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𝕿HE GREENHOUSE AT HOGWARTS WAS ALIVE, with the hum of magical energy and the vibrant pulse of nature surrounding the area. Sunlight streamed through the glass panes, illuminating rows of enchanted plants, each one more unusual than the last.

"Pay attention, students! I want today's class to be puncture wound-free!" Professor Sprout exclaimed through the greenhouse, trying to keep all the students' attention on her. "Today, we will learn to de-fang vampiric vegetation. Please make sure your gardening tools and dental tools are at the ready."

You glanced down at the table in front of you, all the tools and plants spread out across its surface. While Professor Sprout instructed the class on what to do and what not to do, you took a mental note of everything. On the other hand, it seemed that next to you, Kyra and Alana were busy whispering to each other, but you paid them no mind.

As Professor Sprout continued her instructions, her voice filled with both caution and enthusiasm, you focused on the task at hand. The vampiric vegetation in front of you was a plant with dark, almost sinister-looking leaves, and small, sharp fangs peeking out from between its petals. The thought of de-fanging it made you slightly uneasy, worried that you may lose a finger or two.

"Remember," Professor Sprout called out. "Approach the plant with confidence. It can sense fear, and we wouldn't want it to get any ideas!"

You picked up the small pair of enchanted dental pliers, feeling its cool metal against your palm. The tool was charmed to resist the plant's venom, but you knew that precision and steadiness were still crucial. Glancing around, you noticed your classmates already getting started, their faces a mix of concentration and trepidation as they talked to their friends for support.

With a soft sigh, you turned your attention back to the vampiric vegetation in front of you. You reached out cautiously, using your free hand to steady the plant's stem. It wriggled slightly under your touch, the fangs glinting in the sunlight as they snapped together, almost as if trying to test your resolve.

"Pull it quickly," Neville muttered from beside you with caution, worriedly looking at your shaking hands and the glinting fangs of the vampiric vegetation. "Move slowly at first, but pull quickly once the pliers are grabbing the fang."

Taking a deep breath, you nodded and slowly positioned the pliers carefully around one of the fangs. The plant hissed softly, a sound that sent a shiver down your spine, but you didn't waver. With a quick, decisive motion, you squeezed the pliers and pulled. The fang came free with a soft pop, and you held it up triumphantly.

"Good job, (Y/n)!" Neville complimented with a beaming smile as he unconsciously held up his hand. You gazed up at him, your own smile painting your face, and your eyes glanced over to his raised hand.

Now understanding what he was doing, he slowly lowered his hand and his smile faltered. Feeling bad about your hesitation, you raised your own hand to mimic what Neville had been doing before.

With a smile, Neville's hand collided with yours and a congratulatory clap resounded throughout the loud chatter of the other students.

The praise boosted your confidence, and you moved on to the next fang, the process becoming slightly easier with each successful removal. Before long, your plant was completely de-fanged, the once menacing creature now looking rather harmless and somewhat deflated.

When you glanced over to Neville, you noticed how he had also completely de-fanged his vampiric vegetation and was now waiting for Dean and Seamus to finish with their task.

"Thanks for the advice, Neville," you spoke up nervously, pushing down your anxiety about talking to him since you knew Neville was quite nice after spending so much time with him through Dean and other classes like Divination and History of Magic. Despite your quiet tone, his attention was drawn to you.

"Of course," Neville beamed shyly, rubbing the back of his head. "I know de-fanging vampiric vegetation can be kind of scary for the first time, but you did great."

With a smile, you replied, "Thanks, Neville."

A hand slid a piece of paper across the surface of your desk, the soft rustle of parchment catching your attention. You sighed internally, your eyes following the hand up the arm to the determined face of Oliver Wood. His expression was as focused as ever, that familiar, stubborn gleam in his eyes. With a tired roll of your eyes, you tried pushing the paper back toward him, your fingers brushing against the rough edge of the parchment.

"I haven't even looked at the first one you gave me yet," you reasoned, your voice tinged with exasperation. There was a weariness in your tone and a hint of desperation. But, as expected, Oliver shook his head, undeterred.

"That's fine," he replied stubbornly, his Scottish accent adding a certain firmness to his words. He pushed the note back toward you, his eyes never leaving yours. "But you should look at this one too. Then tell me the feedback for both of them." His tone left no room for argument, and you knew that trying to resist would only lead to more persistence.

You sighed deeply. "You're very bullheaded, you know that?" you muttered. Despite your words, you took the paper and shoved it into your bag.

The boy beside you, dressed in a Slytherin green tie, huffed a short laugh, the sound barely audible but laced with amusement. His gray eyes sparkled with a mix of curiosity and amusement as he observed the exchange.

Oliver shot the Slytherin boy a look, his brow furrowing slightly in irritation. "Got something to say, Pucey?"

Adrian simply shrugged, leaning back in his chair with a relaxed posture. "Nothing at all, Wood. Just finding it amusing how relentless you are," he replied, his tone light but with that familiar edge of sarcasm. "Not everyone shares your... enthusiasm for Quidditch strategies."

