost, he had that face that told you he was cooking up a plan

“The team is there, we need a better seeker”, and he was going to be that seeker next year

You smiled back at him

We still had two more games to watch, against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff

You still had chances to win the Quidditch cup

#misguidedlifeaters #harry potter #harry potter fanfic #hp fanfic #harry potter fandom #draco malfoy #slytherin #house slytherin #slytherin!reader

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cailynwrites · 11 months ago

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Harry Potter Rec Fest Day 25 - Rated T

I read a lot of explicit fic, but it's nice to take a break from smut, especially if I know a child is reading over my shoulder on an airplane or something. When I was flying to France last year, the young girl next to me was watching Deathly Hallows. She must have noticed that what I was reading was HP of some sort, and kindly offered to turn off the movie so I didn't have the book spoiled for me. Since then, I'm a lot more aware of what is displayed on my Kindle screen when in close quarters! So here are some T fics for @hprecfest that are safe for reading on public transport.

yer a wizard, dudley by @ink-splotch Podfic by xan_reads Pairing: none Word count: 21,860 Rating: T

Dudley gets his letter the same time as Harry and lives on the sidelines through Harry's school years. This is a hell of a redemption arc for Dudley (apparently I'm fond of them? more please!) but without making him (what I perceive as) out of character. He doesn't do anything particularly grand or heroic, but the character growth is meaningful and realistic.

Checkmating by mahaliem Podfic by sisi_rambles Pairing: Harry x Draco, Ron x Millicent Word count: 10,829 Rating: T

In hopes of convincing Voldemort supporters to change sides, Ron decides that he and Harry should pair off with Slytherins.

Snappy dialogue and short scenes abound in this cute little fic. Ron is strategic and determined to match up all the Slytherins. It's funny and silly and sweet.

************************************************************************

And finally, a couple of little self-recs ...

Priceless by @kyonomiko - a Podfic (Spotify) Pairing: Draco x Hermione Word count: 3,662 Length: 21:35 Rating: T

One more late holiday fic ... Hermione makes a Secret Santa advent calendar in the 8th year common room. Draco is, unsurprisingly, skeptical of the Muggle tradition, but Hermione brings him round in the end.

Common Ground by @kyonomiko - a Podfic (Spotify) Pairing: Draco x Hermione Word count: 6,921 Length: 43:42 Rating: T

There are fewer things more delightful than finding out how much you have in common with someone that surprises you. How much could Draco Malfoy possibly have in common with Hermione Granger?

I am a huge fan of @kyonomiko. I like the slow burn, even in a short fic. This one is a great example of Draco and Hermione literally finding common ground at a ball during 8th year.

#hprecfest2023 #hp podfic #dudley dursley redemption #drarry #dramione

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dracosathenaeum · 4 years ago

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The Game | D.M.

Summary: You and Draco are friends with benefits but a game of spin the bottle causes you both to rethink your situation

Pairings: Draco Malfoy x reader, slight Fred Weasley x reader (hot make out scene 👀)

Warnings: Smut, angst, daddy kink, baths, alcohol

Word Count: 3,651

A/N: You’ve just lost the game, you’re welcome xx I also wasn't going to post this tonight but @fuckingdraco and @dracoswift hyped me up, ily <3

MASTERLIST

FOR THE NON-BRITS: touchwood = knock on wood

You weren’t anything special. No golden girl like Granger, not a descendant from anyone of significance, no. You were just you. And perhaps that was why he was so surprised when his heart started tugging at his chest every time you left his arms.

He had been with countless the girls.

He had touched you the same as he had touched Pansy.

He had kissed you the same way he had kissed Daphne.

He had held you the same way he had held Millicent.

He had fucked you the same way he had fucked half the girls in the year.

Yet you still managed to be different.

You had started out as just another pass time, but you had lasted longer than any of his other flings, and beating Pansy was a trial in itself. She had stuck to him like glue in between other flings. He didn’t hate her company; he just knew he your company hadn’t become annoying to him yet, and that was all he needed. Maybe that’s why you had lasted so long, as soon as he realised girls started falling for him, he would pull away and break things off. But it had been almost half a year of your mutual agreement and you showed no signs of infatuation, no pesky feelings that would get in the way of good sex and he liked that.

He hadn’t grown tired of you. Hadn’t begun to find your voice annoying or your kisses dull. He still loved the way you felt in his arms, loved waking up to you curled into his side and most of all, being inside of you.

He wasn’t in love, feelings may be there, but not love. Not that he was willing to jeopardise his consistent shag of course, finding another girl to take over would be easy, finding one who wouldn’t catch feelings would be the hard part. Besides, he was used to you, if you wanted to break off the arrangement, he wouldn’t stop you but he sure as hell wouldn’t be the one to do it. He would simply wait it out, wait for you to fall for him like all the others before you had. Except this time he would give you a chance, test out your compatibility perhaps, though clearly you were both very compatible in bed.

You had both set some rules early on.

1. There would be no labels attached to whatever relationship you two had

2. If either of you wish to pursue a romantic relationship with someone else, you must break off this agreement first

3. Could use the other to keep unwanted advances off

That last one was more for him than it had been for you, not many people had noticed you before you started sleeping with Draco, but none had attempted to even flirt with you since the two of you became public. Everyone knew of course, that you weren’t together together, just fuck buddies as it were, that was all of Draco’s relationships after all. But that didn’t mean anyone dared try to interfere.

Astoria Greengrass. The younger sister of Daphne Greengrass, someone Draco still considered a friend despite their history and her feelings. Astoria however was not someone anyone expected to try and cosy up to Draco, especially considering how Draco’s arm was still wrapped firmly around your waist as she threw on a flirty smile. Astoria was innocent, she was young, and her sister had surely warned her away from him judging by the look of hurt flashing across the elder sister’s face. Yet here she was.

A 7th year party was the last place you expected Draco to be stolen from your side, but you let him go, you don’t really have a say after all, rather, he’s the one that lets go of you.

You knew the game well, you had watched the girls before you fail at the final hurdle but you were determined. You had first noticed him properly in 3rd year, started developing feelings in 5th before finally getting your chance in 7th. You had managed to catch his eye; you had learnt the failures of the previous girls and you used it to your advantage.

You finally had the chance to be something more, to pretend he loved you when he held you, when he fucked you, when he moaned praises in your ear. You wouldn’t ruin your chances. Not yet. Not when you had spent the past 6 months hiding your emotions, willing your face to give off no sign of jealousy. There was only one emotion you found hard to find, hurt. But that usually came after he was gone, when he wouldn’t stay some nights and instead left you the second he was done with you. Those were the nights that you realised just what kind of game you were playing, that in the end, you would be the one to lose everything.

You try not to look, you really do. But it’s an itching behind your eyes, fingers fiddling with the cup you’re drinking out of and it’s the anger in Daphne’s eyes as she watches their exchange that makes you finally turn and look. He’s leant against the wall with Astoria stood infront of him, fingers innocently strung together as she stared at him from under her perfectly curled eyelashes. A whisp of her perfectly curled hair falls infront of her face, you watch as her mouth forms an innocent ‘o’ before trying to blow it away only for it to fall back. Her giggle makes you want to hex her. Draco tucking the strand of hair behind her ear makes you want to shave her head. The flush that comes across her face at Draco’s actions and his hand that lingers in her hair a second too long has you joining in on the spin the bottle game you had previously sat out of.

Downing the contents of the glass in your hand, you wince at the burn before sitting at the empty spot between a Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

You look up to see yourself directly across from Cormac McLaggen which has you cursing under your breath and sending a silent plea to every god and deity there is to save you from that. Anyone but him.

You cheer when the circle cheers, watch as horny teenagers practically swallow each other’s tongues. Cormac gives you a greasy smile that has you wanting to get up, but it’s better than watching Draco and Astoria flirt their perfectly compatible arses off.

“Anyone but that bastard McLaggen.” You whisper it just before you spin, hoping that it works in your favour rather than jinxes it, tapping the table leg behind you with a quick “Touchwood” just to cover all grounds.

You’ve fucked it.

It spins, but the universe is mocking you. It slows down, likely to land on fucking McLaggen. He could be a fucking prince for all you cared but there was no way you’d let that slimy shit kiss you.

You cross your fingers, willing for it to pass him. And for a while it looks like you’re screwed, but just as you’re about to feign alcohol poisoning it passes him, by barely an inch, but all the same it passes him. You watch with wide eyes as it lands on Fred Weasley by that one inch and you let out the breath you hadn’t known you held. The worried expression on your face quickly became one of relief, a look of relief could’ve been mistaken for happiness, and for a certain blonde, it had.

Fred raises an eyebrow at you, clearly not expecting that reaction from you, before offering you a toothy grin that you return before crawling to where he sat, settling your arms around his neck as his guided your face to his.

You couldn’t stop the moan that sounded at the first touch of his lips against yours. They didn’t know your lips as Draco’s did but that didn’t stop him from being a damn good kisser, knowing exactly where to put his hands and when to use his tongue. Fred Weasley was good. You briefly wonder if the alcohol was why you couldn’t pull away but that didn’t matter when he took your lower lip between his teeth and bit hard.

Forgetting yourself and where you were, you didn’t object when he grasped your thighs in his hands, pulling you to straddle his lap. You don’t hear the cheers erupt around you; you don’t hear Astoria shout after Draco as he leaves her mid conversation, and you don’t notice he’s gone until Fred pulls back to catch his breath.

You catch Pansy’s gaze from over Fred’s shoulder and that’s when you realise something was wrong.

She was smirking at you.

She only ever did that when things had gone her way, which, when concerned Draco, was never a good sign.

You were in half a mind to just turn your head slightly and kiss the man you were sat on senseless again, especially with the way his fingers gripped your thighs under your skirt. But you also knew they were trying to keep you from running as soon as you could, as if knowing you would inevitably follow the Slytherin out but wanted you to stay anyways.

Your head drops to Fred’s shoulder, breathing in a scent you could only describe as homey and warm, the opposite to Draco’s crisp, sharp aftershave, a scent you loved and could almost describe as home.

All these years and not even a magical first kiss with someone (though you were very drunk) could waver your love for him.

“Draco is one lucky bastard.”

“I’m sorry, Fred.”

“It’s okay, it’s just a game after all.” You grimaced at his tone but dug yourself deeper into the hole.

“If it’s any consolation you are a damn good kisser.” Complement a man then leave him high and dry for another, great job y/n. You were doing great.

“The second he fucks up you know where to find me though yeah?”

You couldn’t stop the giggle that left you lips, in a life where you weren’t already enamoured with Draco, perhaps this could’ve been the start of something.

“Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.”

His fingers slip from your thighs, offering you a hand to steady yourself before you take off, the bottle continuing to cause messy drama as you watch Harry’s spin land on Theo. Damn Draco and his fucking temper tantrums for causing you to miss that moment.

The walk back to Draco’s room sobered you up, head clearing and realising what him leaving meant. Was he mad that you had kissed another person or was he… jealous?

You had never let yourself hope before, but then again, you had never found a reason to.

He’s waiting for you, pacing around the room with his brows furrowed in a way that reminded you of a child throwing a tantrum. The thought of it making you laugh, giving away your presence in the room.

“Draco, I-“

He pushes you against his door, hands trapping you against the hard wood of the door behind you as his mouth swallowed your words. His hands worked quickly to strip you of your clothes as you tried to reciprocate his actions as best as you could, mind whirling as this was not where you had expected this to go.

Fred’s kisses had been new, they’d been exciting and addicting. But Draco’s? Even whilst he was pissed and rough, they were home. Lips you were used to, lips that could mould to yours perfectly instantly, lips that knew exactly how you liked to be kissed.

He pulled away to bring his mouth to the column of your neck, giving you a harsh suck where he knew would have your knees buckle, using the movement to sweep you off the floor and onto his bed.

Draco works fast when he’s angry, nothing in his mind but fucking his anger out of his system. He’s out of the remains of his clothes before you even have a chance to catch your breath. He stares at you with an unreadable expression so you match his, your features showing indifference rather than the usual lust you would allow yourself.

His narrows his eyes at you one last time before he brings his body between your spread legs, his warm mouth making contact with your cunt, tongue swirling around your clit. Your hips raise of the bed, wrists pulling at the charm that held them in place over your head as the rest of your body tries to get as close to the source of pleasure as possible.

A whine leaves you as his mouth stops its ministrations, one of his hands pushing your writhing hips back onto the bed as his darkened eyes find yours once more.

“Good girls behave, y/n.” You can’t stop the moan that falls from your lips when eases a finger into you, eyes never leaving yours.

A second finger joins the first, curling at a certain angle that has your eyes rolling to the back of your head, a heavy weight starting to form in the pit of your stomach.

“Only good girls get to cum y/n, you haven’t been very good tonight, have you?” The tightness in your stomach ready to uncoil when his lips met your clit again, giving a harsh suck before pulling away from you completely. Without his hands holding you down your hips rise up, following his fingers as they pull out and away from you, his cold gaze telling you everything you needed to know.

“I’m sorry Draco, please. Please. I was so close; I swear I’ll be good from now on. I promise. Draco please.”

“I don’t think you have.”

He’s standing again, hands on his hips, tongue running across his lips, the lips that had just almost pushed you over the edge. You didn’t have time to be frustrated over the near orgasm, besides, Draco had a thing for orgasm denial, you were all too used the edging.

“Unbind my arms.” He raises an eyebrow at your attempt to shift in power, but does as you ask all the same.

Your hands reach for his heavy cock, mouth giving a tentative suck at the swollen head, tasting the salty precum on your tongue. Your hands give him a few hard strokes before you take him back into your mouth, eyes watering as you struggle to fit even a third of him in your mouth.

“As much as I love to see you choke on my cock, I don’t think you deserve it today.”

You stare up at him through your eyelashes, the twitching of him in your mouth was all the confirmation you needed to know he was very much enjoying the view of you struggling to accommodate the size of him. 6 months of practise but you still couldn’t manage to take him in all the way.

His hands cup your face as he pulls you off his cock, replacing it with 3 of his fingers instead. His fingers press down on your tongue, forcing your head back, the rest of your body following as he lowers himself over you, his free hand already lining himself up with your entrance.

“Beg for it.”

All it would take would be one small shift of your hips and he would slip inside of you but the last time you had tried that he had bent you over his knee and slapped your cheeks until they were burning. You knew when to test him, and right now was not the time.

“Please fuck me Draco, I’m yours-” You’re not done practically purring your words when he thrusts so that his hips are flush with yours, giving you no time to adjust before he starts pounding into you with deep satisfying thrusts that have you drooling on his fingers.

His hands hold yours above your head, his mouth hot against your ear as he grunts and reminds you of who you ‘belong’ to.

“That Weasley could never fuck you like I can. This cunt is mine; it’s made for my cock and my cock only, do you understand?”

You whimper as your only response as his hips switch from their long deep thrusts to sharp snaps of his hips against yours, his mouth still reminding you who you belonged to.

“This cunt is mine; do you understand?”

You don’t know if you had responded with a “yes” or if it had simply merged with a moan to become incomprehensible.

“Yes what?” His hips continued their thrusts all the while, never losing their rhythm as your body arched into him and squirmed trying to get closer.

“Yes, daddy.”

You don’t call him that a lot, only when you’re truly in need of a trap card and apparently you were as it fell naturally.

His eyes snap up to meet yours, his grey eyes turning even stormier than before as he claims your mouth in a bruising kiss, forcing his tongue into your mouth and fingers finding your swollen clit again.

“Be a good girl for daddy and cum.”

You don’t have to be told twice and finally let go of the heaviness in the pit of your stomach, your walls clenching around his as your body clings onto him, mouth unable to keep up with his kisses. The sight of you lost in pleasure, body writhing under his own, the fact that he had been the one to bring you this much pleasure was all he needed to paint your walls white. You hadn’t even noticed his stuttering hips, hadn’t noticed him still before pulling out. You were still in a daze, collecting your breathing as you came down from a high you had never experienced before.

“Are you okay?” You blinked away the blurriness in your vision to see Draco’s worried eyes scanning your face, hands keeping your gaze on him. “Was I too rough love?”

You know you must look horrendous right now, sweat coating your skin, a dazed expression on your face but you still give the biggest smile your tired muscles could.

“I’m perfect.”

“Want me to carry you to the bathroom?”

“Please.”

You’re in that space between reality and dreams when he picks you up, an arm hooked under your back and knees. He places you on the toilet first, you made the mistake of forgetting once and you made him promise to never forget again.

You watch as he moved around the bathroom, eyes appreciative of the view. Watching his back muscles become taunt as he stretched was something you could never get tired of. The red markings down his back from a couple nights ago were still prominent, you had offered to heal them, but he insisted on wearing them like ‘battle scars’ to show off in the quidditch changing rooms, you had rolled your eyes when he gave you that reason.

He had charmed the bathtub to fit the both of you, sliding in first before helping you step in. You rest against his chest, humming appreciatively as he runs his hands across your skin, focusing on the way they felt rather than the ache between your legs and on your wrists.

“I mean what I said.”

“hmm?” you had almost fallen asleep, his voice pulling you out from your haze.

“You’re mine. All of you. If you’ll have me.” You’re fully awake now, body tensed up as you realise exactly what he meant. You turned your body to face his, ignoring the water splashing over the sides of the tub as you settle between his legs again, facing him, “You want me? What happened to wanting no strings attached?”

You knew the game he played well, you wouldn’t fall at the final hurdle, if that was even what this is.

“I want you y/n. I’m not going to spout some bullshit love confession like some first year drugged on Amortentia, but I can’t share anymore.” Draco Malfoy was bad at communication but good lord this was a new low even for him. You were half inclined to continue feigning indifference to protect what you had, but the other half was greedy. Draco was offering you more, how could you not take this opportunity. You had beaten the game, you had gotten Draco to want more with you, well at least you were 70% sure.

“Is this some roundabout way of you asking me to be your girlfriend?” His upper lip twitched as you said the word girlfriend, the action making your own eyes drop to the space between you. Wet fingers cup you face, bringing your face back to his as he captures your lips in a slow, deep kiss. You had had lazy kisses together before, during lazy morning sex. But this, this was slow and meaningful and full of emotion. He might never be good with words, but this, this would be enough.

You pull away from him by a hair’s breadth, lips only millimetres apart. “Okay.” Each syllable you said caused your lips to touch again, neither of you moving just yet. He lets out a shuddering breath that he must’ve been holding in, a grin covering his face in a way you hadn’t seen before.

“You’re lucky you asked now, I was hoping to visit Fred soon.”

The ache between your legs only became worse as he kept you awake for the rest of the night, edging you and taunting you for hours to prove you belonged to him and that a Weasley wouldn’t even begin to compare (too bad you never got the chance to).

Waking up with sore limbs and a satisfying ache all over your body was worth every second it had taken to get here. To win Draco Malfoy.

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#Harry Potter #Draco Malfoy #draco x reader #draco smut #Draco Malfoy x reader #Draco Malfoy smut #tw smut #tw alcohol #tw bath #tw daddy kink #fred weasley

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ghostdrew22 · 4 years ago

Text

Glass Shatters || Draco Malfoy

Requested: No Pairing: Draco Malfoy x fem!reader, also kinda Blaise x fem!reader Warnings: mentions of drinking, toxicity, ANGST, just pure fucking angst and asshole!draco, oh and swearing lol Summary: You realise that it’s time to end things with Draco when he hurts you one last time. AU with no Voldemort - 7th Year.

