☞ 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 4𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫, 1996

Today was a rather exciting day. One of the most fierce woman in my life is celebrating her birthday today. 61 years ago this very morning, Minerva McGonagall was born. This year, I decided to purchase the first edition of her favourite book, 'Transforming the Ordinary: a Transfiguration Tutorial for the Extraordinary', however, this particular book is signed by the author. I do hope she'll love it.

Astoria and I were strolling along the cold grey corridors towards the lively Great Hall, to have our breakfast. I hope to give Minnie her gift as soon as I can. If she isn't present for breakfast, I'll have to find her during break.

"Are you ready for our double lesson of DADA with your father?" Astoria mocked as I groaned, the thought of spending two hours locked up in a classroom with my father is draining. I love the man, truly, but I can only take so much torment of the Gryffindors.

"I am not looking forward to it, I won't lie to you." I chuckled as I took a seat down at the Slytherin table. Astoria helped herself to some pancakes, topping them with maple syrup and strawberries. I, too, grabbed a few pancakes and topped them with a few of my favourite toppings.

We began to eat our delicious breakfast with smiles on our faces while enjoying some pleasant conversations in between bites. Suddenly, I could feel someone's eyes staring into me, although it didn't feel like a glare of hatred that I usually was on the receiving end of. No. This stare felt warm, if possible. Instinctively I looked to my right and found a bright pair of hazel eyes fixed on me from the end of the Slytherin table.

I smiled at him, as he returned my smile with a soft grin which made his cheeks red and eyes crease. Mattheo. His face seemed to glow under the candlelight, making him look enchantingly beautiful. Suddenly there was no one else in the hall, no one but him and I. "Y/n!" Astoria yelled, breaking my focus on Mattheo. My head spun back towards the girl as she glared at me with a scowl. I raised my brows in shock and confusion before my eyes grew wide with realisation.

"S-sorry. You were saying?" I brushed the hair out of my face as I desperately tried to recompose myself. I am not quite sure what came over me a moment ago... I simply was just looking at my friend, yet my cheeks feel warm and my heart is beating so fast I fear it will implode.

Astoria raised a brow and huffed at me. "I was wondering if you were ready to go to the lesson?"I nodded and quietly stood. I took a moment to have one final glance around the hall, looking for our animagus professor. To no avail, I escaped to the hallways, deciding that I'd simply find McGonagall at break time. Astoria followed after me, as we walked to our class first class of the day.

We arrived in due time to the unusually dark and gloomy Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom that was now occupied by my father.  Currently, only a few Slytherins and Gryffindors dotted around the room, no one I am acquainted with. Astoria and I found our respective seats, which were luckily beside each other, only on different tables. I was in the right row of desks while Astoria was in the middle.

As people began to file in, one Gryffindor in particular caught my attention. Harry. He had folded a piece of parchment into some sort of triangular shape that glided gracefully across the classroom. I quickly stood and caught the odd little thing and looked at Harry with raised brows.

"Open it." He mouthed from the front of the classroom, wereas I sat more towards to back. I nodded in response and sat back down again. I glanced at Astoria, who was now engrossed in a conversation with her desk partner, Dean Thomas.

"What have you got there? A love letter from the boy who lived himself!" I heard someone sarcastically gasp beside me. Blaise. At first, the Slytherin scared me, so I looked at him for a moment with a shocked expression only for it to melt into a smile once I saw his devious grin.

"Ha, Ha, Zabini." I replied with even more sarcasm laced in my voice. I soon noticed the whole group had arrived, with Draco and Theo sitting behind Blaise and I, while Mattheo had turned to face us as he sat in front of me with Adrian Pucey. The latter also seemed rather interested in what the triangle was.

"I knew you and Potter were a couple." Pucey grinned, making me gasp in disgust and disbelief. Theo and Draco broke out into howling laughter, either at Pucey's words or my reaction, perhaps both. While Blaise snickered beside me, making me hit his shoulder in scolding him, which only made the boys more amused. Mattheo, on the other hand, sat there in complete silence, while his strong gaze never strayed from me and the triangle in my hand.