Oliver's expression hardened, but he chose to ignore the jab, instead focusing back on you. "Look, I know you're busy," he said, his voice softening slightly, though the determination in his eyes remained unwavering. "But I'd really appreciate you giving me feedback them. Just... take a look when you can. Please."

There was something earnest in his voice that made it hard for you to refuse outright, despite your exasperation. You knew Oliver was passionate about Quidditch, but more than that, you learned that he genuinely respected your opinion. That made it difficult to stay annoyed with him for long.

Something about his soft tone, kind words, and competitive spirit made your heart beat just a little bit faster.

With another sigh, you nodded. "Fine, I'll take a look when I get a chance. But no promises on when that'll be."

Oliver's face brightened instantly, a wide grin spreading across his features. "Thanks, (Y/n). Again, I really appreciate it." He gave you a grateful nod before turning and heading back to his own desk, leaving you with your project partner, the Slytherin chaser.

As Oliver walked away, Adrian leaned in slightly, lowering his voice so only you could hear. "You keep folding, you know that? You can always say no."

You gave him a sidelong glance, a shrug pulling at your shoulders. "He's relentless. I doubt he'd take no for an answer."

Adrian chuckled, the sound more genuine this time. "Well, if you ever want to escape his endless pleas, you could always help me with a few of my own. Slytherin could use someone with your brains, you know."

You raised an eyebrow, more amused than anything. For this brief moment, you forgot who you were talking to as Adrian Pucey was surprisingly easy to talk to, much like what Cho had said. "My brains?"

"I'm no idiot, (Y/n). After all, I'm a fourth-year in fifth-year Charms," Adrian mentioned as he chuckled under his breath. "And you're a third-year in this class, so of course you've got brains. One of the reasons I'm actually glad I have you as my partner than some of our other classmates."

"...Thanks." A small smile tugged at your lips at his words and you lost all your previous nerves that you'd been feeling for days about being his project partner. "What exactly would I be helping you with though? I didn't think Slytherin needed any help in the strategy department."

He shrugged, a playful glint in his eye. "We don't, but it wouldn't hurt to have someone who actually knows how to think ahead."

Despite your previous concerns and worries about being partnered with Adrian, it all seemed to wash away once you guys had actually begun talking. It was a shame, since the project was almost over.

"Nice try," you replied with a smirk. "But I'm not helping your team. It's bad enough that I'm helping Gryffindor."

"That's fair," he hummed and nodded slightly. "It won't matter though, 'cause Slytherin's winning the cup again."

"Whatever you say," you said and rolled your eyes.

"Anyways, I'm done with the research part on my end," Adrian mentioned with a grin, running a hand through his dark hair. When his gray eyes flitted over to you, he suggested, "For the presentation part, did you wanna practice in the library some other day?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," you agreed with a short nod of your head and a smile.

"For today's class, I want you all to get into groups of four and each one of you will practice one of the animal transfiguration spells: Draconifors, Avifors, Lapifors, and Serpifors," Professor McGonagall instructed, inciting dread into your body upon learning that you'd have to partner up with three others. "I expect you all to present outstanding results to me by the end of class."

Once McGonagall's instructions had ended, students quickly moved to their friends to group up. In the chaos that surrounded you, you stifled a sigh and tried to calm down your racing heart. Your eyes frantically flitted around in an attempt to try to find a group to join, but the longer you hesitated, the more groups started filling up.

"(Y/n), did you join a group yet?" Lavender asked, her voice snapping you out of your mind. When you gazed over at her, you noticed Padma and Parvati Patil sitting in front of her with their chairs turned around as Lavender continued, "We're down a person if you want to join us."

"That'd be great," you complied, inwardly releasing a relieved sigh. "Thanks."

"Of course," Lavender beamed kindly as Padma cracked open her own notebook.

"So who wanted to do which spell?" Padma questioned, her eyes raking over her notes of the spells McGonagall requested you practice.

"I shouldn't do Draconifors," Lavender mentioned with a slight laugh in her bubbly tone. "Not after what happened last time." You had to stifle a laugh from remembering what had happened to Zacharias Smith when Lavender attempted to cast the Draconifors spell for the first time. It seemed that Lavender caught you trying to hide your smile as she mentioned, "You remember last time, don't you, (Y/n)?"

With a nod, you quietly joked, "He's lucky the only thing you burned was his sleeve."

"Eh, he's not exactly the most pleasant person anyways," Parvati noted, chuckling a bit under her breath. "But I'm confident in casting that spell, so I can do it."

"I can do Lapifors," Padma informed with a smile. "I like turning things into rabbits."

"Then I guess I could do Avifors," Lavender said, looking over at Padma's notes. "That one's pretty simple since we've learned it last year." With a slight hum, Lavender mentioned, "And that leaves you with Serpifors, (Y/n). How do you feel about that?"