WORDS : 2294

Lyrics taken from ‘What Do I Tell My Friends’ by Bree Runway (the loml)

~~~

Hold me, don't let me go I'm fragile, I'm gonna fall right into you Catch time that I have lost Fly high, free fall, ooh

There’s always been something so beautiful about the way that glass shatters, loud and chaotic, scattering shards of itself everywhere and lodging itself in places that it doesn’t belong. It’s poetically exquisite, to just come apart and spread into tinier pieces of what you were once before, but it’s grossly painful to wear oneself out like that.

Sometimes, though not often enough, there is someone there to catch the glass before it hits the ground and scatters into a million pieces. A safety net, perhaps is the right word, there to protect those lattices from coming into contact with the hard surface that awaits them. Something to keep them from separating like the tangled limbs of playful children on a trampoline when they come back down to land against the woven polypropylene. But there’s not often a safety net waiting for you to fall.

And maybe that’s why people typically shatter like glass.

Turn it up for a wild one Turn it up for a wild one Turn it up for a wild one I'll get stupid, I'll get dumb (Uh-huh) Turn it up for a wild one Turn it up for a wild one Turn it up, turn it up, uh

You catch a glimpse of Draco across the room. He’s doing it again. He’s got one arm around Cho Chang’s shoulder and another around Millicent Bullstrode’s, and not a single sliver of attention is being directed toward you.

You’re not fragile. No. You never have been.

For as long as you can remember, you’ve prided yourself on being strong, on being able to protect yourself. What most people see when they look at you is power and ferocity- you're made of what Gods are made of and almost everyone knows it. You are not fragile.

But when it comes to Draco, you are like a frail baby bird that's always being nursed back to health. That was what a routine like the two of you had demanded. Submission, protection, but most would call it toxicity. You are putty in his hands and he knows it- every wall that you’ve ever built to protect yourself is nothing more than a child’s play pen when Draco is involved.

You catch his eye and scowl at the mischievous grin that he’s got on his face. He knows how much you despise his flirtatious nature, and it’s exactly that reason that encourages him to keep it up. You’re a beast that’s not to be messed with, like a tiger lodged in a cage, and he’s the only one that knows how to tame you. It always goes down the same way; he insists that the two of you need to keep it on the down-low, he then proceeds to flirt with everyone, you get upset, the two of you get in an argument and well... he always wins.

You're not fragile yet he always gets a reaction out of you.

But not tonight, no. Tonight it’ll be different.

Tonight you’re going to have a good time, with or without that snow-flake haired prick. You turn beside you where Neville, your best friend, is seated and smile at him.

“Neville, want to get smashed with me?”

“Always, Y/N.” Neville responds with a grin and you excitedly get up to get you both some drinks.

You're g-g-getting way too close (Oh oh, oh oh) Stop blowin' up my phone (Oh oh, oh oh) Just let me be alone (Oh oh, oh oh) It's gotta come to an end 'Cause what do I tell my friends? What do I tell my friends?

Draco catches a glimpse of you leaving the couch where Neville, Blaise and Hannah are sitting, and decides to follow you toward the drinks table.

“Whoring around are we?” He asks with his eyebrows raised and you roll your eyes.

“Oh please, you’re one to talk.”

“What the fuck did you just say?”He tugs on your chin and brings you up to face him.

“First of all,” You start as you softly remove his hand from your chin and lower it to his side, “You heard me. Second of all,” You put a hand to his chest and gently shove him backwards, “Back up please, I can smell your breakfast from here.”

He runs his tongue along the inside of his cheek in annoyance. “Y/N, this bratty behaviour-“

“Call me a brat, ever again, and I’ll make sure that’s the last thing you ever call me.” You smile, “I have a name, stick to it.”

This is very new for Draco, he’s never seen you speak so calmly in the heat of an argument. He’s seen you rage at him, yell until your lungs are sore and throat is raw, clench your fists so tight that crescent moons form in your palm. But he’s never seen you like this, never so collected. If he’s being completely honest, your level-headed appearance is throwing him off.

“Whatever pothead Neville’s given you is clearly fucking with your head, let’s go back to my dorm-“ He starts as he inches closer and grabs your wrist.

You yank yourself out of his grip and take a few steps away from him, “As tempting as that offer sounds, I’m good thanks.” When you notice the look of confusion painting across his features you smile awkwardly, “I know how this always ends so I’d much rather be alone.”

“So I’m just supposed to wait until you don’t want to be alone anymore?” He asks with a scoff.

“It’s not like I haven’t been doing that for you.” You accuse and watch as he clenches his jaw in frustration, a sign that his patience for you is wearing thin. “And that’s not what I meant. I want to be alone, indefinitely.”

“What?”

“This,” You gesture between the both of you, “Is over. I can’t do it anymore.”

“Oh my fuck, do what Y/N?”

“All of it. I can’t keep sneaking around anymore like some kind of dirty secret. I can’t keep watching you flirt with everyone that’s within a 5km radius, and I can’t keep lying to my friends. What am I meant to tell them when I go disappearing for hours at a time and come back, covered in hickeys?”

“Nothing. It's no one's business.” He grits out angrily and you scoff with a small laugh.

“You’re pathetic. We’re done.” You utter before walking away from him, and his little corner, and go back to join Blaise, Hannah and Neville on the dance floor.

In the mirror like you're tough, right? I shoulda known once when you bit twice Drip drop both my , yeah I been nice Vodka overdose but no ice I'm done catching feelings, I catch flights Was in the dark but I got bright Not crawling back to you tonight Not crawling back to you tonight, tonight

“Shots, now.” You mumble once you get back to your friends and they waste no time obliging.

Draco’s had the pleasure of picking you apart like a worn out doll for too long, you won’t tolerate it anymore. He calls, you run. He warns, you heed. He scolds, you leave. Whatever he wants, you do without a moment of hesitation. When had you become so easily prey to his antics? You steal a glance of him checking himself out in a nearby mirror and feel your throat close up in disgust. How can someone so gorgeous be so horrible?

Deep down, beneath all that beauty and cockiness, is a vulnerable, scared and loveless little boy who didn’t learn to outgrow his insecurities. He can pretend all he wants that he’s a diamond but you’ll always know, he’s dark and desolate like a stone of coal. Something inside of him is fractured beyond repair and now he’s just remnants of disintegrated life. And try as hard as you might, you can’t fix whatever’s broken inside him. It’s not your job to anyway.

You always run back to him, in hopes of finally curing the malaise that torments his soul, but not tonight. No. Tonight will be different.

Turn it up for a wild one Turn it up for a wild one Turn it up for a wild one I'll get stupid, I'll get dumb (Uh-uh) Turn it up for a wild one Turn it up for a wild one Turn it up, turn it up, uh

“Is this a party or a funeral? For fucks sake, turn it up Ginny!” You shout as you turn behind you to face the beautiful ginger that’s controlling the music.

“Anything for you Y/N.” She responds flirtatiously as she sends you a wink and proceeds to turn up the volume to the music. You look away from her with a dopey smile, trying to pretend that her wink hadn’t made butterflies erupt in your stomach. Oh Ginny. If you hadn’t wasted so much time pining after that blond prat then maybe you’d have gotten to her before Harry had.

“Come dance with me!” Blaise yells over the music and you happily agree as you let him take your hand and move you toward the makeshift dancefloor.

Any other time, you would have refused. It’s no secret that, despite being best friends, Blaise and Draco can be very competitive. Blaise had always been your friend and Draco, had not. But it was quite obvious to anyone who had eyes that the two of them both took quite a liking to you, and while your relationship with Draco isn’t public, it’s still never a good idea to get too close to Blaise. But fuck good ideas, tonight none of it matters.

If Draco likes to see you angry then today he’ll see you seething. Every unspoken rule that’s ever sat between the two of you will now be broken so harshly that it’ll shake him to his core.

You wait until you’ve spotted him in the room, then you hook your arms around Blaise’s neck and allow his hands to fall on your waist as a measure to guide you along with him. It’s not long until Draco sees you, and when his eyes lock with yours, you know that he’s positively enraged. If this is a game, today you are winning.

He’s almost always got the upper hand. But not tonight. No. Tonight is different.

Before you know it Draco is crossing the room and yanking you away from Blaise by the arm, dragging you to an abandoned section of the room.

“What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Why are you hovering so close to me?” You ask in frustration as you step back from him. “Sheesh.”

“Sheesh? Sheesh?” He repeats in disbelief and you have to resist the urge to laugh. “Y/N, how much have you had to drink?”

“Not enough apparently, considering I’m standing here with you and not grinding against your better looking counterpart.” You mumble and Draco scoffs.

“Blaise is not better looking than me-“

“Okay Romeo, whatever you say.” You cut him off with a giggle, “Are we done here or was there more?”

“Was there more?” He repeats in a mocking tone, like a child making fun of their childhood friend. “Of course there was bloody more!”

His outburst has you laughing, genuinely laughing, and for a second you see the Draco Malfoy that got you into this mess in the first place. Your funny, good-looking, charming classmate that you accidentally allowed to creep into your heart. But he’s not the real Draco, no, that Draco doesn’t actually exist.

You bring your hand up to cup his cheek and, without even thinking, say “I wish that this was the real you.” He furrows his eyebrows at you, clearly confused, but you continue nonetheless. “I can’t keep doing this Draco, I love you but I love myself more and I can’t allow you to get in the way of my wellbeing any longer.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs, “How am I getting in the way of your wellbeing?”

“Tell me that you love me too, right now, say it.” You shrug.

“Y/N, you can’t jus-“

“Okay, tell me that we can go public.” You revert and he swallows.

“Why are you-“

“Fuck, I’ll make it easy for you.” You interrupt him once again and give him a thin smile, “Tell me that what we have is real and that we’re in a relationship.”

He opens his mouth but no words come out and you nod your head awkwardly in understanding.

“Y/N, it’s not that-“

You scoff and shake your head in disbelief, “Your chest is hollow and yet you still have no space for me.”

“No-“

You blink back tears as you continue, “You push away everyone that cares about you and then you turn around and complain about the fact that there’s no one left to root for you. How can I possibly be in your corner when you’re continuously trying to shove me out of it?”

There are tears welling in your eyes but you don’t let them fall, no, he doesn’t deserve to make you cry.

He looks at you in shock and you know that you’re not getting any kind of closure from him. Despite how hard you’d tried to convince yourself otherwise, you had always been nothing more than a warm bed that he could settle into when he was lonely. The fire in you that he’s always admired seems to dwindle whenever you’re beneath his gaze, and now you realise that it’s not fair for you to die out for him.

“I hope you learn to start letting people in.” You whisper before giving him a kiss on the cheek and walking back toward your friends.

He watches you walk away from him and struggles to sort through his thoughts. No, no, no. You can’t leave him, everyone else has already left him. You’re safe, you’re warm, you’re you, and Draco knows that he has feelings for you but how can he possibly convey that when words always get trapped in his throat like a cricket in a shoebox?

He knows what he wants to say to you, the words are scraping against the belt of his mouth like knives ripping through tape on a cardboard box, but how does he get them out, how does he make you understand?

Maybe that’s just it, he doesn’t.

He doesn’t make you understand. He doesn’t get you. He breaks, little by little, with every step you take away from him.

What do I tell my friends? What do I tell my friends? What do I tell my friends?

“What was that about?” Blaise asks in your ear and you roll your eyes as you pull back to look at him.

“Draco being immature, nothing important.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Blaise smiles sheepishly. “I was worried that maybe something was going on between you two.”

You smile brightly at the boy as you bring his hands down to your waist and sway to the music. “Why would that worry you Zabini?”

“I’m kind of into you.” Blaise whispers before bringing his lips down to connect with yours.

You don’t notice, too engulfed in the feeling of Blaise’s lips against yours, but across the room Draco’s eyes are focused quite intently on you and Blaise. When the two of you kiss Draco drops the glass that he had been holding, and he thinks that maybe he’s that glass; being smashed to smithereens.

~~~

Okay, I’ll stop with angst now... (maybe) I have the sudden desire to write fluff so the sequel to ‘Falling Out Of Love With Astoria Greengrass’ will definitely be wholesome and fluffy.

I’m probably not going to post again for a few days, I’m a bit worn out rn, but I’ll be back to writing soon!

anyway, love you all

jean <3

#draco #draco malfoy #draco x y/n #draco imagine #draco fanfiction #draco malfoy angst #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy fluff #draco malfoy imagine #draco angst #draco fluff #harry potter #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter imagine

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headcans-oneshots-and-stuff · 4 years ago

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Hogwarts No.1 Ship

Fandom: Harry Potter Pairing: Draco Malfoy x reader Word count: 3.4k Summary: You - Rubeus Hagrid’s niece and a surprising slytherin - have a crush on the Slytherin prince himself, but you are sugar and he is spice and there is no world where the two of you would fit together...right? Warning: Swearwordsm concussion, broken bones, but mostly fluffffffffff Requested by the amazing and patient (I’m really sorry it took so long) @onlycherryblossom: Hi! I love your work and I was wondering if you could right a Draco Malfoy x Reader. you know, the one we talked about. It'd be so awesome! i hope you have a good day/night! (I won’t put our chat in here so that I don’t spoiler anything)

Hogwarts had rarely ever known two students who were as opposite to each other as Draco Malfoy and Y/N Hagrid. Draco - who was the embodiment of how people imagined the stereotype of Slytherin to be - was (most of the time) a prideful, cold, unempathetic prick, while you were a selfless, positive thinking, kind and gentle soul that could‘ve been a descendant of Helga Huffelpuff herself. The two of you did have one thing in common though. Your house. The hat had made you both into Slytherins which was on Draco’s side not surprising at all, but quite a shock for everyone who had talked to you for even a minute. Probably the biggest shock was courtesy of Rubeus Hagris - Half-Giant and your adopted uncle (on his father’s side) - who insisted that the hat must have made a mistake, but was quickly shot down by Dumbledoor who assured that the hat didn‘t make any mistakes. After some initial tumbling though, Hagrid realized that the house didn‘t make the person and that it didn‘t matter in what house you were sorted into, you’d always be his little pumpkin. And he was quite right. Even after you had been a Slytherin for just about five years, you had only grown more kind and loving - having bonded with many people in the other houses and years, but not quite as many in your own house. You’d call Blaze and Millicent maybe something close to friends and Pansy tolerated you which is why you gave her the title of ‘good acquaintances‘, but other than that you didn‘t really have a lot of contact with them in your free time. The most complicated relationship you held though was the one to the aforementioned Draco Malfoy. In a weird twist of fate the two of you somehow became the main ship in Hogwarts (with Harry and Ginny or Harry and Hermione as close second) even though you couldn‘t remember more than two or three times that you had talked to the boy outside of a classroom or study environment. Sure, he had never bullied or teased you which already differentiated you from most of the students, but you simply explained it by the fact that you were a good student - especially in potions class - and behaved well enough to gain a number of house points which made you into a good asset to Slytherin and as such made you a less logical target. Now all in itself that would‘ve been more than fine with you, but for some stupid reason your heart decided to betray you against it‘s better judgement and fall for him. Somehow, even after years of seeing him kick others down and behave like a complete douchebag you couldn‘t help but blush slightly at the mention of his name and feel your heart flutter when you walked by him in the hall or in the common room. The worst part was in potions class where he sat right beside you after Snape deemed your former partner as way too unqualified for one of his best students and exchanged him for Draco. Working with him in and of itself was actually rather nice. He was a good student and did his work thoroughly and mindfully, but you found it hard to concentrate when his hand brushed yours as you read a passage in the book or when he poured ingredients in the coultron that you were stirring. You really tried to ignore your feelings and ban every thought of him, but it seemed like you weren‘t doing the best job at it since your uncle kept asking about what it was that was distracting you all the time. On a rainy October day fairly at the beginning of your fifth year you decided you had enough. You were sitting in your Uncles hut with a plate of more or less edible cookies in front of you and a cup of something that was surely supposed to be tea when you finally gathered the courage to say what you had been meaning to say for weeks now. “Uncle Rubeus, can I ask you something?” Hagrid turned to you with his usual smile as he patted fang who was drooling all over his lap where he had laid his head. “Course ya can pumpkin. What’s it about?” “Uhm...well… you know there is this boy that I-“ “Ohhh Ah see,” Hagrid quickly interrupted you before you could even ask the question, “Ya know, usually I’d be more than happy to help ya with every question you have but ah really don’t thin’ I’m the right person for this, I’m sorry.” A little bit disappointed but not really surprised you just sighed and shook your head, telling him that it was okay, before bidding your goodbyes and making your way back to the castle quietly mulling over what exactly your plan b should be now that plan a had failed and you still had no idea what to do with or how to get rid of your stupid crush on Draco.

“You know what I would do if I were you?“ Ginny asked and pointed the end of her quill at you. The both of you were sitting in a corner of the library where you had planned to help her study for her upcoming potions exam, only for her to basically interrogate you until you admitted that you had an unlucky crush, even though she luckily hadn‘t pushed you to tell her who the guy you had a crush on was. “I‘d probably just tell them, I mean what do you have to lose. Either he‘ll say yes and you‘re happy or he says no and you just avoid him like he doesn‘t even exist - which would honestly be the appropriate reaction if he refuses a snack like you. See, no real downside to it.“ “Oh really? Hmmm, I wonder why you haven‘t told Harry how you feel yet then,“ you teased her and tapped your chin. Ginny‘s face immediately started to rival the colour of her hair and the way she crossed her arms in front of her chest and pouted reminded you of an overgrown toddler - but in a cute way. “I-I don‘t like Harry, okay? I mean I did when I was like ten because he was famous and I was a child,“ she tried to make sure you really knew how silly she wanted you to believe she thought it was by drawing out the word child for a good few seconds before rolling her eyes and looking to the side, “And anyway, it‘s not like he‘d date his best friend’s sister…“ “Oh Gin,“ you immediately felt bad and grabbed one of her hands with yours, “Have you looked at yourself? You‘re amazing and if Harry doesn‘t see that through his stupid invisible cloak and these glasses than he doesn‘t even deserve you.“ “Even though I admit that yes, I am amazing, this isn‘t the topic that we should be conversing about right now, remember? I think there‘s a certain blond Slytherin that you should be worried about more right now.“ Immediately blood shot right to your cheeks and you quickly looked around to make sure no one could‘ve heard her before leaning forward and hissing: “What? No? I don‘t like Draco? Why would you even think that? I never said that he is the one I have a crush on.“ Ginny just raised her eyebrows in an unimpressed manner, leaning back in her chair and picking the quill back up to play around with while she talked. “Listen honey, I‘m not judging you or anything. Don‘t get me wrong, I still and probably will always think Draco is a major asshole and doesn‘t even deserve to breath the same air as you-“ “He isn‘t that bad…“ “Yes he is, but anyways, no matter what I think of him I also know that you are a clever girl that knows how to protect herself and who knows, maybe you‘d even have a good influence on him.“ Images of you and Draco together with your friend group laughing and having fun crossed your mind and you could feel your heartbeat fasten involuntarily. “That‘s all great and good, but like I said, I don‘t have a crush on Draco,“ you gave the hope of getting out of this situation with the lie you‘ve been telling yourself for months still intact one last try, but Ginny didn‘t give it the time of day. “Oh please, I see the way you look at him in the dining hall and how your eyes are always on him when he‘s playing quidditch and just now you defended him even though the two of you aren‘t even friends. My love-radar is pinging like crazy around the two of you which is why I, Ginny Wealey also known as the love witch-“ “No one calls you that,“ you interrupted her only to be shushed by an evil glare. “I, Ginny Weasley, will help you in fulfilling your desire and getting together with Draco and I already have the perfect plan.“ “No no no no, please don‘t! Don‘t do this! Ginny no!“ you tried to make your point clear but she was already cleaning up her stuff and getting ready to leave. “Don‘t worry oh sweet Y/N, the next time we‘ll talk everything will be set in motion,“ she winked before dashing off leaving you standing in her figurative dust with your mouth agape for a few seconds before you let your head sink onto the table. This would definitely take an interesting turn…

After that you definitely started to actively avoid Draco which was - surprisingly enough - not as easy as you thought. Somehow he was almost always at least in your near vicinity. Besides the obvious factors of class (where you tried to focus on working and on praying whatever Ginny had planned wouldn‘t happen) and when you were eating in the great hall (where you had resorted to sitting at the very end of the table as far away from him as possible) he seemed to also be there in your free time. You were relaxing in the common room? He was there reading a book. You were outside with Harry and co.? Guess who’s coming their way to insult them (while not saying a single bad thing about you). By now there were just about three places where you were sure that he wouldn’t be able to pop up at any given moment. Your room, the bathroom and the potions classroom on Wednesday and Friday afternoon when class has already ended. After Snape had realized that he had some real potions-potential sitting in front of him he offered you extra credit as some sort of teaching assistant which basically meant that you helped him prepare lessons, helped him grade the first to third years tests and that you cleaned up and organized the potions classroom twice a week. Now usually, knowing that you were more than capable of handling the potions and ingredients standing around on your own after having seen you do it for a few months, you‘d be alone while you cleaned up except for the occasional visit of your professor to tell you which ingredients you should put on the students desks for the next class, but for some reason the next Friday - three days after Ginny had made her promise to you - the door already stood open and you could hear Professor Snape talking to someone. “I really expected better of you, your action is the reasons Slytherin has lost 50 housepoints and I hope you know that it is on you to gain them back, no matter your status,“ Snape‘s voice carried to where you stood and you wondered who the student was if Snape went so easy on them with his lecture. Usually you‘d be afraid for your life after losing even ten house points so getting such a calm reaction for 50 must‘ve really meant something. Your questions about the identity of the student were answered when you entered the dungeon room and immediately felt yourself freeze. Of course not even you (time dependent) sanctuary was safe anymore. Of course Draco just had to stand there and look at you without any identifiable emotion in his gaze. “Ah, Miss Hagrid, right on time as always,“ Snape nodded after he also noticed you and you felt slightly more at ease knowing that with him there nothing could really happen. “Should I come back later?” you asked politely, not sure if you had interrupted something. “No, you may stay. Mister Malfoy over here has got himself caught trying to sabotage McGonagall class, a childish act which I would’ve expected of the Weasleys but really not from you. As a punishment he will be the one to clean the potions classroom bi-weekly from now on until he has regained the house points lost. You’ll supervise him.” “I’m sorry, I’m not quite sure I understand.” “Malfoy will do all the cleaning but since he has no experience with it I can’t just leave him alone so, since you’d be here anyway, you can watch him and make sure that everything goes orderly.“ It wasn‘t really a question as much as a command, something that you were used to from Snape, so you just nodded and bid him goodbye as he went to his office, leaving you and Draco behind. By now you had seen through what was happening. This was Ginny‘s plan. Somehow she must‘ve managed to blame Malfoy for the prank on McGonagall - something rather extreme given the taken house points- hoping (or somehow knowing) that his punishment would force you to spend at least an hour with him alone in a dimmed room twice a week. Inwardly you cursed your friend, while outwardly you tried everything to avoid directly looking at Draco as you explained his tasks to him before you sat down at your usual place and pulled out a book really hoping you could get him to not talk to you that way. Either your plan was working great or Draco just really didn‘t care for you, because an hour later you still hadn‘t exchanged any words, instead he dutifully, but slightly pouting, had done his job while you shot him the occasional glance to make sure he was doing it correctly. “I think that was all, you should be good to go now,“ you told him with a small smile, relieved that you were finally free to leave the room and with that the tension that had built up inside you as a mix of nervousness and fear. Draco had opened his mouth to respond when a third year came rushing inside with at least twelve books in her arms that almost towered over her which she quickly placed on a table, slightly out of breath. “Professor Snape sent me. He said these have to be sorted and put away.” You could probably feel Draco’s sigh before he had made it and - not really fond of spending more time so frustratingly close to your crush and yet so far - you just nodded and told both of them that you’d take care of it and that they could leave, which both promptly did. You took the books and carried them to the back of the room where a sole, old bookshelf was standing - since the students mostly had their own books - and started putting them away when you heard a sickening crunch before suddenly the shelf including books came crashing down at you and before you could even think to pull out your wand, the world turned black.

“I’m so so so sorry, you were right I shouldn’t have interfered, if I’d just listened to you you wouldn‘t be lying here now,“ Ginny whined from beside your bed where she had been sitting for the past twenty minutes apologizing over and over again and blaming herself for the broken arm, leg and the concussion that had you unable to leave the infirmary for the next three days to a week. “Ginny, how often do I gotta tell you, it isn’t your fault! I would’ve sorted those books in anyways - no matter if you had pulled that prank or not - and it would’ve fallen anyways,” you tried to reassure her and gave her a soft smile. “But-“ “No but, okay? We can’t change the past anyways, and even if we could I wouldn’t because thanks to you, I don’t have to take that stupid DADA test.” Your attempt to lighten the mood seemed to work, because soon you and Ginny were back to your usual conversation-style and it relieved you immensely. It made you feel okay again. She was just telling you of a stung Harry had pulled in the Gryffindor Common room when she suddenly paused mid sentence and looked up. You followed her eyes to where they were placed firmly on a certain Platinum blond boy that looked simultaneously like he’d rather be everywhere else and like he was glad to be there, it was a sight to see. “I think I’ll leave for now, I’ll come back later with tons of sweets that Luna and I are going to steal from Harry’s personal stash,” Ginny said goodbye and gave you a wink as she walked away making you torn between wanting to roll your eyes and feeling yourself blush. Unsure of what to do next you motioned to the chair that Ginny had just occupied and Draco seemed to get the hint because he quickly sat down. “Hey-“ “Hi-“ “Sorry, you first.” “No it’s fine, you’re injured, you go first.” “Well, uhm-“ you took a deep breath to calm yourself down, “-I wanted to thank you, for bringing me here I mean, Madame Pomfrey told me you carried me all the way.” You looked away hoping that he wouldn’t see how nervous you were. “You don’t need to thank me, I couldn’t just let you lay there buried under books, your not Granger after all,” he said, seemingly trying to joke but immediately noticed that it was probably not the best thing to say given that you and Hermione were good friends. “Listen, what I came here for,” now it was Draco’s turn to take a deep breath, “I’ve been meaning to tell you something, but you were always with Potter or avoiding me or whatever, but after I saw you lying there… I guess I was just worried for you, I really don’t want you to get hurt.” Now that definitely caught your attention. For a second you played with the thought that this could possibly not be Malfoy but just someone else playing him with the help of polyjuice potion because he was definitely not acting like himself, but something in his word convinced you otherwise. “Thanks, I think, but would you mind me asking why? I mean...we’re not really the closest of friends,” you asked him, looking directly into his face to search signs of a possible answer. “Fuck it, I like you, okay? Happy?” You were completely stunned. Stunned, speechless, shocked. In all the time that you had been crushing on him you had never even really considered even the slightest possibility that he could reciprocate your feelings but now here he was telling you straight up. “You-You like me? Like like-like me?” You asked, just really wanting to be sure. There was a hint of nervousness and worry in his eyes, but he hid it behind a wall of annoyance. “You heard me, didn’t you? So, just get it over with, do you like me too or do you not, because if you don’t then I don’t want to waste my time any longer.” This definitely sounded more like the Draco you were used to and you had to giggle a little bit. “Yes, yes I like you too,” you confessed and like it was the most natural thing in the world you moved the uninjured hand over to where he laid on your bed and took it in yours. For the moment, you were caught in the shimmer of happiness and glee at having your crush there with you, definitely something more than your crush, and it would probably take a while until you‘d realize that there were some interesting things to follow, like telling your uncle about this for example...

#Draco Malfoy #Draco Malfoy x reader #draco #harry potter #hogwarts x reader #harry potter x reader #ginny weasley #professor venomous #oneshot #hogwarts oneshot #harry potter oneshots #hogwarts

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sunshinejins · 4 years ago

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the slowest and most beautiful way to fall in love - theodore nott

hello and welcome to the 9.4k MONSTER that is my theodore nott x oc fanfic. like two people said they would be interested to read it so uh here it is.

pairing: theodore nott x camilla avery (oc)

fandom: harry potter

i. beauty and the boggart

“I heard we’re doing boggarts today in Defense Against the Dark Arts,” Draco sniffed as he took a bite of toast. Theo looked up in interest, sticking his thumb in between the pages of Modern Magical History. Draco was scowling at his plate as he flicked through the DADA textbook in front of him. Blaise gave him a look that could have been interpreted as mildly amused, and turned back to his own breakfast. Pansy and Daphne were too absorbed in their own gossip to even notice Draco had spoken, which surprised Theo to his core as Pansy made it obvious every time Draco spoke that it was worth dropping everything to listen. Theo’s eyes then turned to rest on the one person who’s reaction he had been waiting for.

