Y/N - your name
L/N - your last name
C/N - crush's name
C/L/N - crush's last name

Song: "bored like me (demo)" - dodie

requested by @ohmymlbronronheart

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Life at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry hadn't been too bad since Voldemort was defeated in the Battle of Hogwarts. In fact, it was quite nice with all things considered. A fully stacked magical library complete with all knowledge any student could desire, a strict but kind headmistress with a strong sense of justice, delicious freshly cooked meals three times a day, and a wealth of wonderful (and awful) people to make friends with. That was just scratching the surface, but that didn't mean it was all sunshines and rainbows.

Y/N, a shy Hufflepuff girl, had experience in the not so great sides of things. Maybe things were just more likely to seem hellish to her because she was shy, anxious and introverted. And maybe those attributes only really negatively affected her because a certain cocky Slytherin boy had taken an interest in her. I mean, maybe she returned those feelings, but she was (as aforementioned) anxious and too shy to say.

Despite how much her actions and reactions appeared to reject the boy, he persisted, because he could tell that she was warming to his company.

It all came to light on a warm Friday evening in the middle of June, exactly when all the students had completed a particularly trying week. Y/N was leaving the library with a brand new stack of borrowed books on herbology ready for reading, basking in the warm rays that shone through the glazed windows of the corridor. Peace can only last so long when one lives in a castle with Slytherins, however.

"Heya, gorgeous," an all-too-familiar voice came, making Y/N jump.

"Hi," she squeaked.

"How are you doing this fine Friday evening?"

"I'm- I'm good."

"That's always good to hear," he grinned, levelling his pace with hers. Y/N found it unfair how handsome his grin was, and also how he knew how to use it to his advantage.

Suddenly, McGonagall appeared out of nowhere, with the simple words, "Mr C/L/N, my office, please."

Y/N looked at him in shock, wondering what he could have possibly done.

"Don't you worry, Miss L/N, he's not in trouble, I just wish to discuss his choice of subjects for his NEWTs with him."

"See ya later, sweetheart," C/N winked before following McGonagall.

Y/N continued down the corridor for another few minutes, under the false impression that she wouldn't be disturbed again that evening. That was when a Gryffindor boy from the same year showed up out of nowhere, with a couple of his Gryffindor friends trailing behind him. She instantly cowered: they were famous within the school for picking on shyer students, and she was a particular favourite of theirs since she was in many of their classes.

"Oh, look, it's the little Hufflepuff!" he said with an obnoxious laugh, "How's the evening treating ya?"

"F- Fine."

"Really? Just fine?" he got all close up in her face, "Well, I think we oughta make it better then, don't we, boys?"

They all agreed, and began approaching Y/N with a bad aura emitting off them. She could sense it was going to be much worse than it normally was. "Please, leave me alone."

"What? You want us to leave you alone? Isn't that cute, boys?"

She began backing away, clutching the books that wouldn't fit in her satchel close to her chest. "What do you want from me?"

"Oh, I don't know yet... but we'll see..."

"No, you won't." C/N's voice rang out, and Y/N had never been more grateful to hear it. Thank Helga his meeting with McGonagall had been short.

"Stay outta this, C/L/N," the boy said.

"No?" he said, "What are you gonna do to me? Hurt me?"

"Well, we- we-"

"You have five seconds to run."

"But-"

"Five."

They scattered before he even hit four.

"Why are they scared of you?" Y/N asked.

"Oh, that's quite a story."

"I- I have time."

They began walking down the corridor together as he told her the tale.

"Uh- thank, thank you..."

"For what?"

"Making them leave me alone."

"Hey, all in a day's work, gorgeous," he winked.

She giggled a little, "Maybe you're not that annoying."

"Is that you accepting my advances?"

"Not- not exactly-"

C/N wrapped his arms around her and squeezed as tightly as he could, "Wow, I never thought this day would come."

"I-"

"The shy Hufflepuff girl actually lets the Slytherin into her heart!"

"That's not what I-"

"I will make sure no one hurts you, ever!"

She sighed, giving in to his embrace; maybe he wouldn't be so bad to date. After all, she did have a bigger crush on him than she let herself believe.

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i'm finally watching the mcu in timeline order 🥴

[834 words]