┏ ೋღ : 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐂. : ღೋ ┓

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖘𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓:
𝔞 𝔣𝔢𝔴 𝔣𝔯𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔰

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𝕿HE RAVENCLAW COMMON ROOM BUZZED QUIETLY WITH IDLE CHATTER. Paying no one any mind, you adjusted your bag on your shoulder and immediately headed straight for the curved staircase that led up to the girls' dormitories.

Upon reaching the door that you had recognized was to your dorm room, you twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open. After walking in, you gently closed the door closed behind you.

"Hey, you were out late," Kyra greeted, sitting on her bed with her classwork spread across her bed, Marietta sitting not very far away to help the girl with the work.

"Lost track of time," you answered simply with a slight sigh. "I was caught reading in that abandoned classroom."

"The old Arithmancy room on the first floor?" Kyra asked, her eyes trained on her paper.

"Yup."

"What old Arithmancy classroom?" Marietta questioned, confused about the talk of the abandoned classroom. She had been attending Hogwarts longer and had no idea what you and Kyra were talking about.

"It's one of (Y/n)'s spots," Kyra explained, jotting down one of the answers to her classwork. "She has a lot of them."

"I need my space sometimes," you stated, shrugging slightly as you tossed your stuff carelessly onto your bed.

"Understandable," Marietta assured.

As you began unpacking your stuff from your bag, you heard footsteps patter into the room from the connected bathroom.

Cho walked out of the bathroom dressed in her pajamas, holding a towel to her damp black hair to dry it. "Hey, (Y/n), Kyra. You guys wanna hang out with us at Hogsmeade this weekend?"

"Sure," you answered simply.

"I don't know..." Kyra muttered, placing her finger on her chin as she pretended to be lost in thought. "Do I really want to hang out with you guys?"

Almost like clockwork, Marietta grabbed the pillow behind her and slammed it into Kyra's face, dragging the poor girl down into the already messy bedsheets.

"I was only joking!" Kyra claimed, putting her hands up in defense and her throat bubbling with laughter.

"'Course she was," you drawled sarcastically. Suddenly, with a point of your accusing finger, you gaped at Kyra. "Oh my god, Marietta! She's gonna hit you!"

Instantly, Marietta reacted and hit Kyra with the pillow again, even though she knew you were only joking. Cho's giggles filled the room, followed by Kyra's laughter and joking cries. "(Y/n), you liar!"

In the dimly lit potions classroom, cauldrons bubbled and simmered atop flickering flames, casting eerie shadows on the stone walls. The air was thick with the pungent aroma of various magical ingredients, creating an atmosphere both intoxicating and mysterious. It all felt suffocating to you, and it didn't help with Mattheo's annoying voice in your ear every five seconds.

"You're not adding the powdered moonstone correctly, (Y/n)," Mattheo insisted, his voice edged with frustration. "You're going to ruin the whole potion."

Your eyes flashed with defiance as you rolled them. "I know what I'm doing."

Your bickering drew the attention of the nearby Slytherin students, who exchanged either exasperated or amused glances. Lorenzo silently pleaded with Pansy to get Mattheo to stop picking a fight while Blaise, Theodore, and Draco all looked at each other with entertained grins.

"Hey, Mattheo, lay off," Lorenzo urged, his calm demeanor contrasting sharply with the tension in the air. He held a forced smile while gritting his teeth.

Pansy nodded in agreement, her straight brown hair bouncing as she spoke. "Get off her back."

But Mattheo seemed unwilling to back down. Mattheo reached for the powdered moonstone, intending to correct your supposed mistake, but you stepped in his way with a frown on your face.

"I've got it," you told him, your cheeks subtly flushing with frustration. Lorenzo and Pansy exchanged another worried glance, realizing that their attempts to mediate were futile.

As the tension reached its peak, Professor Snape ambled toward the duo, his figure and black cloak casting a shadow over the commotion. His permanent scowl twitched with disapproval as he surveyed the scene.

"What's all this racket?" Snape muttered slowly, his voice commanding attention. "Mr. Riddle, Ms. (L/n), cease this squabbling at once."