Camilla Avery, with her shiny blonde hair and curious hazel eyes had turned all of her focus from Pansy and Daphne’s gossip session to Draco. Theo felt his heart catch slightly in his chest. He’d always been fond of Camilla, ever since they were little and had played at Malfoy manor and had sat next to each other on the Hogwarts Express when they were eleven and Draco had been scouring the train for Harry Potter. But when she had returned to school for third year with slightly longer hair that curled at the ends and a straight smile that dimpled in all the right places, Theo had felt like his heart had suddenly been submerged.

Now, she tilted her head slightly, and let waves of hair tumble over the shoulder of her robes.

“You sound annoyed, Draco,” her voice lilted with teasing, “Surely you realize that this would mean we’ve officially been taught more by a professor than any other year at Hogwarts?”

“I don’t trust that Lupin guy,” snapped Draco, “He’s a bloody Gryffindor.”

“And you’re a sodding stereotype,” Camilla gave him a warm smile and Draco rolled his eyes with a smirk. Theo grinned. Camilla caught his eyes and flicked her eyes pointedly at the book he held.

“That one any good?”

“S’all right,” Theo shrugged, “I’ll let you borrow it when I’m done.”

“Deal,” Camilla nodded. Theo felt his heart swell.

Later, after a particularly taxing Charms class where Blaise accidentally shot a full glass of water at Theo’s head, the band of six piled into Lupin’s classroom and took up spots near the back where Draco and Blaise could easily tease the so-called “golden trio” in peace. Camilla slid into place next to Theo with a soft grin and Theo immediately threw his arm around her. His stomach tingled slightly but he ignored it in favour of keeping Camilla at his side.

Lupin talked for a while about Boggarts and taught the charm to destroy them, then revealed with a swell of excitement that there was one in the classroom they could attempt to defeat if they so chose. Camilla turned to Theo with excitement.

“We’ve got to try, Theo!”

“Nott’s’ll be a book with half the pages ripped out,” Draco teased over her shoulder. Theo shot him a dry look.

“And what’ll yours be? A copy of Harry Potter that can’t hear your brilliant insults?” Pansy burst out in a snort of laughter which prompted Lupin to pointedly shush them.

“That’s enough over there. Now line up. Neatly please! You’ll all get a chance,” Lupin gestured to the cabinet that housed the boggart and the group of Slytherins, mostly guided by Draco, shoved their way nearly to the front. Camilla stood behind Theo and wrung her hands excitedly.

Weasley and one of the Patil twins, Theo wasn’t sure which one, went one after another and successfully transformed the boggart. Millicent Bulstrode, a third year Slytherin that roomed with Daphne, Pansy, and Camilla struggled before somewhat turning a rather large dog into one with floppy bunny ears. Theo stepped up to the boggart and it shifted a few moments before turning into a circus clown with blood red paint dripping down its face. He cast his counter-curse with only a slight tremor and the clown became covered in sweet smelling flowers. Then, it was Camilla’s turn. She stepped up with an easy smile and the boggart swirled between shapes for a moment before materializing into a figure. Theo’s blood ran cold.

In front of his best friend was a figure dressed all in black, wearing an intricate silver mask, with a hood pulled up over its hair. Camilla froze, smile no longer present on her lips. Despite holding her wand readily in her hand, she made no move to cast the counter-curse. It was like she was petrified. Theo thought that would be the worst, that Camilla would recover and cast the counter-curse and turn back to him with a bright cheery smile and a throwaway comment about how easy she found it. Then, the figure began to speak.

“Camilla… You have no choice,” it rasped in a voice that sparked something in the back of Theo’s brain. Camilla still stood completely still, and Lupin had finally jumped into action and thrown himself in front of the boggart to force it to change.

“Miss Avery, you may lea-” Camilla didn’t wait to hear the end of Lupin’s sentence, she simply tore from the classroom without a glance back. Theo found his feet were moving as well, chasing after her as quickly as he could.

Theo found her sitting in one of the windowsills on the third floor, the one where the two of them met frequently to trade books and read in companionable silence together. She had buried her face into her robes, and from the short distance between them, Theo could tell she was crying. He sat down softly in front of her, trying not to disturb her too much.

“Camilla?” She raised her head and Theo’s heart ached at the sight of tear tracks and tears themselves streaming down her face.

“Go away, Nott,” she buried her head into her sleeve again. Theo tried not to feel badly about her using his last name, something she only did when she was upset.

“Camilla, please. Talk to me,” he pleaded. Camilla raised her head again, and after seemingly concluding that Theo wasn’t about to insult her, sat all the way up. A few tears were still tumbling down her cheeks and she swiped them away hastily.

“What do you want to talk about? How bloody embarrassing that was? How weak I looked?” She snapped. Theo shook his head.

“You didn’t look weak, Camilla.”

“Well what would you call it then?” Camilla shouted, voice echoing in the deserted hallway. “I froze, Theo! I couldn’t do a bloody thing! I didn’t even move my wand!” Theo laid a hand on top of hers and she trained her eyes on him, pools of hazel blazing in the dim light of the sun.

“It was a Death Eater, wasn’t it?” Theo asked quietly. Camilla hesitated. For a moment, Theo thought she was about to pull away, but instead she flipped her hand up and slotted her fingers in between his.

“My father,” she said softly. Theo nodded. He knew Camilla’s father had been a Death Eater, so had his own, and Draco’s had been for sure. Theo remembered Camilla coming to his house in tears when she was little, barely old enough to use the Floo network but stumbling into the fireplace in his bedroom anyways. As she got older, she stopped speaking of her father completely, much like Theo. His reasons, though much darker and more focused on bruises, didn’t cause a boggart to materialize in his father’s likeness however.

“He used to tell me that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would return one day, and that I would be expected to join the family in his ranks,” Camilla whispered, the words slicing through the morning air. Theo frowned deeply and she looked sadly to their joined hands. He stroked his thumb lightly over the soft skin. He had never known that was the reason she used to cry.

“I didn’t know I was still afraid of it. I didn’t think I remembered what he used to say,” she said with a grimace, “I’m terrified that he’ll come back one day looking like that and I’ll have no choice but to be forced into it.”

“That doesn’t make you weak, Camilla,” Theo said sternly. Camilla gazed at him with thoughtful but endlessly sad eyes. “It makes you very strong that the thing you find most terrifying is someone forcing you to abandon your morals.”

“But I froze,” Camilla’s voice was a terrified murmur. Theo shook his head.

“You wouldn’t freeze if it was real. You’d hex the ever-loving shit out of your dear old dad.” Camilla snorted and Theo smiled so largely at the sound that he couldn’t help but gather her into a hug.

“You’re the strongest person I know, Camilla. I promise,” he said. Camilla snuggled into his arms and he could feel her smile against his shoulder.

“Thank you, Theo,” she said. Theo smiled into her hair. It was then he knew: he was going to be in love with Camilla Avery for a very long time.

ii. the blueprint to a perfect evening

“So, Nott,” Draco slid into the seat next to Theo. Theo looked up with raised eyebrows. Blaise sat across from the two and began helping himself to potatoes from the large dish in front of them. Draco had a devious look on his face that Theo had seen before, right before he had broken his ankle when they were seven.

“Yes, Draco?” He asked, turning back to his bowl of oatmeal when Draco didn’t immediately start talking.

“The Yule Ball is in two weeks,” Draco said while taking a few slices of toast from the platter beside him. Theo’s eyebrows rose again. Contrary to his choice to appear uninterested in most school gossip, he had been aware of the biggest Hogwarts event in the last fifty years besides the bloody Triwizard Tournament.

“Yes, and?” Theo looked at Blaise for some sort of guidance and he raised his hands in defense. Draco gave Theo a look that implied he thought he was rather thick. Theo didn’t think he was but clearly Draco knew better.

“Who are you asking?” Draco flapped his hands in exasperation and Theo’s eyes widened slightly. He hadn’t thought that far.

“We have to have dates?” He asked with a grimace. Draco rolled his grey eyes and smacked Theo on the shoulder.

“Yes, dimwit. Everyone needs a date. Otherwise it’s just embarrassing,” he scoffed. Theo shrugged noncommittally but the pit in his stomach deepened. He knew objectively that he wasn’t a bad looking bloke, girls looked at him often enough when he passed by them. He was more shy than his friends, but he supposed he had quite a lot of personality when he was comfortable. None of that really mattered to him though, considering there was one girl in all of Hogwarts that he would consider asking to the ball and she had just slid into the seat beside him.

Camilla’s hair was pulled into neat plaits and they laid nicely against the emerald of her robes. Her eyes were sparkling and she was giggling apparently from the remainder of a conversation with Pansy and Daphne. Theo’s stomach turned cartwheels as she grinned at him and scooted close enough that their elbows brushed as she served herself eggs.

“You lot! Do you have dates yet?” Draco asked, nearly leaning into a pot of raspberry jam to speak to the girls. Pansy shook her head.

“We don’t. But about five boys asked Camilla on the way to breakfast,” she said as she stole a strawberry from Blaise’s plate. Theo’s stomach dropped.

“Surely you didn’t say yes?” He turned to Camilla in a panic. Her eyes were wide with curiosity as she lowered the fork she had been holding.

“I didn’t. I don’t want to go with someone random. I’d rather know I’m going to have a decent night,” she said. Theo’s stomach began fizzing again. If he could just pluck up the courage, right now, when she looked so pretty…

“Why don’t we just go with each other?” Daphne said with a raised brow. Theo looked up half-dazed. Blaise was nodding, and so was Draco, and he quickly matched their attitudes.

“Makes sense at least. There’s six of us,” Pansy said through a bite of fruit. Camilla nodded, though if Theo knew her as well as he thought he did, she looked vaguely apprehensive at the idea.

“How are we going to decide who goes with who?” She asked, “Not to dent your confidence, Blaise, but I’d rather not be upstaged by that pretty face.” Everyone burst into chuckles at that but Theo knew there was a deeper meaning to her statement. Camilla didn’t want to go with Blaise.

“Well I’ll make it easy for you then, Avery,” Blaise drawled. He turned to Daphne and extended a hand gracefully. “Miss Greengrass, will you do me the honor of accompanying me to the Yule Ball?” Daphne giggled and nodded, placing her hand good-naturedly in Blaise’s. Draco shrugged and turned to Pansy.

“What about you, Parkinson? Feel like accompanying me?”

“Only because you asked,” Pansy mock sighed, then laughed and high-fived Draco. Theo turned to Camilla who’s face had turned a rather pretty shade of rose.

“Guess you’re stuck with me,” he said apologetically, though his heart was racing against his ribs. Camilla smiled, and placed her hand lightly into his.

“Guess so,” her voice was soft and it warmed Theo all the way down to his toes.

“I promise not to have a prettier face than you,” Theo said. Camilla broke out into a laugh that lit up the room.

“Don’t promise something you can’t live up to, Nott.”

The next few weeks were a blur of end of December lessons. Theo wrote to his mother asking for dress robes and she had sent him a handsome enough set of charcoal grey robes that made him look like the lord of some fancy castle. He had no clue what Camilla was wearing, considering that every time she tried to tell him, Pansy shushed her and made her keep it a secret. Her smile convinced him well enough that she would appear looking flawless on the day of the ball.

Draco kept bugging him about Camilla every chance he got. He had gathered that Theo harboured a not-so-small crush on their friend, and was convinced that he was a certified idiot for not asking Camilla flat out before they had all sworn to take each other as friends.

“I’m telling you, mate,” Theo said in frustration one night after Draco had been chastising him for an hour straight, “She wouldn’t have wanted to go with me.”

Draco had called him an idiot.

The night of the ball finally fell upon them and Theo felt his stomach bubble over from nerves. Draco was dressed in complete black while Blaise had donned a rather posh suit of deep forest green which complimented his dark skin nicely. They had gotten ready in record time, and expecting the girls to take at least another hour, had gathered some butterbeers and set up camp in front of the fire in the common room.

“I think Pansy’s wearing pink,” Draco was saying as he drained his bottle.

“Daphne’s wearing green too I think,” Blaise said thoughtfully.

“What’s Avery got going on then?” Draco asked him. Theo shrugged.

“No idea. Pansy would never let her tell me.”

“Watch her show up in orange or something ghastly,” Blaise snickered. Theo shook his head.

“Whatever she wears will be beautiful,” Theo said, “Just like her,” he added in an undertone to himself. Draco caught his words however.

“Bloody hell, Nott, just tell her you fancy her!” Theo was about to retaliate with some sort of half-formed comment on Draco’s lack of experience with crushes and therefore lack of ability to talk shit, when the girls descended from their dormitory. Theo felt himself stop breathing.

Daphne and Pansy looked nice enough themselves, they weren’t in any way unattractive people. But Camilla had them beat by a long shot. Her dress was a beautiful shade of grey-blue that matched the colour of the sky on an autumn day and it had flowers all over the top before flowing into waves of chiffon at the bottom. Her hair was glossy but her smile blew Theo off his feet. She crossed the room to him and lightly punched him on the arm.

“You said you wouldn’t be the prettiest one in the room!” She joked, eyes sparkling in the firelight.

“I’m not,” Theo said honestly, his voice rasping as it came back from where it had disappeared after Camilla had walked into the room. Her eyes widened but the smile she gave him was so sweet that he didn’t mind the boldness of his statement. He offered her his arm and she took it gratefully. As the group exited the common room she leaned up to him and whispered softly.

“You’d best be ready to dance, Nott.” Theo wanted to tell her that he would have done anything for her if she asked, but he settled for squeezing her hand with a smile and walking into the Great Hall feeling like this may have been the best night of his life.

The party lasted for hours, and Theo had never had as much fun as he did twirling Camilla around on the dance floor and sneaking drinks of firewhiskey and bites of cake with her. Pansy and Daphne had eventually ditched the boys to disappear and snog in some random corner for an hour, so Draco and Blaise had found girls from Beauxbatons to spend the night with. Camilla, however, showed no desire to leave Theo’s side as she continued to laugh and sing with him through all of the songs of the night.

Finally, a few minutes before midnight, the Weird Sisters announced a slow dance for all the people who remained at the ball. Theo gave Camilla a pointed look and extended his hand.

“Will you grant me this dance?” Camilla grinned.

“Naturally,” she slipped her hand into his and he pulled her to an empty spot on the dance floor. Theo fully expected her to keep a small distance as she had all night, only bumping into him during fast songs and once after too big a sip of firewhiskey. Instead, she rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms softly around his neck. Despite the now almost alarming pace of his heart, Theo responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her close. They swayed back and forth softly, more focused on holding each other than really dancing.

“I hope you had a good night, Theo,” Camilla said softly into his collar. Theo pulled back and looked at her, her eyes more shy than he’d ever seen them.

“Why wouldn’t I have?” He asked. She shrugged, playing with the edge of his cloak.

“I know you went with me because I was the last one. I just hope it wasn’t disappointing,” she said. Theo’s eyes nearly popped from his head. He pulled her close to him again, until there was not an inch of space between them and murmured in her ear.

“I always wanted to go with you. I just didn’t know how to ask.” He felt her smile against his shoulder before she pulled back and smiled at him deeply. Theo grinned back, feeling like he had won the lottery.

“I wanted to go with you too,” she affirmed. They fell back together and danced a few more moments before she leaned up one last time and pressed her soft lips against Theo’s cheek. He looked at her in shock.

“What was that for?”

“A perfect night,” Camilla said. The song ended and neither of them moved. Theo felt like his heart was about to beat from his chest. He had never wanted to kiss Camilla so badly in his life. He could smell her perfume, some sort of flower, and the powdery scent of sugar on her lips from an iced bun.

He could do it, all he had to do was lean forward…

“Mr. Nott. Miss Avery. If you would please return to your common room. The ball is over.” Theo looked up in shock at Professor McGonagall who wore a very knowing smirk. Camilla stepped back immediately with a look of embarrassment and Theo nodded. As they walked from the hall however, she slipped her hand back into his and didn’t let go until they had reached the dungeon. She turned to him with a tired smile.

“G’night, Theo.” Theo smiled.

“Night, Cams.” She smiled and blew a small kiss, then turned to descend to the girl’s dormitory. Theo leaned against the wall with a sigh of happiness. He was never going to forget this night.

iii. a green monster lives at the bottom of this bottle

Theo’s veins fizzled with what he assumed was a disgusting and unhealthy amount of firewhiskey. Blaise and Draco were sitting up against one bed in the room, passing a bottle between the two of them. Pansy and Daphne, hands grazing all over each other’s skin, were sitting against the wall beside them. Theo was laying half on a pile of pillows that had been pulled off of Pansy’s bed, and Camilla sat beside him wrapped in an emerald green comforter while she giggled and took sips of her own bottle of whiskey.

They had made it to fifth year, finally, and this party was in celebration of that. Pansy had bullied Millicent and Tracey Mills from the room and banished them to the common room for the night; Blaise had conjured about six bottles of firewhiskey from God knows where; Daphne had provided bags of treats she’d brought from home; Draco had cast silencing charms on the entire room to ensure no one disturbed them during their festivities; Camilla and Theo had done a ery good job of looking busy while the others bustled about. Now, they had finished three bottles of whiskey between them all, and Theo was ready and tingling for something to happen.

Camilla’s head tipped towards him and she smiled in a way that made Theo think of very sunny days and chocolate ice cream.

“Theodore,” she drawled his name out. Theo leaned up and tucked his chin into his hand while he gazed into her eyes. She looked beautiful, the flush on her cheeks from the alcohol deepening her dimples. If he wasn’t bloody terrified of ruining their friendship, he would have surged across their small distance to kiss her.

“Yes, Camilla,” he tried to drag her name out like she had done to his own. She giggled and the sound filled his chest.

“You look like a proper Englishman,” she said. Theo blinked at her.

“What the hell does that mean?” Camilla started laughing again, which prompted the rest of their friends to tune in and listen.

“You’ve got the sexy messy curls and the pale skin and the look of someone who generally spends a lot of time being pretty. That’s what Englishmen do,” Theo’s heart stopped and restarted about a thousand times in a row. Draco let out a loud cackle and Daphne and Pansy dissolved into giggles while Blaise held a slight hint of a grin.

“Blimey, Avery,” Draco said through tears of laughter, “You’re bloody buggered aren’t you?” Camilla sat up in retaliation, though she wobbled a bit as she stood and the sleeve of her sweater brushed Theo.

“You’re one to talk, Draco!” She hiccuped and Pansy tumbled to the floor in laughter.

“You’re pissed, Cams. Just admit it.”

“Maybe I am!” Camilla said, tossing her arms in the air, “But I’m not wrong!”

“Yes, Theo is beautiful and stuff,” Daphne said in quite a wobbly tone, “Can we move onto something fun?” Pansy’s face curved into a grin.

“We could play spin the bottle.”

“You two are in a relationship though,” Blaise pointed to where the two girls’ bodies were tangled at the legs, “How are we meant to play when you can only snog each other?”

“Oh I have no worries about Daph leaving me for one of you lot,” Pansy said dismissively. Daphne nodded with hiccup and Blaise shrugged.

“I’m game.”

“Me as well,” Draco added.

“And me,” Camilla raised the hand that held a bottle of whiskey. Five pairs of eyes trained on Theo.

“Fine, you bloody horny gits,” Theo said in fake exasperation. They cheered and Draco drained the last of the firewhiskey he had been sharing with Blaise and placed the bottle on the floor.

“Ground rules?” He asked.

“Tongue absolutely required,” Pansy said. Camilla snorted a mouthful of whiskey out of her nose and Daphne dissolved into giggles. Theo shifted slightly uncomfortably. Despite the alcohol burning his veins, there was only one person here he wanted to kiss and she was currently leaning over to spin the bottle with a grin. The bottle landed on Daphne and she wiggled her eyebrows.

“I’m comin’ for your woman, Pans,” she chuckled before leaning over and pecking Daphne lightly. Theo felt the knot in his stomach unsqueeze a bit.

“There was no tongue!” Pansy shouted. Camilla leaned back and licked a strip up the side of Daphne’s face.

“There’s your tongue,” she said cheekily. The six of them burst into laughter again and the game continued.

Eventually they had to make some restrictions to the game. For starters, Draco made the assertion that they should be allowed to drink if they happened to not want to kiss someone, on the grounds that he would pitch himself off the Astronomy tower if he had to kiss Theo more than once. Theo had steadfastly agreed, and since the addition of that particular rule, he had become closer to nearly inhuman levels of intoxication which had in turn made the girls nearly wet themselves laughing.

Then, the world skidded to a stop as Camilla spun the bottle and it landed without question on Draco. Theo held his breath, hoping, truly hoping that despite all odds, she wouldn’t do it. He hoped that she would take a large mouthful of firewhiskey and giggle in Draco’s face in apology. Theo had never more wanted something not to happen.

She didn’t drink. Instead, she climbed over the bottle in the centre of their little circle, settled herself into Malfoy’s lap and pressed her lips decidedly against his. Blaise let out a whoop, his demure persona smudged away by alcohol. The girls cheered as Malfoy’s hands cemented themselves on Camilla’s hip. Theo felt as though he should maybe throw a bottle of alcohol into the fireplace.

Camilla finally pulled away after what felt like ten years of Theo’s life and looked very thoughtfully at Malfoy.

“You’re about a four out of ten on the snog meter, Draco. You mustn’t treat a woman’s mouth like a whirlpool,” she said as she clambered off his lap and back to her spot at Theo’s side, though she sat much closer than she had before. Theo gasped out a laugh at Draco’s offended face and Camilla turned to him with a smirk. She tilted her head towards his ear and spoke in whispered tones that sent butterflies into his stomach.

“You didn’t honestly think that I wanted to snog him over you, did you?” She asked sweetly. Theo gulped.

“It crossed my mind.”

“You’re supposed to be smart, Theodore Nott,” she giggled, and he felt her lips graze his ear. Camilla then turned back to the circle and knocked the bottle away.

“I’m bored now. Let’s play a game of Would You Rather.” Theo nodded his agreement to her suggestion, but focused mainly on the feeling of her lips on his ear. She hadn’t wanted to kiss Draco, really. He was glad she didn’t. Though he supposed the stab of jealousy he felt towards one of his oldest friends cemented his growing feelings for Camilla. She turned to him and gave a grin that seemingly soaked him from head to toe in honey.

Yeah. He loved her.

iv. a simple weekend

If anyone had bothered to ask Theo, they would have known how much he truly did not like trips to Hogsmeade. He always wanted to visit Tomes and Scrolls and spend hours looking at the new books and writing utensils they stocked there, but his friends all insisted on spending hours in Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks. He liked butterbeer well enough, but he would prefer to stay home and read and let his friends bring him back a bag of treats. Not to mention catch up on homework.

There were all the reasons he gave for not wanting to attend the second Hogsmeade trip of their fifth year. They were also all the reasons his friends were currently throwing back in his face.

“Come on, Nott,” Draco was begging, “It’ll be fun. I promise we can stop in at that book place if you want but it won’t be the same if you’re not there.”

“Yeah, Theo. We’d miss you too much,” Daphne added.

“Plus it’s our only chance to get out of here and away from Potter and his bloody prophecies about the Dark Lord,” Pansy added. Blaise gave a nod to certify he agreed with the rest of them, but Camilla was suspiciously silent as she turned the pages of her book. She wouldn’t even spare Theo a glance which he found, considering how close they were, quite odd.

“I just don’t want to go,” Theo said, finding himself becoming curiously angry at their rejection of his desire to stay back. They all had copious amounts of homework, what with it being an O.W.L year and all, and he just wanted to stay back.

“Theo, honestly, don’t be a prat. Come with us,” Draco said, flipping to another page in his Herbology book. Theo felt his temper simmer and finally boil over.

