Second Year,
Never Assume

With just two weeks left until the Winter break, Phoebe hoped to relax a little, she pushed herself to avoid the library. For once she wasn't going to be stuck somewhere quiet with her nose in a book, she was going to spend time with Ethan or Laura.

After finding out they weren't coming home for Christmas she wanted to make the best of it. But first she needed to make a quick stop by the library to drop off her books so she wouldn't be tempted to read in their company.

'Straight in, put the books, then walk out,'

She told herself, she sighed, as she managed to leave without picking another book. She smiled to herself as she walked out of the library, she bumped into two Slytherin boys from her year, Adrian Pucey and Terence Higgs. While she rarely had anything to do with them she still stayed out of their way.

"Excuse me," she attempted to move out of their path, only for them to block hers, "is there," she paused, "was there something you wanted,"

"Stuttering again, next thing she'll be talking to herself again," Terence said, prompting Adrian to speak

"He's coming, he's coming," Adrian taunted her, she looked around her as other students looked on at her, some confused others laughing confirming that they knew she had said such things.

She ran down the stairs, finding it easier than to go up them, she hoped that Laura was still in her common room. As she banged on the barrel that lead to the common room, she waited, trying desperately to keep herself from crying.

An older Hufflepuff let her into their common room, she hurried to Laura's room, as she pushed open the door. Laura's bright smile fell upon seeing her tear stains, she rushed to hug her tightly, guiding her towards her bed, they sat down Laura rubbed her back, calming her the best she could.

"What happened?"

"People know there's something different about me,"

"Did you think you could hide it forever,"

"Not forever, but I thought that maybe I was careful," Laura sighed, understanding her anxieties around the topic of her ability.

"What does Grammy always say?" Laura began, "never assume that no one knows,"

"Yeah, I guess your right, Cedric knew there was something different about me for a while I think," she shook her head, "Was foolish to believe that no one else would also figure it out?"

"No, I think you were hopeful that no one else would notice,"

"Can I stay with you?"

"Of course, we aren't going to see each other over Christmas, which by the way, will do you a lot of good,"

"I can't wait to get back to Moon, show him to Grammy, she'll love him,"

"Yeah, try and push other people aside okay, they don't matter, family and friends what does Aunt Aimee always say,"

"If you let it bother you, then they win, if you laugh it off it'll irritate them," she smiled at her, she could always trust Laura to offer her words of wisdom.

Now if she had gone to Rhea about this, she would be preparing for war with the Slytherins. She knew her sister meant well, but she didn't understand that drawing attention to it wasn't going to help in any way. To some degree, it was one of the reasons she was glad they weren't in the same house.

"Come on, let's go downstairs and mingle, it's good for you,"

Laura hooked her arm with Phoebe's as the two girls walked through the hall to the Hufflepuff Common room. Her cousin sat her down while she left running back through the hall to towards the bedrooms, she smiled when she saw her bringing Cedric into the common room to sit with them.

"Right, I'll go get us some snacks," she said, leaving them alone.

"You weren't busy were you?" She asked him, he shook his head.

"Not really, just writing a letter to my parents, telling them I'm coming home for Christmas, how've you been?"

"I've been fine, I had little incident with two Slytherin boys, they heard me in class," he sighed looking down

"Maybe spending Christmas with your family will be a good idea,"

"Yeah, it will," she bit her lip, "I would like to see you over the holidays if that's alright?"

"I'm not sure what we're doing yet," she nodded, "I'll let you know if we're busy,"

Laura came back with two large baskets one on each arm, carrying too many items. She questioned if she had taken everything within her reach, she dropped the baskets down taking a moment to catch her breath. Running her fingers through her bright ginger hair, she slumped down on one of the sofa.

"That was a lot heavier than I thought,"

"Why didn't you use, Wingardium Leviosa," Cedric told her, she looked up at him

"Wingardium Levi-what?"

"Leviosa, don't you listen?" Phoebe questioned, "Just, swish and flick,"

"I wasn't thinking when I picked it up, I was thinking food glorious food,"

Cedric and Phoebe burst into laughter, something which Laura didn't mind, she laughed with them. Better to laugh with someone. She didn't care, Phoebe was laughing, and enjoying herself. It was something different but she loved it, just her Laura and Cedric.

She loved Rhea, but she wasn't ready for the trouble she would cause once she found out about the Slytherin's teasing. She only wished Rhea would have the sense to know how to defend her rather than heading straight for her go-to method of a nasty prank.