┏ ೋღ : 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐂. ೋღ ┓

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖊𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙;
𝔰𝔩𝔶𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔰 𝔦𝔫 𝔥𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔶𝔡𝔲𝔎𝔢𝔰

┗━━ ೋღ : ©-fictophilic : ೋღ ━━━┛

"𝕹OW REMEMBER, these visits to Hogsmeade Village are a privilege," Professor McGonagall spoke loudly with a tone of authority over the jittery and excited third-years. "Should your behavior reflect poorly on the school in any way, that privilege shall not be extended again."

Her speech didn't bother you. It's not like you of all people would, like, rob a shop or something.

Wordlessly handing in your permission slip to Filch along with Kyra, you and her move quickly to stand with the rest of her friend group somewhat on the side of the courtyard.

Turning back around to face McGonagall, you see Harry Potter jog up to her with what appeared to be an unsigned permission slip in his hand.

"No permission form signed, no visiting the village. That's the rule, Potter," McGonagall informed Harry, her voice unwavering and strict.

She sidestepped Harry, trudging down the few steps as Filch started walking forward to lead the third-years down the path to Hogsmeade. "All those with permission, follow me. Those without, stay put." Filch eyed Harry, who didn't seem to take the hint and continued to follow and urge Professor McGonagall.

Students filed through the stone arch that acted as the gateway between the courtyard and the outer grounds. Everyone chatted eagerly, barely being able to wait to get to the village.

It was a chilly October weekend — the weekend of Halloween. Not too cold, but not room temperature either.

You wore an outfit consisting of creme-colored jeans and a loose, brown knit sweater, which covered a simple white undershirt. A gold pendant hung just below the collar of the sweater and a brown leather belt with a gold buckle was wrapped around your waist, the brown leather matching with the bag that hung on your shoulder.

In your bag were just essentials — your wand, some money, hygiene products, lip balm, and a book in case you got bored.

On your wrist was a gold watch for you to tell time, obviously. Gold rings decorated your fingers, matching with the rest of your jewelry.

All the third-year students followed Filch as he led them all down the path that went straight to Hogsmeade.

The walk was just between five and ten minutes, which wasn't terrible, but you just wished that you didn't have to walk.

The path curved around the shrieking shack and Filch left soon after everyone had made it to their destination of the Hogsmeade entrance. 

With the crowd now dispersing upon Filch's leave, you stuck by Kyra and the rest of her friend group.

"So, where're we headed to first?" Alana inquired, crossing her arms mindlessly against the chilly fall air.

"Honeydukes!" Kyra exclaimed eagerly. She tossed an arm over your shoulder and you grinned, knowing you had talked about where you guys were going beforehand. "(Y/n) and I want to stuff our faces with sweets!"

"Agreed," Jamie nodded.

"Honeydukes is a must," agreed Rhys.

"Alright, Honeydukes it is," Lewis smiled before turning to walk in the direction of Honedukes.

Lewis, Alana, and Rhys stood in front of the group, Isaac and Jamie walked in the middle, and walking at the back of the group were you and Kyra.

Rhys made some stupid jokes here and there, causing Alana to shove him lightly every once in a while. You laughed loudly, Kyra telling a story about the time she had accidentally hit a child when she played a muggle sport called 'football'.

"I didn't even hit him directly!" Kyra defended herself from the accusing stares of Lewis and Jamie. "I kicked the ball near him, then it bounced up and graze his face. It wasn't my fault!"

"To be fair, his parents must've been neglectful," you commented, slightly shrugging. "Why would they just allow him to run in front of a goalpost while someone's playing."

"Exactly!" Kyra exclaimed, pointing at you as you defended her. "And it was just a graze and he exploded into screams and tears!"

"Probably being dramatic. Children are like that," Rhys said, holding the Honeydukes door open while everyone filed into the warm candy shop.

"You for sure were like that," Alana chuckled, making a beeline for one of the shelves where Cauldron Cakes were stored.

