#sirius having trouble with reality

[lulublack90]

Prompt 18 - The Shrieking Shack

@wolfstarmicrofic November 18, word count 322

“Merlin, this place is worse than ever,” Sirius grumbled as he slowly made his way around the shrieking shack. He hadn’t been there since the last full moon of his seventh year, and here he was again after all these years. 

It was dredging up old memories that he’d thought he’d long forgotten. His eyes fell on the chair in the corner and he watched James topple over backwards on it when the back leg gave out. He looked at the crooked staircase and saw Peter rushing towards him with their little medical kit after Moony had had a bad night. 

He was so lost in the memory that he lunged at it, crashing painfully into the bannister post at the base of the stairs. He huffed out the air in his lungs and tried to drag more in, but he’d winded himself. That’s when Remus leant over him, a smile on his lips, mischief in his eyes as he offered his hand to help Sirius up. Sirius raised his hand but only grasped thin air. He whimpered, that one had been the most real. 

He couldn’t take it anymore and transformed into Padfoot, carefully walking up the stairs and into the bedroom where there had been a bed. His ribs hurt, and it took him a few attempts to jump onto the dusty covers, but it was a bed and the most comfortable thing he’d slept on for twelve years so who was he to complain? 

He buried his nose under his leg as he curled into a tiny ball. He’d rest for a bit and then figure out how he was going to get to that traitorous rat. He fell asleep with memories of the shack dancing through his head, focusing on Remus’s face and wishing he could see him one last time. But he didn’t hold out much hope for that, at least he’d seen Harry. That was enough. 

[velvetypoets]

Mister pitch perfect

The perfect Gryffindor golden boy has gone off his rails to catch a Black daughter.

Warnings: James Potter x reader fanfic, James is down bad, I tagged marauders but no peter, Slytherin reader, Black family reader, reader is portrayed as she/her, reader centric, forbidden love trope, SFW, James perspective

havent done this in a while and this will be the first time im posting on this platform. im very sorry if its quite messy!

this was supposed to be a oneshot but i drag it too much. so it'll be some sort of a series oneshot? will also be posted on ao3 soon!

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It was never meant to be. James Fleamont Potter was basically molted into the perfect specimen of man and every soul who has ever walked Hogwarts knew. Sure he would cause trouble every then and again with his fellow mates. Yet of course, James would always dazzle his way out of it with a few charming smiles or reasonings to squeal his way out of being blamed.

[ part 1|part 2|part 3 ]

He was confident, charismatic, spotless.

And when he meets eyes with you, it was set. James is sitting at his usual spot with the marauders at supper when the moment arrives. You were fixing your necklace to your neck at the Slytherin table, struggling with the clasps as your face scrunches in frustration. James almost walks the whole way over to you and offers his assistance right then and there.

"Stop undressing my cousin with your eyes, Prongs," Sirius brings James back to reality with a slap on the back of his head. He seems to still be having his feast so that was new of him to pick on James in that setting. Remus raises an eyebrow as he stares at the two, "Since when do you care about the other Blacks?"

"That was foul, Pads!" James yell as he rubs his head and glares at his mate, he's used to Sirius playfights but that slap seems to be sincere. He tries to focus on the conversation as he tries to find you again on the table across. You seemed to have moved next to Regulus as he helps you with your necklace. James lets out an involuntary sigh.

"She's different, Moony. She's on the edge too. Pretty sure she's going to find a way to run when she hits 18," Sirius lets out a scowl, "Heard she is to be arranged with Nott. Bloody brilliant that."

"Nott? That Nott? Surely you're joking. That bastard can't even keep his owl alive for a week! How's he going to keep a wife that young?!" Remus exclaims in disbelief. Whipping his head to take a good look at you now that you're a big deal. "I wish I was. I love you but seriously mate, don't. You're big enough trouble yourself," Warns Sirius with his fork right to to James face. A juicy piece of meat dangling right on it.

He bites it though. Sirius lets out a shrieking squeal of, "My meat!", erupting laughter at the Gryffindor table as James chews proudly with a sly smile across his face. The boisterous sound turns a few heads, including yours. Your brows raised at the sudden commotion, only to have the red of your cheeks creep in as you find one of your cousin being the center of it. He watches as you rub your cheeks to hide the tint.

James gulps the meat down. He's quite full himself but he must admit, it's nothing like he has ever had.

——————————————————————————

The next time he sees you, you are sitting by yourself writing in parchments on a patch of grass by the lake. James is in a broom practicing to catch the golden snitch on Hogwarts grounds. Quite foolish but he's gotten bored of the arena and its currently being used by the Hufflepuff team anyways.

He's worried about you sitting all alone in this breeze though. It's quite cold and you don't seem to be wearing enough layers. He keeps a distance near a tree so as not to scare you, although he is quite discontent with seeing just your figure by the lake.

You whipped your head to the skies behind you, "Reggie? Is that you?" You ask calmly, your eyes not missing the shadowy figure blatantly hiding behind a tree, "I saw you from the reflection. Very funny, Regs."

James cracked a smile at your sarcastic tone. He even finds your voice perfect. He fixes himself a little before he reveals himself off the shade and lands in front of you, "So I'll take it you find me quite funny?"

Your eyes widened as you process the man in front of you. Why would James Potter—the Gryffindor golden boy—be here? And why is he talking to you now?

"You're not Reggie." You said still in shock, almost sounding like a question. Your brows are raised as you try to study his demeanor. He's holding his broom awkwardly in his arms, you've always thought James Potter's confident composure was permanent.

"Well if your standards of humour is a certain Regulus Black, I'm sure I'd be comical, love," He cracks a small smile and a hand extended to you, "Potter. James Potter."

You look at James like you're Newt Scamander finding a newfound beast, "I know who you are. Everybody does," You said in disbelief, finding the whole situation suspicious. The breeze of wind moves his curly hair to his face, framing it gracefully, "What I want to know is why are you doing this? We're not exactly fit to be friends."

"Why that's quite bold of you, lovely. Who said I'd like to be friends?" He said as he leans closer. You never noticed it before but his glasses are rather clean today, his hazy eyes look at you with glimmer in them you've never seen on anyone before. You think to yourself if its one of the charisma of being James Potter.

You stood your ground, you would have never thought to ever be face to face with this dazzling man in front of you. You are a Black though, your legs won't give in even if you try, "Well that's settled then. Are you here to pick a fight?" You ask him plainly, crossing your arms upon your chest.

James finds it adorable, he knows full well of his effects on people and especially of course girls. What he doesn't understand is the effect you have on him. "The contrary, darling. I have a proposition for you."

You lift a brow and yet let him continue, "I heard you're in quite the predicament with Nott. Now I know a way to get you out," His claim makes your eyes open, you let him continue. Words dripping in confidence, "A date. With me."

This time, you can't help but let out a laugh–of which James can't help but take in the sight. He's completely enamoured.

'What? Huh– Hold on. You can't be serious," You looked at him as if he had gone mad, the thought of a Black and a Potter dating is out of this world, "I don't know what kind of prank you're up to, but do you seriously think I'll fall for that?"

"Wait, I am serious! Picture this, if Nott knows you're going out with me he'd be livid, enough to break off the arrangement. I mean have you seen the way that scum looks at me? It's like he has this permanent face of eating vomit flavoured Bertie Bott's Beans!" He rants as he joined in on the laughter with you.

You are smiling as the laughter reduces to giggles. As stupid as it is, it has a good chance of actually working. You pondered, there's still one thing on your mind, "What's in it for you? Would I have to do anything?"

James let out a smile, his palms are sweating like he's deep into a Quidditch game, "Well I get to see Nott lose his bride—" He pauses, confronting himself whether to tell you the real truth or not, "I mean I'll also get a beauty on my side."

You roll your eyes at that, "Don't you try to charm me, Potter. Give me the real reason or its off. I have a feeling you need this more than I do,"

She's right, James thought. He was about to play it off if you denied it straight away, he wasn't entirely sure you would actually take him seriously. He grasps the sight of you for a bit before closing his eyes tight, "Okay, how about I tell you the reason in a week— Maybe a month. You don't have to do anything, we'd just go out like normal couples do. Sounds good to you?" He said, he extends his arms to you for a handshake. His thoughts full of prayers to Merlin so you wouldn't notice the tremble in his arm.

You grin the same one James had seen a million times on Sirius's face, the Black's grin of content. You shake his hand firmly, his big ones almost encasing yours, "You've got yourself a deal, Potter."

James is using every atom on his magical being to control his ecstasy as he smiles widely at you. Once the handshake is done he reaches for his scarf over his neck and wears it on you, "Nice doing business with you, sweetcheeks. I do hope you start wearing warmer clothes though. No snogging will be done if you're in Pomfreys care."

She looks good in my color

Well technically so is the color of a quarter of the schools because of course its a Griffyndor scarf.

"You surely don't expect me to go back. To my dorm. Through the halls, the stairs and the common room. With this on?"

Oh I won't regret this one bit, James thought. He chuckles at your words dripped in such a sarcastic tone, "Of course not, darling. Do you think I'm mad?"

He extends his arms for you to hold, "We'll go back together. Through the halls, the stairs, even the common room. I heard you folks have lovely parties there."

You let out a chuckle as you circle your arms around his, "Oh, the best ones. Your Gryffindors ass is so not invited though."

"Well at least I do have a lovely one, don't I?"

"Oh shut it, Potter!"

——————————————————————————

Another storm of commotion is coursing through Hogwarts. A lot has played it off as a mere prank. James grins at the thought of it. He has only you on his mind lately, cherishing the bits of conversation you and him had.

He's on his way to charms class this morning, one that inconveniently does not have you in it, he checked. He checked your schedule last night sneaking through administration with the invisibility cloak.

Moony and Pads by his side as usual. Sirius seems to still haven't caught wind of it, his hair tousled from a good sleep. Apparently he was up all night helping Remus solve a 10k piece magic puzzle.

Won't be long with how loud the students are gossiping though. James let out a coherent sighs. He had an amount of grins with knowing looks from a couple male students and even a pat on the back by a random Slytherin, "Alright, what is going on?" Remus breaks first. Stopping the two boys right before the class door.

James crackles a laugh, "What's going on? Nothing's going on, mate! What?" Moony lets out a drawled scowl on him, one he makes when he pieces that they're in some kind of trouble, "Why is everybody on Hogwarts up your pants then, Prongs?!"

Sirius yawns as he hugs James by the side to lean his head on him, "Yeah... Saw that too even if my eyes were closed the entire walk. You can tell us mate, come on," He does notice the lack of scarf on his mate's neck though, none in this rapidly chilly morning? "Prongsie, where's your scarf? I could really use a pillow here–"

"Oh! Thank Merlin! One second late and I would've thrown this in the bin. Here, take this off me," There you are with James Potter red and yellow scarf on your hands, just coming out the door. All three boys were quite startled, "What? Wait. This isn't your class," said James. His eyes land on the presence of a Slytherin scarf wrapping your neck. James wishes he could take that one instead.

"Yeah... I'm sort of risking being late to Dark Arts for this but I can't take the whispering anymore. I might square the next person who even looks at me!" You told him, your grip on his scarf tightens and James wishes the fabric would stretch upon your nails.

Sirius is well awake now, his bagged eyes darting between you and James as if you're both insane, "Hold–Hold on! What is this? What is happening, Why do you have James's scarf?" He cuts, going between you and James to put a distance and blocks James view. Remus gives James a 'he did warned you, mate' face at the side.

James on the other hand, in too much of a thrill of seeing you this early in the morning, "You could also just admit ya didn't want me to get cold, love. Thanks for the thought there," He said almost shouting as he stands on his tips to try and see you from above Sirius's head.

You let out an annoyed grunt, "Ugh I don't have time for this. Here Siri, give this to that stupid friend of yours. I'd like to keep my Dark Arts seat next to Cissy and Malfoy's been eyeing it like the vulture he is," You throw James's scarf to your cousin's head not caring if it covers his vision, it earns a few chuckles from nearby students. He trashes to take it off and looks at you in betrayal.

You're about to run off to Dark Arts and leave your cousin and his foolish mates when your feet stop and turn you back, "If you still want that date to happen. Expect my owl, Potter. She's a snow named Emerald."

"Oh and it is lovely to meet you, Remus. Do take care of my sod cousin and my idiot boyfriend. Make sure they're out of trouble," You smiled sincerely at Remus, you actually do admire him a little. You love dark arts and your professor rants and rants about Remus's talents.

Remus seems taken aback, but that would make the three of them. You left after he reciprocated your smile and responded with a polite, "You too, (Y/N)."

And as such, you scurried off in a rush to go shoo away Lucius Malfoy from your seat and save Narcissa. Leaving behind a bewildered Remus, an angered Sirius, and a lovestruck James.

James keeps his eyes on you until you turn the corridor, a stupidly huge smile stays on his lips. He turns to find the reality of Sirius's wrath upon him. Remus is quite literally holding back Sirius with his whole body, it's quite an advantageous turn of events that Sirius hasn't had his proper sleep yet.

"Boyfriend! Boyfriend?! When did you even– How is this— Let me go, Moony! He's going to have an earful!"

He definitely will get that earful later. James grins an apologetic smile at Remus as he picks up his scarf that fell to the ground. He could already smell the sweet of your scent from a distance.

Remus lets out a huffed noise, "You really do always get what you want don't you?"

James doesn't reply. He wraps his own scarf on his neck, embracing the warmth it does to his skin. Your scent crashes onto him like tidal waves. A tint of rose blooms on the pale of his cheeks.

He smiles faintly at the open skies over the hall window. He wishes for an owl he hadn't even met for safe travels.

[fear-less]

anyone of your choice x a reader who is like luna lovegood.... hear me out

₊˚⊹˚ 𐙚 butterfly wings

paring: sirius black x f!reader

➥ In which Sirius Black, seeking solitude on a quiet Friday night, unexpectedly meets a quirky girl who hums Muggle songs, has silly looking hair and clothes, and sees the world through a completely different lens, making him question everything he thought he knew about life and himself.

warnings: written in 2nd pov, she/her pronouns used, flufffff, sirius experiences love at first sight lowkey, ditzy reader, hair described as wavy, lmk if i missed anything

a/n: enjoy this short & sweet fic 😋 feel free to request more pics like this.. lowkey had a blast writing this fic ngl, also how are we loving this alive era !!?? finals are gonna end me tho, hoping to post more when im on break <3

1.1k words

The sun was just starting to dip behind the horizon, casting a warm golden glow across the Hogwarts grounds. Sirius Black was leaning lazily against a tree near the edge of the black lake, watching the evening sky. His thoughts were far from the upcoming Potions exam, or even from the constant tension with his family. No, tonight he was simply enjoying the stillness of the moment—until the sound of a soft humming reached his ears.

He turned to see a girl wearing clothes nowhere near their dress robes, skipping through the tall grass, a pair of oversized, mismatched socks peeking out from beneath the hem of her skirt. In one hand, you clutched a jar that looked suspiciously like it was filled with glitter, and in the other, a half-eaten pumpkin pastie. The evening breeze tugged at your hair, but it only seemed to make you twirl in delight, as though you were dancing with the wind itself.

​​Sirius couldn’t help but smile despite himself. There was something about the way she seemed entirely out of sync with reality, like you were living in a world all your own. It was... fascinating. Most people would’ve been inside on a Friday night, but not you. No, you were humming a song Sirius couldn’t quite place, looking up at the sky as if you expected to find something wonderful there.

Sirius raised an eyebrow as you continued humming, a soft, dreamy melody he now realized was some Muggle song. He considered whether or not to interrupt your song with a conversation. He had come down to the lake to escape the raucous laughter of his friends—he hadn’t planned on talking to anyone, least of all you. But there was something about your carefree presence that pulled him in, something he couldn’t quite explain.

As he watched you, he suddenly felt a strange urge to approach. What am I doing? he thought, before shrugging off the hesitation. Usually, he had no trouble talking to girls. But you were different. There was no rush to impress you or prove something, no game to be played. You were in your own world, so completely other that he felt like he had to break through that bubble of yours, even if it meant making a fool of himself.

He decided, somewhat impulsively, to walk toward you as if he was leaving, hoping you'd say something to stop him—maybe comment on the sunset, or ask if he had seen any magical creatures lately. Something to start a conversation.

As he got closer, a familiar thought crossed his mind. Wait a second… He remembered you now. You were the girl with the wild ideas and strange ways of looking at the world. The one who always seemed to have her mind in the clouds, lost in thoughts others couldn’t seem to follow. You wore mismatched socks, and your shoes were always a little too unconventional for anyone else’s taste. Your hair—today it was streaked with a few colorful hints of pink and blue, strands loosely braided here and there on your wavy hair—was the subject of endless teasing. But you never seemed to care. Whenever the others made fun of you, you'd just smile and continue on as if you hadn’t heard a word. The kind of carefree confidence Sirius had always envied, yet never fully understood.

As Sirius approached, lost in this memory, you suddenly broke the silence, your voice light and dreamy. "If you walk any closer and choose not to move, you might just bump into me," you said, still gazing up at the sky as though you were watching constellations rearrange themselves.

Sirius froze, taken aback, his steps stuttering to a stop. A sheepish smile tugged at his lips, part embarrassed, part amused. "Oh, sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "I wasn't really paying attention."

He had been so distracted by the way your hair caught the fading light that he hadn't even realized how close he’d gotten. It was wild, yet soft, a tangled mess of waves and braids, with hints of color streaking through like a sunset painted in your locks. It was almost… magical.

You gave a simple nod in response, finally pulling your gaze away from the sky to look at him. The moment your eyes locked, Sirius felt an unexpected jolt of warmth spread across his chest. You weren't fazed, but there was something in the way you looked at him—as if he were just another curious face in the crowd. It was strange. Everyone knew who Sirius Black was. But to you? He might as well have been a stranger.

For a moment, neither of you spoke. You just studied each other.

Sirius shifted uncomfortably under your gaze, feeling the familiar prickle of self-consciousness creeping up his neck. Why was it so easy to talk to people who were busy trying to impress him, but with you? It was like he’d been dropped into a world where none of his usual tricks or charm worked.

You squinted at him, your gaze flickering as if you were trying to place him, but the recognition didn’t come. You looked at him like he was someone new, someone you had never seen before.

And, strangely, that made him feel more vulnerable than anything else.

When you finally looked away, returning your attention to the horizon, Sirius took a breath, trying to shake off the uncomfortable feeling of being seen in a way he wasn’t used to. He was about to say something when you broke the silence once more.

"Did you know," you said, your voice soft and faraway, "that sometimes the stars make shapes in the sky that are only visible to certain people? Some call it a ‘soul alignment,’ but I think it’s more about... perspective." You looked back at him, your eyes sparkling with a quiet certainty. "Maybe we’ll see something special tonight. Something we weren’t supposed to."

Sirius blinked, his confusion evident. "Soul alignment? What do you mean?"

You smiled gently, not offering an explanation, but instead turning back to the sky. "You wouldn’t understand it yet. But it’s something that will make sense eventually."

Sirius opened his mouth to respond, but for some reason, his usual quick-wit failed him. The bizarre serenity in your voice, the way you looked at the sky like it held secrets only you knew, left him momentarily speechless.

He watched as you turned the jar of stardust in your hands, staring at the sparkles inside. It wasn’t real, was it? But somehow, in your hands, it felt like it might be.

"So," he began, slowly, unsure of where this conversation was headed but unable to resist it, "how do you see the world, then? Different from everyone else?"

You paused, considering the question. Then, with a soft laugh, you turned to him. "Not different. Just... more patient."

And for the first time in his life, Sirius Black felt the weight of the stars overhead. Maybe it was the stardust in the jar, or maybe it was the quiet, patient way you saw the world—but whatever it was, he realized that he wanted to see it, too.

[myfictionaldreams]

Family // Poly!Marauders x Fem!Reader

Summary: Sirius Black, the usually happy prankster within Hogwarts, had a special skill for hiding his emotions. Until one day, he's forced to face the realities of the troubles with his family.

Requested by: @bullets-from-another-dimension Thank you so much for the request and for showing me that Sirius needs a little more love! I hope you like this fic, and thanks for your support with the poly!marauders ♥

Tags: 18+ readers only, smut, angst (lots!), fluff (also lots!), emotional hurt, discussion of Sirius' abusive family, disowned, crying, hugs/kissing, polyamory relationship, nipple play, body worship, making out, oral sex (m receiving), happy ending

A/N: This is just a little PSA that I'll be going through my other Poly!Marauders fics sometime soon to change some bits to make sure that each of the boys is getting enough love! It won't be anything major for the overall story, just spreading the love equally as it appears Sirius may have been skipped a few times (and I don't want that!), so check for an 'edited' note on the story. Thank you for pointing this out to me!