You gave the girl a small smile, feeling slightly more at ease within the group. It was a rare feeling for you, one you savored quietly, but it seemed that you started becoming more accustomed to this feeling recently as you started talking to more and more of your schoolmates that you hadn't talked to in previous years. "I've done it before. I think I can manage."

"Great!" Padma chimed in, her eyes bright with excitement before ripping out a few pages from her notebook so that you four could practice the spells on the papers. "Who wants to go first?"

"I could go," Parvati spoke up, taking her wand out of her bag. With a wave of her wand, the parchment paper rustled a bit as Parvati said the magic word. "Draconifors."

A fiery orange light illuminated from Parvati's wand and began to encase one of the sheets of paper. The simple form of the paper slowly shifted and transformed into the shape of a small dragon. Once the light dissipated, what remained was the sharp edge of a paper dragon that roared to life and struggled to not light itself on fire.

"Alright, that's one down," Padma beamed, proud at her twin sister's accomplishment as she gave her a high-five. "My turn." Taking her wand from her desk and waving it around, a green light began to emit as she said, "Lapifors."

Much like with the Draconifors spell, a light started to encase around one of the sheets of paper, though this light was green rather than fiery orange. Legs started sprouting from the deformed parchment and long ears appeared not long after. As the green light faded, a rabbit made of paper tried jumping off the table. You were quick to react, snatching the paper rabbit midair in its attempt to hop off.

"Nice reflexes," Lavender complimented with a slight chuckle and a grin. As she took her wand from her pocket, she let out a sigh. "Okay, my turn." Her eyes zoned in one of the sheets of paper and her hand waved her wand. "Avifors."

Blue light flashed from Lavender's wand, wrapping around the sheet of parchment as it began to morph. The paper twisted and folded in on itself, feathers sprouting from the edges as it transformed into a small bird. The bird made of parchment flapped its wings experimentally before taking off, fluttering above the group. Lavender beamed, the earlier nerves completely replaced by pride and confidence.

"Nice job, Lav," Padma commented with a grin. "Now, it's your turn, (Y/n). Serpifors, right?"

You nodded, your heart pounding in your chest as you grasped your wand more firmly. The pressure to succeed weighed heavily on your shoulders, thinking about how it'd embarrassing it'd be if you were the only one in the group who couldn't do it. Taking a deep breath to steady your nerves, you pointed your wand at the last remaining sheet of parchment.

"Serpifors," you muttered, your voice steady despite the anxious flutter in your stomach.

A soft, silver light emanated from your wand, enveloping the parchment. Slowly, the paper began to lengthen and twist, forming the sleek shape of a serpent. The silver light faded, revealing a coiled paper snake on the desk, its eyes gleaming with a lifelike shine. The snake flicked its tongue and hissed at the girls surrounding it, but remained still, its paper form delicate yet defined.

A chorus of cheers erupted from your group, with Lavender clapping her hands together excitedly. "You did it, (Y/n)! That was perfect!"

Padma gave you a thumbs up. "Seriously, that was amazing."

Parvati nodded in agreement, her eyes full of admiration. "We've got the best group, don't we?"

A warm feeling of pride settled in your chest and you couldn't help but smile shyly at their praise. "Thanks. I'm glad it worked out."

As you watched the paper serpent slither harmlessly across the desk, you felt a sense of accomplishment that you rarely experienced in group settings. The fear that had initially gripped you seemed to have melted away, replaced by the support and encouragement of the three girls.

"Great work, all of you," Professor McGonagall's voice rang out as she walked by, observing your group's results with approval. Her praise made the moment even sweeter and you exchanged a glance with your group, all of you sharing a sense of triumph.

The forest was bathed in the gentle light of day, its canopy a mosaic of vibrant greens, dappled with patches of sunlight that filtered through the leaves. The air was warm and fragrant, filled with the scent of pine needles, rich earth, and the faint sweetness of wildflowers that dotted the forest floor.

After Draco's little incident with Buckbeak, Care of Magical Creatures had been a tad more boring since Hagrid had to be careful. It had almost been like any other class — textbook readings, note-taking, and lectures. The only amazing thing about the class now was the fact that the class was outside, but even that soon became unbearable with the colder seasons. At least warming spells existed though.

Right now, you sat in the comfort of the grass of the forest as you leaned against the base of a large tree, surrounded by Kyra and her usual friends. With the class left to take notes on chapter 17 of the textbook, Hagrid wandered around to converse with students.

"Stupid whiny Malfoy," Kyra muttered under her breath, her frustration evident as her quill scratched vigorously against the parchment. The sunlight through the leaves cast a warm glow over her concentrated face as she copied a sentence from the textbook, the repetitive task doing little to ease her irritation. "This class would've been so great if it was like the first one, but no. Live creatures are dangerous." Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she mimicked the tone Malfoy often used when complaining to anyone who would listen.

Alana, seated beside her, let out a scoff, her eyes rolling in agreement. "Buckbeak should've killed the guy when he had the chance," she remarked with a smirk, the words laced with dark humor. The comment earned a chuckle from Kyra, who momentarily paused her writing to flash