Isaac barked out a laugh. "Remember in our first year when you cried because you couldn't get your broom into your hand first try?"

"Hey!" Rhys yelled out, feigning frustration and anger. "Too soon," he joked.

They laughed, reminiscing about the first year while you reached up to grab some Wizochoc. Out of the corner of your eye, you spotted some Charm Choc.

Trudging slowly to that shelf, you took one of the Charm Choc packages into your hands and inspected it slowly.

"Wizochoc? Really?" Kyra questioned incredulously, staring at the Wizochoc in your hands. "Those still taste weird to me."

You shrugged with a confident smile before tucking the Charm Choc under your arm to buy later. "Well, Cho agrees with me that Wizochoc's amazing."

"Hmm..." Kyra hummed in thought. "I've taken a mental note to ask her to get some help."

"Hey, (Y/n)," Rowan greeted while you looked up from the Chocolate Frogs that you were inspecting. "D'you know where Kyra is? I gotta ask her something."

You wordlessly pointed over to the said girl, who stood next to Indie while they chatted about something.

"Thanks, (Y/n)!" Rowan exclaimed, rushing over to Kyra.

A few seconds following the sudden appearance of Rowan, Cedric wasn't so far behind while the rest of his fifth-year Hufflepuff friendly chatted loudly beside him.

"Hey, (Y/n)," Cedric greeted kindly, breaking off from the group.

"Hey, Cedric," you greeted politely, giving him a slight wave despite him just being next to you. "Uhm, doesn't Hufflepuff usually have the pitch scheduled around this time?" 

"Surprised you noticed," Cedric chuckled, tilting his head as he narrowed his eyes with a smile.

"I accidentally went to practice around this time, only to find Hufflepuff there," you replied awkwardly, cringing as you remember being confused as to why Hufflepuff players were in the sky and not Ravenclaws. Good things no one noticed.

"Ah..." Cedric nodded before grinning. "Well, there's no practice for Hufflepuff today."

"Why not?" You inquired, hoping you weren't prying too much.

"Because the captain doesn't want to spend his birthday practicing Quidditch!" Rowan interrupted, throwing an arm over Cedric despite being slightly shorter.

"The day before Halloween's your birthday?" You asked, your eyes watching as Rowan skipped over the rest of their Hufflepuff friend group. "Lucky."

"Yeah," Cedric answered bashfully with a sigh, his face turning pink at Rowan's commotion. "I turned 16."

"Well then, uh... Happy birthday," you told him quietly, smiling.

He smiled back. "Thanks."

Soon, you had all finished looking around and paid for all the sweets you wanted. You beamed, stuffing all your sweets into your brown bag.

"Where to next?" Jamie asked, heading towards the door.

"Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop," Rhys suggested. "I broke my quill and need a new one."

Everyone shrugged, figuring there wouldn't be any harm in going.

The door opened, Lorenzo Berkshire pulling the door open and standing to the side as he allowed his friends to enter first.

You, Kyra, and Kyra's friends stepped to the side, letting the Slytherins in Honeydukes as you wait to leave the shop. Kyra glared at them, which went unnoticed by the victims of her vicious glare.

Lorenzo still held the door open even after all his friends walked through. He smiled at Rhys, who stood at the front of the group, and mentally communicated that your group could leave and he'd hold the door open.

Rhys smiled, walking through the opened door. "Thanks, Enzo."

Everyone else passed by, a few giving tight-lipped smiles or nods of acknowledgment as no one in the group was friends with Enzo except for Rhys as he was one of the nice Slytherins himself.

"Thank you," you quietly said with a tight-lipped smile as you walked past him to walk alongside Kyra.

"You're welcome," Lorenzo breathed out airily with a grin, watching you smile and converse with Kyra.

Pansy stood idly by, staring in amusement at Lorenzo as he still held the door open blissfully. "You fancy her, don't you?" She accused.