Words: 4.8k

my masterlist 📚 AO3 Link

The last 24 hours had been an emotional rollercoaster, with both positives and negatives coming to light. It had started with the ultimate showdown game of Quidditch between Slytherin and Gryffindor; with both Sirius and James on the team. You and Remus had been nervous wrecks just for the game, let alone all the tension drowning within the two enemy houses. This escalated outside of the pitch, with wands having to remain in hands between lessons to prepare for sabotage attacks from either team.

It was endlessly tiring the days leading up to the events, and it was some kind of a miracle to be standing in the Gryffindors' stands without a single injury. Now, however, you and Remus had to live through the fear of watching your boyfriends fly around with their roles as Seeker and Beater.

You were sure you’d accidentally bitten your nail down to the cuticle by the end of the match, and your throat felt as if you’d swallowed sandpaper with how sore it was with the screaming and shouting you’d been doing in support. There was instant relief as James finally caught the snitch, and everyone cheered.

“Do you think he’ll be ok?” you shout up to Remus, who, with his height difference, could see over the crowd to where the commotion was occurring on the pitch. As James had dived for the snitch, so had the Slytherin’s seeker, who just happened to be Sirius’ brother, Regulus. However, in mid-dive, Regulus accidentally knocked into one of the goalposts, hitting his head and falling from his broom. Thankfully to the Slytherins, Sirius had been close by and caught his falling brother from gaining any further injuries.

Remus was nodding to your question, “Yes, he’s walking away, well - he’s pushing Sirius away, so I’m sure he’s just fine”, he explained, watching Regulus shove Sirius, so the man stumbled away. A pang of guilt settled heavily in your stomach at the thought of the brothers arguing. You knew that the relationship between Sirius and his brother was non-existent these days, and it only made you feel more awful for your boyfriend, understanding how difficult it must have been to lose his family in the way he has.

You couldn’t ponder on these thoughts as the entirety of Gryffindor and the vast majority of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff began celebrating the win. This included Sirius, who scooped you into an exaggerated hug, spun you high into the air, and carefully placed your feet back onto the floor.

“Was your brother alright?” You shout to Sirius over the noisy crowd forming around the winning team. For a split second, you witness sadness filling his grey eyes before he snaps out of it and a beaming smile replacing the momentary lapse in his emotions.

“Oh, he’s fine; I’m sure a quick knock to the head will bring some sense to him. Anyway, come on, let’s all go back to the common room; I have a special surprise for everyone”. Sirius was great at many things, and covering his emotions was one of them. Any attempts to open up about the situation regarding his family would change the subject within the blink of an eye. You respected that he didn’t want to talk about any of his family members, but you still kept a close eye on him, making sure that he didn’t pent up his emotions until he was at breaking point, which you feared would occur one day as there was only so much one person could go through.

The interaction with Regulus seemed to have been forgotten in the madness of celebrating, which ran into the early morning hours in the Gryffindor common room. It would have continued later, but Professor McGonagall arrived in her dressing gown and demanded everyone go to bed. Sirius needed the most help to bed, having drunk the ‘surprise’ fire whiskey he regretted deeply in the morning.

“I’m never drinking again. Who’s idea was it anyway to bring Firewhiskey?!” came the deep groan of the man lying face first beside you, his face thoroughly buried into the pillow. Your temples were pounding slightly; you’d felt worse hangovers, but it was still uncomfortable as you rolled over towards Sirius.

Your arm wrapped over his naked back, face pressed over his shoulder blade as you could feel the toned muscles adjusting to your presence as you melted into his warmth. “It was your idea. I’m never falling for your charms ever again, Sirius”, you mumbled against his skin, reminiscing on his sweet talking skills from last night that convinced you to have a drinking competition with him.

This pulled him out of the half-unconscious state as his mop of hair turned in your direction. The movement caused you to roll off him and witness the beautiful sight of his morning glow; even in his hangover, he was handsome with one eye squished closed as the room was too bright.

Sirius turned his body entirely towards you, huffing as he moved, and you refrained from trying to reach out and control the usually silky locks of hair that were now all knotted and tangled on the top of his head. “Oh yeah? I’m pretty sure my charms made you cum three times before the fire whiskey joined the party,” he commented confidently and admired the warmth that filled your face. You attempted to hide your smile at the memories but were soon fully scream-laughing as Sirius tried to break your facade by tickling your sides.

Pushing him away, you turned and nuzzled into the naked chest of James, who remained asleep even through your loud laughter, but his arms still wrapped around your shoulders protectively. Besides James, you could see Remus was awake, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Remusssss, Sirius is being mean to me”, you drawl childishly.

The man sighed, dropping his hands to give you and Sirius a pointed look, “Please, children, it’s too early, and my head is too painful for you to make this much noise”.

Sirius smirked as he spooned in close behind you, wrapping his arm around you and James as everyone tried to have a few more moments of beautiful sleep before breakfast, and class pulled the four of you from the safety of the bed.

The food helped to settle the hangovers that the majority of Gryffindor seemed to be nursing this morning, much to the displeasure of McGonagall, who was glaring at her house from the Professor’s table. Sitting beside James, you leaned across him for another slice of toast as Sirius sat opposite you with Remus next to him.

As everyone started to be rejuvenated with energy from the breakfast, the owls began to swoop in and deliver the mail for the day. An emerald-coloured envelope landed on Sirius's lap, which caught the attention of you and the fellow Marauders. You already had your suspicions about who the letter was from. Sirius mostly confirmed it, as he had hardly read the letter before shoving it into his bag and brushing off any attempts at discussing who it was from.

“It’s nothing, just some spam letter. So, who do we have first today? Is it transfiguration? I can’t imagine that will be fun with how angry McGonagall looks right now.” Sirius changed the subject, but it didn’t convince any of you as you eyed him sadly. He didn’t wait for a response as he stood, gripping his bag so tight that his knuckles turned white. “Come on, otherwise we’ll be late”.

You knew something was off just by the quipped tone of his voice, and the humour and light that always seemed to dance in his eyes had been significantly dimmed. Even as James tried to humour him with his usual party tricks and jokes, it only earned him a half-assed chuckle from Sirius. Remus even attempted to pull him aside before entering the classroom to see if he needed a moment alone to talk, but Sirius just distracted him with a quick kiss and said he was fine.

You were quick to sit next to Sirius near the back of the classroom, smiling brightly with the hopes that he would return it, but it seemed he was lost in his thoughts as he idly arranged his parchment paper and quills. Thankfully, as the class began, his hand rested on your thigh so you could link both fingers together, lifting it and kissing the back of his hand.

As McGonagall began to teach the class, you leaned closer to Sirius, savouring the warmth that radiated off him and smelling the citrusy scent from his aftershave. “Is everyone ok, Sirius?” Your voice was barely audible so as not to disrupt the class, but you knew he heard as his posture stiffened, and he nodded his head, fake smiling for a second before returning his attention to the teacher. “I know there’s something wrong. Talking might help; I mean - I want to help-”

“Excuse me at the back. Is there something more important than my lesson?” McGonagall demanded with a passive-aggressive raised eyebrow as all other eyes turned to look at you and Sirius.

As your mouth opened to take the blame, your boyfriend beat you to it, “Sorry, Professor. That was my fault I was distracting her”.

“You’re already on thin ice after last night's antics, Mr Black. See me after class to arrange a detention”.

Your mouth drops open to retort to her and tell him it wasn’t Sirius, but the hand holding yours squeezes, stopping you from saying anything. As McGonagall turns back to write on the chalkboard, you lean close to harshly whisper, “You didn’t have to do that, Sirius! That should have been my detention!”

“It’s only one detention, I don’t care”, he shrugs nonchalantly, releasing your hand to begin writing his notes. You frown so deeply that a line forms between your eyebrows as you glance towards Remus and James, who have similar expressions of worry, especially as Sirius hasn’t even attempted to have any sort of friendly banter with McGonagall like he usually did.

At lunch, Sirius had somehow managed to slip away from the group, and your head seemed to be fixated towards the entrance to the Great Hall, neck straining to see over the other students as you waited for him to walk in.

“I mean, it’s not just me, right? There’s definitely something wrong with him”, you say before nervously nibbling on your lower lip.

Remus’ hand cups your shoulder, gripping gently as he agrees, “It’s not just you. I tried to talk to him before the lesson, but he just pushed me away. He just wants to be by himself; I’m sure he’ll be just fine”.

You nod to yourself but don’t believe his words. Yes, Sirius was strong and had been putting on a strong appearance for years, but he never pushed himself away from the three of you. It was like an invisible angel on your shoulder, trying to nudge you towards him, knowing something wasn’t right.

“Have either of you got the Marauder's map?” you ask Remus and James, who then check their pockets and school bags but cannot find the map.

“Sorry, Love, he’s probably got it with him”, James reports, appearing as deflated as you felt.

Standing from the table, the anxious causing your stomach to clench with unease and unable to eat, you inform the two of them, “I’ll be back later; I just need to make sure he’s ok and safe”.

Remus and James nod in understanding and watch you go. As you stand in the entrance to the Great Hall, you’re unsure where to start and what's worse is that he could be in his Padfoot form, which means he’d be able to hear you coming and run away. There were the grounds to search, Hogsmeade, the entirety of the enormous castle; there were plenty of places for him to be.

Taking a deep breath to steady your nerves, you decided to search the dormitory first, hoping the map had been left in a draw up there.

Opening the door to the dormitory room that you shared with your boyfriends, you were welcomed to the sight of Sirius, lying face first on the shared bed, his head turned away from the doors but from the noticeable sniffling noises and his shoulders shaking, you knew he was crying. Your heart felt like someone had reached inside your chest and squeezed as the sight rocked you. Silently as you could, you slipped your shoes off and placed your school bag onto the floor.

You knew he was aware someone else was in the room as his cries softened, and he subtly tried to wipe his face into the pillow. As you began to crawl onto the bed, you could see he was spooning the pillow you usually used to sleep on, clutching it desperately close to his chest. You had to remember to breathe through your nose, remain strong, and not descend into your emotions.

Kneeling next to him, your hand gently met the centre of his back, rubbing slow, comforting circles into his white shirt, hoping the action would comfort him. “Sirius, what’s wrong?”

“What? Nothing's wrong” he tried to brush it off, but you could hear the thickness of his voice as he tried to hide his face further in the pillow beneath his head.

“Is it about the letter from earlier? Who sent it to you?” Even though you knew he didn’t really want to talk about it, you knew he’d also built a wall around his emotions and wanted him to feel like he was in a safe enough space to talk, like the many times he’d done the same for you. Reaching over with your other hand, you ran your fingers through the long strands of dark hair, brushing them out of his face that was still turned away from you. “Talk to me, my love, please. I want to help you”.

Reluctantly, Sirius turned over and began to pull you down to lie in the centre of the bed. You did so and spread your arms wide as he moved to lie on your chest, the top of his head resting beneath your chin as you hugged him closely.

“No one important sent me the letter, it’s fine. I just want to cuddle”, he admits with a sigh, relaxing into the hold, the pillow he’d been spooning now forgotten about as he had the real thing instead, finding comfort instantly. In this position, you could hold him close and do the same actions as before, stroking gently up and down his back whilst also playing with his hair.

You want to tell him that you knew who the letter was from, but he seemed content with being held instead for a couple of minutes until you felt dampness seeping across the column of your neck and down your chest as his shoulders began to shake once more.

“Sirius-?”

“It was from my parents. The letter, I mean. Fuck! I don’t know, it's so stupid.” he sits up abruptly, aggressively wiping away the leaked tears he’d been desperately trying to stop.

Sitting beside him, you rubbed his shoulders while trying to calm him down from his overwhelming emotions. “It’s not stupid, my love.” As you talk, you grip his twists to pull them away so he can look into your face and hopefully see the love there. “Your parents, they’re awful people, Sirius, and anyway, you’re perfectly within your right to show emotions every once in a while; I just need you to know that I’m here for you, we’re all here for you, no matter how you are feeling. It’ll be ok”.

Even though it was comforting for him to hear the words, it still seemed to break something within him. Like a crack had formed in the dam as he relented with his cries, openly sobbing into his hands. Whilst trying to swallow the lump that had developed in your throat, you pulled him close, kissing every part of him that you could reach whilst wiping away the cascading tears.

“You don’t have to tell me what was said in the letter, but I just need you to know that they’re not your real family; you know we’re all your family”. Sirius pulls back from the hug, and your bottom lip trembles at seeing how heartbroken he looks. The area around his eyes is swollen and red to match the shade at the tip of his nose as wetness covers the length of his cheeks.

His mouth opens to say something, but he’s interrupted by the door opening and James and Remus stepping into the bedroom. The two men pause, not expecting to find either you or Sirius here, but as they see the sadness and pain on Sirius’s face, they immediately drop their school bags.

“You missed it”, Sirius chuckled, trying to hide his upset behind humour, “She called me an emotional prick, and the waterworks started”. James and Remus gave him sad smiles, but neither fell for the attempt to change the subject as both sat either side of him on the bed. Remus reached for him first, stroking his scarred fingers through the strands of dark hair that had fallen over Sirius’ face, but only so he could kiss the area beneath. Sirius closed his eyes at the touch and leaned into it, releasing a deep sigh through his open mouth.

James grabbed each of his hands, lifting them to his lips to kiss the palms lovingly and rest them on either side of his cheeks, nuzzling into his hands. “Whatever is going on, you know we’re always here for you, Sirius”, James mutters against the palms on his face.

Sirius sighs even heavier as if trying to will the anxiety away through the breaths. “It’s my parents. I mean, should I even call them parents when they’ve already disowned me? But they’ve just sent me more threats today after what happened with Regulus yesterday. They say things like I should have let him win and wish that I had been hurt.”

He takes a moment to compose himself as you grab one of his hands from James, needing to link your fingers together and squeeze to know that it is a safe place for him to continue and talk. Sirius looked into his lap as he spoke, “They’ve burnt my face off the Black family tree. Not that I care; I expected it, but it just all feels so real now, you know? I feel like I shouldn’t even be using the surname Black with how much they detest me. I also kind of expected Regulus to have my back a little bit, but he’s young; I can’t expect that from him, especially as I know what my parents are like, but he doesn’t even say hi to me in the corridors anymore. I don’t know. I guess I’m just a little all over the place, and with the positivity yesterday, just to have my family metaphorically kick me to the curb again, I should have expected the joy wouldn’t last long”.

Sirius sounded empty and emotionless as he expressed how he was genuinely feeling, struggling to come to terms with the repercussions of the events that occurred with his family that continue to affect him.

“Fuck them”, James says with all the venom and confidence that he could muster. Sirius grunts half-heartedly at the declaration, not seemingly convinced, so James turns his face towards him so that he is looking into the stormy hazel eyes. “I’m being serious, fuck them. You’ve been my family for years now; you know my parents consider you their son as much as I am. Nothing has changed. You live with me and my parents because that is your home. Wherever any of us go is your home because we love you. We wouldn’t make you feel half as rotten as those scumbags, do you understand?”

Sirius nods, swallowing thickly, causing his Adam’s apple to bob. Before he can respond, Remus once again holds onto his face, turning him in the other direction to look at the calmest Marauder. “Sirius, next time you receive a letter from them, don’t open it. They are cruel humans who have no love for anyone but themselves and the prejudices that they live by. You had so much joy and love in your heart; don’t let them destroy you and ruin everything you cherish. And that is exactly what James has said. You’re our family. We’re each other's family. You’re ours, just like you’re mine. Get it?”

Sirius’ eyes have dried as he looks up at Remus, and briefly, a genuine smile welcomes across his face as he leans in to kiss him deeply but then pulls back.

Squeezing his hand, you draw his attention towards you. “You deserve the surname Black more than anyone because it’s what makes you, you—breaking the stereotypes of those evil people and making it mean something that doesn't symbolise hatred. However, if you want to have another surname, you can! Sirius, you’re your own person, and your surname doesn’t define you. You could even make up a whole new name! Maybe you could have one of our surnames”, Sirius laughs at the possibility of a name change. “I love you so much. Your family's opinions of you aren’t how anyone else in the castle sees you. You’re perfect the way you are, Mr Black”.

You couldn’t wait any more time to kiss him, needing to feel his lips against yours and reassure him further with these intimate touches.  Thankfully, to your pounding heart, he smiles into the kiss.

“Maybe we could put all of our surnames together”, he jokes as you move to kiss each of his cheeks. 

“If that’s what you want, I’d do it”, you reassure him with a kiss on his temple.

“Almost sounds like a proposal”, he casually mentions, causing your heartbeat to increase rapidly. Sirius smirks at your face but reassures, “Maybe we’ll sort out surnames once we’ve finished our exams”. You press your lips against his once more for reassurance until he looks between the three of you. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do if it weren’t for you three. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed before coming to Hogwarts, let alone feel love like this”.

Remus could see the tears pooling along Sirius’ lashline, so he gently cupped the side of his head, wiping away any that fell. “No more tears for them”. The gap between their lips was closed as Remus kissed him passionately, holding the back of his head carefully as they breathed each other in.

Sirius’ head dips slightly, but only to whisper against the man’s lips, “Can you make me forget? Please?”

“I’ll do whatever you want me to do, Sirius”. Remus kisses him again but with more urgency, pushing his body back until Sirius is lying in the centre of the bed with the taller Marauder hovering above him. Their mouths moved together as one, tongues twirling together, heads tilting one way and then the other.

As Remus distracts and devours him with his mouth, Sirius’ hands move around the back of his head, holding him close, which gives James the freedom to move his hands to Sirius’ shirt. With a simple flick of his fingers, James could undo the buttons down the centre of his chest, releasing the toned chest and abdomen of the man whose legs you were sitting between.

You watched with the sadness seeping away and becoming replaced with arousal as James leaned over and licked the nipples of the man who moaned into Remus’ mouth. James was calculated with his movements, making sure to leave teasing licks and bites over the areas that Sirius was most sensitive whilst then worshipping the perked nipples on his chest, his hands caressing the areas where fine dark hair was beginning to grow back from being previous shaved, mainly the snail trail leading beneath his trousers.

Smiling whilst watching them all move together, you were gifted the view of watching the tightness forming in his trousers as his cock grew hard and thick. Without any rush and admiring the desperate moans coming from the man on his back, you began to stroke up his thighs, over his crotch and pausing over his zipper.

Undoing it slowly, you waited to see if Sirius was even aware of what you were doing as he was so distracted with James and  Remus. However, with the sudden lift of his hips to help you pull the material down his hips, you knew he was very much aware of your intentions.

Freeing his cock from the restraint of his trousers and boxers, you watched as Sirius lowered his hips back onto the bed, and his member now throbbed on his abdomen, thick and hard. A pearly drip of precum had already formed at the tip, and you were quick to hold the base, lifting the cock until your lips were wrapped around him.

Your movements continue to be gentle and soft. Licking and sucking without any rush to build the tension and hopefully show how much you worship the ground he walks on by paying particular attention to him when he needs it most. James continues to tweak his nipples, and Remus devours his mouth, absorbing every little moan until Sirius needs to pull back to suck in air.

“Fuck, you’re all- Fuck!” Remus distracts him with his mouth once more, dominating him entirely and causing more whimpers to burst from his chest. The veiny length that was being leisurely sucked in your mouth began to harden further, throbbing as you knew he was approaching closer to his orgasm as your hands fondled his balls.

“So good for us, aren’t you, Sirius? Say it, tell us you’re ours”, James demands, pulling on the back of Remus’ hair so that Sirius can tell the group how he is feeling.

“Yes! I’m yours, I’m all of yours! I’m cumming, holy shit!” he shouts out desperately, face scrunching up like he is in pain but is actually experiencing the opposite as overwhelming pleasure pooled in his abdomen.

You moan around his cock, causing it to vibrate slightly against your tongue as his hot seed begins to coat your throat. You swallow every salty, thick liquid drop until you’re popping off and looking up at his half-lidded, satisfied grin.

James and Remus give you room to crawl up his body to kiss him sweetly. The three of you watch and admire as he comes down from the high, carefully tucking his half-hard cock back into his trousers and doing up the zipper once more.

“Thank Merlin that we have no classes this afternoon”, Sirius jokes as he rests back on the pillows with his arm behind his head. You laugh and collapse onto his chest, hugging him closely as the four of you sit in comfortable silence. You listened to the thump of his heart beneath your ear, but after a while, it increased in speed as he became restless.

“Can I tell you all a secret? I’ve um… I’ve kept all of the threatening letters they’ve sent to me, " Sirius admits as he carefully pulls out of the hug to climb out of bed and dig his way through the suitcase with his name on the side. From within, he pulls out a large stack of letters that are all opened and in the same shade of emerald as the one earlier this morning.

“You kept them all? Oh, Sirius”, you say in shock, only guessing what horrible, hateful words are written on those pieces of paper.

Sirius awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed, “Yeah. I don’t know why. Some weird part of me thought that if I burned them all, they would know and come to the school or something. But, I want to get rid of them if you’ll all help me?”

