early morning, i got up from my bed and rushed in the bathroom to take a quick, hot shower as i somewhat felt cold as soon as i had left my bed. i dressed up in my gryffindor robes and grabbed my wand from the table before quietly making my way out. out in the quiet gryffindor common room, i spotted my brother entering the common room just when i had reached the last step.

"good morning harry." i smiled, walking up to him,"you're up so early?"

"yeah, i wanted to send a letter to padfoot." harry answered and motioned me to sit down on the couch next to him,"about my scar."

"oh, what did you write?" i was a curious girl, you can't blame me.

"i think i just imagined that my scar is hurting when in real its not─"

"shut the fuck up." i exclaimed, looking at him as if he had gone mad,"don't try to make yourself believe that you just imagined it. merlin!"

"i mean who knows hazel." harry shrugged, staring at the fireplace.

"oh harry." i groaned, slapping my forehead with my hands,"you're so dumb. let me go and get hermione."

"no, don't you dare." harry shot a glare towards her,"and moreover I'm gonna tell her myself, alright?"

"well fine. i'm gonna go have breakfast." i saluted him with my two fingers and exited the common room. a smile trailed on my lips as i greeted the students who passed me on the way to the great hall until i came face to face with malfoy.

"watch where you're going potter." he said cooly with his hands stuffed in the pocket of his black trousers. i rolled my eyes at him and chose to ignore him rather than coming up with an insult.

the common room had already started filling up with students when i entered and walked to the gryffindor table where neville sat all alone. "hey nev." i smiled and sat down next to him, grabbing a pumpkin juice for myself.

"hi hazel." he muttered quietly and ate his breakfast.

i chose to stay quiet, seeing that neville still seemed to be affected by what moody did that day. the two of us sat quietly and ate in silence and left the great hall together. i took him to the black lake to get his mind off his parents for maybe just a mere second but that didn't seem to work.

"it's alright hazel." he said when we were walking back to the castle,"i appreciate your efforts."
i smiled at him and slung my arms around his shoulder,"just so you know nev, i'm here for you."

"aww how lovely." malfoy's annoying voice reached my ears making me stop in my track and so did neville.

"stop following me around malfoy." i frowned, shooting a glare his way which just seemed to make his smirk wider and eyes mischievous.

"i'm not following you miss potter. you do have an ego, don't you?" he walked up to me and leaned a bit closer to me.

"come on nev, let's just leave." i said, completely done with malfoy. "oh longbottom. still crying about your parents?" he sneered, coming in our way to stop us from leaving.

"shut up." i pushed malfoy back as i felt neville taking a deep breath, something he does when he's anxious.

"oh you would know all about how it feels though? won't you hazel?" he gave me a smug look.

i just stared at him with a blank face, my hand curled up in a fist while my lips stretched in a thin line. tears brimmed at the edge of my eyes and before i could end up crying, i pushed past draco and hurried inside the castle. i felt neville approaching me and he tried to stop me but I turned a deaf ear to him and ran in the girl's bathroom.

i let my hands hold my weight by fixing them on the sink but my anxiety made me difficult to stand up. i turned the tap on and splashed my face with water, hoping to drown the awful feeling with it. tears kept falling down my cheeks just like a meteor shower i had witnessed with harry back at the dursleys. the meteor shower brought me joy but the tears made me feel like a absolute piece of shit who can't pull herself together.

i wiped the tears off my face and when it struck me that i had defense against dark arts with moody, i decided to ditch it. i was in no mood to face that mental professor after what he did to neville. i slipped out of the washroom, trying to think of a place where i could go for the rest of the period when i accidentally bumped into hermione and instantly regretted it.

"hazel! where have you been?" she asked, grabbing my arm lightly.

"just crashing around." i answered in a hurry,"excuse me, i need to use the washroom."

without another glance as i was too scared that she would find out i was lying, i jogged away from her and turned the corner to catch up my breath. the best place to go to at that moment was hagrid's hut even though i didn't wanna disturb hagrid. in few minutes, i found myself running towards hagrid's hut but stopped myself from knocking on his door.

what if he sends me back?

i feared and took a step back. instead of going back to the castle, i sat by the black lake, under the large tree for the time being. only when the bell rang, scaring the crows away did i got up on my feet and walked back to the castle and found a huge crowd of students at the entrance to the great hall. i stood on my tippy toes and caught a glance of a large sign but couldn't read it.

i tapped on dean's shoulder and he passed me a small smile. "can you read what's written there?" i asked politely and he nodded.

"triwizard Tournament the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o'clock on Friday the 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early. Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast."

"oh that's cool. thanks dean." i patted his back and pushed past the crowd to reach to the staircase when i was caught by hermione who was fuming with anger.

"you ditched the class!" she frowned when i rolled my eyes at her. "easy hermione." ron chuckled, slinging his arms around my shoulder,"who would want to attend the class anyway?"

"that's not fair─" hermione wasn't ready to give up. "alright mom! I'm sorry!" i whined playfully earning a scoff from hermione.