“I’ve told you, you bloody git, that I don’t want to come. That’s final. Leave it,” he snapped. At his words, Camilla’s head raised and she gave him a look that seemed like the halfway point between concern and curiosity. He ignored her in favour of not turning his temper on her, gathered his books and swept up to the dormitory to sleep. He heard murmurs of “what was his problem?” from Blaise and Pansy but he ignored them. He was more than a bit tired of his extroverted friends and their ability to leave him be. He would be fine after some rest and a day to himself.

The next day dawned bright and clear. Theo was alone in the dorm when he awoke which he attributed to his outburst the night before. He assumed the boys had gone on without him in an effort to avoid his temper. His predictions were proven right when he descended for breakfast and found the Slytherin table void of all of his friends. Camilla included. Theo ate rather moodily, wishing he hadn’t snapped quite so much on his friends. They probably wouldn’t even bring him back Sugar Quills. Not that he deserved them.

Breakfast was over quickly, and Theo retreated back to the dormitory to pick up his study supplies. They were rumoured to get a quiz in Potions the following week and he wanted to be as prepared as possible. The common room was still deserted when he returned, and there was no sign of anyone returning for a while. He sighed, though he knew he would study better if his friends, Pansy and Draco in particular, weren’t present. His heart still ached a bit at Camilla’s absence.

It was on his walk to the library that he became aware of a pattering of feet behind him.

“Theo!” He turned and his heart seized as Camilla drew up to him, slightly out of breath, but smiling. Her hair laid in soft curls against her emerald sweater and she was clutching an armful of textbooks.

“I assumed you were going to be studying today,” she said when Theo hadn’t managed to say anything to her after a few seconds, “So I ate breakfast early and I’ve been waiting in the windowsill for a while hoping you would come by and we could head to the library together. You didn’t see me though,” she laughed slightly embarrassedly and Theo’s mind was still struggling to catch up.

“But… You… What about Hogsmeade?” He managed to sputter out. Camilla’s smile turned slightly more bashful.

“I didn’t really want to go anyways,” she said softly before linking her arm with his. Theo nodded, though his brain was still spinning slightly. They walked to the library in relative silence, though it wasn’t uncomfortable in any way. After choosing a table well away from Madam Pince, they both pulled out their textbooks and immersed themselves in studying.

Camilla and Theo had studied together plenty in their years at Hogwarts together. They knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses as well as their study habits. Their study sessions were more like carefully choreographed dances with school subjects and each other. When he was younger, however, Theo hadn’t been quite so entranced by how the sunlight from the window wove in with the blonde strands of Camilla’s hair or how her hazel eyes flitted across the pages she was reading from. He didn’t fantasize about holding her hand across the desk or resting his hand on her knee either.

They worked in silence for most of the day before Theo managed to voice what had been bothering him since the night before.

“Camilla?” She raised her head and fixed him with her whiskey coloured eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you talk to me yesterday? When I was talking about how I wanted to stay back?” She shifted in her seat, looking uncomfortable in the way of someone who had been caught doing something against the rules. Theo couldn’t see what would make her feel that way.

“I knew you were upset and I didn’t think another person talking at you would help,” she said. Theo blinked.

“But that’s considerate of you? I don’t see the issue?”

“I don’t know. I was hoping you wouldn’t think it was odd of me,” she said looking away shyly. Theo considered this for a moment before reaching forward and grabbing Camilla’s hand from where it rested on top of her Transfiguration textbook.

“I appreciate it, Cams. I really do. Just like how I appreciate that you gave up a day at Hogsmeade to study with me.” Camilla blushed deep pink.

“Well I wasn’t really giving anything up. This has been a much better day anyways.” Theo processed her words more slowly than he cared to admit, but he made up for the lost time by lightly smoothing the back of Camilla’s hand with his thumb. He remembered her saying he was pretty a few months ago with such bravery and confidence. Now, she seemed more herself, and he couldn’t help but notice that she still let him hold her hand.

“I like it when it’s just the two of us to be honest,” Theo muttered, shifting slightly in his seat so his leg pressed against Camilla’s. She smiled and rested her head against Theo’s shoulder. His heart thrummed against his ribs deliciously. Her hair smelt of rosemary, and her skin smelt like roses and almond oil. Everything about her invited him in.

“Me too. I wish it was like this more often,” she said. Theo hummed and nodded. They sat like that for a moment, watching the sun dip below the mountains before Camilla sat up and lightly pulled her hand from Theo’s to his disappointment.

“The others will be back by now. It’s dinnertime,” she offered as explanation. Theo nodded, though he would have given anything to go back to their tender moment a second before. They both gathered their books slowly and made their way down to the Great Hall. Draco, Blaise, Pansy, and Daphne were already back, cheeks pink from the cold and tucking into a roast supper. Draco caught sight of them and waved them over.

“What if they’re angry with me?” Theo mumbled quickly. Camilla shook her head and gave him a kind look.

“They understand they pushed you a bit far. I’m sure they’ll be completely fine.” Theo nodded, but still kept a half pace behind Camilla as they settled into their places. Draco gave him a slightly guilty smile.

“Hey mate. Sorry for last night and all. I went a tad far,” he apologized.

“You think?” Theo said, though the grin on his face gave him away. Draco clapped him on the shoulder with a grin and Theo chuckled, feeling his apprehension ease. Pansy then turned to Camilla.

“Where have you been all day? You were supposed to meet us in the courtyard at ten. We assumed you were right behind us.” Theo gave Camilla a shocked look and she turned a very pretty shade of crimson while she stabbed a Yorkshire pudding.

“I had things,” she said evasively. Theo shook his head with a laugh and she gave him a very private smile. Dinner continued, but if anyone noticed Camilla’s hand resting lightly on top of Theo’s in between their laps, no one said a thing.

v. pansy’s frustration

Theo hadn’t gone through much in his life. He was born into a rich pureblood family that had enough old money to keep him going for centuries and enough new money to keep a swimming pool of Galleons if he wanted. Sure, his father was a Death Eater and a generally unpleasant man to be around, but he generally left Theo alone, and Theo’s mother was one of the best women he knew. He was never hungry, had never wanted for anything, and his time at Hogwarts had been filled with loyal friends and good grades.

He supposed these facts were the reason that the only real pain he had ever felt in his life came from his crushing and potentially unreciprocated crush on his best friend.

Camilla, despite all of Theo’s very best efforts, had cemented herself in his life so resolutely as the most important person in his world. He would have done anything for her, and he strongly suspected that she felt the same though she never said so. This was why, when their little band of six was hit by a sudden burst of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder on the way to Hogwarts for their sixth year, he immediately grabbed her hand so as not to lose her in the fray.

“What the bloody hell is this?” Draco’s voice bloomed from the smoke and Theo chuckled a bit despite himself. He hadn’t seen Draco all summer, and he had forgotten the posh tone of his voice.

“It’s probably a first year just messing around, sit down Draco, honestly,” came Pansy’s voice from a little in front of Theo. The smoke finally cleared and Theo could finally properly see his five friends. Pansy and Daphne were still curved around each other, sickeningly sweet in their love for each other, Blaise sat coolly with his fine china features curved into a delicate smile, and Draco was brushing dust from the sleeves of his black suit. Camilla shook some powder from her head of blonde waves and shot Theo a smile before turning back to the rest of their friends.

“Right! Sixth year! N.E.W.T classes. What are we all taking?”

“The basics I suppose,” Daphne hummed, “I don’t have many aspirations.”

“She wants me to support her I suppose,” Pansy said. Blaise snorted and so did Camilla.

“Well I’m taking the full lot. May as well, right?” Camilla said, running her fingers through her hair. Theo gave her an interested look.

“What are you planning to do, Cams?”

“It’s a secret, Theodore,” she said with a devious smirk. Theo rolled his eyes good-naturedly and Camilla laughed. Draco turned up his nose slightly.

“I happen to think that Hogwarts is a pathetic excuse for a school. I’d rather die than continue here another two years.”

“What, are you planning on dropping out?” Pansy asked with a raised eyebrow. Draco shrugged evasively and turned his gaze out the window. Theo looked to Camilla, expecting her to make a comment on Draco’s actions but she was watching him with a guarded expression. She looked nearly afraid of him. Theo ignored it, hoping it was a trick of light, and launched into a conversation about the start of term feast. Eventually, everyone lapsed back into conversation and Theo felt the grip on his heart ease every time Camilla laughed.

They’d been back at school for only a few weeks when it happened. Theo and Camilla had been eating breakfast in companionable silence, breaking it only to compare notes on each other’s DADA essay, when Pansy came charging up and tossed her Potions book to the table.

“I’ve heard something brilliant,” she said, helping herself to the bacon on Camilla’s face. Camilla regarded her with a dry look.

“Is it about how good my bacon is?” She asked. Pansy shook her head and Camilla rolled her eyes. Theo chuckled and leaned forward.

“What’d you hear, Pans?”

“We’re gonna get to smell Amortentia in Potions today,” Pansy clapped her hands together in excitement. Camilla raised an eyebrow.

“Isn’t that potion illegal?”

“Yes, but Slughorn thinks we should be aware of all sorts of potions in order to practice curing their effects! Though I doubt we’d brew a cure today, but we still get to smell it,” Pansy said, now tucking into her own plate of breakfast.

“What’s so interesting about that?” Both girls fixed him with an incredulous look.

“Amortentia smells like the things you love,” Camilla said slowly, playing with the edge of her napkin. “You know, like what attracts you.”

“So you smell the person you fancy?” Theo asked, beginning to feel his heart rate pick up. He could guess a few of the smells that would erupt from the cauldron for him. Camilla nodded.

“Yeah that. But also smells you like, like the ocean or something.” She turned back to her plate with a light blush. Theo nodded, beginning to shovel his breakfast into his mouth at a slightly quicker pace. Suddenly, he couldn’t wait to get to Potions class.

The three of them met up with the rest of their friends at the entrance to Slughorn’s class. Draco looked slightly disheveled to Theo’s slight surprise. Blaise was still immaculate, and he leaned against the wall casually talking to Daphne. They had no sooner arrived than had the door opened and the class begun to file in. There were only twenty of them in the class, most of their former classmates not getting decent enough grades from Snape to progress to a N.E.W.T level. Theo took his regular seat next to Camilla near the front and immediately noticed the bubbling pink potion resting on the desk in front of them.

“Welcome, welcome!” Slughorn cheered. Theo smiled. He enjoyed the new Potions master infinitely more than he had enjoyed Snape. He actually made the subject somewhat interesting.

“I’m assuming you have all realized that today you will be introduced to a few more intricate potions which we will attempt to counteract by the end of this year. The most interesting of which is this one, of course,” he gestured to the Amortentia.

“Amortentia. The most powerful love potion in the world. One tiny drop and the drinker of the potion will fall madly in love with the giver. At least until the effects wear off!” The entire class chuckled and Slughorn smiled.

“Now I know you’ve all gathered that Amortentia tends to smell like what most attracts the person. It can be a brilliant array of things. I, for instance, smell oak matured mead and Sugar Quills.”

“I know you all have an interest in giving the potion a good smell. So I’d ask you to line up quickly and quietly. May as well get this out of the way before the rest of the lesson.” Everyone scrambled to get in line in front of the little cauldron. Theo shot a look back at Camilla who stood behind him and she gave him a nervous grin. Theo knew how she felt.

The line crawled slowly, everyone taking the time to smell the potion for at least a minute before reluctantly pulling away. Theo noticed Hermione Granger smell the potion and give Ron Weasley a look of surprise. He snorted. He’d have to bet with Camilla on that relationship. At his turn, Theo stepped up to the cauldron and inhaled deeply.

The first thing Theo smelt was books, the crisp scent of newly cracked pages. Then, the scent turned to warm vanilla, the exact smell of the sugar cookies that he baked with his mother each Christmas. Finally, without much shock to him, he smelt the intoxicating scent of Camilla: rosemary, rose, and almond.

Theo pulled away, smiling slightly. Camilla stepped up and inhaled for a few seconds, eyes screwed tightly shut. Theo attempted to read her expression, but it was carefully arranged as she stepped back and betrayed no hint of any feelings she held about what she smelt. There remained only a few people after Camilla, and Slughorn quickly launched into the lesson after Ernie Macmillan had smelt the potion.

Theo wasn’t the only one who wanted to talk about what he had smelt in the Amortentia. The second class ended, and they had stepped into the hallway, Pansy was on their cases.

“I smelt mint obviously, you know how Daphne drinks peppermint tea all the time. And then hot chocolate and salt water. What about you lot?”

“I smelt hot chocolate for you as well, Pans,” Daphne smiled. “Then I also smelt mint and dusty velvet like the curtains in my mum’s room.” Pansy nodded, and turned to Blaise with an expectant look.

“Wood polish, black tea, and cinnamon,” he said simply. Pansy turned then to Draco who shook his head.

“You can’t weasel out of it, Draco. What did you smell?”

“Fine,” snapped Draco, “Green apple, pine, and what I can only assume is lipstick.”

“My sister always smells like lipstick,” Daphne muttered thoughtfully, though only Theo could hear her. Pansy had rounded on Theo finally and he shot a furtive glance to Camilla. Camilla looked as though she wanted the walls to collapse on Pansy.

“What about you, Theo?” Theo cleared his throat.

“Ehm. New books, vanilla, and…” his voice trailed off as Camilla’s eyes widened in almost fear. He made a split second decision.

“Watermelon.” Camilla’s expression didn’t change, though a look of surprise flitted lightly across Pansy’s face.

“Interesting. Cam?” She turned to Camilla who looked like she was trying to gather her expression into a more neutral one.

“Um. Rosemary, clean linen and ginger.” Pansy gave her a similar look to the one she had afforded Theo, but Theo’s heart was too busy breaking to notice. It was true. Officially. Camilla had no feelings for him. Theo suddenly broke away from his friends, feeling like he had to get to Transfiguration or he would positively cease to breathe.

That, and he didn’t want his friends to notice the spare tear that trickled down his cheek.

The next few weeks nearly killed Theo. He avoided Camilla at nearly every cost. He had taken to sitting with Draco in most classes, which as dreary and dismal as he looked these days, was better than pretending not to be in love with his best friend who for sure didn’t love him back. If he wasn’t mistaken however, Camilla was avoiding him just as hard. She had fully begun to sit with other houses in class, even sitting next to Harry Potter in a few classes to Theo’s frustration.

This continued well into October, and it was beginning to look like Theo and Camilla would never speak again. Meetings with the entire group of friends had become so tense that often enough, the girls would separate from the boys and head off to do their own thing. This, coupled with Draco’s bad mood and Blaise’s unaffected attitude had brought Theo’s mood to an all time low. His grades were dropping alarmingly, to the point where he had received a letter from his mother telling him in not so kind words to get his shit together. He couldn’t help it. He was miserable.

Halloween came and went, and it was finally November. Theo had given up hope on reconciling with Camilla long ago. She had fully integrated herself into a friendship with Hermione Granger as well as Harry Potter, and spent most meals sitting either with them or absent from the Great Hall in general. Theo had reciprocated these actions by dramatically exiting the hall when Camilla sat at the Gryffindor table, or slamming the door of the common room when he noticed Camilla there.

Clearly, Pansy had had enough.

“You absolute bloody git,” she said one day at lunch, after Theo had pointedly been stabbing at his potato post Camilla sitting with the Gryffindors. Theo looked up in outrage.

“What the hell do you mean?”

“You’re such a child,” Pansy snapped. Daphne looked up in alarm, but sensing the tension in the air, returned to her shepherd's pie with no comment. Blaise also looked interested, but continued to stare at his textbook without comment. Theo balled his fists.

“What has prompted you to call me names, dear Pansy?”

“I know you lied about what you smelt in the Amortentia in September,” Pansy gave him a harsh glare and Theo felt his stomach drop out from under him.

“W-what do you mean?”

“I mean,” Pansy nearly snarled, “That I am fully aware you smelt something Camilla related in that cauldron and you lied about it.” Theo’s mouth opened and closed a few times without sound before Pansy snorted in frustration.

“I knew it! You idiot! Why would you lie?”

“I didn’t need to embarrass myself, Pansy! You try telling your best friend you’re in love with them after being friends with them for over ten years.” Pansy clicked her tongue in disgust.

“Why do you assume you would have embarrassed yourself?”

“You heard Camilla! She didn’t smell me either. Not in the mood to have my heart broken!”

“Oh you absolute prat!” Pansy shouted, gaining curious looks from some of the other Slytherins. “She lied about what she smelt too!”

“What?” Theo felt like all the blood had drained from his face. “Why would she do that?”

“Because you lied too!” Pansy shouted again, this time rousing Draco from his own thoughts as well. Theo felt like he couldn’t breathe, his heart was beating so quickly against his ribs.

“I didn’t… I didn’t know…”

“Well of course she loves you, you blind idiot! You’ve both been absolutely miserable for months without each other. You spent the past eleven years attached at the hip. How could you honestly think that she didn’t like you?” Theo shook his head, trying to focus despite the new information rolling around in his brain. As he was processing this clearly monumental new piece of information, he noticed Camilla stand from the Gryffindor table and begin to make the trek back to the common room. Theo stood without realizing, then shot a panicked look to Pansy.

“Oh go after her you idiot,” Pansy sighed. Theo nodded distractedly and tore from the Great Hall, only hearing a small snippet of “Now for you, Draco…”

Theo’s feet moved of their own accord, chasing Camilla down in the hallway. She walked quickly, though he assumed that meant she wasn’t expecting anyone to follow her. He finally caught up close enough to see the shine in her blonde hair and called out.

“Camilla!” She froze, cloak swishing against her ankles. Theo nearly tripped over his feet rushing up to her. She turned to see him and her mouth opened in a small “o” as she realized who had called her.

“Theo?”

“You lied,” he gasped out as he reached her. Camilla’s features rearranged into confusion.

“I’m sorry?”

“You lied. About what you smelt in the Amortentia.” Her eyes widened before she swore quietly under her breath.

“Pansy…” she shook her head and straightened, a new defense in her limbs. “I don’t see why that matters.”

“Because you lied to me. We’re always honest with each other.” Theo said, stepping half a step closer. If Camilla noticed, she didn’t say a word.

“Well why don’t you go be honest with whoever it is that smells like watermelon,” she spit, and Theo finally realized the jealousy in her tone. Despite himself, he began to laugh. Camilla looked appalled.

“I didn’t realize what I said was so funny,” she sniffed. Theo couldn’t stop. He drew even closer to her and wrapped her in his arms, still shaking with mirth. Camilla scowled and it only spurred him on further.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“Well you bloody well should be!” Camilla said, pushing back from Theo and effectively ending his fit of laughing. “I’ve been in love with you for years, Theodore Nott and I don’t appreciate you treating my feelings like a big joke.” Theo’s mouth dropped slightly. She was in love with him?

“I don’t mean to imply that your feelings are a joke,” he whispered softly. Camilla’s expression stayed stony. “I really don’t. That’s the last thing I want.”

“Then what then? What was the purpose of calling me out for lying about my Amortentia?” She asked, folding her arms. Theo took a moment to gaze at her up close, for the first time in months. Her hair was still soft and curled, brilliant blonde against the grey stone of the castle. Hey eyes shone hazel, and her lips looked as soft and kissable as they had his whole life.

“Because I lied too.” Camilla’s eyes opened wide.

“What?”

“Rosemary, rose, and almond oil,” he spoke softly, moving closer to her again until their noses brushed. “It’s what you’ve smelt like every day for the past eleven years. That’s what I smelt in my Amortentia.” They were standing so close now that if Theo dipped his lips half an inch, he would meet hers. He waited. Camilla’s eyes grew shy as they dropped to his mouth hovering ever so slightly above hers.

“Books. A whole library. And mahogany. That’s what I smelt,” she whispered. Theo’s face broke out in the biggest smile of his life.

“Camilla Avery, I’ve been in love with you for my entire life.” She looked at him with a look that he finally now recognized as thinly veiled yearning, the same look she had been giving him since the Yule Ball.

“I’ve been in love with you even longer, Theo Nott. Maybe even since we were atoms.”

“Have you been reading Muggle science books again?”

“Maybe.”

“I don’t care,” Theo tipped his head down and kissed Camilla. Her mouth opened slightly and he deepened the sweet kiss, pulling her flush against his chest. Her hands tangled in his mess of curly hair and a small noise left her throat as his hands pressed into her back under her school shirt. Theo kissed her over and over again, tasting strawberry and pancake on her tongue from breakfast, tasting sunshine on her mouth from the happiness that poured from her, finally feeling like his life was complete.

They pulled apart only slightly, still sharing breath between them. Camilla’s eyes sparkled more than he had ever seen and Theo rested his head on hers.

“Please be my girlfriend. I think I will positively die if you don’t.” Camilla laughed and the sound was sweet in Theo’s ears.

“We can’t have that. Of course I’ll be your girlfriend, dummy,” Theo nodded with a laugh and pressed a kiss into her hair. He didn’t care that they had probably missed the first part of Charms. He didn’t even care that the comments Pansy would make would be nearly unbearable. He had fallen in love with Camilla Avery and against all the odds, she fell in love with him back.

and there we go! kudos to you if you made it all the way through. tagging @remibarnes22 and @ladiefury because they both said they were interested!

#theodore nott #theo nott #theodore nott fanfiction #theo nott fanfiction #theo nott fanfic #theodore nott fanfic #slytherin #draco malfoy #pansy parkinson #blaise zabini #daphne greengrass #harry potter #harry potter fanficton #my writing #theodore nott x oc

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bbyx · 4 years ago

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ripple effect - part nine

Summary: During her fourth year at Hogwarts, (y/n) Deauxville falls for none other than Cedric Diggory. But it's not easy when you have to deal with protecting your family's fortune, keeping your father's illness a secret and having two of your closest friends catch feelings for you.

Pairings : reader x cedric, reader x draco, reader x harry (y/n) walks to care of magical creatures, worried lines creasing her face.

You were planning on seeing Harry first thing this morning so he could explain how the fuck his name ended up in the Goblet. But Harry hadn’t shown his face at breakfast. You were a little disappointed, knowing the shoe prank would have cheered him up a slightly.

(y/n) had started getting very worried when Ron said he “didn’t give a rat's ass about where Harry was.” Hermione was nowhere to be found and all your other friends were too hungover to be of any help. You regretted never going to sleep, you and Draco had stolen some Wideye potion from Snape’s cabinet, but the potion made your mind feel foggy. On second thought, maybe that was just the hangover.

The fresh air doesn’t help much at all, the wind makes you dizzy and your eyes can’t seem to focus with all the light sweeping through your sunglasses. If it weren’t for Harry, you would have done the same as Cedric and Nick, who both didn’t bother to go to class today.

“Harry!” You croak, wincing at the pain growing in your head.

“(y/n)! Uh what’s with the sunglasses?” Harry says, glancing up quickly at the cloudy sky.

“I think it’s pretty self explanatory.” You say, inching the glasses down to show him your bloodshot eyes.

“Harry, what happened with the Goblet.” You say, your tone becoming more serious.

“ I’m not sure, somebody must have put my name in somehow. Moody thinks somebody’s trying to kill me again.” Harry sighs running his hand through his hair. “ And Ron's jealous, and half the bloody school hates me.” He looks so exasperated, you wish you could just take all his worries off his shoulders. You missed the happy boyish glint in his eyes.You grab his face in your hands.

“Hey, I don’t hate you.” You say softly, which finally brings a small smile to his lips.

Draco’s blood boils as he walks the grounds to Hagrid’s hut, seing (y/n) and Potter’s silhouettes. She’s resting her head on Harry’s shoulder and laughing at his stupid jokes. Draco knew that should be his shoulder. And to make matters worse she seems to only have eyes for that big Hufflepuff oaf. Finally (y/n) breaks free from Harry and joins the rest of the Slytherins. Draco motions for Crabbe and Goyle to shut up as he nears Potter.

“Ah, look, boys, it’s the champion, got your autograph books? Better get a signature now, because I doubt he’s going to be around much longer. . . . Half the Triwizard champions have died . . . how long d’you reckon you’re going to last, Potter? Ten minutes into the first task’s my bet.”