Neither of you have to answer as you climb out of the bed. After dressing appropriately, the four of you walked down to the lake, where Remus carved a hole into the soil. Sirius chucks the letters within as you all form a semi-circle.

Holding onto his left hand, Sirius raised his wand to the right, pointing it towards the letters and shouting ‘Incendio’. The four of you stand together as the letters burn. Sirius sighs shakily as he holds back tears. “It’s weird. I know people say it’s like a weight off your shoulders, but it genuinely does feel like that”.

“That’s because you’re free, Padfoot!” James shouts enthusiastically, grabbing the boy around the waist and lifting him into the air, hollering and whooping until Sirius laughs. The two crash to the ground as Remus throws his arm around your shoulders, watching the pair finally have some fun today as the smoke billows into the air surrounding you, the ash from those horrible words written on the paper disappearing across the Scottish mountains.

[c0smopolitan]

I only have eyes for you

A/n: this feels really rushed, but I wanna make this a small mini series full of little blurbs with James and reader, this is a blurb! lmk if you guys more of this. This is set in the Bridgerton era (regency era) and was inspired by that. Only proofread once and will be read again later today. This is all. Thanks!

Summary: James asks you to dance with him, he confesses something during the dance that leaves you reeling.

Warnings: noneeeee just fluff, Blurb!, Y/n and L/n are used, Bridgerton Au, James Potter x f!reader.

“Would you like to dance?” You look at James in shock as he holds his hand out to you, a sweet smile gracing his face. “Sure.” You say, suddenly out of breath.

You hand James your dance card, and he scribbles his name hastily on it before grabbing your hand leading you to the dance floor.

His smile grows as his warm hands engulf your cold ones. He maneuvers you two to the middle of the dance floor before the music starts.

Your dance begins with the waltz and he suddenly tugs at your hands, pulling you against him just enough not to be considered scandalous. “You look beautiful tonight.” He whispers softly into your ear.

Your cheeks turn a light shade of pink, and he smiles at your sudden shyness. “When have you ever been shy Lady L/n?”

You scoff and roll your eyes jokingly, pink still tinting your cheeks. “Why are you deciding to be so bold all of a sudden?” You tease, deciding to ignore his previous question with another one. He looks at you sheepishly.

“I don’t know my lady. But it’s the truth.” His posture visibly straightens and he looks straight into your eyes, full of certainty.

“Now and every other time I’ve seen you, whether it had been while I was watching you in the drawing room, or while we were just having a dance. You were beautiful.” He looks at you with a look you’d never seen before. “You are beautiful.”

His answer leaves you stunned.

Before you could answer back, however, he grabs your waist and lifts you up, spinning you in circles like the other people on the dance floor currently were. You yelp at the sudden contact after being completely floored by his confession. You quickly grabbed on to his shoulder for leverage, already cringing at the dirty looks you were getting from the people of the ton.

He puts you down as the song comes to an end and faces you, giving you a small smirk before gently grabbing your hand and placing a gentle kiss on it. “My lady.” He murmured, bowing down before walking away.

You stand there flustered, continuing to stare at James as maneuvers through the sea of people beginning to shuffle out of the area for the next dance.

You feel a slight tug on your arm, snapping out of the daze James left you in. “What are you doing? A new song is about to start.” Lily scolds you, pulling you away from the dance floor and setting you off to the side. You look back to stare at James, feeling your stomach flutter as he laughs with his group of friends across the ballroom.

“What are you even staring at?” She sees you staring intently at something, following your line of sight all the way across the room she’s met with the sight of James talking animatedly to Sirius.

“Jesus.” She sighs, rolling her eyes with a small smile on her face as she sees you practically drooling at the sight of him.

“That boy is trouble you know.” She warns.

Her voice slightly startled you, bringing you back to reality as you stole one final glance at James before turning to face her. “Did you say something Lily?” She snorts and shakes her head.

“No,” she says looking at followed by the area next to you with grimace. “But Lord Burberry is about to.” Your head snaps up towards Lily’s line of sight, Lord Burberry was coming your way. “Have fun.” She says cringing slightly, making her way to Marlene, your shared friend.

You open your mouth in protest, but before you could say anything, Lord Burberry was stood right in-front of you with his hand out. “Care for a dance my Lady?”

[unfriendlywriter]

Chapter 1: The Last Carriage

pairing: Fred Weasley x OC synopsis: Esther Black, a Slytherin burdened by her family’s dark legacy, is known as “Jinxed Black” for the trouble that seems to follow her. In her fifth year, she finds unexpected comfort—and love—in Fred Weasley, one half of Hogwarts’ mischievous prankster duo. When news breaks of her uncle Sirius Black’s escape from Azkaban, Esther begins unraveling secrets about her family’s past, uncovering a truth that could change everything. Torn between house loyalties, forbidden love, and the courage to stand for what’s right, Esther must defy expectations to forge her own path. tags: romantic, comedy, enemies to lovers, slow burn, angst author's note: my inner 13 year old screams NEXT CHAPTER

Platform 9¾ buzzed with its usual mix of excitement and chaos, as families embraced for final goodbyes and friends reunited after summer spent apart. Steam curled around ankles and rose in twisting columns, catching the golden light of the morning sun and making the whole scene shimmer like a dream—or a memory. Parents called out last-minute instructions. Owls hooted in protest from their cages. Trunks thudded as they were hoisted aboard the scarlet train waiting patiently beside the platform.

Esther Black stood slightly apart from it all, leaning casually against her trolley. Her long black hair, straight and sleek, fell like a curtain around her shoulders, and her sharp grey eyes scanned the crowd with a practiced detachment. She wore the expression of someone who had seen it all before and wasn’t particularly impressed. The familiar Slytherin smirk tugged at her lips—habitual, more than anything—but her heart wasn’t in it today. Not really.

She kept her gaze trained on the crowd, ignoring the sting of soot in the air and the way her jumper clung uncomfortably to her skin in the rising heat. She was looking—no, waiting—for a head of flaming red hair to appear. Not that she cared. Not that she was hoping to see Fred Weasley. Absolutely not.

She straightened when the train’s whistle blew, sharp and urgent. A new year was about to begin.

With a sigh that only she could hear, Esther adjusted her grip on her trunk and began the well-trodden walk toward the train. The Hogwarts Express loomed before her, its scarlet exterior polished to perfection, the golden lettering catching the light like fire. It always looked more majestic in memory than in reality—but it still had a certain charm.

Esther clambered aboard, dragging her heavy trunk behind her and dodging a group of loud third-years who had clearly missed one another terribly. She tried not to let her irritation show. The compartments were already filling fast, and as she walked the corridor, peering through foggy windows, she began to suspect she’d have to share a space with someone annoying. Probably several someones.

She passed one full of giggling Ravenclaws, another crowded with a Hufflepuff card game, and yet another with a pair of Slytherin first-years struggling to wrestle a trunk onto the overhead rack. With each compartment, her options dwindled. Until, finally, she reached near the back of the train.

There, tucked away in a quiet corner, was a compartment with just one occupant—a man slumped against the window, snoring softly. His robes were patched and worn, and his face bore the unmistakable signs of fatigue, though there was something kind in the lines of it. Esther hesitated. It felt wrong to intrude, but she wasn’t about to ride five hours standing in the corridor.

She slid the door open gently, careful not to wake him, and settled into the opposite seat by the window. Her trunk thudded softly to the floor, and she sank into the cushions with a muted exhale. From her bag she pulled a battered, dog-eared copy of A History of Dark Artifacts: Curses, Creators, and Cautionary Tales. The title alone had a way of discouraging conversation. That was intentional.

For a few blessed minutes, all was quiet—just the soft rhythm of the train beginning to move, the occasional puff of steam, and the gentle creaking of the rails beneath them.

Then the compartment door slid open again.

Esther didn’t look up, already bracing herself for the intrusion. She heard the voices first.

"Uh, do you mind if we sit here?" Hermione Granger’s voice was as polite as ever, though a note of hesitation crept into her tone.

Esther lowered her book slightly, her grey eyes flicking up. She saw the trio standing there—Harry Potter with his eternally messy hair, Ron Weasley scowling half-heartedly, and Hermione clutching her bag to her chest like a lifeline. Esther caught the flicker in Hermione’s eyes when they landed on the green trim of her robes.

“Go ahead,” Esther said, her tone smooth and disinterested. She didn’t wait for a response, already retreating behind the safety of her book.

The trio settled in across from her, whispering in those hushed, half-secretive tones that were somehow even more obvious than full-blown gossip. She tried to tune them out—until she heard her name.

“Who is she?” Harry asked in a low murmur.

“Esther Black,” Hermione replied, barely above a whisper. “She’s in Slytherin. Her family—well, they’ve got a bit of a reputation.”

“A bad one,” Ron added quickly. “Bet she’s another Death Eater in training.”

Esther’s fingers curled tightly around the edge of her book, her nails pressing into the worn leather. She stared hard at the page but didn’t absorb a single word. Her jaw clenched. She could let it go. She should let it go.

But then Hermione said, a little too quickly, “She’s not like the others—”

“She’s a Black,” Ron cut in. “Can’t be that different.”

That was it.

She slammed her book shut, the sound echoing like a thunderclap in the small compartment. All three of them jumped. Esther leaned forward slowly, her grey eyes cold as steel, pinning them in place.

“You know,” she said icily, “it’s bad form to talk about someone when they’re right in front of you.”

Ron turned bright red. Hermione looked like she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole. Harry scratched the back of his head awkwardly, muttering something unintelligible.

“And for the record,” Esther continued, her voice sharp as a blade, “not every Slytherin is a Death Eater. But you lot wouldn’t know that, would you? Too busy passing judgment on people you know nothing about.”

Silence fell like a dropped curtain.

Esther leaned back in her seat, lifting her book once more, her smirk returning with a quiet, vindicated satisfaction. “Glad we cleared that up.”

A loud snore broke the tension like a crack in glass. All four turned to look at the man by the window, who shifted slightly, still deeply asleep. Esther’s eyes caught the name stitched in faded gold on the side of his worn suitcase.

Professor R. J. Lupin.

“Who do you reckon he is?” Ron asked after a pause.

“Looks like our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher,” Hermione whispered.

Ron groaned. “Great. Another odd one.”

Esther rolled her eyes but kept her comments to herself. She cracked her book open again with exaggerated indifference, pretending to be far too immersed to care. But behind the pages, her thoughts were a storm of irritation, curiosity, and the creeping dread of what the year might bring.

The hours passed slowly, filled with muted conversation and the occasional knock on the compartment door from the trolley witch or students looking for seats. Esther mostly stayed quiet, aside from a sarcastic comment or two when Ron tried to offer his opinion on Hogwarts ghosts. She did notice, however, that Hermione glanced her way more than once, as if puzzling out a riddle she hadn’t quite solved.

As the landscape outside grew darker, the train began to slow. Esther barely registered it at first. She was staring out the window, her breath fogging the glass. But then the air changed.

The lights flickered.

A cold, creeping chill spilled into the compartment, coiling around their legs and settling in their chests like fog. Esther felt her heart rate spike. The warmth drained from her fingers, from her spine, from her very breath.

Brakes squealed as the train lurched to a stop.

“Something’s wrong,” Harry said, his voice barely above a whisper.

The door slid open.

What stood there wasn’t human. A hooded figure, tall and gaunt, floated in the doorway. Its skeletal hand stretched forward, bony and grey, as though reaching for their very souls. Esther’s breath caught in her throat. A crushing despair filled her lungs. Her mind spun, and all she could think was no, no, not again—

Then—

Light.

A flash of brilliant silver erupted from Lupin’s wand, striking the creature with a burst of warmth. It shrieked—though maybe that was just in her head—and vanished into the hallway.

Professor Lupin stirred more fully. He shifted in his seat, brushing back his greying hair and tucking his wand away into his worn robes. Though he looked tired, there was something alert and steady about him now—like he'd been half-listening the entire time.

His eyes swept the compartment, lingering briefly on each face.

“Everyone all right?” he asked quietly.

Harry gave a stiff nod. Ron mumbled, “Yeah,” though his face was still pale. Hermione glanced worriedly at Harry, then added, “Better now. Thank you, Professor.”

Esther hesitated, then gave a curt nod of her own. “Fine,” she said.

Professor Lupin turned slightly toward her. “You kept your head,” he said simply. “That’s not easy, especially when facing a Dementor.”

Esther didn’t respond right away. She didn’t know what to say. Compliments always felt like traps.

“I’ve seen worse,” she muttered eventually, her voice almost lost beneath the rumble of the slowing train.

Lupin studied her, but didn’t push. “Still. That kind of magic affects everyone. Even those who’ve seen worse.”

He pulled a small bar of chocolate from his coat pocket and broke off a square, handing it to her. “Here. It helps.”

Esther took it wordlessly, her fingers brushing his for just a moment. The chocolate was warm from his coat, and for some reason, that made it harder to ignore the hollow ache the Dementor had left behind.

“Professor,” Hermione said softly, “why did it come onto the train? Aren’t they supposed to stay by the school?”

“They were searching,” Lupin said. “For Sirius Black.”

Ron let out a low whistle. “Great,” he muttered. “That explains the welcoming committee.”

Lupin gave him a tired smile. “Dementors aren’t interested in manners. They sense fear, pain, and despair—and they’ll take any opportunity to feed on it. They don’t distinguish between a criminal and a child.”

Harry looked down. His hands were still trembling slightly.

Lupin noticed, but said nothing.

Instead, his eyes returned to Esther. “You’ll all be learning about them properly this year in Defense. How to defend yourselves. But remember—chocolate only helps with the aftereffects. Not the Dementors themselves.”

Esther raised an eyebrow. “And what does?”

“A very advanced charm,” Lupin said. “The Patronus.”

Esther leaned back slightly, tucking the chocolate into her cloak pocket for later. “Sounds like the kind of thing they should’ve taught us sooner.”

Lupin didn’t argue. “Perhaps they should have,” he said quietly.

The train gave a final lurch, steam billowing past the window as it settled into Hogsmeade Station. Outside, lanterns glowed against the thickening dusk, and students were already pouring out onto the platform.

Esther rose, dragging her trunk down from the overhead rack. As she did, she caught Lupin’s eye one last time.

He gave her a small, knowing nod.

For some reason, it stayed with her longer than the cold ever did.

The train screeched to a halt at Hogsmeade. Esther stood stiffly, still pale. As they disembarked, voices rose in greeting and farewell all around them. Through the crowd, she spotted him.

Fred Weasley.

His stupid grin. His wave—too enthusiastic, too familiar.

“Welcome back, Jinxed Black!” he called, beaming.

Esther rolled her eyes. But the corner of her lips twitched—just slightly.

The year had begun, and already it was too much. But somehow, she had the strangest feeling it was only going to get worse.

Or better.

Depending on who you asked.

[sparklingmusicofstars]

Hamefura theory : Catarina's ability to see the future in her dreams

As I said before, I think this part of the plot will come back at some point since it plays an important role in the movie novel.

When did we hear of it ?

It was mentionned for the first time in LN2 but really vaguely when Catarina figured out Raphael's real name out of the blue and Maria's location. (And also found out that Sirius was the culprit) I don't know if it counts as such but in LN4 she heard Keith crying her name in a dream when Sarah used her spell on him. (Had they been blood-related siblings there would have maybe be some kind of logic but it wasn't even the case) She also saw him as child crying in his room while being swallowed up by darkness and he couldn't hear her screaming for him, which was pretty much what was actually happening to him in reality. (As we can see in the anime). It came back in LN6, LN7, LN8, LN10 and LN11 when she had dreams about FL2. As we can see there is almost no volume when this capacity doesn't come back. But it started becoming very important in the plot since LN12 when the characters finally started to really looking into it.

What are the conditions to have those dreams ?

We saw that Catarina doesn't have a dream whenever she wants because she really tried in LN6 to get informations but she wasn't able to. The place isn't important too nor the time of the day. So my theory is that someone or "something" makes Catarina fainting or feel very sleepy whenever she needs to have informations for something important that will happen in the future. I feel like comparing the current setting of the plot as some kind of play or drama, like that "someone" is trying to make all the characters following a script. For example despite Catarina's best efforts she still ended up getting the Dark convenant, the wand and Pochi although in an obviously completely different way that in the original game. Or the dark magic organization attacking Maria at the same time as in the game.

How are those dreams mentionned in the plot ?

For the first time in the movie novel someone finally started asking about those dreams, Aaqil. But it wasn't so strange to him because Catarina lied by telling him it was "normal" magic in Sorcier and since he didn't know much about it he wasn't very suspicious about it. What surprises me it that Catarina even gave it an official name "the ability to see the future in her dreams". In reality we know that it's not really like that, at least not exactly but quite close. After all she even has dreams about FL2 while she never played the game, and at the right moment. And we saw that the harem hasn't forgotten about that because they mentionned the way Catarina solved the case at the Academy just after waking up.

I think we shouldn't overlook this "power" just because it was only really brought up in the movie novel because we all know that being able to see the future in one's dreams is a very valuable ability so if someone other than Aaqil were to learn about that it could be very dangerous for Catarina. And after all the times she always seemed to know what would happen and was often right I think they have enough proofs to believe her. So I'm pretty sure that if Catarina tell her friends that she can see the future in her dreams they will most likely believe her, moreover they know that Catarina never lie anyway.

FL!Catarina was arrested in FL2 so it means that she was considered at the same level as the thugs who were just hired and didn't know anything, by the organization. Which is very strange because given that FL!Catarina wasn't working for them but just for her revenge why did they go through the trouble of teaching her how to use her black magic (and probably also ancient script) just to toss her aside when she did a mistake, to us she looked like she was approximately at the same level as Sarah in the current timeline. Not to mention FL!Catarina also had the powerful Dark Convenant and she is the only one who can read it, so why did they let her be arrested ? Was it to make FL!Catarina taking responsability for all their crimes by making Sorcier believe that she did all of them by herself ?

Sheer luck or a strange power ?

I thought it was really strange that nobody seemed to be "really" shocked (though it's really incredible). For example, in Maria's case, it couldn't have been by sheer luck that she found this place because, first Catarina knew exactly where it was and led them here, and also because there was a secret door in the storage room and Catarina went immediately for the secret button to open it (at least in the manga) And for Raphael's name, knowing there must exist more than billions of names for boys, it's just impossible that Catarina "just happened to find the right one" and she also said it very confidently like she was very sure of it (and we know she was). No matter how you look at it it's just very strange. So why didn't anybody ask her about that ? In Raphael's case maybe it was the shock of hearing suddenly someone call him by his real name that made him forget about it but the others it's another story. Raphael also guessed that the harem went to this place after investigating things with Catarina's testimony but we all know it wasn't the case. Another thing, Catarina asked completely out of the blue if "Sirius" was the culprit who kidnapped Maria and had dark magic in front of him while nobody was suspecting him, not even Geordo who is good at reading others' true intentions. And even after all of that nobody ever seemed to really think deeply about it.

Conclusion :

I think Catarina's ability will come back soon and be very important part of the plot because if the dark magic organization were to learn about that she will have a lot o more trouble since it would make her a much more valuable individual than anyone in this world. And I think the moment this ability will be brought to the light again Aaqil may most likely come back to help. Because we all guessed that Aaqil will come back most likely for an event to help everyone and not just at some minor moment out of the blue.

[the-ghost-of-asselus-cancri]

"special gift"

fandom: arcana twilight

characters: summoner (mc) x sirius)

you were wide awake in the middle of the night, too anxious to go back to sleep, yet too tired and exhausted to take a walk in the park behind the mansion to clear your head of any troubling thoughts, buzzing like a cluster of unruly bees in your clouded consciousness.

the image of badly wounded sirius painfully stuck in your tired mind: his black, shimmering hair, usually gracefully styled, now a distorted mess, pieces of his clothes sizzling away from magical burns and his body covered in sharp, deep cuts, scarlet blood and many bruises. a horrible realization suddenly strikes you: spica would actually end his life right then and there, if it weren't for alpheratz's messed up mana flow making him faint in the middle of a fight, practically saving the opposing sorcerer from any repercussions or death itself.

a conflicted mess of emotions, like an overflowing river, made you shiver, as you took a ring, a small gift from sirius from the better times back then, and twiddled with it, the bright stone reminiscent of his ever changing eyes, mysteriously shining in the moon light. you wondered how sirius faired in this trying times: was he alone in this plan, healing his injuries by himself, or were there other ones in on it, scheming behind the shsdows? you put in on your finger, cold metal unpleasanttly grounding you back in reality, yet making you feel nostalgic despite everything that happened.

you opened your stella tab and decided to see if another one of his burner magical tabs was on. since sirius was wanted by the law, it was almost an every day occurrence that he changed his number constantly, his old stella tab presumably broken, as to avoid any possible meanings of easy traction. he admitted jokingly that sending you pigeon letters would be a better, safer alternative, and you almost suggested doing just that, until he laughed out loud at your determined expression in response to a half hearted sarcastic one liner.