You and Mattheo fell silent under the professor's stern gaze, exchanging reluctant glances. With a heavy sigh, you and Mattheo turned back to your cauldron while Snape wandered away. Despite the silence between you two, you still sent nasty glares and judgmental glances to each other.

As the class resumed their work, the bubbling of potions once again filled the air, accompanied by the occasional whisper between Lorenzo and Pansy.

You had no idea what they were whispering about.

As you began to pack up your things into your schoolbag, you kept as much distance from Mattheo as you could. With your eyes gazing down at your bag on the table, you noticed a pair of black Doc Martens entering your peripheral vision.

"Hey, (Y/n)," Pansy greeted once you glanced up to meet her gaze, giving you a friendly smile with her black bag hung over her shoulder.

"Hey, Pansy..." You responded, albeit a bit uneasily, though you tried to swallow your growing nerves. It actually kind of frightened you that she had even approached you. You thought the Ministry's Holiday Ball was just some sort of fluke.

"So, did you wanna hang out with us at Hogsmeade this weekend?" She inquired, catching the attention of her friend group that surrounded the two of you.

"Wait, what?" The Slytherin boys muttered. Mattheo narrowed his eyes in disdain, Lorenzo went slack-jawed out of nervousness, and Theodore gaped in surprise.

"...What?" You repeated, acting as if you had misheard her the first time.

"Yeah, like what I said during the Holiday Ball," Pansy confirmed. Despite accepting her offer at the Ball, you had guessed that she had only been joking or would forget about it. "Does this weekend work for you?"

You gaped, trying to find the right words. "...Well, I kind of already made plans to go to Hogsmeade with another friend. Sorry."

When you braced yourself for Pansy's response, you had only been met with another smile and shrug of her shoulders. "It's okay. Perhaps some other weekend then?"

"Yeah, sure..." You muttered uneasily, watching Pansy grin and walk away in contentment. The Slytherin boys glanced at each other before throwing their bags over their shoulders and following behind Pansy.

"Bye, (Y/n)." Lorenzo smiled softly, having been the only one to say anything before leaving with the rest of his friends.

"I'm telling you guys," you sighed out, pushing your food around your plate with the prongs of your fork. "They're planning something. Why the hell else would Pansy be nice to me?"

"Lorenzo," Kyra answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the entire world.

"Lorenzo?" Cho repeated, a bit confused as to how she came to that conclusion.

"Well, it's obvious that Lorenzo has a massive crush on (Y/n)," Kyra began, adding more food to her plate.

"No, he doesn't," you sighed, but Kyra ignored your statement and continued.

"And Pansy's friends with Lorenzo, so maybe she's gonna try to talk him up," Kyra concluded with a slight shrug. "Be his wingwoman, you know?"

As you deadpanned at her, you muttered, "No, I don't know."

"Why do you always dismiss the idea of someone liking you?" Kyra whined.

With a simple shrug, you responded, "Can't imagine it."

Marietta hummed and nodded. "Me and you, (Y/n). That's so real of you."

The sun hung low in the late afternoon sky, casting a warm, golden glow over the grounds of Hogwarts. The Black Lake shimmered under the light, its surface occasionally disturbed by the gentle ripples of the Giant Squid's lazy movements. The air was filled with the sounds of birds chirping, the distant laughter of students, and the soft rustling of leaves in the breeze.

At the edge of the lake, nestled under the shade of a large willow tree, was where you sat. You were absorbed in the book Theodore had recommended, 'Lord of the Flies'. Your hair fell in a curtain around your face, some of it being pushed back by the headphones over your ears that blasted 'Money' by 'Pink Floyd'.

You turned a page in your book, your brows furrowed in concentration. When a finger tapped lightly on your shoulder, you almost jumped out of your skin.

Instinctively, your hands shot up to your headphones to peel them off, resting them around your neck. Glancing up to find the culprit of your scare, you saw Fred with a wildly amused grin stretched across his freckled face. "Wow, you're easy to fright."

"Only when you tap on an unsuspecting victim whose ears are covered and eyes are on something else," you remarked quietly with an uneasy smile. "You and George are so similar."

"Maybe 'cause we're twins," Fred commented with a laugh.

As you rolled your eyes, a small smile blossomed on your face. "I mean in the way you act. The other day, he scared me when he just stood there and waited for me to notice him when I was reading."