Before Draco could pull anymore insults from his brilliant mind, Hagrid arrived carrying huge crates filled with those disgusting skrewts. The giant man explains that students will be paired up to take the skrewts on a walk. Draco takes a leash attached to the grey slug like thing and joins (y/n)’s side.

“Be my partner?” A voice breaks you out of your thoughts.

“Of course.” You answer, sounding even raspier than before.

“Bad hangover huh?” Draco says as the creature starts venturing off.

“Hmm” Is all you managed to say back, your head hurting from all the thinking you’ve been doing about the Goblet mystery.

Walking the skrewts was a disaster, everytime one of their ends exploded it would send the skrewt, and the poor student walking it, flying forward a couple feets. Lavender Brown was constantly screeching because apparently her skrewt was “trying to kill” her.

Yeah I'm rooting for its success.

Draco wouldn’t even let you near the skrewt, holding it out as far away from you as he could.

“Why can’t I walk it? It’s just like a dog.”

“Dog?! Have you seen this thing? No, I'm not letting you near this death machine. It’s already burned you once...”

“You’re so annoying Dray.” You say playfully shoving his shoulder.

“(y/n) you can’t even walk straight yet.”

Just at the right moment his skrewt’s end blasted and sent him flying in the mud. You laugh so hard falling to the floor, bracing yourself for the next wave of pain.

“I’m dropping this class next year, I swear.” He grumbles, getting up and glaring at the creature.

You were mad, furious even at Draco for making those stupid Potter stinks badges. Draco was furious at you for jinxing most of them to say Malfoy stinks instead. The two of you weren’t speaking anymore, making the atmosphere with your Slytherin friends very awkward. You took some consolation in knowing that Millicent and Daphne had refused to wear the badges, but for the past week you had been spending most of your time with your brother’s friends or Harry and Hermione. To add fuel to the fire, Draco has gotten into a fight with Harry and jinxed Hermione’s teeth. It also didn’t help that Cedric was now followed by a group of girls everywhere he went, preventing the two of you from having a private conversation.

On your way to charms, Jeremy appears next to you, fixing his yellow tie.

“What do you want?” You say slightly angrier than you had meant to.

“Nothing. Um Cedric wanted me to give this to you.” Jeremy says, pulling out a small envelope from his robes.

“Oh thanks.” You say but he’s already ducked inside a classroom.

You rip open the envelope. It reads:

Picnic tomorrow?

Miss you,

Cedric.

P.S: there will be chocolate frogs.

(y/n)’s bad day had just gotten a great deal better.

You were waiting by the Black lake for Cedric, while everyone else had gone to Hogsmeade. It was a surprisingly nice day for early november, you weren’t cold in your hoodie but you weren't warm either. You spot, from across the grounds, Cedric clumsily balancing a huge basket in one hand and levitating a couple other objects with his wand. You can’t help but notice how dashing he makes the Hufflepuff uniform look. He sets down a checkered blanket on the ground and throws a couple pillows on top.

“Ta-da!” He says opening the basket, filled with warm butterbeers, little pastries and fruits.

“Ced, you’re too nice.” You say giving him a long hug.

“Wait, I'm not done,” He says reaching into his pocket and pulling out a chocolate frog. “As promised.”

“I brought you something too.” You say, ruffling through your bag and handing him a small pin with a gold butterfly. “In French culture, butterflies are supposed to bring good luck, and since the first task is coming up and-”

Cedric’s lips crash into yours. Warm. He tastes warm.He tastes like cinnamon, honey and ginger. He slides one hand in your hair and holds your waist firmly with the other. Finally, you break apart for air.

“I love it.” He whispers in your ear, grabbing the pin from your hand and securing it to his sweater. He’s wearing his usual lopsided grin.

“I’m glad.” You say, a huge smile spreading on your face.

The rest of the afternoon was one of the nicest you could remember. Cedric had brought bread for the ducks and you laying on his chest, finding shapes in the clouds while he played with a baby duckling. Suddenly he stops humming, waking you up from your dazed state. Cedric shifts, sitting up slightly.

“(y/n) what’s your wand core?”

“Veela hair, my grandmother’s. Why?”

“Just wondering if you had the same as Fleur. She mentioned it at the weighing of the wands.”

“What’s yours?” You say not wanting to stay on the subject of your breathtaking cousin much longer.

“Unicorn hair.” He says twirling his wand around. He stops. “So if I put your hair inside a wand it would work?” He wraps a strand of your hair around his wand. You ponder his question for a couple seconds.

“Probably, but it would be a weak wand. I don’t think I have a lot of Veela genes.” You say smiling as Cedric plays with your hair.

“You’re always underselling yourself, you know.” He chuckles before planting another kiss on your lips. Then an idea pops up in your head. Cedric looks confused when you suddenly get up. He catches your wrist.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Calm down Romeo, i’m getting flowers for your flower crown.”

“My flower crown?”

(y/n) comes back a little while later, holding dozens of brightly colored flowers. You sit down crossed legged and start knotting the stems together. Cedric puts his head in your lap.

“Are you nervous about the first task? It’s only a week away.” You say looking down at him.

“A little, but i’ve got this now.” He runs his fingers over the golden butterfly. You smile softly. After that, you and Cedric debate about Quidditch as he feeds you sweets because your hands are busy braiding the flowers together.

“Ta-daa!” You say holding up the finished product. The crown was full of daisies, daffodils and carnations.

“Can I put it on?” He says excitedly.

“Of course, I made it for you.” You answer, placing it on his head. He darts like a little kid towards the lake to gaze at his reflection.

“I’m never taking it off.” Cedric says quietly as you walk towards him. He turns and hugs you tightly. “Thank you, it’s beautiful.”

“We should head back.” You say motioning to the group of girls, back from Hogsmeade, giggling behind a tree.

“Well shit.”

Cedric pulls his wand out of his pocket, mumbles a spell and the blankets that tidied up the blankets and basket. Wingardium leviosa he whispers, making the objects levitate. Then he flings you over his shoulder and makes a mad dash towards the castle.

“Ced! Aah put me down! I swear Cedric! CEDRIC AMOS DIGGORY put me down!” (y/n) says laughing wildly.

Draco was in a particularly bad mood at dinner. All anyone would talk about was stupid Diggory and his stupid flower crown. A number of girls had tried to replicate their own flower crowns but Draco knew exactly where the one on Diggory’s auburn head was from. He had worn multiple of those as a child and was always amazed at the skill of her nimble fingers.

Yeah, keep grinning you big oaf. Little do you know she’s made a dozen of those for me.

“Dragons?”

“Yes (y/n), try to keep up please.” Hermione says quickly, walking to her next class. “He says he saw dragons in the Forbidden forest. And Karkaroff used to be a death eater.”

“Oh. my. god.” You say, your brain piecing everything together.

“What?” Hermione says, glancing at her watch. “What? Please I haven’t got all day.”

“Hermione, remember at the World cup, when I rented that property to the ministry? Remember? Dragons! That’s what they’re using it for.”

You can practically see the wheels turning in her mind. “That makes perfect sense. How did we not figure that out.” She says shaking her head wistfully.

“Nevermind that, how is Harry going to fight a fucking dragon.” You say, racking your brain for spells. Another worry hits you. ”I have to warn Cedric.”

“That’s what Harry’s doing right now.”

“Cedric, do you have a plan? For the dragon, I mean.”

“Yeah, I’ve thought about it, but i’ve thought about this more.” Cedric says, kissing your neck softly. A smile tugs as your lips as you mumble “You’re so cheesy Ced.”

You and Cedric were in a small alcove near the potion classrooms. His warm tongue grazes your lower lip, making you unable to focus

“I’m serious, I can help you if you want.” He pulls you into a hug, resting his head on top of your hair.

“There is one way you can help.”

“How?”

“What’s your favourite type of dog?”

“What?” You say, incredulously.

“Just answer.”

“Labrador.”

“Concentrate, Harry, concentrate” Hermione says.

“What d’you think I’m trying to do?” says Harry angrily. “A great big dragon keeps popping up in my head for some reason. . . . Okay, try again. . . .”

(y/n) and Hermione were in an empty classroom, trying to teach Harry a summoning spell.

“You need to flick your wrist more.” You say, your nose buried in Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed.

After what seemed like hours, Harry finally got the hang of the Summoning spell.

“That’s better, Harry, yeah that’s loads better,” Hermione said, looking exhausted but very pleased.

“Well, now we know what to do next time I can’t manage a spell,” Harry said, throwing a rune dictionary back to Hermione, so he could try again, “threaten me with a dragon. Right . . .”

He raises his wand once more. “Accio Dictionary!”

The heavy book soared out of Hermione’s hand, flew across the room, and Harry caught it. “Harry, I really think you’ve got it!” you say clapping. He blushes a little.

“Just as long as it works tomorrow,” Harry says. “The Firebolt is going to be much farther away than the stuff in here, it’s going to be in the castle, and I’m going to be out there on the grounds.”

“That doesn’t matter,” said Hermione firmly “Just as long as you’re concentrating really, really hard on it, it’ll come.”

“Harry, you’d better get some sleep . . . you’re gonna need it.” You say motioning at the window, where the sky was a moonless pitch black.

The next morning, you woke up in blind panic. Dragons. It seemed so much more daunting than it had yesterday. The sick feeling in your stomach only got worse when the champions were escorted out at breakfast. Everything seemed to be going so fast. Next thing you knew, you and Draco were walking towards the forbidden forest. (y/n) and Draco were on speaking term again because he had agreed to do her potions homework for the month.

“Go get a good spot Dee, i’ll join you soon.” You say before running forward to the champion’s tent.

When you enter, you see Krum looking sulkier than usual on a stool and Fleur fiddling with her hair nervously. You almost felt bad for her before she rolled her ice blue eyes at you. Harry was talking to Hermione and Cedric was pacing back and forth, his skin greener than usual.

“Hey,” You say touching his shoulder. He jumps slightly at your touch. “ Are you okay?”

“Of course!.” He says, but his voice wavers a little. “ What are you doing here?”

“Came to wish you good luck” You say tapping the little golden butterfly gleaming on his chest. “And give you this.” You say standing on your tiptoes and pressing a lingering kiss on his lips. He grabs your waist tightly, not wanting to let you go.

The sight of you and Cedric kissing makes Krum even surlier than before and Harry is now the one who looks green. At the same time, Ludo Bagman walks in.

“ Ah, young love.” He says, which makes you both pull away breathless. “I’m sorry to break this up but i’m going to have to ask you girls to please step out.” Ludo Bagman says to Hermione and (y/n), who was blushing furiously.

“Good luck Harry.” You say, squeezing his hand right before exiting the tent.

A/N: I’m gonna make a taglist for ripple effect so send me an ask to be added xx. ALSO this is my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE gif he’s just so cute.

#cedric diggory #harry potter #draco malfoy #hp and the goblet of fire #cedric diggory x you #cedric diggory x reader #cedric x you #cedric x reader #harry potter x reader #draco malfoy x reader

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dramioneasks · 2 months ago

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Hi! I want to recommend Two Weddings and a Man Hunt by Deydralinne. Fluffy accidental marriage/elopement. https://archiveofourown.org/works/45487258/chapters/114450499

Thank you!

Two Weddings and a Man Hunt - Deydralinne - E, 25 chapters - Of all the things Draco had expected to bear witness to that evening at his best friend's bachelor party, watching war heroine, Hermione Granger bounce a witches face off a table had not been one of them. Then again, the event's following weren't exactly things Draco planned for either. OR The story in which Draco and Hermione wake up married after a drunken night out

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morning · 6 years ago

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after a long semester, i’m finally on summer break, and i thought i’d try out 1x1s again!! jsyk i can sometimes be a slow replier, but i’m always down for all the hcs and ask memes. the fandoms, characters, fcs, and ships i’m interested in rping are under the read more, just give this a like if you’re interested and i’ll come to you! i can offer writing samples off anon if necessary. and if we were plotting something out previously, i’m so sorry for ghosting, but i’d love to pick it back up!

marauders era characters i’m interested in playing: lily evans (neelam gill fc), mary macdonald (courtney eaton or nana komatsu fc), marlene mckinnon (sasha lane or zoe kravitz fc), james potter (dev patel or justice smith fc), remus lupin (froy gutierrez fc), sirius black (avan jogia, cengiz al, or lee hyun jae fc), regulus black (fc tbd), narcissa black (sasha luss fc), andromeda black (laura harrier or alicia vikander fc), bellatrix black (camila mendes or crystal reed fc). i’m down for mumus or just one pairing!!

trio era characters i’m interested in playing: hermione granger (jessica sula or logan browning fc), luna lovegood (hannah murray or sky ferreira fc), harry potter (avan jogia or alberto rosende fc), neville longbottom (john boyega fc), ginny weasley (luca hollestelle fc), ron weasley (fc tbd), hannah abbott (natalia dyer fc), katie bell (simay barlas fc), cho chang (adrianne ho fc), blaise zabini (adonis bosso fc), parvati patil (kelly gale fc), millicent bulstrode (barbie ferreira fc), pansy parkinson (yaya urassaya fc), theodore nott (luke pasqualino fc), cormac mclaggen (jordan calloway fc). i’m down for mumus or just one pairing!!

next gen characters i’m interested in playing: lily luna potter (madelaine petsch or zendaya fc), james sirius potter (fc tbd), victoire weasley (bree kish or barbie ferreira fc), dominique weasley (freya mavor or rose bertram fc), rose weasley (alisha boe fc), scorpius malfoy (dudley o’shaughnessy fc), teddy lupin (bob morley fc). i’m down for mumus or just one pairing!!

avatar characters i’d like to play: zuko, katara, toph bei fong, sokka, ty lee, mai, azula. i’m down for mumus or just one pairing!! all of these characters would be aged up btw.

kaz brekker x inej ghafa. i’ll play either!!

nina zenik x matthias helvar. i’d like to play nina!!

peter parker x mj. i'll play either!!

oc superhero x oc supervillain plots

stranger things plots, either with canons or ocs. (if it’s with canons, the kids would be aged up with new fcs.)

greek mythology plots!! could be spirits or the actual mythological figures. i’d die for hades x persephone or ares x aphrodite.

disney/fairytale retelling plots, maybe with some twisted/brothers grimm-esque elements??

an anastasia plot. we could play the actual characters from the movie/musical! or we could just do a modern retelling, possibly with ocs. just please give me this. i’ll play either!!

jude duarte x prince cardan. has anyone actually read the cruel prince? i finished this book a little while, and i’ve been dying to rp them. i’ll play either!!

rey x finn x poe. i’d like to play rey and poe!

buffy summers x spike but we pick new fcs for them. i’ll play either!!

a gossip girl mumu about rich kids on the upper east side but the canons don’t exist and we play ocs. now i know this show is basically the epitome of White Privilege, but i won’t do this mumu if it’s not diverse, so expect most of our muses to be poc. bonus points if you let me play antoinette robertson, camila mendes, and adonis bosso.

#1x1 #1x1 rp #1x1 roleplay #hp 1x1 #it's bigger...it's better...#aka i added a bunch of stuff and will probs add more #prev. malfoynarcissa / lilpotter

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saiilorstars · 2 months ago

Text

Ch. 40: Continuous Battles

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

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

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

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

Romina was half asleep when she pulled herself together enough to head out for breakfast. She was not expecting Angel to be so chippy and loud greeting her in the morning.

"Ready for breakfast?"

"Mhm," Romina nodded. "You want to take me there? I might fall asleep on the way."

Angel chuckled. "It would be my pleasure." He interlocked arms with her and headed out of the common room with her.

"Something like that," Romina mumbled. "I had these weird dreams...just so bombarding. I kept waking up like every hour."

"That sucks," Angel said, leading her up the stairs. "You're not the kind to have bad dreams."

"No, I left all the stuff from last year behind me," Romina said with a sour smile. "Because trust me, I have plenty of material to dream about that could re-traumatize me all over again."

"Maybe it's just the stress getting to you."

"The school year just started, Angel. I'm not that behind on work yet."

"I wasn't talking about academic stress, Romina," Angel said and gave her a sharp side-eye. She knew what he meant and sighed. He had been present last night when she and Pansy had a row about the dumbest thing. "You really should try to just, I don't know, ignore her or something," Angel said.

"It's not as easy as you think. She's everywhere. I literally changed dorms to get away from her!"

"Yeah, Carol was really happy about the switch too. She'd never say it but she's kind of scared of Pansy, always has been growing up."

Romina snorted. "Nobody should ever be afraid of Pansy. I'm not scared of her, she just aggravates me."

They entered the Great Hall and went straight to the Slytherin table where their friends were sitting.

"I need some dark roast coffee stat," Romina said as they sat down together.

"You drink dark roast coffee for breakfast?" Angel chuckled.

"Sometimes," Romina shrugged. She had to pause to cover her yawn.

"Oooh, did somebody not get enough sleep last night?" Pansy's voice stopped the pair. She had come along with Millicent, the two going straight for the open seats near Draco, Crabb and Goyle.

Romina lamented that her bad morning was even worse now. "I'm not—Parkinson, keep it to yourself. I'm too tired to deal with you today." She should have at least a few hours to really wake up before she had to insult someone.

"I know," Pansy said, far too sure of what she was saying. "You know, I figured that since you keep ruining Draco's day, somebody should ruin your nights."

"What…? What did you do to me?" Romina left her breakfast as it was. Her eyes flickered between Pansy and Draco, expecting one of them to give her an explanation. Had she been less focused on the shock, she would've realized the flash of confusion on Draco's face.

"Simple nightmare potion," Pansy explained. The malicious glint in her eyes was strong and proud. "Even an idiot could make it."

"And an idiot did," Angel said, earning a brief glare from Pansy in return. "That is very low of you, Pansy. What were you thinking?"

Romina was flabbergasted. Her mind spun to think of when Pansy had slipped that potion to her. It was infuriating not knowing. "So this was some revenge ploy? A sleepless night?" She scoffed. "And really, Draco? Getting Parkinson to do it on your behalf? Beyond lazy!"

Draco glared and pointed his fork at her. "Would you stop calling me 'lazy'? I didn't ask anybody to—"

Romina rolled her eyes, not wanting to hear a word from him. "You're just pathetic. Instead of just apologizing for such a horrendous act, you make it even bigger!" She glared over at Pansy; the latter couldn't be any happier with the results.

"Better luck next time, I suppose," Pansy shrugged, her tone ever so calm.

Romina barely resisted the urge to throw her goblet upside Pansy's head. She pushed herself up from her seat and stormed away. It's too early, it's too early...

"Oswell!" She heard Draco's call not too far behind her.

Oh, God no. She picked up her pace in the hallway, deciding to head back to the common room instead. "Leave me alone!" She yelled back. "Go back and sit with your dear partner in crime!"

"I didn't ask Parkinson to do anything for me!" Draco expected the hard scoff Romina sent his way. It was the only place he could start. "It wasn't my idea!"

"Oh please!" Romina whirled around, finding he was closer to her than she thought. "You expect me to believe that?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

Draco's face expression was nothing if not incredulous. "Because I didn't do anything?" He was sure that was the best reason he could offer. "I'm guilty of many things, Oswell, but of this? No."

Romina still seemed mighty unconvinced. She folded her arms. "Yeah right! I just want to know when Pansy slipped it in. Was it while we were arguing last night?"

"Ask her! I didn't do it!"

Romina started backtracking from him. "Forget it, I don't believe you! Just know that I will get you back for this."

"Oswell, if you would just—"

"No! Don't say another word to me!"

Draco rolled his eyes at her. She had no idea. "But listen—"

"Not another word!"

"You don't want me to say anything else?"

"Exactly!"

"Even if it's actually important?"

"Yes!"

"Okay. I won't say anything else then," Draco promptly said. His small smile was confusing but Romina didn't want to give him any more of her time.

She turned around to continue on her way but the moment her foot stepped forwards, she found the ground wasn't there. She was at the staircase. She flailed and fell forwards—she never made it down. A strong tug on her arm yanked her back before she slid off.

Next thing Romina knew, she was looking at a smug-faced Draco right in front of her. "Didn't know you'd be falling for me, Oswell," he said. He really couldn't help it. It was too big of an opportunity to let pass.

Romina's scowl was imminent. "I...hate you! You saw me about to fall!"

"You told me not to say another word," Draco reminded her. He laughed when Romina tried to smack him, or at the very least "tap him" as she'd claimed she'd done the last time. She was locked between his arms no matter how much she attempted to free herself.

"You're an absolute jerk!" And perhaps a strong one at that. Romina groaned at her failed attempts. "Let me go before I punch you!"

"What? Not comfy?" Draco was clearly enjoying the moment. He could smell her rosy scent perfectly. Now he wondered if it was her hair or her perfume. Did she wear perfume?

"I am very prepared to throw both of us down these stairs," Romina declared.

Draco laughed earnestly for the first time in a long time. "You are very competitive, Oswell. Gotta say, I like it. You're making my days fun."

Romina scoffed, head turning away. "Please. Couple days ago you said I was being ridiculous."

"And I stand by it but you're funny when you're plotting. And kinda cute."

Romina's head snapped back in his direction, tilting up to meet his gaze. His silver-blue eyes were already on her, filled with nothing but confidence.

"That a bother?" he asked her.

Before Romina knew it, she was shaking her head slowly. Speak! She blinked at her own stupidity. Warmth flourished up her neck and face within seconds. SPEAK! "You…" This wasn't working—holy shit this wasn't working! She shoved Draco far away from her. "Stay away from me!"

Draco laughed and by God it was a graceful laugh too. Romina wanted to shove him down the stairs.

"C'mon Oswell, can't we call it a truce?" He asked, sending her a smug smile. "I think it would be better if we plotted together."

"In your dreams," Romina spat and went down the steps.

Draco would take it as a win that she hadn't yelled this time. Piece by piece. He just had to put those pieces together. He turned to head back for the Great Hall.

"Where'd Romina go?" Angel bumped into him under the threshold. "Did you say something to her?"

"Sod off, Angel," Draco snapped. "This is none of your business."

"It is when you're continuously messing with Romina. I just went over this with Pansy back there and I'll tell you the same thing: back off."

"Yeah, you're not as threatening as you think you are," Draco said. "But I suppose I can give you points for effort."

Angel glared at him. "I mean it. Romina's taken enough crap these past years. You're supposed to be her friend—Pansy was supposed to be her friend — but you keep trying to make her life miserable."

"I am, but she's being a little difficult right now. Just a bump in the road, certainly nothing you need to stick your nose into. I mean seriously, are you trying to be overly blatant with that crush? It's been almost four years, Angel. Remember what I told you during our second year?"

Angel rolled his eyes. "No."

When Draco smirked, Angel knew that whatever was about to come out of his mouth was going to be infuriating.

Draco was happy to repeat himself. "The sad part is, she's never going to notice you." He clapped Angel on the shoulder. "And I was right. Four years." He wiggled four of his fingers and laughed on his way into the Great Hall.

Angel drew in a deep breath, a very deep breath, and balled his hands into tight fists. He had to calm himself before he did something he would regret, and worst of all do something that could hurt Romina along the way.

~ 0 ~

Romina had found small ways to appease her desire for revenge. Pansy Parkinson would not be making a move against her for a good while, not when she had undiluted bubotousse pus to deal with. Romina thanked Madame Pomfrey for the second lesson and the glorious opportunity she unknowingly provided. Pansy couldn't prove that the accidental squirt of pus wasn't accidental at all. She could complain all she wanted up in the hospital wing. That Thursday, Romina would focus solely on the double session of DADA, their first session of the term. It had been pushed back for some reason, though allowing for the extra Herbology lesson.

Romina sat down beside Hermione and was surprised to see that the girl wasn't there yet. She looked back at Harry and Ron who sat in the desk behind them. "I'll bite, where's Granger? She's never late and much less for the first class of the year."

Both Harry and Ron shrugged their shoulders, equally confused.