"hey, you up?" you learnt not to question sirius about whatever this oath of his was, because somewhere deep inside you knew that he would never give you a proper answer, until the right time comes around.

"you shouldn't be up this late, summoner. is something bothering you?" you smiled, though it was bitter sweet, and wanted to type out "yes, you" but restrained yourself, not wanting this conversation to become an another pointless interrogation.

"what's with the stone in the ring you've given me?"

"it doesn't suit your taste in jewelry?"

"no, it's not that! does it have any meaning behind it?"

"oh, so the summoner wants my gift to be special, huh? never took you as a sentimental person."

"stop teasing me, sirius! just answer the question, or I'm going back to sleep"

"sorry, sorry, my fault, I shall tease you no more. in fact, I'm glad you asked, since this particular stone, opal, does, in fact, have a special meaning. it's my birthstone, would you believe it? it usually represents hope and, well, good karma, though I don't think these qualities suit me very well, you, on the other hand... you're like a guiding light to me, summoner, and i hope you will shine blidingly for me until the very end"

"is this one of your plays again?"

"so you think a man on the run has nothing better to do than to write a dramatic play? I'm just kidding, though I meant it, summoner, every word. this text conversation is making me miss you. I'm sorry it had to turn out this way, I really am. please stay away from the other towers, reject spica's insane ideas, if you must. stay safe, (_) "

"you too, sirius"

"I miss you"

"I know"

[myashifts]

marauders dr -

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

ABOUT ME -

Name - Euphemia "Mia" Jade Potter

Birthday - 4th February 1961

Gender + Pronouns - Female, she/her

Family - Euphemia Potter (mother), Fleamont Potter (father), James Potter (older brother)

Species - Metamorphagus

House - Ravenclaw

Patronus - Ginger Cat

Wand - Acacia wood with a phoenix core, 12 1/2", quite bendy flexibility

Occupation - Student at Hogwarts Uni, photographer/reporter for the school newspaper

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

Best Friends

Caroline Forbes, Robin Buckley and Steve Harrington are all scripted into this reality as childhood friends. Love them all lots.

Pandora Floquet is an absolute angel in human form, we share a dorm with Caroline and Robin. We get along so well through our love of crystals and magical creatures. The amount of times we have to stop her from adopting animals is insane, it's shocking our dorm isn't a zoo tbh.

Marlene Mckinnon is someone who I get compared to quite alot in most realities. Call us twin flames or long lost souls. But we are extremely similar. We love the same music, the same style in clothes and we overall may as well be the same person and because of this we get along so well. She's absolutely the coolest person I know.

Barty Crouch Jr as you can see I'm closer with the slytherins but hey they're awesome. B and I are very close as we are both constantly looking for trouble and love being absolute menaces. But one of my favourite things about him is his loyalty and his small acts. If I wanna be left alone, he's the type to come sit with me in silence just to show he's there. I absolutely adore this man.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

Boyfriend -

Regulus Black the biggest pain in my ass since 2020. We've been together and then not and now we're back again. Apparently this dr cannot let me be so I gave in and here we are. Heard stories from Sirius luckily I'm not one to believe rumours and we somehow managed to get along despite our differences (he's a posh guarded dude and I'm complete opposite). After a long ass time of denial and crappy communication we're here and we're vibing.

Tropes - Ravenclaw x Slytherin, on and off again, forbidden/secret relationship, kinda friends to lovers, bad communication, definitely slowburn, black cat bf x ginger cat gf, yapper gf x listener bf, music gf x reader bf, fire x ice, opposites attract.

Mini Playlist -

je te laisserai des mots - Patrick Watson

Snow On The Beach - Taylor Swift ft Lana Del Ray

Achilles Come Down - Gang Of Youths

Stargazing - The Neighbourhood

About You - The 1975

End Game - Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Future

Why - Sabrina Carpenter

Photograph - Ed Sheeran

imgonnagetyouback - Taylor Swift

Why Do You Only Call Me When You're High - Arctic Monkeys

Fine Line - Harry Styles

Cinnamon Girl - Lana Del Ray

bad idea right? - Olivia Rodrigo

Still Into You - Paramore

This Love - Taylor Swift

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

[wolvesandshine]

I think the most tragic part about the black brothers is that regulus blames Sirius for finding a support system and leaving him to have to chance to finally live while sirius blames regulus for always trying to be the good son and not standing up for him so that he doesn’t get in trouble when in reality both of them are just kids trying to survive and the only ones to blames are their parents

[hyacintheros]

Brand New City

3. Starman

|| (Marauders Era Characters x Fem!Reader)

Series Masterlist Previous Chapter

Pairing: Marauders Era Characters x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Rude James

Word Count: 2k

P.S: Sorry it took so long, I was a little busy, but I am back! Please enjoy doves c:

“Hey- are these seats taken?” Y/N flits her gaze to the boy in front of her, chocolate cream eyes fluttered at her with hazel lashes glistening from the sun projecting onto his face.

She’s a little confused, as the area of the library she's seated herself at is practically stuffed at the back, near the restricted section.

“No, not at all. You're looking for extra chairs, right?” The boy next to him lets out a muffled chuckle, his midnight curls swirling as he speaks animatedly. “We meant if we could study with you, doll? S'that alright?”

The girl flushes, not realising that they wanted to sit with her, assuming they were just taking some chairs. “Oh! So sorry, yeah of course.” She lets out an embarrassed laugh.

The two boys smile at her, unpacking their things onto the table. “‘D’you hear what happened in McGonagall's class yesterday? Some bloke turned his desk mate into a teapot instead of the spider!” Sirius says, trying to keep quiet as Madam Pince was on his case not too long ago.

“No way! Would have loved to be in that class” Y/N laughs, amused at the story. Remus smiles and shakes his head imagining it, refocusing on his textbook.

“Y/N, could I borrow some ink?” The hazel-haired boy asks. They've fallen into a routine over the last couple of days, Remus forgetting his inkpot during class and always sharing with the girl.

“I've got different colours today! Black, Blue, Red, and Green.. which would you like?” Remus looks at her with a shine in his eyes.

“Could I borrow the red one please?” She hands the boy the red-coloured pot. He dips his feathery quill and starts taking notes, excited at the new colour rather than boring black.

Sirius, also intrigued by the different colours, pipes up. “Is it alright if I could try the green one?” The girl gives him a smile, sliding over the green ink for him.

“Woah! This is so fun, where'd you get these? They only sell black at Diagon Alley!” Sirius asks, hoping to snag a few for himself.

“I got them at a stationary store in London when I got my letter, thought they looked really fun!” The muggle girl says to him, happy that they found her oddly mundane inkpots fascinating.

Both boys hum in acceptance, facing back to their work and making small talk here and there. Remus, halfway through studying, pulls out a muggle book, The Silence of the Lambs.

“Sorry Remus, but is that book the one about Hannibal Lecter?” Remus gives her a cheeky grin, always being a sucker for muggle storytelling.

Sirius at this point in time, has given up on studying, instead putting great effort in making little paper doves. As he folds the wings, a pat on his shoulder brings him back to reality.

“What are you lot doing hanging out with her? Don't you see her robe? Come on, we've got better things to be doing than hanging out with a snake.” James, the boy Lily was always hanging around, said to Remus and Sirius.

“Don't you worry, I'll be on my way.” She says coldly, finally understanding why he was so cold to her. She packs her books in an instant and leaves with a stomp in her step. “Y/N, your inkpots!” Sirius calls after her, being held back by James.

---♡---

‘Why would Lily hang out with a foul git like that?’ She asks herself, unsure if Lily even knows of his attitude. She bursts into the common room, the coolness of the dungeon and the view of the Black Lake sending her a wave of serenity.

“Darling? What's going on?” Narcissa, who was reading in the common room, asked. Lucius, who was sitting next to her on the love seat looking back at Y/N, instantly knew it had something to do with a few Gryffindor boys.

“Your red lions giving you trouble, dear?” He snickers, Narcissa smacks his shoulder, hushing him. Y/N gives him a sarcastic laugh, glaring at him.

“Shut up, Luci!” She picks up a decorative pillow from the couch and chucks it at him. Narcissa giggles at this.

“Let's go to the Great Hall, I'm starving.” She lets out a sigh, tired and hungry from all the studying, having skipped lunch because she was too busy writing a paper for History of Magic.

Narcissa loops her left arm into Lucius’, then loops her right into Y/N's, telling her fiance and friend about the Hufflepuff girl who was being annoying in potions today.

Lucius, ever the drama queen, was gasping and gossiping along with Narcissa. Y/N was just bouncing around as they walked, happy to be out of the library.

“I hope they serve roasted potatoes” Narcissa says as they enter the Great Hall, taking their seats at the Slytherin table. Tucking themselves in, everyone grabs a generous portion of the delicious food that surrounds them.

While she eats, a pair of eyes, or three, stabs into her back. Signalling Lucius, who sat in front of her, he peaks over her shoulder, giving a sneer then looking back at her.

“That red-haired cousin of yours and your lover lions” Lucius snickers, earning a glare from Y/N. “Finish your food before I finish you.” She says, then continues conversation with a Slytherin next to her.

‘What the fuck.’ Lucius thinks, going back to his dinner, sulking.

---♡---

“Cissa, I'm gonna head out for some air.” The girl says to her roommate. Already tucked into bed, Narcissa responds, “Don't get caught by Filch, come back in one piece please” She mumbles, falling asleep.

Y/N tucks Bella in, already snoring in bed, then tucking Narcissa, and carefully escapes the dorms.

Paintings already asleep, therefore no need to be too cautious. The sleepless girl heads up to the astronomy tower, wanting to feel the breeze on her skin without stepping out of the castle.

On her shoulder, a throw blanket to keep her warm in the stoney tower. She sets up ‘camp’ next to the balcony, meaning a blanket and a muffin she snagged at dinner. ‘This muffin mad scrumdili-icious’.

Pulling out a book from her robe, opening to the page, which was dog-eared, finding solace in the book. Every so often, she would pause, the night sky captivating her attention.

“That constellation there is called Draco.” She turns back to the entrance of the astronomy tower. The boy with curly black hair greets her, his hair arching the colour of the night sky.

She pats the spot next to her, offering up the blanket to share. He strolls over, plopping down and crossing his legs. “You fond of astronomy?” The girl asks him.

“I'd hope so, being named after a bloody star!” He sasses back, pulling some of the blanket over his legs. “What are you doing up here, dove? Shouldn't you be in bed down in the Dungeons. Mighty cold down there if you ask me!”

She shushes him as she giggles, both of them obviously being too loud for this time of night, past curfew. “Couldn't sleep, needed some air. Shouldn't you also be sleeping? What are you doing?”

The boy dressed in a red and gold sweater pipes down, a gaunt look on his face. “S'nothing, couldn't sleep either.” The boy says, a slight clench in his jaw.

Seeing that this is clearly an odd subject for Sirius, she switches it up. “What's your favourite song?”. Sirius immediately lightens up, sort of like a puppy.

“Definitely Starman by David Bowie! Something about him is so alluring. They both hum the song together, falling into comfortable silence afterwards.

“How's Lily? Didn't get to speak to her today.” The Slytherin girl breaks the slience, missing her cousin dearly.

“She's worried about you, y'know? Always saying how you should eat more and sleep, which I can clearly see now why she says you need more sleep!” He laughs, her heart warming at the thought of her cousin.

Despite being rival houses, she doesn't care about such trivial things. So what if they're different? Just means they're different people with different aspirations, but that doesn't mean they need to hate each other.

“Tell her that I'm okay the next time you see her, I'll try to talk to her tomorrow. It's hard to talk to her with James around, guarding her like a dog! When I get my hands on him I'm gonna..” The girl yaps away about the Potter boy, not impressed with his behaviour.

The boy next to her shares a great bit of laughs at the predicament. “What's that book next to you?” The boy asks, curiosity killing him.

“Oh! It's a muggle book, Pride and Prejudice. Lily recommended it to me, we're supposed to debrief about it next Friday.” She hands him the book, and he inspects the cover.

---♡---

“Severus! Have you seen Nemesis? Need to feed her before class.” The girl runs around the common room, looking for her snake. “I saw her with Lucius, think she's choking him out.”

They look to the stairs where Lucius is rushing down, Nemi on his neck, grasping him like a slinky stuck on itself. “Get. Her. Off.” He says in-between chokes and gasps of air.

Y/N gently takes Nemi back, cooing at her and giggling at Lucius, dishevelled and red for the lack of air. “Let's get you some mice darling.” She heads back up to her room, feeding Nemi and setting her free. Nemi always comes back after classes.

“Come on Severus, we're going to be late to potions.” They hurry to the class, taking seats near the back. James and Lily sitting near the front. Both Slytherins burn holes into the boy's back, though for entirely different reasons.

Slughorn walks in, starting class off with theory, focusing on how Draught of Living Death was first made and how to spot its effects, as well as the cure.

Y/N practically falls asleep on Severus’ shoulder, lesson too long for her taste. With an annoyed look, he takes notes for her, trying to hide her sleeping form with his arm.

“Y/N wake up, he's approaching.” Severus draws out, propping her up. She quickly grabs a parchment and textbook, acting like she was, indeed, studying all along.

See, while Severus covers her notes for her in Potions, she covers notes for him in History of Magic, both forming a non-spoken alliance.

Potions is over and they part ways, heading to separate classes. The day draws on like an endless loop, even lunch didn't feel as fulfilling.

---♡---

Remus stops her as she studies at the library, pulling a chair to the table and sitting with her.

“You left your ink pots yesterday. He pulls them out of his bag, setting them in front of her. She sends him a sweet smile, thanking him for keeping them safe.

Lily comes in tow, sitting next to Remus and pulls out her study materials. “The Herbology test felt too repetitive! Like we reviewed the whole chapter for it to be on literally one plant?” Lily rants, angry she wasted study time on something that didn't need it.

Lily and Y/N catch up, talking about literally anything that comes to mind while poor Remus tries his best to focus, but how could he when the girls are talking about muggle books? It's like his kryptonite!

So, instead of writing for their History of Magic essay, the three spent two hours talking about Romeo and Juliet. Even reciting quotes verbatim just for fun.

Lily and Remus pack up, needing to head back to their common room. They all bid farewell, promising to catch up soon.

Y/N stays back for three more hours, promising to finish the History of Magic essay by nightfall. It's just about 10:00pm, meaning curfew is about to hit.

She packs everything, making sure not to be left alone in the library with Madam Pince. She races down to the Slytherin dorms, only to literally run into James Potter.

Next Chapter

[lulublack90]

Prompt 9 - Nurture

@wolfstarmicrofic July 9, word count 726

Previous part First part

He’d had plenty of time to nurture his hatred of this man. To plan out in great detail what he’d do to him if he ever saw him again. But reality can be a lot different to daydreams, as Remus was finding out. He was frozen to the spot, his entire body shaking as he tried to process what was happening. 

Then, more voices joined the ones downstairs. 

“Hello, sorry to interrupt, but my horse has thrown a shoe. Could you help?” Remus blinked. It was Sirius. 

“Just a sec, Fenrir,”

“Not at all, Hamish. I’ll catch up later,” and he was gone. Remus began heaving in huge lungfuls of air; apparently, he hadn’t been breathing enough. 

“I’ll ‘ave the new apprentice do it. Tells me he’s good at ‘orseshoes. Suppose we’ll find out. Don’t worry though, if he’s shit, I’ll do it ma sen,” Remus had less than a second to process that before Hamish was shouting up the stairs for him. “Remus! Yer ‘ave a customer!” 

“I’m sorry, did you say Remus?” Sirius questioned, his voice bursting with emotion. 

“Aye, I did. Why do yer know ‘im?” 

“Hi, Sirius,” Remus murmured as he came back down the stairs. 

“Remus! Thank the lord that you’re alright! Where did you go? I was so worried!” Sirius grabbed him and hugged him close. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, M’Lord, I ‘ad no idea ‘e were with you, or I’d never ‘ave offered ‘im the job,” Hamish apologised, but Sirius ignored him. 

“Remus, where did you go?” he said sadly, trying to read Remus’s eyes. Remus looked away and wiggled out of Sirius’s grasp. 

"Which horse threw a shoe?” he asked, ignoring Sirius’s questioning as he nudged past him and went to see the horses. He was surprised to see James standing with them. “Oh,” he said lamely, taking a step back and lowering his head. 

“Remus?” James gasped. “Remus, no, wait!” James called after him as he tried to retreat back into the blacksmith's. “Please. I need to apologise. I was jealous that Sirius had a new favourite person, and I took it out on you. I’m sorry.” Remus kept staring at the ground. 

“Doesn’t matter now. I’ve found a job here. You can have Sirius back.” He turned away, but James stopped him. 

“Please, Remus. He’s been a total wreck. He hasn’t stopped since he realised you’d gone. Please, Remus, let me make this right.”

“Oi, you,” Hamish pointed a thick finger at him as he came out of the blacksmith’s. “Why didn’t yer tell me yer were ‘is squire? I don’t need no trouble. Go on out, I’ll fix ‘orseshoe me sen,” Remus couldn’t believe it. What had Sirius said to him? Remus ducked his head back into the blacksmith’s and grabbed his pack. What was he going to do now? 

“Remus?” Sirius said quietly. He grabbed his arm as though making sure he didn’t disappear again. “You ran away. Remus, you ran away and didn’t even say goodbye,” A tear dripped down Sirius’s cheek. Remus wanted to wipe it away. “James didn’t mean what he said. He’s just protective of me, and he doesn’t know you. But I know you, and I know you’d never lead me astray. You’re my friend. Please, Remus, we’re so close to clearing your name. Alphard’s men found a village three miles away where the man had been and killed two people. We’re going to find him, Remus.” Sirius shook him in his excitement. 

“I've already found him,” Remus whispered. 

“You… You already found him?” Sirius looked confused. 

“The man who was in the blacksmith's when you came in. That was him.”

“James, the man who came out after I entered, where did he go?” Sirius craned his neck to look at James. James shook his head. He hadn’t been paying attention. 

“We need to find him. He’s the one we’ve been searching for.” He turned back to Remus and stared into his eyes pleadingly. “Please don’t run away.” Remus nodded. He’d never do that again. He should have told Sirius he was leaving and not just disappearing like a coward. “Right, we’re going to split up and meet back here once we find out where he’s staying. Do not try to engage him alone.”

“Right,” James agreed. 

“Okay,” Remus nodded, and they split up to search the village for Fenrir. 

Next part

[eden-writes-stuff]

Tags: Fluff, Photographer Remus/Model Sirius, modern AU, shy Remus lupin, Sirius Black is a SIMP

Wordcount: 589

"Just this once", Sirius begged, tugging at the camera.

"Why do you want pictures of me? I'm not that pretty", Remus argued, pulling the camera back.

"Liar. You're fucking gorgeous. And I want pictures of you because I don't have any. You have hundreds of photos of me in various states of nakedness, but I don't have a single one of you, and frankly, I think that's unfair." The whole point of becoming a photographer had been not to show up in any pictures and being able to hide behind his camera. Remus sighed and gave in.

"Fine then. But no posting on social media and no making fun of me." "You know I won't", Sirius promised, taking the camera from him "And don't break anything." "Just stand there." He gently dragged him into a corner of their living room. The light was falling through the window, creating a wonderful atmosphere.

For a while Sirus thought, wrote down some poses on a notepad before looking back to Remus. "alright then." He stepped towards him,  one hand on his chest, softly backing him against the wall. "Relax. It's just you and me here", he whispered gently. It took him a few seconds, but eventually, Remus relaxed against his touch.

With a smile, Sirius drew back, pointing the camera and clicking a few times.

"Your settings are wrong", Remus teased from his spot, shifting slightly. "How do you know that?" "Because I know the last pictures I took with this camera and I know that that won't work for posing-pictures."

"Can you fix them, please?" Sirius looked up at him with his best doe-eyes. Remus smiled and took the cam back, changing the exposure time and focus, before handing it back to Sirius. "There you go, try again."

This time Sirius kissed him before pushing him back, leaving Remus with half-open lips and the best look in his eyes. The perfect picture.

"And you say, you're not pretty", he grinned as he stepped back to choose the next pose.

"Get on your knees." "Wow, that escalated quicker than I expected", Remus grinned but obeyed. "Well, what can I say, you look hot on your knees", Sirius replied. He lifted his chin with one hand while taking the pictures with the other one. 

After a few shots, he bit his lip. "Can you try looking a little more in love? This is your boyfriend before you after all." Remus laughed and his features softened immediately. "Perfect."

"Are you done yet?" "One more?" Remus rolled his eyes but who was he to say no to Sirius Black.