He blinked and was snapped out of his trance, quickly walking into Honeydukes behind the rest of his friends. "What? No— No, I don't." He replied hastily, almost in a panic, with his face slowly turning into a blazing red.

"He totally does," Blaise chimed in teasingly, his fingers grazing over the wooden shelves of sweets.

Theodore walked alongside him, waving his hand slightly at Indie in a form of a 'hello' as he passed by her and her group of friends. Indie returned the wave eagerly with a lovestruck smile, watching him turn the corner with his fellow Slytherins before turning to her friends to gush about him.

"Who?" Draco inquired, having not paid attention beforehand.

The group of Slytherin made their way to the back corner of the shop, a more secluded area for them to talk and take a look around the shelves. Everyone who saw them made a mental note to keep away from that area.

"Enzo," Mattheo answered, having listened in to the conversation quietly.

"No, who does he fancy?" Theodore corrected, he and Draco appearing to be on the same wavelength.

"(Y/n) (L/n)," Blaise chuckled airily, picking up a jar of sweets that had interested him before ultimately placing it back onto the shelf.

"No, I don't," Lorenzo chuckled nervously, his words falling upon deaf ears.

"Who?" It was Mattheo's turn to ask the question.

"Are you daft?" Pansy insulted with a slight chuckle. "She's literally been sitting next to you in Potions for the past two months."

Mattheo blinked owlishly, furrowing his eyebrows, then shrugged. "Oh. That's her name?"

"Yeah, it's not like Enzo hasn't been calling out to her every time in Potions to ask a question," Blaise remarked sarcastically, glaring jokingly.

"He 100% fancies her," Draco agreed, inspecting two options of sweets in his hands.

"I said I don't," Lorenzo reiterated quietly and rolled his eyes, but his pink-tinted ears and scarlet red face said otherwise.

"(Y/n)?" Theodore questioned incredulously, his brows scrunched together. "Really?"

"Why?" Lorenzo asked, his mannerism shifting from bashful to a little defensive.

"I mean, nothing wrong if you do fancy her. I think she's cool," Theodore commented mindlessly, picking up a bag of sweets he had been eyeing. His comment went unnoticed by everyone except his best friend; Blaise Zabini, whose eyes slightly narrowed at the subtle compliment. "But she's very quiet, and a little awkward."

"I think it's nice," Lorenzo answered, shrugging with an admiring smile. "And she's very smart. I heard she's in fifth-year Charms. She's introverted, but she still takes the time to help. Not to mention, she's quite pretty. And—"

Lorenzo stopped, shutting his mouth tight.

His friends' jaws were practically on the floor before they all cracked taunting smirks and smiles and scoffed out a few laughs.

"Oh, he is whipped," Mattheo laughed.

"Yeah, you totally don't fancy her," Theodore teased, giving Lorenzo a soft nudge.

"Fine, I do," Lorenzo admitted. "But, like, how could you not?"

Theodore shrugged. Despite spending at least an hour alone with you a week for the past two months, he didn't feel the things Lorenzo very obviously felt.

Sure, he knew you were smart; you were able to cast a Patronus Charm in your third year for Godric's sake.

Sure, he thought you were pretty; not the double take in the corridor pretty, but he thought you were the hidden gem kind of pretty.

What a backhanded compliment.

And sure, you helped him out a lot with Charms; but that wasn't a lot to make him like you the way Lorenzo does.

You were quiet and awkward, and Theodore found that amusing. Sometimes you came off as passive-aggressive without meaning to, and he found that entertaining. But he wouldn't say he liked you as a crush, or even as a friend. At the very best, he liked you as a classmate.

However, there were moments when he wished he could get to know you better to be at least friends. Those moments when you actually joked with him and made fun of him, like you would with people you were more comfortable with.

Those moments were almost always accidental — moments when you forgot who you were talking to or when you had fetal attempts at trying to be more confident and outgoing before reverting back to your closed-off self.