"She's been zooming through meals," Ron said. "Dunno where she gets into lately."

"Yeah, I've noticed," Romina remarked. "She seems kinda upset, though. Did you two do something?"

"That's offensive," Ron said sourly, glancing at Harry for some help.

Harry was frowning. "Of course not, Rom. Whatever Hermione's up to, we'll end up learning about it soon enough. Like the Time Turner."

Romina had to give him the point. Just as she was turning to face forwards again, she caught sight of the bushy haired Hermione zipping into the classroom.

"Made it!" Hermione said in utter relief when she plonked down beside Romina.

Romina eyed her friend curiously and slightly concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Course! Yeah! Why do you ask?" Hermione eagerly started pulling out her book and quill and parchment and everything else they would probably need for the class.

Romina still watched her strangely. "Just...curious…"

Shortly afterwards, Moody finally entered the classroom. He made his way up to the front, commanding silence with his bare walk. "You can put those away—those books," he started, his gruff tone startling the class, "You won't need them."

Hermione was deeply disappointed unlike Ron who couldn't put his book away quick enough.

"I'm here because Dumbledore asked me, end of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?" Moody didn't exactly wait for any hands to raise. "When it comes to the dark arts, I believe in a practical approach. But first, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?"

Unsurprisingly, Hermione's hand was the first one in the air. Moody gave her the nod to answer. "Three sir."

"And they are so named?"

"Because they are unforgivable. Use of any one of them will…"

"Will earn you a one way ticket to Azkaban. Correct. Now the ministry says you're too young to see what these curses do. I say different!" Moody said with a particular snap in his tone. "You need to know what you're up against, you need to be prepared, you need to find somewhere else to put your chewing gum other than the underside of your desk Mr Finnigan!"

Finnigan jumped at the sudden call of his name, all heads turning his way while Moody went up to the chalkboard.

"Aw no way, the old codger can see out the back of his head," Finnigan murmured to his partner.

Moody threw a piece of chalk in his direction but went on with the class as if nothing happened. "So, which curse shall we see first? WEASLEY!"

Ron jumped. "Y-yes?"

"Give us a curse!"

"Well, my dad did tell me about one...the imperious curse."

"Ahhh yes, your father would know all about that. Gave the ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why." Moody opened a drawer of his desk and pulled out a jar with a spider inside it. As soon as Ron saw it, he leaned away as if the spider was about to come his way. "Hello. What a little beauty. Imperio!" Moody raised the spider into the air with his wand. "Don't worry. Completely harmless."

The class watched as the spider went side to side, up and down, in circles. Snickers started erupting when the spider was sent over the tops of several students and soon enough most of them were laughing. Ron certainly didn't laugh when the spider danced over his head.

"Get it off! Get it off!" He slapped his own head in an attempt to rid himself of the spider. The class roared with laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Moody chose Draco to silence amongst the class by sending the spider to his nose.

Much like Ron, Draco swatted his hands over his face to throw the spider off. There may have been some extra laughing with the sight.

Mad-Eye sends the spider onto Draco's face.

"Scores of witches and wizards have claimed that they only do did you-know-whose bidding under the influence of the imperious curse," Moody explained, "But here's the rub, how do we sort out the liars? Another.. Another…" His gaze swept over the class for another volunteering hand and to everyone's surprise, Neville did it. "Longbottom is it?" Neville nodded silently. "What is it?"

"There's the um...the Cruciatus Curse," Neville responded, gaze slightly downfallen.

"Correct! Correct! Particularly nasty. The torture curse. Crucio!" Moody said, and suddenly the spider was writhing. Its legs were twisting and turning in angles that it shouldn't be.

Romina's face twisted with fright. She really wished she wasn't sitting upfront. What was more odd, at least to her, was that it seemed Moody was lost in the spell, focused solely on the pained spider. "Professor?" she decided to call, though not sufficiently loud enough.

"STOP IT! Can't you see it's bothering him, stop it!" Hermione yelled suddenly, Everyone near her looked at her but realized she was looking not at Moody but at Neville who couldn't be more positively disturbed.

Moody gave the spider a break and looked at Hermione. "Perhaps you could give us the last unforgivable curse Miss Granger."

Hermione shook her head defiantly, a very surprising move for the other students.

Romina then raised her hand, expression emotionless. For a fourteen year old girl, it should be rare to know it but she wasn't exactly raised like the rest of her companions.

"Oswell," Moody gave her the nod. Romina swore that he knew, and why wouldn't he?

"The murder curse," Romina said, hands balling into fists over the desk.

"The killing curse," Moody corrected for technicalities.

"Is it not the same thing?" Romina challenged and earned a small smirk from the man. "Avada Kedavra," she said slowly and clearly.

"Avada Kedavra!" Moody's wand emanated a green flash of light that instantly stilled the spider in the air, Romina and Hermione flinching when it landed on their desk. "There is no countercourse for this, no blocking either. Only one known person has ever survived it and he's sitting in this room."

It was fairly quick how Harry's excitement for the class vanished in a matter of seconds. He couldn't wait to see the end of the session so he could hide under a rock from all the looks.

"I can't believe he actually used those curses," Hermioe muttered when they were finally free. Moody took a head start out of the class, ironically, as if he had somewhere else to be.

Romina slid out of her seat and cast a wary look at the chalkboard that was full of notes on said curses. She had to admit that Moody's teachings were very different from their previous professors' styles. "We can only hope this was the worst lesson to learn."

"Fat chance," Ron said, nearly exclaiming. He was the only student who remained excited about the lessons.

"Harry, you alright?" Romina asked, noticing how quiet their friend was as he put away his roll of parchment. She had a pretty good idea what he was thinking about. The last unforgivable curse was the reason he was an orphan.

"Yeah, course," Harry said quickly, even throwing on a fake smile for show.

"Neville's not," Hermione said, watching as Neville walked out of the classroom in a sort of haze. Hermione was quick to follow, prompting the others to then follow her.

"Oswell," Draco called, standing up from his seat when Romina was to walk by. "I heard what you did to Parkinson…"

Romina had long ago mastered her innocent expressions, even in the face of accusers (Draco) and the suspicious (Hermione). The latter had figured it out a while ago and wasn't backing down despite Romina's assurances that she didn't do anything.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Romina said, shrugging her shoulders.

Draco tilted his head at her, eyes narrowing on her with a small smile. "Yeah, sure." Romina shrugged, truly committed to her role of innocence.

"Rom!" Harry called by the doorway. Thinking it wasn't enough, he marched over to grab Romina's arm. "Whatever he's saying, don't even bother responding!"

"Even if she did, she knows she's lying," Draco said, eyes still glued on Romina. "Isn't that right?"

Romina opened her mouth to shoot down such accusations but Harry never gave her the chance. He yanked her away.

"Rom, I've told you not to provoke him!" He began to say once they were out in the hallways.

"I didn't!" Romina exclaimed in a mix of laughter and incredulity. "Why does everyone think I'm doing it?

Hermione heard the last question and had the answer up and ready. "Because you are doing things. Did he accuse you of hurting Parkinson? Because if he did, I hate that I agree with him."

"Hermione!" Ron was horrified. "How could you ever agree with Malfoy of all people?"

Hermione gestured towards Romina. "Because she is doing that stuff and one of these days, you're going to push too hard, Romina, and you'll get really hurt."

Romina scoffed, entirely unconvinced. "C'mon, Neville looks terrible right now." She walked towards the boy who had become like a statue in the hallway, staring endlessly out the window. "Neville?" Romina approached him slowly and cautiously.

"Oh, hello," he cleared his throat to say. He turned away from the window, looking as if he was trying to wake up from a dream, probably a bad dream. " interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I'm-I'm starving, aren't you?"

"Neville, are you alright?" Hermione asked him despite the answer being clear as day.

"Oh yes, I'm fine," Neville said, his tone just a pitch too high, "Very interesting dinner—I mean lesson. What's for eating?"

Neville didn't always make sense but this was too strange even for him. Concern filled each of the other students as Neville continued his efforts to make a coherent conversation.

"Um, Neville…" Harry had started when Moody of all people was returning.

"It's alright, sonny," the professor put a hand over Neville's shoulder, "Why don't you come up to my office? I have some books that might interest you." Neville didn't exactly look eager to go with Moody but since no one said anything, he had no choice but to walk.

"What was that about?" Ron asked as soon as they were alone.

"Something we don't know, clearly," Romina said, watching after Neville and Moody. "The way Neville acted...there's something on his mind."

"Some lesson, though, eh?" Ron cracked a smile. "Fred and George were right! Moody really knows his stuff, huh?"

"I'm pretty sure what he taught us wasn't supposed to be on the syllabus," Romina shook her head. Hermione agreed.

~ 0 ~

Romina was acutely aware of Pansy's dirty looks in the days after her unfortunate puss mess had been cleared. There was nothing Pansy could do to prove that anything malicious had been done to her and it was just infuriating, Romina knew it and she was proud of herself.

Now as the drawing of the Goblet of Fire was nearing, many students of all ages had taken a liking to hanging in the very room where it was being kept to watch those potential candidates drop their names inside the goblet. Romina came in that afternoon and immediately spotted Hermione sitting at the bleachers with a book in her hands. She was a little wary to greet Hermione due to the matter with the SPEW stuff.

Romina, much like everyone else that she knew of in Gryffindor, were all a little tired of hearing Hermione's badgering to join her elf welfare club. Romina admired Hermione for taking such an initiative but she really doubted that it would go anywhere. She saw Harry and Ron milling around the Goblet, as much as they could anyways. There was a circle barring anybody from getting too close to it.

"Whatcha doing?" Romina startled the pair of boys behind them. She smirked when they jumped and turned her way.

"You know, just looking," Ron said, shrugging casually even though his eyes were sparkling with yearning for the Goblet.

"Mhm," Romina nodded sarcastically, "And I suppose neither of you have attempted to put your name in there?"

"We can't, Rom," Harry said, "Not of age."

"Has anybody come to put their name in?" Romina curiously asked. She gave the room another look and saw that Carolinha had come in and had made the mistake of starting up a conversation with Hermione. No doubt the Gryffindor would be pulling out one of her SPEW badges.

"Angelina from our Quidditch team did half an hour ago," Ron said, giving a big thumbs up. "Oh, and I heard Cedric Diggory did too."

"Really?" Romina raised an eyebrow, absolutely dazzled with the idea.

"Not you too, Rom," Harry rolled his eyes.

Romina giggled. "He's just cute. And mysterious. And polite." Ron made a yapping motion with his hand, making Harry snicker and Romina frown. She smacked Ron's hand down. She was about to scold him for that bit when she heard familiar voices entering the room. Looking back, she saw Draco, Crabb and Goyle laughing about something.

"Oh great," Harry muttered and soon Ron was donning the same face.

"You know I heard that Warrington from the Slytherin's Quidditch team put his name in," Ron remarked, shaking his head. "Can you imagine if we had a Slytherin champion?"

"Well," Romina's tone was sharp enough to have both him and Harry wincing. She folded her arms over her chest. "You guys are sure making me feel welcomed."

"You know we don't mean that about you, Rom," Harry was cautious when he patted her arm.

"So, everyone else, then?" Romina tilted her head. "My friend over there, Carolinha," she pointed over to the brunette speaking with Hermione, "She's pretty great. I'm sure Hermione is talking her ears off right now but my girl Carol is too sweet to cut anybody off. And her brother? He's the same. Harry, you know Arden since we were dumb kids. Are we calling her bad too?"

"No, of course not," Harry shook his head. "Sorry." He did have the decency to look a little sorry which was why Romina elected to move on from there.

"Were there any Ravenclaws who put their names in?"

"We're not—"

"We've done it!" They heard the voices of Fred and George announcing. They hopped up to the first bleacher, looking mighty happy about something. They commanded the attention of the whole room with it.

"Thank you, thank you, well lads we've done it!" George exclaimed.

"Done what?" called Romina, fairly curious of what they were cooking up now.

"The Aging Potion my dear Ali—"

Romina caught the first part of her nickname and immediately glowered until they fixed it.

"My dear Romina," Fred began anew, "It is the Aging Potion! One drop each. We only need to be a few months older."

"You can't possibly think that'll work," Hermione said, shaking her head. The twins rapidly came up to her seat, forcing Carolinha to scoot away a bit so they could lean on both Hermione's sides. "Dumbledore drew the age line himself." She made a nod towards the circle around the flaming Goblet.

"So?" challenged George.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "So, a genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by something pathetically dimwitted such as an age potion."

"That's why it's so brilliant!" Fred exclaimed, straightening up along with George.

"I mean...they could be onto something," Romina whispered to Harry and Ron who both chuckled with her. Sometimes, you don't need to think so much. The solution was simple and straightforward.

"Ready George?"

"Ready, Fred!"

Both twins interlocked their arms with each other and drank their potions. They then hopped off the last bleacher and walked up to the Age Line. They paused for a moment before taking synced steps forwards. And they made it through.

Everybody cheered for them—mostly everybody—as they walked confidently up to the Goblet of Fire and dumped their names inside. They high-fived each other as the flames ignited behind them. But, just like that, the flames exploded and threw the pair out. Smoke covered them and most of the room for a few seconds.

When it cleared up and the twins sat upright, they were sporting heavily long beards that matched their new set of grey hair.

"You said.." George pointed at his brother.

"You said," accused Fred.

They lunged at each other. Most of the room cheered as they rolled and fought each other, including Ron himself.

"I stand corrected," Romina shrugged to Harry. "Point to Hermione."

"Yeah," Harry said, unable to hold his laughter in.

Romina had to move carefully around the groups of students lest she wanted to be caught up. Some people were really into the growing fight. Among those were even Crabb and Goyle, something Draco wasn't too pleased with.

"That's what you get for hanging out with idiots," she told him. "Blaise, Theodore, and Angel busy or something?"

"Zabini and Nott have zero interest in this until names are actually drawn," he retorted. "And as if you don't know that Angel has newfound animosity towards me."

Romina paused and looked at him. "What? What did you do?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Like you don't know."

"I don't. Usually, you do something."

A loud bang startled the pair. Karkaraoff was leading the Durmstrang boys into the room, forcing the crowd to separate. Even the twins had finally given up trying to kill each other. Romina was sure that most of the attention was going towards Victor Krum, the star of that school. She was absolutely dumbfounded when he and Draco exchanged nods.

"Since when do you know Krum?" she had to ask. It was a force beyond her, honestly.

Draco smiled smugly. "I do know how to expand my networks, Oswell. One of the many talents instilled in me."

"The others being…?" Romina made a gesture for him to list them specifically. She doubted the list would be long.

The Durmstrang boys were on their way out of the room, each of them having slipped their names inside the Goblet.

"Show off," Romina huffed at Draco after he'd waved at Krum.

"Me? Never," he smirked.

Romina shook her head at him. "I'm surprised you haven't bragged about this. I would've expected the whole school to know about it, actually."

"Stories about me get told anyways, Oswell. You wouldn't believe the ones I've heard." The way he smiled ever-so-widely warned Romina those stories had to be ego-inflating.

"Yeah, not interested."

"Oh, c'mon, you'd…" Draco trailed off when Madame Maxime led her Beauxbaton students in.

Romina rolled her eyes heavily enough to make her feel twinges of pain. "Are you going to finish that sentence?"

"Mhm," Draco nodded, but no actual words came out afterwards.

"Seriously!?" Romina huffed and looked away, soon noticing that the same thing was happening to every other male student in the room. "For the love of God!"

The Beauxbatons each dropped their names inside the Goblet and turned, in a neat line, after Madame Maxime who promptly led them back out. By the time Draco came to, Romina was long gone.

~ 0 ~

Arden was nose deep into her Unfogging the Future book before class when she heard the noise of someone dropping into the seat beside her. She looked up and frowned. "You're not Parkinson. I can't decide if that's better or worse."

"I've got a problem, King," Draco said, frowning when she snorted in return.

"No, you've got many problems but there's not enough time in the world for me to list them."

He decided to ignore Arden's little jab. "It's Oswell."

"Shocker."

"She's continuously pissing me off and I would rather fix it before this becomes permanent."

Arden put her book down on the table, now deeply interested in where the conversation was going. "You actually want to fix things?"

Draco nodded. "It's got to be better than having to look twice when she's around. Her apt for retaliation is commendable but also a growing pain in the ass."

"Fair," Arden agreed. "But you do know what you have to do, right?"

"If I knew that, I would not be here, would I?" Draco gestured to his current seat. He had managed to shake off being Arden's partner this year and he would like to keep it that way. She got stuck with Pansy which was a win for him. The never ending jabs at each other were hilarious to watch and hear.

"I know what happened in the forest," Arden said, keeping her voice low, "And you were out of line. That's what Romina's upset about. And instead of apologizing, you made it worse by turning it into a game of tricks."

"She started it," Draco drowned. "Have you met her?"

"Yes," Arden said slowly, "Since I was seven. And you're right to be wary of her when she's in this mood. Back in our muggle school, this girl basically did the same thing to Romina and it did not end until Romina was suspended from school for a whole week."

"What she do?" Draco curiously asked. Being a troublemaker wasn't really part of Romina's personality. Mischievous was, but a full on troublemaker wasn't.

"She grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the girl's hair in one snip." Arden could still vividly remember the screaming she and the rest of her family had heard coming from the Oswell residence next door that same night. She didn't see Romina for a full month after that.

Draco was frankly bemused and stunned with what he heard. "She did not," he said, barely holding his laugh in.

Arden nodded earnestly. "She did. I love my best friend but she has a nasty temper when things get too much. If you don't want to end up like Gale Perry, apologize now."

"I will do no such thing," Draco said, shaking his head. "I want to see how far Oswell will go with this."

"That wasn't the point of my story!"

"Yeah, and it was better. Thanks King, you actually can help sometimes." Draco promptly got up from his seat and moved on up the steps towards his actual spot.

Arden made a face, her teeth gritting together as she realized the conversation did not go the way it probably should have. She had the feeling Romina would kill her if she found out that she'd basically spurred the games on.

~0~

A few days later would have Angel finding an empty spot with Draco, Theodore and Blaise at their table in the Great Hall. It was a study session, the first one of the year.

"Didn't expect you to sit anywhere near here," Draco spoked quietly as Snape was making his rounds.

Angel shook his head. "I've been thinking. What you said a couple days back?"

"I say a lot of things, you'll have to be more specific."

"Stop acting dumb!"

"It's not an act, mate," Blaise remarked, snickering with Theodore when both Draco and Angel sent them the same glares.

"I'm being serious," Angel said.

"So was I," Blaise said.

"Eyes on the essay, Zabini," warned Draco. Blaise shrugged and continued to scribble over his parchment. "And as for you—" Draco glanced at Angel beside him, "—what the hell are you talking about?"

"In your own fantastically mean way, you've pushed me to act with Romina," Angel said, shrugging her shoulders. "I guess tough love really does work."

"No," Draco said sharply, "I did not do 'tough love'. I don't do 'tough love'. I didn't do anything."

"More like he never does anything anyways," mumbled Theodore which, once again, sent him and Blaise into another fit of snickers.

"This time you did," Angel insisted. "I mean, it's been almost 4 years and I should, logically, be able to do something. So, I thought I'd maybe ask Romina if she wanted to go together on the first Hogsmeade trip that's scheduled."

"It's funny…" Draco said slowly, eyes flickering to the side, "I don't remember…"

Angel made a face at him. "What?"

"I don't remember...asking to hear this conversation."

Blaise and Theodore laughed and eventually had to duck their heads to keep it covered before Snape heard. Angel deadpanned the two; they could never take anything serious.

"You can't stop being sarcastic for a minute, can you?"

"Oh, I wasn't being sarcastic. I was being honest," Draco clarified, "Because I'm pretty sure nowhere in my previous conversation with you did I give you the idea that I would want to talk about this."

"I was just letting you know—"

"Why?"

"Because you and Romina have entered this little war with each other and since you're both my friends I would rather you put an end to it already."

"Yeah, I spoke to King about that and it's not happening. Did you know that Oswell had a record? I'm talking about a serious record." Days after talking with Arden, Draco was still impressed with the story. He would've given anything to see Romina cut that muggle girl's hair.

"Draco, c'mon," Angel said, "It's been—what?—two weeks since this started? It's getting tiring. She did not appreciate the exploding ink bottle you left for her, by the way."

Draco's smirk didn't express disappointment. "I sure enjoyed it."

"I'm just telling you to back off already. It's not funny anymore."

"On the contrary, I think it's quite fun," Draco shrugged. "You're just boring, Angel. That's going to have to change if you're actually going to do something for the future."

Angel would've liked to strangle him at that point. "You just can't take things seriously!"

They heard the heavy footsteps of Snape nearing them, cutting the conversation short.

~0~

Romina had just finished dotting her last 'i' on her letter she was sending to her grandmother when she heard somebody coming into the common room. She looked up briefly to catch sight of Blaise walking in, shaking his head about something that seemed funny.

"Never thought I'd see the day when Blaise Zabini laughed," she called from her spot. She'd recused herself to one of the individual tables by the wall to complete her homework.

Blaise stopped in the middle of the room to scoff. "You're not funny, but I will admit that what you're doing is rather amusing."

Romina made a face as her eyes landed on her letter still in her hands. "Writing a letter to my grandmother is funny to you? That's a sad sense of humor you got there, Blaise…"

"I meant with Malfoy and Paes! You know they're arguing over you, right?"

Now Romina was the one laughing. "What? Last time I heard, they weren't exactly on speaking terms."

"Yeah, because of you," Blaise pointed. "It's funny as hell but I'm also a little concerned they're going to end up hurting each other."

Romina stopped to seemingly ponder. "Well...are they still arguing right now? Think I can catch them?"

Blaise shook his head at her. "Great, you can't take things seriously either!"

"I can too!" Romina said, but her lips were already curving into a smile that would no doubt turn into a laugh if she pushed it. "I just...like fun stuff. What exactly are they arguing about anyways?"

"Well…" Blaise swayed his head, "Angel is demanding that Draco apologize to you for whatever he did to piss you off."

"I like Angel," Romina nodded, "Everybody should listen to Angel when he says that I'm right."

"He didn't say that—"

"That's what I heard, Blaise."

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Can you just fix it, please? It's bad enough that I have to hear Draco complain about your incessant retaliations. I don't want to hear him bickering with Angel too over you. You are not that special."

Romina raised a hand to her chest, feigning offence. "How rude. But I commend your bluntness. I'll talk to Angel."

"Wouldn't it just be easier to fix things with Draco already?"

"Yeah, if you want me to take the loser's path." Romina snorted and went back to folding her letter nice and perfectly. "Losing's not my style, Blaise. I'm talking to Angel. She smiled to herself when Blaise groaned and headed for the hallway.

Later on, Romina gathered her things to bring them into her dorm. There was still enough time to get her letter to the owlery before dinner. She was coming out of the common room altogether when she saw Angel coming down the stairs.

"Hey!" He greeted her with his typical cheery smile. "Not getting dinner already, are you?"

"No, I've got a letter to send to my grandma," Romina waved her envelope in front of her. "Wanna come with me?"

"Yeah!" Angel nodded, turning on his heels to walk with her. "Everything good in that letter? I mean—your grandmother's okay?"

Romina chuckled. "Yeah, I'm just letting her know that I haven't really gotten a chance to talk with Madam Maxime yet."

Angel snorted into a laugh. "Why would you want to talk to her?"

"Apparently, she was the headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy when my grandmother went there. They're close, I guess."

"Oh boy. What would you even talk about?"

Romina laughed and shook her head. "I have no bloody idea! As far as I can tell, my grandmother was this pristine young woman back in her day and I—" she put a hand on her chest, "—don't have a lick of pristineness in me. I've heard rumors that I have a big mouth, actually. And by 'rumors', I mean Arden."

"You're just fine," Angel patted her arm. "Perfect, actually."

Romina smiled shyly. "You're too sweet." She led the way up the stairs in silence until they reached the last one. "So, Blaise and I were talking earlier…"

"Really?" Angel's heavy disbelief was simply too amusing not to laugh at.