The model went over his list, obviously having trouble deciding. Remus peaked over his shoulder, pointing to one idea on the list. "That one." Sirius looked up at him. "Isn't that a bit basic?" "Exactly. I can do basic. Basic is easy." Remus shrugged.

"Alright then, get the chair." They sat the chair with the back towards the camera so that Remus could take the typical teacher/dad pose, which came almost naturally to him. Somehow that was even more attractive to Sirius than the entire rest of the photoshoot. 

When they were finished Sirius went through the photos, before showing the good ones to Remus.

"You know the camera lies, right? I don't look nearly as good as that in reality. That's just light and angles and all that." "I think I'll be in judge of that. After all, I'm the one who actually looks at you in reality." Before Remus could argue with him, Sirius kissed him.

[cherryflickswrites]

A Lost Giraffe (Platonic!Harry Potter X Reader)

Wordcount: 2.3k

Summary: A soft toy giraffe just happens to be the groundwork of a lot of moments in your life including your childhood, your friendship with Harry Potter, and the reappearance of your father, Sirius Black.

POV: Reader, past tense

Tags: childhood soft toy, reader insert, Sirius Black needs a hug

Note: Author absolutely adores comments, so please let me know what you thought!

There is something about a child's toy, tossed out a car window in a fit of rage or sorrow, lost to an unforgiving world of car tyres and cold tarmac.

Harry had been barely one the first time such a thing had happened and, much to his parents horror, it wasn't even his own toy he had thrown. It was, in fact, yours. There had been some sort of unnamed dispute in the back seat which had ended with your favourite toy giraffe chucked out the tiny gap and into the great unknown. You had stared at him for a few moments in pure, unquestioned silence... and then you had screamed.

Lily had almost crashed the car she was so shocked, her neck cracking painfully as she spun to see what was wrong with the two of your. Her auburn hair had danced in the breeze coming through her window and her eyes had scanned the two of you desperately before the honk of an oncoming car brought her back to reality and she turned back to face the road. She pulled over in a lay-by two minutes later, but by then it was too late. Your toy was lost and you were practically inconsolable. Harry had also taken up sobbing, more because someone else was than because there was actually anything wrong with him, and he seemed fairly unrepentant for the tears being his fault.

It didn't take long for Lily and James to figure out what was wrong with you, both of them searching high and low throughout the car in the desperate hope that one of them would find the missing soft toy. It was a futile hope and the presence of more than a few Muggles stopped them simply summoning the item. They knew they wouldn't even be able to do it later in the day - it was a busy road and they couldn't risk getting into trouble with the Ministry for breaking the law. They were already on shifty ground as it was.

"Sirius is going to kill us," James said hollowly, running a hand wearily through his hair and staring at his wife. "That toy was her favourite."

Lily bit her lip as she thought, finally nodding before climbing back into the car. "Come on, better get it over with."

In the end, Sirius spent four hours out on the side of the road attempting to find the giraffe that night, taking his canine form in order to avoid the attention of passing Muggles and diving sideways into the brush whenever someone got too close to thinking it was odd there was an animal on the side of the road.

When dawn came and light returned, he came back to his house with exhaustion spread wide across his face and strands of hair escaping the loose bun he had shoved it in. His wife, Ella, met him with an equally weary smile, her arms cradling you.

"How is she?" Sirius's voice was hoarse.

"She only went off half an hour ago," Ella whispered, her eyes dropping shut as she rocked back and forth. "I'm hoping she's fine now, but I'm not sure. I don't want to risk putting her down."

"Get some sleep." Sirius pressed a gentle kiss to her lips as he took you from her, nestling your tiny body in his own arms as he stared lovingly down at you. "You deserve it."

"Are you sure? You must be exhausted." Ella watched him worriedly, though she didn't need much more persuasion to head off to bed, craving the warmth it would provide and more than willing to let her eyes fall shut.

Sirius stayed up for another two hours rocking you in his arms before he fell asleep on a chair in the living room, his neck tipped awkwardly against the back in a way which would surely end up hurting in the long run and his legs stretched out to rest on the table in the centre of the room - an action Ella would have reprimanded him for if she hadn't been so thankful he'd taken you from her.

None of you knew that he would one day find that toy again, and he would return it in a highly unexpected way...

•• ━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━ ••

"Come on, Mum!" you called over your shoulder, pushing the trunk-loaded trolley through the station and earning more than a few strange looks for the sleek black cat stretched across your shoulders, his head resting lazily against your neck. "We're going to be late!"

Your mother sighed, hastening her step slightly in an attempt to keep up with you. She was at a disadvantage, standing just a few inches shorter than yourself and not being near as motivated to get to the train as fast as possible.

"I've not been late yet. How long do you think I've been doing this?" she asked you as she caught up, brushing a strand of waist length hair over her shoulder and fixing her narrowed eyes on you.

"I don't know," you muttered, gazing around the station in hopes of spotting someone you knew, "you're ancient."

"I'm thirty," she corrected. "And that's quite enough cheek from you."

You refrained from mumbling a comment about her asking for it, standing on your tiptoes to gaze out over the sea of Muggles, hoping for a familiar magical face. You sighed as you realised there was no such person there to relieve your boredom.

"I don't know what you're sighing for," your mother said. "Some of us didn't know a single person when we first came to Hogwarts. You're lucky."

"I still need to find someone to sit with."

"I'm sure there'll be someone. Isn't the Weasley boy meant to be starting this year?"

You would have snorted at the vague statement if you couldn't feel the butterflies writhing in your stomach. "Ron, yeah."

"That's the one. Why can't you sit with him?"

It wasn't so much that you had anything against Ron as that you always felt distinctly awkward around him thanks to a particular playdate in which Fred had announced his youngest brother had a crush on you. Ever since, you always felt as though he was embarrassed enough he might explode when he was around you and you hated having to try to ignore the uncomfortable situations.

"Maybe."

Your mother let out a long sigh, her dark eyes fixed on you as she muttered, "This would be so much easier if your father were here."

You had heard the words before on many occasions. So much, in fact, that you could have guessed she would say them. There hadn't been many occasions over the last ten years on which your mother and you managed to have a day out without her wishing for your father's presence. It had taken her a long time to explain where he had gone, though, and she had done her best to make sure that the past didn't lie on your shoulders even if she still went on about him all the time.

For a start, she had changed all of your records so you were registered as a Linder rather than a Black, hoping that the change in name might be enough for people to overlook the features you had inherited from your father. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, but you were hoping that you would be able to make it more than a few weeks at Hogwarts without anyone working it out. Just so long as none of the Weasleys slipped and mentioned it...

Anyway, you knew that it was bound to happen eventually and you had resigned yourself to the fact that your father's actions would forever haunt your steps, regardless of whether or not he had actually committed the crimes. Your mum was convinced he hadn't, but every other record of the incident seemed to say otherwise and you couldn't remember enough of the man to form your own opinion, so you were left constantly hanging in the balance.

The farewell between you and your mother wasn't particularly touchy-feely; there weren't any tears involved and she left the station almost as soon as you were on the train, claiming she had to get to work. You didn't call her out on the lie, knowing that it must be difficult to see the train again after so many years when it held so many memories of her younger years. Still, it would have been nice of her to act as if she cared that she was sending her little girl off to school for a whole year.

Marching onto the train, you lugged your trunk behind you, already wishing you were able to use the levitation charm to carry it. It would make life a lot easier for you and it would save you a lot of aching muscles later.

Finally finding yourself at a compartment with only one occupant, you dropped your trunk, wincing at the loud thud. Taking a long breath, you decided you probably weren't going to do any better than this - you might not have been late to the train station, but there weren't many empty spaces left and they were filling up fast.

Fixing your most confident expression on your face - and not knowing how scarily reminiscent of your father you looked - you slid the door across, pretending you didn't notice the way the boy inside flinched at the sound, and strode inside with your trunk in your hand.

"Can I sit?" you asked, though you didn't really give him a chance to refuse as you sank into the seat across from him, quickly introducing yourself.

"Oh, hi, I'm Harry Potter." The boy smiled nervously. Your mouth dropped at this admission.

"You threw my giraffe out the window."

Clearly, this was not the response Harry had expected and he stared at you in total, baffled silence for a few moments before uttering a confused, "Sorry?"

"You should be. It was my favourite."

It didn't take long for you to recount the few details you had been told of the incident and Harry quickly latched onto the idea of you having known his parents, a reaction you probably should have expected. Soon you found yourself telling him just about every detail you could remember of the time you had spent together as children, though you knew your stories would be slightly skewed by the fact that your mother had shared all of them with you. And you made sure not to mention the part your father may or may not have played in his parents' deaths.

When Ronald Weasley showed up at the compartment door not long after with a trunk in one hand, a rat in the other, and a nervous smile on his face, you decided that you could try to be friends with him and you welcomed him into the compartment with all the grace you could muster.

You had a feeling that the three of you might just turn out to be very good friends...

•• ━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━ ••

"Stop!" The word escaped you in a burst of fury combined with fear, freezing everyone in their tracks and causing the dirt-covered man to turn to face you.

There was something terrifyingly familiar about his face, the steel grey eyes and the elegant features which weren't all that far from your own. It took all your strength to stare him down as you stood in front of Harry, wishing beyond all hope that he wasn't really your father, that this mess of a human being was just some lunatic who believed you were related to him.

He barked out a laugh, harsh and hoarse from years of no use, grinning lopsidedly at you as he muttered, "You're just like her."

"Like who?" you scoffed, though you worried your words didn't hold the bite you had intended.

"Ella, of course."

Anger flared inside you at the words, burning hot and bright as you scowled at him. "You don't know her. And you don't know me."

"I used to." His smile was wistful, but it didn't quell your ire. "Maybe I will again one day."

"You won't."

"I thought you might say that."

You watched as he shoved a hand deep into his torn robes, extracting something you barely recognised. He tossed it towards you and you caught it, hoping that it didn't turn out to be anything dangerous.

The material was muddied and ripped in places, clumps of stuffing escaping from the creature, but it was definitely recognisable as a giraffe.

"Took me twelve years to get it back to you," Sirius Black muttered gruffly, watching as you inspected it.

You couldn't believe it. This was the soft toy which had been lost when you were a baby, the one which had inspired the friendship between you and Harry. And somehow your father had brought it back to you.

"Where did you find it?" you whispered, gazing down at the giraffe with tears gathering in your eyes. Suddenly, you found yourself convinced that your father couldn't be guilty. How could he possibly have gone to the effort to find it if he was such an awful person?

"Don't even ask," he replied, screwing his nose up in disgust. "Do you believe me now?"

It was strange how such a simple action could matter, and yet you were convinced by it. Glancing over at Harry, you could see the same sort of realisation beginning to pool in his vivid eyes and you bit your lip in thought. Moving to stand beside Harry, you looped your hand through his, knowing you were both going to need each other's support here.

"We'll hear you out."

[deadbythemorning]

Project Eve (Harry Potter x reader) part 2

Synopsis: When accidentally sent back in time fifty years, Y/n turns to the most famous wizards for help

Or

Y/n must attend her final years of school fighting for her life at Hogwarts while trying not to fall in love with one of the most famous wizards in the world

Authors note: omg thank you guys so much for actually enjoying the story like I just expected this to just float around. And I’m so sorry😭 like I can give a ton of excuses but I genuinely appreciate you guys reading it and patiently waiting

@prettylittlelavvy @nshrkilvbt @stvrlavs @xamel1a @thestrals-and-firewiskey @

“Lionel!” Y/n whisper shouted while catching the creature “You can’t do that” she tells him while pulling him close to her chest “They might send you back home if they catch you” but the small animal didn’t care, he still tried to wiggle out of her arms “What are you trying to get?” Y/n cautiously looked around the empty compartment “Lionel am I going to die?” She whispered while taking a small step forward. Wait… Y/n put the animal away in her pouch and knelt down to the ground no… I must be going crazy. She stood upright with a sigh, she’d miss the carriage ride to Hogwarts for her crazy pet for absolutely no reason. Well that was until she took another step and nearly tripped. Y/n knelt back down to feel the ground to see if her eyes truly deceived her, not daring to make a sound. Is this… Y/n grabbed a fistful of the invisible fabric and tugged on it to reveal a frozen Harry “We haven’t even arrived at Hogwarts and you’re already in trouble”

The two walked back to together Hogwarts in a comfortable silence, well not for Harry, he was embarrassed that Y/n found him in such a state

“Sorry you missed the carriage ride” he awkwardly spat out but she shrugged her shoulders

“I would’ve missed it anyway” she tells him while crossing her arms “At least now I have someone to walk with”

A smile forms on Harry’s lips but then a question begged to be answered “How did you find me?”

She then began to fidget “Well…my pet…must’ve smelt you” she looks over at him with a smile “Besides, I can recognize your smell anywhere”

Smell? Once Y/n turned back, Harry quickly sniffed his armpits “So…you have a pet?”

Y/n nodded “Lionel is a pain in the arse” she then turns back to him with a cheeky smile“But he’s my pain”

Harry smiles with her “I would love to meet him one day”

“Oh, about time” professor Flitwick sighs “I’ve been looking all over for you two” he opens his scrolls “Right, names?”

Harry frowns “Professor Flitwick, you’ve known me for five years”

The man shook his head “No exceptions Potter”

Y/n looked towards the group of unfamiliar people “Who are all of those people?”

“Aurors” Flitwick answered “For security”

The reality of the situation soon began to settle in Y/n’s stomach. This was real and they were going to war, this was truly life or death.

“Nice face Potter” Draco snarled but frowned once he looked over at you. Professor Snape hit the back of Draco’s head and urged him to continue his walk back to the castle.

“May I ask how you ended up with a broken nose?” She questioned while turning back to Harry

“Malfoy”

She nodded “I would’ve thought that after last year you would’ve left that family alone” as soon as the words left her lips, she regretted it. The painful thoughts of Sirius dying flooded both of their minds “Here” she pulls out her wand “Let me fix it for you”

Harry gives a greatful smile but was still lost in thought about Sirius, but not completely lost in thought to stop her from walking away “What? No kiss to make it better?”

Y/n gave the boy a surprised look “I thought you grew past this”

Harry shakes his head with a pout “It still really hurts”

With a playful roll of her eyes, she walks over to the boy did he grow a few inches? She holds onto his shoulders to jump onto her tip toes, and plants a gentle kiss onto his nose “All better now?” She barely whispers, afraid to move or breathe

“I think one more might help” Y/n’s face grew hot with embarrassment when did he become so…

“I think you need to learn to stay out of harms way” she moved away from him to continue their walk, trying to get her emotions in control “Well this is your stop” she tells him while stopping in front of the great hall

“You’re not coming to dinner?” He asked and she shook her head

“I’ve got to let Lionel out before he runs rampant again, but I’ll see you later” she turns to leave but Harry was eager to ask one last question

“Do I smell?”

☾

“Attention to detail is the prerequisite of all planning” Y/n did think she’d be learning a lot more spells in defense against the dark arts with Snape as professor, but her passion was in potions. There was absolutely nothing she had against Professor Slughorn, hell he seemed like a fun ditzy teacher, but Snape was the person who made her so passionate on potions “Ah” Slughorn whirls around “Harry my boy I was beginning to worry” Y/n’s eyes dart up to see Harry and Ron stumble into the room

I truly can’t escape him

“We don’t have any books” Harry tells the man

“Take what you need from the cupboard” Slughorn then turns back to the class “Now as I was saying, I prepared some concoctions this morning. Any ideas what they might be?” Hermione’s hand shot up “Miss L/n” all eyes fall on her “I hear from professor Snape that you’re a brilliant witch and incredibly talented in potions”

“Snape think highly of anyone?” Pansy snorts “She must be screwing him” a couple of students giggle but Y/n rolls her eyes and steps forward anyways

“That’s Veritaserum” she tells him “The truth telling serum” she looks over at the second pot “This is a polyjuice potion, tricky to make and disgusting to drink” Y/n paused as she watched as the two boys fought over the last book

What a dork

“And the last one is Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world”

“Ahh, and you must be miss Granger” Y/n quickly looks away once the boys finally turned around

“Yes sir, may I continue?”

Might as well

Y/n fell back in line with the others with a irritated huff

If Snape were here, we’d probably be making these potions

She then scoffs

Who needs a love potion anyway….

Y/n’s lips form into a tight line

A love potion is quite literally the reason I’m stuck here

“Sir, you haven’t told us what was in that one” Katie points out and Slughorn grabs it with a smile

“What you see before you ladies and gentlemen is a curious little potion known as Felix Felicis”

“Or your modern day liquid luck” Y/n muttered

“Yes miss L/n, liquid luck” he holds it up to show the class “Desperately tricky to make, disastrous if made wrong” now this caught her attention, a challenge, something worth her time. Who needs a small vial when you can craft the potion yourself? This could be her ticket home, maybe she just needed luck to be on her side to figure out what she was doing wrong.

Drought of living death?

Y/n scoffs

I could do that with my eyes closed

After all, it was a potion that hit close to home for her, almost like the domino effect. Y/n opened up the tattered book and tilted her head in confusion.

Property of the Half blood prince?

Y/n looked around to see if anyone was missing a book, she thought about taking it to the lost and found but quickly dismissed the idea once she seen that it was covered in notes. It was a curious thing, notes scribbled everywhere along the book, on every page explaining in great detail how to craft each potion.

Y/n looked around the room and watched as everyone struggled to cut their sopophorus bean “How did you do that?” Hermione demanded to know while the others looked over at her

“Try crushing it” she suggested while looking back down at the book

“No, it specifically says to cut it”

Y/n slowly looked back up “As long as you extract the juice, it shouldn’t matter how you get it” Hermione frowns but does as she says. However, Harry on the other hand struggled to read off of Ron’s book he’ll need liquid luck more than I will “Harry” the boy quickly looks up and she slides him her book

“Then how will you craft the potion?” She waved her hand in dismissal

“It’s easy enough to-”

“Easy?” Hermione then scoffs at her words

Y/n turns back to the boy “Trust me, you’ll want to read this book” the boy looks down at the desk with a curious gaze.

It took no time at all for Harry to quickly brew his potion but he wasn’t the only one who had eyes lingering on him “Well if it’s so easy, why aren’t you brewing it?”

Y/n looked up at the girl “Because I already know how to brew it” she tells her nonchalantly while crossing her arms “I don’t want the vial of liquid luck, I want to be able to craft it”

“Quite the ambition miss L/n” Slughorn chuckled while walking over to them

She shrugs her shoulders “Well I love a challenge” she then looks over “If I can brew some of the hardest potions in the world, what would I need luck for?” Slughorn loved that, a student that wanted to know more and had a passion for the subject he loved so dearly.

“How about you meet me after class Miss L/n” he tells her “Perhaps I could offer a potion that would be worth your while”

“So she’s got a thing for potion professors?” Pansy joked, causing half the class to laugh

“And you’ve got a thing for Draco even though he doesn’t even know your first name” the class ooo’ed “I mean I’d be so miserable all the time if the cute nickname he gave me was pug face Parkinson”

That was certainly enough to anger the girl enough to jump out of her seat “Settle down miss Parkinson” Slughorn tells her while hurrying over to her desk “We wouldn’t want you to do anything that could lead you into detention now would we?”

Once class was over, Slughorn congratulated Harry on creating the potion correctly, but Harry wasn’t satisfied “Here” Y/n looks up to see Harry handing her the vial “I wouldn’t have made it without your help”

She shakes her head “You made it, so you’ve earned it”

The boy frowns “You would’ve made the potion first if you made it”

“Allegedly” the two turn to Hermione who awkwardly looks down “She would’ve allegedly made it correctly”

“Why don’t you just play rock paper scissors?” Ron suggested and Hermione scoffs

“This is ridiculous, why don’t you just-”

“Seems fair to me” Harry tells her and Y/n puts her bag down with a sigh

“You’re going to win Harold, this is just a waste of time” Y/n held out her fist and waited for Ron to count them off

“Rock…paper…scissors………..SHOOT!”

Harry held out scissors while Y/n held out paper

“Right then” Hermione nods “It’s settled”

But Harry stubbornly shook his head “I want a rematch”

“Mate” Ron leans into his ear “You won”

“She knew what I was going to pick”

Y/n rolled her eyes “Of course I did, I have good intuition”

“Shoot!” Y/n quickly held out rock while Harry threw paper. This went on for another thirty seconds until Hermione groaned in annoyance

“Harry she’s clearly going to let you win no matter what so just keep it!”

☾

“Well if you’re so curious to know, why don’t you ask Y/n?” Ron asked and Hermione frowned

“And why exactly would I do that?” She huffed

“Because she was the one to give Harry the book” Hermione stubbornly crossed her arms and stomped towards the girl who was currently making a snowman

“Where did you find the book Y/n?”

“Mione!”

Y/n slowly looked up to see the golden trio approach her “Oh hey guys”

“The book” she demanded “Where did you get it from?”

Y/n slowly stands up in confusion “What book?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know!”