"Well open the plane!" Blaise hit my back, encouraging me to open the thing he called a plane. Confused, I asked him what he meant. "That's a paper plane, it's something muggles invented... for some reason. Did you not pay attention in muggle studies?" Blaise laughed off my confusion.

"No? That class was ever so boring, especially with Professor Burbage droning on and on about electrasicity or whatever it's called." I grinned and the boys laughed, agreeing with me. I slowly opened the paper, which I now knew was shaped like a plane, even though I'm still not familiar with what a plane is, and turned away from the boys to read the note in privacy.

As my eyes scanned the words, asking me to meet with him again to discuss the Half-Blood Prince in the restricted section, tonight. I quickly scrunched up the parchment and, without thinking rationally and needing a quick way of disposing the note, I lit it on fire. Blaise jumped out of his seat at my sudden act, bumping into my father. Oh, Merlin.

"You better have a good explanation for bumping into me like that, Mr Zabini." My father's threatening low voice boomed across the classroom, making both Gryffindors and Slytherins alike fall into silence, both nervously and eagerly waiting to see what would unfold.

"W-well..." Blaise began, but his words got lost in the back of his throat, as he couldn't seem to muster up an excuse. I quickly stood and faced my father, as his eyes flicked to mine in confusion.

"It was my fault, father. I was working on revision notes before you arrived and I realised I had been writing them wrong, so I set it ablaze to be rid of it, which caught Zabini off guard, making him jump out of his seat. We sincerely apologise, it won't happen again." I explained to my father, putting on the most calm yet respectful tone I could muster at that moment in hopes of de-escalating the situation.

"Hm." My father hummed, as his nose turned up as though he had smelt something rancid. "Very well. Return to your seat, Mr Zabini." He muttered and quickly strutted towards the front of the class, beginning today's lesson.

Blaise fell back into his chair, with a sigh of relief. He began to thank me profusely, claiming that I saved him from his death, which made me giggle at his dramatics. I rolled my eyes with a smile and turned back towards my father, who was discussing the most appropriate spells to use when falling from your broom.

"Arresto Momemto is a spell that might just have you from imminent death. However, using the spell at different speeds and altitudes can have its consequences if used irresponsibly." My father paced back and forth behind his desk, not once looking over towards us pupils.

The lesson droned on, and it was ever so boring that I had much more pleasure taking note of how my tongue moved in my mouth. Eventually, my father ended the lesson. "I want to see three rolls of parchment on my desk about the pros and cons of using Arresto Momento at different heights and speeds by Friday." Father spat, making many students groan in distain.

As I gathered my belongings and waved goodbye to my dad, I headed towards McGonagall's room, unknowingly I had a group of Slytherins in tow. I peer into her classroom, as the door was left ajar and notice a grey cat with squares around its eyes. She sat perched on her desk. I smiled at the sight and knocked on the door, drawing the cat's attention towards me. Suddenly, the cat leapt off the desk and transformed into her human self.

"Hello there, dear. How may I help you." Minnie smiled warmly at me and gestured for me to enter her room. I happily stepped further into the classroom as Minnie closed the door behind me.

"Happy Birthday!" I smiled as I handed her my not-so-neatly wrapped gift. Since I forgot the spell to wrap gifts, I had to attempt to wrap it by hand... with no success. Minnie happily took the gift from my hands and, as carefully as she could, tore open the paper.

"Oh my-" her fingertips gently pursued off the last of the wrapping paper, as she held the book up high, to be at eye level with her. Small tears formed in the corners of her green eyes. "You are too kind, Y/n." She whispered as she pulled me into a tight hug. I laughed into her robe, warmth filled my heart seeing her reaction.

"It's no problem at all, Minnie." I pulled away from the hug, as she went back to admiring her gift. We continued to talk for a while over a cup of tea, discussing my classes and if I've been staying out of mischief... little does she know I have not.

Soon enough it was time for me to take my leave, as McGonagall had a class to teach, so I made my way once again, to the library. "There you are!" Draco huffed as he pulled me past many rows of bookshelves towards the desk he and his friends had been occupying. "Mattheo has been in an awful mood since DADA, help us." Draco whispered as he pulled out a seat for me to take.