"We can talk civilly sometimes," Romina said, sobering from her laugh. "And he was saying that you and Draco have been arguing. Angel, you don't have to fight anyone on my behalf. I think I can handle it on my own."

"I can't help it, Romina," Angel shrugged. "I don't like seeing you get hurt and I definitely don't like it if someone's doing it for fun."

"Draco's not hurting me, first of all," Romina said, shaking her head. "It's harmless jokes that I willingly participate in. In fact, I'm pretty sure I started it."

"Yeah, but only because you're upset. I know it, I see it." Angel stopped walking in the middle of the hallway, forcing Romina to do the same. He turned to face her and looked directly into her dark eyes. "You're laughing and smirking but I know that Draco did something really bad to hurt you."

Romina absolutely didn't like the way he read her with ease. She wanted to avoid Angel's gaze. "He didn't hurt me."

"Not physically, that much I know for sure," Angel said. "But he did something to...to deeply upset you."

"He disappointed me and when he didn't apologize, he pissed me off." Romina shook her head. She started walking quicker than before. She was not going to show any tears, no sir.

"And that's why I'm demanding that he apologizes," Angel was quick to follow after her.

"You're wasting your time, Angel, he's not going to do it anytime soon!" Perhaps that was what hurt Romina the most. "And I don't want him to do it because somebody demands him to. It wouldn't change anything."

"Hey," Angel grabbed Romina's arm to stop her altogether, "See this is what I mean."

"It's not your fault," Romina said, gently taking his hand off her. "Ironically, I suppose it's not completely Draco's fault either."

"What? You just said—"

"Sometimes I can't help wondering who I would have turned out to be if my parents had raised me," Romina said quietly. "If I had lived with everybody who thought as twisted as they did." She genuinely shuddered at the idea each time she thought of it. "I got lucky. My parents are murderers. Under their influence...I don't know who I would've become."

"Your situation is not the same though," Angel gently pointed out.

"I know, but our parents...Angel, they ingrain stuff. Their past can very well be our future."

"Romina…"

"I understand myself, Angel," Romina cut him off before he said anything else, "And I may be daft but last year was terrible for me and, as surprising as it may sound, Draco actually helped me. People thought the worst of me but he didn't. He never did. Somewhere inside him there has to be a shred of genuine guilt and if I have to annoy him until we graduate for him to finally own up to it, I will."

Angel couldn't take the fact Romina was both smirking and overly determined. It was kind of scary how determined she was. There was no way in hell anybody would be talking her down.

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marianamonteverde · 4 years ago

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Tuesday, November 10, Panevi11e Prompt used: Sunrise

And here is: The Last Sunrise in Hogwarts, Last Part of And That’s the Reason We Need Lips so Much…

I hope you enjoy it!

Summary: Lions and the Snakes watch the sunrise...

Side Pairings : Charlie x Millicent; Theo x Hermione; Dean x Seamus; Blaise x Daphne; Parvati x Lavender; Ron x Harry

Wordcount: 576 words <3

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etherealpotter · 7 years ago

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Between the Bars (5)

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Reader

Warnings: probably cursing

Things had been different over the past few weeks since Draco and I had made up. His boyish charm had once again gotten to my heart. I loved him more than I had ever before. The time we had spent apart showed me how much he had matured.

Which is shocking, believe me I know. Draco is arrogant, pretentious, and a prick at times, but he was always different around me. He had stopped talking to Pansy for the most part, deciding I was more important than maintaining a friendship with her. And I was completely fine with his decision.

As the winter holidays were approaching, I was worried about going back home. I think a lot of Slytherin kids were. With the rise of You-Know-Who, it was only a matter of time until our families would want us to become Death Eaters. I could tell it was bothering Draco, but he always seemed to brush it off.

Like right now, we had decided to study together in the common room when the topic of going home was brought up.

“I don’t want to go home for Christmas. I’m worried about what will happen.” I sighed, looking down at the parchment in front of me.

Draco’s hand found his way into mine before he replied, “Don’t worry, love. There’s nothing to be worried about.”

While his words were meant to soothe me, they only pushed me further on edge.

I scoffed, “Draco, you’re fooling yourself if you don’t already know what they’re going to try and do to me. I’m worried they’re going to get me and Blake. You can’t lie to me and say you’re not scared.”

“I’m not lying to you Y/N! I would never lie to you, I just don’t want to talk about this, alright? How about you come over to my house for Christmas? That way neither one of us has to be worried. I’m sure our parents will say yes.” He nudged my shoulder, giving me a small smile.

“Okay fine, I’ll come stay at your house, but you have to make me that hot chocolate from last year! I love you, Draco.” I said, beaming up at the blonde haired boy.

He wrapped and arm around me and we stayed silent for a while, just enjoying each other’s embrace.

After we had finished taking our finals, Draco and I packed up our bags to head to his house for the holidays. I was thankful that my parents let me stay with him, only as long as I came home for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I was beyond excited to get some alone time with Draco.

We hadn’t had any real time to be alone since going back to school, especially since we had been trying to fix our relationship. Both of our parents were glad that we worked out our difficulties. My mother always blamed me when something went wrong. She believes Draco is an angel.

I rolled my eyes as I thought about that. Draco was definitely no angel, not after all the things we had done together. A warm blush crept onto my cheeks as I thought about the things Draco and I did when we were alone. Like the night we made up over the summer.

“Babe.” Draco said, nudging my shoulder.

I looked up from the train window, focusing my attention on him. Blaise had just went to get some snacks from the trolley.

“Yes?” I asked.

“What were you thinking about? Your face was red.” He asked with a smirk.

“I was just thinking about that time from the summer. After we got back together. That was a fun night.” I said, looking into his eyes.

Draco chuckled before answering, “We can have some fun like that again soon babe. Don’t you worry.”

Draco’s hand found it’s way onto my thigh and he squeezed it tightly before turning his attention back to Blaise, who entered the cart with a bunch of candy. I grabbed a chocolate frog before turning my attention back to the window.

I was shaken out of my thoughts when someone said my name.

“Yes?” I asked looking at the two boys.

“Millicent’s out there. She wants to talk to you.” Draco said, looking outside the cart.

There stood Millie, arms crossed as she looked around. She looked anxious. I slid out of the compartment. Millie grabbed my arm and led me to the back of the Slytherin cart.

“Listen, I won’t tell anyone about this, because you’re my friend. But you should tell Draco, because I don’t want you to suffer anymore heartbreak.” She spoke, her eyes shifting to make sure no one was listening.

“Millie what are you going on about?” I asked, confused.

As she stepped to the side, there stood Harry Potter behind her. Harry and I hadn’t spoken in a while, besides the occasional hello when we passed each other in the halls.

“I’ll leave you to it.” Millie said before walking away.

“Harry what’s going on?” I questioned him, more confused than ever.

“Listen, Y/N. Bad things are happening and Lucius Malfoy is a part of them. I can’t explain how I know, I just know, alright. You need to trust me, when I say to be careful around the Malfoy’s. I know you and Draco are together, but just watch out for his family, they’re not good people. Sorry if I offended you, I just want you to be safe. The end is just beginning.” Harry looked into my eyes the entire time he spoke.

For the first time, possibly ever, I was truly afraid of what was coming.

#draco malfoy imagine #draco x reader #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy #draco imagine #draco #harry potter x reader #harry potter #harry potter imagine

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saiilorstars · 1 year ago

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Ch. 29: Fragile Lines

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

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

Story Masterlist // Romina’s Masterlist

Fanfic • Ao3 • Wattpad

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

The weeks after the big game, things dwindled down for the Slytherins. Gryffindor was over the moon with its win and naturally it took some weeks to come down from it. The fact that exams were coming help with that. Most of the time, the third years found themselves either in the common rooms or the library to study.

Romina and Hermione got together one afternoon to go over their notes for their shared classes. Everything seemed to be piling on each day and it only got worse when they had their schedules finally planned out.

The only reason Romina paused her studying was because she got a glimpse of what Hermione's schedule looked like. "Now wait a minute," Romina waved a hand in front of the brunette girl, "If this is right, how the heck are you taking two exams at the same time?"

Hermione's eyebrows raised with only slight interest in the question. She had a mounting pile of books on her side that she needed to get through. "I just am, don't worry about it," she answered in a fast pace tone. "Do you have the Muggle Studies study guide you made?"

"Yeah, but...Hermione, how are you doing all this?" It felt like an age old question at this point in the year. As much as Romina badgered Hermione about it, the latter never gave her a straightforward answer. "I mean, you're super smart but this is beyond you."

Hermione tapped her fingers along the table, her impatience marking her forehead with a crease. "Romina, the study guide, please?"

With a sigh, Romina handed the papers over to her. "Well, I guess good luck is in order. I'm a little worried over my potions' grade."

"Why? You're pretty good at them," Hermione said distractedly while she skimmed through the guide.

"Decent, I suppose," Romina shrugged. "But there's always an ingredient I forget." She hated to admit that Draco always helped her out in the class. As good as she thought she was at potions, he was exceedingly better at it.

"You'll get it, Romina, you always do." Hermione sounded like she was reciting more than having an actual conversation. Romina didn't blame her, she was too focused on the guide to concentrate on anything else.

She decided to leave a little early to give Hermione plenty of solo time for her studying. She grabbed her things and stuffed them into her book bag. "See you later," she told Hermione. She doubted that the brunette even heard her. She headed back for the common room to get a start on the Transfiguration studying.

"Oh hey Romina," she heard Pansy's drawling call in the hallway. She and Millicent were sitting together on a bench with a book between them.

"Hello and goodbye, Pansy," Romina said, making a beeline for the common room now.

"Wait! Don't you want to see the album we're looking at?"

Romina paused right in front of the steps. She looked back at Pansy with a deep scowl. "Now why the hell would I want to do that?"

"Because you're in it," Pansy said and Millicent giggled beside her.

"What?"

"Well, I guess it's not technically you but she looks a hell a lot like you," Pansy said, turning the album over for Romina to see.

Of course, being too far had Romina coming back to get a better look. Her heart nearly stopped at the sight of her mother's moving picture. "Where the hell did you get this from?"

"I have my ways," Pansy said all too proudly. "It's an old Hogwarts yearbook. Did you know that your mother was an outstanding student at getting into trouble?"

Romina bit the inside of her cheek. The picture she was lucky to see had her mother smirking maliciously at the camera. God, she hated the woman.

"And then your father…" Pansy started flipping through the pages to no doubt pull a photograph of Caplan too.

"Stop it!" Romina snatched the album altogether.

"Hey! Give that back!" Pansy was quick to jump off the couch.

"Why are you so hung up on my parents, Parkinson!?"

Pansy had a good laugh before she responded. "That's rich coming from you! Look at what you've done to your hair, for God's sake! And for what? Because you look like Mummy!" She snatched the album back and chucked it to Millicent. She ignored the gruff noise Milicent gave as she stalked up to Romina. "And guess what, Oswell? No matter what the hell you do to your hair, to your face, you will always look like your mother!" Pansy's voice started increasing in volume. "A death eater."

Romina swallowed hard as students began to stop in their tracks to witness the scene. All eyes were on her again.

"It doesn't matter where you go because everyone will always know who you are and what your parents happily did!" Pansy laughed. "And you really think adding some stupid highlights or cutting your hair is going to make that disappear?"

Romina stepped back from Pansy. She could feel her face burning with embarrassment and shame. Was she imagining the whispers or were those real? It felt like it was getting louder and louder...

Pansy was more than satisfied with the scene. She laughed triumphantly. "At this point, may I suggest Polyjuice for your troubles?"

Romina looked around and swore that the crowd was multiplying. Tears filled her eyes. Her hand came up to her hair to grip.

She dashed away before anyone said anything to her. She heard the gruff of the first years she pushed through but she didn't dare look back to apologize. By the time she reached the common room, she was in full fledged tears.

Arden, who was studying at one of the round tables, looked up to see Romina running inside. "Romina? What's the matter?"

Romina didn't answer. She didn't even look in Arden's direction as she ran into the hallways. Arden had no choice but to leave her things to chase after Romina.

Romina ran straight into their room, her head flipping in every direction as if she was searching for something. She went under her bed to pull out a box. Her hands ransacked it all until she found what she was looking for: a pair of scissors.

When Arden finally caught up with her in the room, Romina was already standing in front of Daphne's long view mirror getting a fistful of her hair to chop off. "WOAH!" Arden had never run and jumped over beds so fast. She only just made it in time to snatch the scissors from Romina, a dangerous act alone. "ARE YOU MAD!?"

"Give them back!" Romina exclaimed, hand stretched out to take the scissors.

Arden took a few wild steps back. "NO!"

Tears were streaming down Romina's face as she grew more desperate. "Arden, please! I need them!"

"For what!? To chop everything off again!?"

"YES!"

"Why!?"

"Because I look just like her! No matter what I do, I still look like Elora!" Romina finally burst into fresh tears. She turned back to the mirror and gripped her hair. "No matter what I do, it doesn't change anything! I'll always be their daughter! Pansy's right! Everyone will always know who I am and what my parents did!"

Parkinson. Arden knew the girl was behind all this. She took a heavy breath in before the wretched name slipped out of her with a curse. "Romina…"

The girl in question was a distraught mess. She had crumpled to the ground and buried her head over her knees.

Arden had never seen Romina in such a state. She hurried to leave the scissors in her own area, not wanting to leave them out in the open for Romina to use in another state of rampage. She then came back to Romina's side on the floor. "C'mon Romina, you can't let Parkinson get to you like this."

"It's not just her!" Romina sniffled. "Every time something bad happens in the school, especially if it has something to do with Sirius Black, everyone thinks I helped him somehow. Some people still think I'm the one who gave him the bloody passwords to get into the Gryffindors' tower!"

Arden looked away with pity. Yeah, she heard those rumors too and from people she never even thought would believe in that nonsense. "Okay, okay, things could be better but in order to be better, you have to get up."

"What's the point, Arden?" Romina shrugged her shoulders. "I'm an Oswell. No one's ever going to look past that."

"What are you talking about? People already have. Not everyone, yeah, but many of them. There's the Paes twins, Daphne, the Weasleys, Harry! Luna Lovegood never even cared! There's Rolf too! Hell, even Draco didn't care! There's so many of us who could give a crap about a last name. Don't let Parkinson get to you because that's exactly what she wants. She can't stand that you've bested her so many times. This is petty retribution for what you did to her during Potions!"

Romina knew that was true. She always knew that Pansy would get back at her eventually. It was just hard moving past it.

"Romina, you can't keep messing with your hair like this," Arden said. She made herself more comfortable on the ground beside Romina. "You are who you are, whether your hair is short or long or red or even pink but it does not mean that you're like your parents."

"I hear you, I do, but knowing what's happening with Black...it's messing me up even more! I wish they just caught him already."

"They will eventually," Arden said with no doubt in her mind. "Nobody escapes the Dementors."

"I don't know what to do right now, though," Romina said with a long sigh. The tears were slowing down which was a good sign at least. She swallowed hard and wiped away some of the tears on her cheeks. "Pansy just made a fool out of me again in front of everyone. They'll be talking about this for weeks—until the end of the year!"

"So what?" Arden challenged. "Who bloody cares if they're talking about you?"

"I do!"

"These people love gossip but once something new comes by, they're going to forget about you."

"That's all I want," Romina said. She just wanted to disappear in the dark corners where nobody paid her any attention.

"Please, let's study together," Arden said. "We'll figure out a way to get Parkinson back."

"No," Romina shook her head. "I don't...I don't want to keep this game going. I just want her to leave me alone now. I'm afraid of what she could do next time."

"Oh no, you are not going to be afraid of Parkinson!" Arden snorted. "There is nothing to be afraid of from that girl! And once you start feeling better, you'll see that too. Right now your head is all wonky from the tears. Give it a day or so."

Romina half-smiled. This wouldn't be the first time she had to come back from one of Pansy's tricks. "Okay, let's go study."

Arden beamed. "That's my best friend!" She threw her arms around Romina for a side hug. Eventually, she managed to pull a smile out of Romina too.

~ 0 ~

Transfiguration was up first in the long list of exams. Romina thought it was a fairly easy exam with the only slightly more difficult assignment being the last one where they had to turn a teapot into a tortoise. That could've gone a little better for some students. Charms was right after and it went pretty well too. Romina was most confident in her Care of Magical Creatures class both out of Rolf's helpful tips beforehand and the fact that Hagrid had given them all such an easy assignment.

Romina spent that entire week with her nose in her books. She had no desire to see nor talk to Pansy, much less if it was to get a glimpse of the triumphant smirk that had been glued to her face ever since the incident in the hallway. Romina didn't feel confident enough to uphold any type of conversation with her. By now, the entire House had learned what transpired and while some of them kept their comments to themselves, others were bold enough to side with Pansy (whether they knew her or not) or ask Romina questions about her parents. At times, Romina felt like throwing whatever book she had in her hands at the nosy students.

Muggle Studies was a breeze in the exams. Whatever Romina didn't know, she put faith in her common knowledge of the life she'd lived for the past 13 years. Herbology was only a pain because of the heat and Astronomy was, as usual, a mysterious delight. History of Magic, as boring as it was, wasn't very challenging either. The last exam she took was Potions and, surprisingly, Romina found herself constructing the assignment fairly well. She might have to admit to Draco that she owed him...maybe. She didn't want to risk inflating his ego.

It was Buckbeak's execution day that put a damper in Romina's mood. She met Harry, Hermione and Ron on that unfortunate afternoon to go down to talk to Hagrid.

Hermione was furious, to say the least. She stormed down the courtyard, leading the group towards the hills. "How can they do this? How can they be okay with killing Buckbeak like this? It wasn't his fault!"

"I'm sorry, I tried talking to Draco but he suddenly had no ears to listen with," Romina said with a roll of her eyes. He was the definition of selective hearing.

"We know you tried, Rom," Harry said with a comforting pat on her shoulder.

"We should just go see Hagrid," Ron said. There was really nothing else they could do at this point.

"Hey Romina!"

Romina, along with the trio, looked back to see Cedric Diggory coming towards them. "You got a moment?" he asked Romina. "It's about the Transfiguration tutoring you're doing for my friend Heidi?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah, of course." Romina leaned closer to the others to whisper for them to get a head start for Hagrid's hut. "I'll catch up soon, promise."

The trio nodded and left in a hasty stride. They literally had no time to waste.

"So, what do you need, Cedric?" Romina asked the older boy. "I didn't know Heidi was your friend. She's a bit on the, uh, younger side…" Heidi was a timid first year she was tutoring and now that Romina remembered, Heidi had mentioned in one of their sessions that she had made friends with a cute older boy in Hufflepuff.

Cedric smiled, and Romina thought it was absolutely charming. "She got lost in a hallway once and I sort of showed her around. She seemed very frightened."

"At Hogwarts as a first year? Oh yeah," Romina nodded. First year was a terrible year if anyone asked her.

"Anyways, after that, I sort of just check up on her every once in a while," Cedric said. "She's been a little nervous about her upcoming exam in Transfiguration and I've talked to her a bunch of times. I know she's gotten a lot better since you started tutoring her."

Romina smiled softly. "She's definitely improved. I think she can pass the exam no problem."

"I think so too," Cedric nodded, "But if you wouldn't mind, I don't know, talking to her before her exam tomorrow? I feel like she might listen to you more than me."

"Of course," Romina assured him. "I'll go talk to her tomorrow morning. Give her a pep talk, you know?"

"Thanks Romina, seriously. You're the best!"

Romina's lips pursed together in an awkward smile. "Really? You think so?"

Cedric guessed where her doubt was coming from. He had heard plenty of things about her over the year and even more recently. "Of course. What people say...it doesn't matter, honestly."

Romina's expression softened with his words. It shouldn't matter, she told herself. That's what Arden said, that's what Harry said, that's what everyone she cared about said. Maybe she should start to actually listen.

She thanked Cedric for his kind words and started for Hagrid's hut. Harry, Ron and Hermione were probably already in and so should she. She was so focused on getting to the hut as quickly as possible that she could've never expected to crash into someone just as soon as she stepped onto the sloping field.

"Argh! Watch it you — Oswell!"

Romina rubbed her forehead as she took a step back. "Please, Draco, don't sound so sorry about it."

"I'm not!" He didn't hesitate to clarify. He sounded extra cranky for some reason and when Romina finally dropped her hand from her forehead, she saw why.

Her eyes widened at the pool of blood under his nose. "What the hell happened to you?"

"It's your mudblood of a friend—Granger!"

"Hey! Watch it!" Romina pointed a finger at him. She looked past him to Crabbe and Goyle with the same warning eyes in case they had a thing to say about it. "Bet if Theodore or Blaise were here, you wouldn't have been so stupid."

Selective hearing was happening again because Draco didn't even acknowledge her words. "Look at what she did to me!? She broke my nose!"

"Well, what did you do?" Romina crossed her arms.

The amusing manner in which she asked and the fact that she had even asked in the first place infuriated Draco. "She broke my nose, Oswell!" He yelled incredulously. "I swear I'm going to get her back for this!"

Romina silently listened to him rage about the hell he would unleash on Hermione. She stepped closer to him but in his rage, he didn't notice.

"And if any of you three breathe a word about this to anyone, I'll—"

Romina's hands seized his nose and pushed it back into place. CRACK!

Draco's scream could've echoed through the school, and maybe it had. "What the hell!?" Romina blinked calmly under his murderous glare. "What did you—"

"I fixed your nose," she said flatly.

"What!?" His hands flew to his nose. "How did you know how to do that?"

"It is amazing what you learn in a muggle school's aftercare." A smile tugged at Romina's lips. "There really should be more supervision but then I guess I would've never learned how to do that." She pointed at his now healed nose. "Fair notice that it will be sore for the next couple of days."

"What? Just like that?"

Romina rolled her eyes and yanked his hands from his nose. "Let me see," she swatted his hands as he tried to touch his nose again.

"See what? I thought you 'fixed' it," he said with too much sarcasm in his tone.

Romina tutted. "Not the way to talk to someone who just did you a favor. Move your hands, dammit!"

With a huff, Draco did as told. Romina gently touched both sides of his nose. She pressed ever so lightly, like a feather's weight, and asked him if he felt any pain.

"Not really," he lied for some reason. He did feel the echoes of the sharp pain he first felt when Hermione's fist collided with his nose, but Romina was looking up at him with big dark eyes waiting to find out if her trick really helped him or not. She was very close to him and for the first time, he could smell a faint scent of...what, roses? It was nice. She still wore the headband he gave her. She never really took it off, did she? He tried ignoring the strange feeling in his stomach when he wondered if she really liked the headband that much to never let go of it.

A snap of Romina's fingers brought Draco out of his thoughts. The snap hadn't been for him but instead for Crabbe behind him.

"Napkin," Romina had instructed, or rather ordered, so swiftly. Taking command looked very good on her.

Crabbe and Goyle fumbled between each other to produce what she had asked for. In the end, they handed her a handkerchief that she crumpled into a ball to tuck underneath Draco's nose.

"Just wash your face," she told him with a small smile. "And I look forward to hearing what, oh what, you said to finally make Hermione snap."

It was easy for Draco to slip back into his usual self. He rolled his eyes and stepped away from her, though he did take hold of the balled up napkin under his nose. "I'm going to get her back," he warned her.

"No you're not because then I'll break your nose this time," she promptly said back. She flashed him a smile and moved around him.

"Where are you going, Oswell?" Draco turned after her. "It's almost dark."

"Don't worry about me so much," Romina put a hand over her chest. She laughed when he rolled his eyes. She then turned towards Hagrid's hut to catch up. She'd spent a little bit more time up here than she wanted to.

She sprinted down the field only to catch sight of Dumbledore, Fudge, and the damn executioner were already on their way inside the hut.

"Aw dammit!" She stomped her foot. She quickly looked around for her friends and caught a break when she saw the trio sneaking their way towards the forest. She scurried through the outskirts of the garden to sneak up on them from behind. "What's happened!?"

