"EXHAUSTED"

EXHAUSTED: tired out; Lorelei Black practically waddled back up to her dorm room because of Quidditch, the team captain had made them all try out for their positions again and Lorelei had barely made it as a seeker, she was having a hard time choosing between a beater and a seeker but she thought chasing after a tiny ball the whole season might be easier than hitting humongous ones with a bat and taking several hits might do her a bit more good academically this year — she wanted to focus more on her studies since it's her last year at Hogwarts and unfortunately for her and a lot of other seventh year's — Umbridge was starting to become the bane of their existence.

The pink clad toad would walk around the halls like she owned the world, pulling kids apart like cotton candy, Lorelei does wish she could punch the bitch in her face some day, maybe right after her N.E.W.T's when she can't do anything but give her a few detentions until the day she's not here anymore, or maybe she could pour extremely sticky candy mush on her, or maybe she could dye her hair green along with her skin and then she'd look like a real toad, or maybe she could—

"God damn, my legs may as well just fall off" said Harleen with a groan, she fell on her bed face-first and then went into a star-fish position, "You think if I don't move, I can just pretend I'm not alive?"

"That's what I'm trying to do here, Harley" Lorelei said to the other girl, she too was laying with her limbs spread apart but her face was facing the ceiling instead of the mattress, "You think if I jump off the Ravenclaw tower, would I die or just get seriously injured for a few months so I don't have to deal with Umbridge?"

"You make a tempting offer, Black" Harley mumbled, she then cracked her knuckles, then her neck and then she got up and then cracked her back — she then walked up to her desk and then sat down on it slid down halfway to the ground to stretch her back.

"That wasn't an offer, Harley" Lorelei groaned again as she got on her side and then turned to face Harleen, "Please don't jump off the Ravenclaw tower"

"I was kidding" Harleen laughed awkwardly.

"What time is it?" asked Lorelei, she was too lazy to turn her head and look at the clock, even blinking felt too much of a chore to her right now.

"Quarter past six, why?" Harleen spun her chair so it would face Lorelei again and watched the brunette's eyes widen as she jumped from the bed, "Got somewhere to be?"

"Uh, yes, I said I'd meet up with George today" Lorelei violently brushed her hair and then slipped into the bathroom, changing out of her 'sloth' clothes into 'making an effort to dress' clothes, and then came out spritzing on some of her favorite perfume, Harleen made a face, Lorelei made a face too but her's shut Harleen up, "Don't make that face — you know it's nothing like that"

"Uh huh, whatever you say, puddin'" said Harley showing her pearly white teeth with a smug smile.

"Have I mentioned I love your accent?" Lorelei tried to divert the attention of Harleen from that subject, look, Lorelei wasn't a prude or something — she was just highly selective about the people she chooses to crush on, and George had already been on that list from ages three to thirteen, yeah, she's liked him before — it's no big deal, it was before they grew apart, besides after Ced—

Well, you know how it is.

Lorelei can't move on if she doesn't work out her emotions properly, and from what she's seen — that's not happening any time soon, so she's happy just shoveling her feelings down there until they come bursting forward (if they ever do).

"Ooh, and before I go" Lorelei said peaking inside the door, "Don't forget — eight tonight on the seventh floor, ok, bye!"

"Don't think you're off the hook, Black!"  Harleen told the brunette who walked off with an eye roll, she loved when people talked about their feelings.

🫐

"RIGHT," Harry said, Lorelei had noticed he had the certain vibe that good teachers had, kind of like the vibe her Uncle Moony had when he taught DADA, the kid was doing pretty alright for a fifteen year old, hell, he was doing better than most kids in her year, she watched Birdie watching him with those big-sister-eyes as she calls them — they're the proud kind, and they make you feel all warm inside, "shall we get practicing then? I was thinking, the first thing we should do is Expel­liarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful —"

"Oh, please" Zacharias huffed and everyone turned to look at him, "I don't think expelliarmus exactly is going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?" no one was appreciating the tone of his voice.

"Alright, who let him in?" Lorelei threw her hands back, "How the hell are you gonna fight without your wand, dumbass? I swear to Merlin—" George put a hand on her shoulder, calming her down.