Fred laughed and shrugged. "Maybe that says something about how you should learn to be more observant."

"I am observant," you scoffed, but paused for a brief moment to correct yourself. "Sometimes."

"Right," Fred hummed in response. 

"Anyways, did you need something?" You sighed with a slight chuckle in your voice.

"Oh yeah," Fred muttered as if he remembered something. "So, you're smart, right?"

"I guess?"

"What's a good potion to use for a prank?" Fred inquired. "Snape confiscated some of my fireworks, so I need to get back at him."

Releasing a slight hum, your brain racked up with ideas until you remembered the potion Mattheo made that had gotten you both in detention — the potion that smelled disgusting and was as thick as honey.

"Well, it's not a real potion, but I remember the ingredients," you mentioned with an unsure tone. "Just don't wrangle me into your schemes if you get in trouble."

"No problem! Stay right there while I get some parchment for you to write it on," Fred exclaimed before speeding away. As you watched his back retreat back into the Hogwarts castle, you sighed and prayed that you weren't going to regret anything.

Sunlight streamed through the tall, arched windows, casting dappled patterns on the stone walls of the Charm's classroom. The room was filled with the scent of old parchment and a hint of something sweet—perhaps a lingering trace of a previous lesson's charm.

Professor Flitwick stood at the podium at the front, tapping his wand on the podium to garner the attention of the chattering students. "Settle down, settle down." Once the class had grown quiet, Flitwick continued to speak, "Today, I'll be assigning a partner project."

Some students in the class cheered, sharing glances with the friends that they wished to partner with. Flitwick soon crushed their hopes with his next statement. "However, I will be choosing the partners."

The class groaned in unison, not wishing to be partnered with someone they disliked, or someone who was dumb, or someone who was lazy. The students who had fit those descriptions though groaned because they wouldn't be able to purposefully pick someone smart.

"Each partner duo will be assigned a spell we've learned so far in the year. You'll each be responsible for individual essays and each duo will be responsible for a visual presentation. Both are due by the end of next month," Flitwick explained. You felt your stomach drop and your throat dry up at the mention of a presentation. You had never felt more frightened in your life. "I'll begin partnering you up now."

Name after name, students got up from their seats to sit next to their project partners. A few of them were content, or even happy, with their partnerships, while others swallowed their obvious issues. You felt hopeful that you would get partnered with someone you at least talked to, but as names continued to get called, your hope started to dwindle.

Cedric gave you a small smile before leaving his seat beside you to leave and sit next to his partner. Lee cheered upon finding out his partner was Angelina while the girl just simply rolled her eyes. Rowan and George high-fived, taking a seat next to each other. Fred banged his head on the table when he heard his partner was Graham Montague, a Slytherin Quidditch chaser.

Soon enough though, you heard your name and your partner.

But that only made you want to die more.

"(Y/n) (L/n) and Adrian Pucey. You two will be assigned the Reductor Curse," Flitwick read off his list.

You held yourself back from glancing in the boy's direction, knowing that it'd save you from the embarrassment of him not knowing who you were. To your surprise though, the boy appeared before you with his books clutched to his side. "You're (Y/n), right?"

Saving yourself from using unnecessary words, you merely nodded. Adrian pulled the chair out next to you and sat himself down in it. After a few more names were called out, Flitwick allowed the partnerships to begin speaking about their projects.

"So," Adrian began, twirling his quill thoughtfully between his fingers. "What should we do for the presentation?"

"Uhm..." You trailed off, subtly shifting in your seat uncomfortably. You had never talked to this guy in your life and the nerves were overwhelming you as you rubbed your hands anxiously on your uniform skirt. "Some type of duel thing? To show how it can be used in situations?"

When the boy hummed in thought and nodded, he agreed. "Sure, that sounds good." You inwardly let out a sigh of relief when he agreed with your idea. "So, we'll research and take notes separately then compare?" Adrian suggested and you silently nodded in agreement, mentally thanking the universe that this boy seemed just as eager to limit social interaction as you were.

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‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ♡ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ♡ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

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[ author's note ]

short chapter today y'all :(

also, i lied about this being published in May... whoops.