“Hermione it’s not that serious!” Ron tells her and Harry turns to the girl covered in snow

“I’m sorry about Hermione” he apologized “She’s just a bit annoyed that I have the potions book you gave me”

“It’s practically cheating!”

Harry turned back to Y/n “We just wanted to know who the half blood prince was”

But Y/n just shrugged her shoulders “I haven’t got a clue in the world” she tells them honestly “I just found it in the cupboard” Within a blink of an eye, Katie Bell was strung up into the air as if she were possessed “HOLY SHIT!” The trio quickly whip around while her friend starts screaming.

I thought this only happened in horror movies

I might as well be living in a horror movie

“Everyone get back” Hagrid tells the bunch as he gently picks up the girl “And don’t you dare touch that” they all turn to Harry who was about to touch the necklace “Only pick it up with the cloth”

The five of them explained the entire situation to Mcgonagall, Snape, and Dumbledore while their hearts anxiously beat out their chest

“Why is it when something happens, it’s always you four?” Hermione gave Y/n a quick side eye, which she took as her memo to leave

“I actually have nothing to do with this, just came to give my statement” Y/n awkwardly held up finger guns as she slowly backed away “I’m…gonna take my leave now”

☾

“Again” Y/n let out a frustrated sigh

“It’s never going to happen!” She yells but the man in front of her felt no sympathy

“Again”

She throws her head back “Professor, we’ve been at this for HOURS”

“And yet you still can’t preform the simple spell” Snape tells her “Again”

She tries to preform the spell but inevitably fails “I’m good at potions! Why can’t you teach me potions? Why am I the only one who has to learn this?”

“Because this is war miss L/n” he tells her “What good is brewing potions when you’re in a battle?”

With yet another failed attempt, Y/n shut the book in frustration “This is stupid!”

That earned her a smack upside the head “You have the ability to preform the spell but you refuse to rid your mind of any intruding thoughts” she rubs the back of her head with a frown “Focus miss L/n”

“Well I don’t want to kill anyone” she mumbled which earned another smack

“It’s either your life or theirs” he tells her “Again”With one last breath, she cleared her mind and aimed her wand at the dummy “Any day now” he drawls and the spell successfully hits the dummy

Y/n quickly whips around in excitement “I DID IT!” She practically jumps onto the man to hug him “We did it professor!” Snape visibly tensed under her touch, wanting to reject the embrace but also wanting to enjoy the slight happiness her excitement brought him

“Get…off of me” Y/n peels herself off of him and lets out a nervous chuckle

“Forgive my excitement professor” she quickly bows in respect “Sometimes I get too excited for my own good” she then puts her wand away “If you don’t mind me asking though, why do you keep teaching me these overly advanced spells?”

Snape takes this opportunity to distance himself from the clingy girl “I’m afraid you’ll need them more than you think”

She tilts her head in confusion “Do you plan on teaching everyone these complicated yet very dangerous spells?”

“No”

“Then why me?” He stops and turns to her

“Because you keep deciding to follow Potter and all of his expeditions despite my constant warnings”

A pout makes its way onto her face “Then you ought to be training Harry as well”

“Mr Potter doesn’t exactly see eye to eye with me the way you do”

“Then make him professor!” She begged “Show him that you’re not the bad guy he claims you to be!”

Snape then goes back over to his book “Believe it or not miss L/n, I simply do not care what Potter may think of me. You are my main priority”

“Why?” She questioned “I’m not the chosen one”

“Yes, however, you may be in just as much danger as him, if not more”

“If not more?” She slowly turns around and looks at the clock

“The next defensive spell you’re going to learn is-”

“IM LATE” Snape’s eyes snap up from his book “I’m late to Slughorn’s dinner” she quickly gathers her things

“You can not honestly believe some dinner with that bafoon is more important than this”

“Sorry professor!” She calls out while running out the door “Same time tomorrow?”

She was comical in his eyes, it was almost endearing how much he cared for her but refused to show it “You fool” but even his insults to her didn’t sound genuine

Shitshitshitshit

Y/n bursts through the doors and quickly bows “im so sorry for my tardiness” she made her way to the empty seat “I’m usually never late but it seems time got the best of me”

The pale yellow chiffon dress was ruffled yet somehow made the disastrous girl look elegant “It’s alright my dear” Slughorn tells her once she sits down but Harry quickly stands up, catching everyone’s attention “We we’re just talking about the occupations of everyone’s parents” once their eyes met, Harry took his seat but his gaze never fully left her

“Grangers parents clean teeth” Blaise Zabini chuckled which made everyone else laugh, everyone except Hermione

“What does your parents do Y/n? Since you’re such a mystery”

Y/n’s eyes faltered “Professor, why don’t you tell us about how you invented the cure for dragon pox?”

Slug horns eyes lit up “Yes! Of course, well it was 1967-”

“I’m sorry professor” Hermione interrupts “I’m just really curious about Y/n’s parents”

Y/n looked down at the huge bowl of ice cream in front of her and let out a soft sigh “Before they died, my father was a professor to some preppy wizard academy and my mother pursed her passion in inventing potions” that instantly killed the mood “She’s the reason I love brewing potions” she shrugged her shoulders “I plan on becoming the most successful potion brewer in the world” she then uses her spoon to play in her food “I know it sounds childish but I’m going to finish her work and have both of our names on shelves, in books, everywhere”

Slughorn claps his hands together “If only we had wizards that were just as ambitious as you!” Y/n sheepishly shrugged her shoulders “What’s the name we should be looking for my dear?”

“Eve” Y/n looks up at the man “My mums name was Eve”

☾

Harry searched the great hall for a familiar face, causing Hermione to scoff “Do I even need to ask who you’re looking for?”

Harry turns to the others “I haven’t seen Y/n all day”

“She always turns up eventually” she tells him before pointing to the door “Look, there she is now”

Y/n hauled herself into the hall with a picket sign dragging behind her, obviously exhausted from her previous endeavors “Y/n!” She looks over towards the Gryfindor table and gives a tired smile before making her way over.

“Hey guys” she greets as she plops down next to Ron

“We haven’t seen you all day” Harry speaks up “Where have you been?”

“Protesting” she casually replied while loading her plate with food

“Free house elves you lazy pigs” Ron reads off her sign and she nods

“Pretty cool huh?” She holds up the sign to show the others “The words change into a picture of Fudge as a pig, isn’t that wicked?”

“How mature” Hermione mumbles into her cup

“Absolutely brilliant”

“I’m sure Fudge wouldn’t be too happy to see that” Ron adds on and Y/n nods

“He wasn’t” she starts “Tried having the lot of us arrested, if I wasn’t taught how to apperate, I probably would’ve been sleeping in a cell”

Hermione scrunched her eyebrows “Who taught you how to apperate?” Dumbledore in attempts to get her back home safely but ultimately failed “Do you even have a license?”

Y/n gave a plain face but a hand landed on her shoulder before she could answer “L/n” they all turned to see Blaise Zabini “Malfoy would like to talk to you” they all turned to Y/n with curiosity

“Draco can wait, I’m trying to explain why house elves are essentially slaves and how we need to free them” she then turns to Ron “Do you guys have a house elf?” He shakes his head “See! Even with as many people living in one house, they still have no need to own a house elf”

Blaise snorts “Probably can’t afford one”

“Well at least I know how to wipe my own arse”

Blaise moves to attack the ginger and Y/n jumps up to get in between them “Hey!” She puts her hands on Blaise’s chest “Draco wanted to see me right?”

The intimidating glare he gave Ron lasted a while before he finally looked back up at the girl “Right…”

“Then let’s have a chat shall we?”

Blaise led Y/n to the Slytherin dungeons and up to his and Draco’s shared room. Blaise was a handsome young man, probably scarier than Draco in her eyes, but attractive nonetheless. Which is exactly why she kept the small talk to a minimal on the walk there “We’re here”

She opens the door but he doesn’t move from his spot “You’re not coming?” He shook his head

“Malfoy said you had private matters to discuss” that made Y/n’s heart sink. Something so private that you can’t tell your best friend?

Her stress level began to rise as the boy closed the door behind her and Draco finally turns to face her “Hello Draco” she cooly greets while observing the room, making sure to avoid eye contact “You wanted to speak with me?”

The blonde nods “You have something that I need”

“Oh?” She grabs a family picture on Blaise’s nightstand “And that is?”

“Information” she then quirks a brow “So tell me, do I kill him?” Y/n quickly whips around

“Kill who?” She shakes her head “Draco, what are you talking about?”

“Cut the shit L/n, I know you’re from the future” her heart instantly stops “I over heard McGonagall talking about it so don’t try to play stupid”

But all she can do is play dumb “Draco I-”

“I mean it L/n” Draco was frantic, acting as if this were his only option

“Draco…” she slowly walked towards him “Even if what you’re saying is true, why would I help you?” But the look in his eyes said it all, he was scared “Why would you want my help? How do you know I won’t just run off and tell Harry?”

Draco roughly grabbed her arm “Do you understand what’s at stake here?!” He yelled “My life is on the line!”

“So I’m supposed to trade your life for countless others?” She yanked her arm away from him “Draco it’s never too late to do the right thing”

“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND” y/n flinched at his harsh voice “I don’t have a choice, I HAVE to do this”

She slowly backs away from him while shaking her head “Draco I hope when the time comes, you’re on the right side of the battle” she then takes this opportunity to run out of the room and out the dungeon.

☾

“A niffler?” Y/n quickly whipped around to see Harry standing in the doorway of her room

“Shut that!” She whisper shouted while jumping up

Harry smiled with curiosity “I thought they were going extinct?”

“They are” she huffed while grabbing the blue feathered demon “Poachers like their feathers and bills” Lionel gave an innocent smile “I rescued Lionel and his family from a group of them over the summer” she explained while sitting back down on the bed “Lionel decided to follow me back, I tried bringing him back to his family, I even left all my valuable items” she looked down at the stubborn animal “But he refused to leave my side, didn’t matter what I did, he saw me as his mother” Lionel wiggled out of her arms and ran to Harry “He’s great company though, I’d just hate if a teacher caught him and sent him back to the wild, he wouldn’t stand a chance against those poachers”

Harry stared fondly at the girl “You rescued him from poachers?”

“Hey!” Harry looked down to see Lionel reaching for his watch “I’ve been rescuing animals all summer, I get some sort of rush from it” she explained “Protecting these poor animals from monsters that they don’t stand a chance against, giving them a fighting chance” she needed something to do other than find a way back home

“That’s incredibly dangerous, yet so incredibly brave of you” Y/n sheepishly shrugged her shoulders

“Might as well get used to using these spells and charms right?”

Harry’s smile slowly fades “What did Malfoy want with you? If you don’t mind me asking”

A tired sigh emits from the girl “He wanted my help”

Harry eagerly looks up at her “With what?”

“With…homework” she tells him and he relaxes a bit “He basically wanted me to do all of the work for him and I told him no”

Harry scoffs “Lazy git”

Y/n tilts her head in confusion “What did you think he wanted?”

“Nothing I-” but one look at those big soft orbs and he knew he couldn’t lie to her “I think he’s cursed Katie and I think he’s trying to kill Dumbledore”

She then began to get nervous “Strong accusations”

“Please don’t think I’m crazy” he begged while grabbing her hands “Not you of all people” she looked down at their intertwined hands “I was worried that he might’ve cursed you as well” the words were sweet and genuine, everything to make the girl want to spill her heart to the boy

“Well here I am” she tells him “Unharmed and not cursed” her eyes almost met his but slight movement caused her to yank her hands away “LIONEL!” She jump’s across the bed and chased the creature around the room “GIVE ME THAT WATCH BACK!”

☾

Sudden knocks shook Y/n from her thoughts “Yes?” The knocks became more eager as if they had the intentions of breaking down the door “Alright alright” she jumps out of bed and yanks the door open. She was met with a familiar set of green eyes, causing her to let out a small huff “Should’ve known it was you”

Harry gently pushes past her and looks around “You’re studying?” She shrugs her shoulders “What could you be studying today of all days?”

Y/n rests her hand on her hip “Today of all days….”

Harry lets out an exasperated sigh “The quidditch championship game”

Well that explains the uniform… “oh”

“Oh?” He shakes his head “Y/n this is probably the most important game Hogwarts has had in the past fifty years”

“Well in that case, good luck” she turns back to the book on her nightstand but Harry wasn’t satisfied

“You’re not coming?”

She shakes her head “I haven’t gone to a game all season, no reason to start”

Harry grabs the book from her “How about a personal invite from the captain of the Gryfindor team?”

Y/n lets out a loud sigh “Harryyy” she whined “I don’t know anything about quidditch, and I won’t even know anyone there”

The boy deadpans “The entire school will be there, besides, Hermione can explain it to you” she’d probably prefer I call her a mudblood

“Harry I-”

“Well if you don’t go, I’m not going” Harry stubbornly sits on her bed “Clearly it’s not that big of a deal”

All she could do was roll her eyes “You can’t miss your own game Harold, you’re captain”

He shrugs his shoulders “They’ll be fine without me”

“Just like you will be fine without me there”

Harry opens the book he previously confiscated from her “How to properly time travel, the do’s and don’t’s on how to manipulate time” Her eyes widened, terrified of what conversations this book would bring, she lunged after the boy but he was faster “Must truly be fascinating for you to act like this” it was a tiresome battle for dominance that Y/n inevitably lost “Perhaps it’s enchanted and you don’t want me to read what it truly says” he thinks aloud while straddling her waist “Or maybe you want to time travel for a very specific reason”

“Harry give it back” she grunts but is met with a cheeky grin

“I’ll give it back if you come to the game” y/n yells in frustration but an idea pops into his head “You know what? You’re right” Harry drops the book, causing Y/n to quirk a brow at his sudden mood change “I shouldn’t hold your book hostage” he dismounts the girl and she sits up with confusion

“I’m…glad we’re on the same page” but this was Harry that they were talking about, he was equally as stubborn as her so there was no way he would give up without a fight

“Exactly, why keep a book hostage when you can just get another” and within an instant, Harry scoops her off the bed and throws her over his shoulder

“HARRY!”

“I’ll just take you hostage” Harry proceeds to exit the Hufflepuff common room with her beating against his back “We ought to be quick though, call time is in thirty”

“Harry I don’t think you understand how immature you’re being”

Harry tilts his head in confusion “oh I’m being immature?” He then spins her around, earning a loud scream in response “I thought I was being reasonable asking you to be in attendance of just one of my games”

“Harry…”

“Don’t you want to support your best friend at the biggest event of their life?”

“Best friend?”

Harry was greatful she couldn’t see how flustered he got, but that didn’t stop his stuttering “well- best mate-best-best Gryfindor”

“Best Gryfindor?” She questioned which only made him blush even more “I feel like this can’t be the biggest event of your life”

“The biggest non life threatening event, how about that?”

Once they made it to the locker room, Harry gently puts her back onto her feet. There was a brief moment where he couldn’t take his eyes off of her; the way the snow stuck to her messy hair, the way her face was dusted with a light rosy blush from the cold weather, the way her dark bushy eyebrows furrowed in frustration, if he had it his way, he would stare at her for hours.

“What?” She huffed while crossing her bare arms “I don’t get a private escort to my seat?”

A twinge of guilt hit Harry “ ‘m sorry darling” that comment easily made her flustered “I’ll be crucified if I’m late again, being team captain and all” that’s when he noticed her looking away and covered in goosebumps “Here” Harry strips himself of his coat and placed it over her shoulders “This oughta keep you warm”

A small smile formed on Y/n’s face “What about you?” She asked while pulling her arms through the holes “You’ll be even colder with the wind whipping by”

He simply shrugs his shoulders “We have uniforms, I promise I’ll be fine”

But with every bashful smile that was formed, a jealous scowl followed

“Harry” Ginny called out “Call time remember?” The entire interaction itself made her upset, but Harry giving her his coat was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back

Harry whipped his head back to look at Y/n with a cheesy grin “A kiss for good luck?”

Y/n rolls her eyes “As if you’ll need it”

“I know” he shrugs his shoulders “But it’s a big game, I’ll need all the luck I can get”

Y/n shakes her head in disbelief “How about you win the game, and I’ll THINK about it”

“You’ll think about it?”

“I’ll THINK about it Potter”

Harry’s eyes twinkled “I’ll just make sure we win then”

“Good” she zips up the coat with another smile “I would hate if you dragged me out here for no reason”

Once Y/n made her way to her seat it was only a matter of time before the game started and Harry began to show off.

Harry would often fly towards the hufflepuff stands to get Y/n’s attention which obviously worked. He would also do dangerous tricks in which she would shout ‘show off’

Between Harry’s cockiness and Ron’s new confidence, the game was easily won by Gryfindor, which didn’t surprise her in the least.

The victory meant she had a party to attend to, but that also meant she got to kiss Harry. A bashful smile formed across her face as she thought about how much she wanted to kiss him.

Y/n carefully maneuvered through the crowd of drunk teenagers that cheered for the team. It’s not like she was friends with many Gryfindors, but she figured after Harry’s win she should make a short appearance, maybe even give him a kiss or two.

For just a moment, Y/n was able to forget about the Great War, time traveling, and special assignments from other teachers. For once she felt like a normal teenager attending a party just to see their crush, heart beating out of her chest from the nerves. Well…that was until she noticed Ginny grab the green eyed boy and kiss him.

Her smile dropped and her heart shattered. For the first time in her time traveling experience, time had seemed to stop.

I mean they end up married with kids, what did you expect?

Y/n quickly turned on her heel and left the party before she was seen

Why would you even think you had a chance?

I don’t belong here, I can’t possibly date him

Why would you even believe he liked you like that? Harry’s nice to everyone

Y/n quickly shoved her way through the crowd and practically ran once she made it out of the common room

I’m so stupid

She ran into the empty classroom and slammed the door shut

Stupid stupid stupid

Tears clouded her eyes as she summoned her cauldron

You fell in love with a married man you IDIOT

But she couldn’t help the fact that it hurt. She never meant to fall in love with Harry, she never meant to travel back in time.

She could barely measure the ingredients she was grabbing as her mind clouded with anger. It wasn’t until she broke the jar of unicorn hair that she broke into gut wrenching sobs.

Y/n never expected to feel a pain like this, in fact, she couldn’t understand why it felt like this. She’d experience heartbreak before, hell, she watched everyone close to her die and yet…nothing hurt more than this.

“Wasting ingredients are we?”

Y/n jumps at the voice, nearly knocking over her potion “I’m sorry professor” she sniffled “ I can restock the ingredients I used”

Snape peers into the cauldron “Amortentia?”

“It’s one of the hardest potions to brew” she explains while adding the final ingredient “When I want to get my mind off of things, I try crafting incredibly difficult potions”

Snape wasn’t an idiot, but he definitely wasn’t the person to go to for comfort “What does it smell like?”

Y/n blinked in confusion “what do you mean?”

“If the potion is brewed correctly, you’ll be able to smell what attracts you” he drawls “Now what do you smell?”

It was stupid. The real reason for brewing the potion was to confirm what she had already knew “something dark…and citrusy…” She took another deep breath “a warm buttery…maple-y pie…” it didn’t matter how hard she tried to distinguish other smells, all she could smell was him

“It pains me to see such talent come from a student from the future” he finally speaks up in his monotonous voice “You would’ve been the smartest witch in your era”

Y/n looked down with sad eyes and a sheepish smile “Thank you professor” it was rare that Snape would play nice, let alone give a compliment. He must truly pity me

“I suppose you deserve a bottle of amortentia since you correctly brewed it” he hands her the small vial that he just ladled out “I would hope you weren’t dumb enough to use it”

She quickly shook her head “of course not professor” y/n was about to thank him and bid her farewell but a simple yet difficult question stopped her

“How do I die?”

Y/n looked up at the man in confusion “What do you-”

“I double cross the dark lord” he tells her “He’d be a fool not to kill me” he turns his back to her while she stared fondly at him

“Harry named his son after you” she tells him, not caring about the future in this moment “Albus Severus”

Snape seemed content enough with her answer that she was almost able to slip away “Fifty points from hufflepuff for brewing a dangerous potion unsupervised” a frown made its way to her face but it was to be expected

“Sorry professor” she goes to make her escape but was stopped yet again

“You’re aware that I double cross the dark lord…” he drawls “And yet you treat me as if I were a hero”

Y/n shook her head “Because you are and it’s been an absolute dream being able to mentor under you” this confused the man “My mum used to go on and on about how important your role was in the final battle and how no one could’ve executed it the way that you did” she then scoffed “I often thought she fancied you from the way she went on and on about you” she then gave a half smile “When she passed…I wanted to do anything I could to feel closer to her, which happened to be potion making. I figured if she loved you, you couldn’t be that bad”

Snape didn’t know what to say or how to feel, there was no way in hell he would give her a hug “Leave”

Y/n looks down and nods “Yes sir”

☾

Harry looked around the great hall in disappointment “Has anyone seen Y/n?”