"It helped me last june" Harry said quietly, "But if you think it's beneath you — you know where the door is"

Birdie looked proud. Once again.

Hope was unfortunately too sick to emote and so she just sat in a corner with her knees pulled up to her chest and her eyes barely opened — she didn't want to miss out on the first meeting, but she also didn't have the energy to do anything, so she kind of went with half-and-half, she's at the meeting, but she's not going to do anything, and as far as everyone knows — she just has allergies.

"Ok" Harry said, Lorelei could sense that he was starting to get nervous — who wouldn't? There were many kids watching him, including his crush Cho Chang, if he still has a crush on her, which judging by the way Regan's chosen to sit the most far from — he probably does, "I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice."

Birdie and Fred partnered up, George and Lee partnered up too, Lorelei decided to go with Hope since she could just sit down and not do something — really, she's not being arrogant, but she does know the charm and she did bust her arse at Quidditch today. Lorelei could see that Neville was left alone when Harry went to practice, he awkwardly glanced at Ron and Hermione who were taking turns practicing the charm, and Lorelei put her hand on Hope's shoulder whispering something in her ear and making her way up to the kid.

"Hey, Neville" Lorelei greeted the boy with a smile, he smiled back — not to go all Trelawney and shit, but Lorelei couldn't help but notice Neville had this strange aura of comfort around him, "I've got no one to partner with, would you mind?"

"No, Harry just left to check on everyone" Neville said and he pulled out his wand, he glanced at Lorelei unsurely, "Do you want to go first, or should I?"

"You can go first" Lorelei said and she stood with her wand in her arm hanging loosely.

"Expelliarmus!" Neville exclaimed — Lorelei noticed his wrist movement wasn't quite there yet, but her wand did end up bouncing in her hand, "I almost had it..."

"No, you did great" Lorelei said reassuringly, "You're just not doing the arm movement properly, hold on, focus on my wrist, ok?" Lorelei told him and she watched as he looked at her hand carefully, "Expelliarmus!" she said turning her wrist and forming an upside down 'L' she smiled at him, "See that? You want to try again?"

Neville nodded, "Expelliarmus!" he said and the wand flew out of Lorelei's reach landing on the cushion a few steps back.

"You got it!" Lorelei exclaimed, she loved how happy Neville looked at the accomplishment, she went back and grabbed her wand, "Our mothers knew each other, you know?" she told him.

"I didn't" Neville said, he turned a bit stiff at the mention of his mother, but Lorelei he understood why.

"Yeah, it was your mother, Birdie's mum,  Hope's mum, um, Lyra Avery, Marlene Mckinnon and my aunt" She told him, "They had a girl group of their own, and my aunt told me that your mum would always find a way in the dark — she is like a source of light"

Neville smiled at the girl appreciatively, "Is there anything else you know about my mum?" he asked eagerly.

"Oh, yeah, tons of stuff" Lorelei laughed, finally all those years of listening to aunt Si and uncle Andrew babble about their glory days paid off, "She would always make flower crowns and bracelets whenever she was either super stressed or super happy, ooh, and she gave everyone candy to cheer them up, that's what she first gave to your dad on their first date I think—"

"Candy?" asked Neville.

"Yeah, candy" Lorelei told him, "I remember my aunt telling me about candy becoming a tradition with your parents or something like that, I don't quite remember — it's been a while since I've heard that story"

Lorelei watched Neville's expression change, and she decided to stuff it there, "I think we should get back to practicing, eh?" both of them practiced for a while before Harry told them it was time to disperse and go back to their dorms.

"Thank you for helping me" said Neville.

"Of course," Lorelei passed him a smile, "you know I haven't met your mum, but from all the stories I've heard, I think you're a lot like her — like a source of light"

Lorelei couldn't wait to tell her aunt and her mum about how sweet Alice Longbottom's son was, she does hope he can gain the confidence he deserves to have — even with just the two hours she'd spent with the kid, she could tell what he was like.

Alice would be proud.

y'all we're so close to the end i can't (if u saw me accidentally use lupinslupout 's cover shop's gif, no u didn't) sadie so sorry for that i saved it and i didn't even notice i put it in until later 💀