I thanked the blond with a smile and sat down, as Draco then sat beside me. Blaise sat opposite me, with Theo beside him and Mattheo sat on my other side. He seemed rather cold, and distant. Nervously, I glanced between the boys, as they shared my nervous expression.

"Mattheo?" The boy's eyes found mine, and his expression seemed to soften for a moment, before returning to their cold and far-off look. "Are you alright?" I asked in a quiet voice, scared he'd lash out or scared I had done something to upset him.

"I'm fine." He spat with a grumble, continuing to stare off down one of the many isles of books. I follow his stare and notice him staring at a girl, who seems to be batting her lashes at him.

Ignoring the pain in my chest, I muster a smile and turned back to Mattheo. "Do you like her?" I laugh as Mattheo shoots up from his slouched position, his eyes wide with panic as he looks at me.

"W-what? Who? I don't-" Mattheo stuttered as he looked into my eyes, finally looking less... lifeless. His friends began to snicker and that's when I realised that I was right, he liked her, the girl he was looking at.

"The girl you've been staring at. What's her name... Freya Gleaves? From Ravenclaw." I smiled as I looked back to the girl, who was still giving Mattheo 'the look'. Mattheo was now the one who followed my eyeline and noticed the girl in question. I glanced back at him and noticed the way his eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed with disgust.

"Her? Please. I hadn't realised I was looking at her." Mattheo scoffed softly as he leaned back into his chair while crossing his arms. Confused I looked to the group, thinking I had misunderstood the situation, yet they still had grins on their faces while glancing between Mattheo and I. Strange.

"What's wrong with her? Once upon a time, I heard Mattheo Riddle would date anything with a pulse." I cackled as I nudged him in the bicep with my elbow. Mattheo turned to me with wide eyes as his cheeks flushed red. Draco and Blaise also went red, but from laughter, while Theo fell off his chair clutching his stomach while almost coughing up his lungs, also due to laughter.

"What!" Mattheo sat up flustered. "No- that's not- things have changed." He stressed as his friends continued to howl with laughter. It was a miracle we hadn't been sent out of the library.

"So there is someone that has taken your fancy!" I gasped, continuing to pry further. "Do tell." I grinned as I poked his arm jokingly. Mattheo glared at me because of my antics and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He grumbled as he turned to me with a frown. "What did Potter want with that note?" Mattheo quickly changed the subject. His nostrils flared at the mention of his Gryffindor enemy.

The other boys began to calm down, showing clear interest in what Harry had to say. "Nothing. He just wished to study since it's been a while since we have spoken." I turned away from the heir of Slytherin and opened up my book, avoiding their gaze.

"You are an awful liar, Y/n." Draco chuckled from beside me. I scoff at his words, knowing fully well that what he said was true. "Everyone knows Harry has feelings for you." Draco grinned, making Blaise and Theo laugh again, and Mattheo frowned. Strange.

"No, he does not! And even if he did his feelings would be unrequited." I huffed as I flipped through my Defence Against the Dark Arts book. The group grew oddly quiet, making me glance up at the three boys who were grinning from ear to ear, with a mischievous glimmer in their eyes.

"So... if Saint Potter, the boy who lived, the chosen one, is not your ideal partner... when who is?" Blaise grinned. Mattheo sat up again, shock written all over his face.

"Blaise!" Mattheo spat at the boy, who just smirked in response. He turned to face me with an apologetic look on his soft face. "Y/n, don't feel the need to answer that, these buffoons are too curious for their own good." Mattheo's soft stare turned into a glare as he glanced from me to his friends.

"It's quite alright, Mattheo." I smiled, at the boy who seemed to relax for a moment at my words. "Come to think of it, I'm not quite sure what I'd like in a partner." I leaned back in my seat, deep in thought.

"I suppose I would want someone to make me feel protected. There are many people I've met who are able to protect me, and I'd trust them with my life, but in a life-or-death situation, I need to feel protected. I believe feeling protected is far different than simply being protected. Above all I strive for someone who knows what they want. Determination and passion." I concluded my thoughts, once again noting that I had been rambling on for far too long.

"Interesting... right Mattheo?" Theo smiled as he turned towards his friend. I also turned to face Mattheo, who was already looking at me with a soft smile on his lips.