Ginny let out a scoff “Probably in detention”Hermione watched in disgust as Ron fed Lavender “Some of us would like to eat”

Ron shrugged his shoulders “No one’s stopping you”

Unbeknownst to the group, Romilda poured a love potion into Harry’s drink while they were distracted

“Well we don’t want to vomit” Ginny argued

Ron looked between the two girls and over at Harry who quickly hid his face by taking a drink of his pumpkin juice.

The girl anxiously watched as he chugged the drink “Hey Harry” the boy quickly puts the cup down and wipes his mouth

“Good morning Romilda”

“I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmead with me today” she looked down with a shy smile, completely expecting him to agree to her proposal but there was one thing she didn’t calculate

“Oh there’s Y/n” Hermione interrupted and Harry’s head quickly swiveled to the door

Y/n strolled into the great hall with her hands in her pockets of her sweatpants, her curly untamable hair looked wilder than usual, the last three buttons of her white dress shirt were unbuttoned, while her Hufflepuff tie hung loosely tied around her neck.

Ginny snorted “How classy” but in Harry’s eyes she looked gorgeous

“She looks like a missing angel from heaven” the group turned to the boy “I can’t believe Hogwarts would let someone so perfect attend”

Romilda however shook her head in disbelief “Harry!” She snapped her fingers in his face “Harry look at me” but the boy just watched as the girl made her way to the Hufflepuff table

“Excuse me” the boy stands up and they all give him a weird look

“Where are you going?” Hermione questioned

“I’m going to go speak with the most beautiful person in the room” both Ginny and Romilda frowned as the boy made his way to Y/n

“About time he’s gained a bit of confidence to ask her out” Ron piped in while the girls scolded him

“Good morning beautiful” Y/n looked around in confusion

“Hey Harry” she yawned

“Another sleepless night without me?” Everyone around them grew silent to eavesdrop “I hope it’s me running through your mind and not another”

Y/n tilted her head in confusion “Are you alright Harry?”

“Much better now that you’re here” she placed the back of her hand on his forehead and he closes his eyes with a dreamy smile

“Harry, you’re getting hotter and hotter by the second” she pulls her hand away and he pouts

“Must be the side effects from touching an ethereal beauty” it wasn’t very noticeable, but she did catch it

“Harry look at me” the boy happily complies to her order

“Anything for you darling” Y/n gently removed his glasses to hopefully get a better look at what she thought she saw, Heart shaped pupils,That made Y/n’s heart ache a little more “Where are you going love?” The boy pouted as she put his glasses back on and stood up

“I’m going to brew you a cure for this” Harry jumps up as well

“Sweetheart, there’s no cure for true love”

Y/n shook her head with disappointment “You don’t love me Harry”

“I do!” He yelled “I do love you Y/n! I’ll scream it at the top of my lungs if it’ll make you believe me!”

Y/n grabbed a daily prophet off the table and hit him on top of the head with it “Stop it Harry, you’re making a fool of yourself!” She whisper shouted as everyone in the hall watched

Harry took her hands in his own “If I’m a fool for being in love with the prettiest, the sweetest, the brightest witch Hogwarts has ever had then so be it”

Y/n yanked her hand away and wacked him again “Get a grip Harold” she looked over to the gryfindor table “I’m going to fix…whatever this is”

“You can’t make these feelings I have for you go away darling” she hated that she loved that he was saying these sweet things to her, she hated that she wished he meant these things and that it wasn’t a love potion.

Y/n just had to roll her eyes to act like the things he said didn’t affect her and yanked his arm to drag him out of the great hall.

“Why can’t you just accept that I’m in love with you?” Harry argued as they finally made their way to Y/n’s room

“Because you’re not Harry”

The boy frowned “you know I’m tired of people telling me what I can and can’t do, who I can and can’t be in love with, but you know what? I’m the chosen one” y/n rolls her eyes and continued to search her book but Harry gently lifts her chin up to look at her “Darling, you’re everything I wanted love to be”

Y/n’s eyes flicker back down “But this isn’t love Harry, just a cruel manipulative way to mess with someone’s view of love”

Harry shook his head “Just kiss me” her eyes quickly snapped to his “Let me prove to you how much I love you, let me show you that this isn’t some love potion, let me show you that it’s you and it’ll always be you”

For just a minute she wanted to believe his words, to think that he pretended to drink the juice with the potion and this is how he truly felt. That he would confess his love in front of everyone, no matter how embarrassing and call her such sweet names that would always make her heart flutter, but he wasn’t hers to love “I can’t kiss you in good sense like this Harry”

“But Y/n-”

“If you drink this potion and still want me to kiss you, I’ll suffocate you with endless kisses…but until then…” she sadly looks at the boy, knowing he wouldn’t “I’ve found a cure for this”

She quickly got off the bed to craft said cure Harry watched her like she was the only thing that mattered. He absolutely adored her, he loved the way her eyebrows furrowed when she concentrated, or how she would nibble on her fingers when lost in thought. He couldn’t possibly understand why she wouldn’t believe he loved her.

As Y/n finished brewing the potion, she noticed a small note towards the bottom of the page

For this multipurpose love spell cure to successfully work, the drinker must kiss the person they’re infatuated with

With wide eyes and now shaky hands, Y/n slowly put her spoon down to reread the sentence to make sure she read it correctly.

“Y/n my love, are you alright?” It’s no big deal, we’re friends, friends can kiss platonically…even if one of them fancies the other

Y/n slapped her hands over her face and let out a loud groan that only worried Harry more “Yeah…” she slides her hands down her face and shook her head “You win chosen one” the green eyes boy cutely tilts his head in confusion, making Y/n bite her tongue to stop herself from screaming in frustration. If it weren’t morally wrong, I’d use a love potion on him too.

Y/n ladles a cup out for him and gently sits next to him on the bed “You’re going to drink this potion and-”

“I don’t need some cure Y/n” he stubbornly pushed the cup away from her “I love you” he insisted “I may never find words beautiful enough to describe all that you mean to me, but I will spend the rest of my life searching for them if you just please…just listen to me” Y/n looked up at him with teary eyes, ultimately defeated knowing that no matter how hard she tried to hide her feelings for Harry, she was no Ginny Weasley. Harry on the other hand retreated once he saw the look on her face“Darling I’m sorry” but she just shakes her head and blinks away her tears “I didn’t mean to make you cry I-” he takes the cup from her hands and downs the potion to make her happy

“You know, maybe in another universe we end up happy together” she then pulls the boy into a long but needed kiss. Harry, desperate to show her just how much he loved her while Y/n knew this would be the first and only kiss she’d get from the boy so she had to savor the moment. Once she finally pulls away, she anxiously looked at the boy to see if it worked “How do you feel?”

“I told you I feel-” his heart shaped pupils reverted back to normal, his heartbeat was now at a normal rhythm, and his body temperature quickly lowered “I feel-” Harry then regurgitates all over her rug

“Harry!”

“I’m sorry” the boy apologized while she grabbed her wand to clean the now pink stained carpet “I’m so sorry, I don’t know why that happened” he then pulls out his wand “Here, let me”

“No” she huffed “You need to rest”

His eyebrows furrow in confusion “Rest? No I’m fine, just me-”

“Harry James Potter” the boy froze in his spot “Go to your room and get some rest….please” he could feel the irritation radiating off of her, but that didn’t stop him from giving her one last puppy dog pout. Once the vomit was gone, she threw her arms to her sides “I’ll see you later Harold”

Harry looks down with sad eyes and retreats to the door “I’m sorry about-”

“It’s okay, it’s nothing you could help” she offers a small smile “Now rest up”

☾

Y/n made it her mission to avoid Harry at all costs. Well….that was her mission all along, but now that she acknowledged her growing feelings for the boy, she knew she couldn’t jeopardize his future.

It worked for a couple of weeks; not idling around at the beginning of class, practically running through the halls to avoid the trio, studying in places no one would ever think to look. It was tiring, but it worked.

That was until one weekend she decided was the perfect time to save baby animals.

Y/n slid into the gryfindor common room, heart thudding as she eagerly looked around for Harry. She told herself that avoiding him altogether was the best way to get rid of her feelings for him, but time and time again she made an excuse to see him.

I shouldn’t even ask him, just use the potion

As soon as she turned on her heel “Y/n?”

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck “Heyyyy Harry” the boy greeted her with a warm smile that tugged on her heart

“What are you doing here?”

Y/n twiddled her thumbs as she tried to avoid eye contact “Well…I wanted to ask you a question…but then I thought it was stupid and- I was actually just leaving” you’re fidgeting, stop fidgeting

“What did you want to ask?” To Y/n, Harry seemed like the perfect golden retriever boy. Always happy to help, everyone loves being around him, and overall had good intentions.

“I just wanted to know if I could borrow your invisibility cloak” Harry’s eyebrows furrowed “It was a dumb thought, I know, I just thought it wouldn’t kill me to ask but now it seems so silly to ask for a personal item without any given explanation”

Harry needed a minute to process her rambling, but was soon met with questions “What exactly did you need it for?”

Y/n looked around the room to make sure no one was listening “I’m going to rescue another creature from poachers. I could just use a charm or potion but potions wear off too quickly and charms are sometimes a hit or miss” she explained but Harry already made up his mind

“I’m coming with you” Y/n quickly shook her head “It’s my cloak Y/n, besides, someone needs to be there so you don’t bite off more than you can chew”

“Harry I can’t ask you to come with me” she scoffs “I’d be asking you to put your life at risk for me”

Harry offers a small smile “I guess I owe you one from last summer”

But Y/n still wasn’t convinced “Would we both fit underneath the cloak?”

Harry shrugs his shoulders “It’s not like we can’t squeeze together” the thought alone was enough to warm her cheeks “Besides, I’m not that big” Y/n playfully rolls her eyes “When do we leave?”

Y/n’s breathing began to settle once her feet landed on the ground, blinking in the new scenery they’d arrived at “This should be far enough” she tells him while dismounting the broom “Any closer and we may be spotted”

“You’re still afraid of heights?” Y/n frowned as Harry tried to hide the smirk on his face

“Nearly falling to my death didn’t help that at all” leading the way to the camp, Y/n was determined to have her plan fall into place play by play

“So you’re afraid of heights but not poachers, dark wizards, or-”

“Why are you so sassy today Harry?” She asked while whirling around “I can’t go a minute without you giving me some smart ass comment”

Harry shoved his hands in his pockets “I just wanted to know why your mind thinks being tortured isn’t as terrifying as flying”

“Would you come off it already?” Y/n exasperatedly asked and Harry shrugs his shoulders

“Make me” his eyes darted from her lips and back to her eyes. She considered it, Merlin she hated that she considered kissing the boy to shut him up. There was no love potion, no other influence, just the two of them in the heat of the moment. It’s just playful banter, you’re reading too much into it

“You’re infuriating, you know that right?” She shook the thought out of her head before turning back to the poacher camp

“So I’ve been told” she can’t help but smirk “Hey, what are we rescuing anyway?”

Y/n’s eyebrows slightly raise “Oh you know, your typical endangered species that can’t fend for themselves” she carefully looks around “The cloak”

Harry then unraveled said cloak and wrapped it across the both of them “See, a snug fit” she almost grew dizzy from being so close to him, inhaling his comforting scent made her light headed enough to almost forget about their mission.

“Follow me” she whispered as the two snuck into the tent which turned into a large battling arena. Many people cheered as two Dragons fought each other to death, taking bets to see which one would win.

“Dragons?” Harry questioned with bewilderment “We’re rescuing dragons??”

“Oh come on Harry” Y/n turned to the boy “Dragons need protecting too, especially against dark wizards” the two watched as the dragon below was hit with the imperious curse “They’re forcing them to fight for their entertainment, stealing their children and breeding them into some sort of battle monster” she then looked back over to the boy “This is cruel, they deserve to be free Harry”

Oh but Harry couldn’t say no to those eyes “Right then, what’s your plan?”

Y/n jerked her head to the left “They keep more dragons in the chamber below us, we go in and free them and everything else should be self explanatory”

It did but of course her plan had a bit of gray area, however there was no good plan for this mission. The two crept over down the stairs, carefully avoiding any lingering bodies.

“What are you wearing?” Harry suddenly asked

“Why?” Y/n stops in her tracks and attempts to smell her armpits “Do I smell bad?” She looked up with a quirked brow

“Quite the opposite actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been so close to you to realize how nice you smell”

A smile dared to crawl onto her lips “Let’s focus before we get caught”

“You’re the one who stopped us in the middle of the hallway”

She gave Harry a quick but nasty side eye before continuing her way down the stairs “Alhomora” she whispered and slowly pushed the door open

“Rumor has it, it’s just a kid” a voice says and another scoffs

“You mean to tell me that we need to take extra precaution because someone doesn’t know how to fight against some kid?”

The other nods “They took down five camps, there’s no way it could be some kid”

“I don’t know, them kids at Hogwarts have balls”

He shook his head “They’ve got their hands full with he who shall not be named, there’s no way they’d willingly go out of their way to find trouble” Harry tilted his head and gave Y/n a look that she chose to ignore

“Petrificus totalus!” With both guards petrified, Y/n removed the cloak and looked around the room with awe. The room was filled with dragons, adult and babies strapped into cages, she felt sick to her stomach “Harry…there’s so many” the boy came up from behind and rubbed her shoulder in comfort

“I know”

Many were injured, some barely breathing from previous battles, this changed everything. Harry watched the sadness from her eyes change to anger which worried him

“We’re going to free them all” she tells him while running over to the cages

“Y/n maybe we should think about this” Harry tried talking sense into her but it was futile “Call for backup”

The dragons ran away as she neared the cages, causing her heart to ache even more “I’m not here to hurt you” she whispers while slowly putting her hand into the cage. The dragon, using its primal instincts, bit her which caused her to jump in pain

“Y/n!”

She calmed herself down, knowing it was just acting out of fear and tried again “I’m going to free you little buddy, I just need you to trust me” the tiny green dragon waddles towards her hand again and even opens its mouth as if it were going to bite her again, but rubs itself against her slightly bloodied hand. Y/n smiles with success and unlocks the cage for the baby dragon “I’m going to help all of you, but I need you to tell your buddies that I’m a good guy”

For the most part, it worked. Letting the baby dragons bite her and mending the wounds of the bigger ones, the beasts soon realized she wasn’t their enemy.

“Get the next batch” a voice from the hall called out and Y/n anxiously looked around

“Harry lead the dragons outside, the babies are more likely to get caught if they don’t have one of us there to protect them”

Harry quickly shook his head “I’m not leaving you” she looks over to the full size dragon on the other side of the room

“I can’t leave her”

“What the bloody hell?!”

Harry looks back over at her “We just might have to”

“No” he knew she was stubborn, which is exactly why it didn’t surprise him when she ran over to the red dragon “Look, I know you’ve been hurt by humans, but I need you to trust me” Y/n began unlocking the locks while Harry defended them

“Any day now” he calls out and she shakes her head

“Im going to get you and the others out of here” but by the time she earned the dragons trust, it was too late

“Y/nnnn” they were surrounded at all ends, at this rate the only way out was through them

“I need your help” she tells the dragon “Help me help you get out of here”

Using what strength it had left, the dragon stood up, now free from its chains, and lets out a threatening roar.

“She’s freed the beast!” One yells “Kill it!”

“NO!” Y/n did her best to deflect any spells hurdled at them but it became tiring and very evident that they might not make it

“We have to go!” Harry urged while tugging on her arm but again she resisted and turned to the dragon

“DO SOMETHING!” The dragon looked down at her and she could see the fire bubbling up her neck “Harry watch my back”

“That’s what I’ve been doing” he sasses but she lets the comment slide and focuses on the fire the dragon was about to conjure.

Once the fire was released, Y/n caught the fire and circled it around her to form a giant fire tornado, attacking everyone around them.

Poachers were being burnt alive left and right, yet it still wasn’t enough to cover their escape. They needed a clear way out, a way to make sure none of the dragons would be captured in the process.

“Crucio!”

Y/n falls to the ground and screams in excruciating pain. The tornado disappears and Harry’s heart seems to stop, absolutely nothing mattered in that moment other than her. It was agonizing to listen to, to watch her suffer, it made a switch flip inside of Harry.

The dragon then burned the roof of the tent down, causing it to slowly collapse on everyone and everything but it made sure to trap the remaining survivors inside.

The giant red dragon grabbed Y/n with its talons and began to fly towards an exit “Wait!” Harry calls out “Where are you taking her?” A blue dragon that Y/n allowed to bite her picks Harry up and flaps its giant wings towards the others

☾

When Y/n awoke, she loudly groaned when trying to sit up which signaled Harry to run over

“Y/n!” He pulls her into a tight hug

“What you did tonight was…unbelievably stupid” Snape drawls “I expected you of all people to have a bit more sense than Potter” Harry frowns at the comment but focused his attention to you

“How did I get here?” She questioned “Why is Snape here?”

“I figured Snape could whip up a potion for you, since that’s what you do for me”

Snape then turns to Harry “Leave” his hands linger on you for a bit but he does obey the command

“Professor-” Snape hits her with a folded daily prophet

“Can’t believe you’d be dumb enough to pull something like that” he hissed

“They needed help!” She defended while jumping off the table “I can’t sit and pray someone else will save these creatures! If you want something done right, you do it yourself”

“That only applies when your brain is fully developed” he drawls “This constant reckless behavior won’t do anything but get you killed. Whether it’s for Potters attention or for the fame and glory, I suggest you stop before you get hit with something worse than the cruciatis curse”

Y/n rolls her eyes “Oh come OFF it already” she shakes her head “Not everything I do revolves around Harry you know”

“Then stop acting like him”

“I’m not!” She yells in frustration “Why won’t you just listen to me?! I’m doing this for me! Not for attention, not for a boy, but because I want to! And I honestly don’t understand why you’re making a big deal out of this when my death doesn’t matter OR affect anyone” but that’s when it dawned upon her “You care about me”

Her eyes softened and Snape was almost at a loss for words “Please, you might actually make me laugh” for once he was caught off guard

“You were worried about me”

Snape gives her a side eye “Dare I say I might smile in amusement”

“Say what you want professor, but you can’t deny the truth”

But there was no fighting her, she was stubborn and he knew that “Three hundred and fifty points from Hufflepuff for reckless behavior and detention for the rest of the school year”

“Professor” she started as she walked towards him “The school year ends next week, and you and I both know I won’t be attending those detentions” she holds they eye contact with him, long enough for his glare to turn into a nasty scowl

Y/n was first to break the staring contest and pulled him into another hug “Unhand me” this time she clung to him tighter

“You’re everything I wanted and more professor” she relaxed against him and surprisingly enough, his body slowly eased up

“Remove yourself or I’ll tell professor McGonagall a thorough explanation on what you did this evening” Y/n instantly let go of him “You’re dismissed”

☾

It was Friday night, finals were over, end of the year parties were being thrown left and right and what did Y/n have planned that evening? A date with her bed.

She was beyond exhausted and finally happy that the day was over so she could finally go to bed. Well that was until eager knocks pounded on her door.

There was only one person that would bother her, especially this late at night. Y/n tiredly opened the door to see Harry practically vibrating with excitement “Yes Harold?”

Harry looks behind her “I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

She shakes her head “I’m finally about to go to bed” she then yawns “I’m exhausted”

The boy deflates “Oh” but his smile was quick to recover “Then I wont take up much time, I just wanted to know if you wanted to go to Hogsmead with me tomorrow”

Y/n just shrugs her shoulders “Sure”

“Hermione’s busy studying and Ron is occupied with Lavender” Harry would never lie to Y/n with no good reason, so he saw no harm in lying about the whereabouts of his best friends to be with her

“To be expected”

“If you’re busy, it’s okay, I just didn’t want to go alone, and I figured you didn’t want to be alone cooped up in the castle”

Y/n tilts her head in confusion “Are you okay Harry?” She questioned as Harry awaited her answer “Did you drink another love potion?”

He quickly shakes his head “I just wanted to shop around and thought you’d might like to join”

“Well, I already said yes before you began rambling”

His green eyes dart to hers “You did?” She slowly nods “Brilliant” he could see how drained she was and decided to push his luck “I’m feeling a bit tired myself” he faked a yawn and stretched “And it’s such a long way back to the Gryfindor tower, lots of stairs to climb”

Y/n watched as the boy rubbed his eyes, almost finding it amusing how fast his mood changed “Would you like to crash here for the night?” His eyes dart up to hers again

“I mean I would hate to be a bother”

She let go of the door and yanked him inside her cozy room. It smelled of Lemon, vanilla, and pumpkin, the curtains blocked the windows and covered the bright moonlight and replacing it with a soft orange light, she truly had every intention of sleeping “You’re not a bother if I’m inviting you in” she tells him while closing the door

Oh but Harry had every intention to bother her. He loved the way her eyebrows scrunched together when he irritated her, or the playful roll of her eyes when they would go back and forth with banter.