"What does it look like? They're here!" Ron exclaimed and was promptly shushed by Harry and Hermione.

"What took you so long?" Harry asked Romina as they made space for her between them.

"Umm...Cedric," Romina supplied the lie a bit slow on her part. "He, um, he was concerned about the girl that I tutor. Apparently, they're friends." She made a show of focusing entirely on the happenings in the hut ahead of them. She had a feeling that Harry would not like to know that she fixed Draco's broken nose that he no doubt deserved to have broken.

The group eventually had to sneak back up the field before the adults came out of the hut. They stopped right where they'd been earlier to look below. The executioner had already come through the pumpkin patch where Buckbeak awaited and with one swing of his ax, the job was done.

Hermione was in full-fledged tears. She turned to hug Ron but it was cut short with Ron's yelp. "Scabbers!"

Romina's eyes widened at the sight of the rat scurrying away from them. Ron went after the rat despite Hermione's and Harry's calls for him to stop.

"What—I thought it was dead!?" Romina exclaimed.

"Hagrid found him," Harry said before they took chase after Ron.

They shouldn't be chasing Ron and his rat when it was starting to grow dark out but here they were, coming to a stop a short distance from the Whomping Willow.

"Ron!" Harry exclaimed once they found the redhead on the ground picking up his rat.

"Oh—he's too close!" Romina pointed at the Whomping Willow that was coming to life. "Ron, run!"

At the sound of their voices, Ron looked up. Dread filled his face but not for the reason the group presumed. "No, you run!" He pointed at something behind them, forcing them to spin around and see what was there.

A jet black dog was coming for them, running, and leaped at them, or so they thought. It jumped clear of the trio to land on Ron instead. He screamed as it bit his ankle and dragged him towards the Whomping Willow.

"Oh my God!" Romina was frozen in her spot but thankfully Harry was not. He lurched forwards in an attempt to catch Ron before the dog took him away.

Hermione then jumped after Harry to create a chain and hold him too. "I've got you!"

Unfortunately, nobody had anybody. Romina saw her friends being dragged towards to the Whomping Willow like they were nothing but ragdolls. She ran forwards hoping to catch Ron instead of following the chain. The dog had already slipped through a gap in the tree and eventually, as much as Harry held onto Ron's hand, it took Ron with him.

"ROOON!" The remaining trio yelled after him.

"What do we do now!?" Romina could see nothing but darkness through the gap. They could still hear an echo of Ron's screams but it was fading.

And then Hermione screamed. The Whomping Willow had swept her up into the air and it came for both Romina and Harry next. They landed a good distance from the gap albeit in awkward angles. One by one, they rose from the ground and made a race for the gap again.

"Watch out!" Romina cried as one branch came plunging down on them. They had to jump in opposite directions. Romina and Hermione made it but Harry was smacked again and this time, his glasses went flying in the air.

Hermione attempted to jump over the branches swinging her way. She got the first one but the second one took her right with it. Romina felt like she was in a wicked game of double dutch, only this one was deadly. The endgame was the gap and one way or another, they had to make it through to catch up with Ron. She made a clean run for it, making jumps every now and then despite several branches making gashes over her shoulders and one terribly painful one against her cheek. Her hair was also not helping one bit. One branch managed to entangle itself with a part of her hair which then plucked her right up from the ground. Like Hermione, she screamed.

Only Harry remained on the ground and not by much. Already he had to avoid more branches, with absolutely terrible vision, and he could hear both of his friends screaming. He got a lucky break when he found his glasses on the ground and they weren't broken. As soon as he put them on, he saw Hermione coming in his direction.

She grabbed his shirt on her way and picked him up. Harry had no idea why this would be a good idea but now there he was hanging on for dear life. A short second later, however, he felt Hermione's hand push him off. Down he went into the gap and through the dark tunnel.

"JUMP!" Hermione then told Romina.

"I CAN'T!" Romina shook her head—part of her hair was still tangled in the branch. "It's too long! Go without me!"

"Fat chance!" Hermione managed to sneak her wand out of her pocket. She thanked the heavens the crazy spinning hadn't yet made it fly out. Now she just had to make sure she aimed right...on a moving...tree…

"Don't you dare!" Romina yelled at her as soon as she saw Hermione's wand making an aim towards her. "WE'RE MOVING!"

Yes, yes they were moving and they were very short on time so…

"Diffindo!" Hermione cried.

Romina felt the slicing of her hair and because of it, she let go of the branch. Her body went tumbling into the gap, coming to an unceremonious landing somewhere dark and cold.

"Rom!?" Harry was already up and no doubt waiting for them. "Are you—"

Romina groaned when Hermione's body landed right over her.

"Oh, sorry!" Hermione rolled off her.

"Hermione Granger..." Romina's voice shook as she pushed Hermione off of her then sat upright. "What did you do to me!?"

Harry produced a wisp of light with his wand, allowing him to see exactly what Romina was so upset about. His eyes widened. "Oh, Rom…"

Romina's hands flung to her hair which was now chopped in a very uneven manner with some tips far shorter than others. Hermione winced at the strangled cry Romina gave.

"Romina, you'll be okay! You can just fix it with a-a hairstylist or — Madame Pomfrey! She can help!"

"I can't fix this on my own! I look hideous!" Romina shouted. Up until today, she had only shortened and enlarged her hair's length and changed part of its color. She had no layers which made it even easier but now that was all gone.

"You guys, we need to find Ron," Harry said. It sounded inconsiderate on his part but he was thinking about how Ron was doing with some psycho dog and suddenly hair issues didn't seem as important. "Rom, you don't look that bad—"

Romina cried even harder knowing that was a full lie. "Parkinson is gonna have full ammunition against me now!"

Hermione rushed to Romina's side to try and calm her down. She apologized over and over, swearing that she would help fix the hair until it was beautiful and perfect again.

Harry felt stupid the way he stood there watching one of his best friends sob. He honestly thought there was something wrong beyond the superficial hair problems. Romina wasn't the kind of girl to fixate so much on her appearance. This entire year had been one whole mystery with Romina and Harry suspected that this was the final straw. This was more than an uneven haircut.

Harry moved in front of Romina and bent down. "Rom, you're obviously going through some things and I'll be here after this to talk but please," he touched her shoulder, "we gotta go find Ron. He could be in real danger."

Romina's tears stained her face. She felt an overwhelming urge to cry and cry and...cry. She was so tired of everything, having to change every little thing about her in hopes that she would look different.

"Romina, we'll change your hair back," Hermione kept reiterating. "I will not rest until your hair is what it was before, I promise."

New tears filled Romina's eyes. "I don't want my hair to be what it was..." Her voice was strained as she stifled another sob. "I'm...I just want to be normal again."

Hermione exchanged looks with Harry. They had a good idea about what she meant now.

"I just want to be me..." Romina continued, instinctively reaching for a strand of her hair. She caught one of the longer ones by luck. "With my hair."

"Well, Rom, you can do that," Harry said slowly. "You can be whatever you want to be."

"But then everyone will think that I look like my mum — Elora. I'm going to look like Elora, and I don't want that.I don't want the first thing that people think of when they see me to be Death Eaters and that I'm one of their spawns."

"Parkinson has nothing to be talking about, Romina," said Harry sternly, knowing that girl was a huge factor in Romina's abrupt appearance changes. "Her parents may not have been death eaters but they were big supporters. She's a malicious pureblood witch. You're nothing like them."

"Not even close," Hermione agreed with a firm nod.

"Romina, you gotta believe us," Harry said. "And you gotta help us find Ron, please."

Romina thought for a seconds until sense hit her. Ron's in danger! You can't be so selfish! She couldn't be that selfish. That would make her exactly like the people she wanted to be different from.

She started clearing the tears off her cheeks. "We need to find Ron." She pulled herself up from the ground, dusting herself off as best as she could.

Harry was relieved with her choice and scrambled up to his feet as well before she changed her mind. Hermione followed and together, the three set out to find Ron at the end of the tunnel.

~ 0 ~

To the trio's surprise, they reached the end of the passageway and they climbed up into the Shrieking Shack.

"Of course we'd end up here," Romina mumbled under her breath. The place was so infamous that even the ghosts didn't wander near it. Where else would they end up if not there?

Harry was focused on the visible paw prints on the dusty floor. They heard creaking from the second floor which could only mean Ron was upstairs. They hurried up the steps and once they were up, they noticed there was a clear stripe on the otherwise dusty floor. Somebody had been dragged up and over the floor towards the only room at the end of the hallway that had a lit light. The trio exchanged glances before they started for the door. All three of them had their wands at the ready when they burst into the room.

Ron sat on a ruddy bed looking scared for dear life, clutching his rat to his chest.

"Ron! You're okay!" Hermione dashed for him. Romina followed closely behind, her hand still gripping her wand.

Harry lingered as he scanned the room. "The dog—where's the—?"

"It's a trap!" Ron frantically shouted, startling the trio. "He's the dog! He's an Animagus!"

Harry followed the track of paw prints on the floor and, to his wonder, they turned into the shape of human feet. That led him to—

"Oh my god!" Romina yelled this time.

Sirius Black was standing in the shadows waiting for them. Even when he looked like he could crumble from how slim he was, his grimy appearance was a fright. Harry wasted no time in drawing his wand again. Hermione set herself in front of Ron's bed and Romina made a dash to position herself in front of Harry.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us, too!"

"ROM!" Harry was downright horrified with her actions. He tried shoving her out of the way but it turned out she was a long stronger than she looked.

As scared as she was—and she was—Romina narrowed her dark eyes into a deep hateful glare on the man ahead of them. This was the man who had worked with her parents to kill Harry's parents. If he thought that she would be just like Elora and Caplan, he had another thing coming.

"No. Only one will die tonight," Sirius said, pointing a finger ahead of him.

"Then it'll be you!" Harry finally got a grip on Romina and pushed her to the side and ran straight for Sirius.

"Harry, no!" Hermione yelled as he lunged on Sirius.

Sirius laughed as Harry wrapped his hands around his neck. "Going to kill me, Harry?"

Harry didn't even hesitate to say a sharp 'yes!'.

"Harry, stop!" Romina came to pull him off the man before he attacked them. "Harry!" She pulled her friend back with him then drew her wand at Sirius again. "We don't kill him, but we can certainly turn him in—"

Suddenly, Lupin burst into the room and disarmed both Romina and Harry. With a nod of his head, he prompted the two to step back to where Hermione and Ron were. It was a wonder what would happen next. Too many questions were running through the students' heads.

Lupin pointed his wand at Sirius on the ground. "Looking a bit ragged, aren't we, Sirius? Finally the skin reflects the madness within!"

"You'd know all about the madness within, wouldn't you, Remus?" Sirius answered much too casually for the situation. A moment later, Lupin was helping him off the ground and they were hugging.

"No!" Hermione voiced everyone else's thoughts. "I trusted you! And all this time you've been his friend!" She looked at the others when she explained what she had to keep a secret for months. "He's a werewolf! That's why he's been missing classes!"

Romina was stunned. Harry and Ron were dumbfounded. How could they have missed that? If they'd paid more attention, the signs had all been there...

Lupin didn't seem very distraught that his secret was out. He regarded Hermione with bemusement. "How long have you known?"

"Since Professor Snape set the essay."

"My, my, you really are the brightest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

Sirius blew a raspberry. "Yes, you glow like the sun. And you howl at the moon. Enough talk! He dies!"

"Wait, Sirius!"

"I did my waiting!" Sirius frantically yelled. "Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!"

"Very well," Lupin gave in.

"No!" Harry brandished Hermione's wand at the pair. "You betrayed my parents! You sold them to Voldemort!"

"It's a lie!"

"No, you did," Romina spoke much calmer than Harry but that was only because a lump in her throat was threatening to spill tears. "You worked with my parents and then together you all sold the Potters out. Everyone knows the bloody story!"

Sirius now regarded her with some interest but Lupin cut in before he ever said anything. "Romina, it's been a lie. Someone did betray Harry's parents. Someone in this room right now. Someone who, until quite recently, I believed to be dead."

"What're you talking about?" Harry demanded. Romina was too dumbfounded to speak. "There's nobody here."

"Peter Pettigrew! He's in this room! Right now!" Sirius exclaimed. "Come out, come out, Peter! Come out, come out and play!"

The door burst open again and this time Snape came in. "Expelliarmus!" Everyone's wands flew out of their hands. "Vengeance is sweet. How I hoped I'd be the one to catch you."

Lupin raised a hand towards him. "Severus—"

"I told Dumbledore you were helping your old friend into the castle. And here's the proof!

"Brilliant, Snape." Sirius rolled his eyes. "Once again you've put your keen penetrating mind to the task and as usual come to the wrong conclusion. Now, if you'll excuse us, Remus and I have some unfinished business... to attend to."

Snape pointed his wand at him, closely to his jaw. "Give me a reason. I beg you." Sirius had no choice but to back away.

"Severus, don't be a fool, Severus!"

"He can't help it. It's habit by now," Sirius said with a hint of a smirk.

"Sirius, be quiet!"

"Be quiet yourself Remus!"

The students all looked between the teachers bickering until Snape cut in. "Listen to you two. Quarreling like an old married couple."

"Oh, why don't you run along and play with your chemistry set!" Sirius waved him off.

"I could do it, you know. But why deny the dementors? They're so longing to see you." Snape grew closer to Sirius, his wand at the ready again. "Do I detect a flicker of fear? A Dementor's Kiss. One can only imagine what that must be like. It's said to be nearly unbearable to witness, but I'll do my best."

"Severs, please!" Lupin tried once again.

"After you!" Snape made a gesture for them to start walking. He wasn't going to let them get away. The pair had no choice but to start walking.

Harry took his opportunity to grab the last wand still with its owner.

"Hey!" Ron said when Harry pulled his wand from his pocket. Whatever else was about to come out of his mouth was forgotten when Snape went flying in the air against the wall.

"Harry!" Romina clapped a hand over her mouth. "You attacked a teacher!" And Snape of all of them!

Harry had the decency to look shocked himself. He got over it quick, though and pointed the wand at Sirius. "Tell me about Peter!"

"He was at school with us. We thought he was our friend!" Lupin explained.

"No! No. Pettigrew's dead. You" — Harry pointed with the wand at Sirius — "killed him!"

"No, he didn't," Lupin argued quite certainly. "I thought so too, until you mentioned seeing Pettigrew on the map!"

"The map was lying, then!"

"The map never lies!" snapped Sirius, also very certain of it.

Romina lifted an eyebrow at him for it. "How would you know that?"

"We made it!"

Romina was once again stunned. "No way…"

"Yes," Lupin confirmed.

"Pettigrew's alive! And he's right there!" Sirius pointed over to Ron who, by now, was tired of being at the other end of his slim finger.

"He's mental!

"No, not you! Your rat!"

Ron stood by his previous statement. "Scabbers has been in my family for…"

"Twelve years? Curiously long life for a common garden rat! He's missing a toe, isn't he?"

Hermione's eyebrows raised when the piece fit. She looked over to Ron almost apologetically.

"So what?" Ron shrugged.

"All they could find of Pettigrew was his…" Harry trailed off. The pieces were beginning to fall into place.

"Finger!" Sirius finished. "That dirty coward cut it off so everyone would think he was dead! And then he transformed into a rat!"

"So he's an Animagus too?" Romina pointed at the rat. Ron was utterly offended that she was believing the nonsense so easily. "Wouldn't-wouldn't that be on the registry. Hermione, you said—"

"Not if he wasn't registered," Hermione whispered. Romina had declared her crazy months ago when Hermione confided in her that she'd gone above and beyond for their Transfiguration class by looking up the Animagus registry to see what wizards and witches were registered on it.

Romina's eyes widened. She turned completely over to Ron, her hand pointing at the rat he so desperately held. "Oh! If he's been pulling that trick-Ron! He knows the truth!"

Ron shook his head and held the rat closer to his chest.

"The Oswell girl is right," Sirius said. "He knows the truth. He framed me! I would never betray my best friends like that!"

"Show me," Harry demanded. "Ron, give them the rat."

Lupin walked forwards to retrieve Scabbers and as much as Ron would've liked to fight for the creature, he let go simply to find out whether or not he and his entire family had played hosts to a murderer for the past 12 years. Lupin backed up with Scabbers in his hand. He set him down to cast the spell but that's when the rat took its chance to run.

Romina thought that was truth enough to what they'd been saying. What rat would run so desperately if it wasn't a human being in hiding? Eventually, Lupin managed to strike the rat with the spell and suddenly, Scabbers was no longer a rat but instead a big man with grubby little rat hands.

"Remus? Sirius?" He turned towards the two men. "My old friends!" His eyes then flickered to the students, precisely on Harry. "Harry! Look at you! You look so much like your father!"

Harry took a step back when the man came running up to him. Romina, with a crinkled nose, took a few long steps to the side.

"Like James! We were the best of friends—"

"How dare you speak to Harry!? How dare you talk about James in front of him!" Sirius bellowed and went after Peter. The shorter man ran to the first piece of furniture that would give him some safety for the moment.

"You sold James and Lily to Voldemort, didn't you?' Lupin demanded to know. Behind him, Harry wanted to know the same thing.

"I didn't mean to!" Peter said with a voice that sounded ready to crack. "The Dark Lord. You have no idea the weapons he possesses! Ask yourself, Sirius! What would you have done? What would you have done?"

"I would have died!" Sirius continued to roar. "I would have died, rather than betray my friends!"

Peter whimpered like an actual child. He dashed towards Ron on the bed. "Ron! Haven't I been a good friend? A good pet? You won't let them kill me, will you? I was your rat…"

Ron drew away from him as much as he could. He was downright disgusted.

Peter, desperately, turned for Hermione. He grabbed her by the shoulders and she quickly tried prying him off her. "Sweet girl. Clever girl. Surely you won't let them…"

"Let her go!" Romina yelled at him. He took one look at her and, possibly more frightened, stepped away from Hermione but only to then make an attempt on Harry.

"Harry, James wouldn't have wanted me killed!" Peter made a turn for Harry. He managed to slip from Lupin and Sirius for the moment. "Your dad... Your dad would have spared me! He would show me mercy!"

"You should've realized, Peter, that if Voldemort didn't kill you, then we would!" Lupin said, upholding his wand again. "Together!" Sirius was more than ready as well.

"No!" Harry suddenly shouted, startling everyone in the room.

"Harry, this man…"

"I know what he is. But we'll take him to the castle."

Relief flooded Peter's face. "Bless you, boy! Bless you!" He attempted to hug the boy but Harry shoved him off.

"Get off! I said we'd take you to the castle. After that, the dementors can have you.

Whatever relief had been on his face vanished the moment the realization sunk in.

~ 0 ~

Sirius and Harry each held one of Ron's arms to help him out of the passageway. Behind them were Romina and Hermione (who had miraculously known a sleepwalking spell to bring back Snape with them as well) and lastly Lupin was right behind a whimpering Peter.

Romina had been unusually quiet all the way and that was only because she didn't want to risk causing any rocks to fall on them. As soon as she saw the opening, she prepared herself. When they were out on the field again, they set Ron down to rest for a second. Harry couldn't help but wander to Sirius who put some distance between him and the group. Romina then saw her opportunity.

"Romina?" Hermione glanced at her when she noticed Romina standing up.

Romina ignored her and walked up to Peter. "Do you know me?" she asked the man, or rather demanded.

"Romina, I don't think this is the time," Lupin told her. He was still holding his wand at Peter because he had no doubt the man would make a run for it at the first chance he got.

"No, everyone got their go, it's my turn now," Romina said darkly, eyes glued to the prattling Peter. "Do you know who I am?"

"Of c-course," Peter answered in his shaky voice. "You're the Oswell girl. Their child."

"You worked with my parents," Romina said, briefly casting a glance in Sirius' direction. "It had to have been you if not...not Black. You worked with them! One-on-one, I'm sure!"

"I had to!" wailed Peter. "Your parents — they're wicked! You don't know them! They would've killed me if I didn't work with them!"

Romina swallowed hard. She abhorred the fact she agreed with someone like Peter. All she had were stories about those two and this was the first person who showed the true fear that Elora and Caplan Oswell instilled in their victims.

"They wanted the location of James and Lily. They were going to do things to me if I didn't give them what they wanted!"

Romina drew in a shaky breath. "They would have killed you for sure," she whispered. She almost, almost, apologized to Peter on behalf of her parents.

"You'll be just like them if you let them turn me over like it was my fault!"

Romina's eyes widened and pretty quickly formed a killer glare on the man. Her hand gripped her wand even tighter and she jabbed it against Peter's chest, eliciting a whimper from the rat-man. "What did you say to me?"

"Romina, step back," Lupin ordered. "Now!"

But Romina did the exact opposite. She got closer to Peter; her glare deepening on her face. "You're the criminal in this story! I know who my — I know who Elora and Caplan are and what they did but anyone brave enough would've done what was right and be loyal to their friends. I have no doubt that Elora and Caplan would've killed you whether or not you gave them the location. I know what they're capable of because I've heard all the stories, but me helping set the record straight and sending you to Azkaban doesn't make me like them. It'll set me apart from them." Her voice gained a roughness that she didn't even know she was capable of. "Rot in Azkaban next to them for all I care and tell them that I'm going to be fucking amazing without them." She twisted her wand against Peter's chest and watched him writhe in pain until Hermione pulled her back.

"Romina, stop—!"

Romina ripped her arm out of Hermione's grip and turned away, leaving a very startled Hermione behind her. Hermione gulped and looked back at the others who seemed just as concerned as she was.

Romina was practically shaking with anger and yet, at the same time, she could also say she was in despair. Everything about her parents was true, and here was the living proof. They happily turned one friend against his other friends and allowed for the framing of an innocent man. And this was just one of their pettier crimes. She wanted nothing to do with them; she didn't want to call them her parents anymore; she wished with all her heart that she could change her last name. Romina could feel the heated tears threatening to escape from her eyes. She wanted to be done with those two.

"Harry!" Hermione's sudden frantic cry made Romina's eyes snap open. She turned as Harry and Sirius did the same to see Hermione pointing at Lupin.

The full moon had risen.

Sirius was quick to reach his friend. "Remus, my old friend! Have you taken your potion tonight?" He had to hold onto Lupin because the man was getting ready to change into his wolf side, but it appeared like he was trying to fight it. "You know the man you truly are, Remus! This heart is where you truly live! This heart here! This flesh is only flesh!"

"No!" Harry saw Peter take hold of Lupin's wand. "Expelliarmus!"

The wand was out of Peter's grip but it was too late, he transformed back into a rat.

"NO! NO!" Romina would've chased after the rat had Hermione not grabbed her arm to yank her back. Lupin was already halfway to becoming a wolf.

"Run, all of you!" Sirius told them. His efforts to qualm Lupin's turn was done in vain. With one shove, Sirius toppled over the ground. Lupin finished the rest of his transformation to become a full werewolf.

"P-professor?" Hermione called him. For the moment, the wolf was still. Only his jagged breathing made a noise in the air.

"Nice doggy, nice doggy," Ron whimpered.

"Oh, that's not going to work!" Romina scolded the pair of them. "He's not...he's not...him anymore." And sure enough, the wolf started growling at them, inching closer to them.

"There you are, Potter!" Snape had finally come out of his spell and unknowingly blocked the group from the wolf. Of course as soon as the wolf growled loudly, Snape whirled around and saw what they were dealing with. His arms opened to cover the students.

The werewolf pounced on them but before it reached any of them, Sirius, in his animagus form, cut him off. They fought each other but in the end, the wolf was too strong. It threw the dog way over the field and dashed after to keep the fighting going.

"No, Sirius!" Harry slipped from Snape's shield to go after them.

"Come back here, Potter!" Snape yelled after them. Hermione and Romina attempted to do the same but he caught them both by their arms. "Don't even think about it!"

"But Harry!" Romina was frantically gesturing after their friend. He was in the dark forest chasing after two creatures with absolutely no back up.

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