Theodore wished he could befriend the real you.

But he didn't care enough to try.

"How long have you liked her?" Blaise asked curiously, leaning on one of the shelves as Theodore scoured around the bountiful collection of sweets next to him.

"Since our first train ride to Hogwarts," Lorenzo answered honestly and almost immediately without hesitation. "In our first year."

"Train ride to Hogwarts? First year?" Draco repeated in shock.

"You didn't even know her then. How could you have liked her?" Mattheo inquired, bringing about the important questions.

"Well, it didn't start out as a crush," Lorenzo corrected. "I saw her on the train and thought she was pretty." He shrugged. "Since then, she caught my eye and it eventually just turned into a crush."

"So you've liked her for three years and haven't even managed to become friends with her?" Theodore asked with a slight chuckle to his tone.

"What? I get nervous!" Lorenzo defended himself.

"Oh, I am so helping you," Pansy told Lorenzo with a nod of her head. "You'll need it if you want to get closer to her."

"I don't care," Draco smirked and shrugged. "I think her parents are higher-ups in the ministry, so I think father would agree to you two getting closer."

"Isn't she friends with Murray though?" Blaise noted thoughtfully. "It'll be awfully hard to befriend her when she's around Murray almost all the time. Murray hates our guts—" He paused before turning his gaze to a particular three; Pansy, Draco, and Mattheo. "Murray hates their guts. The rest of us are most likely just disliked by association."

Kyra's reasons to hate Draco, Pansy, and Mattheo were obvious. Draco and Pansy were blatantly prejudiced against muggleborns, always insulting and harping on any muggleborn they saw. While Blaise and Theodore were also prejudiced, they were quieter about it, thinking too highly of themselves to be seen acting like an obsessively prejudiced idiot.

Draco shrugged dismissively and Pansy scoffed. "Who cares what Murray thinks?"

Mattheo stood, staring blankly at a jar of candies before internally deciding to get it. He, as he was hardly paying attention anymore, absentmindedly asked, "what'd I do?"

"You gave the Weasley girl your father's diary," Draco started.

"Therefore, hypnotizing her into opening the Chamber of Secrets," Blaise continued.

"Releasing the basilisk," Theodore noted.

"That had petrified several muggleborns," Lorenzo chimed in, refusing to use the term 'mudblood'.

"Including Murray," Pansy concluded, the entire group staring at Mattheo, who still stood by the candy shelf with a jar of candy in his hand.

He blinked and then cracked a smile, suddenly remembering the whole ordeal that he had caused. "Oh yeah."

"Well, she's not always around Murray. Enzo could talk to her then," Pansy commented, quickly coming up with a plan to help her friend talk to his crush. "We could be around to be his wingmen and wingwoman."

"I say talk to her one on one," Theodore disagreed openly. "She seems like the type to be uncomfortable in bigger groups. I think she's a better conversationalist when it's just one on one."

"How would you know?" Draco questioned.

Theodore opened his mouth to reply, as he had forgotten their tutoring sessions and established acquaintanceship were meant to be kept secret, before shutting it and shrugging. He instead said, "Just a hunch."

"Well, first things first; Enzo, how are you on talking to girls?" Pansy asked before adding, "Who aren't me?"

Lorenzo opened his mouth but couldn't even reply as Draco replied for him. "It's in need of work."

After returning from Hogsmeade, Kyra's friends except for Isaac had left to go head to their own common rooms and you guys met up with Luna and Indie, chatting about everyone's day and what everyone did.

"What'd you get from Honeydukes?" Luna inquired, staring down into your bag curiously.

"I couldn't find pudding, but I got you some Sugared Butterfly Wings," you informed, handing her a box of the candy. "I thought you'd like them, but if not, just toss them out. They're not my cuppa tea."

Luna smiled down at the gift and glanced back up at you. "Thank you. I'm sure I'll like it."

At the Grand Staircase, the portraits around the tower were on edge, frequently