Y/n sits on the edge of the bed and plays with Lionel who also seemed to be sleepy “Is he okay?” Harry takes off his watch and dangles it around but received no reaction. The small animal let out a tired huff and pattered over to the boy, weakly grabbing for the watch.

“I was up until five am chasing him around the castle” she tells him “I didn’t realize he knew how to open the door” she pushes a stray hair out of her face “The things I do for that rodent” well that explains why she’s so tired

“If you’d like, I could watch him for you, maybe like a couple days out of the week”

She grabs Lionel by the nape of his neck and finally lays down “I don’t know how he would do with co parenting” Harry follows her lead and lays down next to her “Besides, it’s too many shiny things there, he’d never want to come back”

Harry shrugs his shoulder “I’m sure that’s not true”

“It’s his instinct”

“But he knows where home is” he gently breathes “It’s wherever you are”

Lionel then begins to stretch as if he took up the most room on the bed “Lionel” she grumbles as the animal kicks her “Ow! That hurts you little” another kick to her rib cage and she stubbornly scoots back to avoid his tiny feet. But it wasn’t enough, after maybe thirty seconds, he got restless again and rolled over to slap her face “Lionel” Y/n let out another huff while scooting back some more. As soon as Y/n closed her eyes, the niffler took this as a sign to roll over and kick her once more. Y/n let’s out a frustrated huff before scooting back again, this time bumping into Harry “I’m sorry” she apologized while turning to face him “I hope you don’t mind”

He actually couldn’t thank Lionel enough “You’ve spoiled him” Harry smiles and she covers her eyes

“Noooo” she groans “He usually likes to cuddle with me”

“Maybe he’s just waiting for you to fall asleep again to make his escape”

“You make it sound like I torture the poor thing”

Harry shrugs his shoulders “Maybe it’s just fun to annoy you”

Y/n sucks her teeth “Maybe that’s why you two get along so well”

“That’s probably why you love us so much” Harry tells her with a cheeky smile

Love

She scoffs “Love?” She the gently plucks the glasses off his face “Maybe you need new glasses because you clearly can’t tell the difference between love and disgust” with that, she received another swift kick from Lionel, sending her into Harry’s chest

“I think you’re absolutely right Lionel” Y/n rolls her eyes and gently placed his glasses onto her nightstand

“He doesn’t even need all of that room” she grumbled while trying to make herself comfortable

“What?” Harry questions “I promise I don’t have cooties” Y/n rolls her eyes again “Afraid of being too close to me?”

“No” she cranes her neck to look up at him “Just go to bed Potter”

“Oh, now we’re back on a last name basis”

Y/n frowns at his comment “I thought you were just as tired as I was” she mumbled “I’ll never be able to sleep with your constant sass” she goes to flip over but Harry was quick to wrap his arms around her and keep her trapped against his chest “Harry!” Her cheeks began to heat up and her heart rate fastened

“You know what? I think I’m finally comfortable”

“Harry let go!”

He stops to think for a moment “Mmmh….i don’t think I will”

There was no use fighting him, he had an iron grip on her, which took her by surprise because she never expected him to be so strong. This was probably the first time she’s noticed how toned Harry was, she never realized how strong he was until this very moment. So this is what you’ve been doing at quidditch practice. Y/n leaned her head against his chest in defeat, all she could do now was pray he couldn’t feel her heart beat through her chest.

It was around 2:30 when Y/n’s eyes fluttered opened. Legs intertwined with the boy lying next to her, her arms wrapped around him while his still wrapped around her as if he were afraid to lose her. How did I even end up in this situation?

She tries to pry herself away from Harry, but like before, it deemed useless “Harry” she whispered “Harry wake up” then the thought of what people might say began to scare her. It wasn’t so much the hufflepuffs, but the Gryfindors would definitely let the entire school know by six am tomorrow “Harry you need to wake up!” She let go of his rib cage and lightly tapped his face “Harold…” soon enough, she was greeted with sleepy eyes

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes” he finally answered in a groggy voice while she searched his eyes for any worry or concern but inevitably found nothing “That’s the best rest I’ve gotten in the past two years” I guess he did say he was having trouble sleeping. He loosened his grip on her to rub his eye and she took this opportunity to finally leave his side

“I didn’t think about it before but if we wake up tomorrow people will ask questions” she hands him his glasses, which he kindly accepts “The last thing I need is rumors spreading around that I slept with the chosen one”

“You make it sound like it’s such a bad thing” Harry looks over at the clock and lets out a tired sigh “You should’ve just let me sleep for the rest of the night”

She rolls her eyes “So the entire school can think we were sleeping together?”

He shrugs his shoulders “Well, we did”

Embarrassment spread across her face, causing her to hit him with a pillow “You need to leave”

But as she knew already, Harry was stubborn “Why can’t I just spend the rest of the night here?” He propped his head up on the pillow “It’s late and I’m already in bed. Besides, if Filtch catches me out, he’ll give me detention and we won’t be able to go to Hogsmead” as much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Harry made grabby hands at her which made her look away while trying not to smile, but ultimately ended up climbing back into bed with him.

“You’re infuriating” she grumbled while taking his glasses and setting them back down onto the table, Harry however took this opportunity to pull her back into his chest “What are you-”

“Saving you from a couple of kicks” although her back was against his chest, she could practically see the cheeky look on his face

“Yeah well you don’t need an iron grip on me” she huffed while trying to make herself comfortable “It’s like you’re trying to suffocate me”

Harry quickly let’s go of her “I’m not hurting you am I?”

She frowned when she realized his dramatics worried the boy “No, you just-” truth be told, she wanted to be wrapped in his strong arms, she wanted to be cuddled, she was being selfish for once and wanted one night without the constant reminder that he isn’t hers to have. Her fingers found his hands and gently pulled them back around her waist “Sleep, I’ll figure out a plan on how to sneak you out later” her hands lingered on his, it’s not that she didn’t want to let go, it felt like she couldn’t

Merlin what have I gotten myself into?

☾

���I can’t believe you spent that much on a broom” she scolded as they left quality quidditch supply’s “Isn’t quidditch season over?”

“Yes, but I’ll need a new one for next season” he insisted “Just wear and tear, but it’s definitely a notable difference in speed and how fast I’m able to stop”

“Your old broom seemed fine to me” she muttered under her breath as they continued walking

“Would you like to go for a trial run?” A smirk crawled its way onto his face and she rolls her eyes

“I’d rather die Potter”

The smirk then changed into a small genuine smile “I’ve missed the banter between us, I’ve missed you”

No, stop it

But she couldn’t help the butterflies in her stomach or her breath being caught in her throat “Well…I’ve just been so busy with…” trying to avoid you “Learning difficult potions and stopping poachers while you have been busy with….whatever you’ve been doing”

“I’ve been trying to convince professor Slughorn to give me his untampered memory of the conversation between him and Voldemort”

Y/n nods “And?”

“Apparently he explained to him about horocruxes”

“Which makes sense why he tried to hide it from everyone” Harry quirks a brow “I mean being responsible for making one of the most powerful wizards almost unstoppable would make me die from guilt”

“Unstoppable huh?”

She gives him a side eye “Almost unstoppable” she clarified “If anyone’s going to stop him, it’ll be the chosen one of course” she playfully nudged him with her elbow

“Speaking of which, I’m going with Dumbledore tonight to search for another horocrux”

A frown made its way to her face “Please be careful Harry, I know how reckless you tend to be”

“Are you worried about me? Worried that you’ll never see my handsome face ever again?” She rolled her eyes at his comment

“Yes Harry, I’m sure everyone would be disappointed to find out and miss you and your handsome face”

He then stops right in front of her “Would you miss me?” Her heart began thumping out of her chest “I mean would you miss me if I died?”

Those piercing green eyes made her want to crawl into a hole and scream, there was no way she could avoid this “Of course I would Harold” she was quick to break eye contact but Harry was faster. He slid over to the right to block her from continuing their walk back to Hogwarts

“Then may I have a kiss for good luck?” ohmygod “Since you’re so worried about me” he shrugs his shoulders while looking everywhere behind her except for her “Besides, I never got a good luck kiss for the quidditch game”

It was inevitable

There was absolutely no excuse to be made, just her and him in this moment “And you’ll promise not to be reckless on this mission?” She was so undeniably attracted to him that it almost physically hurt to stay away from him

Harry quickly nods “I’ll come right back to you once we’re finished”

Y/n takes a step closer “Wow, don’t you think you should tell your best friends first?”

Harry shakes his head while also taking a step towards her “I want to come back to you” he stops right in front of her and tilts her head up with his finger “I’ll always come back to you” he barely whispers while pushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear “It’ll always be you first” his hand slid down to cup the side of her face. It felt like sparks were flying, both of their hearts beating out of their chest as they slowly leaned in to a kiss that both of them desired. She was drunk on his scent, ignorant to any observers or what consequences this might have on the future. Hell, she couldn’t even think about anything other than the boy in front of her and what his lips might feel like.

Their lips mere inches apart from each other’s with only a simply phrase to stop them “Harry my boy” Y/n quickly pulled away and gave a polite bow to their headmaster “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything”

Y/n was quick to shake her head “No sir” her face grew hot in embarrassment “Of course not”

Dumbledore smiles and turns to the boy “It is time” Harry nods, immediately understanding what he was talking about “Miss L/n” he turns back to the girl “Would you mind taking Mr Potters belongings back to his room?”

Y/n shakes her head while grabbing the items from Harry “I best be off then” she gives a tight lipped smile and scurried off

“What impeccable timing sir” Harry commented with a clenched jaw

“Please forgive me, but miss L/n will have to wait just a bit longer”

☾

Y/n would’ve never imagined that that would’ve been the last time she’d ever see professor Dumbledore. This is it, the start of the end

Y/n pushed through the crowd to see Harry kneeling beside his mentor, completely devastated at the sight. She took this as sign to comfort him, he needed her now more than ever right now, the future didn’t matter in this moment. She knelt beside the boy and hugged him to ground him, to give him the reassurance that he needed. Harry gladly leaned into her embrace, crying into her shoulder to finally release all pent up sadness he had.

Once everyone was sent back to their houses, no one dared to tell Harry he couldn’t spend the night in the Hufflepuff dormitories, nor did Y/n care of what others would say.

The green eyed boy spent the entire night attached to Y/n’s hip; head glued to her chest and arms latched around her waist while she lovingly caressed his hair to soothe his muffled sobs. Y/n wanted nothing more in the world than to be there for him, to be his rock, his forever, his absolute everything. It was completely worth all of the scolding she’d get from McGonagall later if it meant she could stay with the boy in this moment.

“Harry” she gently grabs his hand, trying to persuade him not to leave “You don’t have to face this by yourself” the next morning Harry was too eager to jump right back into the horrors of reality for Y/n’s liking

He looks down at their hands “I just need some time to be alone” when he looked up and saw the disappointment on her face, he lifted her hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on it “I promise I’ll come back” his eyes never left hers “I’ll always come back to you, remember?”

Y/n smiles at the sweet words and let’s go of his hand “I’ll see you later Potter” she gives him a playful smile which he gladly returns.

Once Harry was out of eye distance, Y/n closed her door with a huff “Awww, how sweet” a familiar voice startled her as she let go of the door knob. Y/n slowly turned around, eyes widening in horror to see none other than Bellatrix Lestrange “Boo!”

[thisnameisnotspokenfor]

The Breaking point Analysis

Warning: do not read this post if you have not read chapter 36! You have been WARNED

Also I wrote this when I was sleepy at 2 am so sorry if it doesn’t make any sense.

Now I usually try to avoid making posts where I openly discuss stuff in my story- but after all the issues this chapter gave me- I wanted to do this.

The breaking point is a weird chapter for me it’s both one of my favorite and least favorite chapters- but it’s a contradictory chapter within itself. It’s one that is both a payoff and build up in a sort of way…

Think about it in Chapter 33 Tomas writes this in his journal:

‘To die and leave behind so many unfinished things was my worst fear. A fear that may very well become a reality given my current situation. “You expect me to still be alive by then?”

What was Tomas’s worst fear became Asha’s breaking point, and it’s all so tragic when you realize the similarities between the two. Both were fairly young when they got to meet the stars and ended up running into trouble with the crimson court or a seperate entity armed with similiar powers. Both being novices had to rely on a yellow/blue star to keep them safe while said star worked with an ulterior motive.

It’s strange right?

We don’t know how Tomas’s adventure or experience with Sirius ended. All we know for now is that he did not want his daughter to get involved in his past/legacy. Which ofc in and of itself can and does bring up a lot of questions but the worst part is that Tomas is gone and now he’ll never get a chance to fairly explain himself to his daughter. Their relationship and perhaps even her perception of him will change because of this which is something I think we could all say wouldn’t have been something Tomas would have ever wanted.

For all the work Tomas put in to build and help others he couldn’t stop his worst fear from coming true- and that’s what makes it all even worse.

But the tragedy or rather my favorite part of the breaking point isn’t just there- it’s in everything Asha doesn’t say, or rather what she inadvertently confronts herself with.

When Asha’s justification for the past 5 years of her life unravels who do we see appear before her? Everyone higher on the social ladder, with even the apprentices making sneer remarks on how Asha was never one of them, how she’s unwanted or mocking her for Cepheus. It’s a sharp contrast to how she dismisses their mistreatment of her, but deep down she does care and it really does bother her

So many things she’s told Ceph that she’s seemingly gotten over comes back to haunt her in this conversation- not having powers, not having a noble title or not being able to win Ignacio’s heart, not being able to believe in wishes after the power failed to save her father and grandmother but it’s not just her realizing it, but it’s her hating herself for it.

She hates herself so much that she believes all the mistreatment she receives is justified because of it. She hates herself for purposelessly existing in a world with so many fantastical beings and people. But most of all she blames herself for not being able to save her father and grandmother.

Remember this line from Chapter 33? It’s the question Sabino confronts her with:

“Do you think your father would’ve valued this kingdom over the wellbeing of his only daughter?”

And Asha cannot answer. She in fact just changes the subject!

But it’s worth mentioning the things she thinks in that moment:

The answer seemed so obvious, but their unfinished star maps and broken dreams had made her wonder.

Shes doubting the love her father had for her (which has aged like cheese lol) because remember she could plan to make star maps in advance with him but all magnifico had to do was show up one night and her father would promptly cancel with her. We see this in one of her dreams:

Chapter 12: the dream

“Papa?” she whispered.

“Tomorrow,” he said softly, in a tone that made her heart sink.

That was what he’d always tell her on nights when he was too busy to take her stargazing. When his friend would come to whisk him away for weeks, maybe even months at a time.

Her heart began to ache as she cast the beautifully clear sky a glance, knowing that tonight would not be the night she’d spend perfecting her star map with her father.

It’s an arguably selfish realization to reach, but I suppose in the mind of someone with deep insecurity and terrible self loathing it’s just a hint of the cracks about to form in their relationship. given what we know now it’s one that I think has aged with a terrible vengeance as Asha’s mind seems to think that the reason why her father wouldn’t let her know about his legacy is because she’s a disappointment.

You can even see it here in how she contemplates the question.

Why wouldn’t he? Between her and the kingdom, at least the kingdom had offered a sense of refuge and hope for its people. What had she done? Other than crying, failing, and running around aimlessly, not much. Everything she’d achieved and promised had only been because of the star, not herself.

What is said in chapter 36:

“Are you?” the king asked, watching as she hesitated . “Because the last time I checked, you and your lack of powers weren’t the reason that it got fixed.

“Or the reason that the market got decorated,” Lady Allard sobbed, as she gingerly held her bandaged arm.

Chapter 33:

There’s a reason why her father’s projects and dreams had never gotten off the ground. How could they when he had an unspectacular daughter like her at the helm of each project? Her poor father, if only he’d known just how doomed his projects had been when he’d promised her that they could build them together.

What Velius tells her in Chapter 36:

“You accomplish nothing yet you still manage to cause more trouble than you are worth. Then you wonder why people struggle to believe in the projects and ideas you helm.”

What Asha thinks in chapter 33:

Maybe he should’ve wished for a better daughter…

Whats said in chapter 36 by the king:

Maybe your grandmother and father still would’ve been here as they’d not only have the child they deserved but one that could have ultimately saved them…”

((I don’t think it’s a coincidence))

But it’s very funny to see it when you realize that last chapter (chapter 35) she tells Ceph this:

“But that resilience wasn’t enough to save her from a broken heart…our wishes weren’t enough…nothing we did was enough!..” she nearly yelled as her eyes narrowed. Disgust and anger filled her as she spat, “After that…I just couldn’t bring myself to believe in them again…how could I? All I’d ever wanted was for my Dad to be healthy again, and for my family to be whole once more…Was that so wrong to wish for?

But now we see that it’s Not just the wishes that isn’t enough, but herself. And maybe that’s why she can’t wish for anything because deep down she feels like it just won’t come true because she isn’t deserving of it.

That’s why she doesn’t bother challenging magnifico about his wish granting despite knowing that he’ll definitely pass over some urgent wishes. It’s not because she inherently agrees with it but it’s because she doesn’t think she has the place to say otherwise especially to someone like magnifico who is the opposite of her.

Then there’s the part about her feelings for Ceph. Hearing that he was entertained and pursued by princesses has to be absolutely crushing when you realize Asha’s financial situation and the girls she notices he happily entertains.

But that’s not even the worst part- notice how she calls out her grandfather for this:

“Mean?!” her grandfather stammered. “He’s the one leading you on and making your life harder, yet you call me the mean one?!”

She responds with this:

“Cepheus isn’t leading me on! Saba why can’t you just understand that he’s only trying to help me because he’s my friend?!”

And later confessed that Cepheus is one of the few bright spots in her life:

“He’s the only reason you got out of that forest unharmed!” Asha cried as she pointed at her grandfather. “The only reason why I got to stay home…and the only reason why the tree got healed! If he hadn’t been there then…then…” her voice trailed off as she took in the shocked expression on her grandfather’s face. But it had been the disappointment in both the eyes of her mother and grandfather that had hurt her far more than the assassins had as she lowered her head, whispering, “I…I can’t take it anymore! Everything has been so terrible for me lately, everything except for this, for him!

But ironically we see later on that her argument is used against her.

The guilt over the Clariveaus, the queen, Julian and lady Allard also eat away at her as well, reminding her that no matter just how much she comes to care and Cepheus, that deep down she’s just as responsible as he is for the suffering he’s caused.

She even hears the figures say that Cepheus is incapable of ever loving her back or is only using her for what he wants. She likens it to her experience with Ignacio, which if you think about it does sorta share some similarities.

Then there’s the helplessness she feels despite giving him credit. Even before Asha spirals you can see it usually eating away at her as she starts to think that maybe Magnifico’s advisors had a point. And it’s not just a point she hates conceding too but rather one that haunts her so badly that she fears that if she moves elsewhere her experience will repeat itself.

“I don’t think you can. You could move away, but the results would still be the same. I don’t need you, nor does the world for that matter. Our power far exceeds anything your little science could compensate you with…

On a side note I honestly feel as if jealousy is an unspoken facet of Asha’s character because it’s so deeply hidden behind the insecurities that it’s hard to tell. But I think the jealousy is born not so much out of a yearning to have but moreso a yearning to belong. She wants so badly to be trusted, to be understood and maybe even loved, but after so many failures I think she’s come to realize that it’s not worth the risk. She’s terrified of failure and the burn that comes with it.

She compared herself to Icarus at one point- reaching for stars that would consistently burn her. But isn’t there something ironic about someone who is so deeply insecure, so self-loathing who doesn’t even think she deserves the most simplest of things to compare themselves to a cautionary tale of overconfidence, and ambition?

But there’s one more thing I would like to bring up:

Why would Asha want to burn her storybook? It’s full of fairy tales isn’t it? Something similiar to the world she lives in and wants to be apart of. But the reasoning that the ‘king’ gives to her is that ‘she doesn’t deserve it.’

I personally believe that this sorta extends beyond the physical sense- so it’s not the king saying she doesn’t deserve to physically have the book but moreso she doesn’t deserve to entertain herself with fairy tale like dreams when none of hers ever came true. It’s her self loathing in full display because that book used to be everything she ever represented, and she was going to burn the symbol of who she once was, who she once dreamed to be in a perfect world along with the book of her dreams for how she turned out in the real world. Completely and utterly destroying her future and aspirations because she no longer knows who she is.

It’s not until she sees herself in a mirror looking completely worn down and broken just like how the rest of the world sees her, and maybe like how the audience sees her, does she stop. Because now she realizes that she no longer knows what she’s doing.

And for someone like Asha who never usually confronted a problem without some semblance of a plan, who always bore things with a smile because she believed in an ultimate purpose, perphaps that’s the saddest part of it all.